The haircut...

I finally talked Raegan into getting her hair cut on Friday. She was very against it for a long time because her daddy had taught her that every time I asked her if she wanted her hair cut, she was supposed to say, "nope, daddy likes it long!" And that is what she did. I finally decided that it wasn't really her choice (or his) because it desperately needed to be cut! I knew she would love it once it was done. I took her to visit Aunt Sherry who is the manager at Epic Salon. Her only stipulation was that Aunt Sherry had to give her a sucker at the end...no problem. She was so great during the cut and I think it turned out really cute. It's so easy and fun and Raegan keeps telling me, "it doesn't even get tangly, mom!" Jake loved the surprise when he got home from work and he thinks it makes her look just like his sisters...especially Sara. I completely agree and even if they all hated it, it's still easier and healthier and I love it!

Enjoying the weather...

About the time March rolls around each year, I do all I can to spend most of the day outside. Being a lifer living in Arizona, I understand the beauty of the March and April months. If we're lucky, May too, but we're NEVER that lucky. Anyway, during the past few weeks I have been hanging laundry on the clothes line outside, eating lunch in the backyard, (sometimes even breakfast and dinner), and spending hours and hours playing in the yard. I love that our playroom door also opens up to the backyard. A couple weeks ago I had washed all of our bedding and had it hanging outside when I looked out and saw the girls dancing and playing. I had to get some pictures of them because I love the colors of this time of year and the simplistic feeling of line dried clothes. For some reason it makes me feel care-free and so do these pictures...

A little piece of heaven...

I'm not usually a fan of the slide shows, but we had the BEST vacation to Mexico during spring break! And seriously....how do you just pick a few of the favorites from the entire week? The weather was beautiful (after Tuesday) and the kids had so much fun. My favorite part was watching how content they were with just playing outside all day. What I learned: :: Blake will never get tired of hitting a wiffle ball...if you'll pitch, he'll be your best friend! :: Raegan is content to play in the sand all day and is amazingly unfazed by the sand chafing! :: Sarah is fearless and loved to be in the water. Her favorite place to be was waist high in the waves...alone! :: I still don't tan without the help of fake sun... I just freckle! :: Jake loves having a week with the kids and no work. He plays just as hard as they do! And is super HOTT! :: My brother K.C. is so great with kids and an amazing uncle! :: His wife, Sherry, is one of my all time favorite people around! :: I have wonderful parents and they're incredible vacationers! They know how to relax when it's time! :: Listening to Jack Johnson on the beach is the ultimate in relaxation... Anyone up for a great vacation? We've decided to go again in July because it was such a great trip~come along!

Kindergarten field trip

Just before spring break I got to go on a field trip with Blake's kindergarten classes at Edison. We went to Superstition farm and toured the dairy. It was great seeing the excitement of Blake's first bus ride and getting to go on his first field trip! We saw cows, goats, chickens and bunnies. When we first arrived, they told us that one of their momma cows was having a baby right then and they rushed us over to see. Luckily, the kindergartners missed the anatomy lesson, but they were highly confused about the whole situation. At first, they thought the baby calf was dead, but by the time we left, it was up and walking around. I gained a greater appreciation for the price of milk and I probably won't be complaining about it any more. It takes a lot of work to be a dairy farmer! Did you know that it's only about 12 hours from when the cow is milked until it's put on the shelves in the grocery store? Amazing!

The worms...

this week the girls and i had some fun digging in the backyard for worms. somehow they got the idea that they needed a pet and a worm would do the job! luckily, it didn't take me too long to find a couple of juicy fat ones. raegan quickly named her's harold (12 dancing princesses) and sarah's became dora. they spent the afternoon playing with them and taking their worms on rides in the stroller. it was a ver eventful afternoon. the girls were way too chicken to actually touch their new little pets, but i told them that if they wanted to keep them, they needed to learn how to hold them. probably not the best idea on my part! by this point, raegan's worm had become tom'n ("like tom'n jerry, mom"). poor little tom'n and dora unfortunately suffered tragic deaths at the hands of their very loving owners. while sarah was on the phone telling her daddy all about her new pet, i realized that she was squishing and rolling him between her fingers! the funny part was that she had no idea that it had done him any harm and so she continued to push that little mass of 'once-worm' all over the house in her stroller!

When the moon hits your eye...

Last week I decided to let the kids have some fun and make their own pizza for dinner hoping that this way they might have a little motivation to eat. Well, they had a lot of fun making the pizza, but Dad ended up clearing their plates. I never got a shot of their finished pizzas, but they looked really good and tasted amazing! While they were eating, I made a dessert pizza out of a huge sugar cookie, cream cheese frosting, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries and then I dusted it with powdered sugar. It was seriously the best thing ever! The kids were alittle skeptical because "you're not supposed to put fruit on a pizza!". After convincing them to at least try it, they ate everything! They even licked their fingers, their plates, and they probably would have licked eachother's faces if I would have let them, but I do have boundaries! I have the cutest kids ever...

What we've been up to:

I was able to go to Disney's Princesses on Ice with the girls for one of our Christmas presents from Jake and Blake. Raegan and Sarah had so much fun and from the pictures you can see that they had a hard time taking their eyes away from the show! It was magical to watch their excitement!This is Raegan waving at Aurora (her favorite)! We had great seats (11th row) so everything was very 'real' for them. I am even more excited to go to Disneyland in May now and I can't wait to see the girls' reaction! Last week we had a park day with a few girls from high school out at Freestone Park and it was so fun to see all of them after so long. I think there were about 18 kids between 7 moms! We got to feed the ducks...

wait for the train.....

ride on the train...

and the big fianale..... there was a carousel that cost 2 bucks a pop so I paid 50 cents and piled 9 kids on this tiny one!

The kids seemed to have a great time and we saved about $17.50! *pat on the back*

It looks completely safe, right?

Hey, our carousel was full while the other, more expensive one was

running and empty. Who's the business savvy, eco-friendly one now, huh?

Last night was the Cox family Valentines dance and as usual, it was a fun time. I wasn't great about pulling out my camera until the dance was almost over, but I did get this great shot of Jake and Rae during the ballon waltz. (okay, my computer won't upload anymore photos, so I'll try again tomorrow!)