::chloe's field trip::

Yesterday we went on a field trip with Chloe's class

(and it was NOT whack).

We went here...

I brought the little boys with me. They loved it (even though it doesn't look like Coopie did in that picture). There were LOTS of dinosaurs everywhere. We thought it was going to be really bad weather, but by the time we got done with the museum inside (which was pretty neat-they had an exhibit with robot dinosaurs, and they were a little scary), it stopped raining.

We had a boy from Chloe's class in our group. His name is Jonathan. He's the one who throws her pencil on the floor and pulls her bows out of her hair sometimes at school. He had fun with us, I think. He was really excited to show us around since he'd been there "about a hundred times."

We walked all around the outside part, played in the parks, dug in the "dinosaur dig" part, looked at the ducks, "raar"ed at all the dinosaurs, had lunch (inside because it was only in the '40s outside), learned about dinosaurs in the education center, colored dinosaur faces, kept going back to see the robot dinos (even though we thought they were scary), and stopped by the gift shop before we went home (Chloe got a flower bracelet and the two boys got some gooey light-up frogs).

That was our first time to the Dinosaur Park, and we loved it! We want to go back again on a warmer day, and when Dadduh can come with us.

:)

sour: adj. causing or characterized by one of the four basic taste sensations that is produced chiefly by acids.

We were at the grocery store on Friday morning (while Chloe was at school), and we headed towards the fruits to get some oranges and bananas...

Portie: "Ma (he calls me "Ma") I want a lemon"

Me: "What?!? Lemons are too sour! You won't like it."

Portie: "Uh huh, I LOVE lemons!! I LOVE 'em!!!! Please, Ma!?!! I really want a lemon!"

So I got him one...

...and it turns out; it was sour!

Silly boy.

(Port, Chloe, & Coop-lunch time)

::mud job::

Because of the project we're doing in our backyard, we have a big hole in our yard. And because it's been raining for about 3 days, now we have a big mud hole.

It's a mud job when he feels like he needs to get out there and dig around in the water and wet sand, and now especially with the huge mud hole in the yard.

What exactly is a mud job? What's he trying to do? Did he get it done? I have no idea, it's just a boy thing I guess...

he had about 3 inches of mud on the bottom of his flip-flops

Coopie had mud halfway up his jeans

by the time he was ready to get out.

...and Chloe stayed out of the mud and just jumped.

Needless to say, the two little boys got in the bath early yesterday.

::bedbugs::

Chloe and Port love to sleep "togezeh" Almost every night one of them will ask if they can sleep together. We have "campouts" in the living room just about every weekend.

It's

a general rule in our

house that they can't on school nights

(they stay up too late, and they're SOO hard to get up in the morning).

So last night, I was making my rounds, and saw this...

...and I've caught them like this before on a school night. Sneaky little things.

They're just cute little sweet little buddies, and I love them so so much :)

In other news...

Coopie calls his blankie a "mah-mah" just like Port, he makes "huggie" noises when he wants to hug someone/thing, and every kind of car he sees outside is a "tac-tah."

And, we were on Spring break Friday-Tuesday, and it was fab! We didn't have to get up for anything, we stayed up late, we went to the park a few times (we even branched out and went to a different one than the usual one, and we decided we don't like that one as much as "our" park), we had campouts (indoor ones), watched movies, played with friends, and really enjoyed the time off. But we're back in school again, and really anxious for Summer. Portie asked me this morning if he had to go to school forever, and I told him almost.

::what's wrong with this picture...::

This would drive me nuts...

(Cooper's little feet-17 months old)

Coop's flip-flops are like this more often than not, but he doesn't seem to mind. I fix 'em all day long, and somehow those little toes wriggle right back into that position.

::pancakes...::

...every Saturday (or Sunday) morning,

Dadduh makes them for us.

And it's fun.

And we love it.

::hellooooooo park...::

...we've missed you!

monkeybars.slides.ladders.

bridges.swings.picnic.

::let's go fly a kite...::

...up to the highest height.

Let's go fly a kite.

Up through the atmosphere.

Up where the air is clear.

Oh, let's go

Fly a kite.

~Mary Poppins

::baby animals::

We took our baby animals to see some baby animals today.

We got to see baby cows, baby horses, baby chickens, baby goats, baby sheep, baby pigs, & baby bunnies. We saw some Mamma and Dadduh chickens with some crazy hair-do's too. It was a little smelly, and the kids didn't love the idea of touching them, but they warmed up to it (sort of). The goats were funny. They walked right up to us and to our stuff. We got a little nervous that he might try to eat our jackets!!

The kids loved that they were babies.

I think that made it a little easier to almost touch them.

We had to go down the slide a few times too.

It was fun! The kids liked it, and we decided next time we need to go earlier in the day because there's a lot more to do there than we thought!

We had dinner with J and Sae afterwards, and that was lots of fun too.

::portie's field trip::

Port had a field trip today-to Wal-Mart (I thought that was weird too). His class has been learning about communities, and the trip was to see all the different workers in a community (I guess).

We kinda thought, Wal-Mart, he goes there every day! But then we thought maybe they'd get to go in the back and see how the warehouse part works, where they unload the trucks, load the freezer, how the bakery works, etc...

(Portie's group)

Uuum NO. They didn't get to do any of that. Basically the Asst. Manager of the store walked them around and said "this is the bakery. They make cakes there." (same with the clothes, the toys, and the garden center). It was lame. The teachers were pretty disappointed too, but, hey, fieldtrips are fun just because they're fieldtrips.

During the trip, Portie told his teacher, "this is not fun." She laughed.

(a cute, really blurry picture of Coopie. He kept "raaar"ing at the dinosaurs in the toy isle)

After the awesome field trip, the kids came back to sing a

few songs, listen to a story, and have snack.

Coopie got to go too :)

When we got in the car to go home, we called Da-Da. I said "Portie let's call Da and tell him your field trip was whack!" He gets on the phone and says, "Da! My field twip was wacky"

It wasn't the best field trip, but it had good intentions. We looove Port's school! They thought the same thing I did about what we thought we were going to see. His teachers did a great job preparing the kids and telling them they weren't going to buy anything and things like that. It was fun to go with Portie, even if it was to Wal-Mart. He was really excited to have me and Bubb go to "schoe wiss him."

::easter::

"Easter is that sacred season when the heart of each devout Christian turns in humble gratitude to our beloved savior."

-Elder Richard G. Scott

April 2010 General Conference

Our Easter weekend was busy and fun.

We colored eggs at Grandma & Papa Snowman's on Friday night. It was kinda messy, but the kids had fun.

(Porter-4 next month, Chloe-6 1/2, Cooper-17 mos)

Our Halling Easter party got moved to the church due to the 3 or 4 inches of snow on the ground (ugh!). We all had lunch inside instead of outside and the kids ran for candy in the foyer instead of the yard.

(Papa Snowman & Cooper)

(Portie, Matt, & Chloe)

The candy hunters...

Afterwards, we went back to Matt's mom & dad's for a bit. J & Sae had to go to her family's for a party, so we played some Easter bingo to kill the time. Chloe won one game! Jared didn't win any (neither did Sarah or I, but it's funnier when Jared doesn't win). Matt didn't play 'cause he was holding a sleeping Cooper.

Then, we decided on a whim to go stay the night at Grandma Kitty's instead of the next morning. That way we could see the first session of conference instead of listening to it in the car on the way down.

"But how will the Easter Bunny find us??"

We left him a note...

(Chloe's note to the Easter bunny)

We had some Wendy's, I helped mom cook for the big dinner, got the kids to bed...

The next morning was a pretty exciting one. The kids squealed every time they found another egg. That Easter bunny can be pretty tricky...

(Easter baskets: Buzz/princess kites, candy, sidewalk chalk, new shoes, bubbles, tractors, balls-and some chocolate bunnies for the grown-ups)

They found 'em all-all 63 of them.

Our big Easter dinner. Everything was delish!

We watched conference (most of it). Chloe and I did some of the worksheets Grandma Snowman gave us.

I'm still watching the rest of conference (tivo) because when we all get together to watch it, it ends up being too loud and there are too many distractions.

The talks I've heard so far were beautiful. They left me with a greater feeling of responsibility for making the Savior head of our home, and creating an atmosphere where the Spirit may always dwell. I love conference. It renews my faith and makes me feel fortunate to know the gospel and to be a part of this faith.