Alright, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close up!

We've had several requests for "better pictures" of the Goodbar Car - so here they are!!



Brandon tried to convince the little kids that Jared had bitten the end off the block of wood.



Complete with Nutrition Facts.



And to answer the most asked question - No, we didn't paint the wheels yellow. They are official BSA wheels that we picked up at Michael's Craft Store.

Pinewood Derby XIII

Last night was Jared's Pinewood Derby!!



He and his dad spent several nights working on Mr. Goodbar!!



It ended up being a pretty fast little car...not the fastest, but pretty fast for a candy bar!



Another successful Pinewood Derby!!! Congratulations Jared!

Happy Birthday Joseph, Part II

So yesterday morning I say to Joseph, "Today is your birthday, what do you want to do?" He thought for just a second and quickly replied, "I want to go to Dr. Bates' office." (our dentist) Wasn't exactly the Chuck E Cheese or McPlayLand answer I was expecting. We spent the day at home - you can see the great day he had in the entry below this one!

I bumped in to Dr. Bates at church later that same night...I lost count of the wet noodle lashes...today we went to Dr. Bates' office!

He was greeted in the lobby with a bouquet of balloons and was offered a fun ride in the wheel chair - he wanted nothing to do with that!!



Gloves!! Joseph loves gloves and had fun dressing up like a dentist.



A quick high-five (that was quicker than I was w/ the camera) and we let the office get back to normal!



Not many little boys get to come home from the dentist's office with balloons, a card signed by everyone, a box of cupcakes (which I was happy to see had as much frosting as the ones I made yesterday...a little job security for the dentist maybe), and a gold dollar.



When your family spends as much time at the dentist as ours does, it's nice to have a good doctor. We're very lucky to have the best!

Happy Birthday Joseph!

It's hard to believe our little Joseph Barry is 4 years old!!
He woke up before dad left this morning so he got to have a brownie for breakfast, complete with a birthday candle!



A little bird told me that there may be something in the mail for Joseph today - so we ventured out to the box...



...low and behold!! Joseph was thrilled to find something in the box just for him!



A gift from Grandma Janet and Grandpa Gary!



TOY STORY!



I tried something new for his "cake" - they actually turned out really well! Yes, there is an unholy amount of gut churning frosting on these things...but they LOOK good!



Time for presents!



A card from Great Grandma Margaret!



Blow out the candles!



A call from Grandpa Gary - the perfect end to a perfect birthday!

Easter Egg Hunt

Because Easter fell on General Conference weekend, we didn't attend the annual egg hunt in Colville. It worked out that my sister was out of town that weekend so we decided to get together the following weekend and hunt eggs and candy then.

It was a wonderful day! The weather cooperated! Grandma brought frosted sugar cookies...



...with lemon frosting...



...and I got to be 10 years old again and eat a cookie with my name on it!



We had a lunch of mostly frosted cookies and a little taco soup on the side.



After lunch it was all about the eggs!!!



Meredith really had fun this year!




Melanie left no stone unturned!



Madilyn took a lot of these pictures...I'm glad her dad got this one of her - look how beautiful she is!



Jared spots an egg!!!



Joseph was thrilled with each piece of candy...



...and even slowed down long enough to share a little with Grandpa Gary!



Sour??



Grandpa & Auntie Lindsay batting clean up looking for any unfound eggs....ha ha ha - like that would happen!

Easter Sunday

Easter is my favorite holiday! My next favorite thing is when Easter falls during General Conference weekend!! Costco Muffins for breakfast. Costco Croissant sandwiches for lunch. A ham. Dinner with China and Crystal. Watching The Ten Commandments...yes, the whole thing! It all makes the perfect weekend!



While Brandon and the boys were gone Saturday night, I made a "Sunflower Cake" for Easter dinner!



There were countless wonderful talks given during General Conference. This is one I'd like to share. I'm so grateful to be a mother!

Colored Eggs

Color kits sure have come a long way since we used to sit at my Grandma Margaret's kitchen table, the house reeking of vinegar! The most impressive magic of the kits was those rub-off images of Lilies and Crosses that we could put on the eggs after they were dry!



Now we put sticky stickers of goofy faces on the eggs. MUCH cuter!!

The Forgotten Dinner

Parent Teacher Conferences were the week before Spring Vacation. I am not a huge fan of that ritual. This time around I opted to get them all scheduled on the same day. Jacob and Maddie had their Student-Led conferences at 8:30 am. Jared's & Megan's conferences started at 2:30 - them Malorie's and Melanie's started around 4pm. My plan was to be home the same time Brandon got home from work at 5pm.

Before leaving the house for the afternoon conferences I put some frozen Rhodes rolls into the warm oven to thaw and rise so we could have scones for dinner. The conferences started to run late. Before I knew it I was calling home close to 6pm.

I told Brandon abt the plan for scones and this is what he found when he opened the oven.



"Scones, anyone??"

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Well, of course I bought everyone St. Patrick's Day clothes and made them wear them!

Here's the early-early morning crew. They're up and gone before anyone else even rolls out of bed in the morning...(And Brandon got away w/ wearing an old green shirt b/c we didn't get his new one ironed in time...story of my life!)



Here's the second wave of up-and-at-'ems.



And then there's Little Miss Wake-Up-Whenever-She-Feels-Like-It!



I know the day will come when these two won't like to dress alike - until then, I'm going to enjoy every second of it!



Dinner was wonderful! We had Irish Stew, Corned Beef & Cabbage (which I had never made before and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was...even the kids ate it). We also had Irish Soda Bread, Green & White Cupcakes and Ginger Ale - seemed like we needed to have "Ale" with an Irish Dinner! We also invited "Grandma Betty" to come to dinner. We had so much fun with her. She goes to church with us and will sometimes sit with our family. The kids smothered her after dinner with books and "watch this" tricks. It was a GREAT St. Patrick's Day!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Meredi!!

On Friday we were at Grandma Janet & Grandpa Gary's house and Meredi got to open her gift from them...this cute dress and a pink sweatshirt to go with it.



Tonight we had a fast family part since everyone had somewhere to be...



Blowing out the candles and eating her cake...



Reading her card from Great Grandma Margaret...