March Madness

We filled out our brackets and are carefully watching the final four tournament hoping that our teams win.  Teagan goes with ranking sometimes and favorite names sometimes.  He picked a 15 to beat high ranked team and was right!  He went for San Diego, Utah, BYU and Boise because he knows them and picked Xavior because it sounded cool.  Eloise just wanted to hang out and watch.  March is always a fun month for basketball!

Lewis Fun

We went to visit our Lewis cousins in march for no particular reason except that we love to.  It turned out to be a gorgeous weekend.  Their favorite ice cream place, Culvers (sp?), was having a $1 waffle cone deal so we we went both days we were there.  It was so much fun!  

With all the ice cream, we spent lots of time at the park and outside.  We get along so well with the Lewis family because we all love to be outside and playing with each other and the kids are so close in age.  We played soccer, frisbee, climbed trees and picnicked at the park.  

Teagan climbed to the top of a HUGE tree, it about gave me a heart attack, but he was on cloud 9!  This picture only shows him at the bottom, he was seriously up at the top!

Saturday we got to see Grandma Packer and Aunt Whitney as well.  Julie introduced us to the fun game of setting up a track in the coldesac.  It made a huge circle and then we put a zig zag path through the middle.  It was so fun to go around!  

The kids all took turns pushing adeline in the car, Zac took turns on Teagan's bike, Julie rollerbladed, I scootered and the kids did a little bit of everything.  We had to set up a track the first day that we got home because we loved it so much.

Ty wanted a turn pushing Adeline...

Last summer, the 9 month age gap between Ellie and Ty seemed to be huge, now they feel like they are the same age and had a lot of fun playing together this weekend.

I married a most excellent man.  We all love him so much.

I can't believe there are no pictures of Teagan on the track!  That's probably because he was going so fast that he was just a blur.

Overall the weekend was awesome, we played hard during the day and played games and joked around all night.  Good times for everyone!

Eloise Turns 3!

Eloise turned 3 and we had so much fun for her birthday.  When she walked out of her room in the morning she was more excited about the balloons and streamers than the kitchen set.  She was so excited, "balloons!!! Pink!!!  For my birthday!" 

 We kept the kitchen set that the Murdochs gave us a few months ago hiding until her birthday.  We didn't technically give it to her because we want it to be a family toy, but it made it's debut on her birthday (and I have it in writing here so that when her and Addy fight about it later we will have proof, haha).  She did get some fun pots and pans and new shoes and a jewelery box though.

 Eloise loves to pose for pictures, she wanted me to take a picture of her showing how old she is.

 Eloise is her own person and we love her so much!  She is girly and loves dolls and pink and pictures, but she can also hang with the boys and loves to run around and rough house with dad and play superheroes with Teagan.

For her birthday cake she wanted a "minion, a pink minion, with a pink dress, and a pink eye, no two eyes."  I asked her several times leading up to her birthday and it was always the same response.  The night before, I double checked (knowing that 2 year olds change their minds frequently) and she sat and thought for a second and then her eyes lit up, "I want a Shark!  Ya, a shark!  I want a pink shark, with polka dots, pink polka dots!"   So that is exactly what we made.

 She loved it and had fun helping me make it and decorate it.

 Eloise loves birthdays and since we live close to lots of cousins we go to lots of parties and she loved getting a turn for her own.  It was a little wild to have all of the family over from both sides, but it was worth it.  She still talks about how much fun she had.

Eloise's Favorites:

Color: Pink

Day:Playing with Jordan

Toy: Playing with Teagan (I believe she's referring to the houses they made out of cardboard boxes and played with the big boots and batman guys in)

Food: Mac N Cheese

Friend: Jordan

Activity: Hide and Seek with Jordan

Song: I am a Child of God at primary

What she wants to be when she grows up: Play toys with Dad.

Something that made her laugh: Daddy when he tickles me

(Technically she answered "Jordan" for almost every question, including favorite color, but I tried to get her to pick something else too.  :))

-Eloise is an expert on her Strider bike and loves to ride it around with the big kids.  When we go on walks she can make it almost 2 miles before she gets in the stroller or wagon.

-Eloise is learning her alphabet, she sings, "abcdefghijkwvqrstuv now I know my abc's next time won't you sing with me."

-If someone suggests something she likes she will sincerely and enthusiastically respond, "that's a GOOD idea!"

-If you play house with Eloise, she will be the mom and you will be the sister or brother and you will drive to church, school, and the store before returning home to sleep.  There is a lot of going from place to place.  

-Eloise's favorite word is "no" and she is currently learning when it is and is not okay to use it.  This is fun for the whole family....except when it involves tantrums in unexpected places and at inconvenient times, which is pretty much every time.  :)  We hold on to the knowledge that this is a phase that will not last forever.

-Eloise loves Curious George and thinks he is hilarious.

-Eloise prefers to pick out her own outfits and they almost always include a skirt over legging or a shirt with a dress on the bottom or both.  She calls them fru frus and thinks they spin.  Even if it's 2 inches of tulle sewn to the bottom of a shirt.

-Eloise has a laugh that will make everyone else in the room laugh, she loves to be chased and loves when we spend time as a family on walks, in the backyard, swimming, or just hanging out.  

We love our Eloise so much, she is our ray of sunshine.  

Teagan's Basketball Season

Teagan had a great first season playing basketball.  He went from being unsure of what to do and wandering around a bit to being one of the best players on the team.  

 He scored several baskets at each game and really had fun playing.

He is really good at defense and staying on his guy and getting rebounds.  I love to watch him play so much. He is a great team player and keeps his eye out for open teammates and does great passes.  I'm so proud of him!

His coach was our neighbor, Burke Davis.  He was a really great coach!

Teagan was lucky to have grandparents at almost every game, he even had his buddy, Eli, at the last game.  He has a great support system.

Spring Fun

Teagan and Eloise spend so much time outside, poor Addy misses them so she just watches from the window and tries to wave and talk to them.  Soon she will get to explore the great outdoors with the big kids.

We watched cousins Tay and Zoey one Friday afternoon and we all took a bike ride to the city park.  It was so fun!  There were a lot of underdogs and dizzy kids from the merry go round!

 Teagan is super brave on the swings, he was jumping so far!

 Eloise was getting underdogs that were far too high for my comfort, but she loved it so much!

The park is so magical, Adeline even enjoyed herself, eating pinecones and rocks, while watching the big kids play.  Zoey spent most of her time at her side.

Birdwatching

Perched on the best spot of the yard looking for birds...in March.  They've been out like this for 45 minutes, with no luck.  Who says that today's kids are all ruined by video games?  Lol. These three are pretty fabulous.  

Eloise, Teagan, Mason Murdoch

The Old West

Teagan and his best friend Eli Heath built "The Old West," the sign is on the piano.  They spent hours making this beauty and were so proud of themselves.  These two boys are both so good.  They have so much fun together, a match made in heaven.