Hangin' With the Boys

I am so thankful to live across the street from a park. It sure does help get the energy out of the boys.

Ben has such a good time with his best bud Pierce. I watch Pierce, Reid and Chiara three days a week. Every morning Ben asks if Pierce is coming over that day.

On this particular day, they had behaved themselves at our weekly music class. So I took them to the dollar store where they chose pirate accessories, and had fun battling at the park.


This is the attempt to have everyone stand still for a picture:

Sacramento Zoo

We took a trip to the zoo for preschool. We had beautiful weather (in February, I love California!) and the kids all had fun. Here is Ben on the tiger. I didn't see the sign about please not climbing on it until he got off.

Ben hamming it up in front of the orangatans. They were definitely the most entertaining of the animals. One of them took a burlap sack, hung it on a branch, then climbed inside for a swing. But the sack was getting old and it kept falling off with him inside. But he just kept hanging it back up again. It was hilarious.

A Visit From Grandma and Grandpa Penner

My parents were in town for a couple of weeks and we really enjoyed being able to spend time with them. They spent a week at our house and put up with our crazy weekly routine. The kids got to be introduced to the joys of iphones with all of the fun games and apps. We went treasure seeking (I guess it's called caching), and the kids got plenty of candy from Grandpa.

We were able to go up to Lincoln for cousin Natalie's baptism. Rachel got to sing "I Like to Look For Rainbows" with the girl cousins and she did a great job.

My mom was playing the piano for the chapel service portion of the baptism and she let the grandkids sit up with her on the stand. During the closing song, "I Am a Child of God," even though I was sitting on the opposite side of the chapel, I could hear Ben singing loud and clear all the words of the song he knew. That boy loves to sing, and he only knows one volume.

We also got a chance to take the kids miniature golfing for the first time. They had a great time.

Roller Skates

Our house has turned into a roller rink lately. Rachel has been working hard on her "tricks." Just about every night she asks us to turn on some music, dim the lights, and watch her performance.

She thought her pajamas made a nice costume. What a cutie.