Tulips in Bloom

Woodburn Tulip Festival is in full bloom!

I asked Macey to open her eyes for a picture.

 It was windy so she was refusing.

But after I got looking at these pictures it cracked me up that Cody was trying so hard to be obedient 

you can tell it was tough. 

 Not so gentle! 

 Wooden shoe ride. Afterwords Macey declared that it was so fun and it made her sick:)

 Cody assumed that mountain was a volcano about to erupt...

 Fun kid activities too

 And ROOM to RUN!

 We sandwiched it in with a day of shopping at the outlets in Woodburn. 

 Is it just Oregon outlets or can you get coupon books at all outlet malls? They give them out if you go to the office and ask for one.

We got 20% off all our purchases.

 And cute little matching tulip outfits.
This is after we got home. a little scraggly but cute:)!

Happy Spring!

Ixnae on the ottypae

Multiple times per day Mackayla will tell me "pee." And want me to take her to the bathroom. 

And now she will sit down and go.  

She mostly just loves to grab pieces of toilet paper and throw them in. 

Yesterday I sat her on then decided she had had enough fun and got her off. She protested. Put her back on. off. on. off. Finally she went and let me take her off. But in between there I gave in and like a little toddler myself exclaimed "I don't want to potty train you!" She peered at me unconcerned. I'm sure that didn't deter her at all.

We have a LOT of traveling in our near future and I would prefer to do it with diapers. Is that so wrong? I am abundant with my praise...but I'm not going to encourage it yet:)
Yep. Way too little for me.
But she thinks she's big.

Update:
Last night as we were trying to finish some stuff up with the kids before we sent them to bed
Mackayla started begging to go "pee."
I tried to tell her later
But she persisted
I finally took her in and told her I would be back
She was great with that
When I came back she told me to go
I came back a minute later and she had pooped too
I think she's got this under control
Still. Not ready.

Easter Weekend and the Missing Basket

We crammed as much as we could into our little Easter weekend.

Dying eggs is always necessary.

(Somehow I'm going to have to remember next year that I need to hard boil a lot more eggs than I think I need to.)

 And, we had these tonight, a yummy way to eat our hard boiled eggs!

The kids each found their easter basket and a little gift.

Mackayla seems to like 'babies,'

Cody got a flip shot thing

  Macey got a game. But I don't think it's a real hit.

 We tried to get cute pictures.

And everyone looks cute, at different times.

2013

I can't believe how big they've gotten since last year.

I think Macey is wearing the same sweater:)

2012

 The sun was out and since it's Oregon we haven't seen it in a while. 

It was such a beautiful weekend!!!!

 Macey was overwhelmed with the brightness. 

 We went to the city egg hunt.

It started at 10:00. I pulled out my stroller and piled the kids in at 9:50 as we ran over to register.

The age groups were 0-3, 4-5, and 6-7. Since I can't be in three places at once we opted for happy medium. Cody has only been six for 2 months anyway.

 Notice Macey does not have a basket. Usually so responsible, she accidentally left it in the car

but she wasn't too worried. We decided she could put her eggs in Cody's basket.

Once the mahem started it was hard to stay together though!

 Luckily it started a little late. Just as they were about to yell go Ben had finished work, called and came running over to join the fun. He made it a minute after the hunt started.

We noticed a photographer out in front of everyone but hadn't paid too much attention to him until he introduced himself and said he got the perfect shot for the newspaper story.

What a fun memory to have captured from someone else's perspective.
(And if you notice an orange sweatshirt behind the girl in black and white, Cody pointed out that that is him:)!)

 The kids also got to have another egg hunt at Macey's friends' birthday party at the gym!

 Easter Sunday was another beautiful day with yummy food at a friend's house.

I am in the middle of Jesus the Christ.

I love that book and wish I could just go into hiding and read it until I finish.

I think it's a great way to really appreciate this holiday.

We also hit the coast on Friday. This should be a different post. But it's not.

 It was pretty chilly

 We found a bunch of sea anenomes and I was showing Mackayla how they were squishy and moved when you gently touched them. She wanted to feel it and squashed it. I felt bad for the little guy!

bridge over to the Newport aquarium

 Puffin

  

 Catching fish 

 Back home it was sunny and warm again and we sat out and basked in

the sun.

Mackayla took over my camera, phone and keys.