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!

Silly brothers!

Scratch has recently learned how to take pictures on my phone!  Several times over the past week I have received alerts such as "your phone memory is full" or "unable to receive incoming texts/messages due to insufficient storage".  Confused, I look through my phone only to find hundreds! (literally!) of the floor, walls, photos of peoples feet, legs, etc.  It has been fun seeing things from Scratch's perspective. :)

I just found these from a recent "photo shoot" the boys must have done one day when I was preoccupied.  Never a dull moment with these two!

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!!