catching up... in pictures

August Birthday Girl

Quick!  The month is almost over.  

I better catch up at least on the birthdays, right?

Like plenty of the preschool set, Grace is all about picking her own clothes in a jumbled, mismatched way.  I decided to let my hair down a little this year and let her birthday party reflect HER instead of ME and my idea of a pretty party.  :)  Here's the table:  Stripey hats.  Tinkerbell plates.  Butterfly napkins.  Cupcake plates.  Pink cups kinda tie it all together, right?

She really wanted a fashion show and at the last minute, I threw up a white tablecloth to take some pictures of these little divas.  They were super cute, picking outfits and walking down the stairs to applause from their friends.  I love it!  :)

And I also love it when my kids pick yummy food for their birthday dinners.  French dip sandwiches have been popular around here lately.  Ellie was only a tiny bit perturbed that Grace picked the same thing.  Oh, the fun of little sisters! 

And here we have brownies that are just supposed to look like cupcakes, but taste much better.  I guess all our kids are inheriting their parents' indifference to cake!

there you have it.  

another birthday down and a little breather til the fall bdays.  :)

And here's Grace as she usually is:

Totally silly.

Beautiful brown eyes.

Strong little climber and bike rider.

Budding artist.

Tiny little person with a big personality.

4th in a busy family of kids.

A bit precocious.

Not to be overlooked by any means.

Very sweet and helpful when she's in the mood to be.

And now she's FIVE.  Finally!!

July Birthday Girl

Here is one happy NINE year old!!

We were headed to Spokane for the 4th and Ellie requested birthday dinner at G&G Howell's this year.  French dips, chips and fruit with fancy pants brownies for dessert.  YUM!  It was a fun night, worth the birthday drive across the state.  :)  I sure love this girlie!

 

June Birthday Girl

 For her birthday this year, Lydia picked dinner out as a family instead of a party.  Whew!  What a relief!  And she picked somewhere easy - even better!  We realized as we were eating dinner Saturday night that exactly 11 years before, I was eating Panda Express and driving through Spanish Fork canyon, having mild contractions.  Well, I wasn't driving.  Derek was.  I was just eating.  But that's not really the point.  Lydia was born the Sunday after the drive, just as her birthday happened to fall on Sunday this year - also after Panda Express for dinner the night before.  Crazy little coincidence, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised that this girl of mine loves her orange chicken!  And isn't she pretty?  I love that she was equally thrilled with new feather earrings and a cute hat as she was with a book about the birds of Washington State.  She's a great mix of granola and girly these days. :)

11 candles on her birthday apple pie!

Happy birthday to one wonderful girl!

Summer!

Last Day of School 2012

June 20th

I was exhausted and laid on the couch for a minute, when I got up I found Carver like this.  Not asleep, but very wet and tired.  It was a miracle that we had sunshine on the last day of school.  It was absolutely gorgeous that day.

Catching up....

5 layer cake for our house anniversary party.

5 years and 5 kiddos in the house we thought we'd "start out" in.  :)

Some sister love on a Sunday walk on the trail.

Derek's parents drove over for Memorial Day and we spent an afternoon at Rattlesnake Lake, which was absolutely perfect in every way.  Sunny, not too hot and the lake is incredible beautiful in a different sort of way.  I loved all the stumps in the clear green-blue water.  SO fun!

Of course Carver got wet.  He always does.  It makes him happy and the rest of us laugh, so it works out well for all parties involved.  He got to show his muscles on a stump, just like Derek.  Is he cute or what?!

The girls before a 50s themed daddy daughter church activity.  Too bad Derek was super sick; they went with a friend and her dad.

This little monkey does NOT get enough sleep.  Maybe she should be a running partner more often to catch up.  Don't you love the striped socks? 

And there you have it - a little bit of random catching up!  Summer is official, but the weather's not caught on.  I try to remember how much I hate running in heat, how hot our house gets without A/C and how great it is not to have to water the lawn since I usually forget.  There are really good things about it being cloudy and 65.  Really!!  :)