Everyday Silliness

Whenever the camera comes out to document milestones, general cuteness, or special occasions the sillies tend to emerge. Most of the time I can reign them in and get a couple photos that are blog/scrapbook worthy. And other times, well, we're not so successful. This was one of those instances. Here are my four loves in all their glory!

As you can see, Sophie is determined to pose in a manner that is very eccentric, complete with her face pulled into some weird expression. Zoe tries to mimic Sophie but still isn't too sure of how to pull off complete silliness. Lily gets tired of being told to look at the camera and smile. And Tyler, well, he is just the embodiment of silly!!

Easter

This Easter we had a lot of fun staying close to home and celebrating with Tyler's family. Saturday morning we headed over to his parents to color eggs and go to an Easter Egg Hunt. Sophie and Zoe had a lot of fun coloring eggs.

Zoe and Tyler coloring eggs. Zoe loves the camera!

Sophie was very excited to color eggs and colored about 2 dozen all by herself.
Lily had a good nap rocking with Grandpa during the activities.

After the eggs we headed up to the park in Stockton for the egg hunt. Zoe was really excited and delved in quite quickly when they said go. She loaded up her basket full and was very excited with all the candy and little toys she collected.
Sophie on the other hand wasn't too excited after we told her that she had to do the hunt without a basket. Kids 5 and older could only use themselves as vessels for their loot. Let's just say she had a major meltdown and refused to tuck her shirt in or turn her hoodie backwards to have a place to collect the stuff. Thanks to Aunt Jamie she finally turned her hoodie around and tucked in her shirt right before they started. And she cheered up when she realized that all the kids in her age group were doing the same thing. She even found one of the prize eggs and won a ball.
Here they are will all their loot and FREEZING. Did I mention that the wind was blowing and it made the warmth from the sun useless. Guess I shouldn't have dressed them all springy.

Lily was grateful to finally be back in the van out of the cold wind.

We went back to grandma and grandpa's house and had a yummy lunch after the egg hunt and then had one of our own in the backyard. These eggs were a bit more valuable because they were full of money and one lucky person had the possibility of finding a twenty dollar bill.

Sophie and Zoe diligently looking for eggs.

Look who found the $20!
On Sunday Sophie woke up first and came running into me about ready to explode with excitement. She couldn't wait to see her basket full of goodies. The poor girl jumped around my room waiting for Zoe to wake up. Once Zoe was awake, I let them go into the front room to look at their baskets. They were very pleased with what they got.

Lily and her basket with a vtech toy in it.
This is what Sophie was so excited about, Aurora.
And Zoe loved her Rapunzel!
We had a wonderful Easter, full of fun, food and family. Most of all we are thankful for our Savior, the atonement and resurrection. After church on Sunday, Sophie told us what she had learned in Primary. She told us the story of Jesus' resurrection. It brought tears to my eyes to know that Sophie saw the importance of this event and remembered it.

"The empty tomb that first Easter morning was the answer to Job's question, 'If a man die, shall he live again?' To all within the sound of my voice, I declare, If a man die, he shall live again. We know, for we have the light of revealed truth...

"My beloved brothers and sisters, in our hour of deepest sorrow, we can receive profound peace from the words of the angel that first Easter morning: 'He is not here; for he is risen.'"

-President Thomas S. Monson

Happy Birthday ZoBug!

A couple Saturdays ago we celebrated Zoe's 3rd birthday. Honestly, I can't believe she is already 3 and that she is only 3. The time since she was born has flown by and so much has changed in those three years, however I still think of her as my little baby. On the other hand, she has been potty trained since 18 months old and could talk in complete sentences not too long after that. She is truly an amazing child. I love her dearly and look forward everyday to what will come out of her mouth next. Here are a couple of things that have made Tyler and I laugh lately:

She was on the potty talking to Tyler about Sophie not sharing and she said, "Sophie's following Satan."

Riding in the car with Tyler the other day they came to a stop sign. When they stopped, Zoe asked Tyler, "Daddy, why is that sign ugly?" According to Tyler, the reason the sign was ugly was because it was pretty beat up and had duct tape all over it.

Basically everything she says is funny because of the way she talks, it is kind of like a little girl impersonating Forest Gump (and no she has never seen the movie).

Zoe also has a death glare. Any stranger that talks to her receives this glare. It is so comical because she is such a loving and happy child. The chef at Tepanyaki got the glare because he used fire and tried to talk to her.

A new thing lately is that she has to be in the middle. When we sit on the couch to read, "I want to be in the middle." When we hold hands in the parking lot, "I want to be in the middle." I am beginning to think she has middle child syndrome. And she now has an imaginary sister named, coincidentally, Zoe. Tyler has started calling her Zoe Bologna in a sing-song voice and this makes her laugh every time he does it.

Back to her birthday party. About a week before the event I asked her what kind of cake she wanted and her reply was "Rapunzel," mind you, this child is terrified of the movie Tangled. Mother Gothel scares that poor child to death! So I was a bit surprised and even more surprised when she stuck by her answer days after.

She had an awesome birthday and received tons of thoughtful gifts that she has been playing with constantly since. Here is the trike that Tyler and I got her. She was so excited that we let her ride it in the house for about a week until it was warm enough to take it outside.

The three girls and their cousin Cardon

Opening the beloved legos.

She was so excited to get legos. She has yet to build them but is a pro at destroying them. "Mommy, I am destroying it. Will you build my Cafe?"

And here is her Rapunzel cake. She was in love with it and wanted to eat it all day, before everyone got there she kept asking, "Is it time to eat my cake yet?"

Happy Birthday ZoBuggy, you are my Sunshine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What's up Lily?

Lily is now 4 months old. Oh, how the time has flown by...she is getting big, strong, and more expressive every day. Some things that she accomplished this month are: rolling over front to back, sitting supported, laughing (she is a hard one to get a laugh out of) and she babbles up a storm when she is in the mood (church on Sunday to be exact). Lily has also been sleeping through the night, it is very rare for her to wake up throughout the night, which I am very grateful for. She love to be cuddled and still loves to be swaddled while sleeping. Basically she is 13 pound cutie putootie!

Here are some recent pictures of her:

Getting dressed for the day. Look at those fat rolls, it is about time she got some of those!

Sophie, Zoe and I made princess hats the other day and Tyler thought that Lily needed to wear Zoe's..."seriously, do you really have to take a picture of this??"

"Oh, okay, I guess I'll give you a big, gummy grin!"

Budding Artist

Zoe has started drawing a lot lately. She loves the dry erase board in Sophie's room. Here are some of her recent creations.

Tyler is the one with a scribble on his chin (that's his goatee), I'm the one on the left and Zoe is the one she has her hand on.

I love it when they start drawing. I can't help but feel proud and hope that one day they will love art as much as I do!