Hanging with Amy and Danny

We headed out to Keller again this weekend. We love having family so close! The kids had a blast with Amy and Danny. It's always a ton of fun when we all get together. See?

 Danny finally gave in and held Clara. He has a fear of holding tiny babies, but I think she helped him out. :)

  A pair of mourning doves nested in Mom's backyard. Amy and Derek were both fascinated and Derek insisted I take a picture so he could see closer. Smart kid. 

 The bros

Incoming!

 Aunt Amy and Brycie Bryce

 These two are adorable.

 Derek started squishing Aunt Amy's face...

 ...but she can dish it right back!

 Amy is going to be an AWESOME teacher. She didn't mind reading to Derek at all and took Clara along for the ride, too. 

Father/Son Camp-Out

This was Derek's first time camping! He was so excited when Mitchell told him they were going camping. He was even more excited when Mitchell explained what camping is, haha! Mitchell was excited, too. He spent a couple days sorting through the camping stuff in the garage and getting everything ready to go. Austin took Isaac and Andrew and Jon took Nathan, so Derek had plenty of friends to play with. The overall report was positive, if brief. The boys went to bed at 10 and slept well through the night. No problem.

 Posing next to the camp-out vehicle. For posterity's sake (and continuing the family tradition of photographing and naming cars), this is our awesome Malibu. We call it Malibu. The van in the back is my van, called Vanna. Original, I know. Hopefully we'll be more creative with car names in the future.

 Derek trying to figure out how to cook hot dogs on a skewer. He's at least roasted hot dogs before.

 Want a bite?

Yay! First camp-out a resounding success! Roasting hot dogs and cooking campfire meals (see the aluminum foil dinners?)

Park Fun

Aunt Lizzie took us to a cool new park today. As we pulled up, the fire department was doing a demonstration with their rescue helicopter for the kids at a nearby elementary school. Derek just about jumped out of the car when he saw it and went nuts. Unfortunately, I was driving and couldn't get a picture, but the boys were fascinated with the helicopter, fire truck and police officers walking around. The demonstration ended as we pulled up, but we had a cool park to distract the boys. 

 Katelyn, Isaac and Derek - these three are best buds.

 Our sweet princess enjoyed the fresh air

Andrew chowed down on carrot sticks

 Emeri and Bryce wanted to swing at the same time, but there was only one swing available. Luckily, they both fit into it!

 Bryce didn't mind facing backwards. He just loves swinging.

 Emeri was all smiles playing with Liz while she was swinging.

Riding in the Rain

What a gorgeous day for a thunderstorm! We had a few little May showers today and Derek insisted we go out to watch the rain. Pretty soon, he pulled out his bike and started riding around the patio. Not long after that, he whooped a battle-cry and charged out to make a circuit out in the yard... in the pouring rain. He thought that was fun til we heard thunder, haha! Bryce was content to watch the rain fall down while he stood in the puddles on the patio. 

Bryce was happy to just stand in the puddles and watch the raindrops hit the patio

 See Derek out in the yard? Fearless!

Mother's Day Surprise

This year, Tammy's kids had the brilliant idea to do some overhauling of the front yard for Mom. The idea was to weed and mulch the front beds (with some awesome rubber mulch that is guaranteed to last for 12 years) and mow the grass.  Austin and Liz basically put together the whole thing: taking care of getting the materials and even putting out a call to the ward for volunteers. We had about a dozen people come to help out and it was a fantastic experience. The original plan called for about 20 bags of mulch and a couple of rolls of landscaping fabric. We ended up using a little over a roll and a half of landscaping fabric and 65 bags of mulch! WHEW! It was quite the job but many hands make light work. The kids had a blast running around and playing in the front yard, too. Mom loved it. She saw it when she got home and I think it made her day. :) She certainly seemed very moved by the group effort. As an unexpected bonus, she made her magnificent marble bars to take to thank those in the ward who helped and we got some of the left overs. ;) Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

 The kids went nuts when they were allowed to have one of the doughnuts provided for the workers

 The brilliant master minds!

As a little surprise, we found a cute little perfume jar that the boys got to give to Mom.

Wrestling

 Bryce loves to lay on top of Clara like this and talk to her or tickle her chin. It makes me nervous, but Clara loves it. She'll smile and giggle and talk to him or grab his face to make him laugh.

 Attack of the little brother!

 Bryce likes to sit on top of Derek, too. Derek's a good sport...

 ...but when he's had enough...

 ...he dumps Bryce rather gently off onto the ground, haha!

 Derek and Isaac are such good friends

 Sweet Princess!

 Clara is not impressed

 She's definitely a cuddler

 Playtime with Mommy!

I love my little princess!

Art Project With the Kids

 On a whim, we decided to do an art project today. I taped the kids' names onto 16 x 20 canvases for them to paint on. Then, Liz and I gave them paint and let them go at it. It was a lot of fun! Each kid had a different painting technique and different color preferences which made their own canvas that much more original.

 Everyone having fun and painting in the backyard

 Derek was very focused and initially painted with warm colors in straight lines and 90 degree angles

 Bryce wasn't all that interested in painting, so we didn't make one for him today. We'll try again in a few months or so.

 Clara was decidedly not a fan of the wind

 Emeri had lots of fun!

 Bryce eventually wandered over to help Derek with his painting. Derek was very nice and didn't mind Bryce helping at all.

 Emeri decided to add a feminine touch to Derek's canvas

 Peeling the tape off to reveal Andrew's name

 Finished projects!

Emeri was very protective of her masterpiece

Crazy Day

Derek badly needed a hair cut, but he wanted to see what it looked like as I cut it. So, I cut half and took a picture, haha!

 Sweet, sweet brothers!

 Bryce is such a sweet kid. Derek took this picture - he's a born photographer

 This was a such a sad photo. Derek and Bryce were having a good time playing and I was too busy texting someone on my phone. What a missed opportunity.

Two boys playing with cameras in the bathroom. Bryce loves doing whatever Derek does and he loves the older broken camera we gave him.