Rachel's Ears Pierced

Last week, we fulfilled a birthday promise for Rachel as I took her to the mall to get her ears pierced. She has been waiting patiently as we told her that she had to wait until she was 8. She was so brave! (It only took me 37 years to get up the nerve to get mine pierced!)

Here's the before picture:Here is the actual piercing. (Notice she doesn't even flinch!)


And after!

From Easter Bunnies to Birthday Parties

April's been a busy month! Last weekend we celebrated Easter. It was especially fun this year because Sophie was so excited. She's been practicing all month for the annual egg hunt by hiding plastic eggs around the house and finding them. I have a feeling I'll be finding them for months!

Sophie and Rachel with the Easter Bunny:
Rachel finding eggs in the woods.
Ben anxiously awaiting his turn!
Later that day, we went to watch Steven play in a water polo match. (He's #19--it's hard to take pictures of water polo!) He played in a week-long water polo clinic during spring break. He had a lot of fun and came home exhausted every day!!!
When we came home from water polo, we colored Easter eggs. Sophie had so much fun plopping the eggs in the water.
Rachel made fancy designs with hers. The kids' favorite part was eating them!

The highlight of this last week was having Aunt Shannon and her friend, Kristen, come visit us during Shannon's spring break. We had fun going to Pike's Place Market and eating fish at Ivar's and feeding the seagulls.
Sophie had fun playing on the "tramp-a-boing" with Shannon. Shannon and Kristen also spent lots of time playing hide and seek with Sophie. She's sad to see them go.
Friday was Rachel's 8th birthday, so we made cupcakes. Sophie had fun licking the beater.
Rachel requested waffles for her special breakfast in bed. Later that day, Steve and I brought her favorite lunch, Subway sandwich, to her at school.
Rachel had requested new bedding for her birthday, claiming that she's "too old for Disney princesses." While she was at school, Shannon and I gave her room a mini makeover. We had to remove the decals from her wall. Shannon and Kristen made a wall hanging with her name on it. Here's the before picture:
And after:
She was thrilled!

That night we had a sleepover birthday party for Rachel. She was bummed that I limited the number of girls she invited this year since it was a "sleepover." (So if your child wasn't invited, I'm really sorry!!!) We made Shrinky Dinks jewelry and stained glass butterflies. The girls had fun playing games and just being really loud! Here is Rachel with her sleepover girls birthday cupcakes she requested from a cupcake book Grandma Lacey had given her for Christmas.

I don't want to post pictures of other people's children at the party, but here's Sophie joining in on the fun of watching the movie, Bolt, with the other girls. Surprisingly, the girls actually went to sleep for their sleepover! Much different from the boys parties in the past!!!
I left the party in the hands of Shannon for a little bit while I sneaked out to Ben's Cub Scout Pack Meeting where he was awarded his Webelos Advancement. Next month he should earn his Arrow of Light. We're so proud of all the hard work and are so thankful for Tara Hatch, Lily Casey, and Wanda Orton, his past Cub Scout Webelos leaders for helping him every week!!!Saturday, we took Shannon on one of our favorite hikes--Boise Creek Falls. On our hike, there were people riding horses. They let Sophie pet one of them.
Shannon took our picture. Notice how TALL Steven's getting! (Oh, wait--he's standing on his toes. . . but he is getting tall!)
We even took Leia along for some fun. She was in little dog heaven.
The kids had fun skipping rocks in a little lake up there.
I had to take a picture of Steven. He got contact lenses two weeks ago and is very excited to be able to enjoy the outdoors without the hassle of glasses. He's in track right now, so he's especially enjoying running without glasses!
Thanks for the fun visit, Aunt Shannon and Happy Spring to everyone!