April 23, 2014

Easter - 2014

We celebrated Easter all week!  We started Monday night dyeing our eggs for Family Home Evening.  The boys were so into it this year.  We did a lot of eggs!


Quinn even got in on the action making a gigantic mess!


Caden, our resident artist, dyed most of his eggs at least 3 times each.

I got a pretty good reaction when I surprised the boys making a minion egg.
Right after this picture was taken Caden dropped his freakishly large, perfect blue egg and cracked it...resulting in tears to end our perfect evening!
  Saturday morning we had an epic Easter egg hunt/picnic with friends at the park.  There were 300 eggs and 20 kiddos.  So much fun!






Running for the eggs!  Luckily, we gave the 2 year olds and under a head start!

The big kids waiting for their turn.

The kids did this all on their own, just waiting for the Dads to finish hiding those eggs!

The boys found baskets on Sunday morning!





Caden found his in the oven.
 The boys all dressed up in their Sunday best!
No matter what I say, Ethan thinks it looks best to have the tie outside of his vest.
 
Right when we got home from church the boys "surprised" us by getting out of their church clothes all on their own.  They came up in some of the best pajama combinations ever!
We spent the rest of the evening as a family!  We watched a few videos and talked about the resurrection of our Savior.  Because of Him we can live forever with our families!  I'm so grateful for this Easter season to reflect on this priceless blessing.

April 22, 2014

Quinn - 17 Months

Oh how I love my little Quinn Grin!  He is just too cute right now.  I haven't done a very good job of keeping track of all of his tricks and milestones, but he has grown and changed so much in the last few weeks.

The biggest change is that he is talking.  He started saying a few words, and quickly that turned into parroting everything that he hears.  He has started to say little phrases, "I love you," "love you too," "where's mommy?" "I so cute."  He calls Ethan "E.E.," Caden is "Cay, Cay," but he has yet to say his own name.  When we tuck him in he names his favorite buddies that sleep in his crib, "Mickey, Snoopy, Dolly Pie and Tigger."  I need some videos of his little voice right now, it is all too cute!

At Ethan's soccer game he kept yelling, "shoot it, go blue, hi E.E."
His favorite toys are balls.  He loves to throw and have a ball at all times.  He loves vrooming cars along the ground, and racing them down his little race track.  When we go outside his favorite toy is the big push broom that he uses to sweep the road.


His favorite game with Grammy was smacking the birthday balloons.
He wants to be independent.  He tries to dress himself.  Frequently I find him with someone else's shoes on in the family.  

Pretty proud to put on Ethan's soccer cleats.



He is affectionate and sweet.  He loves to give hugs and kisses.  The other day when I put him in his car seat he was whining and trying to get my attention, finally I realized he just wanted a hug.  So I gave him one and he was good to go.  He has done that at the grocery store several times too, while riding around in the cart he just wants a hug as we go, so he reaches out his little arms until I lean into him.  It's pretty heart melting.


He also likes giving hugs to his big brothers...usually he knocks Caden over.  He also imitates EVERYTHING that he sees and hears from his brothers.



I'm only posting this picture because Google Plus added this photobomb #hoffsome!  It freaked me out when I first saw it.
We've been loving the spring weather!  We go to the park several times a week.  This little guy won't take the safe stairs up to his favorite slides...he has to take the climbing wall, or the rocking ladder, or any other dangerous way just to make me nervous.  





He has started to get over his attachment issues and gets excited to go play with other kids at different houses.
He has the most expressive big blue eyes and eyelashes, along with his cute little grin he can pretty much get everything that he wants...and he knows it!

He's pretty special and pretty great!  We LOVE this little guy!

April 20, 2014

Photos of the Century, Really, Best Ever

So a few weeks ago Ethan had soccer pictures taken, I was out of town so my mom took him.  I didn't even plan on ordering pictures, but my mom felt bad and ordered some, I am so glad she did!  These are priceless!

When I first opened the envelope I saw this one:

It definitely made me chuckle...but then I saw the group shot!

And a close up of my first born!
Oh. My. Word.  I took one look and couldn't stop giggling, I literally cried my make-up off laughing so hard.  I noticed several other moms were also chuckling and I heard Ethan's name mentioned more than once.  Ethan went to get his treat after the game and the treat mom had run out, so he started to cry, I still could not compose myself and was crying myself.  We were getting a lot of weird looks, so I finally just put my arm around him and ushered him quickly to the car.

Seriously, I have no idea what the photographer could have possibly said to get this face!

These pictures kind of sum up this soccer season perfectly.  It was out of Ethan's comfort zone for sure, but he has powered through, even managed to touch the ball a time or two during games, and usually ends practice with a smile on his face.  I'm glad I will have these pictures forever to remember this special season.

Vernal Spring Break

I took the boys on a little road trip to Vernal for the last park of Ethan's Spring Break.  I spent the first part of the break with my friend Sora Sarah, one of my favorite mission companions!  The best part is that she married one of Clark's mission companions.  And to make things even crazier, we each have 3 boys now, almost exactly the same ages!
With 6 little boys it was wild and crazy and so much fun!


Ethan, Rhett, Caden, Hank, Quinn and Lee


 We spent the last part of the trip with the famous Grandma P.!  To make things even better my parents came for the weekend.

The boys were pretty excited to wake up and find that Grammy had arrived!
 All 3 boys loved Grandpa tossing them onto the bed!  Especially Quinn.

 Enjoying a bedtime story with Great-Grandmother Peterson.