Easter cake for Birthday - shhhhh

Another April Birthday.  Celie turned 7!  Thanks for the gifts and cards.  She cherishes them.

Easter morning!  The Easter Bunny left eggs for the kids to find.  They were so fun to watch.

Egg hunt at the community park.

Marty traveled to Curitiba for work.  He had a nice time.  We missed him over the Easter weekend though.

Our first harvest from our garden was the "winter squash" medley.   I need to learn how to cook them now.  Wait until you see our tomatoes!!!!!

Swim team for Celie and Jack has started.  We go to the pool almost everyday.  Jack has to battle his nerves and Celie goes twice as fast when she is competing.  They are loving it.

Celie waiting in line to swim laps.

April fun

Jack fell down from his super fast bike on the brand new asphalt track in the school yard.  He looked like hamburger for a long while.  Yuck.

 Jett smiles all the time.  Even when he is in trouble. :)

Happy Birthday Marty!  The big 30!  I surprised him with friends to take him to a shooting range to fire his new gun!  I think he liked it.

Pool time already.  Hot outside and swimsuits worn half the day.  Summer fun is on the way!

Finally Bluebonnet pictures!

My son's Valentine message for me

I only love you on Valentines Day Mom.

Yes, I am sad.

Blessing Dress Pictures

 I took my sister in-law's advice and dressed Mirra up in her blessing dress for pictures now that she can sit up.  She has been sitting up since her 5 month birthday.  These pictures are on our deck in our backyard.

 This is probably my favorite picture.  At home her nickname is princess.  How fitting her tiara is.                     

Here is the full dress.  Isn't it beautiful?  Thanks Becky!!!!

 Mirra's eyes are so bright and big and beautiful.  They are starting to turn from a deep blue gray to a brown.  Just like all the other kids.















Mirra loves to rock back and forth when sitting up or on our lap.  She has started to grab things a lot and she is very interested in my spoon when eating.  She will squawk at me until I place it in her mouth.  She loves to have you look in her eyes and talk to her.  I still swaddle her tight, but I think she will be done with that soon.  She is the most slobbery kid I have ever seen.  I go through many bibs a day.  There are no teeth in sight, but the slobber keeps on coming.  I think I am doing more laundry for her than I did with my other kids.  What a cute little girl we are blessed with.

Utah trip

Home for Christmas this year. I know, 4 kids, we are crazy. Santa did find us, but with a bit of difficulty. We did a lot of visiting and projects and fun things, but we didn't make it even half way through our to do list. We enjoyed the cold and snow. Our most fun thing was tearing through the old barn (ok just Marty did the tearing). We took home barn wood for frames and for Marty to make a table. It is turning into a big project, but an exciting one. We were able to get family photos from both sides of our families. It has been a long time since we have done that. We all went to little beaver to night ski. Celie got to try out skiing for the first time. She did very well. As you can see from the pictures the boys got to try skiing from a high point of view!
It was nice to meet my Dad's fiance'. She is such a nice person and has great daughters. She made Christmas morning very homey. Marty's parents were nice as always, letting us take over their home. We had a nice time. Thanks for having us!!

The wonderful car ride to Utah. I am glad I didn't take pictures on the way home. It was much worse. :)

We stopped first at Marty's brother's house and had a wonderful time with cousins.

We got to share their first time having a meal on their new table.

Celie and Ava both born in 2004

Poor Mirra was in the car seat a lot.

Outside on the farm with Connie's kids

Jack and cousin Blake

Jett for a 4-wheeler ride

Jack just kept posing for me so I kept clicking.

Cute cousins

Mirra and Velva

Christmas morning pics

Marty cleaning up Christmas for the third time and certainly not the last.

My silly Dad and Sheree.

Our Family

Benson Family photo

Good Job Celie!!

Jack doing extreme skiing

Jett doing extreme skiing

Family pictures

Pictures of the barn soon to be torn down.