Stopping to smell the roses

I have learned that I view life differently than my children. I tend to always be in more of a rush and eager to get things accomplished so I can move on to the next task, but they like to stop and smell the roses (literally). So I decided to try and walk a mile in their shoes (although we only made it about 100 yards before time ran out and we needed to go home).

We walked along the bayou and picked flowers. These are some of the good pictures.

Hadley loved just sitting in the grass and playing with everything. 

If we left her alone long enough she even taste tested all the flowers for everyone!

Allie showing off the pretty purple flowers that she plucked.

Hadley starting to walk away. 

She kept trying to make a break for it when we weren't looking. 

Allie wanted to look at everything. 

She spent time examining all the flowers, weeds, and grass.

It was all so fascinating to her.

Posing in front of the bridge. 

Me with the girls in the weeds. (And this is one of the better shots)

Rach and Hadley in the weeds. 

It was a neat view of the med center on the other side of the bayou.

All my girls. Happily distracted by everything to see.

Allie was very proud of the sunflowers she picked for our table. 

As soon as we got home we placed all the flowers in a vase on the table and 

Allie just loved to look at them all the time.

It was a fun Sunday afternoon playing in the wild flowers.

Four little ducks went out to play

We had some really old bread from last week, so we decided to go feed the ducks! (what else would you do with almost moldy bread) It was a beautiful day so we had lots of fun, but the ducks were not that interested in the bread (we must have missed the morning feeding freenzy, cause they seemed to be pretty full by the time we got to the park).

Allie and I tossing some bread to the ducks. 

Allie had to learn how to get a good toss to get the bread into the water.

Hadley wanted to try and get in the water herself. 

But she was too big for the ducks, so we kept her out of the water.

Looking longingly at the ducks swimming by and not eating our bread.

Hadley had lots of fun walking free. 

She spent most of her time chasing the pigeons that kept coming around (luckily she didn't catch any).

The girls trying to feed the birds since the ducks were not very hungry.

It was a great day at the park. We fed a few ducks, lots of pigeons, and didn't lose anyone in the pond. 

I would call that success!

Strawberry Fields Forever

This weekend we tried something new. 

We decided to do manual labor as a family! 

And since they don't realize its work, Allie and Hadley loved it (it was fun for the rest of us too). 

We went to a local farm to pick fresh strawberries!

Walking through the fields. 

All the good strawberries were in the field in the very back where not many people had come through. So we walked a long ways to get there (at least some of us walked, others got a ride).

Rach was in charge of Hadley and the camera so we don't have many pictures of her 

(this one provided the proof that she was there, and she looks cute too!).

Here we are getting lessons on which ones to pick. 

Allie knows you only can take the red ones (not pink or white).  You can also see the Tingey family in the back, picking their strawberries too.

Smiling for the family picture.

Allie showing off her haul. 

She picked a whole bucket full and did not want to let anyone else carry them the whole way home!

Me with Hadley. She just wanted to try some since she loves strawberries.

It was a fun time in the sun getting some berries. We went home and had strawberries with every meal for the next few days. Everyone had so much fun we might try this again some time.

Easter Activities

The Saturday before Easter, we had a lot of fun doing all of our Easter activities and eating lots of candy!  Our morning started off with coloring easter eggs, literally.  This year instead of dying eggs, we colored on the eggs with crayons as soon as the eggs came out of the hot water.  The crayon melts onto the egg and creates a vibrant color and cools hard.  Much less messy and even more involved for a 3 year old with little patience.

 After we colored eggs and Hadley woke up from her nap, we ventured outside to the Easter egg hunt put on by the complex.  There were about 10 kids that showed up and probably 200 eggs.  Everyone went home with way too many eggs.  They also had adult eggs with gift cards in them.  Mike and I each got a $10 itunes gift card so we all left with a little something in our pockets.

 I just love the look on Hadley's face when she found her first egg.  She was even more excited when she found the candy inside!

 Allie found probably 40 eggs, overflowing her basket.  Mike had to store a bunch in his pocket because she kept spilling all of hers. 

 Luckily, we got the girls to stop eating their candy long enough to eat some berries with whipped cream; a little better for you, right?

 They also played some fun games to work off some of that candy.

Happy Easter!

This year for easter we were able to focus more on the real reason of Easter, the resurrection of Christ.  Allie loved watching the new bible videos that the church produced and kept asking question Him.  It was great to focus on Christ and now she talks about it all the time and reenacts the videos all the time.  I love the simple faith and understanding of children and how they seem to focus on the things that really matter.