Yay for Daddy!

Happy Birthday to Daddy!  

We made you a cake...

...it was delicious! ;) 

~AND~

Happy Father's Day!

Thanks for doing fun things with us!

We love you so much!

A special day for Mommy

Jarrod really, really went out of his way this year to make Mother's Day special.  FIRST, he finished his last big paper for seminary EARLY so that it wouldn't be hanging over us to work on that day.   Then, he let me sleep in, surprising me with a huge bouquet of flowers and hand-print cards from the kids.. made breakfast AND cleaned the kitchen afterward.. and then continued to have surprises for me throughout the day.  

It was extra-special because the kids are getting old enough to realize that the day was different from other days.. and Jarrod helped them by giving them little things to give me with throughout the day as well.  

Chocolate! Yum!

 Hugs and kisses... just what I wanted! ;)

Thanks, honey, for making it such a special day!

Puddle jumping

When it rains..

Go play in it!

Smile! It's Marc's Party!

Yesterday was Marc's 4th Birthday Party!  He was pumped to have a "Smiley Face Party" with four of his closest friends (and their families!). We touched up our decorations a bit from his birthday on Thursday and got ready to celebrate Marc with lots of games, food, and fun!

Game 1:  Smiley bowling!  We drew smily faces on Marc's yellow plastic balls and on small plastic cups that I painted yellow, then lined the kids up and challenged them to knock over the cups with the balls.  It was a hit!

 Game 2: Smiley ball toss!  Jarrod cut out a smiley face on a large box and we painted it yellow.  Then used the same small plastic yellow balls from the first game to toss into the box.  The kids had a great time (as long as they were close enough to get at least one ball in the smile!)

Game 3: Disney Bingo!  It was one of Marc's birthday presents, and he was excited to share it with everyone!  When each of the kids got Bingo, they received a prize that they all opened when the game was over.  They loved it!

  (notice the family picture above the TV.. throughout the week prior to the party - Marc, Emmalyn and I painted a bunch of smiley faces, cut them out, and posted them around the house! It was great to get him involved with the decorating!)

The Food! That always brings a smile in our house! :)  We had fruit, veggies, popcorn, and pizza -- some of Marc's favorites!  I wanted to see if the pizza place would make smiles on the pizza.. but I settled for making smiley fruit and veggie platters:

YUM!

And the Cake!

What is a party without Friends (and presents..)!

Happy 4th Birthday, Marc Charles!

Snow day!

Hooray! We finally got enough snow to have a SNOW DAY!  I wonder if students know HOW MUCH their teachers hope for snow days.  We were delighted to have Daddy home -- he took the "big kids" out to lead the charge in playtime!  Mommy was glad to photograph the fun and admire from the window while Alaina slept.

The view from our apartment:

Happy Snow Day!