4th Annual Playgroup Egg Hunt

EGG HUNTIN' TIME!!! Friday, March 29th, we met up at the park with our friends for some Easter Fun! The boys all ready for the Egg Hunt to begin...

And they're off...Pierce thought this was pretty cool.

So proud of all their eggs...

Mr Goofy-smile

Sweet baby-boy Nixon snoozing away while the fun happened. (almost 2 months old)

Crazy Hair Day - psych

 Oh Kenedee, a day we'll never forget!!! Crazy Hair Day at Kenedee's Elementary school was scheduled for Friday, March 29th. On Tuesday that week she came home just crushed because the announcement said that Crazy Hair Day was going to be postponed. She then came home Wednesday as excited as could be because Crazy Hair Day was back on! I asked 'for this coming Friday???' not quite sure about that because why would they postpone it but then say it's back on. But she was SURE about it so we went with it. On Friday morning (29th) she woke up so excited to get her hair done (not normal). She knew exactly how she wanted it; a zig-zag part with two ponies and hot pink stripes throughout her head. Oh she looked awesome and felt awesome! And off she went to school.

Fast forward to 8:30 am when Adam calls me after just dropping her off at school. These are the first words he says 'are you sure it was Crazy Hair Day? Because Kenedee was the ONLY child with crazy hair! I'm pretty sure it was NOT Crazy Hair Day.' My heart dropped!!! He was both laughing and concerned at the same time, still makes me laugh to think about it. What do you do when it is NOT Crazy Hair Day and your child went to school looking all crazy-like for her. I wasn't sure how Kenedee was going to react. She can be incredibly shy and embarrassed around a big group of people but yet confident other times. I emailed her teacher to see how she was handling it and if I should come pick her up to bathe it out. Her teacher emailed me back after lunch letting me know that it was going to be okay. It was apparently not okay at first, when she got into class and realized this really was not the day she got super sad and started to cry. So Miss W gave her attention saying how fun her hair looked and how cool the pink was. Kenedee had asked to stay inside for morning recess because she was embarrassed and Miss W completely understood. But by the afternoon, she had forgotten about her hair. She came walking out of school that day with a big smile on her face...PHEW!!! I was nervous as to what I would see. I bent down and said, 'so it really wasn't Crazy Hair Day, huh.' She said that she cried just one time but then Miss W made her feel good about it and the kids were really nice about it. Her friends called her 'Pinky Pie' and she thought that was cool. We were headed to the Easter Pageant at the Mesa Temple that night so I asked her if she wanted to wash it out when we got home from school. She responded 'no! I'll wear like this.' Totally surprised me but soooo happy to see her confident about it all. Kenedee, you rocked that pink hair!!!!!!

Sealife Aquarium w/the Barlows

Barlows came to visit! We got spoiled seeing them over Spring Break and then again about a week later (March 23-25th). They captured this family picture after church Sunday afternoon. Nixon was 1 1/2 months old and apparently not happy to be in the picture, haha.

On Monday (March 25th) we checked out the Sealife Aquarium at Arizona Mills. I was pleasantly surprised with the aquarium, perfect for our kids (kenedee was missing out at school)...

They had these bubble tanks everywhere which put your face right in the middle of the fish, the boys had to check every single one out :) Pretty fun

This picture makes me cringe and laugh at the same time. Lincoln put his face down on the ground to check out the creatures swimming below us...

Never a dull moment with this guy :)

Lincoln, Pierce & Nixon hanging out one morning...
 

A weekend with visitors isn't complete without crepes. Lincoln was seriously grubbing!

Yard Makeover!!!

Since moving in 3 1/2 years ago, we've never loved our front yard. In fact, we've always hated the look, hahah....ugly rock, a saguaro that looked like it didn't belong, a lack of plants, and an ugly queen palm.

In March we decided to have some landscapers come out and redo the front and back yards. The biggest change of all was the removal of the ugly light-toned rock with the new dark brown rock...made all the difference in both the front and back yards. Here's the view from our front door while the landscapers were removing the old rock...

Before & After... (Since we plan to use this house as a rental in the future, we decided to keep a low-maintenance frontyard...going with a desert landscape. And surprisingly, I love the desert look!)
 

The difference of old (big pile in front) and new rock (in the background)...

They removed the bouganvillea in front of the window and added in an ocotillo instead. They took out the queen palm and added in a mound with a palo verde tree in the middle, landscaping rocks around, octopus cactus, totem cactus, artichoke-like cactus, and yucca. Our saguaro finally fits in :)

We had two pineapple palms in the backyard that we loved. They were huge and sweet looking but their roots were starting to move the cement wall so sadly we had them removed a few weeks prior and replaced with two Ash trees for future shade-cover. The landscapers then replaced all of the rock around our grass and added in some new plants. BEFORE & AFTER...

BEFORE & AFTER...

We love the clean look! (and that the cat-pooping sand area is gone :)

A's St Birthday

Adam turned the big 3-5 on Sunday, March 17th. We had a fun day celebrating with green and gold :) What a great day to have a birthday!

We headed over to Mark & Kay's for dinner. I was in charge of the menu so we did all things green + rainbow fruit. Yummo...

Love this handsome guy of mine!!! (his favorite dessert is dirt & worms which was the inspiration for his birthday cake...an oreo/brownie/chocolate pudding/mint trifle. It turned out DELICIOUS!)

(middle pic: classic A)

I made mini-cups for the kids with their own pudding, oreo, mint pieces & gold coins...

After dinner we came home to open presents...

The kids were so excited for Adam to open their present...a Dodge Challenger Remote Control car

I surprised him with a new Lakers snuggie :) Happy Birthday to my best friend.

Phoenix Zoo (Spring Break)

Day Two of Spring Break we headed to the Phoenix Zoo (March 12th). What a pretty day!

Dodgers Game (Spring Break)

March 11-15th was the kids Spring Break this year. Since Nixon was only a month old, we didn't venture out of town but we did get some visitors...Grandma & Grandpa Barlow!!! We decided to hit up a Dodgers Spring Training game that first day... (waiting to get some baseballs signed)

Front Row seats: the best way to watch these boys' favorite team

Pierce going to town on his favorite snack - chips & salsa

Our Visitors :)