Mother's Day

I'm so blessed that these five are mine!

And then we always need a crazy picture... or two... or three.

Giggle Garden Preschool

This year I had the opportunity to do a preschool co-op with some other moms.  It really was a lot of fun and Henry had such a fun time getting together with his new friends 2 times a week.  Right before school started one of the families moved but we were able to add someone else to keep it at 6 kids.  However, throughout the year 3 more of the families moved!!!  So our little group was cut in half.

We made cookies....

Learned letters... and did some crafts.

We even took a few field trips!  (One to the pumpkin patch at Gilcrease Orchard and the other to Anderson Dairy.)

 Occasionally I would even get creative with the snacks. (We were learning about penguins and polar bears this week.)

And here we "went fishing" with our pretzel stick poles, peanut butter for bait, and caught some gold fish! (Thank you Miss Rhonda for doing this so many years ago at the library)

 For Thanksgiving we had a snack feast!

 I lucked out to get Dr. Seuss week... so we made a "Dr. Seuss building" with Duplos. (Jayden was visiting us that morning.)

And we graphed our fish crackers.

 We even made oobleck that week. (Dayton's cousin was visiting with us that morning.)

 We ran into Rylee at the park one day right before she moved.

And we had Tristan over one day while his mom packed.

Because it ended up being such a small group at the end we threw out the idea of a graduation and decided on a low-key playdate at the park.  Henry busted his lip open in the first five minutes but finally calmed down enough to have a fun time.

Our three survivors--Dayton, Brynlee, and Henry.

It was a good experience for Henry and me... and he is super excited to start Kindergarten in the Fall.

Happy birthday, Alex!

Alex is SO excited for his birthday!  I think he has been counting down the days for at least a month!  Alexander is such a kind boy.  He is always sharing with his brothers, giving hugs, and trying to be a good friend and helper.  He loves to read.  He's always reading something and can read way beyond his grade level.  He is also an early riser.  Several times a week I have to tell him to go back to bed because it isn't even 6:00 yet!  We sure love you, Alexander!  Happy birthday!

What is your favorite...
color? blue
food?  pizza
game? Beat the Parents
toy?  Legos
show? Brain Games
animal?  copperhead
book? Ramona the Brave
song? Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam
What do you like to do?  play video games
Who is your best friend?  Caleb
What do you want to be when you grow up? video game inventor
Do you have a girlfriend?  no

I am - 7 years old

I am afraid of - nothing

I like - video games

I like to eat - pizza

I don't like - mushrooms

I know - songs

I want to be - a video game maker

I like to watch - Brain Games

My hero is- my friends

I cry when - I get hurt really bad

I'm happy when - it's my birthday

Mom gets mad when - Henry punches her

Mom is happy when - we help her

I can't wait for - Christmas
Something Mom says to me - "Do your homework."

Something Dad says to me - "How was your day?"

My favorite place to go is - Springs Preserve

My Mom makes me laugh by - tickling me

My Dad makes me laugh by - tickling me

I know my mom loves me because - she is nice to me

I know my dad loves me because - he plays king-of-the-bed with me

Lydia and Henry

Lydia and Henry are such great little buddies.  Henry is always looking out for her... especially at the park where she wanders too far, too quickly.

I love watching Henry take care of his little sister or when he asks me where Lydia is because he wants to play with her.  Lydia and I are going to miss Henry so much when he is at school all day next year!

Lydia lately

Lydia is just too cute... so I take so many pictures that need somewhere to be documented.

November 2015

Back in November when she was just beginning to wear her cute bows.

She loves to take baths!

Just learning to climb the stairs!

Seriously so pretty.

Lydia loves to play with her brothers' legos... and she is so good at not putting them in her mouth.  Mostly, she likes to carry around the minifig heads.

December 2015:

She's a girl who knows what she wants.  If the pantry door is open a crack she will help herself to any snacks!

Playing with Legos again!

Her first little pigtails!  It's so hard because she won't hold still!

Little Cindy Lou Who

Lydia loves to draw... it's a great way to keep her occupied during church.

Lydia is always holding my legs and nuzzling her head between them.

January 2016

While I was visiting with my Visiting Teachers Lydia helped herself to the markers and figured out how to take the caps off.  I guess she thought her outfit needed a little more purple.

She is just so cute.

Lydia took good care of her baby while we waited at the doctor's. 

I love her kissy lips and her pig tails!

February 2016

Trying out Aunt Rachelle's tractor!

She insisted on feeding herself ice cream.

Such a little phone talker.

One day I went looking for Lydia and found that she had reached up on the table and grabbed some catchup from Henry's lunch.  She was actually really happy until I scolded her... and so this picture looks like she is a bloody mess instead of a happy, finger-painting (with catchup) baby.

She always finds a way to get what she wants.

My little artist... always drawing.

March 2016

Playing with Alex at the park.

Lydia never falls asleep anywhere but her bed... so this was pretty amazing.

Lydia put herself into the shopping cart and thought she was pretty cool.

Lydia's hair is getting so long... and William decided she needed a mohawk.