Easter 2016

I was not highly functional this last Easter, so I was grateful that Tailour sponsored some Easter festivities at her house. (I stayed at home, curled up in a ball and wishing for death.)

The Easter Bunny did manage to make a visit on Sunday morning, though . . .

Guerillas

These photos were taken during a phase in my life in which I was consumed by nausea, so I'm not sure exactly what was going on here. Something about playing in Quentin and Tailour's backyard. I'm posting the whole series because I think it's funny that they couldn't catch all three of them making tough expressions at once.

 Soren's ready to take you all on. 

 Now Soren AND Briar are ready to bring it. 

Liam's got it now, but Soren is smirking and Briar appears downright friendly.  

St. Patty's Day, 2016

Random Photos

Liam napping on the couch in the computer room on a sick day.  

Soren and his besty playing with Legos.  

 Liam sent this with me to work "to remember him by." 

The kids looking ungroomed and fakely happy.  

Soren does this amazing one-leap hugs. I haven't been able to enjoy one for several months now (I don't think his little sister would appreciate it much, being crammed into my womb at the moment), and I'm looking forward to resuming this activity.  

A Halloween-themed fort created by Soren.  

 Liam celebrating the 100th day of school. 

 Liam enjoying a bubble bath. 

Kid selfie!  

 The kids are always super excited when I pick them up after school, rather than leaving them to walk home. 

 Sometimes we dress up, just because. 

A me selfie, because I don't make a lot of appearances on this blog.  

Liam's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Clark, resource teacher, Mrs. Bogard, and principal, Mr. Lundberg. I may have bawled an inappropriate amount at my gratitude for these people at this meeting. He had a great kindergarten year.   

I really like these three fellows.  

. . . because sometimes you just have to wear a box.  

. . . and sometimes you have to wear a baseball cap at a hip angle and stand in front of a tree with a toy four-wheeler.  

. . . and sometimes the best place to hang out is amid piles of folded clean laundry that you can hopefully dirty up and scatter around a bit. 

Orchard Pruning, 2016

My mom and dad abandoned us this year to serve a mission in California, so the Smiths and Skousens had a little party at their house early spring to make sure the orchard didn't get completely overgrown. Afterward, there was pizza.

My Birthday, 2016

Quite frankly, I can't remember a ton about my birthday this year, possibly because "morning" sickness for pregnancy #3 (!!!) was just beginning to set in. I do remember Abe being a little crabby and stressed out about the cake, which turned out adorably, as usual:

And I also found some images of a wild dance party the kids and I and some balloons apparently held by the light of the disco ball Briar gave them for Christmas.

Soren's First Science Fair Project

Soren's 3rd-grade science fair project was focused on determining how much vinegar and baking soda it would take to blow up a balloon. He recorded amounts,  blew up several balloons, took measurements, did some calculations, and came up with a prediction. We ran out of vinegar before we could actually blow up a balloon, though.

Mornings at the Skousen Household

These photos represent a pretty typical school morning in the Skousen household . . . 

Soren reading any one of his complete collection of the Diary of A Wimpy Kid books . . . 

Liam helping me make pancakes. Lately he's been insisting on adding food coloring to them. 

Liam refers to his home lunch as a "lunch pail." He took a shining to "lunch pails" during Kindergarten, so I would pack him one occasionally and he would decorate it like this. When we took him off gluten towards the end of the school year, we bought the bullet and purchased him a reusable lunch bag, but I did enjoy his illustrations on the disposable ones. 

Valentine's Day 2016

Fun in the Park

Liam's 7th Birthday

We had a birthday party with the usual visitors, balloons, cake, and presents! Oliver is languishing on the floor in this picture. Birthday parties can be hard for 3-year-olds.  

Liam opening presents while Oliver wonders when his next birthday party will be.  

Liam wanted a train cake again. 

(This is his last ever gluten-containing birthday cake. We took him off gluten in April and it made a huge difference for him.)

Playing with new cars.  

This is a pretty typical view of Soren.  

Liam might have eaten a little too much train cake!  

Liam really wanted to go to iJump for his birthday. Each of the boys brought a friend. We had pizza afterwards. 

Liam loved this card from B and Grumpa!

Birthday bubbles! A little snow and ice isn't going to stop this kid.