The Hula at the Pool-a

We decided to have Brighton's birthday party a few weekends after her actual birthday so it could be warm enough to have a pool party. So last Friday was the big day! She has honestly been talking about having a hula party since the day after she turned 3 so this party has been in the works for a while. The fun thing about her age now is that she can make up her own mind, so she chose all the party favors, the cake she wanted, everything. And to our good fortune we have a former party planner in our ward who happened to do luaus all the time so we were able to borrow a lot of fun decorations (sorry, we didn't get too many pictures of the paper lanterns, tiki torches, etc..but it was fun to deck the house out). Anyway, it turned out great. The weather was fantastic for the pool, the kids were all happy, it didn't take long for Brighton to be excited about all the attention ...it was great!

She insisted on a mermaid cake and I thought it kind of went with the water theme so I didn't mind making it for her.

Even though it doesn't show in this picture, she loved going out and playing in the water with all her friends.

After the pool we went back inside for cake and presents and ended the party with full tummies and happy faces. The party was a success and now that she's had both the actual day and the festivities, she says she can officially be 4!

Copycat

This is what happens when you have an older sister and want to be just like her. Kyle was livid that he wore these around all afternoon and he was even more mad when he saw I took pictures. I just thought they would make great conversation starters when he brings girls home to meet us!

Dear Summer, please come soon.

These barefeet are ready for summertime!

Double B-day

On Wednesday, April 29th, Brighton turned 4 years old! I can't believe where the time has gone! When Brighton has a birthday we call it double b-day because it's Brighton's Birthday. She gets a kick out of it. Anyway, the day was full of excitement and fun, she could hardly contain herself. First, for breakfast we had special green pancakes (her choice).
Then we had the last day of Preschool which was a little graduation. Brighton was actually happy when she walked down the aisle and recieved her 'diploma'.
And this was Brighton's preschool class. She's going to miss seeing these kids all the time!
Next we headed over to the mall for her big birthday present. She has been asking to get her ears pierced since Christmas so we thought that as a goal if she could write her name all by herself and read a small book by herself by her birthday, then she could get it done. We didn't think that she would be too ambitious to do those things, but the minute she heard the incentive, she was super studious. So it's been over a month since she's written her name and she can read 4 of the little readers we have for her. This day had been a long time coming! We dropped Porter off at a friend's house and had a special 'Brighton day' at the mall. First she got her ears pierced (the pictures I posted are obviously pre-piercing). She was brave, but getting that second ear done really freaked her out. Luckily, after it was over she looked in the mirror and was happy again. She definitely thought it was worth it, even though it hurt a little. The unsuspecting little girl.
She was even happy when they did the first one. I think it was the shock afterwards that took her over the edge for ear #2.
A cheesy shot of the super proud earring wearer.

Then we went out to eat together. She couldn't stop smiling and looking at herself in every reflection. Needless to say she was a happy girl with the decision she'd made. Then we got 'polka dot' ice cream (Dippin Dots)as a special treat and headed home.

Since that day was her special day, we even said she could stay up and watch a kids movie, but this is what ended up happening. I think all that fun in one day tuckered her out! So now you know the play-by-play of our Double B-day!

Rose Ceremony

Last Wednesday Brighton had her little recital for ballet. She was really excited for it, but when all the parents came in to watch, she clammed up and had to stand by the her dance teacher. Thank goodness she didn't have to get up and actually perform on a stage or anything! Anyway, even though she was super shy, she still looked super cute in her tutu and leotard. And at the end, the teacher gave each of the girls a rose for being in her class. Brighton was clearly excited about the rose.
Brighton and her BFF Kirsten Doing her moves
She enjoyed doing dance, but I think she's going to hang up her ballet slippers for now for some goggles and head to swimming lessons next! Wish her luck in the pool!

Family Night Moroni

Last Monday our stake asked everyone to do a special family night lesson about strengthening our families. Luckily Kyle dug up this little number that he had kept from his mission (cheesy I know, but the kids couldn't get enough). He was Capt. Moroni and he was protecting our familiy from the evils of the world. The next day Brighton found a sword (made out of a little golf club) and started fighting Porter. When I asked her to stop she informed me that she was protecting our family. I'm lucky to have a great husband who will do dorky things to make our kids (sort of)understand and love the gospel.

He's got Balls

I never really understood the difference when it came to raising little girls versus little boys until Porter turned about a year old. He already knew how to throw (Brighton has yet to learn that skill) and he is much wilder than she ever could be. Girls must just be daintier. Another complete 'boyism' of his is that he is obsessed with balls. One of his first words was 'ball' and he hasn't stopped saying it since. He literally walks around with a ball in each hand. In fact, I caught him doing this the other day...

The only problem I see is which sport is he going to choose to play?

Nursery Man

Can you tell someone was excited for his first day of nursery? And he did great! No tears(not even from mom)!

Easter Festivities

The week before Easter it was my turn to teach preschool so we had a lot of fun as a class decorating rice crispy treat easter eggs, making milk carton bunny baskets, and having our very own easter egg hunt. Fun was had by all. here is the proof:The decorating of the rice crispies. I think they liked the frosting more than the crispy treat.
The proud owners of newly-made easter baskets.

Checking out the spoils after the hunt.

And since I'm kind of behind on the Easter updates, I'll just keep the ball rolling and continue on to easter egg coloring which is what we did as a family the night before easter (yes we are procrastinators). Here's some documentation on that:
The focused artist Painting her masterpiece
(with some of Daddy's help)

And then on Easter morning the kids were rewarded for such good behaviors through the candy highs of the previous week with... candy of course.
Porter couldn't stop shaking his eggs to make sure there was more candy in each one. He would have polished the whole basket off within minutes if we didn't pry it from his death grip. Now every time he sees an egg, he starts shaking his hands around. Let's hope he never gets ahold of a real one. Our house would be a mess. Brighton was just as excited to recieve all sorts of goodies from the big bunny. After all the excitement died down, we headed over to our friends house to watch General Conference, got spiritually (and physically) fed and had an enjoyable Easter Sabbath. We hope everyone out there had as good of an Easter as well!

Techno Geek

I left the room for 2 seconds and when I came back to the kitchen, I found this. He is officially a a climber and he is in love with the computer. Every minute we turn our backs on him, he is up the chair trying to use the mouse or type away at something. We don't have anything to block him from it either because he'll just climb on whatever blockade we have in order to get his technology fix. Don't get me wrong, Kyle is loving that he can climb. Porter even has a wicked toe hook that he likes to do at our kitchen table, but we're just afraid our computer is going to have a meltdown due to tiny dexterous hands. Does anyone have any suggestions for alleviating this problem? If so, let me know!
He even likes finding our thumbdrive and searching for a place to stick it in. Normally it ends up in his mouth! Luckily he doesn't know how to take the cover off yet! Help!

The Bloodgusher

I have been a little hesitant to announce this publicly on my blog for fear that I wouldn't actually go through with it and have to explain myself to the blogging world, but now is as good a time as any. I have been training for a Marathon. My friend Jenny, and I have been training and plan on traveling to Washington to do the Seattle Marathon. We are really excited/nervous about it. Right now is about our half way mark for training and there was a local 1/2 marathon called the Bloodgusher 1/2, so I decided to do it. It was yesterday and if I could use one word to describe it, it would be...windy. Midland is not known for it's rolling hills. In fact, we are known to have no hills for miles (You can see the airport from our house which is about 15 miles out of town). The race was right outside of town, so there was absolutely nothing blocking the horrible wind which we were running into. I couldn't even hear my music the wind was so loud! It was brutal, but I got my "2nd wind" so to speak on the way back, probably because I was going with the wind instead of against it. Anyway, long story short, I finished. I got my best time. On to the next race (In Seattle June 26th!). Kyle got this cheesy action shot. Obviously I don't look too awesome after 13 miles of running. I couldn't have done it without my cheerleading squad rooting me on!

Brighton's Court

So the townhomes we live in are called Brighton Court and Brighton thinks it's the greatest because we live in "her court". It's been so nice out lately that we have been going on walks everyday and finally got a picture of her by her sign. Thought you would enjoy. Also thought you would enjoy the pic of hammy little B.

Spring has Sprung

So I guess the winter is over in Texas and it is finally spring time! Today it was 75 degrees outside and Brighton got a sunburned face! I'm not very used to this type of spring because that's a hot summer day in Alaska. But I am definitely not complaining. I'm excited for it! You can totally tell my kids are ready for it too because Brighton is exploring every new thing she can outside (thus, the fascination with finding ladybugs as seen below.) and Porter is running around in his diaper and refuses to let me get any pants on him. We've been able to go on walks, go to the park, and hang out basically anywhere that is not indoors. It has been our long awaited cure for cabin fever which we were all suffering from. The bug obsession begins

Pantless buddy

Pretty much, we think Texas springs are "Awesome" as Brighton is clearly stating!

Little Ballerina B

Whenever Wednesday rolls around Brighton's favorite question to ask me is "Is it time for ballet yet?" That right. Brighton fulfilled her long time dreams of going to dance class. I have to admit it is pretty cute to see all those little girls dressed up in leotards and ballet slippers. And Brighton loves practicing at home. If you ask her to do any of her moves, she's all over it. It's fun to see her grow, and become the little person she's becoming. As you can see, I think she's growing into a little dancer!

Can you Believe it?!

When we moved to Texas, we thought it would be great because we kept moving further and further south thus getting away from the snow. They say it never snows here, but to our dismay (and Brighton's joy) the snow flew yesterday! It was about 6-8 inches and it's gone now, but it was actually fun while it lasted for that 1/2 day. Schools everywhere were cancelled and the whole town basically shut down which was a joke to me because it was a light morning dew to Alaska standards. Brighton thought it was the coolest thing to make a snowman and Porter had enough after about 5 minutes. Luckily, Kyle had the day off so we made it quite a family event. We're grateful to have that fun little winter memory, but now we're ready for the spring to come!

Kyle, being the bully of a daddy that he is, thought it would be funny to throw snowballs at the littlest, most defenseless person out there. Needless to say, Porter wanted to go inside soon after that.

Porter got a head-full after standing underneath an overhang. This probably didn't help to make his first texas snow experience pleasant either.

Brighton was so proud of her snowman, she named her Frostbite (Frosty's daughter).

Good times had by most!

Clean as a Whistle

Lately Kyle has been putting Brighton to the test by making her deep clean our house with him. In the past week she has organized her bookshelf and cleaned her room everyday, done the dishes, vacuumed the couches, and he's even had her wash the windows! Who is this guy? I think he missed the memo that said child labor laws are in effect. Luckily Brighton enjoys it but I'm sure that happiness will soon fade once it's required of her to do these chores. For now, I guess I should just kick back and soak in the fact, that I'm not the only one doing the housework!

Workin' at the Car Wash

If we lived in Alaska or anywhere else for that matter, this would not be happening, but thanks to the mild Texas winters (although everywhere else in TX it's not so mild) Kyle and Brighton were able to go out and wash the car the other day. Even though Brighton probably made it a little dirtier than cleaner, she had a ton of fun hanging out with dad and she even sprayed herself in the face with the hose and only cried a little bit (purely accidental, but hilarious for the fam to see!).