Cute girls, First haircut, and New Roof

 I have really neglected this blog, but here are some photos of what's been going on in the last few weeks:

Becca loves to be my little helper when I am out gardening.  Usually, her "help" doesn't actually help me or my garden, but when I gave her the hose, she was a great little helper!  She loved getting to water this little patch of grass for me.  I am happy to report that the grass is now greener than it was in this photo!

Rebecca has always had great jackets and shoes or boots.  This is one of my favorite combos!  :)  Could she be any cuter?

Eva had a reader's theater at school that Becca and I got to go watch.  She did AWESOME!  The expression she uses in her reading is so great!  Her teacher went on and on about what an expressive reader she is.  She makes us proud!  (There is a video of the reader's theater that I would post...if only I knew how.)

Hanging out in our matching Hershey's Kisses PJ's!  Eva is the proud photographer of this picture.

Eva is all ready for her last day of school.  I can't believe how big my 7 year old is!  She is growing into such a sweet young lady, and is a huge help to me!

 Rebecca got her first hair cut last week.  I had to cut off the first braid, just like I did with Eva's first hair cut.

Becca didn't want it to hurt.

The first cut!

My friend Krishelle finished up after I cut the braid off.

Good little girls get a treat for sitting still!

Before

After

I think she feels pretty!

Our garage and shop started getting a leak in the roof, so we had to reshingle it.  Thanks to our dads and Brian's mom and Brian, we finally got it done!  This picture is from the first day of work.  We finally finished the shingles last night.

Happy Birthday Eva!

 I never have birthday parties because I get so stressed out that it turns into one big angry mess.  But this year, Eva guilted me into it by telling me that she had to tell all her friends at school that "my mom won't ever let me have a party on my birthday."  Okay, fine, I gave in!

I didn't let her invite the whole class (because that really would have made me crazy), but she got to have a few friends over.  In the pool (mostly) we have Eva, Ella, Isaac, Tristan, Rebecca, Emanuel, and Claire.

We barbecued hot dogs and the kids ate them on the tarp.  Tristan was addicted to the Doritos, and designated my Uncle Rod to be at his beck and call when he needed more.  :)

We had to record the fact that I actually had a HAPPY face on the day of a party at my house!  Maybe we can do this more often.  This picture was taken while I decorated Eva's cake.

Eva wanted the same Ice Cream Cake Brian had on his birthday.  She isn't a big fan of frosting, so this was the perfect cake for her!

Grandma Papa let Eva pick out a fun sprinkler thing for her party.  The kids loved playing with it.

So it might look like I am just capturing Eva in motion as she runs through the sprinklers, but she was totally posing.  She would take a few steps, stop, hold still until I had taken a picture, and then repeat the process.  We might have a model on our hands....

The Muldowneys gave Eva a bird house that she got to paint.  Perfect gift for our little artist!

A bird house must have a bird painted on it so the real birds will recognize it as a home for them.

All finished!

I was totally impressed by this butterfly that Eva painted free-hand.  Not bad for a 7 year old!

This pic has nothing to do with Eva's birthday.  I just wanted to capture the beauty of the wild rose bush blooming outside my back door!  I am loving Spring!

A bit of everything...

 I haven't done this blog for a while, so this post is a little bit of everything.

I dressed the girls in polka dots for church the other day, and they looked so cute, I had to get pictures.  I kept telling Becca to smile normal, and this is the most normal face I could get out of her.

Eva wanted a kiss...Rebecca did NOT!  This is a typical Rebecca face if you do something she doesn't like.  Or just if you don't do exactly what she thinks you should.

The weather has been so nice lately that our Family Home Evenings have been going for a family walk/bike ride.  Eva is getting better and better on her bike.

Brian had to take a picture of me to prove I was there on the walk with the family.

Brian thinks it's funny to tip the stroller and scare Becca to death.  I thought the face she makes when he does it is funny enough for a picture! 

Just my cute Rebecca in her new dress.  Love this girl!

Eva was nervous about running the mile in school, so she and I went to the YMCA for a practice run.  I really enjoyed getting to (and being ABLE to) run the mile with my daughter.  It was some good bonding time.  Eva beat me by a lap.  When she ran the mile at school, she beat her time by 2 minutes.  Wish I could improve that fast!

Becca is my little shop helper in my grooming shop.  The other day I hear in a growly voice "I am the captain with a hooked hand."  I turned around to find this.  She carried that hook around for the rest of the day being captain hook.

This dog was so sweet, and so worn out after getting groomed, she just let Rebecca hang out with her on the floor for a while.  Becca has never had so much fun playing the iPod.

Becca "helped" me bathe Daisy this week.  Daisy was as excited as Rebecca.  Really.

There is sometimes a downfall to my daughter being old enough to dress herself.  Today was a great example:  we've got some Charlie Brown, some Mickey Mouse, some flowers, and the famous froggy boots.  She was lookin' so fine, she even got compliments on her choice of clothes from my customers.

Our Princess

Rebecca must have had too much Easter candy, because today she was so not herself! After throwing a tantrum, I sent her upstairs to take a nap.
Brian and I then hear her screaming "I hate my room!" over and over. After a few minutes I went upstairs to see if she needed a hug, and this is what I found:

She is now napping on her bedroom floor.

Happy Easter!

For the Easter weekend, my parents were able to come to Sheridan and spend some time with us. I have really enjoyed having them here. My dad put the pedals on Eva's bike (she's been learning to glide on it without pedals), and she was able to pedal and ride it after just a few minutes! Dad also fixed our lawn mower and mowed our lawn for us. No matter how old I get, I will always love being taken care of by my parents! :)

Mom got to snuggle on the chair with all 3 dogs! I groomed Macy earlier in the day (she is the dog with the red harness), and was so happy with how cute she looked!

On Easter morning, we all got to wake up super early! Eva was up so early, she almost caught the Easter bunny!

Becca was so excited to find an egg that was "Daddy's favorite color!" Eva was the best big sister when they were hunting for Easter eggs. She would see some that were at Becca's eye level, and save them for her to find. She made sure that she and Becca both got to find lots of eggs.

Then off to church we went. I so enjoyed getting to hear the talks about Easter. It was a good reminder of the love our Savior has for us, and the great gift of His Atonement. It really hit home this year. I am so grateful for the gift of the Atonement.

My parents got matching Easter dresses for the girls. My mom and my Aunt Sandy made cute crocheted jackets to make the dresses more modest. Becca has gotten "modest" and "immodest" mixed up, so she told me she was excited her jacket would make her dress "immodest for church!" Oh dear.

Happy Family!

After church we had a delicious Easter dinner! Maple glazed spiral ham, Mom's famous rolls, salad, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes and gravy, Delicious! A few weeks ago I groomed a lady's dog in exchange for her set of china. This was the first time we ate on the china. I loved it!

It has been a great weekend, and a really good day for all of us!

Helmets, Hands-Free, and Have a Piece of Cake!

The girlies got bike helmets today. I'm pretty sure Becca couldn't do any damage "riding" her bike (she rides even slower than she walks) but I figure we ought to teach them about safety!

Eva was excited about her helmet until she put it on. Then she realized they aren't the most comfortable things. I hope she gets used to it!

I had to get a close up of Becca's unicorn head. She was so excited, she wore it all over the store before we bought it. She thinks it's awesome that she can knock on her head as hard as she wants, and it doesn't hurt! :)

Becca is really in to doing everything "with no hands" lately. Things like walking, standing up, going down the stairs, going potty...and sitting on my shoulders. Brian tried to get a picture without her making such a goofy face, but had no luck!

I tried to make a red velvet cake this week. It was destined for disaster from the moment I realized I only have 1 round cake pan. I already had my heart set on a double-decker cake with frosting in the middle, so I decided to try it with one round and one square pan...bad idea.

The square had to be cut down to a rectangle because of burning issues. When I tried to frost the sides of the rectangle that the burnt part had been cut off of, it just spread crumbs all over. So I did the only thing I could think of to save the cake...I crumble crumbs all over it to make it look like it was on purpose. It was a hot mess...but it did get rid of my red velvet craving!

After seeing my cake, Becca decided the noodles we had for dinner weren't so bad after all, and she had a second helping of noodles instead of cake.

Dr. Seuss Day

For Dr. Seuss's birthday, Rebecca was being babysat by a friend of mine. My friend has 2 little boys, and one of them always hopes Becca will wear her batman shirt. So when she found out who's house we were going to for the day, she made sure she got to wear her friend's favorite shirt! :)

While with her friends, she got to do some fun finger painting.

The kids also decided it was "wear your favorite super hero shirt" day.

They made cat's in hats. Becca was pretty proud that she drew "lots of faces!" I don't think she understood that it was supposed to be a cat's face.

Here is my happy girl with her creations! She had tons of fun!