Angel's birthday party "Cupcake Wars"

Though her birthday was a few months ago, it's still so hard to believe our little Angel is a TEENAGER!!  I remember the day she was born as if it were yesterday!  The years really have flown by!  Angel is such a sensitive, kind-hearted girl.  She's always the first to notice if I'm having a hard day, and the very first to try to help me in any way she can.

She worried about making friends after moving to a new place but already had dozens of friends by her birthday (only a few months after starting school)!  It was hard for her to narrow down which friends to invite to her party, as she was terribly worried about hurting someone's feelings when leaving them out.  She ultimately invited some church friends and some school friends and we ended up with a great group of girls playing "Cupcake Wars".  They had a great time and it was so fun to get to know some of her new friends!

Roller skating and other random fun

I've been organizing my photos lately and some are so random they don't really 'belong' anywhere.  So here they are, for your viewing pleasure.  I love my kids!!

That time we went roller skating and Scratch picked up a girlfriend!  They skated all around together - adorable!  He finds girlfriends almost everywhere we go....he will point to a girl and say "Hey Mommy - That my gill (how he pronounces girl)".  Cutest kid ever!!

What happens when Scratch gets my phone:

Too many trips to the pet store to get crickets for the lizard! :)

Angel's cultural project at school - she did a great job!

Scratch's many hair-dos:

"helping" with the laundry

grocery store horsie ride!

 look who found his big brother's nerf bullet collection!

 microwave s'mores! yum!

 Wiggles made a hat for a book report about "Percy Jackson"

At the pet store to get crickets for the lizard, the kids fell in love with a puppy!

 Enjoying our local pool!

Our neighbors got chicks! Scratch was in love!

Angel the Track Star

Angel decided to join the track team this year (for the first time!)  She surprised us by running the hurdles!  And also competed in the long jump, 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relays, and threw shot put and discus.  She was a busy girl!!  I wish I'd been able to get a better photo of her jumping the hurdles but she was just too fast! :)

The other kids were troopers at the many long (often 'boring') meets we attended!!  One particular meet, Scratch brought along Raegan (Wiggles' stuffed animal) and it kept him occupied for hours!

Earth Day in Omaha

We took a trip down to Omaha to visit the temple, and afterwards had fun visiting an "Earth Day" festival where the kids got to climb ropes up to the top of the tree!!!  They were SO high up (Wiggles the highest of all) that most of the pictures didn't turn out since they were just specks at the top of the tree...but Scratch and I sure enjoyed watching them climb, swing around, and then slide back down!!

Here is Grins making his way up!

 Angel is working hard!

 Angel swinging in the trees! :)

 Grins is working hard!

 It's amazing how high they got!!

 Wiggles is the one hanging by one hand in the center of the photo!  This is how she spent most of her time in the tree!  She is fearless!!

 Scratch REALLY wanted to climb but was too young. Not to be outdone, he climbed up the rock wall at the park all by himself!  "Don't help me, Mommy!"

We also visited the Mormon Trail Visitors Center and got to see our former babysitter from Oregon who is now serving as a missionary there!  Scratch and Wiggles had a great time dressing up like pioneers!

A second winter

You know it's a serious snowstorm when the whole city of Sioux Falls shuts down!!  You'd never know it's the middle of April when you wake up to 18 inches of snow coming in sideways!  Most stores shut down Sat, all our community classes and sporting events were canceled - and church was even canceled for Sunday!  We were grateful to have two days home as a family with nowhere to go!  We took advantage of every minute! 

Of course - you'd never know it is winter by the way Grins dresses!!

Saturday: Daddy built shelves in the garage, Mommy painted the living room and the kids built forts inside, out of the box of our new treadmill, and then snow forts outside once the snow had stopped!  Their snow fort had 3 "rooms", each connected via "underground" tunnels.  They also created a throne for "Sire Scratch" as well as an Igloo for the neighbor boys!  They are quite the talented sno-architects! ;)

Angel working on the tunnel!

Wiggles in the Igloo

Wiggles modeling the "throne" :)

Scratch LOVES the forts!

Sunday: We had our own little "church meeting", lots of quiet reading/journal/letter writing time, and then had a Family Bake-off!  Since we were left with no eggs (thanks to the snow storm), we had to get creative!

Daddy and Wiggles made the Harry Potter Chocolate Toffee Trifle - RUNNER UP!

Grins and Angel made their own creative Chocolate PB Truffle / Salted Pretzel Chocolate Cupcakes - WINNER of both Best Presentation and Best Tasting Awards!!

Mommy and Scratch made white chocolate macadamia nut cookies!  Not pretty, but pretty tasty. ;)

While we are ready for Spring, we thoroughly enjoyed the snow days, home together as a family!!

A couple more pics of our fun:

We love seeing Angel and Grins creatively working together in the kitchen!  They are so talented and creative!

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The kids worked out a throne (Wiggles as the seat) for "Sire Scratch".  He sure runs things around here! ;)

The snowfall was crazy - all this overnight!!