Lily's Spring Dance Recital

May is a busy month for us.  It culminated in Lily's Spring Dance recital.  She loves to be on stage in her costume!

Memorial Day Camping Trip

Over Memorial Day weekend we decided to go camping.  We made it a simple trip close to home.  We went over near Payette and camped with the Jenkins and Miller families.  We love camping with friends!

Tyson got he chance to play with fire so he was happy, except for the stomach bug that hit him and laid him out for a day.  Gideon just chewed on sticks.

The kids just ran around the camp site together all day long.

There was a lake nearby and all of the kids loved going for rides in the canoe and kayaks.  

They were pretty sure that they could paddle those boats just fine on their own.

Gideon just loved the water.

He spent the entire time in the lake just playing with the sand and splashing around.

Charlotte was building in the sand.

Lily was exhausted after all that paddling.  Good thing she had her Avengers crackers.

Everyone was so dirty by the end of it all, but everyone was happy.

There was a little litter of fox pups that lived in the culvert near our camp site.  It was a lot of fun to watch them play around with each other.

Gideon's First Birthday

Since the boy turned one we had to have a little party!  And so we did with some family and friends.

Gideon got his own little (meaning way too big) cake and started into it slowly.

He tried out the candle but soon decided that brightly colored as it was, it was not tasty once the frosting was removed.

He them went back to his cake and really enjoyed it.

Tyson and I have him some balls and Mega Blocks for his birthday and my goodness, the boy loves them!

Happy birthday little man!  We sure love you and we are glad that you are a part of our family!

Twelve Months

Our boy turned one.  It is hard to believe how quickly the time passes, but it just flies by.  I'm so grateful for this busy, adventurous, and bright little boy!  Gideon is such a blessing!

Getting pictures of him has sure become difficult though, he just wants to move!

You can't blame him though, the fun stuff is all right there.

He cooperated for a little while though and gave me some wonderful smiles!

He is just so joyful!

And so proud of  himself!  He isn't really walking yet, but he's working on it.

I love his smiles,

they truly brighten up my day!

Lily's 5th Birthday

Lily keeps insisting on growing up.  She is a five-year-old now, all grown-up and ready to start Kindergarten.  She loves to draw, paint, sing (in her own way) dance, and is slightly obsessed with The Avengers.  We had a little party for her birthday with some of her friends and of course it had to be Avengers themed.

I had all of these great plans, and then remembered that not only am I just one person, but I'm also on a budget so we kept is simple.  I find that children don't need a lot to entertain them, just getting together with friends is plenty of fun.  We still had a pinata, because my kids love them.

And I kinda went crazy on the cake.  I do that.  But I like to,  Birthdays are chances for me to play around with fun ideas so I take full advantage.

Everyone one of The Avengers is represented on the cake.  We have Thor's hammer and Ironman.

Hawkeye's mask

Black widow

Captain American is represented on the top and of course Hulk is front and center.

The kids LOVED it!  It was also delicious.  Chocolate cake with a chocolate and peanut butter ganache filling...perfect!

Presents were also a favorite.

After the party was over and friends went home I found Lily and Charlotte playing with some of her new presents.  Apparently her new Captain America action figure was going to the ball with Cinderella...

I love watching Lily open gifts.  She had been asking for Avenger Legos for a long time and I found a great set that I knew she'd love.  Her reaction was priceless!

We sure love our girl and we are so glad that she is a part of our family!

Kindergarten Registration

I can hardly believe that Lily is old enough for this, but this morning we registered Lily for Kindergarten.  For at least three years now I've been hoping that I could get her into the Idaho Arts Charter School.  I entered her name into the lottery on January 1st and we have been waiting and waiting to hear from them.  Last week the letter finally came and Lily's name was drawn.  I'm not sure that I can explain how excited I was when I read that letter.  Aside from being a great school, they also have a traditional Kindergarten schedule whereas the local public schools have a very wonky full-day-ever-other-day-and-every-other-Friday schedule that makes my mind go haywire just thinking about.  Anyway, we are in and so happy about it.

Today was registration day.  Lily was nervous about going last night, she even told me that she might be sick today (she's too young for that game, right?) but this morning she was excited to see her new school so off we went.

 Charlotte was just as excited to check it out.  It will be an interesting adjustment for them this fall to be apart from each other.