One More Reason...

He is a really great Dad!  (painting nails on the lawn)

Paddle Boats

The paddle boats are always there, sitting on the water at Julia Davis Park, beckoning us to come ride them.  We finally made it a point on a cooler early summer day to do just that.  Ridge and Katelyn had never been on a paddle boat so they were especially excited.  We collected a large following of ducks and geese with the whole loaf of bread we brought along.  The kids had so much fun that they ask to do it again every time we drive past the park.

Lego Fingers

Sometimes things get a little slow when everybody is at school.

Easter 2014

 We had another special family Easter this year with a quick holiday visit from Nama and Papa.  In the few days that they were here we:

Spent a day in the mountains/Idaho City-  We had dutch oven lunch at a campground with delicious apple crisp and sweet and sour chicken.  Nama and Kyleigh made themselves some old mans beard beards.  When we were done with lunch we went in to Idaho City and visited the toy store and the visitors center.  Did you know that more gold was mined around Idaho City than in California during the gold rush.  At least that is what the sign said.  Naiya showed us her dance recital dance on a funny little stage outside the toy store.

Easter Egg Hunt-  Saturday morning we went to the honors society Easter Egg hung at Riverglen Jr. High.  I love this Easter Egg hunt.  There are very few people and lots of good candy.  As we were walking around the school a bunch of kids started grabbing the eggs designated for the 2-3 year old kids.  The signage was unclear and the students didn't say anything so Russ told Ridge to start grabbing them.  Then we were told who they were for so we dumped Ridge's back out.  He started screaming and it took 5 minutes to finish the tantrum.  In the meantime all of the eggs for his group were being hunted.  When we finally got him to start grabbing them he still got a whole basket full.  That is why it is my favorite EE hunt.

Dandelion Fritters-  Our lawn still has a long way to go.  In this case that was a good thing.  Nama and Mike collected about a billion dandelions.  They breaded them and fried them.  I thought they were disgusting, but a few of us really liked them.

Ann Morrison Park-  We went on a walk around Ann Morrison park on Sunday night and Nama took a whole bunch of pictures.

We also dyed Easter Eggs, had an egg hunt in our backyard, played with our bunny, listened to frozen concerts in the living room, got some super cute new Easter outfits from Nama and Papa, had a special Easter breakfast, and watched Ridge do tricks on his John Deere

Happy Easter!

Happy Mothers Day

 I never manage to get lots of pictures on holidays that celebrate me.  I decided to take a few extras this time around.  It was such a fun Mother's Day with lots of cute chances for pictures.  I told Russ I wanted us to make chocolate covered strawberries together and  I wanted cobb salad and garlic bread for dinner.  He came through on all accounts.  We had a great time decorating strawberries and my cobb salad was delicious.  We also had yummy french toast, sausage, and apple juice for breakfast..

The kids were so excited to give me their gifts.  I helped make Mothers Day gifts in both of the girls' classrooms.  In Katelyn's class we decoupaged tissue paper onto vases and put together cute paper flowers.  Her teacher had a little celebration.  Another Mom had put together a song that they sang to us.  It was from Peter Pan I think, and they chorus was "I won't grow up!"  Kyleigh's class made cute little flower magnets with their pictures on them and a shape poem for their moms.  Kyleigh made hers in the shape of her hand.  Katelyn also gave me a very nice note that she took a lot of time to write. Ridge made a card in primary that he was very,very proud of.  He gave it to me, but took it to his room that night and has been sleeping with it in his bed ever since.

I can't forget a shout out to my own Mom and my Mother in law.  Happy Mothers Day!

Ridge's card...

Kyleigh's Poem

"Dear Mom, I think you are happy you are loving you make me smile you make the best bread you are so kind you are so jenerous you make me smile you do fun crafts with me you like to ride biks I love your carmel popcorn you are so jenerous.  Mom I hope you have a good mothes day Love, Kyleigh"

  Katelyn's Letter

I Love you mom  Happy mothers day to you you are the best mom in the world i am happy to have you as a mom You are nice and very fun becus of you some times i like to think of you as my sister But we would get along even no fun you have been the Best mom ever sence the seckend I was born even thow i didn't no eny thing i no that happened Becus you are the nice sweet and fun at the same time that is what i think about you i am glad you are my mom and we are tigether fore evere even if we miss earhath (earth?) we will still Be together fore ever in ure harts no mater what we will Be together for ever mom i will never fore get you no matter what

Graves Family Visit

 Darci came to Boise for a meeting awhile back.  I picked her up from the airport and we spent the night out, eating at Kneaders (a new favorite) and shopping at Hobby Lobby.  I told her about the cake decorating class Kyleigh was taking.  We hatched a plan for Kyleigh to make Hadrian a birthday cake and celebrate with him when they came to Boise just a few weeks later.  Kyleigh was so excited.  She immediately began planning what she was going to make and how.  She decided on a 3-tiered cake with a train on top.  She mixed and baked the cakes.  I helped make the frosting and helped her print the train picture.  She piped all of the frosting on.  She used piping gel to trace the cake and create it with the frosting.  She did all the writing.  It turned out so cute and she was so excited to show it to Hadrian.  We had a little party for him and it was so fun.  Darci and Dan went to Belize for a week and my parents watched the kids.  So bonus, we got to see them two weekends in a row.  They came back to Boise to hand off the kids back to Dan and Darci.  Hadrian fell in love with Ridge's fireman helmet.  Super cute but not so fun for Dan and Darci when he had to take it off to go home.  Ridge spent the entire time trying to tie Gpa up or get him to help tie someone else up.  Katelyn showed off her rope climbing skills.  GG was in grandkid heaven.  Alma won Holly over when she fell asleep on her lap.  Everybody had fun.  Hopefully we can see them all again soon.