This is going to be a longer post because there were so many great things to talk about and to post pictures of. Here are majority of the grandkids holding welcome home signs and waiting patiently for them to come down the escalators.
We were all so excited to see mom/grandma and dad/grandpa come down the escalator. Claire was the first one out of us all to reach them. Here is what I got to see. It made me cry to see her run to my mom.
I was so excited to introduce my mom and dad to Mia and to let them see how big Claire has gotten. They were nervous Mia would cry when they tried to hold her. That was pointless because here she is being held by grandma for the first time.
After the airport we all went back to mom and dad's house to exchange gifts. They brought each one of us something as well as each one of the grandkids something. We gave them the quilt we had made for them. Here is their reaction after opening it (great job capturing the moment Bryan)!
We helped them unpack a lot of boxes and had a lot of their stuff put away so that when they got home they had the basic necessities all ready unpacked and put away. With this unpacking we had empty boxes and bins. One of these bins came in handy as both Claire and Mia loved playing in it. Claire even realized she could lay down in it!
As siblings we put together an open house to welcome our parents home from their mission. We had lots of extended family and friends come to visit and welcome them home. I think we had a successful and fabulous open house for them. We were also able to attend, at least a little bit of, Drew's, Cole's and CJ's baseball games. It is great to watch them play and to be able to support them. We only wish we could have watched longer, but after a trip to instacare with Mia (ear infection and bronchitis) and a trip to a pediatrician with Claire (ear infection) we thought it would be best not to stay out in the cold wind for too long.
We spent Easter Sunday in Utah. It was the day of my parent's homecoming address. It was so great to hear them talk and to hear more stories of their serve in Sweden. Of course the girls had Easter dresses...very girly ones (Thanks Grandma Lois). Mia loves her fluffy Easter Dress.
Claire loves to pose for pictures. You just never know what you are going to get. Here she is in her Easter dress.
After Church we had a great dinner and then the Easter Bunny came and all the grandkids in attendance we able to go on an Easter egg Hunt. Here is Claire hunting down her share of eggs.
We had lots of opportunities to spend time with family. Claire loved the time with all of her cousins. Here are some of the cousins showing their tongues from their Easter suckers.
Claire got to have her cousin Summer sleepover at Grandma's with her. The funny thing is their sleeping bags were mine and my sister's from when we were younger. So Summer and Claire got to sleep in their mother's sleeping bag. Well sort of, Claire picked Aunt Ginet's sleeping bag and Summer slept in mine.
There were two grandkids born while my parents were serving their mission. So it was great when they got to spend some time with each other and with Grandma and Grandpa.
The day before we came home was a great event. My nephew Drew was baptized. He was 8 in March but was able to wait until my parents came home to get baptized...that way they were able to be there to support him.
This is a picture of my parent's backyard when we woke up Saturday morning. We guessed that there was about 6 inches of snow, but the news reported it was approximately 9 inches of snow. By late morning most of it had melted away.
On our way home we stopped off at our usually spot in Nampa and had lunch and played around for a bit. We let Mia try frozen strawberry lemonade for the first time. This is what her facial expression was after trying the lemonade.
She loves crawling all over the place and she also loves to pull herself up on things and walk around them. We hope she'll crawl longer, but I am sure before long she will be trying to walk. Another new thing for her is grass. We took her outside the other night to play on the grass before bed...the picture below is her reaction to the grass.
This past Tuesday was preschool graduation. Bryan and I have spent countless hours in preparation for the graduation. We started out having the kids paint a picture frame and then we had our program (a video of the kids and pictures from the school year) and handed out diplomas. We also had a giant soccer net and ball to play with and a parachute. The kids loved it. We finished off with a potluck type lunch. Overall I think graduation was a success.
We tried Claire's graduation 2011 glasses on Mia, but all she wanted to do was eat them and Claire just likes to see them glow in the dark.
We did body outlines of the kids and then the kids got to color them. Here is Claire's body outline. She had pony tails the day we did the outlines and she wanted me to trace them too. She tells everyone that her piggy tails look more like doggie ears.
This is one of my favorite pictures I have seen (so far...I am still waiting for mom's to send me the pictures they took) from graduation. Claire has so much fun with these two kids. They are also in our ward. Ella is such a bubbly happy girl and Jaxon always says something to me to warm my heart.
Here is Teacher Stacie (that is what the kids called me) giving Claire her diploma. I loved being her teacher, but I love being her mommy even more!! I am proud of my girl for her hard work this year.
I can't believe that the preschool year is over. It seems like it just started, but Mia was only two weeks old when it started and now she is almost 9 months. It is nuts. I will truly miss the eight kids I taught! The kids learned a lot this year, but I think I learned even more!
