Princess Party!

I made Charley a Cinderella dress this morning from the table clothes from Char's wedding! Since it was snowy outside (that's right....it's almost May and it SNOWED!), and needed something to do, we had a Princess Tea Party with Charley's little friend Riley that lives down the street!

The Menu:
Princess Fruit Snacks
Pink Lemonade
Crackers
Chocolate

Activities:
Tea and Treats
Dancing
Pretty Pretty Princess Game
and Watching Cinderella!

We are fore sure going to be having lots of Princess Parties....I had sooo much fun just watching them!

BED

A Preface to my story: Twice a week we have a few neighbor kids over for "pre-school". Last week we talked about seasons, and learned that it was Spring (though you wouldn't know that by looking outside today!). And I taught them the little rhyme "April Showers bring May Flowers." Charley says it all the time now.

So last night on our way home from hanging out with family Charley says: "mom remember our words? (referring to our rhyme)"
Charley: "April Showers bring May Flowers"
Ben says: It's called a rhyme because Showers rhymes with Flowers.
then testing her he says: "What rhymes with BED?
Charley: "B-E-D (spelling it) spells bed!"
Ben and I look at each other in shock and start laughing! ... "did she just spell bed?" "who taught her that?!"


this video was from a week or so ago. We were in the car, and we know she can recognize the word "STOP" from the stop signs, but all of a sudden she goes "mom, S-T-O-P spells stop!"

She continues to amaze me every day! ....and she's probably already a better speller than I am!

Tulip Festival

We went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point last week with Schramma & Schrammpa, Calvin & Courtney. It was soooo beautiful! We went on one of the colder nights, and hurried through it. I wish it was warmer so we could enjoy it longer.
It was cold, so Gabby stayed in the stroller/car seat all bundled up! We flipped the car seat around so she could see better though!

My super cute big girl!

We made them practice for their wedding....Calvin decided he wasn't going to smile like the old time wedding pics.

Ben got more pictures on his camera....they are probably tons better. And I didn't take any of the waterfall...But you get the idea. The festival ends this weekend, and I would love to go back....If anyone wants to go with me I'm game!!... since I have a pass I get guests in half off!

Temple Square

We went to music and the spoken word with family last week. It was such a beautiful day!

Digging for Dino's

Charley is digging for bones...there is this huge room of sand, and they have little brushes for the kids to use and find the bones.

Some of the girls back together....with all of our kids!

the kiddos

they have this thing where you can build your own dinosaur...I'm not quite sure what Amy and Amber are doing!

Charley's favorite Dino....the T-rex!

this water and sand pit is supposed to teach the kids about erosion...I think, but it's fun to play in!

After being across from Thanksgiving Point for almost a year, we finally got a Membership for there. I was a little weary if I was going to use it enough to make it worth the cost. But in one week, we've gone to the Animal farm 3 times, the Dinosaur Museum and the tulip festival twice (we only went once, but I used my pass to get cousin Max in with his date and friends in half off).

So Charley has been wanting to go to the Dinosaur Museum for the longest time. With our friends in town, how could we pass up the opportunity to go with them! This pictures are all out of order, but you get the idea! It was a great afternoon!

9 months

Gabby turned 9 months yesterday! AAAHHH....she'll be 1 in a few months....it is still weird to think about things like that! She is growing too fast, and she is too cute! Her doctors appointment is in a few days, so I'll post stats later!


Crazy Girls! I went into their room the other day, and found them like this!....they were playing under the crib with Charley's tutu's on....however, Gabby's looks more like a mane! Now that Gabby is getting older, the girls are playing more and more together! I'm so glad I put them in the same room, now they are good friends!
Ben's family is in town, and we went to Music and the Spoken Word on Sunday then to lunch at his uncles house. But after the Music and the Spoken Word we were able to spend a little time on Temple Square, and take some pics.
Gabby has become quite the crawler....she is so fast....so when I need to be in another room for a minute, I block her in the living room with pillows....she doesn't like that so much! I thought this was a cute picture. I found her during nap time cuddling with her glo worm. Charley has a pink blanket she has to sleep with, and Gabby has her worm.

Random Pictures of the Girls...

You guessed it! some of our favorite people came in town! Amy, Paka, and Averie came intown to visit family....poor B had to stay back in AZ with school! But we're glad we got to see friends!

At Thanksgiving Point getting ice cream! We've gotten a lot of ice cream there lately....the kids cone is .25 cents!

Gabby started standing....not free standing, but she can climb to a stand....and she really likes to stand, and knows how to slowly walk while we are holding her hands....so I got her this cool toy to help her. She loves it!

I just thought this picture was funny!

We got a pass to Thanksgiving Point, so we've been there a lot as well!! We've already gone to the animal farm a few times. this time, they let all the kids comb the horses hair to get the winter coats off. Charley loves it.

Ben Joined the club!

Ben's Uncle Wayne told Ben he is now part of an elite club of "the few, the proud, and the insane"....aka a Marathoner!

I can't remember how I convinced Ben to run this marathon with me, but I'm sure glad he did! And once Ben's feet feel better I'm sure he'll be glad he did also.

Training for this marathon was tricky for us. I know couples probably do it all the time, but for us it was hard. Ben would either run before work or after. Then I would go after the girls went to bed at nights. Our Saturday long runs were an all day event. Ben would go in the morning, then I would go after. Many Saturdays we would have to run on a treadmill because it was so cold and snowy outside...or I would start running outside, but would have to finish inside on the treadmill because it got really late and cold. And there were some days, were we just couldn't muster up the energy to run. So we decided going into the race that we would do it together. I knew I didn't train as well as I did the first time, and wasn't going to beat my time. I knew whether I ran fast or slow I was going to hurt.

Our plan, since we were given only 6 hours to finish, was to run/jog as long as we could the first half. We wanted a decent time for the 1/2 marathon split, then that would give us some extra time the second half to walk as much as we needed.

There were water stations every 1.5-2 miles. Each station has water and powerade, and porta potties. And random stations had some oranges, and energy gels and bars. And since we ran through some neighborhoods, random people were nice enough to set up their own water station for us....one had a whole breakfast spread out for everyone....and a bunch of students set up "temptation station" where they were passing out shots of vodka.....and if someone took one they rang this huge cow bell....a few people around us took a shot.....they probably thought it would deaden the pain!

They changed the course from the last time I ran it last, and some idiot put a HUGE hill at mile 24!....the hill going up to the state capitol building. It was the worst. We called Ben's parents to tell them that we only had a mile and a half left, and we would be there soon....a half hour later we finish!....haahaa!!!....I'm sorry, but after running 24 miles, there was no way I was going to run up that hill, or even be able to walk it fast!

As we entered the Gateway mall Charley & Gabby were there with Ben's parents, who watched them while we were running. They lifted Charley over the little fence they had, and she ran the last 100 meters with us. She was so excited to race with us all week, she wore her running shoes and everything! It was a perfect way to end the race!

Oh and we totally took advantage of the free massage you get for all the racers! It felt great! We are both sore, but not too bad. We forget we are sore until we have to move!

To quote Dora the Explorer (a favorite at our house!)...."We did it, We did it, Hooray!".....26.2 miles!