Megan's Dance Recital

Megan took a tap class this year. She did great!

Here's one with Megan and her good friend Abby.

Kate's First Birthday

Kate turned one in May. We had some friends over to celebrate. She loved being the center of attention and getting a cupcake all to herself.

Shhhh - Don't tell mom that I've hijacked her blog!

I feel like I haven't been getting enough exposure here on mom's blog, so I've hijacked this post to show you a bunch of random pictures from this spring. Everyone needs a daily dose of cuteness, and here is yours.

Aren't I about the cutest thing ever?

 I love waiting for the kids to come home from school by this window. And I love playing with my sister.

And I love playing with my brother too. He's a little crazy, but I like him.

This is the first time my mommy put my hair in two pigtails. Aren't I adorable? She should do my hair more often.

I love my baby doll. I love to hug her and rock her and share my paci with her and bang her on the tile floor and stand on her. I love her.

I love the splash pad. Even when mom doesn't plan on me getting wet. I love to crawl through the water. And then to crawl over and hug her so she can share in the water.

I love trying new foods. Even things that you wouldn't expect almost-one-year-olds to like. Like lemons.

And sour cream.

According to my mom's Facebook wall, I started taking two or three steps at a time in mid March, but they finally got around to documenting my amazing prowess in mid April.

Jared Turns 6

Jared turned 6 in May. How has the time gone so fast? How has he gotten so BIG??!!

This year, he wanted a Lego themed party. We played lots of games with Legos.

We made "bowls" out of Legos to hold the food.

We used lots of Legos for decorations.

Travis made Jared a chocolate "Lego Cake".

Everyone had a wonderful time.

Last Day of the 2011-2012 School Year

The kids had a great year.

Megan loved her second grade teacher, Mrs. Dobbs and Jared loved his kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Sheppard.

Every afternoon, Kate waits at the window for the kids to come home. She gets so excited to see them when they get off the bus.

After dinner, we took the kids to Ritters to celebrate the end of school.  Jared chose a scoop of chocolate ice cream with Oreos and sprinkles and m&ms and whipped cream.

Megan chose to have a Frito Pie instead of ice cream. (Sometimes we aren't so sure about her....)

Present: It's the simple things

Sometimes having a good time doesn't mean going anywhere or doing anything fancy. Sometimes it means watching a baby experience eating an Oreo for the first time.

The Houston Temple

Since the Houston Temple grounds are open on Sundays (LDS temples and churches are used for different purposes. Temples aren't open on Sundays), the Bishop encouraged the members of our ward (congregation) to take our families and go walk around. We went last Sunday. The grounds are GORGEOUS! It was such a beautiful way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

 It was cool to see Megan and Jared and Kate standing in front of the temple doors. I was thinking about the song "I Love to See the Temple".

For more information about LDS temples, check out Mormon.org

2nd Grade Field Trip

Megan's grade went to the Hockley Oil Ranch for their field trip. They had a petting zoo, pony rides, a hay ride where you got to feed cows and goats, plus lots of things to swing/climb/play on. Megan loved it and I loved being there with her.

Kindergarten Field Trip - Houston Zoo

All of the kindergarteners went to the Houston Zoo for their end-of-the-year field trip. I was happy that I got to go along and chaperone. It was a lot of fun spending the day with Jared and his friends.

Easter 2012

 I love Easter - it doesn't get any better than this:

or this:

And definitely not this:

But best of all, this:

Camping

We went camping at Steven F. Austin Park with the Bounds and the Fosters on Friday and Saturday before Easter. It was lots of fun to be outdoors, and to spend time with friends (although I could have done without the gnat swarms and the mosquitoes who sucked vats of blood out).

Since we haven't done much camping (I'm more of a hotel/pool/room service kind of girl in general), we needed a tent. Travis chose it. I think it's larger than our first apartment - it can hold 3 queen sized mattresses and has three separate rooms.

The kids found a tree with lots of low branches. They loved climbing on it, hanging from the branches, etc. Megan had me take her picture while she was climbing.

Kate was just starting to take a few steps when we went camping. She wasn't really walking, but she was crawling and cruising. By the time we came home, she was FILTHY from playing in the dirt so much. She LOVED it.

Since Easter was the next day, we arranged for the kids to have a little Easter Egg Hunt in our camp ground. They had lots of fun collecting eggs.

Thanks to the Bounds family for coordinating everything! We had a lot of fun!