March Sunday afternoon impromptu photo shoot

The weather is finally warming up around here. Well, maybe not today since it (barely) snowed here last night, but on a whole,  the much-anticipated signs of warmer days and the end of hibernation are finally taking notice. Our tulips are budding up through the ground,  the neighborhood crowd of kiddos are reuniting on their bikes and scooters, little knocks of friends asking to play with P and E are rapping at our door, and the sun which has been rare this last 4-5 months is making a welcome appearance. I am an admitted homebody, so I don't mind the excuse of staying in and laying low during the winter months, but by the season's end I am itching to get out again and interact more with our amazing friends/neighbors on our street.

One Sunday afternoon in March, it was barely and finally warm enough, so I conned our crew outside right after church to take a few pictures.

Lexi wasn't so willing for the group pics (this is the best I could get her), but warmed up after a bit. She is quite the moody little one so that kind of sums her up, although in her defense it was also lunch time and her afternoon nap was calling her name.
 On a side note, Emmie is a bit overdressed, even for church, but she wore this dress to Uncle Dustin's wedding in October and we are trying to make good use of it (and no better place for doing that than church, right?). Also, E insists on wearing that necklace (which is mine) every time she wears this dress.
 She thinks it's just so "stylish".:)

This little 6 year old is getting so big! His size 6 pairs of pants that he just started fitting into last Fall are already just about too short on him. Good thing we will be transitioning to shorts soon.
His reading skills are pretty amazing and he can read just about anything. When my phone dings with a text he will run it to me, telling me what it says. Not sure I love that. :) And our days of Chris and I being able to spell things to each other when we don't want our kids to know what we're talking about are over...we're entering into a new phase!
This early riser is such sweet little guy, a definite chatter box talking nonstop from sun up to sun down, and so smart it's a little scary at times. He is excited to start the spring soccer season and he is also playing T-ball this spring with a bunch of his buddies. He LOVES to play outside and be with his friends.

This little 4 (and a half- as she declares) year old is so sweet, most of the time. I have found that she's super easy going-- when she's not around her antagonizing big brother, who really eggs her on. As long as she is not being teased, she is very loving and affectionate. She's been taking gymnastics since September and loves it. We carpool every Monday with her friends and then they have playdates together afterwards. It is so cute to listen in on them playing "house". She loves getting her headband curls (can be found on pinterest) done at night after baths. It's so fast and easy and saves her and I both the headache of doing her hair the next day. She may love sparkles and princesses but also loves dirt and bikes running with the boys. She has recently admitted her love for our next door neighbor Connor, and tells Heavenly Father about her "boyfriend" in her prayers and her plans to marry him and to please bless him. Parker and I try our best to stifle our giggles when she professes such things mid-prayer.
We're not always successful.

Lexi loves her "Darder", and her Emmie (who went inside because she was too cold). She is lucky to have siblings who are so sweet to her.

This little Peanut just turned 18 months, however, her 18 month appt isn't scheduled for another month (long story). In the back of our minds, we continue to worry and wonder about her lack of growth  as it's apparent that she's hardly grown since her last check up, but we're so busy running after her and picking up her tornadoes that we don't have time to worry too much. Which is good, as she is probably just a very petite little Miss! She still fits great in her baby car seat, so when taking her to the store I still tote her around in a shopping cart in her car seat, and she's so light weight it doesn't even hurt my back! Not something that can be done with most 18 month olds. :)
 Her mind is sooo sharp, and her already large vocab grows everyday. She has started to repeat back whatever you say to her and is first to say "ME!" and fold her arms when I ask who is going to say the prayer.  She is gifted in the art of  navigating herself onto everything dangerous she possibly can scale (her fave is to stand on top of the kid-sized wooden table), resulting in lots of close calls and mad dashes to her rescue.
She loves to be the center of attention. She is so sweet and cuddly one minute and the next shows off her red hot temper, screaming at the top of her lungs, most of the time at her siblings, who can enrage her just by looking at her wrong. Hopefully this is just a little phase! ;)
She is most definitely a strong-willed little girl but is so much fun and such a gift and we are so glad to have her in our family!