Ava's 5th birthday (part 1)

Happy birthday to our big girl :)

Ava is our "just so" child. On her bed there are about 30 stuffed animals that she sleeps with every night, she has too have them arranged "just so" before she can go to bed.

She is the only child that the dentist said brushes her teeth really well.

She is always the most eager to pray at meal times and at bed time her prayers take about 5 minutes and she really thinks about what she wants to talk to God about.

She loves to learn and do schoolwork, and has just started kindergarten.

Her nickname from Dad is "Peanut".

She is very gentle and kind to Gretchen (when she wants to be).

She loves going to Haley's house.

She loves to "talk smack" when playing games with us.

Ava's favorite things for dinner :)
Smack talking during her birthday Uno game.

I got her a first aid kit from Ikea and she played "Pet Vet"

Ryan turns 10

being sung to

cake pop

gift from Aunt Julia and Uncle Matt - a big hit!

Ava 4 years old

cuddly

whiner

smarty-pants

helper

great big sister

feisty little sister

moody

artistic

fashionable

sweet

Ava

More wierd art from Sydney

Sydney's birthday is this week and she is having a few cousins over for tea, this is a note that she is sending to her cousin Brianna.

You and Hailey and me

my (Sydney's) B-day

Hailey, Brianna, and Sydney are having a tea party and Ava is off to the side holding a book saying "huh?"

and she thinks the girls are talking about her.

She just cracks me up!

More one year old pictures

Some more pictures of our sweet little one year old

Here she is modeling her birthday gift from Aunt Worm and Beaver Steve

I made her little leggings to go with a birthday shirt that I sewed a 1 on

Here is her favorite stuffie... "Canimal" a gift from her big sister Ava, and her "blankie" in the background

7 teeth

has taken a few steps at a time but isn't "walking" yet

walks on her knees

great eater

our third "dangerous girl"

already has her own DS

likes to pull hair

loves baby Einstein movies

My baby turns 1

I'm so proud

We started a home school co-op on Friday and the kids had a great time.

I was worried because Ryan and Sydney had 3 different classes and they had to go to different rooms. Ryan was especially worried, but they found the rooms and were so excited with their classes.I was especially proud of Ryan because he signed up for a cake decorating class and I talked to him before about how there might not be other boys in there (there were 2 other boys) and if some girls made fun of him to not get mad, just tell them that his dad likes to decorate cakes too.

Well, sure enough there were 2 girls who said he should leave and that the class was for girls only, and Ryan told them exactly what I had told him!! :)

Then he told them about some cakes that his dad had made for a couple of his birthdays and one of the girls said "cool" , the other girl wasn't convinced but that's ok.

The kids are so looking forward to Friday school, Ryan has a Lego class, cake decorating , and beginning Chess, I couldn't believe how well he can play after only 1 class.

Sydney has crochet, acting and drawing.

I don't have any pictures of the kids at Friday school, but here are some pics of them on a field trip with Travis from last week.

And Ryan's part 2 birthday picture, we had some cousins and friends (not that the cousins aren't friends) over to Grandpa and Grandma's shop to watch Jurassic Park.

Trip to Seattle Aquarium and Ryan's Bday part 1

Ryan turned 9 on Thursday (wow, almost double digits)! Travis took off work for Thursday and Friday, so we went to the Aquarium on Ryan's big day. For those of you who like the Seattle Aquarium, I'm sorry, we had never been, unless I had been as a kid and don't remember it, and we won't likely go back. The kids had fun , but Travis and I were very underwhelmed.

For the last few years we have taken the kids to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium and we really like it. But, it's about 2.5 hours away so we thought we would try this since it was about 1 hour away.

I do really like the jellyfish,



especially THIS one!

I guess from looking at my pictures, I thought the most picture worthy things there were my kids! :)

I told you I was thinking about making something for Ryan, well, it all started with a pair of pj pants that little baby Ryan used to wear,

I saved them hoping that I could use them for something special, some clothes just remind you of your kids when they were babies.

Sydney was so happy to be helping make Ryan's special gift!

Ryan loved his new monster stuffie and it has a lot of friends on Ryan's bed.

Ribbon Bookmark

Sydney is going to a birthday party for one of her cousins , so we have been trying to think of something to make for Brianna. I saw something like this somewhere online , but , of course, I can't find it now that I want to post.

Anyway, here is a bookmark that I made, Sydney was very impressed!

We are also giving her this

Usborne sticker book, these books are so cute!

Happy 8th Birthday Brianna!

Ava's Birthday - part 2

My mom and dad and my brother Josh and his wife Becky came over Tuesday night for Ava's birthday.

Ava kept telling me over and over "I really like my cake!"

She got this dress up outfit and a ds game and a set of Word World Legos (Mega Blocks actually)




On Wednesday my sister Julia and her kids came over.