All Aboard!

Daily deal sites have become a great place for me to find fun family dates lately. When I saw this one for passes to the Union Pacific Railway Museum in Ogden, I knew Sammy would absolutely love it! And he did!

This one and the picture below are my favorites.  I love the two of them next to those giant train wheels!

And this picture reminds me of one I have of me and Tyler when we were little ones in front of an old train.  This train was the oldest one they had and I think it was built in the 1930s. How cool is that?

Proof I was there. ;)

Sammy and Spencer checking out a super cool old caboose.  This was one of the last wood cabooses they made.  I can't remember how old it was.  Maybe the 1940s?

Here's Sammy checking out an old machine they used to use on the tracks.  I have no idea what it's called. :)

Lucy up in the top of the caboose. This was inside the museum which was pretty cool but I didn't take very many pictures inside.  There was a whole model of where the Pacific Union tracks went with little model trains going through it.  It was pretty extensive and the kids loved it.

Lucy loved climbing on all the trains and posing for pictures. It was pretty stinkin' cute.

One of the trains, built in the 1970s, still had a bell on it that you could ring.

Spence on the old one.  He got up there and was able to walk on a lot of this old engine.  I think he enjoyed the museum even more than the kids.  Another cool thing we say was the inside of an old mail car and the inside of a medical car they used during WWII.  It was pretty interesting.

And, before we could leave, Lucy had to pose on a couple more trains! She sure is a cutie.

Soccer 2012

In March, Lucy decided she was done with dance.  A couple of weeks later, we were asked if she wanted to play soccer.  So we traded tap shoes for a soccer ball!

She played on a team made entirely of kids in our neighborhood - both Lucys, Daxton, Kelsey, Gabe, Jake, Zeke, Zoey, Michigan, and Eva.  I'm listing them because we didn't end up getting a team photo to remember.  She wouldn't get in it.

She loved the idea of soccer but had a hard time at first being convinced to play.  Once we got her on the field, she loved it!

She is a really fast runner and was usually up in front with the more aggressive kids.  She wasn't always ready and willing to kick the ball but the more she did it, the more comfortable she was.

Her soccer games were some of the only times she'd let us do her hair.  Isn't it cute in pigtails? :)

Here she is with some of her teammates.  I think soccer is a good extra-curricular for Lucy because she doesn't like to be singled out and in the spotlight.  With soccer she can be a part of the team and kind of blend in.

I sure enjoyed going to her games too.  It was fun to see her grow and have fun.

Lucy's Four

So here are Lucy's official "4 Year Old" photos.  I suggested we do a little photo shoot and she was all over it.  I think they turned out pretty darn cute!

Lucy at four is independent, curious, dramatic, helpful, beautiful, and smart.

Accomplishments include: counting to 30 (gets a bit tripped up with 13-16 though), writing her name and Sammy's, running super fast, and drawing people with arms, legs, and feet (no body yet).

She got this cute skirt for her birthday and couldn't help spinning in it for the camera.

At her well-child check up she weighed 37 lbs. and is 40 inches tall. She is perfectly normal and healthy.

I found a fun list of questions to ask the kids each year on their birthdays (mostly favorites).  Here are her answers this year:

1.       What is your favorite color? Pink

2.       What is your favorite toy? Barbies

3.       What is your favorite fruit? Mango

4.       What is your favorite thing on TV? Barbie show (got for her b-day)

5.       What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Mac & Cheese

6.       What is your favorite outfit? The one I’m wearing now (flower shirt-dress w/shorts)

7.       What is your favorite game? Mario Kart

8.       What is your favorite snack? Popcorn

9.       What is your favorite animal? Pony

10.   What is your favorite song? The Birthday Song

11.   What is your favorite book? Fancy Nancy

12.   Who is your best friend? Lucy Gause & Lucy Field

13.   What is your favorite candy? Jelly Beans

14.   What is your favorite thing to do outside? Ride my bike

15.   What is your favorite drink? Water

16.   What is your favorite holiday? Christmas

17.   What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Minnie

18.   What do you want to be when you grow up? Have a baby and get toys for it.

19.   What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? Froot Loops

      20.  What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner? Noodles

The Birthday Girl!

Lucy had her first "friend" party this year.  We kept it to just a few girls from the neighborhood to keep it manageable for both her and us. She gets a bit nervous with new things and this was no exception so I'm glad there were only 5 other kids.

Almost a year ago, Lucy told me she wanted a Minnie Mouse cake for her birthday.  So we themed her whole birthday party around Minnie. Here you can see her shirt and cake.

And here is the long longed-for cake.  I couldn't find the black food coloring, so chocolate it was.  And it was yummy!

Lucy got lots of fun presents, such as this cute Barbie.

We also made a Minnie Mouse Pinata!  This sucker wasn't hard to make but it took a bit of time.

I made the cardboard part and spray-painted it black and then Spencer did the crepe-paper part.  We found a tutorial on how to do it through Pinterest.  The girls just knocked it down - and didn't put a giant hole in it so it can be used again.  If anyone wants to use it, let me know!

We also played "pin the bow on Minnie."

Lucy didn't want to play at first but loved it after she saw all the other girls do it.

We replaced the sand in the sandbox the weekend before the party and the kids loved it! Here are the 3 Lucys playing together.

My favorite thing about this picture is that we have one almost exactly like it from Lucy's first birthday party - when we first made it.  I love that it has survived and is still loved and used.

Party favors - Minnie Mouse necklaces.  Made from washers, spray paint, super glue, and ribbon.

And, the cute invites! :)

We had the party the day before her birthday - on Memorial Day so Spencer could be involved.  On her birthday he had work and school so we did presents in the morning.  Here she is with her loot.  That night we went to my dad's for a birthday dinner with the McConnell side.  She was one spoiled, happy four year old!

Cousin Bday Party!

Birthday season is in full swing here in the Van Hoose household (between May 27th and June 12th we have 9 birthdays including Lucy, Me, and Spencer).  We started off the festivities with a combined cousins birthday party the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.

 Lucy's cousins were born just two days before her on May 27th and then her birthday is on May 29th so we celebrated together!  

Aunt Kristen's boyfriend, Zach, was able to hook us up with a fun jump house!  Between the wind and the rain we had that day we were very lucky to have some good weather for everyone to have a good time jumping around and tackling everyone. 

Here everyone piled on Zach.

Then Daddy got a turn!

I love watching him play with our kiddos.

Can't let Aunt Kristen get away without a good tackle!

Hey!? Who let a horse in the bounce house! Lucy and cousin Audrey take a ride!

Then we had a pinata and lots and lots of candy.

And of course there were presents and cake.  Valerie had the super idea to get each kid their own little cake.  Austin and Joshua each had Spiderman on theirs and Lucy had princesses of course!

It was so much fun and so nice of Valerie and Julie and Kristen and Zach and Susie (and anyone else I didn't know about!) to arrange all of this.  We had a truly great time!

Jungle Jims Playdate Fun

A few weeks ago some neighborhood friends, Lucy, Sammy, and I went on a playdate to Jungle Jims.  

This was only our second time going there and the first time we went Lucy loved it instantly but this time she took a little longer to warm up to it.  Sammy also wasn't too sure about the rides until I talked him into going on this one - the jeeps.

I think they went 2 or 3 times in a row.

Love this one. :)

They also loved the carousel.  One of the other kids loved it too - she was so sad when she had to get off to eat lunch! And then she rode it a good 8ish times in a row.

You can't tell from this picture but Sammy liked it too.  That night he told me all about how much fun he had on the horsies.

Another favorite was the airplanes. Lucy was the big kid on this trip - We had 6 kids with us and 4 of them were all 2 years old.  Then there was Lucy and a baby.

Thanks for the tickets Ashley! We had a great time!