Happy Easter!

Had such a great evening tonight. We decided to attend a neighborhood picnic and really enjoyed visiting with some of our wonderful neighbors. The children played old-school games like duck-duck-goose and gave each other piggy-back rides (someone even sent out pictures from the event!)

I was surprised to see that all of the kids were playing well together despite the wide age range. Everyone was included. The adults chatted and ate great food. The weather was beautiful! We are glad we went. This is a unique community, and we feel very blessed to live here right now. The common value in the neighborhood seems to be family. I've never quite seen anything like it. There are many wonderful families here. It's great!

We also had a great Sabbath day at church. Here we are in our Sunday best! Hope you all had a great Easter too!

Anniversary attire, according to Aaron

Yesterday marked seven years of marriage for Mike and me. How time flies. I was thinking about some of the figures associated with these seven years:

5 moves together
4 cities lived in: Roseburg, Oregon; Richmond, Virginia; Mechanicsville, Virginia; Tucson, Arizona
3 kids
2 houses owned, 2 cars purchased
1 vacation sans kids (not including the honeymoon) -- NOT ENOUGH! :)
0 pets

A lot has happened in seven years. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful, kind husband who is so awesome with the kids. Heavenly Father knew what He was doing when He blessed me with Mike! :) Life just keeps getting better. Happy anniversary, hon. Thank you for the beautiful flowers and note!

Last night for Family Home Evening we talked about our wedding and the importance of a temple marriage and the blessings that can flow from it. Then we watched lots of family videos. Yesterday I talked a lot about our wedding anniversary, so this morning (Tuesday, mind you,) Aaron emerged from his room dressed like this. He said, "It's my wedding anniversary today!" Oh, and he said the flower was for me. He's a character! :)

Drummer boys

We have a couple of musicians in the house (in this case, in the yard.) These two were having fun making music with random items ... a small baseball bat, a tuna fish can, a spoon, a stick ... ya know, typical musical instruments.

5210 Challenge ~ Helping Children To Be Healthy

I recently read about a 5210 challenge being implemented at a children's hospital in the Pacific Northwest. This is part of an initiative to help children live healthier lifestyles and avoid obesity.

Here is what the numbers stand for:

5- Five or more fruits and vegetables a day. (We try to keep lots of fresh fruits on the counter so they are easily accessible to the kids. I also buy the pre-cut, pre-washed carrrots for a quick, easy snack. We all love them.)

2- Two hours or less of recreational screen time each day (computers, TVs, iPads, etc.) No TVs or computers in bedrooms, and no screen time before the age of 2.

1- One or more hour of physical activity per day. (Just build it into your day.)

0- Zero sugary drinks. Encourage more water and low-fat milk. (I don't even buy juice or soda anymore because if we have it, that's all they want to drink.)

These are great goals to strive for each day. For more information, visit www.letsgo.org.

If you don't want to cry, don't watch this video.

I have been making a concerted effort to sincerely try and enjoy this precious time with my children. The time is swiftly passing, and I know this short season of my life will soon be over. This sweet video reminds us to enjoy the "perfectly ordinary days" and to take more pictures -- just of everyday occurrences.

I love my sweet children. They are growing up so fast! Aaron starts kindergarten in a few months. While we are all ready for him to be in school, it will most definitely be bittersweet. Wasn't it just yesterday we brought him home to our little townhouse in Roseburg, Oregon? Grant sweetly and innocently assures me that he'll still love me when he's bigger. Will he though? :) And Samantha ... don't get me started on Samantha! She's already so big. She's sleeping long stretches at night (which I'm not complaining about!), and she's practically in 6-month clothes already. Before we know it she'll be chasing her big brothers around -- or vice-versa! Anyway, enjoy the video (it's about 7 minutes long,) and enjoy your children at every stage. I want to look back and be able to say that I have no regrets!

(Thanks, Stacy, for providing the video!)

All Smiles

 Samantha is in the cutest stage right now -- smiling, cooing, and generally just being very sweet and pleasant. We adore her!

We also love her wild and crazy hair! Sometimes it seems no matter what I do to tame it, it just takes on the same spiky look. Oh well, it's all the rage right now, right? :)

Brothers, Best Friends

This is how I found Aaron and Grant the other day watching a show. Too cute!