I had a day off the other day so since we have a season pass we decided to go to the zoo for a while.  Since last year they added this little carousel with only 4 horses and gives them a pretty good ride for a quarter. 

They also got to feed the Llamas which Graham loved but Addy was kind of afraid and would only put the food on the ledge and slowly push it toward them.

Next came the goats to feed and Graham's face says it all.

"Here Graham you feed the goats."

The boys also went fishing in Canada for a week so us girls (plus Graham) got together in Bismarck and went to my uncles retirement party.  The next day we picked up my cousin Kelly from Teen Challenge for an afternoon pass and took him on the river cruise.  The kids loved seeing all the other boats on the river and we had great weather for it.

Then we went to the mall to eat and let Kelly shop.  Addy saw the jumpy thing and had to do it.  This is her 4th time doing it (the first time she was only 2) and she will not go by one without asking to do it.  She giggles the whole time.  I am always amazed at how brave she is.

It is that time of year again when I interview Addy after her birthday to see how her answers change over the years. I have also started this with Graham, but I had to answer this year for him as he is not talking all that much. This will be the third year for Addy and second for Graham and it is cute how some things change and some don't.  Here are the links for the previous years for you

 http://bolingbunch.blogspot.com/2013_08_01_archive.html

http://bolingbunch.blogspot.com/2012/04/if-you-can-believe-it-addy-will-turn-2.html

Favorite Books: Highlights magazine, Ranger Rick magazines, Clifford the Snow Dog
Favorite Songs: ABC, He's Got the Whole World in His Hands, Happy and I Know It
Favorite Colors: pink, purple, white, red
Friends: Rylan, Peyton, Hailee (all kids from daycare)
Favorite TV Shows: Wild Kratts, Sophia the First, Jake and the Neverland Pirates
Favorite Restaurants: Qudoba
Favorite Foods: Alfredo, Chili, Carrots
Favorite Activities: Playing with Mommy, playing outside
Favorite Animals: Llama, elephant
Favorite Toy: Dora doll, puzzles
Favorite Movie: Cinderella, Brave
Favorite thing about Graham: playing with him
New skill she is working on: writing her letters
Funny things she says: Nevergreens instead of evergreens
Favorite Thing with Daddy: Having him help brush her teeth

Addy has made me so proud this year with how she is so open to new things.  She went to her first year of Awana at our church, which is a church program to help kids learn about God and Jesus and form a relationship with him.  She also took swim and skiing lessons this year and showed no fear and did well with both.  

She has also become such a good vegetable eater which has made me a better vegetable eater.  Her favorite veggies right now are when I roast broccoli and cauliflower with olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and garlic salt.  I am hoping that Graham will follow in her foot steps as he gets older and be a good vegetable eater.  It would also be nice if it rubbed off on her dad but I am not holding my breath about that one.

Now on to Graham:

Favorite Books: The Little Engine That Could, Goodnight Gorilla
Favorite Songs: Jingle Bells
Favorite Colors: Blue, Yellow
Friends: Bently, Cameron, Rylan (all from daycare)
Favorite Shows: Wild Kratts, Clifford
Favorite Restaurant: Qudoba, Five Guys
Favorite Foods: Fruit and meat and pickles
Favorite activities: anything outside
Favorite animals: Dogs
Favorite toys: cars, trains, bobcats, lawnmowers ( I think you can see a trend here)
Favorite Character: Percy from Thomas the Train, Toodles from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse
Favorite Movie:  Planes Fire and Rescue (he doesn't sit still to watch TV or Movies very much but he always watches the previews for this movie intensely and laughs)
Favorite thing about Addy: the way she makes him laugh with just a look 
New Skill he is working on: Talking
Favorite number: 2-its funny that as I look back at Addy's first one of this I did she refused to say 2 and Graham will only say the number 2.  If you give him anything he will ask for 2 and when he wants to jump into your arms he likes you to count to three but he will hold up only 1 finger but will only say the number two.

Graham had surgery a few months ago to remove his adenoids and he is a completely different boy.  He is much more happy during the day and sleeping better at night.  He was such a trooper for his surgery and recovery.  He is still a bit of a drama king but it is not as often as it was before surgery since he is more well rested now.

It amazes me as Graham gets bigger how much boys and girls are just so different.  Graham knows where every train track is in town, whether there is a train there or not.  He also hears and finds every plane in the sky and after a recent ride with his dad on a Bobcat, it has become a new obsession to find every Bobcat in town. From the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to bed he is asking to go outside.

The one thing I wish Addy would pick up from Graham is his love of fruits.  It takes a little persuasion to get Addy to eat her fruits but Graham has to be taken away from fruit so he will eat something else.

As these kids grow and get their own personality, I am amazed at how I love each of them more everyday and for such different reasons.  I also love watching how much they love each other and play well together.  I can't wait to see what the next year brings for each of them.  Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into what makes my kids special.

So it has been a busy few months with vacations and trying to get our basement finished before summer decides to arrive so we can turn our focus to the outside projects.  Addy also turned 4 this spring and in true great mom fashion I forgot to take any pictures but she had a great time so that is all that matters.  I will try in the next few weeks to do my annual Addy update post.  Now onto the pictures:

Addy and Graham found a new play place one Sunday morning while Josh and I where getting ready for church.  They have toys everywhere but playing in the cabinet under their bathroom sink is way more fun!!

Grandma and Grandpa also took a trip to the Dominican Republic and brought this back for the kids so Addy had to break out her modeling skills and give it a try.  So far it has gotten some use in the bathtub.

We also took advantage of my parents place in Lake Havasu, Arizona this spring and took a family trip before we had to pay for Graham to fly.  We didn't do a lot but it was a nice relaxing, low-key vacation in the sun.  Every morning we would get up and have breakfast and pack a lunch.  Then we would head down to this great park by the lake and let the kids do whatever they wanted and then have a picnic lunch before heading home for naps.  Then just a little shopping before going out for supper and then a little more play before bed.

This boy makes me smile!!

My sassy girl getting a ride on her Daddy's shoulders

We spent lots of hours here and the kids played great together.

Graham thought the water was to cold but Addy loved it so one afternoon, her and I stayed to swim while Josh took Graham for a nap.  She found a little boy by us to play with and had lots of fun playing in the sand and swimming.

Got a family pic-in, down on the beach that we spent most of our time at.

Grandma and Grandpa came in on our last day there and stayed to get the place closed up for the summer.  Grandpa got the kids' car seats in his Razr and took them off roading in the desert.  Graham was in heaven and Addy thought it was pretty fun too.

Both kids where pretty tired on our trip back to Las Vegas to fly home and were out before we got out of town.  Graham had to copy his big sister so they both slept with blankets over their faces.

Addy playing at our play area at the mall

It is time for Addy's spring dance recitals.  This was at a retirement home in town to help the girls get ready for their big performance in a week.  They did so great.

One song they do is about a bumble bee so they all got these cute wings and antennas to add to their costumes.  She is the cutest little bumblebee I have seen.

Graham also had surgery to have his adenoids out a few weeks ago so Auntie Stacey sent this super hero costume for him, but he wasn't in the mood for it at the time so Addy was happy to model it for us.

These are my two little artists.  They both love to color so this is a frequent sight in our house.

Graham showing off his "guns!"

There was a photography company that contracts with Whitefish Mountain Resort to take pictures of people while they are skiing or taking family pics if wanted.  They take pictures of all of the kids that are taking lessons and then we got to look at them and buy a CD with some of the pictures on them.  We couldn't pass up documenting her first time skiing!!

She is pretty much the cutest ski bunny I have ever seen but I may be a bit biased!!

Here is Addy with one of her instructors learning to ski.   In the second picture if you look close you can see the "worm", as they call it, that they put on the front of skis to keep the tips together and help them learn to control their skis.

This is one of my favorites cause it just sort of looks like an action picture and shows the snow that was falling most of the time that we were there.

Just some more cute ones of Addy during her lessons.

Just hanging out.

This is our little dancer.  She is in a dance class once a week and loves it.  I had to take a picture cause it was a bit of a throw back to the 80"s but much cuter.

I came back from putting Graham to bed and found Diesel like this.  Addy said he was drooling all over her spot so she had to put a bib on him.  This poor dog puts up with a lot from these kids.  It is amazing she was able to corner him to do this cause he usually keeps his distance as much as possible.

We went for a skiing trip to Whitefish, MT with Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Brenna and Uncle Eric.  We took the train which was both good and bad (no potty breaks but late trains).  We rented a house and went skiing.  We had great weather and had an amazing time.  I think we will be doing this again in the future.

Graham was loving life cause the weather was nice enough to allow him to be outside playing.  He would live outside if we would let him!!  Grandma didn't ski and Grandpa only skied one day so Graham got to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa.  The last day, when Addy stayed home as well, they went swimming so Graham got to do his two favorite things.

We also had good snow to make a snowman so Addy was super excited.

This is the townhouse that we rented.  It was nice to have separate sleeping and relaxing areas and allowed us to save money on eating out.

The day before we left on this trip I took Addy to see "Frozen" so she named her snowman Olaf and was giving him a hug.

Graham was our Sven (for those that have seen Frozen) cause he kept trying to steal Olaf's nose so he could eat it.  This boy loves his carrots!!

Graham finally won and got to eat his carrot!

Addy loves to eat her snow

I am also a very proud mama right now.  My girl went skiing for the first time and did amazing.  We put her in a half day lesson the first day and when we picked her up she wanted to go up the big chair lift (she had only been on the Magic Carpet in the ski lessons).  So Josh and I took her up and on the way down she kept saying "go faster" and "let me do it myself."  Even when she fell she was ready to get back up and go again.  She was so mad that it was time to go that we got her a full day lessons the next day.  

The next morning she said she didn't want to go again but we made her come with and once she got their again 

was so excited.  By the end of the day she was skiing without a thing on her skis that helps keep them together when you are learning and went down the chair lift ski hill twice.  The instructors were so impressed with how well she did and her amazing attitude.  She never got mad or frustrated from falling.  When we picked her up she had skied for a total of 5 hours that day so she didn't want to go anymore, but she said she wants to come back when she is 4 and go again.

The first two days it was very foggy and snowed all day which made for good skiing but did not allow us to see the beautiful views being on top of a mountain gives you.  The last day it all cleared and we were able to see this at the top.  One of the most beautiful views I have seen in my life.  Great trip.