Family Gathering with the Christian Movius Fam

This weekend we got together with the Movius-Sager family, because Christian, Amy, Gabe, and Megan were in town. They have been living in southern Idaho for the last few years and it is always great when we get a chance to see them. The cousins all had a great time together and the aunts and uncles get to see how much everyone else's kids have grown since the last time we all saw each other.

Roslynn sat on my lap for a while and helped me take pictures. She was hilarious. We took a picture of her dad and Christian and she started kissing the camera and saying "Papa". It was really cute.

This is Megan. She is four along with Matthew and Makayla. There is about a four month period that their birthdays fall into. She had lost a lot of her shyness from her last visit. Bailee was so excited that she allowed her to carry her around and play with her.

This is Matthew with Grandma Brenda. He also was not as shy as the last time I saw him. He kept telling me I was naughty. I am not sure what I was doing though.

Christian and Travis

More Art Under the Elms

We always go looking to bring home a treasure. Cotton candy was the first thing on Makayla's mind. This was not bought until much later.

Bailee bought herself a ring made out of a Scrabble tile. We are looking into making these ourselves. They looked very simple to make.

Makayla bought herself a frog, which Grandpa Mike helped her name Kermit.

The booth with the strawberry lemonade and chocolate covered strawberries is always a favorite.

Sam bought herself a horse puppet. Bailee got herself a dog one last year and Sammy has been waiting all year to get herself one. I am not sure what she has called it at this time, but I am sure it is something entertaining.

We love the Art Under the Elms. When spring comes around, the anticipation builds and the girls start asking as soon as the snow disappears.

Snow Day in April

Yep, that is snow. Our weather forecast as actually been telling us that we would be getting snow over night for the last several days and it has never happened until today. We woke up this morning to some very wet snow and it is still snow a bit. I know it will probably not last the day, but the forecast says there will be more tonight and tomorrow night. We will see.

Like the the snowflake that fell right in front of Makayla's face!

Tea with the Faeries

This week was the annual Art Under the Elms. This is something that the girls and I try to attend every year. We love all the craft booths and of course, the girls love the activities for kids.

This year we were given the opportunity to have tea with faeries. Bailee was not all that impressed, but the little girls loved it.

Although, I am not sure you can tell by Sam's very generic smile.

Patt's Garden Center was the one to sponsor this and it was completely free. The faeries even danced and sang for us. They even sang "Happy Birthday" to me. I felt very special.

It was a lot of fun. I know the girls hope they do it again next year.

Grandma Pam has joined us the last couple of years and the girls love that she is along.

Sunset

Last Tuesday there was a great sunset happening. I wish my camera did a better job, but this gives in you an idea. I love evenings and sunsets.

Leisters in Kenya Update

Mom Leister has finally updated her blog. Please go check them out.
Leisters in Kenya

ShaeLyne

This is my niece, ShaeLyne. She is my sister, Brandi's first child. Although, she will have a sister arriving this May.

I have to admit I do not get down to see Brandi or ShaeLyne as often as I would like. She has grown into quite the little cutie.

She was a little shy with us to begin with. We had not been to see them in quite a while, but it did not take her long to warm up and start smiling.

Initially, she was not sure what to do with all the girls.

She is almost 10 months old and she is crawling and jabbering, which is very adorable.

I was there the day she was born. In fact, I was there through the majority of her labor and delivery. It was a very special moment for me to see my little sister bring her first child into the world. ShaeLyne was born with really dark hair. It is amazing to me how so much can change over the months.

I leave you with a very cute picture of Miss ShaeLyne smiling.

I also want to say "Happy Birthday" to Brandi, who turned 21 on Monday.

My Birthday

My 33rd birthday was this last Friday. For some reason, growing old is not something that bothers me. Since I was young I have always wanted to be a grandma, like my grandma, and so I have always accepted that getting old is a part of the deal.

My actually birthday was very low key. My husband, the good man that he is, is giving me a party this coming Friday.

Yes, this is me holding the video camera. And for your viewing pleasure, pictures of me pregnant. Not the pictures my sister-in-law, Ange is looking for, but these will have to do.

We have started the tradition of a birthday breakfast, because we never know exactly what our days or nights will hold on our birthdays. I want cinnamon rolls for my birthday breakfast. Usually, I do all the cooking and make exactly what my family want - crepes with whip cream and strawberries, chocolate chip pancakes. You get the idea. I removed the pressure off Jeremy and we just bought my cinnamon rolls. They were very good.

Here I am blowing my candles out. The girls thought they were quite ingenious coming up with the "3" candle and then the 3 stick candles.

Overall, it was a great day. I felt loved and appreciated.

Easter

We spent Easter with the Movius-Sager side of the family. Jeremy and I were trying to remember when we had been at an actually family gathering and we were thinking it was back in October. Not sure, but something like that.

Anyway, here are some of the pictures that I took.

Here is Miss Bailee with one of her favorite cousins, Roslynn.

This is our niece, Josie. She really is darn cute.

Bailee was helping Roslynn find eggs during the little kids' egg hunt.

Our Sammy - For some reason, this picture just lets me see Sam when she is older. I do not know why, but I look at it and I can see her as a teen and adult.

Makayla pondering why there are not more eggs in her sack. She has a sack because I forgot their baskets. I am a bit forgetful right now, so I make myself lists. But the baskets just did not make it on my list.

This is brother, Marv, and nephew, Cameron, playing some soccer. I cannot believe how tall Cameron has gotten. Man, do they grow at this age. He is just about to turn 13. Welcome to the teenager years, Becky.

The dynamic duo - Ysabelle and Samantha.
As I have mentioned before, Ysa is the girls' favorite person.

These two are quite the pair also.

My little solo queen. As long as mom was near by, she was good to go it alone.

Three's Company

The Egg Hunting Gang - The older girls were just helping one of the smaller ones.

My crew - Don't ask me why Bailee chose that moment to look away. Marvin was on his way so it was a one shot opportunity.

Roslynn and Me

Breanna, Bailee, Brittin, LeAnn, and Josie
Grandma Brenda handed out bubbles and they were a hit. The wind was blowing just enough to pick them up and carry the away. They thought it was wonderful fun.

Here is Matthew, our nephew. He takes a bit to warm up, but once he does, he is an all out boy. Right before we left, he thought it would be fun to blow bubbles at me. I let him, because like his sister, Josie, he is darn cute.

Well, these are my Easter pictures. One of these days I will try to find or get pictures of the individual families of mine and Jeremy's sibblings. If you did not know, I have 7 siblings and Jeremy has 5. We definitely have a lot of family which we find very enjoyable.

Easter Crafts - Part 3

Egg dyeing was our third project. I do not do this every year. In fact, my mom will laugh when she sees that I did it, because I am sure I told her I would not be doing it again. Too messy and chaotic.

Well, that was last year and my mom, dad, and younger siblings were here last year, this year we just needed some fun. Whether you like it or not, kids love to dye things and eggs are relatively inexpensive and you can eat them when you are done.

Here are the girls doing the stuff. The kit I had bought came with glitter, but using the glitter was definitely a mess. I am all for fun, but not into things that cause great disasters.

Here are their fingers after we were all done. Bailee did hers on purpose. Thankfully, they took a bath and soaked that color right out.

Here are their beautiful creations. Most of which only lasted until that night. We did these Saturday and I said I would bring deviled eggs on Sunday to the Movius Parent's home. The girls were very disappointed. They thought we were going to leave them this way forever.