The Romero Family!: March

March was such a busy month. James was blessed, both Joe and Annika celebrated birthdays, Joe's family came for a visit, and Joe took Annika and Brayden with him to Texas over Annika's Spring Break.

The Friday before James was blessed our Stake had a Woman's Conference that included Barbara Thompson, Elaine Dalton, and Cheryl Esplin. On the 17th Time Out For Women was coming to our city, and I was so bummed I wouldn't be able to attend due to Joe's birthday and family visiting. But these speakers were even better.

Sis. Barbara Thompson asked if anyone knew what was in two days from now? People said, "Fast Sunday." She said, "It's March 4th!" Get it? Like march forth from the scriptures. She celebrates it ever year since meeting a family years ago that did it. And James was blessed on March 4th. Hopefully that is what he will do as he grows older.

James had a beautiful blessing given to him by our friend, Brother Daniel Petersen. He was blessed as having received tender mercies of the Lord before he was even born, among other blessings. Brother West, Brother Frame, Brother Skousen, and Bishop Collette also stood in the circle. Joe held up James for the congregation to see, reminding me of a scene from one of his favorite movies to watch with the kids, The Lion King. The Petersen and West families came over after church, and I'm so sad we didn't take pictures of everyone together. It was a nice afternoon and we were enjoying the moment so much we forgot to take pictures until everyone left. The pictures of the cake were from before they arrived, and of James after they left. Oh well.

Got to love Costco. I also made sub sandwiches, chocolate covered strawberries, and we had chips and fruit juice. Possibly some other things I have completely forgotten about.

James truly is our little blessing!

Sweet baby, James.

Such a joy to have James in our lives!

Yeah, I know. I need to learn to take better pictures...or get a better camera made for people who don't know how to take pictures.

Later a sun kissed Brayden decided to take a stroll around the house in Daddy's shoes. He loves wearing other people's shoes.

A few days before Annika's Spring Break, Joe's parents came for a visit and helped him drive back with the kids to Austin. Joe forgot to take the camera to Texas, but I can assure you they had a good time. Annika especially had fun with her cousins. For the return trip Joe's mom, and Aunt Cindy helped drive home and got to spend part of Joe's birthday weekend with us.

Aunt Lizzy sent home a rocking horse for the kids. All Annika is missing are her cowboy boots. Yee-haw!

Grandma, Aunt Cindy, and Annika on Sandia Mountain.

Aunt Cindy got pretty cold while enjoying the view of Albuquerque.

There was actually lots of snow on the East side of the mountain.

It may look like they are posing for a picture, but I say they are really huddling together to keep warm.

Snowball fight!

You better watch out!

For Joe's birthday we decorated the house and played a bunch of games with the kidos. Pinterest is awesome for great ideas! It was nice to have family here to enjoy it with him, even if they left on the afternoon of his birthday. Just an excuse to start the festivities early!

We did this on a family night and wrote things about our family we were grateful for on the clovers.

We made rainbows over the TV and the dining room table out of balloons and tissue paper.

Annika decorated this rainbow and proudly hung it on the wall.

We played a game all weekend where you throw a bean bag on a paper to determine what game to play or activities to do.

Here are the games.

Grandma with Baby James.

Daddy reading some St. Patrick's Day books to the kids.

Joe the Leprechaun.

The kids got to chase Joe around outside while he wore this hat. They absolutely loved it!

Got to love that smile.

Brayden can't stop looking at that smile.

Annika wanted a turn to be the leprechaun.

Apparently Brayden did too...at the very same moment.

We made rainbow orange slices.

The kids loved these and I'll definitely make them again.

Brayden loved making orange smiles with his Dad.

We made crafts.

These are tambourines.

We had a rainbow color veggie platter along with salmon and portabello mushrooms the Cindy bought for Joe's birthday dinner.

It was nice for Joe to have family around on his birthday. Last year David and Heather were here for mine, and this year Joe's sister and mom were here for his. Definitely a perk about living in Albuquerque.

I made a leprechaun trap cake for Joe's birthday.

And rainbow trifle with a cloud of whip cream for the kids (and Joe).

The cake was cute!

Almost as cute as Annika and Joe together...almost.

And the inside had a rainbow.

Neat, huh?

We woke up the next morning, St. Patrick's Day, to find a sneaky little leprechaun had wee weed in our toilet. Annika was so excited and Joe's mom thought this was hysterical. (Remember we started Joe's party and had his dinner the night before because his family was leaving the afternoon of his birthday).

Aunt Cindy helped make a rainbow of fruit breakfast with a sunny egg and cloud toast.

Aunt Cindy is a natural with the kids and I really wish they could see her more!

She also helped make leprechaun sandwiches for lunch.

Sweet and silly Annika!

Of course Brayden eats the sugar eyes and chocolate covered sunflower seed first. He knows the good stuff.

Just thought I'd throw in a picture of the cute little St. Patty's Day lunch Annika got when she went back to school. I think it's her favorite holiday, thanks to her Dad.

We got passes to the zoo. The kids loved hearing this lion roar. It was so exciting to them.

I guess he trying to impress the new female the zoo acquired.

Brayden was sooooo into the lions we had a hard time peeling him away.

I set up the old dog house in the back yard. The kids find it fun to play in and look at it as a new hiding spot. Brayden's in there behind Annika.

For Annika's birthday breakfast she got a stack of pancakes.

We put candles on them like a birthday cake.

Love this picture.

Silly girl!

Annika got special recognition at school as the class wished her a happy birthday.

She wanted me to make these cupcakes for her class on her birthday, and boy were they yummy. It had orange zest and juice in the batter and frosting.

Little lamb.

And we even had some left overs to share with some friends who came over.

This is what Annika wanted for her birthday dinner. Boiled hotdogs on uncooked linguine noodles with cheese. So easy!

On your birthday and half birthday weeks you are responsible to bring snacks to school. These are a few of the snacks I took. And sorry the pictures are so bad, but I always forget and barley remembered a few times as I was going out the door. And once again I have Pinterest to thank for all the adorable ideas.

Tropical fruit paradise. They were studying the rainforest that day.

Annika helped make all these clips.

They turned out so cute!

These were super cute and super yummy!

Sunshine with grapes.

And these carrots with egg salad turned out cute. It was just before Easter. I also gave them little plastic eggs with baby chick cheese crackers inside.