Savannah's personal piano recital

Savannah's piano teacher encouraged all of her students to have their own personal recitals this month. After a lot of practice and preparation, we had the recital at our home Saturday evening. It was really special for her to be able to play for her friends and family.

Getting ready for the big event with lots of practice. And all dressed up (she even did her own hair).

Here with her teacher, and amazing pianist and teacher.

One of her pieces was a duet with her dad. I love it when they can play together. Great job Savannah!

From a Seed

Have you ever grown a bell pepper from a seed? Last year we tried. We were not successful because we did not realize how LONG it takes a pepper to go from a seed to producing a vegetable. Last year our pepper was pretty, but that was it. This year I was not going to make the same mistake. We planted our pepper seed the last week of February. It was growing beautifully in our window sill, and the other day I transplanted it to a bigger pot so it could continue to grow. Oh we've been admiring our beautiful pepper plant, and in a couple of weeks I would plant it in its final resting spot in the garden. And then......

It happened so fast. There was no saving it. I was actually pretty impressed with the amount of destruction, yet the dirt was untouched?

So much for growing a pepper from a small seed this year. However, I probably will hang on to it for awhile to see if there is any chance of a revival.

Easter fun

This Easter season we did all the typical Easter things....

Wore new Easter dresses (and suit for Abe) to church a week early...

We colored Easter eggs, and were lucky to have some cousins there to share in the fun.


We saw the Easter bunny.

Went on a few egg hunts....




Had some good eats...

And got some fun presents from the Easter bunny.




All in all a great Easter!

A day in the life.....

So yesterday Savannah came bouncing through the door from School and announced, "I just LOVE Mondays." My response, "Well, I like them too (I guess)". Her reply "You probably like everyday because ALL YOU have to do is take care of 3 kids." Really?.... Is that all? I really wish that WAS all, but this statement inspired me to grab my camera and take just a few pictures of a typical day in my life.

Well I guess this could've been worse, but I sure hope they found that 1 special book they were looking for.

Darn it! I thought I just put those train pieces away.....

Ummm, well there's the answer to my question as to why there is 2 crayons in EVERY single room of the house!"

I can see that snack time is officially over.

Caught in the act! Hey you little rascal, put those envelopes back into the drawer!

Yes this little destroyer doesn't want me.... he's after the camera of course!

After a bit I decided I didn't want to take anymore pictures.... I was just getting too annoyed. However I must note that the last 3 days have been particularly great since Lydia is officially potty trained :) That means 3 days without wet panties and cleaning urine off the wood floors, couch, and carpet. And 3 days of not trying to salvage those poopy Dora panties (tell me why are they are always out of stock in size 2T?). And why do we do it all? Because there is some fun to be had.....




Okay- party's over! Stop jumping on the bed and time to go to bed!
Now the kids are in bed, it's time to relax (but not without being interrupted at least 3 times- go to bed, stop fighting, whose crying up there), rest (but definitely NOT sleep through the night- nightmares, crying babies, vomit, etc. etc.) wake up an repeat 24/7.

Welcome little guy!

My little sister Hailey had her baby boy this morning. Skyler Burke Arvish was born at 6:31 am and was a whopping 8 lbs. 9 oz. and 20 3/4 in. long. What a sweet and cute baby he is!

He looked a whole lot like his Dad!

I brought Savannah and Paige with me to the hospital to see their new cousin. They loved holding baby Skyler.

Gidget Dress

I don't know how many of you out there follow "So You Think You're Crafty" but they have some fun things and free tutorials :). This last weeks winner made this Gidget Dress and I really wanted to try one so this is how mine turned out.

I didn't follow her pattern to the "T", but I like how it turned out. The pattern I used for the dress was Simplicity 9643 and view A without the collar. I used some nice spring colored cotton fabric.
and for the back.....

I think I might modify this pattern some and make shirts for my other 2 girls.

SIDE NOTE:
I accidentally posted this to our family blog instead of Krafty Kaleidoscope So I'll just add another picture of Miss Lydia where you can see her cute little face.

More fun in the Snow

Last week was kind of wild around here! Between sick kiddos (Abram got RSV and was sick all week) and surgery (Dan had the plate and screws taken out of his ankle) we lacked a wee bit of sleep. So when Grandma and Grandpa Malan offered to take Savvy and Paige cross country skiing Saturday we were grateful. They love the one on one attention and got quite the workout!