Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Easter Saturday at Papa's

We are blessed to be able to spend the Saturday of Easter weekend celebrating at my Dad's house. The food is always super great and the company is even better. Nothing beats being with my brother and sister and their families.



We all have so much to be thankful for.



Here's our attempt at a family photo toward the end of the night.
We clearly kept the kids out way past their bedtime and the crazies started to set in. They were all really good though. Benjamin was sound asleep before we even got out of my Dad's neighborhood.



Thank you Dad and Alex (not pictured) for always being such wonderful hosts - we LOVE you both!



Saturday, April 16, 2011

Just because

It's not a great picture but something about it I really liked. Any day that my kids can play together is a great day!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Good days make for a blissful treat

I'm so happy to report that we have been having some truly good days over here at the Summers place. When everyone is healthy life is GOOD!

After a super great weekend of house and backyard projects, family bike rides, Easter craft and mommy getting to go out (at night!) to see friends I couldn't have been happier that our Monday was just as great. It seems that having warmer weather really helps our moods.

After picking up Jack from school (he gets out at 1) I put Annabelle down for nap and Jack started his homework. Ben decided to do a little water play and then proceeded to read one of his favorite books, Ghost Ship while drying off in the sun. He looked like such a big boy.


Once Jack was finished it was his turn with the hose. Sorry local friends I know it's "illegal" to have running water from a hose here in Long Beach - please don't report me. We don't do it that often. Jack was making rainbows - they were beautiful and so was the smile on his face!


I went inside to start figuring out what to make for dinner and when I looked back outside this is what I saw. Now you should have seen the smile on my face! I love watching my boys together being kind to one another. I slowly opened the back slider to snap this picture. It was so great to hear Jack reading to his brother.


Since they were being so good I probably should have started the laundry or the dishes or continued with dinner but I was in such a happy mood I just couldn't do those boring things. So, I decided to make them (and me) a treat. Not just any old treat but a pineapple blissful treat I had seen earlier in the day and had been on my mind ever since. Click HERE if you are interested in a super yummy and amazingly easy treat. It was the perfect two ingredient (three if you count the coolwhip toping) treat to whip up during nap time on school night. Don't look if you are against using a box cake mix. I know you guys are out there and that's okay.

Once they realized I was gone they came looking for me - they always do! Then of course they wanted to bake with me. I was practically done considering it's a two ingredient cupcake. So they each got to help with filling the cupcake liners.

Ben loves to cook or bake any chance he gets


Jack enjoys anything he can do one on one with me. He can be such a sweetie


Annabelle missed all the baking but was awake in time to eat it. She seemed to like the cool whip a little better than the cupcake.


It was truly the perfect start to our week. We have lots of appointments this week - Eye Dr. follow up, Pediatrician well check (Jack) and a consultation with a new specialist for Annabelle so we probably won't have another day as fun and carefree like that again until at least the weekend. I am so very thankful for great days with my children.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Take part in ART

Jack started a new art class tonight at Averyboo Arts, a local creativity center for kids. It was a "big guy" class (as he called it) since it was for kids ages 6 - 9. He did super awesome!

The class is Beginning Art and the students learn about elements & principles of design, art history, enhance skills, and use a variety of mediums & techniques while making a new piece of art each week. He was really excited when I told him I had signed him up.

He was a little nervous at first because he didn't know anyone but he jumped right in answering questions and being part of the group. There are only 8 students in the class so that helped a lot with his comfort level as well.

Tonight's lesson and art project was inspired by Sonia Delaunay. The teacher (Ms. Natalie) showed them a few of her paintings and then explained their assignment. They were drawing circles using templates, then using a ruler to draw a few lines. Then they colored each shape a different color using oil pastels.




Although he was very focused and a bit reserved during the class we feel pretty sure that he enjoyed himself and was quite proud of his finished product. We were very proud of him and are super excited to see what he creates during the next 3 classes.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Memorable Moments in March

It's hard to believe that March is over! Where did the month go? Our days get so busy that sometimes I fear that I'm not stopping long enough to really cherish each moment as well as I should be. I also have a bad habit of letting the bad overshadow the good. I have SO much good in my daily life - sometimes it's just the little things that make me smile. Maybe it's something one of the boys says when I pick them up from school or a special picture they drew for me. These are very special moments but sadly they can easily be overshadowed by arguing siblings or vomiting little girls. I feel that sometimes I talk more about those things here on this blog or on Annabelle's and way too much to Branden when he gets home than about ALL of the wonderful things that happen throughout my day. Being able to stay home with our 3 little little ones is a blessing and I know this. There is bound to be lots of great and not so great moments every day - there's a lot of hours in each day :-)

So, in an effort to not let another month slip away without remembering it I've visually highlighted as a reminder for me some of the more memorable moments that happened this past month. There were lots more moments I'm sure but sometimes I just don't have a free hand to take a picture.

Taking my boys to the movies for the first time. It was just the three of us and we saw Gnomeo & Juliet


Celebrating Jack's 6th birthday with the family


Disneyland for Jack's birthday on his birthday!



Grammy & Auntie Mingie joined us! It was so much fun and we even stayed to see World of Color for the first time. Such a GREAT day (and night!)


Playdoh with the littles


Surprise swim days after school - me and all 3 kids!
Although it was nap time for Annabelle she is so great about being flexible when necessary and she really had so much fun splashing and kicking in the water.



Jack going out to lunch and the movies to see Tangled with his best friend for his birthday! (Her mom and I were there too)



Wearing super cute St. Patty's Day hair bows and hanging out with a super cool big brother


Jack's 1st Jog-a-thon. Thank you everyone who so generously sponsored him.


Playing in the backyard together!




Benjamin playing T-Ball - soooo cute!


Reading with Daddy early in the morning


Big brothers teaching their little sister karate before bed


Making homemade vanilla ice cream with dad




We have returned to doing weekday crafts during Annabelle's nap - yeah! The boys were "writing" their name with glue and Cheerios. We also did marshmellow rainbows earlier in the month.


Annabelle becoming more comfortable using her walker at home


Reading together with Daddy before bed


Jack made me this beautiful cross last Sunday because he knew I was sad that we missed church. I love his kind heart.


The kids happily building together (yeah - together!)


My brother and my sister in laws baby shower. They are having their first baby - a girl!


It was a "family shower" and the boys were SO excited to go to their first baby shower - it was so cute. Check out how great this picture came out! What I'd give to get a great family picture like this.


What a GREAT month! Thanks for taking the time to relive some of the more MEMORABLE MOMENTS of MARCH with me!!!

Hoping that April is super great for each of you. Feel free to leave a comment if you wish, to let me know you stopped by. I'd love to hear about any special plans you all have planned for April and how you try to cherish the moments with your families in our very busy world.