Kindergarten is for little kids.

When Blake finished his last day of school a few weeks back he very proudly announced that he was no longer a kindergartener. "I'm in first grade now" is what we heard a million times during the first week of summer break.

I really could not have asked for a more amazing, talented, kind and just generally wonderful teacher for Blake. Everytime I volunteered in the classroom I was blown away by how great she was with the kids. Thank you thank thank you Mrs. Walker!!!!!! I wish she could be Blake's 1st grade teacher but alas, I'll just cross my fingers that Julia gets her next year. Wow, I can't believe how quickly the school year flew by. Pretty soon he'll be going off to college.....well not that soon.

Happy Father's Day

This is one of my most favorite pictures. It was just a candid shot taken by my friend Alyssa at the wild animal park last month but I think it captures so much. The joy of both father and son is so evident. I love this man for so many reasons but on Father's Day I honor him for being the kind of father that will bless his children all through their lives. I hope our sons can follow in his footsteps and be great fathers someday.

Happy Father's Day Mike!!!!!

30 hours of freedom

30 hours of kid free fun this weekend with this cute guy. We had a great time. On Firday night we enjoyed going to the temple, eating at one of our oldtime favorite Thai restaurants from our dating days. And then my ultimate dream of riding the ferris wheel at the Santa Monica Pierwas finally realized. (hmmm sometimes I wonder if I am a small child) I have wanted to ride that thing FOREVER and I finally got to.

This is us on the ferris wheel. I could hardly contain my excitement. I only wish I had a picture of our view, but alas my camera is really really lame.

Eating my favorite treat in the world, Pinkberry.

Lemon pancakes made with love by Mike.

Mountain biking in beautiful Cheseboro park. I probably exclaimed at least 500 times how beautiful the wild flowers were. It's that time of year.

And finally we topped it off with dinner at the local Indian restaurant. After 30 hours of fun we returned to real life. Thanks Rebecca and Dave for making this possible. I'm sure it wasn't really that fun having children ages 9,8,7,6,5,4,3 and 2 all weekend. :) But most importantly thanks to wonderful Mike for always being my loving partner in every adventure from crazy dates to crazy children!!!!

Swimming

The other day Julia came out of her room with her swimming suit on. After telling her it was too cool to go swimming she reassured me that she would put on her sweater and leggings, both of which she did at different times. This was just too funny for me to NOT take some pictures.

I think I know where we will be everyday this summer. :)

Mother's Day

Could there be a better day than Mother's Day?

1) I did not change ONE diaper today. And really, what could be better than that!!

2) I was served a delicious strawberry coffee cake made by my wonderful husband for breakfast.

3) My 2 oldest kids participated in a cute little medley of songs for the mothers at church and I nearly cried watching them because they were so cute.

4) I indulged in a 2 hour nap after church. As a general rule I am not a napper but this was actually really nice.

5) I was served a delicious dinner of grilled fish, roasted potatoes and strawberry shortcake and I didn't have to do any cleanup or prep work.

6) I got to enjoy dinner with my own wonderful mother and my sister who is also an amazing mother.

7) Best of all, Blake said the following to me today. "Mom today you are my queen and I am your servant. What can I do for you?"

Oh yes I love Mother's Day. I am grateful for my mother as well as my husband's mother for all the hard work and sacrifice they put in to raising their families. I am thankful for my grandmothers both of whom are long since gone as well as my husband's grandma who is such a wonderful grandmother to me and my family. I really have been richly blessed. I am thankful for the opportunity I have had to mother many children over the years, both those that I have born and those with whom I have worked.

Happy Mother's Day!!

And yes, tomorrow I go back to being everyone's servant.........Until next Mother's Day. :)

2 and 6

We celebrated 2 birthdays last week. Blake turned 6 and Cole turned 2. What could be more fun than sharing your birthday with family? We celebrated both events at my sister's home in San Diego. Cole's special day fell on Easter this year which I think is highly unusual considering his birthday is April 24th.

Picking my battles

This is the "beautiful" outfit Julia decided to wear last week for an outing to the library. We had borrowed that giant shirt at my sister's house because she spilled something on her clothes and so it was sitting there on her dresser waiting to be returned. Apparently she thought it would make a pretty awesome dress. Put it together with beaded socks, red sparkly shoes and a few painful stuffed animals and let the good times roll. I really didn't want to let her leave the house like that but sometimes it's just not worth the fight. At least I still have control over what Cole wears. I cringed everytime someone looked at us. I wanted to hold up a sign saying, "I did not dress this child."

IF you ever need help choosing an outfit just call Julia, she would be more than happy to assist you.