Happy Easter!

EGGstravaganza

On Saturday, between the girl's dress rehearsal and dance recital performance, the kid's and I went to the zoo for their Easter event (Daddy stayed home to study, the end of the semester can not come FAST enough!). They had lots of activities and information about egg-laying animals, including dinosaurs, so Benson was very happy and in his element. We also bought a membership to the zoo for the year so I'm sure we will be back lots!

1 - Sabrina posing, 2 - Grace posing, 3 - Benson and Grace Horspool showing that they are taller than a velociraptor, 4 - Benson trying out the rope ladder, 5 - Grace on the balance beam, 6 - Helping to paint a pinata that will be used for Earth Day

Who's who?

Can you correctly identify our daughters, each pictured here at 15 months old? I actually think they all 3 look more alike than I ever realized. And here's a picture of Benson at the same age. It's too easy to tell him apart being the only boy!

All they want to do is DANCE!

Grace and Sabrina have been taking a dance class through the Parks and Recreation department since January. They have had so much fun and last night was their recital. They were so excited and did a great job performing. The mom of one of the other girl's in their class made matching flowers for each of their hair which was so sweet and a nice touch. Grace did have a little technical difficulty with her flower, which was my fault. Next time I'll do a better job. Mike and Benson brought them flowers which made them feel so special. We forgot the video camera but we did record it on our camera so the quality isn't the best. Grace is on stage first with another little girl and then Sabrina and the rest of the class joins after a minute.

Untitled from Jessica Richards on Vimeo.

Meeting Cousins

The second weekend in April we made a quick trip to Bartlesville (Friday night after work to Sunday after Sacrament Meeting) to meet two very special little people, our new nephews Owen (Kathleen & Bryce) and Landon (Chelsea & Matt). Owen was blessed in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday and we were so happy to be there for that. We all spent lots of time holding babies. Mike even held both of them at the same time, no doubt relishing being surrounded by boys for once! Holding babies makes everyone so happy, we can't wait to go back and hold them again soon!

1 - Sabrina holding Landon, 2 - Grace holding Owen, Jilly in the middle, and Sabrina holding Landon, 3 - Mike with Owen on the left and Landon on the right, 4 - Jilly with Landon, 5 - Benson holding Landon, 6 - Grandpa found Aunt Chelsea's hair extension outside and thought he should try it on...probably shouldn't have!

And here's an adorable video of Jillian holding Landon. She does the head-turning while making excited noises to all babies. She did it to Owen when she first saw him as well and he totally looked right at her and smiled, it was precious. Too bad I didn't have the camera on me at the moment. She loves babies!

13 times 4 = Exhausted Parents

Benson missed school the Friday before Spring Break started because he had been running a fever the night before. On the first day back to school after the break, right before he was about to leave on the bus, he got really upset and said something about his project and needing to finish it and Mike and I were looking at each other thinking what is he talking about. That afternoon he came home with a paper describing a Night-Time Study Project that was due that week. It should have come home BEFORE Spring Break but since Benson missed that day we didn't find out about it until right before it was due. So one evening that week, the whole family spent several hours helping put together Benson's poster and presentation on Leopard Geckos.

Sometimes the realities of parenting hit you hard. That night Mike and I realized that we are going to go through all 13 years of school 4 more times. And it made us really tired.