Face Painting

Emily went to her cousin Jayden's birthday party a few weeks ago.  Her aunt Jeannie did face painting. Emily loved it!! She wanted it to stay on forever.

I just added this picture in because it was cute and I didn't want to make a post just for it.

New Dresses

I bought some "instant dress" material at Wal-mart to make some dresses for the girls.  I sewed a T-shirt  to it for sleeves.  Emily's is Disney Princess and Sarah's is Dora the explorer.  They really like them and they were easy to make.  These are a few pictures of the girls modeling their clothes.  I just love their expressions and poses!

Nearby Nature

I'm amazed at the animals we encounter being in the city!  There is a park near us that has water, and it attracts many birds.  One day we were there we saw 5 different kinds of birds, 2 of which I had never seen.  I didn't have my camera that day.  Derek also finds crawdad claws in the water.

There is a bunch of baby ducks at the park right now.  The kids love to see them.

We saw a couple goslings there one day, but have not seen them since, but then one day we saw a couple geese and when we went near we found this nest with a goose egg in it.

The daddy goose was not too happy with us being near.  He didn't try to attack but he sure kept a close eye on us.

There is also opportunities to observe nature in our own front yard.  Derek found a hummingbird nest.  Darrell brought the branch down to look closer and there were 2 eggs.  Darrell said as soon as he brought down the brush the mama hummingbird started flying close around his head.

There is also another nest in our tree.  It is a mama dove sitting on her nest.  It is hard to see in this picture because I don't have a good enough zoom on my camera.  You can see her head in the middle of the picture about 1/3 of the way down.

Derek is 7!!

Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Derek, happy birthday to you!!  My little boy is 7...I can hardly believe it.  We were in Snowflake for his birthday, so that was fun.  I made a cake which everyone loved except me.  Derek directed the decorations and then did the sprinkles himself.

The Blast

Derek went with Grandpa Brimhall and Dad to a blast at Grandpa's work.  He got to watch as a mountain exploded.  He was going to push the button but changed his mind at the end.  He said it was very loud.

What a gorgeous day for a blast:) 

Playhouse

The 3rd week in March Darrell had a whole week off from work so we headed to Snowflake.  Darrell's plans were to work on grape trellises at his parents house but the first few days were cold and snowy so instead he built a playhouse for the kids. It will get good use between them and other cousins.

It even comes with a fire place to keep warm...the kids thought that was great.  Later in the week he built a little stove and sink out on the side which I didn't get a picture of.  Derek also added a garden space.  Also a porch was added by the door.  So cool...I would have loved it when I was a kid:)

Darrell put a chimney out the top of the house which resulted in a slight disaster.  It melted and caused a lot of smoke and stink.  So that was removed, cleaned up and later in the week a metal chimney was added on top of the brick.

This is just a cute picture of my dirty little girl after a nap:)  I am amazed at how quickly they get filthy when we are in Snowflake without all the concrete and pavement.