The Birthday Girl!

Miss Maeli is 4! For about 6 weeks she's been trying to convince us she already had her birthday, but the day finally came! She did great at the doctor and didn't cry at all with her three pokes. She's in the 20th percentile all around, but passed all her tests with ease. She's a smart little drama princess! We asked her want she wanted to do on her birthday, her first choice was go to the zoo, but we just don't live close enough to make that happen (we could have if she had EVER mentioned that prior to her birthday). So she opted to have her "best friend Ali" over for a tea party.
They, of course, had to get dressed up for the occasion!
the menu: strawberry juice, pineapple, grapes, heart shaped cheese, marshmallows, chocolate and butterscotch chips, crunchy noodles, and jelly beans.
Their conversation took on a very "grown-up" attitude as they discussed how awful it is to have siblings, how much they both love Disney movies, and their common hobby of collecting random rocks.
She had some very specific requests as far as the cake went: "A Tinkerbell cake, wither Tinkerbell on top and pictures of me wearing Tinkerbell clothes all around the bottom. And really tall." I talked her into getting rid of the pictures of her, and came up with this. I know it would have been better with fondant, but I'm not an expert on cakes.
Some other friends joined us for cake and spoiled Maeli with presents galore!
Butter fly wings, and Tinkerbell shoes (not shown, but oh so cute!)
All kinds of Barbie stuff--she was pretty excited about that!
Her Rapunzel dress she requested specifically from Grandma Terry.
And her great grandparents sent money that we used to get her a big girl bike!Being 4 is awesome!

Garden Time!

You have to have a good pair of gloves, a small shovel, and some really good helpers.

You can almost smell the salsa!

It was very hard to keep Riker out of the dirt, so we're getting a little fence.

nice tillin' Dad (and Mom, but I don't have a photo, I did till this year, and I can even start it by myself! Can I get a Woot Woot!)
Cutest crack ever! She was explaining to Dad that you dig the hole, but the seeds in, and then the water, then the sunshine, then the flowers. Just in case he wasn't sure about the order of things.

The Beach!

6 years married!
deserves a romantic get-a-way with no kids!

For our 6 year anniversary, Jeremy and I ditched the kids and headed to Long Beach, WA (where we had gone on our honeymoon too!) We ate so much amazing Seafood, and this place let us try all kinds of stuff for free (I promised them I'd blog about it in exchange for the amazing deal they gave us on a Fresh Crab)

We raced go carts, the first time we went Jeremy smoked me ( I had NEVER driven a go cart before, but I do watch Top Gear, so I thought I could handle it), but then I did way better the second round. He still won, but I was for sure getting better.


There was some romance involved as well.

You can't go to the beach and not build a sand castle right? It would have been more amazing, but all but one of our tools snapped in half.


awe.

We attempted to fly a kite, but we didn't have enough wind (that or we really don't know what we're doing)

We had amazingly beautiful weather, and we were able to ride our bikes most of the time.
It was such a blast and the kids didn't even miss us. Thanks so much to the Grandmas that made our trip possible!

Whenever I hear the Song of a Bird

All these Spring things are filling me with gratitude and admiration for this beautiful Earth we live on.

I'm thankful that we bought a lawn mower that I could start by myself (Jeremy has really bad Seasonal Allergies, so I mow most of the time) I LOVE the smell of fresh cut grass!



I'm thankful that I planted Tulips last Fall.

I'm thankful for my sweet kids that picked all my Tulips for me :0)

I'm thankful that we live on a very quiet street and almost no traffic.

And I'm thankful to be able to take a hot shower after we've been playing outside all day.

That was close!

Can you believe Jeremy's hand was in this glove when it got shredded!?! So glad he didn't loose any fingers!

Swimming Lessons!

Maeli just graduating from being a tadpole! She has really made so much progress in just the last few weeks, we are so proud of her!

Floating on her back

Practicing her kicks

Face in the water, blowing bubbles

Waiting for her life jacket

Jumping in (she wouldn't do this at all without holding her teacher's hands until just this last lesson)

Happy Mother's Day!

We had Mother's Day brunch for me, my mom, and Jeremy's mom who were all here for graduation. I wish we could have had all our special moms here, we are so blessed to have Aunts, sisters, sister-in-law, and grandmothers that are all such wonderful examples to us. But it was so super fun to have my mom here. I love her so much!

So Happy and So Proud!

Both sets of parents came over for Jeremy's graduation, and it was so fun to get to celebrate! We even got to see my Uncle Umesh who was over from WSU Vancouver for one of his PhD students who was graduating. I didn't take very many pictures because we were having too much fun.

I a so proud of Jeremy, who despite having a wife, three kids, and full-time and very mentally demanding job, a home to take care of, and the weight of the world on his shoulders, graduated with honors and on time! He's worked so hard this semester to try and balance everything, and still do the kind of school work that he can be proud of! I've seen him pushed to the breaking point a few times, and he's always come out on top. This semester was really rough for all of us. I'm so glad that its over, and that Jeremy agreed on giving me 2 years before we talk about "the next degree."

Lets Play!

Maeli getting her prince all dressed up. I was very surprised at how willing Tucker was to wear whatever Maeli thought he should...I had a heard time getting him to wear this sweater back when it still fit him. And she insisted that the two of them together could handle the wardrobe, I didn't need to help do socks.

Everybody loves a good ride on the Carousel!

And that would be Tucker under that laundry basket...screaming that "the baby is squishing me!" Of course, as soon as I let him out, this scene replays almost instantly...boys!


I we got to pet Banner the pony while we were in Spokane--too fun!

Riker

Riker loves Spring! Being outside, playing on the swings, eating dirt, wandering around the yard, eating Popsicles! Everything about it, except I think he might have some seasonal allergies-like his Daddy. But this kid will do anything to get outside. He also loves helping in the garden.

He's working on getting a few molars, which is no fun for any of us, but what are ya gunna do?

And this past weekend he road his first Carousel! About have way through he started doing the "make it go faster" dance...I think he liked it!
It seems like he's so big! He's walking everywhere, climbing everything, and is so stinking loud! He loves Maeli so much and just wants to be near her, He and Tucker have a love/torture relationship that they both seem to love most of the time. I just can't believe that my "Baby" isn't at all a baby...at least he still snuggles.