Park Day and Fitting in With the Locals!

It was finally a nice weather day today so we ventured out to the park with some friends of ours and spent a couple of hours there letting the kids run around. I realized how much my kids felt caged up when Brooklyn took off a few times on her own just running and running down the sidewalk. One time she even took off on her own up the trail leading into the canyon and laughed as I tried to chase her down. She definitely keeps me on my toes!

Today was also Western Day at Jacey's school and so we tried to make her look the part as much as possible. I dug up a cowboy hat that I had been given a while back and she wore it to school along with the most "cowgirl-like" clothes that she had in her closet. I thought it was especially appropriate that she was missing one of her teeth in this picture!

Dancing Queen

We went to get Jacey's dance pictures taken last week and she looked so cute in her costume, that I couldn't resist taking my own pictures of her. She definitely is a girl through and through and loves to get all glammed up. Jacey loves to dance and I am trying to decide whether I am going to keep her in it or make her try something new, like sports! Her spring recital is coming up soon (May 16) in case anyone is interested in coming!

Our Sweet Jacey

Jacey has been full of questions lately, especially when I am trying to get her to bed. In the past week or so she has asked me many difficult questions, about topics from outer space to heaven. Yesterday she was asking me how we were going to get all of our things to heaven, like our beds, toys and clothes. When I explained to her that we couldn't take anything but ourselves to heaven, she got very sad and said,"But I really like my Bitty Twin and wish I could take her with me!" Her Bitty Twin was a present from "California Grandma" that she has grown quite attached to lately, and she likes to take her around anywhere that I will let her. Here is a picture of Jacey taking her doll for a bike ride.

Jacey also writes up many sweet notes that she gives to us. Her kindergarten teacher has taught her how to sound out the words and to write what she hears. The other night Jon had to stay very late at work and didn't get home until after the kid's bedtime. Jacey wanted to leave a note for him on his pillow to read when he got home, and this is what she wrote:

"Dad I mist you to day! I love you.
I am gald youe hom
Love Jacey

Playing Dress-Up and Starting a Band!

Being that we live in a semi-rural area, our poor kids have to get really creative when it comes to playtime. One of their favorite things to do is to play dress-up, and they are always tearing off their regular clothes and undoing their hair that I have just barely done to create their own unique styles. Here are a couple of their latest creations!

Our girls also love their new Barbie guitar and keyboard that they got from Santa this year. It plays a few real songs from artists like Britney Spears (ugh!) that they have unfortunately already learned. Again, being the creative kids that they are, they love to pretend that they are rock stars playing together in a band. Here is a cute picture that I caught of one of their "concerts".

Easter Time!

We spent a long weekend up at Jon's parent's house for Easter this year since Jacey had a couple of days off of school and we wanted to "get out of Dodge" for awhile. Jon had to go to San Francisco on a business trip for a couple of the days leading up to Easter, so me and the girls packed up and headed north. We spent a couple of days playing with "Red Grandma" and the Pendleton cousins, and the day before Easter we went to the annual Larsen extended family Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma Larsen's old house (now owned by Jon's aunt Carolyn). Even after getting plenty of candy at that party, the Easter Bunny still decided to come and bring more! The girls enjoyed finding their hidden baskets on Easter morning, and were delighted to find that in addition to candy, they received the "Enchanted" DVD and the Dr. Seuss book "Horton Hears a Who!" It was an especially fun morning for Jacey since both the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy left her surprises! Brooklyn just wanted to start downing the candy right away. We dressed the girls in their pretty new green Easter dresses and headed to church with Jon's parents. After church we had a big Easter feast at Jon's parent's house with a few of his siblings and their families, my brother Jeff and his wife Amy, and also a girl from Kyle's mission who attends BYU (who ironically is from Tustin and went to Tustin High--my hometown and high school!). After dinner, we had yet another Easter Egg Hunt with the kids. Needless to say, we are still working on the Easter candy two weeks later! I have decided that between Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's and Easter, the holidays are coming too fast and I am getting tired of all the candy in the house. At times, I have taken some of the "less desirable" candy and just thrown it away or taken it to my work to put in the candy bowls for the customers. I know, I am a mean mom! Overall, we had a great Easter and enjoyed seeing a lot of our extended family members.

A Lost Tooth--Literally!

After having a loose tooth for over two months, Jacey first tooth finally succumbed to it's fate the day before Easter, and boy was it traumatic! She was very apprehensive about the tooth coming out in the first place, and absolutely hates the sight of blood. We tried and tried to coax her for weeks beforehand to let us help her wiggle it to help it out, but that was a no-go. Finally, the day before Easter, Jacey ran up to me to give me a hug and hit her mouth (and tooth) on my hip, loosening the tooth to the point where it was literally hanging by one root. She was bleeding pretty good, and hence freaking out. The darn thing had to come out! Being an unwilling participant in this whole drama, we had to finally lay her down on the floor while Jon sat on top of her and tried to wiggle/pull out the tooth. Finally he announces "It's out! It's out!" I told Jacey to sit up and spit out the tooth, but nothing was there but a little blood. We looked around the floor to see if Jon dropped it somewhere, but it is nowhere to be found. I said, "Do you think she swallowed it?" Well, the only thing worse than the thought of blood for Jacey was the thought of swallowing her tooth, and so my quick-thinking mother-in-law hurried and grabbed a handful of change, discreetly placed it on the floor next to Jacey as we were all hunting for the lost tooth, and told Jacey that the Tooth Fairy was so anxious to get her tooth that she swooped down really fast and took it away! It worked like a charm! (Incidentally, the Tooth Fairy did visit again that night and left a whole dollar and a note for Jacey.) Perhaps the best part of this story is that right after the tooth came out, Jacey announced that it didn't hurt that bad after all and that she wouldn't be so scared the next time around. We'll see!

Our Family Blog!

Yes, with some encouragement from my sister and mom, I have decided to create a blog so that I can stay in better touch with everyone. It is also an easier way to send pics of the kids. Hey, this might even be fun! Thanks to Stefani's friend Amy (a.k.a. the Mitchell Family webmaster) for creating our blog page! As you can see, she did a great job!