More Spring Break

Finally got around to getting the pictures off my phone from spring break!!!

Ben acting like Grandpa, wearing his hat and eating a bagel!

Ready to swim!

We ate dinner at "The Hangout" one night!

The kids loved the foam party!

Breakfast of champions!

Taylor was SO excited that she found 11 cents on the bottom of the pool one day!

Hanging out at the putt putt/arcade across the street.

Spring Break

Grandma and Grandpa Parker and the kids and I spent the week down in Gulf Shores, AL.  It was our first time there, so we were a little new to the scene, but had a great time!  The mornings were a little cool still, but by the afternoon is was plenty warm to be at the beach.  We enjoyed the beach and indoor pool at our place and then also the outdoor pool next door to us. We also went mini golfing and did go karts!

Ben and Taylor were way more brave this year about going out into the water....and it was cold!

 Grandma got some fun squirt guns for the beach!

 Drew was scared of the water this year,  but loved the sand!

 Mia and Taylor playing out in the water.  I was so surprised she went out this far!!

 The kids loved the "carwash pool"....

 It was an indoor/outdoor pool so they could swim through the "carwash flaps"!!

Since we've been back everyone but Troy has been sick so I still need to go through more pictures!

Catching Up

We spent the past few weekends on the road!  The weekend after Taylor's birthday we went to Crown Point/Chicago.  Unfortunately, the weather was nasty so we only stayed for about 24 hours.  We celebrated with Grandpa Rick and Grandma Cyndi on Friday night.  Then Saturday morning we woke up and went into Chicago.  First we went to the Children's museum.

Drew loved the firefighter area.



Taylor had fun in the "Tinkering Lab" building a birdhouse from "junk".

 

After the museum we went down to Michigan Avenue for some shopping.  Taylor bought her first American Girl doll with her birthday money.

The following weekend we headed to Columbus to celebrate Vladi's 4th birthday!!!  Drew LOVED Viktoria!

Vladi, Taylor, Vika, Drew, Ben

Some other randoms.....hanging out in bed on snow day #426.

Then it warmed up for a few days!

And then this happened again....

Happy 6th Birthday, Taylor!!!

Taylor had "the best birthday ever" yesterday!!  We got off to a rough start when she woke up at 3 a.m. vomiting all over her bed.  After getting cleaned up she slept the rest of the night and woke up acting pretty normal.  She was excited to open presents from us and the boys.

 The Lego beach house she has been wanting!

 She had to pose with her presents!

 We had a skating party planned for 1:00 that afternoon...we weren't sure what to do since she got sick, but she seemed fine so we went ahead and had it.  I'm glad we did because she felt fine and had a blast!

 In line to do the limbo

 Benny skated a little bit!

 Having fun!!!

We had snacks, cake, and ice cream at the skating rink.

 Taylor and her friend, Molly.

 Taylor and her friend from school, Chloe.

 Skating with friends!

 After the party, Grandma and Grandpa had presents for her to open!

A microphone and amp....has been WELL loved by all three kids!  She also got a "real tent" for backyard camping which we put up in the basement for a "camp out" last night.

 After dinner at Bob Evans, we finished the day with DQ ice cream cake!

I can't believe our girl is 6!  She is becoming so smart and independent.  She is doing great at school and really picking up on learning to read and write.  She still loves playing anything pretend, Legos, games, and playing outside.  She is finishing her first season of basketball and will be starting swim lessons this week too!  Happy 6th birthday, Taylor!!!!

And...we still have LOTS of snow!

Nothing new here....still playing in the crazy amounts of snow we have and enjoying icicles, too!

Can you see Drew in this picture???

I helped with Taylor's Valentine's Day party at school last Friday.  Here's Taylor showing off her painting she did.

The whole class!

She is VERY excited to be the "Star Student" this week.  She got to bring Mr. Fox home for the weekend and he went everywhere with us, including Grandpa's Dairy Queen!