Just Dance Livi

We're nearing the end of the dance year for Livi. As cute as she is and as much fun as she's had, she's not sure she wants to dance next year; she thinks she wants to try karate. But for now, we're enjoying her little dance moves and are in to the festivals and competitions part of the year. *in both videos, Olivia is the last one on the left*

Playing and giggling with friends while they wait for their turn to dance

Shad Turned TWO!

I've been trying to figure out where the last year went; I can't believe my little guy is already two. He's a little young still for the Q&A's but I have a pretty good idea of what he would tell me if he could:

Favorites
Book- his, Eli's, or Livi's baby books
Movie- "The Lorax" (though he enjoys "Wreck It, Ralph", too)
Shoes- Boots
Food- Anything sweet, especially chocolate, Oreos and homemade whipped cream
Thing That Goes- Airplanes and Helicopters, he's recently fallen in love with tractors, too
Toy- Currently Buzz Lightyear
Place to Be- Outside
Girls- Redheads, honest! He LOVES seeing Ariel (The Little Mermaid), Merida (Brave), & Audrie (The Lorax) He also has a soft spot for a sweet young girl (quite a few years older than he) in our ward.
Song: "Gangnam Style" or  "What Makes You Beautiful". He loves most music really, but only tolerates country, if I'm lucky. In fact, there's rare occasions when he screams"NO, NO, NO!" until I change the station, after which he'll quiet down and say, "Thank you".
Shad has also been independently working on potty training since March. If we didn't have places to go nearly every single day this would be a much simpler task but so far, I'm impressed with his initiative! 

The kid can climb-and I just love his face!

Shad went through a phase of wrapping his blanket around his head to fall asleep. Sandy and I had to go down every night and unwrap him.

One night I even found him asleep sitting up!

Gpa and Gma came to celebrate-when Shad opened his present we said, "What do you say?' to which he replied, "OPEN IT!" (I promise he knows thank you, the little pill!)

Traditional b-day breakfast: pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream

personal pizzas for the b-day boy's dinner

another set of wheels for the boy who never stops

New boots!

He threw them in his bed before he went to sleep and when we went to unwrap him we found him with his boots on!

 It goes without saying, but we feel so blessed to have Shad in our family. He may be skilled at tantrums, disorganizing, messes, climbing, hiding and trouble (we're still looking for our remote and my spare set of keys) but he's also quick to say "I love you" and is full of hugs and kisses. He's Sandy's little buddy and my little helper. He antagonizes his sisters but loves them both so much he can't just leave them alone, either. And you just can't help but smile when you see him :)

 

So Much

So much for staying on top of my entries; and so much has been going on!

March: Our primary presidency was released! I'll leave the details alone, but suffice it to say a change was necessary. I've been sub-ing almost every Sunday since and was called as an Activity Day's leader. The best part? It's with the 8 year old girls so I get Eli's group; we're both pretty excited about that!

We spent quite a bit of time at my mom's and dad's this month as well; the kids all LOVE grandpa's new parakeets, especially Livi. I have little doubt she'll be the proud owner of her dream bird, a scarlet Macaw, at some point in her life.

Our little Angus herd grew by 2 this month; we now have Shamrock and Verde-this was pretty exciting! Hopefully a 3rd isn't too far behind. Honestly they're not exactly pretty when they're big but when they're babies they sure are cute!



Shad is now "officially" terrible as he turned 2 in March, though, he's been staking claim to that title for some time, the little stinker! Whoever said girls are more dramatic is someone I consider completely off the mark (atleast until the girls hit their teen years). But there's another post for this kid coming up.

The following picture was taken on the way to dance and karate one Thursday. This is a very rare sight; it's normal to find Shad passed out on the little trip, Livi sleeps on occasion, but NEVER Eli. So to see all 3? Pic worthy. I giggle about Eli's little toes in the bottom corner; she was pretty relaxed with her leg propped up on the back of my seat.

April: We got to enjoy a fun visit with my sis and her cute little boys over springbreak/Easter. Eliana and Olivia absolutely adore their cousins and every moment spent is precious to them. They anticipate their next visit before the current is even over. I feel like we're pretty lucky, too, as they all get along pretty darn well (as far as kids go).

For Easter weekend we spent it in Blackfoot and it was the first time in years the family was all together! We had so much fun eating, visiting, painting easter eggs, and we even had an absolute RIOT playing some Minute to Win It! I think the favorites among(st?) everyone were the oreo game, tissue boogie, Tio Ty's Cotton Nose and Tia Laurie's Elephant Walk. We're already excited to do this again in a few months so Uncle Jer Bear can participate!!

I love this pic of Livi-it pretty much captures the essence of the night, however blurry. She and Brock were doing the "Tissue Boogie" for our Minute to Win It night.

I didn't get many pics of the night I was either getting the games ready or simply too busy having fun myself, but here's another of Livi, this time doing the "Can Can".

 

Tio Ty and Grandma doing the "Tissue Boogie"

 My parents had a fun Scavenger Hunt planned for each family for Easter and despite some initial "confusion" it was so much fun running around to all the clues! Everyone had so much fun this weekend!!

We also spent some time at Sandy's parent's house; here's a pic of each kid having fun at their Easter Egg Hunt:

Eliana is reading at a 4th grade level now; she devours books! And we got Livi registered for Kindergarten next year. She knocked that screening out of the park!

Sandy and I have been busy with all sorts of things but the exciting news for us is a new lawn mower...riding, zero-turn, all the bells and whistles, and the best part? Bye-bye push mower and hours and hours of mowing (mostly for Sandy hehe!)! It's a pretty big deal :)

I got to do a young lady's hair for her prom-it was a little nerve racking as I was so scared she wouldn't like how it turned out but she picked a fairly simple 'do (having it only partially pulled back and I sort of weaved it) and it ended up being so much fun! She looked beautiful!