A Whole New View

Two great things happened yesterday to greatly improve our view. First, our tree, or should I say bush, got cut.



I mean, look at the before. There were probably ten or more trees growing in the same spot. And this is after Dustin had cut a bunch of branches off. That tells you how bad it was.



This is what we would see out our back window. A giant mess. Not to mention little crab apple things would fall from all the branches making a big mess even bigger.



After a two week wait the landscapers came and took care of it. Our yard looks bigger and much cleaner now. Another plus is if there ever was a tornado we wouldn't get whipped in the face trying to get into the shelter. (Hopefully we never have to use it, but who wants to get whipped if it did)



And if it isn't obvious. My camera showed up! Yea! The difference is incredible. Forgive the sun setting behind the tree. It took 4 hours to cut down to size. Part of it was actually dead. Now I can actually watch my kids play in the yard and get great, crisp, clean pics of them too. No more blur!

Making More Space

This is our new van. We love it! It's a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT. It only has 36000 miles. It has everything we wanted except a DVD player but we have a portable one so it wasn't a big deal.








The side doors and trunk open with a button, 4 windows roll down, and the windows have retractable shades. There are tons of cup holders and cubbyholes.







All the seats can recline and we have stow and go storage. The mirrors have defrosters and the back window has a wiper-blade.

We Love To Swing!

I've taken Dalin to the park before, but he was always asleep in the car seat. This time he was awake and big enough to do something. Doesn't he look so little in there.



Look at that big smile! He absolutely loved it. It was windy and he didn't care which says a lot because he absolutely hates the wind.



When he stopped he gave me this look. I could tell he liked it and wanted to keep swinging by this look.



So I started pushing again. Now he doesn't like his swing at home. It doesn't compare to the bigger ones at the park. I can't believe he is this big already!

Fire!

Brennden has wanted to be a firefighter for a while now. Over Spring Break he was able to tour the station.



Think he was excited?



He got to climb in all the different trucks and pretend to drive. I never knew there were that many different types of firetrucks.



While there we got to watch the ambulance and a brush fire truck leave the station. We also got to see guys come down the poles. Now I need to work on making Brennden a new fire fighter outfit. The one he has is falling apart.

Sillyness

One warm sunny day without wind, I decided to clean out Dustin's truck before switching to the new car seats. Brennden and Charity headed on out too.



They climbed onto the bed cover and camped out there for almost an hour.



I love Charity's facial expression here.



And Brennden, being Mr Photogenic, had to have his picture taken too.



They got blankets to lay on because the truck was dirty. I think it was probably a little hot.



When the sun got to her, Charity climbed inside to 'help' me.



Brennden didn't care to clean so he just put a blanket over his face to shield himself from the sun. And yes, he is in a long sleeved flannel shirt and Charity is also in a long sleeve shirt. It was cooler when we were out this morning.

Climbing Higher

Today me, Brennden, Charity, and my sister Candice went rock wall climbing at the Y. We have been before with Dustin but didn't take any pictures.



I made it further than last time but still didn't make it much further than this. I know, I'm a wuss. (I'm only 10 feet off the ground.)



Brennden still only makes it a foot off of the ground. Maybe one day he will go further. But he did try a bunch of times. He is trying to smile for the camera here. Funny boy.



Charity climbs the six foot wall. I don't even hold her I just have my hands there in case she falls. She climbs to the top of that one. When she gets bigger she will be the first in the family to make it to the top of the big one.



And of course she wanted to take another pic.

Playdough

I went out and bought some play dough for the kids. We haven't had any in a long time. They loved it! I had to make them put it away to eat dinner and then they went straight back to it right after.



I wanted to take pictures of them. Charity didn't want her picture taken. Unusual for her. Snot.



Right away she mixed all of her colors together. It bugs me to no end and I don't know why. That's half the reason I don't buy playdough. The other half is a no brainer, it gets everywhere. Thank goodness we don't have carpet for it to get smashed into.



Brennden wanted to make sure his colors stayed seperated. Everytime they got mixed even a little he would stop and seperate them.



He even had to make sure he used every cookie cutter there was.



During all this, Dalin was in his bed. He was supposed to be napping but apparently 10 minutes was good enough.



I was lucky to get a semi smile. He usually scowls at me when I get the camera out. He hates when it flashes. I call it his Dustin face because he looks just like Dustin when he is getting mad at one of the kids.