Turning our backyard into Longwood Gardens

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Eric is loving the fact that we have a backyard...even if it is small. We planted a whole bunch of bulbs in the Fall. After the Easter egg hunt and soccer games he got to work again. Emma's comment, "our yard is going to look like Longwood Gardens" melted Eric's little gardening heart













The boys hard at work...Gabe was really good at spacing the flowers.


Emma cut out all the pictures and helped keep things organized on a map.













Here are all the flowers we planted

Egg Hunt!

We went to a really fun Easter egg hunt at the Ward's house on Saturday. They have a great back yard for an egg hunt, and the kids had so much fun!

Elijah even got in on some action...

Elijah (since he is still not walking at 14 months) had a ton of fun crawling around on the grass. My other kids were not big fans of touching the grass when they were babies, but Elijah didn't mind it at all.

Cruisin' in Mexico

Eric and I decided that we needed to have some fun before baby #5. So we left all the kids and went on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera. It was very relaxing and fun. Eric is usally a very enthusiastic (wants to see and do everything) vacationer, but since I was 7 months pregnant we had to take it easy. It was very fun and we had a great time just being together. We went with my family, although there were a few who couldn't make it.
We love to take pictures of the towel animals!!

At Puerta Vallerta Eric did the zip line and had a great time. I guess this is where Preditor was filmed. I stayed back and hung out with Jacki, Brian and Josh. (Jacki is pregnant too).

Too Long...

Elijah had his first haircut. It was sad to see him grow up all of the sudden, and it took a little getting used to. I think I preferred the old look more at first!

...All Gone!!

What a Cutie!!

Our First Pinewood Derby!

Our first pinewood derby...what a thrill! Gabe wanted to make a hummer limo. He was really excited about it and I think he had a fun time. He is a real "the class is half full" kind of guy, even though he came in third to last his report of the evening was that "I won two races!"

One Year Old!!

Elijah is now 1! We had a little family party for him which was really fun! We made him a cake and let him dig in. Then it was time for the presents.

Elijah had a good time opening his presents and we had a good time watching him. He is such a fun baby. I can't believe that he is one already!! We all adore that little guy.

Christmas

So this is the first Christmas we spent at our own home by choice. Last Christmas our trip was unexpectedly cancelled because the day before we were supposed to leave I started having contractions and I was 7 months pregnant. But this year we decided that we had so much fun last year that we were ready for our own family traditions!

Christmas Eve PJ's...

Elijah has an earlier bedtime then the rest of the kids and gets pretty grumpy if he is up late so he opened his first and then went to bed. What a cute boy!

The older kids acted out the Christmas Story. They were really excited to open their one present that we give them on Christmas Eve...and still seem to forget that their Christmas Eve present is always PJ's. Emma was not a big robe fan this year...she did get one but since she didn't like it I took it back to Target.