Story time with Brindi

Brindi is such a sweet little girl and a great big sister to her siblings.  I hope she never changes.

Easter

Happy Easter!  We had another great holiday.  It is always a great time of the year when life seems to enter back into our lives as the flowers start to bloom and the leaves start to grow on the trees and for most species the young ones are born.  Is it any wonder this is the season for the resurrection of our Lord.  We are so appreciative of our Savior and though the holiday has taken a more worldly view by society we still try and focus on the true reason we celebrate this holiday.

We took a family night to dedicate to making our colored eggs.  The girls always love doing this activity and they are getting pretty good at doing most of it themselves.

We also headed out for another Egg Hunt at Weldon Springs.  This is by far our favorite egg hunt in the area.  They have these golden and silver eggs that you can turn in for big prizes.  We didn't get any of those eggs last year so this year we were determined to get at least one.  When we arrived we scoped out the egg field and quickly found a couple golden eggs that we were going to go after.  We actually kind of hovered over one egg to make sure we got it when they said go.  We were also very lucky as we ran across the field to find another one, so both our girls were able to get big prizes.  Not to mention there was a lot of candy in those eggs.  Also to our amazement, Brindi actually sat on the Easter Bunnies lap!  Brooke was another story.

Easter morning was a good time as you can see through the video above.  I think the girls were very pleased with Peter Cottontail's gifts.  Spring clothing, kits, candy, a chocolate bunny, and new CTR rings.  What more cold a kid want!

Celeste also took the time to make rice crispy egg nests for Brindi.  She loved making these little nests and I loved eating them whole!

Brindi's Dance Recital

Brindi had her dance recital for the year.  It was sad because she usually will have two recitals but this year they decided to do just one recital for the year.  So there were some Christmas routines mixed in with all of the other dances.  There are several age groups all performing their dance recitals for one evening.  On the plus side of finishing dance early we will be able to explore some other activities as the Spring begins.

We love our little dancer as she practices around the house.  She is quite the rule follower as you can tell from the dances.  You are always suppose to be on your spot!  Celeste did say she did a lot better than in the rehearsal.  Besides her constantly looking for her spot and her being a little shy, she does quite well.  She also received her single rose from her parents at the end.  We are proud of our little girl.  Enjoy the videos.

Snow Day

SNOW DAY!  We love our annual snow day in February.  This year, as with all the years we got a huge snow storm for the area.  Sadly though, the snow was an icy snow and would not cooperate with our idea of building family snowmen.  It just wouldn't stick together.  But we still didn't loose the opportunity to play in the snow.  We all got bundled up and headed out to roll in the snow, some more than others:)

 Celeste decided to show the kids how to make snow balls and continued to instruct them to practice throwing them at me.

 My revenge came shortly thereafter as indicated by the picture above.  I wonder why Celeste is covered in so much snow?  WHITE WASH:)

 We proceeded to the backyard and started to create snow angels.  Brindi thought this was a pretty cool idea.

 Following the leader, the leader, the leader.  Following the leader where ever she may go.

New Years

Happy New Year!  We were able to spend New Year's eve in Leamington in our Petersen tradition of playing rook all night.  This is one of my favorite family traditions.  The best part is obviously my grandpa and grandma Petersen dominating the cards.  also before Mike and his family left for Japan, he left a lot of fireworks in my dad's garage.  We stumbled upon them and used them to ring in the new year for the kids in the back of Amy and Bret's yard.

Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas from the Lovells.  This year we decided we were going to stay in Missouri for the holidays.  However, our plans changed a little as we seemed to be greatly missed by our family and with some assistance from my mom, we were convinced we needed to head to Utah for the holidays.  21 hours in the car with three kids under the age of four wasn't the smartest idea but we do feel it was well worth it.  Actually, Brooke was the only one that struggled and cried a few times but who could blame her when you are stuck in a car for that long.  Brindi and Levi was great and did really well.  Below are our highlights from the trip.  Warning it is picture overload but there are also a few videos.

We opened a few presents before we headed west to help reduce our baggage.  The kids loved their bathrobes from Grammy which also matched Levi's blue bathrobe.

One of the things I demanded if we headed west was snow (as if anyone could control the weather:).  Luckily we did get a couple days of snowfall to play in and tube.

JaCee and David were incredible with our kids.  They were always willing to take care of them and play with them.  Whenever David would come over it seemed the first thing he did was find Brooke.  Thank you guys.

The girls loved being able to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa and all their cousins.  Luckily, throughout the whole trip we were able to see all of the Lovells except for Mike's family.

Levi is a pretty good baby, but I was a little shocked how long he sat on Uncle Bob without making a fuss.  It was great because it allowed Celeste and I to play a little bit with all the activities going on.

This was one of the cousin games the kids played to trade presents every time the narrator said the word "Santa."  Celeste was actually the narrator and told a great story of Christmas.  The video below has some of her story.  A pretty creative women I married:)

I think this was the first year that Brindi was not concerned with sitting on Santa's lap.  It did help that all her cousins were also doing it.  She actually gave him a hug this year and as you can see below received a small gift in return.

Brooke on the other hand did not want to have anything to do with the man in a red suit.  She was excited to see him and would say "Ho, Ho, Ho" and even shook her head yes that she wanted to sit on him but once she sat on his lap the tears came.  Levi did great with Santa but than again he probably did not know what was going on but he is a great baby.

Grandpa Petersen with little Levi.  Four generations!

One of the highlights of the Petersen Christmas party is the children nativity play.  This year Brindi was a Angel, Brooke was a Shepherd  and Levi was the star as baby Jesus.  Grandpa Lovell narrated the scene which can be seen below.

Four Generations!

Brindi with Grandma and Grandpa Petersen.  Four generations!

Everyone opening their Christmas pajamas.

Everyone Christmas morning.

Our girls were good enough this year to get a couple gifts.  Brooke received a baby Belle and a little doll house with furniture and little people.  Her favorite was the little dog that cam with it.  Brindi received a baby Snow White, which is what she wanted, and a electronic learning book with games, pictures, music, and learning activities.  They also got the game Candy Land and socks full of candy!

My beautiful wife who loves to pose for the camera:)

Brooke made Grandma Lovell play with her and her new doll house.

Opening Christmas gifts with all the family.

Books, dresses, crowns, princess shoes, bananarams, clothing, and Brindi's favorite a dream light.  This was probably the highlight of the holidays for me.  When she opened that present she was truly shocked and excited.  Her face was priceless.  Because she had already asked for the baby Snow White she had already started planning for her birthday and what she wanted was a dream light so it was a really big surprise.

As my kids hardly see their grandparents much throughout the year they clung to them almost the entire time which meant my dad had to do his work with the little ones climbing on all over him, even in the tractor.

Pounding nails with Easton and Felicity in Grandpa's shop.  Apparently this is a must do at Grandpa's house for the little grandkids.  There were hundreds of nails in that rail.

The girls being silly and trying to hide from their dad:)

We tried to stay somewhat active over the holidays by running several days and Celeste even used a DVD workout, which Brooke thought was pretty cool and wanted to try.