What we've been up to...

I've been better at blogging lately and hopfully that lasts! For now, here's a catch up post about what we've been up to for the past month (ish).

The boys and I went to see The Piano Guys at The Paramount in Seattle. It was an awesome concert and lots of fun to spend some time with my boys. Kudos to Ben for staying home with Aria and attempting a bottle!









Ellie had her very first dentist appointment and did awesome! The boys got check ups, too. They give them sunglasses because of the bright light. ;)









We are officially binkey free! Yay!! (P.S. Look at those lashes!!)



I set Aria on the bed while I went to the bathroom. When I came back out, these two were keeping her company. :)



A very grainy pic of me and my girls. <3 p=""> 



We took a field trip to the Science Center the other day because they were having "Polar Science Weekend". I was worried the kids would find it boring, especially when we walked in and saw that it was just a bunch of booths with scientists to talk to. Boy was I wrong! The boys went to EVERY booth and listened to EVERY scientist's spiel. They were soaking up knowledge like little sponges and couldn't get enough! From the salinity of the sea to how glaciers move to the migration patterns of narwhals... they were totally fascinated.



Ellie touching a penguin.



The boys being narwhals.





Ellie loved this snowmobile.



Butterflies!







I took this same picture of Ellie a year and a half ago. My, how she's grown!



The Science Center is right next to the Space Needle, so we had a good view of that, too.



The weather has been getting a little warmer so last week, when we finally got some sun, we decided to have a picnic lunch/hike.





Aria was not exited about the hike.



Aaaaand that pretty much brings us up to date! Hopefully I'll actually be a regular poster again! ;)

Discovery Park

 A few weeks ago, I decided that we all needed to get out of the house, so we went to explore Discovery Park in Seattle. I had heard it was neat and, although we didn't get to explore much of it before we were cold and Aria was hungry, the little hike we took was gorgeous!

Blessing Day!

Ben gave Aria her name and a blessing on Sunday, March 3rd. We were a little sad not to be able to do it at a time and place where family could be there, but it was a beautiful blessing and we were happy to share it with our ward family.

I agonized over the blessing dress. I made Ellie's dress and felt guilty that I wasn't making one for Aria, too. I would have used the same one, but (being the inexperienced sewer that I am), I made the head hole too small for Ellie and we ended up cutting it off of her after the blessing! I finally found a cute white dress to buy and hopefully some day Aria won't feel bad that I didn't make it. I did make her a headband, which I didn't do for Ellie... does that make it even? ;)

Aria was ready for a nap when it came time for the blessing, so I was worried that she would fuss through the whole thing, but she didn't. She was perfect!

Anyway, here are a few pictures of our sweet girl on her special day. She was tired and not feeling very smiley right before church, but I didn't want to wait and risk having the dress ruined with spitup (or something worse)!

Eight was great, but nine is super fine!

^I stole that from a card my mom made. :)

My big boy had a birthday last week! I can't believe I have a nine year old now! 



Evan is growing up to be such an awesome young man. He's so smart and sweet and happy. He loves to tell jokes and have fun. He is the best big brother ever. He adores Aria and has been such a help to me the past few months. He continues to devour books and enjoys school (for the most part). His favorite subject is history, but he also loves to write and hopes to be a novelist some day. He also has a strong testimony of the gospel and loves to share it on fast Sundays. His favorite thing to do in his spare time is play video games or play with his bey blade toys. 

He had a birthday party on the Saturday before his birthday. He wanted to take a few friends to see The Lego Movie. They seemed to have a lot of fun! After the movie, they came back for pizza and cake at our house. And presents of course!









On his actual birthday, we did some pictures of him in the morning. 





He had some fun with the fedora his aunt Rileigh sent. Poses were all him. :)

















After we were done, I told him he could go crazy with the silly faces. 









We went to the Blue and Gold Banquet for scouts that evening. I was worried that Evan would be disappointed that was what his birthday dinner would be, but he was super excited! When we got home, Evan opened his presents from us and grandparents. 



We sure love this handsome boy. Happy birthday buddy!