More Pond Pictures...

BOYS WILL BE BOYS! 

I love this picture of our little barefoot boys, upon a fence they found to climb with their tadpole jar! This is what a mother of boys can expect and they will keep her laughing AND on her toes!

 

 I love these guys! They are so much fun! They can have fun with just about anything. Imagination at it's best! I often wonder what it would have been like to be a twin! As a mother of twins, I deal with endless slumber parties, (literally every single night), double duty everywhere I go with them because the saying "two minds are better than one" must have been originated by a mother of twins! They think of EVERYTHING! I often feel exhausted chasing these guys around and yet, they make my heart sing with joy and gratitude! 

The first picture below is Josh and the next one is Nate.

 I love this picture of Hallie. She is such a sweet girly girl and yet such a tom boy! She loves princesses, dolls, coloring, bugs, climbing, and anything to do with getting really dirty! 

She also adores her daddy to pieces and  he, of course, loves it!

Abby and her Teddy. 

It's not hard to find a picture of these two pals. We bought Teddy at Disneyland when Abby was 3 months and although his nose is lost, he has been through the washing machine more times than I can remember, his batting is lumpy, and he is very worn, She loves him with all her heart!

We have tried to replace him with a new one, and it's clear (the new one is sitting on a shelf) "Teddy" cannot be replaced!

THE POND AND OUR NEW SCIENCE PROJECT.....TADPOLES!

 Yes! We found tadpoles and boy was it an unforgettable adventure. Nathan & Joshua loved looking!

We first visited the pond 2 days ago. We met Megan and her boys.....

 Here's a picture of Micah, Megan and Kolton searching for tadpoles!

 Melinda was really good at spotting these tadpoles and ended up with the fullest jar!

 Jayden had so much fun just running around with all the "Big" kids!

 We stayed for over 2 hours! The kids had a ball. 

 Besides finding the tadpoles we were after, we saw frogs and fed ducks! (Actually, I had a ball too! I love the enthusiasm and curiosity of children--so contagious!)

 It's not often I see this little guy holding so still!

We came home happy, tired and very DIRTY! Then the unthinkable happened. Someone, (we are not sure who. You see, we have this invisible person who frequents our home and does unmentionables!) put the jar lid on the tadpole jar and they all died! Now in all honesty, we are really not sure if the jar lid on tight killed them or the sticks and moss we had also put in the jar from the pond.

 Fortunately, Hallie, had put her tadpole in a separate jar with pond water only and that one was still ok.

We decided to get a bit more information about tadpoles and headed back to the pond yesterday. This time we went in the early evening so Daddy could come with us! Just had to pop a picture in of my kiddos very handsome daddy! XXOO

Once again, the pond did not disappoint. We found our tadpoles and then spent a glorious evening at this beautiful pond. Besides these 3 handsome boys, Nathan, Joshua and Kolton, there is a beautiful pelican swimming in the lake behind them on the right side!

 

Here's a closer look at that beautiful pelican!

 Now, this tree was truly nature's playground. The played and played and played on this tree!

I have some more pictures I will post later on this evening!

While I was sick in bed the other day, our doorbell rang.......

and our neighbor was greeted by these darling well behaved children!

Luckily the markers were washable!
(Good thing  she didn't come in my house, YIKES!)

Good Grief.........

I know I sound like a broken record here! I REALLY would love to be one of those bloggers who faithfully slice out a special time each day and dutifully record their blogs complete with beautiful pictures, dates, and feelings. I actually visit a couple of blogs a week who are really that faithful (sigh!)

Unfortunately, I am NOT one of those women................yet!

I begin my day at the crack of dawn and fly from moment to moment and hour to hour. I LOVE being mom and all that it encompasses right now. We spend hours every day making memories that are so precious. Fortunately, I love taking pictures so at some point when I am able to do some more "catch up" posts on my blog I will plop those pictures in. Our lives have truly been filled with so many amazing events and much too precious and special to not blog about at some point. I will be starting some posts like that this summer so I will be able to record some of these special events. Meanwhile.....Summer is in full swing here! Megan and I spent the afternoon at the craft store picking up some fun items for the kiddos to do this summer. We have a wonderful family kids camp planned each week along with some exciting entire family activities. I am so excited! Now.......

Check this picture out of Jesse

And now this one! Notice anything different?

 NO MORE BRACES! 

 Jesse was thrilled to get his braces off! The ortho helped him celebrate this great event with a water bottle chuck full of all the goodies Jesse had to give up this past year, popcorn, skittles and all sorts of gooey chewy edibles!

This little guy joined our family May 5 (more about his birth later). Landon Bryce Croxford. Melinda and Jason added their second son and our 5th grandson! Wow!



Uncle Nathan and Landon




Aunt Hallie & Landon




Uncle Joshua and Landon



Big brother Jayden with little brother Landon





Aunt Abby and Landon





Landon with his mommy and daddy, Melinda and Jason!



Kids say the funniest things....

So, I am tucking 5 yr old twins, Nathan and Joshua in bed tonight and we have read a couple of stories and we are discussing different animals so I explain to them about the word nocturnal and how some animals are up at night. I go through a list of animals and they guess which ones are "nocturnal" After doing this for a few minutes Nate turns to me with his adorable, serious face and asks, "Mom, are you nocturnal?"

Man, are these kids cute!

This morning, I hear them in the other room "decorating their beds" (that's what they call making their beds!) anyway, they are discussing what to put on and I hear Nathan say to Josh, "Josh, do you want to be twins today?" Of course, he was talking about dressing exactly alike but hearing him say this just hit a funny bone with me.

I love them all!

Wow, we have been busy......then had sickies all week long!

Boy, here I am again and a month has gone by since my last post! So many things happen each day. I hope I can be better about writing them down.



We made these cute little crafts for St. Patricks Day this year. The kids had so much fun, especially painting!



We made a few larger ones to give away.



March has been fun! The Leprechauns visited our house while we were gone to MOPS and the kids loved all the silly messes they made. Pictures were crooked on the walls, the bed mattresses were tipped up, furniture was strewn around etc. They even dyed our milk green!

The weather continues to fluctuate from in the 70's yesterday to waking up to a snowy morning today. (I am tired of snow and yet I have to admit it looks beautiful outside!)

The kids have had so much fun in the yard this month. I LOVE spring! We flew kites yesterday for a bit. So much fun.

My sis flew in from San Diego this week and so I have spent some time with my siblings. We enjoyed catching up so much! How lucky to have a great family. We are in the beginning stages of planning a cruise for next summer. That would be so much fun. Bryce and I haven't done anything like that for quite some time.

The family spent a couple of weeks with the stomach flu. Almost everyone got it but luckily Bryce and I managed to dodge it this time! (knock on wood) Poor Jesse was out of school for over a week. He will be very busy when he get back this Monday.


This is a pic of the kids showing me a clever way they discovered to carry their favorite stuffed animals!



This is a picture of them showing me their "cool" looks!

Well, I post more later. I haven't been taking as many pics as I use to. I need to get going on that again. I am so sorry I didn't even get one pic with my family together! Had my camera in my purse and just forgot :o(  Oh well! I'll catch them next time.

I love this weekend. I am looking forward to General Conference today. I always feel so inspired and uplifted when I watch it.


This is a picture of our Valentines Dinner. We had heart shaped pizza, YUM!



This was our Valentines Day Breakfast! We had heart shaped toast, Valentines milk and cereal. Mmmm!

5 yr old Josh regarding the earthquake in Japan

It seems I can never find time to post! I keep recommitting myself and here I go again!

Anyway, my time is limited right now, but I want to remember the innocence and concern of a 5 year old after watching a news clip on the terrible earthquake in Japan. It sure left me feeling many emotions. Anyway, that night it was Joshua's turn to pray. He asked Heavenly Father to please bless the people in Japan and to please protect the earth! So sweet.