BOY!!

The ultrasound left no room for doubt; we are definitely having another boy!

Here's his cute little profile. you can see his legs folded up in front of his face.

His sweet little feet.

In the post below, the top one is Spencer, the bottom one is Skyler. I know, they look the same because, well, they look the same! (Even now!) My biggest consolation is how darling my boys are and how much they look like they're daddy! Three mini-Kyle's running around will be oh, so cute. But, oh my, how are we ever going to choose a name?!

It's A...

Yes, it's true. On, or about, September 20th, we'll have another one of these. We found out the gender today. It's the same as shown below. Can you guess from the pictures? (I didn't want to make it too easy!)

Battlecreek Easter Activity

Yesterday we had a wonderful ward Easter activity. The primary was in charge, but we delegated each of the areas, so it turned out to be a super easy activity to pull together; everyone seemed to have a wonderful time. The Young Men did a egg/spoon race, the Young Women did face painting, the Relief Society had sugar cookie decorating, and we had Easter egg hunts, and a craft activity where they created garden tombs representing Christ's resurrection.

We even had an Easter bunny there, as you can see. It still isn't time for our family to go to Disneyland because all of my kids are still very reticent around dressed up characters. :) Kylene did much better this year and actually would take her picture with him. It helped when Spencer found out it was his good friends's daddy inside the costume, but he still didn't want to get too close.

This face Skyler gave after getting his face painted cracks me up! He actually kept the paint on until it was time for his nap that afternoon, though. :)

Gabe, Rachel, Kylene, Spencer waiting for the egg hunt to begin.

Kylene with Brother Schnell...uh, hum, I mean, the Easter bunny.

Spencer and his best buddy, Annon.

Here is a picture at our craft table. All the kids were given a small pot which they filled with soil, then buried an empty film canister in it and put a stone over it to represent the tomb. We then let them sprinkle grass seed over it and decorate it with pine twigs, flowers, etc., they found around the park. We put a rolled up scripture about Christ's resurrection in the film canister for them to read on Easter morning. The kids loved doing it and they turned out really cute. Even the older kids made them. I'm excited to see how well the grass grows on my kiddos.

It was a great activity and the weather was beautiful! Yay for sunshine!

Easter Egg Dyeing

A few shots from our Easter egg dyeing fun...

Woodburn Tulip Festival

Beautiful weather has finally come to Oregon! (No guarantee it will stay:).) We went with a group of friends to the Tulip Festival this past Thursday. Spencer's favorite parts were pumping the water to help the duckies go down the raingutter and seeing a real giant's shoes. Wow! Skyler just loved the opportunity to be outside and run around as much as possible. He took a very good nap when we got home! Kylene enjoyed the slides and tractors, and being with her friends Grace and Zach.

We (somehow) fit all six car seats in our van so my friend Alee and I could ride together. (I love having a full car!) That meant we got all eight of us in for only $4! (Since you pay per car, not per person...and we had a coupon.) Not bad! The kids were entertained and the mommy's could talk the whole way.

My sweet kids and me, among the tulips.

Great Wolf Lodge

Last Monday and Tuesday we had our first chance to visit Great Wolf Lodge near Centralia, Washington. It was a hit, of course! The water park (and the 84 degree temperature) was so nice after the endless rain and gloomy weather we have been having around here. I liked that we stayed there the entire time, no driving, no going outside into the cold.

Each of the kids had their favorite parts about the water park, but mostly they just couldn't get enough. Kylene loved the water slides and would go with Kyle several times then come back and want to go with me. She also really enjoyed going out "deep" in the wave pool.

Spencer's favorite area were--by far--the boats that squirted water. He pretended his favorite red and yellow boat was a fire boat and he had to put out the fire. He finally warmed up to one of the small slides as long as he could go down on my lap. He loved the wave pool when the waves were off, and loved all the water features and figuring out how they worked.

Skyler loved every moment of it. You couldn't have wiped the smile off his face if you tried. He was fearless--much to my worry a few times--and would walk through the water up to his neck without flinching. He loved going under the "mushroom" waterfall with Kyle, loved any type of water in his face, and even took a few drinks when he thought I wasn't watching (yuck!). He loved the waves and the different water features squirt him.

It was tiring being in the water so much of the day but oh, so fun! (That's what you get for being an out of shape pregnant lady!) We spent several hours playing in the water as soon as we got there, then had dinner and went to story time and enjoyed some of the "Magi-Quest" features. (We had a de-activated wand, that still worked enough to mostly satisfy our young children.) Then the kids had a blast playing in the hotel room (who knew they were so cool?)! The next morning (Spencer only fell out of his siderail-less bed once!), we relaxed and had breakfast in the hotel room (donuts, oranges and juice, anyone?), then blew $5 in the arcade before hitting the water park again. After a brief break for lunch, we spent a couple more hours swimming and playing before heading home.

I knew I should have changed Skyler's diaper at lunch time, but I was lazy! Although maybe that wouldn't have made a difference. He ended up messing his pants and it leaked all over the kiddie area. Yuck! Kyle discovered it after they shut it down for cleaning and he decided he better check Skyler "just in case." He came and found Kylene and me and said, "I think it's time to go." We got showered and changed and quickly snuck out of there! Oh, the joys (and embarrassments) of parenthood!

My childrens' favorite questions the entire way home (in whiny voices) were, "Why couldn't we stay longer?" and "When do we get to go again?" I guess it was a success!