May

Here are a few snapshots from our May...

Warm weather and lots of outside playtime for these two

 Sometimes Tate tries to follow along during our family scripture study :)

 Tate loves to wrestle and his biggest target is Mya. He attacks her all throughout the day. Luckily she thinks it's hilarious.

 Tate also loves to be cuddly and give hugs.

 Mother's Day with my little crew

 Bryn's Mother's Day card to me (pig nose!?) and the yummy salmon tacos Josh made for Mother's Day dinner

 Fun in the backyard

 Mya loves cheese. She was so happy when we were playing Headbanz and she got the cheese card! Speaking of cheese, Mya has a really weird favorite sandwich: swiss cheese and peanut butter!? Most days I don't let her have it, but occasionally she begs hard enough for me to give in. Such a strange combo!

 Bryn's choral concert

 Some paintings I worked on during May and a close-up of a cute little drawing that Mya did this month. 

 Best friends!

 Tate knows the computer is off-limits, so he feels extra sneaky when he climbs onto the computer chair. When I hear giggles from the front room it's often because he's spinning on the computer chair.

He is busy busy busy at this stage, so he keeps us on our toes!

 Park time

 Mya loves to pose and loves to accessorize

 Tate spends so much time perched in the window seal watching the neighbor boys play basketball. It's really cute. But it's also the cause of the constant handprints on our window :)

 My girls loves a good, silly "selfie" session.

 Homework is more fun when it's done outside.

 Josh is usually pounced on when he comes home from work, especially after a business trip! These three kids love their dad!

And I love Tate's sweet little face.

 Bryn's first grade class put on a little play last week. She was a narrator.

She has loved her class and her little friends this year.

  Josh was gone for the last week of May and we missed him! (Most work trips are only 2-4 days). The day he got home he took the girls to Target and they picked out a handful of water guns then came home and had a big water fight. 

Tate got sprayed a few times and got scared, so he and I just sat in the shade and watched Josh, Bryn, and Mya chase each other all over the yard.

Good times!

April

A few snapshots from our April...

 General Conference! One of our favorite times of year, when we get to hear from the Prophet and the leaders of our church.

 We tried a new snack idea during conference that the girls had fun with. After each talk if they could tell me one thing they liked from the talk then they got to choose a snack. Bryn and Mya had a lot of fun with this.

 Harvesting honey with our good friends the Thomases.

 Fun night!

 Two of Tate's favorite things (besides his Ninja Turtle pajamas) are brushing his teeth, with which ever toothbrush he can grab, and "helping"  me bake.

Our friends the Kolstes came to visit! These were some of our dear friends from Dartmouth. It was so great to catch up and for the kids to run around together like the old days. 

 Watching to the Nature Center in Watchung

 These girls are such good pals.

 Bryn and Mya waiting on the curb for Josh to come home from work.

Tate's favorite thing is to be outside and to be riding his little scooter. 

 In the middle of dinner these two announced "Hey! Let's take pictures of ourselves and send them to dad!" (Josh was on a work trip). I love these two cuties.

 This is what happens when the girls dress themselves and do their own hair and accessories. 

 Tate is a messy boy most of the week, but he cleans up pretty nicely on Sundays.

 Tate loves, loves, loves to "read" books to himself. He also loves wearing hats and sneaking into the girls' room to flip through their chapter books. 

 Bryn and Mya are constantly drawing and Tate has now started to follow their example. He spends time at this little drawing desk every day and gets in trouble all the time for scribbling over his sisters' precious drawings. 

One more pic of Mya doing her thing (with marker on her nose) and of Bryn casually flipping through a beloved American Girl catalog on a sunny afternoon.

I love this family of mine and the simple joys of  motherhood. 

March Recap

March means spring blossoms all around the neighborhood! I love springtime in New Jersey. It's such a happy time after surviving the cold, grey winters. 

Here are a few day-to-day pictures from March...

 Mya's favorite blossoms are the forsythia blossoms that were blazing all over our town. When we walked home from her dance classes she would get so excited to spot every bright yellow bush and shout "FORSYTHIA!!"

Have I mentioned how fun it is to live five minutes away from the Newmans? These little second-cousins are such good buddies. 

 I LOVE being in primary every week with Bryn and Mya, and witnessing all the sweet little moments in Sharing Time. One week Mya was chosen to come up and wear this cheerleading outfit and it may have been the happiest day of her life.

Mya is also my little baking buddy. She always has her arms lined with bracelets and purses, even when she is baking!

Tate had a really rough two weeks in March with more breathing issues. His pediatrician thinks he's got some asthma issues, but we'll just see how things go down the road. Luckily, after a couple weeks of doing nebulizer treatments and steroids, he got over it and hasn't had any issues since then.  

 Tate loves the park! His very favorite part is watching the big boys play ball. He peers through the fence at the boys and calls out "Ball! Ball! Ball!" over and over. It's so cute!

Mya doesn't nap anymore, but once and a while she falls asleep against me while we read books. It's one of my favorite things to have this sweet girl snoozing next to me. 

 We go through so many art supplies at our house! Now even Tate has joined in on the fun. He gets in trouble almost daily for scribbling on Bryn and Mya's drawings, but I'm thinking this will turn into good motivation for the girls to clean up their drawings.

My youngest brother is about to graduate from high school and he got his LDS mission call in March. He is so excited to be leaving in July for a 2-year mission in Guatemala. None of my other siblings live in Utah, so none of us could be there in person when he opened up his mission call. Thank goodness for technology that helped us all to be a part of it via video chat. 

 Toddler negotiations. It always cracks me up to see Tate "playing" with little friends. 

I finished this temple painting in March. This was a fun commission, a little larger than my usual commissions. 

One of Tat's favorite things is to "organize" my fridge and our food storage in the basement. He would do this all day if I allowed it. 

 This is why we are growing out Mya's little bob haircut! Crazy, crazy bedhead every morning. She's got the thickest hair on the back of her head and it gets so wild. 

 Something about Tate's chubby white legs in shorts!

Unfortunately, he is like Bryn was at this age - a little explorer! His main objective lately is to wander (or run!) as far away as he can. Maybe he was just so cooped up in the winter months that he is just ready to get out and go as far as he can. We spend a lot of time chasing after this little rascal. 

 I love these three little buddies.

And let's end with this awesome picture of Mya sharing her huge chocolate bunny with Tate :)