Summer days in May!!

Clara's fashion show of the Monster's High dolls....she found outfits and accessories to match the pictures of each doll!

 Enjoying the sunshine with Joy!

 Snuggles with Joy before she went back home...

 Isaiah insisted on bringing this swim ring into Fred Meyer for grocery shopping, then proceeded to kick it all around the store, up and down the aisles, and when I told him that he needed to carry it, he locked his arms through the ring and hung from it screaming while I tried to pick it up.....it won't be coming with us into a store again....silly me to think he was just going to carry it through the store!

 These cute pictures are obviously before we went into the store....how could you say no to this face??!!

 After being left behind on two bike rides, and crying as Daddy and the girls took off down the street, Isaiah got to join in on the fun last night!!  I think it has been at least a year since I've ridden a bike!  As we rode through the neighborhood, I was imagining how my parents did this with a baby on the back of each adult bike and FOUR more kids on bikes behind them.....

 I think he had this smile the entire ride!  He was SO happy to be with everyone!!

Fun, warm evening with Gledhills...

 Bike riders....this is one of the kids' favorite things to do in the evening with Daddy!

 Hannah just adored this little dog, Joy!  Joy slept in Hannah's bed every night and Hannah took such good care of her while we were dog sitting.  She held her pretty much the entire day...

 Matching capes!

 Day at the beach...

 Eliza and her friend, Brynna, doing a "sand scrub" on their legs!

Twinkle, twinkle little star

LOVE this boy!!!  He has about 5 or 6 songs that he sings to me every night while I snuggle him in his bed.  If I try to join in, he usually says "No, stop Mommy" and then starts over again! ;)

Nana and Boppa's for Easter

 

 We arrived at Nana and Boppa's house in Bend for the second half of spring break, and Isaiah was so excited to sleep upstairs with his sisters for the first time!!  He was so excited that he didn't go to sleep until 11:00 for the first 3 nights!  Does he look tired to you??!!

 Hannah was so sweet to fall asleep next to him the second night...She kind of had him trapped in the bed until he fell asleep!

 Isaiah loved watching the basketball tournament with Boppa!  He kept asking about his hoop at home and even asked Daddy if he would bring it on the airplane with him....Boppa gave in and bought Isaiah a hoop to play with in Bend :)  Isaiah is still talking about the hoop that Boppa bought for him!

 Isaiah helping Nana with a project...

 LOVES his basketball!!!

 Sunny day downtown Bend for some ice cream and baseball in the park...

We got to love cousin, Cole, for a couple of days...

An Easter egg hunt in the grocery store was a first!  There were more eggs than the kids could stack in their big buckets!!!

 Easter morning, Nana had some special treats for the kids...

 Along with the candy-filled eggs, they found the 12 Resurrection eggs and each told a part of the Easter story...

We had a great time with family in Bend and then stopped in Portland on the way home and played at Safari Sam's to break up the drive.  We met up with Aunt Molly and Rob to climb and play for a while before heading back to Seattle.

We only traveled with one binky, and lost it on the 3rd night we were in Bend, so Isaiah was able to be done with his binky over the weekend and really only asked once where it was!  We also finished up potty training, which worked well with Nana and Boppa's wood floors for any clean-ups (Sorry, mom!)  Isaiah hasn't had an accident since we got home, though!!  It was quite a big weekend of growing up for our little guy!

Spring break with the Big Girls :)

We got to spend the first half of spring break with DD, Monica (CaCa as Isaiah calls her!) and their friend, Regan!  It was awesome to have 3 teenage helpers everywhere I went....and we went lots of places!!

 

 The girls and I had a fun night out in the U District for shopping, people watching, chai tea from Cedars, and an improve comedy show!

 The seven kids and I rode the bus down to Pike's Market to wander around and get hot donuts and gelato :)

 We did a chocolate tour in Fremont, learning about the factory and eating LOTS of chocolate!  The best part was the hair nets we all got to wear!

 Downtown Seattle on a beautiful day!

 The "smolder" :)

 More hair nets....Isaiah even kept one on in the backpack!

Riding the bus into Seattle with this crazy crew!

We also made it to Bellevue Square and Southcenter Mall for some shopping and dessert at Rainforest Café.....We packed in the fun during our 4 days!!

Early spring pics...

Fun day with our neighbors at the reptile museum...

 I can't believe that all 4 of our kids will hold a snake!  I stayed far away!!

 Our first lemonade stand of the year....the warm jackets should be a sign that it is a bit early!

 Ready to take on the neighborhood....

 with his sisters!

We have a couple of new riders....

 

Papa brought Isaiah his own little bike to keep up with the girls!  Isaiah had been riding around on the pink trike that the girls had all used, but he LOVES this new bike from Papa.  Daddy took him to buy a helmet because we have a hard time keeping up with him already.  He has watched Hannah do her tricks, and he has figured out how to pedal while standing up just like her!  He loves to ride to the top of the hill with Lizzie and then go really fast on the way back down!

 

Eliza has been cruising around on the balance bike for quite a while now, and was flying around on her bike with training wheels, so we thought we'd give her a try on two wheels......and she took off on her own after just a couple of minutes!  She was SO proud of herself and wanted to show each neighbor who came outside tonight :)  My favorite might have been Joe's reaction, though, when she came riding down the hill by herself.  He just about pulled her right off her bike, cheering, and throwing her up in the air!  Eliza had such a cute proud, but embarrassed half smile on her face, then went racing into the house to tell her sisters!  She might have also mentioned to her very competitive older sister that she learned to ride a bike the youngest so far ;)



last week...

The evening after getting braces put on....not feeling quite so happy about them!

 I went to the store to buy every soft food I could find, including lots of ice cream, of course, and came home to these three sound asleep on the couch....

 Hannah loves making castles for Bear to explore...

 Sweet boy LOVES his pockets!!  Always has his hands in pockets!

 castle with stairs creation...

 Eliza's sweet card for her cousin, Jaime...I love her picture of the two of them!

 Clara got some cute pictures of Isaiah.....just before she dropped the camera and broke it :/  It might be a while before we have new pictures up!

 The smolder...