Not Here

Hannah, Tyler and Aaron were running around playing chase. Hannah was the monster and she was trying to get the boys. They started outside when the boys managed to give Hannah the slip, they rushed into the house and hid in the bathroom. Hannah came in after them and hid outside the bathroom door to wait for them to come out so she could get them. I heard Tyler say from in the bathroom, "Should we go out?" Aaron replied, "No, I think Hannah's out there." Then I heard Hannah yell through the door, "No, come out! I'm not here!"

Cards

These are the cards Emma made for her Dad and I this morning, she is so sweet!

"Dear Dad, I love everything you do. You are the best dad ever. Love, Emma"

"Dear Mom, I love you. You smell like roses."

Room

We were all sitting in the living room this morning except Aaron, who was in his room. We heard him open the door and then, "Dad, can I come out of my room now?" This was weird since no one had sent Aaron to his room. Dad replied, "Bub, I never told you to go to your room." There was silence for a moment then, "Oh... I forgot why I was in here."

Agua Caliente Park

Last Sunday was so beautiful we all decided to go to the duck park before church. 

Aaron loves to climb the palm trees. Once he found a dead mouse in one, ick.

 Emma loves holding Clara, but now that she's getting bigger Clara's not to happy about Emma holding her.

 Hannah's new favorite pose for the camera. Ta da!

 Aaron found this snake skin which he brought home for his nature collection.

 Clara is so happy she can get around now!

 Too cute, too cute, too cute.

 Bub slipped and fell in the mud. His shoes were totally covered as you can see.

 And here's the pose again :)

 Emma's favorite pose is still with hands on hips.

 Hannah LOVES her big sister. Most of the time that is.

 Bub caught a huge grasshopper.

 Hannah just had to hold it too. She's much more brave than I am!

Almost cute. It's so hard to get a picture with all four of them looking at the camera, smiling, with their eyes open. I have to take what I can get.

Parent Teacher Conferences

We just had the kids parent teacher conferences at school. Here is what their teachers had to say about them.

Hannah - She is doing awesome in her social development. Her teacher said she is great at sharing and interacting with the other kids. She's also doing really well learning her shapes and colors. She can even recognize the letter H now and always points it out whenever she see's it by saying, "Look! My name!" Her teacher said that the best thing about having Hannah in her class is that she's always happy and helps the other kids be happy too.

Emma - Emma is doing awesome in school. She passed all of her benchmark tests and has really improved in her reading. She is doing very well in math as well and her teacher says that she is right on track in her learning. Her teacher also went on and on about what a well behaved girl Em is and that she is such a good example to her classmates. Her teacher says she is such a sweet and pleasant student and that she is a joy to teach because she listens so well and always does what she is supposed to do.

Aaron - Aaron is doing great as well. Not only did he pass all of his tests but he got the highest reading score of their class, he read 160 words a minute. He also has a 99% in spelling (which his Mom is very jealous of because she knows for a fact that he never even studies his words). Aaron's teacher also said that Aaron is the class "Bug Guy". Whenever any kind of critter gets into the classroom she always has Aaron take care of it. She said that in their studies all the kids have learned that Aaron is the one to ask if they have any questions about animals or bugs. She says that even if she can't answer a question Aaron always can.

Jared and I are so proud of our kiddos! They are amazing!

Birthday At The Zoo

This year for Hannah's 4th birthday she decided she wanted to go to the zoo. 

 Miss Emma

 Hiding in the bushes

 Clara riding in the stroller

 There were squirrels all over the zoo. As you can see they weren't at all afraid of people.

 One, two, three little cuties 

 Ahhhhhh! A snake! (He's just pretend, but he sure scared Meema when she looked up and saw him.)

 Aaron on the rocks

 Daddy and Hannah checking out the elephants

 Sisters

 Go Clara go!

 Hiding in the tortoise shell

 Still going

 Petting the hedgehogs

 Cute little armadillo

 Clara liked the hedgehogs.

 Not to happy to be posing

 Ta da!

 We got to watch this African Weaver Bird weaving it's nest. 

 Snuggles

Fast asleep

 The ducks were sooooo stinky!

 Bub squirted his Daddy and the baby.

 Brothers are good for climbing on.

 Taking a rest in the giant egg

 Meema and kids

 Goodbye zoo

See you next time :)

Four

Hannah's birthday was yesterday. Woohoo for Hannah, she is growing up so fast. We're having her birthday party this coming Monday, so we didn't have cake or anything yet, just gave her lot's of hugs and told her, "Happy Birthday!"
Well this morning after we dropped the big kids off at school Hannah and I were talking on the way home. I said, "Hey do you know how old you are now?" Hannah replied by holding up three fingers. I said, "No! Now you aren't three any more you are four!" I held up four fingers to show her. She looked at me with an unbelieving look on her face and said, "But I just have to be three." I shook my head at her and smiled and she exclaimed, "You mean I'm already four right now?! Holy Guacamole!!"

Soooo Big!

Look at Clara, she is sooo big!

A Song

We were driving in the car the other day and Aaron said, "You know Mom, it's really a good thing that I'm so good at catching lizards and bugs and stuff. Because I might be one of those guys that grow up and have to live off the land and I'll only have lizards and stuff to eat."

Jared loves country music and is always trying to get me to listen to it, but I'm not a country fan, so he can only listen to it when I'm not there. I didn't realize the kids were paying any attention to this till last weekend. We'd gottten a beautiful new table from some very wonderful people who gave it to us because they were getting a new one. We loaded it into the van and then Jared drove it home while I followed him in another car with the kids. As we were driving behind Jared Emma suddenly said, "You know Mom, I'll bet Dad's secretly listening to country in there!"

When we left for school this morning Aaron put his backpack into the back of the stroller. I asked him why he didn't want to hold it and he replied matter of factly, "I don't like to carry anything unless it's a good book or something to eat."

Last but not least here is the wonderful and amazing song that our Emma wrote all by herself, she wrote it last Sunday and then came and sang it for us. Here it is...

Translation: 

Jesus are you real here

My Father sent me here

I am glad to be with you

My family on earth

They are sweet

I am glad you are with me

You, I love you to my soul

I wish you wonderfully 

oh oh oh