ballet pictures

 the girls had their ballet pictures today 

in their spring recital costumes

they looked so cute

eleanor needed to be dressed, too

of course

 the pictures went really well 

and they're doing a good job learning their dances

i love these cute girls

and it's so fun to watch them dance

the last few days

henry fell asleep on me before i put him down for his nap

he is so sweet

 eleanor loves drawing lines with the chalk right now

 cute girl

 noah ate 3 plates of dinner the other night

and then needed 2 bowls of cereal afterward

while he did his homework

growing boy!

 gorgeous flowers

 from my sweet hubby

he came home early and brought me flowers

after a trip to get a crown at the dentist

 henry has become a lot more interested in walking lately

 and eating chalk

 eleanor was drawing a pink rainbow

 happily playing together

 eating dirt....

 he loves crawling around on the trampoline

why is he so cute!?

 we get pretty wild on friday nights...

chipotle and lowes

 this morning i ran 9.5 miles on the treadmill while henry napped

and michael and the other kids cleaned the church building

then we went to the farmer's market in boise for a little bit

i love how cautious olive is on escalators 

because it's the only time she's cautious about anything

 we shared a dozen mini doughnuts 

walked through the market

and then got a bag of kettle corn

and explored the capital a little more

 the ceiling is so gorgeous

 our big family in a tiny escalator 

 me and my boy in front of the nike statue

 i love how accessible the capital is

 we looked at the statues and monuments outside

 then on our way home i was looking at instagram

and saw there was a petting zoo at the village for the day

so we went there

and saw anna, too!

 the kids loved all the baby animals

there were ducklings, bunnies, pigs, goats, guinea pigs, and turtles

olive loves ducks and stayed with them most of the time

 michael holding a bunny 

 then we got home and ate some pizza

michael and the kids planted some seeds in one of our garden boxes

and i made some strawberry rhubarb scones

it was my first time making scones

we're going to have them for breakfast tomorrow

but michael and i tried some tonight and they were delicious

it was a pretty great saturday

i love sunshine

olive keeps coming to our room at night

it's awful

but we finally convinced her to sleep on the floor rather than our bed

yay!

a little before-school badminton 

 i rode olive to school for the first time yesterday 

and we all loved it

 i hung the kids' pictures above the coat racks during nap time

and ran 4 miles

 i pick noah and hazel up after tennis 

so i picked them up with my bike yesterday and they thought it was so fun

even though they had to just walk next to me :)

 we turned on the sprinklers when we got home

 this morning there was lots of company in my bed

 henry was loving relaxing on hazel

 i rode olive to school again today

 and then since i didn't have to run

i sat outside and read the girl on the train

i got a bit of sun while i was out and i didn't mind one bit

 noah kept lounging everywhere at ballet

silly boy

 olive's ballet teacher let eleanor participate in "free dance" today

and she was SO happy

 she did the cool down, too 

and did such a good job

it was the cutest

i can't wait until she takes her own classes

but we're waiting until the fall

since there are only a couple weeks left before the recital

 tonight i was finishing my book

and hazel came and read by me

she's so cute

i'm so glad i've got so much time outside

it's been so nice

very relaxing and the sun makes me so happy

all the in betweens

 we have had a lot of big things going on like birthdays and easter

but i haven't posted all the little things in between

so we'll play catch up a little bit

because however mundane and inconsequential these things may seem

i'm always happy later that i recorded them

and can look back on them

so here we go...

noah's freckles are coming in nicely this year (my favorite)

 silly upside down girls

 i made my favorite minestrone for dinner a week or two ago

and michael made pretzels to go with

and they were amazing

 sharing eleanor's new balance bike

in matching nightgowns, of course

 eleanor is all up in my business allll the time lately

i can't do anything without her RIGHT there

so here we're doing the dishes and she counts them as i load them

 my friend kelli was dog-sitting and stopped by our house

and the kids loved the dog she was watching

even henry

i was this close to buying him a puppy right then

but i refrained

 we hate it when olive ends up in our bed...

she goes sideways and makes our king bed feel tiny

 poor girl had to get knocked out for dental work

it went really well and now she has 2 shiny crowns that i hate

but at least it's over and she's better about brushing and flossing than she was as a 2 and 3 year old

so hopefully we'll never have to do anything like this again

 henry was so proud of himself for finding 3 suckers...

 olive was out on a sunday drive eating her lunch

 eleanor (and noah) had checkups last week and they're both growing super well

but eleanor is being referred to the ENT to get her enormous tonsils looked at 

 we have had some glorious spring weather

 i loved noah scarfing down some cereal after school

especially the little drip on his chin

 reading in the backyard 

 cute kids playing outside

 henry loved the pepperoni pasta we had while the missionaries were over

 and i loved that they taught the FHE lesson for us

 eleanor refuses to let me vacuum without her

 tennis camp is going well for noah and hazel

 olive had a lot of fun at her kindergarten orientation

how is she almost a kindergartner?! 

 i am so grateful to have a three year old who still naps

this has never happened before

 i love my helper hazel

and so does henry

 i can pull up, button and zip ALL of my pants

for the first time in a long time

yay!

 mid-day costco date with my love (and 3 kids...)

 my lunch most days

2 eggs, a handful of spinach torn up---cooked in the waffle iron and served with avocado on top

 our kids often separate into pairs

olive and noah

 and hazel and eleanor

 i'm guessing henry will be in the noah/olive group

but for now he hangs out with me

 i love these kids so much

 olive in this outfit is the cutest thing ever

especially with a messy top knot

 eleanor was sweetly singing henry to sleep while i was rocking him

 hazel reading scriptures, michael rubbing his eyes and olive playing next to her crazy alphabet wall

 i had to show michael that noah drew him as his hero

adorable 

 henry was the cutest for church yesterday

 noah got way too hot at church in his shirt, tie and jacket

so he cooled off on the way home

and thought he was so funny

 eleanor's hair is literally gold

she's our little goldilocks

 the first time the playroom has been clean in way too long

 i ate like trash today but still got my 3 miles in...holla

 for family home evening we tried reading some family history stories my mom had spent

but they felt too distant and the kids weren't super interested so we 

called grandpa olson and he told us about how his family immigrated from sweden when he was 3

the kids loved it! thank you grandpa!!

 then we had some scooter races

 and then we set up our new (used from DI) badminton net 

it turns out it's enormous 

and the kids were way too tired 

but it was fun anyway

so there we have it

all the in betweens from the last couple weeks