Reaching New Heights

Dear Alex,

Happy 4th Birthday!

On May 22nd, you turned four years old, and your Dad and I can hardly believe how fast you are growing up! You are such a wonderful helper around the house, you are so inquisitive, and have such care for all the things and people around you. You are brilliant at puzzles, and building train tracks, you still love playing with your cars, but you are now also loving to find new things to do. You are reaching for the STARS!

Here are some things I've learned about you after a short interview:

Right now your favorite color is BLUE.

Your favorite toy is your Lightning McQueen cars.

Your favorite thing in your room are the ball stickers making the border around your walls.

Your favorite thing to do with Mom is play cars.

Your favorite thing to do with Dad is to go on rides with him in his car.

As you are starting to soar on your own, your Dad and I are beginning to see your independence shining through in the things you do.

You are getting more creative with your toys and games,

you are listening well to your sister and being a good example for her,

you are clearing your plates from the table and often volunteer to say a prayer before dinner.

You love picking out your clothes, brushing your teeth, washing in the tub, and packing the swim bag for the pool.

You enjoy reading books to us!

(Well, at least describing the pictures!)


You are over the moon about starting preschool this fall!

Alex, your Dad and I love you so much, and we can't wait to see what fun adventures we will all have during this next year of your life!

We know that the sky is the limit for you!!!
Love,
Mom and Dad

Tent Nirvana

Ahhh...sigh...just look at this picture of sweetness.

Alex has found NIRVANA...in his tent!

Even if it is in his room. He is excited about going to bed at night, and has crawled in and taken a nap twice now!
Grandma Pam brought down a huge three room tent, we haven't tried that one overnight...yet!

I think this is the start of something big...


...a future camper?


There's nothing more fun than watching your child discover something new.


I'm lovin' every minute of it.

Peas Please!

Tonight we went out to the garden to pick our PEAS!!!

The kids had so much fun collecting them in a bowl.


I was thinking we would open them up, eat a few, and cook the rest up for dinner tomorrow...but they gobbled them up so fast, there isn't enough left!

These kids love their peas!

Every part of this was fun. The kids loved picking the peas, dropping them in the bowl, opening them up, and EATING them!!!

We love us some peas!

Maybe next year we'll have more than just one thing grow in our garden! ;)

Our New Addition!

Yay! Our piano is finally here!!!

Just a tip for anyone planning on moving a piano:

Paying professionals for the hard part (like bringing it up a flight of stairs) is worth EVERY PENNY!

And, we really do have the best neighbors anyone could ever ask for. Alde let us use his trailer, and he just plain rocked it driving home.

After we were sure the piano was home safe, Alex had a little jam session outside with Dad and Alde.

Mom had a moment.

Logistics...

Trying it out...

So cute!

I am so excited that we have a piano! They are so much fun, even if everyone is just tinkering around. And who knows, there may be a savant in the house!

What to do on a Rainy Day...

Today was a rainy day...

so what do you do on a rainy day, you ask?

We did some teeny tiny braids...


I started a 'Wall Art Vinyl' project...

We played with our food...

Okay, HE played with the food!!!

We fixed a knob!

The teeny tiny braids went so well, we tried some french braids...her first EVER!!!

This one got a haircut!

Naps were taken by some...

We baked the first Angel Food cake of the season...

And we had friends over for dinner!

It was a great rainy day!

Reflections of Mother's Day

What an honor it is to be a mother.

Yesterday was wonderful.

But it wasn't the TWO DOZEN roses, or the awesome breakfast, tons of fun gifts and cards, or even sipping coffee poolside that did it for me.

It was the way Grace ran her fingers through the back of my hair and over my neck while I was holding her standing in line at the gas station.

It was how Alex caught me staring at him putting his seat belt on thinking about how much I loved him and he said simply to my silence, "I love you too, Mom."

That was enough for me.

It was wonderful.

The Pool is OPEN!

Yay! The pool is open! We just dipped our feet in yesterday morning, and the kids were so excited they could hardly stand it! We are looking forward to another summer filled with wonderful memories at the pool!

(Poor Grace's skinned knees are nicely displaying the reason why I make my kids wear long pants during the summer! Ouch!)