One of those times

I had one of those times that I think I have dreamed about since I was young.  Today was Brynlee's first dance recital.  I love to dance and danced all growing up. I always wanted a little girl to share my love of dance with.  I don't care if she's good, I just want her to have fun!  She did her ballet dance to Sleeping Beauty and her tap dance to Dr. Doolittle.  She did soo well in both dances!  She wasn't nervous and had the cutest little smile while she danced.  I must admit, I was a bit teary watching her...it was just the sweetest thing I have ever seen and I was soo proud of my baby girl.  She had a fun time dancing and we had a fun time watching her!  Great job Brynlee!!!

Doodle

I bet you didn't know that I call my little man "Doodle" probably just as much as I call him Lincoln!  I have to call him some cutsie name to remind me of how cute he is when he is getting into soo much trouble!!!  This is probably one of my least favorite ages...yet, they are soo stinkin' cute and funny at this age too!  But, our little Linc is just about as "active" as they get and he keeps me on my toes all day long!  He is constantly fighting for his way and doing anything it takes to get what he wants.  He is a man on a mission and doesn't let anything get in his way.  He will push his way in front of siblings and friends (sorry Evan and Madison!) to get whatever he wants.  He will take my hand and take me to something he "needs" and then grunt and point until i give in.  He will walk all through the house destroying anything that gets in his way!  He LOVES to be outside and if the backdoor is open he quickly goes outside and down the deck stairs to go play in the backyard.  To say this kid is exhausting is an understatement.  And the worst thing is....he doesn't like TV!!! I know that sounds terrible, but he seriously doesn't care at all about TV...not even for a minute!  That makes for a long day of entertaining this guy and trying to get things done with his constant tugging at my leg. BUT, even with all this craziness, he is also a super fun kid!  He loves his brother and sister...especially tickling their tummies!  He has the sweetest smile and is a friendly little guy too.  He loves to "flirt" and does it really well when we're out and about.  My favorite time of day with my Doodle is right before bed.  When I'm holding him in his dark bedroom right before I lay him down for the night, he gets in this really cute goofy mood.  He starts giggling at anything I do and giving me big open mouth kisses.  He is calm and mellow in my arms and just really sweet.  It is a drastic change to the crazy boy that I deal with during the day.  I love sitting there with him happy in my arms and not trying to get away from me.  He is soo cute and silly!  Anything I do makes him giggle...I love my little Linky-Doodle-Bop!!!

Random pictures

Here's some randomness for you!

Dan got a sweet deal to have our house cleaned.  We've never done this before (and probably won't again for a long time...we're cheap!), but it sure was fun to have a clean house without having to do it myself!  And look how cute the toilet paper looked!

The weather has been great and the kids love jumping on the tramp with the sprinkler underneath...even Linc hopped on!

Carson mid flip.

With the world's best neighbors right next door...our backyards always have a party going on!

My cousin Bonnie lives nearby and so when her parents came to visit we got to see them too!  I haven't seen my Uncle Roger and Aunt Sylvia for a while.  It was so fun to catch up with them!

We thought Ken and Uncle Roger have a slight resemblance.  Ken...where are your fish lips?

The very next day after we visited with Roger and Sylvia, my other aunt and uncle came.  Aunt Janet and Uncle Allen!  The stayed with us for a few days and we loved it!  We spent several nights talking till quite late...sorry for keeping you up guys!  Come back and visit us again soon...our kids miss you already, and so do we!

And here is a little teacher appreciation gift I threw together for Carson's teacher.  They were told to bring a flower in to their teacher that day.  These cute little hairbows count as flowers, right?  His teacher has a little girl that I think would look really cute in these!

Easter

We had a great Easter this year.  It was filled with a fun church Easter breakfast and egg hunt, extended family over for dinner and another egg hunt, egg dying, and Easter baskets.  We enjoyed the weekend reflecting on the real reason we celebrate Easter and enjoying all the festivities with the kiddos.  Here are some pictures!

Brynlee in her pretty Easter dress

 Bryn and Carson dying eggs

 I was around on Easter too!

 Carson rockin' the egg dying

 Even Linc got in on a little egg hunt action

 Kaitlyn looking for eggs!

 Carson and Sydney

 Caleb found an egg!

 Lincoln and Caleb

 Spencer found a dollar in an egg!

King's Dominion!

We decided to try out King's Dominion over spring break.  We had a great time!  The first ride of the day ended with Lincoln getting a big glob of grease all over his jacket and face.  After waiting around for an hour, we were compensated for the grease and at the end of the day Carson picked out a super huge Dinosaur for free!  The kids loved the rides and even little Linc went on quite a few rides.  It was a great day!!  We love amusement parks!

 New This year, they have a cool Dinosaurs Alive part of the park.  It has life size dinosaurs that move and make sounds.  It was really cool...we all loved it!

Angry Peeps!

We made our first Peeps Diorama!  We made ANGRY PEEPS!  It was a lot of fun making it with the kids!