Happy Birthday Daddy

Will got another year older--what?  This happens every year!?

Will doesn't like us to make a big deal about his birthday.  So, I will make a big deal about what the kids did for Will's birthday.  Lorien secretly rounded up the kids and they put this little ditty together:

Awesome, right?  They are a clever group of kids.

Old friends...

Our friends, the Salisburys, came back to California for a visit last weekend.  It was so awesome to see Curt, Heather and their new baby, Amber (and I mean super-new--like just six weeks new!).  They are such a fun family.  I have a secret mission to lure them back out to California some day.


Amber was a trooper.  She put up with Adell's "love slaps" and Colter trying to dig out her eyeballs.  She has a few older siblings at home so she knows how to deal.  I totally got my newborn baby fix.  Man, I love newborn babies.  Thanks for coming out Curt and Heather!  Come back soon--with all the kids.

The graduate. Not that graduate!

Lorien finished 5th grade and got to "graduate" from elementary school.  She was psyched, we were proud.



Lorien was the very first 5th grader to get her "diploma" being in Mr. B's class and having a last name that starts with A will get you to the front of the line.  She knows how to strike a pose!


Pretty happy!  Now she can start middle school...her mother is going to die.

First and last

We made it!

Today is the last day of the school year!

What a year we've had.  The kids are glad the school year is over.  I am nervous for summer.  This is the first year I haven't looked to the start of summer with as much anticipation as when I was in school myself.  I am concerned about entertaining a one-year-old and an eleven-year-old with the same activity.  A trip to the park doesn't always cut it these days.  Moreover, every break from school we had this year was full of fighting.  The kids could get along for the first three days and then the wheels would quickly fall off our wagon.  Bickering, arguing, mild physical altercations plagued our household.  I cannot imagine what several weeks will bring.

Heaven help me.

Here are some pictures of the kids from the first day and last day of school:


Good-golly, Lorien grew a whole twelve inches this school year!  I guess she's been eating her vegetables?

By the conditions of Wyatt's pants, I guess he grew a whole twelve inches too?  He also grew a mustache?

And Clare, she got bangs a few weeks before school got out.  She also lost a handful of teeth this year--which is awesome because her front two teeth were hanging by threads on the first day of school--giving her a pretty lopsided smile.
Now, I am open to suggestions for how to keep my kids smiling and keep me from going crazy this summer.

Sometimes sewing is fun...

I do like sewing, kind of like I like final exams in school.  The best part is when it is over...

Something possessed me and I decided to make a little ballet costume for Adell.  I totally winged it...as a result, there are plenty of flaws.

Good thing Adell doesn't have a critical eye.