Spring

This is the latest grandchild addition. Very kid friendly and more than one can ride it at the same time! Gil also added a trailer full of fresh sand for the munchkins to play in. They love it. (and the irrigation ditch- perfect to get all muddy)
Naturally Gil and Kurt had to climb the tree to hang the swing and make it an adventure for the big boys too.
and I picked you a bouquet of tulips. After I took the photo, I was lying on the grass with the warm sun on my back. The breeze ruffling my hair and the smell of fresh spring grass and moist dirt in my face just made me sigh with contentment. I love this time of year.

72 degrees and rising

It is a beautiful afternoon. After church Kim and Deven took the kids for a walk and someone had their sprinklers on. So the question was: "Opa can you turn on the sprinklers for us?" Being a softy- and since the temperature is quite nice, Opa decided to check out the sprinkler system and ran it through the cycles so the kids could get nice and wet- well sort of wet.
Right away Carter discovered that warm cement feels really good.
3 cute girls. They just don't hold still long enough to be called sunbathers.
Bree feeling the sprinkler
Christy not sure if she'll wait for the water or not. She didn't.

Tyler proving he can stand the cold water.
McKayla posing for a photo
Jake helping Opa adjust a sprinkler that was squirting the wrong way.
I am so thankful for the beautiful spring warm weather that invigorates us. Vitamin D is great! I am thankful for enthusiastic grandchildren to enjoy. Emma and Aspen just arrived. They ran to put on swimsuits too and as they ran, Aspen said: "It's so awesome!"

Oh, Easter Saturday is so much fun. Here are some of my favorite photo's to prove it.

Zoe and Ellie- showing off Zoe's cast. Zoe already is eating candy.
We had to eat before the Easter Egg hunt. MMMMM BBQ
Then get ready for the egg hung and line up by height on the stairs.
Jake got to start the hunt and then play with Opa.Tucker looking for the hard to find eggs (on the roof).
Emma and Hallie looking for eggs.

Tyler getting the elusive egg on the ladder.

Everybody pose with Opa. (missing sleeping Ellie)
Check out your basket and take all of the candy/ toys etc out of the plastic eggs.
McKayla with her goofy teeth. And goofy teeth Aspen. and Goofy teeth Carter.


Christy and Zoe checking out each others baskets
Watch Hannah (elastic girl) do incredible gymnastic moves.
Catch some sun.
Take everything from your baskets (yes, Bree had to carry two baskets the whole time) and put into Christy's - then take every thing from Christy's and put into Bree's basket.
Give piggy back rides and run around the house with kids on your back.
Going for bike rides with Opa.One last jump on the astro-jump and then everyone went home and Oma & Opa relaxed!
PS There is no end to the story of the colored real eggs - we forgot to hide them.

Dying Easter Eggs- an hour of set up for 15 min. of fun.

So this isn't a photo of Ellie dying Easter eggs, she's just eating a shoe. But she was having so much fun bouncing and playing, I took her photo anyway. Jake slept through the activites.
Emma and McKayla were the big girls this time. Don't you love Emma's glasses? Trez Chic I think.
And the finished results. They wanted to do more than 3 eggs a piece, but how many deviled eggs and potato salads can we eat? So the mom's were done. Wisely old shirts or no shirts kept the dye off good clothes, but we still had blue and purple fingers. Yellow and pink didn't seem to show up as well on fingers. Now the wait til Saturday when the easter egg hunt happens. Don't they look sad to wait that long? And what will happen if someone else finds Tylers Easter egg? Wait for the next chapter to find out.

Foot Fetish???

One of the side effects of the chemo drugs I get is that the nerves of hands and feet get really sensitive to cold. And it's cumulative. So for the past month my toes and feet have been tingling- when they are warm, it's like they are on the verge of going to sleep - when they get cool - it's like the beginning of pins and needles. Cold hurts - so I don't get them cold. I am not complaining - it's just weird to wake in the middle of the night and feel like your toes are in a force field of different feeling. Because they feel different, I am constantly aware of them. I hope that I do not get even more klutzy because of them. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for normal-ness to return. I wonder if this feeling is what diabetics feel when they loose feeling in their feet because of poor circulation. I now have some empathy. I am thankful for feet and aren't those chubby little baby feet adorable?

55 degrees and sunshinny

Today was a wonderful sunshiny day and so warm. We sent the little boys outside to play. Wouldn't you know that the worms were out sunning themselves too?

Carter and Tyler were enchanted with the worms. They took them to the sand pile. They tried to talk me into letting them into the house. They asked for a bucket of water so the worms could go swimming. And finally- they decided that they had to have a worm for each member of their family so Tyler named his worms Mommy- Daddy- Tyler - Christy and Jake. Carter named his worms Mommy- Daddy- McKayla - Bree - Ellie and Carter. Finally when they were ready to come inside, they found a "safe" place for the worms to stay.

Meanwhile the little girls were just having fun in the sand. - notice that Christy took her shoes and socks off- That's the best way to experience sand. Even if you have to wear a jacket!

Carter (in the sand) told me that he was babysitting his worms.

Every Birthday is a Celebration!

For Opa's birthday we had a family ski day up at Bogus. Jessi and James came up from Salt Lake City especially for this event. And because it's a party we had a couple of family friends too. The more the merrier! So in the group ski photo- we took over the run. There is Maddie Burneal, Opa, Jed, Katie & Troy Ball, Hannah Bruneeel and Kristen in the back row. Krew Christensen, Stella, McKayla, Carter, Aspen, Tyler Ball, Hallie and Grace Bruneel in the front group.















This group with Opa is 5 four year olds and a three year old Eli Bruneel, Aspen, Carter, Stella, Tyler and Krew Christensen. Naturally the almost 2 year olds couldn't be left out so they got to play in the snow a little bit too. They loved it. Bree and Christy in Opa's arms. We had lunch and birthday cup cakes and hugs for Opa in the lodge. I won't tell you how old Opa is, but as you can see- he is a young, young grandpa!