February 26th, 2012

Our Children's Museum pass was about to expire, so we decided to do one last visit on Anna's birthday. We all had a really great day!

Collin really loved this little toy, simply because it was red.

Here comes the birthday girl!

Enjoying the new Mr. Potato Head exhibit.

Collin LOVED driving this ship!

These tools greatly excited him as well. He is really into fixing things with tools (or tootles as he calls them) right now!

Benjamin and Anna liked this spinning wheel.

Astronaut Mr. Potato Benjamin.

They had a little sea area where you looked up and it seemed like Mr. Potato Head was snorkeling and watching you swim.

Dave (finally) learned how to put on a headband. (Anna had to show him how it goes)

This is one of Benjamin's favorite parts, digging for pieces of a plate from a shipwreck and trying to put them together. He tells us that he wants to be an archaeologist (he says he wants to find treasures and animals to put in museums so people can enjoy them).

Mike and Kathy were sweet and came to enjoy some of Anna's birthday with us at the museum. Anna was so excited by her surprise visitors!

Back to work digging.....

Time to put a statue back together. This was hard work!

They did it!

The birthday girl insisted we visit the Barbie exhibit!

Fashion show....

This is how our days are lately with our Collin-Ollin. Huge fits over the littlest things. This one lasted about 30 minutes because we walked the wrong way and that upset him.

All that crying wore him out and he passed out during the cool airplane movie we got to see.

After some rest he was good as new!

Just a bee and a beaver crossing a log bridge.

And a pretty blue fish shaking her tail fins!

We had a really great visit!!!

After we drove home it was time for a few more presents for the sweet 4 year old!

Her brothers were so excited they gave Anna a huge birthday hug!

Go Anna, go!

New seek and find books.

Time to blow out the candle once more!

After the kids went to bed, I reorganized a lot of their toys to make room for the new kitchen and all of the birthday presents Anna got. Part of my organizing included moving this toy bin set back up to her room and filling it with some of her new toys. When I got up in the morning I noticed her door was closed with the light on. I went down and asked Dave if he had seen her. He said no, so we grabbed the camera and caught her exploring her surprise. It is so like our Anna to quietly start playing with a new discovery and enjoying it in the peace and quiet by herself!

A Unicorn Party For Our Cupcake

Anna has been so excited for her birthday party. She waits while both brothers have birthdays the four months before her's and by the time her birthday comes around, she is OVERJOYED! Benjamin and Anna helped me make edible rings (yogurt covered pretzels with Gusher's attached). They had a lot of fun and were excited to try them out.

We also made a rainbow fruit tray....

had lots of balloons....

cupcakes....

and a unicorn cake.

We had our biggest turn-out to a party yet, which means Anna was blessed with a lot of presents! She was so cute when she opened this one, she declared, "I've seen this on TV!"

See her joy over this princess hair/make-up set?

She has been really wanting roller skates and was pretty excited to receive some!

A beautiful dress-up gown....

Tearing into the new kitchen set from us....

This was my favorite moment....Anna knew that Benjamin and Dave had worked really hard building the kitchen and that Benjamin was so excited for her to open it. So she went over and gave him a big hug and thanked him. : )

Look at that smile as everyone sings to the birthday girl!

We hope all her wishes come true!

First Hike of the Year

I walked into the kids' playroom and found Collin in my Grandpa's hat (who Collin's middle name is after). Brought a big smile to my face!

We've had some great weather lately, so we headed out for our first hike of the year. Everyone was VERY excited!!

Checking out the birds and squirrels outside the nature center.

We got there in time for a guided hike, which was a lot of fun and educational.

Family shot.

This little hiker even skipped his nap for the first time!

Anna always has a fancy pose for me....

Benjamin really learned a lot!

I was trying to take a picture of Anna's eyes so I could show her that they looked lighter than usual, so she opened them up big for me. :)

Collin and Dave discovered a new fun way to slide together.

Car Seat & Crazy Bath

A baby store had a deal where you could turn in your expired car seat and get a new one on a discount. So we took ours in and got one that was also on clearance on a great deal. The kids loved picking it out for the baby! I was making a sad face when it was time to say goodbye to the old one, so Dave suggested we take a picture of each kid in it. They thought that was pretty cool too! Look how huge they are.....

One of my friends had the great idea to give kids glow sticks in the bath. So we had a glow bath and it was a huge hit! It also turned into a crazy bath. I don't know what happened to these kids, but they were nuts that night!

It was really hard to get a picture that was dark enough that you could see the sticks glowing but not blur out the kids. I think these pictures help show how crazy they were though.....

They had a fabulous time!