Shed = Playhouse

Our "new" house came with a shed in the backyard.  We hadn't really put anything in it - lawnmower and such is in the garage.  So I decided to turn the shed into a playhouse.  A friend came over and we tackled the job in one day.  We didn't do anything permanent that can't be undone in the future should we want to use it for it's intended purpose.

Before:

 And after - full of tables, places to sit, store toys, bookshelves and even some carpet, curtains and wall decorations:

Just havin' fun

Trying to get caught up to the present time - big events have happened in the last few days - so forgive me while I just dump out a few photos for you :)

Playing with the neighbors.  Aren loves anything with wheels.  Wagon, stroller, play lawn mower.  If it has wheels, he's got to ride on it or push it!

Aren's first experience with finger paint.  Love his expression.

Very tentative.

Here, Mom, you try!

Hey! I like this!

After finger painting he put on a "hat" made by Alex.  He held oh-so-still for this photo.

Alex made a crown, with a little help from Mama, and turned his art apron around to be worn as a cape.

That grin makes my Mama-Heart happy!

Spring Concert

Ajay had a spring concert a couple of weeks back.  It was bug themed.  Quite fun!

All of the kids waiting in the "wings" before going on stage.  Ajay is in the center/back, brown shirt, waving his arms.

Daddy and brothers waiting for the show to begin.  Ajay was instructed to wear camo so I went ahead and dressed the other boys in camo, too.

All the kids on stage.  Ajay is in the front row, camo hat, brown shirt, black pants.

Hard to believe there are only a couple of more weeks left of school!

A Girl's Day!

A few weeks back I got together with some of my girlfriends for a much needed Girl's Day.  It is so hard to get all 8 of us together at once so we do what we can when we can.  This day there were 5 of us. 
We started off the day by meeting at my favorite spa.  We got our nails done.....

....Ate lunch at PF Changs, and then came back to my place to have a Pink Zebra party.  We smelled all the scents and marked down our opinions of them.  I ordered a leather scent.  Love it!!

Then some of the menfolk came back around and brought kidlets.

Jazmine and Aren givin' lovin's.

The kids wanted to sniff on all the scents.

Ajay and Alex had gone to the zoo with Biju and saw the end of a karate demonstration.  They somehow made it home with some of the broken boards.  Aren is, uh, showing (?) Jazmine this board.

Ajay is demonstrating his kick.

Janel even let the smaller ones try.

Alex snuggled up on my lap and Jazmine snuggled up on his lap.

Tonya, Natalie, Janel, Erin, Me.  Just missing Elissa, Morgan and Lisa!

Looking forward to the next Girl's Day!  This one did my soul some good!

Easter Afternoon

Easter Day gave us some pretty nice weather.  It was perfect for Biju to get outside and finish his craft project.  I sat out there while he worked on it and did some crafting of my own.  The boys "flip flopped" between helping Daddy and playing with the neighbors.