Life Scout

Wesley has achieved his Life rank in scouting! At just a week past his 13th birthday. It truly is remarkable. I am so proud of the work he has put into scouting. Now to earn 10 merit badges and complete an Eagle project. He has given himself a year to get his Eagle. I hope he can reach his goal!
 



Photos shot with Nikon D750

1st Tooth

Hannah lost her first tooth today! I have to admit, I was a little sad. I am excited for her to grow up and experience fun, new things, but it makes my mom heart break a little as well. I want to hold on and let go at the same time. The tooth was bugging her all evening long. She kept coming to me and asking what we could do to get it out. But she wouldn't let me try to twist or pull it. So we tried having her bite into apple slices. She considered for a moment letting me put a string around it. And she tried to push against it with her tongue. But she was so worried that it would hurt when it came out that she mostly just walked around moaning all evening. Finally around 7:00 she came to me and told me she was finally ready for me to pull it out. I had it out in less than a second, I think. It just popped right out. I actually think she was really surprised. She had gotten herself all worked up thinking it would hurt and then it ended up being nothing!
 

Just look at that cute gap!
 

Little Miss.

Hannah is going to be a model for a custom painting that Gary and Yvonne have commissioned ~ along with 2 of her cousins and her Uncle Steven. The artist asked me to take some photos of the whole group that he can paint from, so we gathered them all together this evening. After the group shots were done, I had to take advantage of the fact that Hannah looked so cute and took a few solo shots of my little girl as well. (In another dress from that Persnickety sale!). I just love her so much. I honestly catch myself just staring at her sometimes, wondering how I got so lucky to be the mom of such a beautiful, kind, sweet, fun little girl.
 




Photos shot with Nikon D750

April 2015 {at a glance}

From left to right, top to bottom:
1. Kai has become obsessed with being outdoors. He especially loves riding this little bike up and down the street.
2. Our annual April Fool's dinner had a nursery rhyme theme this year. It was fun like always!
3. Kai gathering eggs at the Easter egg hunt we attended at Glenwood elementary.
4. Kai being cute as always while dying Easter eggs.
5. Derek's impressive trio of brown dyed eggs.
6. Derek and Kai.
7. Table set for Easter dinner.
8. Wesley reading Crew his new book from his Easter basket.
9. Kai trying to get on the field during flag football practice.
10. Crew obviously finds great joy being at the controls of a plane while at the Children's Museum.
11. Wesley being a tremendous help with the little guys while at the Children's Museum.
12. Hannah absolutely loves to hang upside down from the brothers' beds. It drives them crazy.
13. Hannah was finally the first to spot a geocache all by herself!
14. Enjoying "bring your own cup" day at 7-11.
15. After the bath.
16. Kai getting  a little sleepy at lunchtime.
17. With Hannah, cheering on the boys at the first flag football game.
18. Teagan found a salamander that he decided to name Inference. Only Teagan would choose a name like that!
19. I promised her that if we hit over 70 degrees that I would let her play in the water. We hit a glorious 72 degrees!
20. Wesley's first track meet! He is doing great. So far his record in the long jump is 11'8"
21. Asher on his way to We Day. What an awesome opportunity for this kid. He was super excited that several Seahawks players were there to speak to the kids.
22. Making it through Target with a whole bunch of boys.
23. Asher and Teagan played flag football all morning at their games ... and then came home and played another THREE hours with friends in the backyard. 
24. Birthday waffles for our new teenager!
25. Eating lunch with Wesley at the middle school. Glad this kid is not too cool for his mom.
26. Out to Blazing Onion for Wesley's birthday.
27. This month's art docent project was Andy Warhol. I love how these turned out. Hannah's class did the hands and Asher's class did the soup cans. Both samples made for me by Teagan.

Photos shot with iPhone and Nikon D750

Teenager.

It's official. We have a teenager in the house. Wesley turned 13 years old today. It was a very busy day ~ school, track, flag football practice for Asher and Teagan ... we snuck in celebrating in the short time we had together. We let Wesley open his presents before the boys headed off to practice. Derek and I gave Wesley a shirt and an amp for the guitar that he built:



And all of the kids gave Wesley all of the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit movies. He has been counting down until his birthday to watch them, as we haven't let him watch anything rated PG-13 yet. He has a long list of movies that he is anxious to see! He was super excited with the gift.



And of course the kids made a movie for Wesley as well. 3 down, 3 to go this year!

 Then around 7:30 this evening we picked the boys and Derek up from football practice and we all went out to dinner at Blazing Onion to continue the celebrating. The best part was the peanut butter pie we had for dessert. It was so good. It was a very low key birthday, but I think Wesley still felt honored and appreciated.

 Photos shot with Nikon D750

W, H, and C.

Just a few photos I snapped of Wesley, Hannah, and Crew while in the backyard today working on Wesley's birthday video. Here he is, his last day before becoming a teenager! I hope I am ready for all that is to come. Hopefully he will take it easy on me.
 

I went a little crazy at an online sale at Persnickety a few weeks ago and Hannah now has several new dresses. Knowing her and her picky tastes, I may only get her to wear them each once or twice so it's always a good idea to get a photo in right away. Okay, it's not really that bad, but she definitely has opinions on what she likes to wear!




And Crew was just too cute. I had to snap a few of him as well. He makes me laugh all the time. What a personality.



Photos shot with Nikon D750

Children's Museum

First day of spring break and I managed to leave the house with all six kiddos. It is always intimidating to me to take them all out on an outing. But we almost always have a great time, and truly my older kids are fantastic helpers, so I don't know why I worry. We went to the Children's Museum for a morning full of fun:



Photos shot with iPhone

Easter Egg Hunt. Take Two.

We invited our friends the Carters and the Bigelows over for Easter dinner. It was so much fun having our friends with us! After dinner we had an Easter egg hunt for all the kids:












These kids got a little bit crazy!



Photos shot with Nikon D700

Easter 2015

This year Easter fell on the same Sunday as General Conference, which I loved. It was a very relaxing day at home together, listening to the broadcast of our church leaders. But even though we didn't leave home to go to our church building this year, I still made sure these kids dressed up in their Easter best ... for the pictures, of course.










Photos shot with Nikon D750 and Nikon D700

Easter Baskets

These kids were all super excited with their easter baskets this year ~ especially since the boys' baskets included some games for our new-to-us xbox. And of course there was plenty of candy that somehow seemed to disappear before we even had breakfast!



Photos shot with Nikon D750

Dying Easter Eggs

We tried something different this year and I loved it! We may have found a new tradition: dying Easter eggs with kool-aid. I loved how bright the colors were and that there was no vinegar smell. We  dyed eggs while watching the afternoon session of General Conference, which was also a fun way to keep the kids listening. Crew was the only one who missed out, as he was napping. I felt a little guilty having fun without him, but not enough guilt to have him skip a nap. I really value that couple of hours I get every day without having to worry about what he might scheme up next!









When all the eggs were dyed, we had a contest for our favorites. Derek's trio of brown eggs hands down won the crowd favorite. I love how real they looked!



Photos shot with Nikon D750

Monkey Bars

This little girl is absolutely crazy about the monkey bars. Every single recess at school it is the only thing she does. Her hands are completely callused. I love watching how excited she gets about showing off to me. And I must admit, she is pretty fun to watch!






Photos shot with Nikon D750