I shouldn't have been so surprised...

...afterall, it IS in her genes! Brian's parents (and many family members, not including Brian) have been doing musical theater for 20+ years! However, Brynlee has always been a little soft-spoken. Her teachers have all described her as "Quiet, yet Confident." I knew she would do a great job in her kindergarten play last night, but she surprised me a little when there was no "quiet" about it...only CONFIDENCE!

Brynlee played the part of a Fairy in the play Giant John. She has been practicing her lines (3 lines) for weeks. She was so excited about it that she counted down the days until she was able to perform last night. We really enjoyed watching her and we are SO PROUD of her!

I had a great time creating her costume, she had a great time wearing it!

I have been trying all day to upload the video of her play to blogger, no luck. If anyone is interested in seeing it...you can click here.

Here is another video from last night of her class singing the song "Read me a Memory" by Jay Richards. This was the first time I had heard it, it is my new favorite song. I bawled as I listened to the lyrics and watched my sweet girl sing her little heart out.

PROUD Momma!!!

Check back soon and you'll see why!

7 Random things that make me happy...

Random Happy Thing #1: Campfires, Tin-foil dinners, and s'mores (in my back yard!). (Not to mention the OBVIOUS things (people) that make me happy in this picture!)
Random Happy Thing #2: My new BLOG BOOK that I recently had printed (I am going to print it yearly, it is my way of keeping a family journal):

Random Happy Thing #3: My TULIPS! (Flowers just make me happy period.)

Random Happy Thing #4: That my kids are too small to do too much damage! :)

Random Happy Thing #5: My garage no longer has to smell like a barn! Brian has recently finished building this chicken coop, he did a Great job (as with everything he does)!

Random Happy Thing #6: Great little neighborhood friends and a movie party JUST FOR FUN!

Random Happy Thing #7: Sunshine and snuggles.

Been wanting these for a very long time...

...especially this first one! Every night after family prayer, we all put our hands in and say "1-2-3-FAMILY!" (Gavin has been throwing his arms in the air and saying "famee" since before he could even walk.) I am excited to finally get this picture from inside my head... to my wall! My sister Chelsea is an incredible photographer! It helps that my kids are very comfortable with her (my kids glare and scowl at the kiddie-kandids photographers, I haven't been back there since Brynlee turned one). We are excited to have some updated family pictures!

BIG Thank You to the photographer (and her little sidekick)! We miss you already!

Pardon my absence...

...but we've been a little busy lately!

...(with some of our favorite people in the world by the way)!

Celebrating Easter...

Easter was a beautiful day yesterday.

The following Easter message is from Brynlee (she did this all by herself, except for the E and A in Easter):
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Eastr is fun. You toc a bot Jesis. You get cade. Jesis is resureted. I love Jesis. Eastr is my favrit day. -Brynlee
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Translation: (Easter is fun. You talk about Jesus. You get candy. Jesus is resurrected. I love Jesus. Easter is my favorite day.) The neighbors saw us outside with the camera and offered to take a picture with our whole family, pretty rare to get ALL of us in the picture at the same time:

It is so much fun for me to dress the kids up for special occasions. I picked out the fabric for the girls' skirts and Gavin's tie over a month ago. My beautiful mom-in-law gave me wonderful instruction on how to create what I had in my head (she is incredible!):

In case anyone was wondering:

On Easter evening, we had a great time with a few Aunts, Uncles, and cousins!

These handsome, blue-eyed little guys are all within 6 months of each other (college roommates someday?):

Fun with the baby chicks (they are hard to catch!):

We are grateful to have the opportunity to celebrate Christ and His resurrection on this very special day. Hopefully we can remember to celebrate and honor this Incredible event every day, not just once a year.

"I can see Really FAR!"...

...is what Kambria said the first time she tried on her new glasses.

Kambria has her Daddy's eyes, I LOVE her eyes...she is DARLING!!! Our kids, however, were not supposed to get Daddy's vision. A couple of weeks ago, while visiting Brian's parents, Grandpa mentioned that he thought Kam may need glasses. I had noticed her in the past squinting a few times, but it wasn't all of the time so I never thought much about it. When he mentioned this, I immediately took her in to have her eyes checked. The Dr. showed her several black and white pictures for her to identify. In one of the pictures, she quietly whispered to me that it was a shoe...but when he put the lenses in front of her she immediately said it was a duck (it was). I am told that her vision isn't too bad, but she has an astigmatism and is a little near-sighted. She mainly needs to wear them for still activities. Brian was almost blind before he had lasik done, so I am grateful that she hasn't completely gotten his eye-sight...PLUS, just look how darn CUTE she is in her new glasses! Now, the matter is just getting her to wear them for more than 5 minutes at a time!

Another one of those duck posts...

We are really enjoying our new little ducks. So far, they have had several different names...at the moment their names are Howie and Noisy. I can't believe how much they have grown within just a little over a week. They have seriously TRIPLED in size! The kids' favorite thing to do with them is let them play in the bath. The kiddos just giggle and laugh as they watch them run and splash around. The following note is something Brynlee wrote all by herself in her journal at school:

("I have ducks. They run too, and we are gonna let them swim in a bath.") - Brynlee

Another favorite thing to do is CUDDLE with them after their bath. The ducks really don't seem to mind which is kind of surprising to me. Still not sure what kind of pets (outdoor) that ducks will make, but so far, not too bad... we'll see!

We are a great team...

My Sweet Brian,
In celebration of your Birthday (yesterday), I am looking through pictures and realizing several (very random) reasons we are a Great team! I will list a few (in no particular order and by no means anywhere near the length the list really is!)
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#1: We always have an adventure together! We almost won a car on the Price is Right (when it was good with Bob Barker). Well, we would have IF they would have called our names! They don't even know what they missed out on. At least we got on camera several times because they couldn't resist that (even if we are the only ones that can recognize the tip of your hat and my elbow)!

#2: We are passing along generations of talented toes (the monkey-type), it would really be selfish not to. Our kids really didn't stand a chance with these genes. The list is really endless of all of the things we can pick up without even bending over!

#3: You are a great protector, and sometimes I play the "need-protecting" part very well...

...of course I am learning. No one is going to mess with us! Just look at these targets from shooting (for your B-day) last night:

Now, THAT'S talent! (Just don't tell anyone that your target was MUCH further away than mine was.)

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#4: Finally, I will let this next picture speak for itself on why we are a great team:

I hope you had a Wonderful Birthday, you deserve more than what is possible! I'm glad your mom was wrong when she thought you were going to be a girl when you were born, that was a pretty good April Fools trick on your part. Not sure I could ever "out-do" that one...but that doesn't mean I won't try. LOVE YOU!!!