Rachel's Magic Tree House Party

We finally were able to have Rachel's birthday party. After two postponements because we kept getting sick, we celebrated yesterday. Rachel and 14 of her friends pretended to be Jack and Annie from Frog Creek, PA from the Magic Tree House book series. Here's the fun:

The Magic Tree House

The girls started out in the "tree house" that Morgan le Fay (aka--Dad) constructed. We had blowing wind and flashing lights, then everything was still. Absolutely still. But only for a moment. . .

High Tide in Hawaii

The girls started out by making Leis. Then they played the "Limbo." We were amazed at how low some of the girls could go!

Mummies in the Morning

After returning to the tree house, the girls divided into two teams and wrapped Rachel's brothers up as mummies. They (Ben and Steven) were really good sports!

Dinosaurs before Dark

This was the loudest activity, by far. The girls had to "hatch" their dinosaur's egg by sitting on a balloon to get the plastic dinosaur hidden in the ballon. They were all a lot braver than I was!

Tigers at Twilight

The next activity the girls played was "Catch a Tiger by the Tail." It's similar to "Duck, Duck, Goose," except they said, "Lion, Lion. . .TIGER" and had to pull the tiger's tail that was hanging out the girl's pocket before she sat down.

The Knight at Dawn

Rachel really wanted a princess cake, so I made a princess castle cake to tie into the theme of the party. The girls especially liked all of the candy on the cake. Even though we had the candles on different levels of the cake, Rachel blew them all out in one breath! Hope your wish comes true!

Stage Fright on a Summer Night

We ran out of time to do "Stage Fright on a Summer Night" and have the girls pantomime and act like the gifts they were giving Rachel as she opened her presents. They had fun posing for pictures, though! She'll definitely have a fun time with all the fun gifts she received.

Pirates Past Noon

Finally, Steve sent the girls on a scavenger/treasure hunt where they had to collect items around the house or draw pictures of things like flowers and cars. When they had finished finding all of the items, they received their treasure boxes with candy and prizes, and we sent them home with their parents.

Then, everything was still. Absolutely still. . .

Ben Earns his Bear!

Last night at Cub Scout pack meeting, Ben received his Bear Award and 3 arrow points. Way to go, Ben! We're so proud of you!

Tin Grins are In!

We just wanted to show you a picture of Steven's new smile. He got braces on Monday. Lucky GUY!

Happy Birthday, Rachel!

Rachel's birthday is today. She is 7 years old! How time flies--it feels like she just joined our family. She started out the day with breakfast in bed, a favorite family tradition. She loved all her gifts, including a Yorkie doggy from Grandpa and Grandma Packer, a Puppy in My Pocket playset, makeup set from Grandma and Grandpa Lacey, her very own blow dryer, and some gymnastics outfits. (She's starting at Roach Gymnastics next week! She's sooo excited.)

She was supposed to have a "Magic Tree House" birthday party with a bunch of her friends today after school, but Steve, Steven, Ben, and I all have the flu. Even Leia, the dog, got sick today! So we're rescheduling for Monday--so look for pictures then.

We LOVE our Rachel!!! Have a wonderful birthday!

Spring Break

Last week we loaded up the van and went to Salt Lake for Spring Break. It was a long journey, but we had a fun time. Here are a few highlights:

We stopped in Boise on the way and on the way back to reintroduce the kids to their second cousins, my cousin, Stephanie's, kids. Her husband, Ryan, and kids, Davis (12), Parker (9), and Maddie (6) were very wonderful hosts!

We arrived in Salt Lake just in time for Steve and Steven to attend the priesthood session of General Conference.

We stayed 4 nights with our long-time friends, Eric and Minnette, in Saratoga Springs. Our kids had a blast playing with their kids, Lauren (9), Devon (7), Jordan (4) (sorry, no picture),

and Ally (21 months.) Steve and I had so much fun staying up late every night chatting and playing Ticket to Ride (choo-choo!) We were so sad to leave--we love their family!!!

Other highlights were watching Sunday conference and enjoying a yummy brunch at Aunt Joanne and Uncle Rich's house. Later on Sunday we went to my Grandma Lacey's house and treated her to lasagna dinner. Monday, Steve took the boys to Provo and did a little brainwashing--BYU--Go Cougs! (Rachel wasn't feeling well in the morning, so she and I stayed home.) The boys are saving all their pennies now so they can go there--some day! (We are so excited that BYU's coming to play UW--Steve bought our tickets for the big game yesterday!!!)

That night we went to my Aunt Mary Lou and Uncle Joel's house where Mary Lou had made dinner--Grandma Andrew's Tuna Casserole--the ultimate in comfort food! Then Joel was the entertainment of the evening. He works at an industrial diamond manufacturer. The boys were intrigued in the diamond-making process, and he even gave them some of the diamond rejects to take home.

Tuesday we visited our old neighborhood in Sandy. Steven even got to see his best friend, Curtis, while we were there!After lunch, we toured Temple Square including the visitors' centers, Tabernacle, Conference Center, Church History Museum, and Beehive House. That night, Steve and I went out to dinner and to Thanksgiving Point with Eric and Minnette while my sister, Shannon, watched all 8 kids! Thanks Shannon!
Here's a picture of Cutie-pie Shannon who is holding Sophie who is wearing an outfit Shannon sewed. Notice in Sophie's hand is Grandpa Lacey's "Poop Duck!"

Wednesday, we headed back home, stopping in Pocatello, ID to visit Grandma Packer,Heather, Barry, Quinton, Jeni,

Mackayla (8), Johnathon (6), Shari, Josh, and Triston. We only wish we could have stayed to visit longer, but it was so fun to see everyone. We are so grateful to the hospitality of everyone we visited and invite all our family and friends to let us return the favor when you come to Washington!

Update on Rachel's Science Fair Project

I just wanted to let everyone know that Rachel's Science Fair Project, Dogs, Dogs, Dogs!, was very successful! (See the last entry.) She won first prize for her age group. I had to stay home with Ben, who's taking his turn having the stomach flu. (Rachel and Steven have already had it!) So, we didn't get any pictures of her accepting her award.
We also didn't get a picture of "Mad Scientist Steve" who did a demonstration of waves. This picture is from last year. For those of you who live around here, he'll be doing the "show" again at Lakeland Hills Elementary's Science Night in May, so you can see him in all his glory! (He'll "love" me for writing that!)

On your marks, get set, GO!

We've had a very eventful weekend. We started out on Friday with the Pinewood Derby. Ben had a great time making his super-speedy car, the Golden Flash. He insists that the little divot he made in the front of the car helped to streamline it and make it go so fast! Because Rachel wasn't feeling well that night, I stayed home with her, so we didn't get any pictures other than this video. The video clips don't show his car--but they do show how excited Ben was that night as his car raced down the track!
Saturday morning, the rain stopped for a couple of hours, just long enough for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. We were lucky enough to have been spread out in the age groups for our kids that we were there from 9:00 until 11:00. They had lots of luck finding candy!

Leia had fun, too!

I loved the picture of Sophie standing in the middle of all of the eggs at the beginning of the hunt. She had been having "practice" egg hunts with her friends, Sidney and Alexa the day before, so she know just what to do. We had to keep reminding her that she needed to wait to pick them up, though.

Steven had gone to the tween/teen flashlight egg hunt on Friday Night. He wasn't so lucky--at the very beginning of the hunt, in all of the excitement another kid accidentally knocked the headlamp off his head, and his headlamp and batteries went flying. By the time he rounded up all of pieces, all of the loot was gone. His wonderful friends, Zac and Colton, who he'd gone with were very kind and shared their treats with him.

After the hunt, we came home and colored our own eggs. Ben's favorite color is green, so most of his eggs ended up green. . .

Saturday night we finally celebrated Steven's birthday (his birthday was March 4th.) He had a "late night" with his friends, Zac, Kyle, Nik, Chris, Christian, Josh, and Austin. They each took turns showing off on Guitar Hero and battled each other on Super Smash Bros. They ate pizza and Steven's birthday cake, a "Steven Invention." The cake was sooo yummy. We made the bottom layer brownies. Then we topped it with a layer of ice cream and added caramel, chocolate, M&M's, and whipped cream. It was easy and a big hit with the boys. Finally, they calmed down enough to watch Star Wars: Episode I, until we made them turn it off at 10:00 and sent the boys home so the Easter bunny could come.
This morning the kids had fun doing a little egg hunt. Sophie is especially fun this year. She had so much fun looking for the eggs. She's had more chocolate in one day than she's had her entire life!

Rachel spent the weekend working on her science fair project. She has been working on it for about three weeks. The kindergarten and first grade students are supposed to display collections. She came up with the idea that she could collect pictures of dogs in the neighborhood. So she's been going around for the last couple of weeks taking pictures of dogs. Her favorite picture,(other than Leia, of course!) was the picture of the Andros' puppies.

We're saving the best news for last! Sophie's first day of Nursery in church was today. And best of all--SHE LOVED IT!!! We've lucked out with all of our kids. When it comes to Nursery, they've all gone happily. Brother and Sister Twiddy said her favorite part was "Ring Around the Rosies."

We had a wonderful day celebrating Easter and focusing on the life of the Savior. We had our friends, the Carman's and the Casey's, over for dinner. We had ham, cheesy potatoes, baked beans, salad, rolls, and for dessert, flan! (Lily Casey is from Columbia and made it homemade! Yum!) It was a dinner my mommy would be proud of! (I had to call her from the grocery store to get her recipe for the beans.) We were having so much fun, we forgot to take pictures.