Warm days

Now that everyone has had ample opportunity to watch the video of Alena, I am finally getting around to posting some new pictures. We've been loving the warm weather and have spent lots of time outside, at the park, etc. making the most of the beautiful spring days before the real heat hits.




And, I was going to devote a whole post to all the reasons you should never attempt to melt down crayons in order to make new cute crayons, but I'll let these pictures speak for themselves. Here's the inside of our microwave after red crayons melted all over it
and here is the glass plate that goes inside the microwave. Needless to say, we won't be attempting this little project again anytime soon. Lesson learned!

Psalm 23

The Lord is m shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.

What you don't get to hear is all the, "My turn! My turn! My turn!" Alena shouts while Gabe and Mya are trying to recite what they've learned. This child refuses to be left out of anything - even if it means having to memorize a few Bible verses. :)

More Easter Pictures

Here are a few pictures of the kids dressed up for church today. It's turned out to be a gorgeous day and we were actually able to get pictures outside. I remember last year it was so cold on Easter.

A little note about Mya's dress. I picked this up at the thrift store about 2 years ago. It was before Alena was born and I believe it was $2.99. It's a Land's End dress and this year it finally fit her. I was excited that she got to wear it and now it will be passed down to RuthAnne and Alena too.

Our attempt at a family photo using our camera's timer. Not that great, but you get the general idea.

A little Easter Fun

We did a little Easter egg dying/hiding today and had a good time. First, a couple pictures of the egg dying process which Alena did not participate in since we wanted the dye on the eggs and not on the floor, table, etc. This year we did tie dye eggs from a little kit and they were a good change since it was a lot more hands on than the typical drop in a cup type.

Here's our finished results sitting in the little birds nests that we made earlier in the week.

After Alena got up from her nap I hid some plastic eggs in the backyard and set the kids loose to find them. Here they are before the "hunt."

and here after enjoying some of their candy loot. We're looking forward to a wonderful day tomorrow.

Kite flying fun

Gabe got this kite a few weeks ago but hadn't gotten a chance to fly it yet. This evening after Nae got home, they decided it was a good windy day for kite flying and they did actually get it up in the air a few times (it's from the Dollar Tree so we couldn't expect too much.) I love these pictures because they show Gabriel's pure joy and excitement. He was moving the entire time - even when the kite was up in the air he was still jumping up and down and running around.




Julie, do you see the knees of these pants? This is why our pants hand-me-down supply is dwindling. There is just no way that I can get them clean. At least he is having fun and getting exercise in the process of ruining his clothes :)

New Baby pictures

These are, as far as I know, the last pictures we will have of our little baby #4 before he/she makes their appearance on the outside. I had my 20 week ultrasound today and the tech said that everything looks great. We are so thankful for what appears to be a healthy new baby. We stuck to our guns and didn't find out the sex even though I would have caved if Nae had hinted he wanted to know. With Alena, I was never tempted to find out, but this time around I just really want to know. I guess we will in about 20 weeks. Here are a few of the pictures.

This was my favorite picture - profile view with hand out front and legs extended. It looked like the baby was doing the backstroke.

Another profile shot.

Both feet crossed. The baby weighs approximately 11 ozs which at this point is good because he/she was breech and we for sure want it to flip around before the due date arrives. At only 11 ozs it should have plenty of room to turn around; at least I hope this is the case.