Easter

We went and stayed at Grandma Stacey and Grandpa Jeff's house on Saturday night for Easter. The kids woke up to an Easter egg hunt that they really enjoyed. Benson definitely won for most eggs found, but the girls didn't seem to mind. They ate LOTS of candy and yummy cinnamon rolls and then we dyed a few eggs before we went to church. Grandma (with the help of Aunt Chelsea) bought the girls some adorable dresses complete with a hat for Grace which she LOVED. Mike was asked to sing a solo for Sacrament Meeting because someone got sick last minute and he did a great job. Although I'm not sure I will be able to talk him into going to Bartlesville for church again soon (just kidding). We completed the day with a delicious Easter dinner of ham and cheesy potatoes - yum! It's so fun to have family around to spend holidays with.

Checking out their Easter baskets and new Sunday shoes

Grace hunting for eggs

Sabrina dying her egg and eating some mini m&ms

Grace dying her eggs with the help of her ponies - one of those is actually Sabrina's, but Grace has officially taken it over because she has to have 2 of everything

What do you think he was about to do?

All dressed up in their new Easter outfits

When we first put them on the couch they all looked so serious and wouldn't smile, but then...

Grandpa started yelling at them "Look at me you kids!" and Ben and Grace started cracking up...Sabrina was too tired to care

Benson has been mimicking Grandpa's yelling all day...and then he and Grace crack up...what silly children!

It's always fun when Grandma comes

Last week we enjoyed a wonderful visit with Grandma Kathy and Uncle Stephen (Mike's mom and younger brother). They came bearing fun gifts and we had a full week of getting out and doing exciting things. The only drawback is that it was Spring Break, so everything was a lot busier than it normally would be, but we made the best of it.
Some of the fun things we got to do: went to the mall to play, we went to Incredible Pizza on the one really rainy day, Mike took a day off and we went to the Omniplex (children's museum) in Oklahoma City, and we went to Bartlesville one day. The kids also really enjoyed having extra people around to play with and give them lots of love and attention. Mike and I even got to go out on a date which was the highlight of my week. So thanks Grandma Kathy and Uncle Steve for the fun visit, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. And as is typical, we forgot to bring the camera out more than twice. This first batch of pictures is from the Omniplex.

Benson playing with the puppet theatre

Grace really enjoyed being able to draw on her face, she looked like she was trying to apply make-up

Grandma Kathy helping Sabrina and Grace enjoy the water table

Benson and Sabrina driving the big tractor

Grandma helping Grace and Sabrina on the teeter-toter

Benson trying the rope swing under the big tree house

Grandma helping Sabrina watch the model trains - this was Benson's favorite part...he could have watched them for hours

Benson on the train

The next time we brought out the camera was the day they left.

The kiddos with Grandma and Uncle Stephen

Grace and Uncle Stephen

Have I ever mentioned how easy it is to get a good shot of all 3 kids at the same time...piece of cake

Sabrina and Grace really enjoyed the Grandma slide and the Uncle Stephen slide

The fruits of my labor

So here is my first video attempt with my new software. It is a combination of pictures and video from Benson's 1st year. I am a beginner, so it's not perfect and I'll probably still be doing some tweaking. But it's a start. It is kind of long, so I'm not sure that even the grandparents can hang with the whole thing. It has taken me over a week to figure out how to post it on here...MAJOR FRUSTRATION. So without further ado, here it is.



P.S. Don't you just love the dual meaning of my title?

The ear infections that wouldn't die

That's right, Sabrina STILL has double ear infections. We gave her the last dose of Augmentin on Friday morning and by Friday night she was running a fever again! So we took her into the After Hours Clinic on Saturday morning and both ears are still infected. So the doctor gave us another prescription for Bactrim and we go back on the 25th to have them checked again. We are really hoping that this does the trick or I'm worried there could be tubes in her future. Either way we just want our poor baby to feel better. She has been sick more than she has been well so far this year!

Happy Birthday Benson!

Benson turned 4 years old yesterday!

We had lots of fun celebrating this weekend. On Friday we went to Bartlesville and had a party at the bowling alley complete with pizza and a smiley face cake. Benson loved knocking down all the pins and after each turn Grace would turn around and say, "I did it!" It was a great party! Mommy blew it and didn't have the camera batteries charged, so these pictures are off the video camera and not the best quality.

Grace bowling

Benson bowling

Benson and his smiley face cake (the face was made out of chocolate chips which the kids are SO addicted to thanks to Grandma Stacey)

Sabrina enjoying her piece of cake

This year was the first year that Benson was able to blow out all his candles without help! What a big boy!

And here is evidence that grandparents let grandkids do things that they would NEVER have let their own children do.

Yesterday we had plans to go to the zoo, but the weather was bad. Then we had plans to go to the aquarium, but we ended up having to take Sabrina to the doctor in the morning (more on that to come). So in the end we had lunch at McDonald's and all went to see the new movie "Horton Hears A Who." Then we came home and opened presents. Benson was so cute when he opened his presents, after each one he said, "It's just what I wanted!" He was so nice to let his sisters help him too.

Opening presents with the help of his sisters

Handy Benson with his new tool set - Ben loves to "fix" things

Daddy, Benson, and Grace putting together the marble maze

Some of the things we love most about Benson are:
-his AMAZING memory
-his snuggliness (is that a word?), especially in the morning
-his ability to learn new things quickly - he recently taught himself how to use the mouse and loves to play on the computer
-his helpfulness - he has recently learned to help with the trashes and the dishes, and he loves to do it (at least for now!)
Happy Birthday Benson!