Spring has Sprung!!

I love having a full spring here. It sure makes winter a distant memory! It also makes me so grateful for the beauty of green and colorful flowers. I love it!

Here are a few shots of our lovely yard. Having a big backyard has been a blast for the boys (and me too)! Any time the sun peeks out, even for a few moments, we run outside and enjoy the time. I still miss my skin being scorched when I walk outside (really, I do), but I am told it gets quite hot here too, so I'll be patient.

I'm a little too late to capture the full majesty of this magnolia tree, but when it was completely covered in blooms it was SPECTACULAR!! It is in the front corner of our house and I would have people stop and comment on it all the time. It was a little messy when the blooms dropped, but it was worth it! This picture was taken 4/21 and the next one was today (5/12). Not quite as pink, but still pretty! It is fun to see the progression of the plants in the background and underneath growing too...

If you were to ask, "What kind of weirdo takes a picture of her mailbox?" I could answer, "Me!" I'm a dork, but I love flowers, and after a grey and cold winter, I am relishing these days!

Soon to be strawberries! We have 54 more plants like these...

Connor enjoying the sunshine. I love having a little "retreat" to just hang out on, read, etc. while the boys play.

Isn't it fun? Come visit and see first hand!

Fun with Grandma

We had a party weekend since Grandma Ellsworth came into town. She arrived on Wednesday and we had such a great visit. On Friday Kevin was invited to perform his cello at the memorial service for the medical school and it was beautiful. The whole program was very nicely put together and the number we played added a nice tone.



We had an interesting experience when we ate at King's restaurant, but the rest of the eatin' was pretty good! We tried a new place called Harry's pizza that was fabulous and then ice cream at Sarris' candy shop, and what trip with the boys would be complete with out Olive Garden! We even had a fantastic dinner on Sunday from HoneyBaked Ham. Grandma was sure good to us!!
There was plenty of entertainment as well with the Home Depot clinic on Saturday, as well as several goals at Carson's soccer game.

Uncle Matt came to visit that night with his friend Tally, and after staying up way too late watching Madagascar (I & II), we woke up early on Sunday to go to Stake Conference. It was a satellite broadcast and was nice. Matt said his favorite part was the time: 90 minutes.

It was a fun week, but there were some grumpy faces leaving the airport this morning! Thanks for the great visit everyone!

Carson's shiner

Carson hasn't looked like himself the past few days, and when our neighbor saw him she said, "Wow, I can't wait to see the other guy!"

Daddy told him to say "I saved my daddy from a bear" when people asked him about his eye, but he responded, "No, Daddy, that wouldn't be honest." So the real story? Here goes:

It was Saturday evening and we decided that the boys finally needed a haircut. Since it was a beautiful 70 degrees, we took the clippers out to the deck (to eliminate clean-up). Carson, determined to be last, ran off to the swing set while Connor took his turn. We have a 14-year old neighbor, Josh, who loves the boys and came over to say hello. He started pushing Carson on the swings while I was busy with Connor. Apparently Josh pushed Carson a little higher than he was comfortable, because Carson twisted in the swing to try and slow down, which changed the trajectory and crashed him into the side support beam of the swing set. After hearing the crash and the immediate cries, I rushed over to see Carson's face swelling near his eye. With a quick glance over I wasn't sure if he needed professional help, and with Kevin giving me all of the possible complications (having just completed a full study of the eye), I was a little nervous. We administered ice and a lot of kisses and felt good enough to let him stay home and rest. This picture was taken this morning (I just couldn't do it the first few days. It still makes my stomach twist to look at it, although it looks much better). The swelling has gone down considerably, but you can still see how his cheek bone is lost in some swelling. He is still black and purple (and now green) above and below his eye, but it really does look better!

So no, don't ask to see "the other guy" or how big the bear was. Carson likes things simple and honest, so although the real story isn't much to brag about, he still looks pretty intimidating!

Spring Break

It is Carson's spring break this week and we had big plans to do all sorts of fun things. All of which were outdoors and super fun! Well we live in Pittsburgh, where apparently the seasons tease you. It had been in the 60's and sunny, but then this week (of course), it decided to be in the 20's, snowy and wet. So, we had fun doing indoor things instead!

On Monday we drove Daddy to school and Carson wanted to go play at IKEA in the play center, so we did that and then got a hot dog and smoothie at Costco. I know, my children are unusual because they consider this a fun afternoon, but they really do!

On Tuesday we had family game day where we played an endless game of Monopoly (in which Carson creamed me. Seriously, and I even tried), cootie, candyland, bug hunt, and a bunch of others.

Wednesday we had a bowling day with the neighborhood friends and had a great time. It was Connor, this time, who blew everyone away. He got the highest score each game we bowled.

Thursday was a beautiful warm and sunny day so we finally got outside and the boys played and played and played. I love having a big yard where they just run and imagine. Connor has finally learned to climb the net to get up into the fort, so he is big stuff now that he can slide by himself.

Today is egg day and we painted eggs and made Easter decorations. The boys have been waiting all week for today so we could get ready. Carson made a nice note for the Easter Bunny and we will leave it tonight, since he comes to our house Saturday so we can keep Sunday special and reverent.

Creative mind at work.

Loving his new "baby guy" from Grandma.

Some of the finished results.

It has been fun to have Carson home and with us all day. He is my little sweetheart and I am so grateful for him! Connor has been pretty excited to have a playmate all day too.

Another Home Depot day

Since we are so lucky to be on Eastern Standard Time, we don't have conference broadcast until 12:00pm. This worked out great since it was the first weekend of the month and Carson has been waiting for the next Kid's Clinic at Home Depot. We invited our neighbor friends and they had a great time making window birdhouses. I was prepared this time, and had my camera ready to take action shots throughout the event! Here are the builders hard at work:

Carson hard at work:

Connor hard at work? More like banging the table with the hammer.

The neighborhood friends:

The finished result:

Great builders!

Fun-Filled Morning

We had a fun-filled morning! Our little township has an annual Easter egg hunt and so we ventured out this morning to see what it was about. If you come at 10:00am, they have craft tables set up, face painting, games, and the Easter Bunny roams around to take pictures. Then at 11:00 each child gathers around his designated circle and waits for the signal. At the whistle, they go crazy and pick up as many eggs as they can. They are filled with candy, little toys and prize slips. It was so fun! Even though there was a million people there and the hunt lasted maybe 10 seconds before all the eggs were gone, the boys had a fun time.

After the event we went to Carson's first soccer game. It is through the YMCA and indoors at the elementary school. It is not quite as organzied as the one in Az, but it was still fun, Carson wass really excited to be n the same team as his two friends from the neighborhood, Alex and Coleman. Although he didn't score any goals, he had fun getting back into the game.

Kid's Clinic

On Saturday, we were at Home Depot to purchase some grass seed (that is a long story in itself) and the man at the check-out said there was a free kid's clinic going on if we wanted to go. Of course Carson was up for it, so we had a great time building a speedway. He used a hammer and nails all by himself and did an excellent job of reading and following the directions (good thing too, because I was trying to entertain and put Connor's togther at the same time)!

How did I miss this before? If you have kids, you definitely should check this out. The first Saturday of each month they create a different project and they give the kids a mini apron and the craft kit. When they complete the project, they show the supervisor and then they get a coordinating pin to put on the apron. Carson had a blast and is so excited for the birdhouses they will build next month.
Of course I didn't have my camera at the event, but here are a few "after" photos of the boys playing with their creations.




Oops! Don't mind Connor's fingers as he tried to grab the camera.