it's that time of year again...

every year around father's day we get all the grandkids/cousins together for group pictures

my parent's get a kick out of these pictures through the years and we always make my dad a tie for father's day 

{he loves showing these kids off}

this year we decided to do outdoor pictures

and in the amount of time we had before the sun set i think we got some good pictures

these kids are growing up so fast

i love how close they all are and how good they are to each other!

love them all!

connor graduates

this cute boy graduated from his first year of preschool last month...

i cannot believe how fast it went but he loved every minute of it!

he is a very social kid and loves making new friends!  we loved his teacher Miss Kylee and hope to send molly to her in the fall.  she is such a fun teacher with creative fun stuff to do...

he will do another year of preschool before he starts kindergarten because he's a fall baby but this was a great first experience for us!

see the little girl below connor to his left?

that's the teacher's daughter and she is head over heels in love with connor!  Miss Kylee is always telling me she just stares at him like she's thinking "kiss me now!" it's so funny because i totally saw it at the graduation, she was all over him!  it was so cute and connor says he loves her except when she is climbing all over him ;)

his graduation program was so cute!

the kids did little songs about numbers and letter to show us how much they learned all year...there was costumes and music and i have to admit i teared up a little seeing my big boy perform

as a surprise to the parents miss kylee helped the kids put together a journal to see some of their favorite projects, she also made a video of class and took tons of pictures throughout the year of the kids and the fun activities they got to do.

easter weekend was so busy and this is another easter egg hunt the kids got to do with the primary...

connor was an animal and took off to fill his basket 

molly on the other hand just stood there unsure what the point was

luckily there were some nice adults that helped coach her and fill her bag

she picked up a few and had a few dropped in 

{let's just say we got enough plastic eggs this year i won't have to buy any for the next few years}

she was far more interested in the swings and popsicles anyway

Easter 2012

Easter Sunday...

was pretty low key at our house this year

miss moo came into our room early in the morning burning up and her fever kept strong for a few days after

so james and connor suited up and headed to church for a bit after the kids tore through their baskets and stuffed their faces with candy for breakfast

we stayed home the rest of the day and got to relax...well, hold a sick, fussy babe all day more like it

but it was actually nice...molly was calm and wanted to snuggle and even nap 

connor in his business casual easter outfit

it took some convincing for him to wear the pink shirt but serious...how adorable!

the easter bunny took some nibbles on connor's awesome carrot cookies ;)

this is molly's easter dress she picked out

but would have nothing to do with on easter

i tried to get her to put it on even for a second to take a picture but she was too sick for dressing up...and that's when we knew she really didn't feel well ;)

easter fun...

after our day at agua linda farm we

spent the entire afternoon making easter cookies and 

coloring easter eggs

connor absolutely loves making cookies...using the rolling pin and the cookie cutters & of course licking the frosting

it keeps him occupied for hours

he even decided to make the carrot cookies for the easter bunny :)

the kids were so excited for the easter bunny to come it was so cute!

last week my good friend nicole & i added to our holiday traditions of taking the kids to do fun holiday stuff and went to Agua Linda Farms for a picnic, face paint, hay ride, jumping castle, petting zoo, pony rides and an Easter egg hunt...it was hours of fun!  the kids loved it and i always enjoy it up there!

miss moo is obsessed with horses right now and getting to ride a real one was a dream come true...she took it very seriously

connor of course loved riding the horse he loves *aminals so much!

the egg hunt was fun to watch, miss moo wasn't too sure what to do {this was our 2nd one} but luckily connor understood and found enough eggs for the both of them.

this is cash's new sister chloe, she was such a doll.  my kids loved seeing her!

we had an awesome afternoon out there! 

i will defenately take the kids again next year...what a fun way to celebrate spring time and the Easter holiday!  

*thanks nicole, cash and chloe for going with us!

THIS IS MY 300TH POST AND MY 6TH YEAR BLOGGING!

anyway...

it is dedicated to miss moo

this little lady got her first hair cut in 2 and a 1/2 years!

we haven't had much to work with but it's starting to come in, thick, fuzzy and a little curly!

she was so nervous but she stayed very still 

we just had to get her scraggly ends cleaned up...she is such a beauty!

thanks Joree for giving moo her first cut!

my name is molly b and it has been 11 days since my last binkie...

this girl is off the bink and life is good!

she had officially misplaced every last binkie and at bedtime had to face the tough reality that she was on her own...

but she did so awesome!

i explained to her that binkie was gone and that if she could go to bed without it she would get a toy that she wanted

"a pink mermaid?" 

and she didn't ask about it for several days and when i told her it was gone she just said "oh yeah"

big girl with her pink mermaid!

running the ragnar

i did it! 

i ran the ragnar del sol with an awesome bunch of women

and had such a great time!

yes i "struggled" and was not as trained as i should've been

but i made it and would definitely do it again!

here is some highlights...

our team name was 'sol sisters'

only to discover half way through the race that van 1 had registered our team under another team's number 'sole sisters'

(which we beat by the way :)

the team names were pretty entertaining

the majority of them were a little dirty and so funny

i was so happy to have my girls amy & loa who definitely got me through

they rocked the ragnar!

no chafing! 

the pic above is me running in from my first leg

4.9 miles up hill in the heat!

i had a little panic attack half way up because i felt like i was dying...my stomach hurt so bad and the heat was so hot! there was some gagging and cursing and complete relief when i was finished...i wish we captured pics from our night runs those were awesome!

the last run of the race was a little tough too, my leg was only 3 miles but it was so hot i was not prepared for the heat!

i really had such a fun time and would love the chance to train more and even run one of the longer legs! thanks to the awesome girls in our van for the encouragement and entertainment...ragnar did not defeat us!

"W" is for wild wild west

at preschool this week!

A couple funny things about this sweet boy lately...

his favorite new show is Fanboy & Chum Chum

his favorite song is "Head Up" by Andy Grammer

oh and he loves the band Yellowcard and sings so loud :)

he's all of a sudden afraid of the dark

he's pretty sassy lately and talks back :(

he loves to snuggle and will tell you exactly what is and what is not a proper snuggle

he still loves animals

he is so smart and asked me if birds get shocked when they sit on power lines

and he's starting to catch on to certain mommy tricks that are no longer cutting it {like only getting one happy meal to share "why do you do that mommy?"}

he knows we buy things on sale and when he wants something he doesn't just say he wants it, he says "mom is it on sale?"

he is one sweet older brother and puts up with molly's wildness {even when it hurts}without hitting back or being mean

he loves to color and paint

he has a rock collection

he loves playdough and even though he has zero attention span he will sit for hours and play with playdough, a rolling pin, cookie cutters and pretend to bake :)

he loves to help in the kitchen...

and so much more, but i just had to jot a few things down so i won't forget how fun/challenging 4 and a half has been.

i love this boy!