Sunshine and snails in May...

We have had lots of snails and caterpillars in the backyard this spring, and the kids all love them!

 These two are beginning to have such a sweet friendship at times.  I will often catch them playing a long game of some type of pretending together now....

 Clara had her second piano recital and did a wonderful job playing, Pepperoni March!

 A fun day at the zoo with Daddy, too!  Daddy usually takes the kids to the zoo while I'm working on Mondays, so it was a fun day to all be there together!

 My monkeys watching the monkeys!

 We took the kids to one of our favorite burrito places near my old Greenwood house, Gorditos.  Isaiah had fun playing sword fighting with this piñata while we waited for our food...

 Just an afternoon trip to the mailbox....

 I love Isaiah's little expression in this one! 

Mother's Day

Both Clara and Hannah were old enough to attend the Ladies Tea at our old church this spring.  It was Mother's Day weekend, and was a great way to enjoy some time with my older girls!  There is a hat contest each year, and this year Clara started planning early on what she wanted to do with her hat!  The theme of the Tea was "His eye is on the Sparrow" and she thought of a creative, cute way to make a hat with that theme, picking moss from our yard for a bird's nest and clipping a bird onto her hat and decorating with silk flowers.  She was so excited to win "Most Creative Hat" for her age group!

 We kept our Mother's Day tradition of breakfast out with Joe's mom and then headed to the Flower World nursery to get plants for the garden and flowers for our deck.  We ran into this huge dog and had to take a picture with Eliza because they were the same height!!

 The kids have so much fun picking out our plants and always talk Grandma into buying a statue for our garden....this time, it was a 100 lb dog!

 They always enjoy seeing the farm animals and trying to pet all the ones they can get their hands on!

 Grandma helped the girls plant the whole garden with Daddy, while I got to enjoy a nice nap with Isaiah :)

 Isaiah woke up in time to help with the last few plants...

 And just a few cute pictures of this boy.....he has started playing with the baby dolls with Eliza and is such a good "big brother" to his dolls.  His favorite doll sleeps in a little bed on his bed, and he named him "Caco"

Family Night Away

We were able to enjoy a fun night away downtown Bellevue at the Hyatt, courtesy of Aunt Heathyr!  It was perfect timing for my birthday weekend, and the kids had a great time, starting with a crazy ride down the long hallways piled on this cart with our fun bellhop.  Clara said, "He must have kids at home!" because he was so entertaining and fun...

 Hot cocoa for the kids and coffee for Mommy and Daddy before we headed over to the mall for some shopping...

 Having some fun in the Team Store...

 Isaiah got his first Huskies hat like Daddy!  He was SO excited!!

 Pretending to be statues on the walk back home...

 Checking himself out in the mirror :)

 Cheesecake and chocolate milk for dessert and Top Pot donuts in the morning for breakfast....the kids wanted to live there forever!!!

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!