getting ready

we are planning to run the susan g. komen race for the cure in a month or so. i'm forcing the children to run for my own selfish reasons. i want my family with me through this race, just like they were with me through my cancer journey. that's not too terribly selfish is it? afton HATES running, but she has been bribed with money for each practicing milestone we reach, and suddenly she's not hating it quite so much!

i'm not going to say how much money she is making off this little endeavor.

ella loves to run and keeps us all going with her happy smile!

so, this picture is after running our first mile straight.

from afton:

We ran about 1 mile!Part of the deal for Ella and I to earn money is to run to a sertaint point and dad thought that it would take more than 1 try for us to run all the way around the circle. So I get 5 dollers for doing that!The other reson why we are running is because we're training to do a race to rase money for breast canser.It's special to my mom because she just finished going through that.So it is very special to her. That is why we are running the race.

check her out!

this little thang is riding a bike without training wheels! she's only 5 years old. can that be right? i keep telling our girls to stop growing. i've had enough of it! but it is very fun to see all the new things they are learning and the ways they are growing.

happy earth day!

besides christmas, earth day is practically ryan's favorite holiday.

that's a lie. but he did help us celebrate mother earth by rototilling the garden last night.

then we planted some lettuce, peas and spinach, because everyone loves to eat these things.

another lie.
but it makes this mother feel better if these greens are in our garden.

hats

these two sweeties picked out some cute spring hats yesterday. they loved wearing them so much they didn't take them off the entire day!

that ella makes me giggle when i look at her cute face!

3rd grade concert

last week afton participated in the heim elementary 3rd grade concert. it was quite lovely and only a 1/2 hour. perfect! the kids all did a great job and have been practicing in music class for a few months. jordan, afton and grant after the concert. aren't they beautiful and dashing?
we could never get a very good picture of afton on stage, but this is all the kids waving goodbye at the end, as the curtains closed.

afton said she liked all the songs, but she really liked 'America Depends on You and Me.'
also, she was relieved that everybody clapped together at the right time during 'La Pinata'.

aaahhhh

oh what a beautiful morning. one of my tennis partners has a court in her backyard (heaven) and so we played at her house this morning. it was sunny and warm and wonderful. i think i'll start saving my pennies and have a tennis court put in my backyard. and one more important note...i won my first canadian doubles game. that's right, just one little game. canadian doubles is when you are playing doubles and someone doesn't show up, so you play with three. it was a big moment for me!

super reader

ella read many pages of this book to me tonite at bedtime. she is really learning to read! i can't believe how quickly she's picking it up. i love love love when kids start reading. it's exciting, entertaining and enjoyable. (the three e's of reading)

so, a big hooray for ella the super reader! she'll definitely be ready for 1st grade in the fall.

easter festivities

we spent easter sunday...

listening to our prophet

cooking

eating

hunting eggs

eating candy

laughing with friends

holding our sore, candy-filled bellies!

the egg hunt
can we go? can we go?

the kids table

the dyeing of the eggs

we had some serious egg dyeing goin' on, saturday evening.
the hulse and gruwell girls were taking the task quite seriously and produced some lovely looking eggs.

and a side note...two of these lovelies are wearing bathing suits and had been jumping on the trampoline with water. it was 80 something degrees. i'm not kidding.

easter at wegmans

our favorite grocery store, wegmans, had a fun easter party just for kids on saturday. we happened to be there picking up lunch and ran into the easter bunny. the girls decided to have their faces painted and play a few games (possibly due to the large bucket of prizes). they also walked away with a cute carrot bag filled with treats. seriously, could there be a greater grocery store?