March Phone Favorites

As per usual March flew by much too quickly. There were so many holidays and visits and I wished that it would have lasted forever!! Here are our monthly phone favorites that are mostly of Manfred.

This monkey just loves to get into my fridge and pantry. One morning he found beans... He was a bit sad when they spilled everywhere. 

So instead of just cleaning them up, we let him play and try to scoop them up into a bucket. I still find beans in the most random places such as the shoe closet, but he had fun. 

Then he decided he needed to snuggle with some psyllium husks and peanut butter. This boy is hilarious!

I wore my hair down for the first time in quite awhile. It is finally starting to grown back after my hair chop at Christmas and I am loving the current length and style. 

Downside to having long hair is it gets in the way. Usually my hair is up in a bun out of the way. One evening  Duke and I were playing hide and seek and I was crawling into the tent when I knelt on my hair and pulled this chunk out. It's didn't really hurt as it happened super fast and I could more hear it than feel it, but I was amazed at how much came out! 

 Good thing it was a chunk in the back and you couldn't tell. 

 Despite this little man having a shake of his own he insisted on sharing mine. 

This kids laugh comes from his toes!

When you walk into your child's room after nap time and find him with a light saber. How did you even get that past me when I was putting you down?

Despite being OCD and wanting everyone to match I just love when this girl dresses herself.

Five kids at IKEA? No problem! Gretchen and I have become masters and wrangling our crew in stores. It's a total circus but we have fun!

 E and Micah. I just love that Gretchen's and my kids get along so well! (Minus the feud between Duke and Emery, but one day they will adore each other! 

Sick babies mean lots of cuddle time.

Saw this and thought of Dad Tobler.

We love Bass Pro and we got to see the Easter bunny as a surprise. Every time we go I just want to buy a canooe and a tent and go camping for a few weeks!!! 

Manny and I dancing to our song before bed. He's standing on my feet. I love moments like this. (Our song in 1,000 Years Pt 2 by Christina Perri) That song has always reminded me of that little man and I sing it to him quite a bit.

For mothers day I got my mom and bracelet that said "I love you, Rotten Ronnie" And it's in my Dad's handwriting. Pretty much the coolest thing ever! I may need one for myself. 

E has become the best helper! She likes to feed Gretta and get her diapers. She is so sweet and I am just in love with her! And that's in time for April and hopefully a few more sunny days!

Girls Day Out

Saturday Jakob stayed home with Duke and we had a girls day out. We went out for lunch at Chick-Fil-A.

And we went to Wal-Mart and took our time trying on hats and other pretty things.

We then had to jump in all of the puddles we could find!

Then it was off to Khols to explore a bit. I love Khols but rarely go there because despite their awesome sales and Khols cash, they are still out of our current budget, we are more Savers people so this was a nice treat. E got some new shoes, not just new to her but new in a box. She was super excited to sift through the boxes looking for 8's (her size) and would squeel excitedly as she would pull it out. We tried on every size 8 kid shoe they had. She ended up getting a pair of white lace shoes "for church." She loves them so much! She won't wear them outside and when she does wear them to church she brings her shoe box with her white shoes in them and wears some other shoes, then changes before and after church returning them to the box when she is done to bring them home. It's hilarious but so sweet. 

Then she found a super cute dress that was on sale for $20. It came with the adorable jacket. No way I could make it for that! We had such a fun day hanging out just us girls and E loved her treasures. Thank you for spoiling us Oma! We had so much fun! Thank you for coming to visit us and we hope that we can come and see you soon!!

Hair Chop

It was finally time to cut Manny's hair. It was so bitter sweet, it had gotten too long and it really needed to go but I just loved his long mop. He would let me play with it as much as I wanted and it just suited his wrecky personality. So we got out the buzzer and went to town and he screamed the whole time... rightfully so.

I was amazed at how much hair he had! It was so thick and luscious! 

And the final product. He looks so grown up and I can hardly recongize him but I get to see his blue eyes more which is a bonus. He didn't seem to miss his hair and it is so much cooler. 

Once summer is over we will start to grow it out again. But he looks cute either way. I am totally loving his little faux hawk. What a handsome dude!

Hoppy Easter

I love holidays but Easter was super lame this year. I just wasn't feeling it and it was cold and rainy which made us cancel our big egg hunt this year. Thank heavens Oma was here to bring some Easter cheer. WE made a giant egg out of poster board, cut it into strips and colored the strips. 

We got pretty into it.

It wasn't exactly what Oma had in mind but it worked. 

Sunday morning we woke up to frost on the windshield. No egg hunt today either. :(

The kids baskets where super low key. Puzzles, a few candies, finger puppet, books, Shopkins for E, and a lightsaber for Duke.

 Off to church all matching in Blue.

Oma with one sad Duke.

A few days before Easter my visiting teach came by with these tulips. I was having a hard day, full of stress and emotions and tulips are my absolute favorite. They remind me of my Daddy and just made me smile. I texted her and let her know how much they meant to me and she said "I bet your Dad wanted you to have them." It was such a blessing and I couldn't help but smile every time I saw them. Duke was a big fan too. They smelled amazing!

Once we got home The kids found their baskets. 

Then we had an indoor egg hunt. Not as fun as outside but the kids had a good time!

Snacks!

Then we dyed some eggs! E has been asking to do this since Christmas. She was so excited! 

I love the white crayon trick!

While it wasn't exactly the Easter I had pictured, it was still nice. The kids had fun and we did a lot together. I am so greatful for this season and for the our Savoir who died for us and rose again. Through him we can return home and be together with out families forever. We are so blessed! Hoppy Easter Everyone!