The Plant Boys

Presley has been throwing up so we are home from church today. Before I tackle organizing drawers, I'm going to do a quick post. Gotta let that motivation build up! I finally got a shot of the boys in their Easter Sunday best! Noah's photo moment was short lived as he realized he had put on a short-sleeved shirt and had to go change! Could it be my son is becoming particular about what he wears?? Nooooo!

Then there's go-with-the-flow Charlie. Josh and I want to push the pause button on him till we move closer to family. We don't want anyone to miss out on this cuteness.

Charlie noticed a dog being walked nearby. He started to say "pee-boo" to it.

Hanging around and a project!

I am in a little group at church where we get together and decide what kind of things we want to learn about or activities we want to do. We've done some cool stuff. One night we made frozen dinners to help our busy daytimes. Another time we learned to knit and the other night we made throw pillows. Wanna see mine?:

Don't ask me how the heck I made the ruffle! My friend Brittany helped make my idea come to life. She taught a group of four of us how to make pillows or bread bags in an hour and a half. We all left her house with way cute completed projects. Amazing.

Here is a pic from last night. Our kids just make themselves at home at our friends' the Stone's house. Here is Charlie on Sam's lap. Sam and Josh watched the NFL draft from their side by side Lazy Boy chairs! I can't believe I didn't get a shot of Josh with his cake!

Here are some pics from today. We're just hanging out. I am so glad it's spring. Everything outside is so much prettier-even my kids, ha!! I like that they aren't all bundled up.

Happy Birthday my love

Josh is 30 today! We celebrated by watching the NFL draft at some friends' house. We ate lots of great food and I made a white cake with homemade Hershey's chocolate frosting. Note to self almond extract isn't as good in chocolate frosting as it is vanilla. For tonight we are watching four kids for some friends. It will be a party of it's own! I sure love my sweet, fun, spontaneous, hard-working, hilarious, and kind husband!

{I heart} the Museum of Science

I would be lying if I said that we have NOT been to this place three times in the past week. I love it for many reasons: proximity to my house, easily accessible, GREAT for the kids, lots to explore, and just a fun place. The locals here can get free passes through our libraries, but there are a limited amount of these passes. I was sad knowing that all the passes had been taken up for this week due to (yet another) school break. To my great excitement Josh announced that for his birthday this year he wanted to get us all the family pass to the Museum of Science! What a great dad.

Last week our friends, Nate and Catharine were in town with their little girls so we headed over and checked out the live animals.

Here are Nate and Catharine at the Live animal stage with their girls. So fun to have you guys!

Then yesterday Noah requested that we skip watching people run in their under ware (Boston Marathon!) and go once again to the museum.

The workers in the Children's Discovery Center are sooo attentive. My friend Kirsten and I were laughing at how they kept "trapping" our kids into learning things! They loved it, though. :)

Beach Day

It was like summer on Wednesday here. 92 degrees actually. Charlie, Pres and I decided it was time to hit the beach. I'm so glad we did because ever since then, it's been cold and gloomy. I'm so grateful for our fluke day! My only regret was not pulling Noah out of school to chill with us!

I grew up going to the beach all the time and my mom always made a fun event of it. I try to mimic that and make sandwiches out of yummy bread and bring fun drinks. I want my kids to adore the beach like their momma!

The airport is right on the coast so lots of the beaches showcase the airplanes landing and taking off. My friend, Kate has the most amazing photo of a plane above her families' heads at the beach blown up in her living room.

Big Boy Bed

We converted Charlie's crib to a big boy bed and life is good! I thought it would be a nightmare. Charlie does get out of bed at least 5 times, but he doesn't cry at bed time. It is more fun for him. It's kind of funny how in the morning he just gets up and walks into our room now. He stands at my face with out stretched arms. Like a robot, I just pull him under my covers.

Easter with the Plants 2010

First, the basket discovery:

Next year I want us to start THIS awesome tradition (see the photo with the strings).

Next, the hunt:

Charlie and Presley making a little business deal... I was impressed with how considerate these guys were about the kid who didn't get very many eggs. My babies are growing up!

Then the egg dying (we totally did things out of order):

Check it out, a photo of ME! --ignore the jammies and glasses:)

The perfect messy blue egg! I LOVE it.

I did get one kiddo to model a new Easter dress. Presley could hardly wait to put this on.

See what I mean?

I hope everyone is "feeling the love" this Easter weekend.

Our plans? We will be listening to the most amazing talks tomorrow and Sunday (and celebrating Easter with family in Rhode Island). If you need inspiration, guidance, or just a boost check it out. LDS General Conference. It is the reason I do what I do and believe what I believe.

Caught in the Act!

I took a couple of sneaky pics of the kiddos this week. I don't own a point and shoot camera so it takes some skill to be sneaky with my bulky slr. This first picture was last weekend when I was trying to finish up dishes real quick before I got the kids to bed. They were goofing off in the living room and all of a sudden it got quiet. I can't believe all three of them fell asleep like this. I imagine Charlie purposely curled up next to his hero, Noah. He gets plenty of face time with Pres during the day. Noah becomes such a commodity. Noah will be playing and Charlie climbs on his back and gives him big hugs.

I have to preface this next photo with the question, "why haven't I discovered the magic of permanent markers until now?" I always keep my permanent markers up high where no one can get to them. Then Noah and Presley begged to use some on this workbook meant for dry erase markers (I cautiously said okay) and oh my goodness, a new wold has opened up to them! Noah has had a love/hate relationship with writing. His fine motor skills needed work since kindergarten. Noah just wasn't into it. But when he gets to use a permanent marker he's writing and drawing up a storm! We invited Presley's good friend, Ella over for a morning and the two gals spent over an hour on this work book listening (and singing) to tunes while I did the dishes. It was bliss! Did I mention Charlie was at a toddler time play date? It was a peaceful girls only morning.

Last but not least...

Now that we are out of March and into April, I have a new art project of the month. Today we made easter bunnies in a spring scene. I promise all my art projects WON'T be holiday centered!! I taught Joy School today and it mentioned making bunnies out of paper plates with all sorts of bells and whistles I didn't have. I decided to make up my own bunny project. Next time I will have to post pictures of the process, but today with 5 little ones in my dining room, working with gobs of glue and paint, that wasn't gonna happen!

I started with the white card stock and then glued some cloud scrapbook paper on top. Earlier I cut up an egg carton to make the tulips and poppies. Then I let the kids paint them while we talked about using white to lighten the colors. We should have glued the grass on last as it made the flowers difficult to keep on. I mentioned before that even young kids are interested in using glue AND paint. Charlie really enjoys it even it he only paints for a few minutes before he wants to see what it tastes like. I think it's important for developing those fine motor skills. Charlie didn't get through this whole project, though. I would recommend it for children 4 and older. Even though they aren't perfect, the kids really enjoyed making these. Mixing mediums makes it more interesting for them. Work on the cutting, the painting, and the gluing all in one project. Why not?