My 6 year old

My darling little boy is six years old.  I really have a hard time seeing how fast time goes.  I want it to slow down and give me more time with these little people who will all too quickly grow up.  Finn is still an active, curious little boy, but he is learning to focus his interests.  He still enjoys playing with his trains and toy story people, but is also quickly transferring over to legos and wii.  He loves playing outside with his friends, especially at parks.  He is learning to try new foods, but still loves pizza, mac and cheese, tortillas and yogurt.  He wants to read Bernstein Bear books, watch Phineas and Ferb, play mario cart and drive his truck.  His favorite thing to do as a family is play hide and seek. 

Happy 6th Birthday Finn!





Happy 4th of July!

The fourth of July is always such a fun time with parades, picnics, parties and fireworks.  This is such a busy time for us with Grandpa's birthday, the 4th and then Finn's birthday.  Finn is getting a lot better with parades and fireworks.  I can still tell he doesn't like the loud noises but he has learned to handle it.  We had a great weekend!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Our family was able to get together to celebrate my Grandpa's 93rd Birthday!  I feel so very lucky that I get to still have my grandpa here with us.  How wonderful for my children that they get to experience the love and wisdom from a great grandparent.  We love you Grandpa!

love

16 Months

Miss Lucie is loving summer.  She loves to play outside, go for walks, visit the park and play in the sand.  She is very energetic and still takes two naps a day.  Lucie is learning new words everyday but her favorites are dog and baby.  Our sweet baby girl is quickly becoming a toddler. 

First swing set injury

The building the swing set post is quickly followed by the first injury from the swing set.

"Helping"

What I love about this picture: his hair curling at the ends, his shirt on backwards, the way he is studying the directions.

Finn wanted a swing set for his birthday and we had promised him one when we moved into our new house.  My little brother, Jay, came up to help Brian build the swingset.  Brian was confident that they could build it in half a day despite what the directions said.  At 10:00 that night as they were building by flashlight, Brian was rather unhappy with me when I reminded him of that comment.  Finn loved "helping"!  Thank you Jay for building Finn his swingset.

Summer arrives!

It is time to mow the yard.

Play outside.

Time for ruffled bottomed swimsuits

and painted toes with jelly sandals.

Playing in splashpads was a summer favorite for Finn.

Lucille wasn't sure about playing in the splashpad, but she sure enjoyed watching her big brother.

The perfect ending to a beautiful summer day is talking with neighbors over the fence. 

Cousins

Brian and I do not have any nieces or nephews yet, but Finn and Lucie call my cousin and his wife's children their cousins.  My cousins were such a huge part of my life growing up and I want that for my children as well.  We wanted to get a picture of all the older two holding the babies, but that just didn't happen.  We found out that four children five and under just don't cooperate for cousin photos. 

 Lucille was very impressed with her new little cousin. 

One place we love to go to as a family is the fossil gorge.  After the floods, rocks was washed away to reveal fossils from over 300 million years ago.  Finn loves to run around on the rocks, explore the little creeks and examine the fossils.  The area is relatively safe for him to run around and explore without ever getting too far from where we are.  It is the perfect place for a little boy interested in dinosaurs.  I think Finn hopes that maybe we will find one.

Preschool Graduation

My little boy is graduating from preschool and will begin kindergarten in the Fall.  I am so very happy that we switched preschools this year and couldn't be happier with the experience he had.  He loved his teachers, loved school and is excited to start kindergarten.  What more could you ask for?  PopPop and Mine came down to join us for his graduation ceremony.  He was adorable and looked like such a big boy.  I don't know what I will do with him gone all day next year. 

Pretty Girl

Mother's Day Hike

It has become a tradition over the last few years to take a Mother's Day hike.  Lucille in the stroller was a bit of a challenge but Brian managed to carry it over the tricky parts.  Finn loves to hike and explore!  It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed ourselves.

Piggy Tails

Lucie is showing off her new pig tails.  Some say they look like alien antennas, but we think they are cute!

Spring Smiles

My beautiful babies in all their Easter finery

Easter

We went to an Easter egg hunt at one of Finn's friends from preschool. 

Dying eggs this year with two helpers was so much fun.

Loving the sunglasses the Easter Bunny brought

Hunting Eggs

I hosted Easter brunch and I have to say that while my table was very pretty my egg dish was not.  Oh well, maybe I will have better luck next year. 

Finn singing in Church

First Spring days at the park

Over Spring Break we finally started to see some warmer weather.  It has been a long winter and we are ready to escape our house and enjoy the outdoors.  We tried to spend a little of everyday at the park.  Meeting friends at the park is such a great part of Spring and Summer and we plan to take advantage of it as much as possible. Finn did a great job of helping his little sister learn about swings and slides. 

The Day the Leperchauns Came

The day began with a visit from leprechauns.  They wrecked havoc on our house with their tricks and messes, but they also left a tasty treat of their gold.  

Breakfast was green chocolate chip pancakes.  Finn and Lucille loved them!

 

 Finn remembered that they had turned our milk green last year so he ran to show his little sister.

We had a St. Patrick's Day picnic while waiting for the parade.  The rainbow jello was a big hit!

Notice her beautiful shirt!  My super talented best friend, Emily, made it.  Check out her other creations on her blog http://withmysparetime.blogspot.com/

Lucie was excited for her first parade out of her stroller.  Unfortunately a few minutes later as the fire trucks went by she was not so happy.  Neither was her brother!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!