Summer time “stuff”

The summer has been here for awhile I know! But I’m just trying to catch up here…give me a break!
Swim lessons were a new activity for us this year…the kids loved it! We are going to have to do every summer!

 

10 years down…and an eternity to go!

We loved our anniversary get away last year so much we just planned on doing the same thing again!

SAN DIEGO :) And right now, the heat in AZ sucks! So San Diego is a great break from that, at least for one weekend.

Once we got there we took a little cruise on the bay…

This was funny to me…so I took a picture of them!

End of the school year plays

Kaleb did a “Readers Theater” play about Jane Adams. He was the narrator.

He really enjoyed performing and he loved his teacher Mrs. Ebenholtz!

Will’s Preschool Graduation

This was more like a play group, but we still had a little party at the end of the year. This was the cake that had a scanned picture on it, the kids loved it!

 

Will and mom taking a moment to smile :)

Congrats Will! You are growing so fast…too fast!

Happy Easter!!

Aloha! Kate turned 7!

Kate is finally 7 yrs old!

She had a Luau Party…with lays and flowers, sorry no coconut shells!

This is my lame attempt to make her cake…oh well,  outcome was supposed to be a palm tree. She liked it, that’s all that matters right?

Build-A-Bear named Fuzzy

At first “Fuzzy” was life less and boring…

Then he received his red heart…

Then came the fluff…

Papago Park

One of our family goals is to go to the park each Saturday. Usually this means just visiting one of the local neighborhood parks, but yesterday we instead decided to go to Papago Park, a large park in Phoenix next to the zoo. We were glad that Grandma was still here to enjoy the day with us.

We first had a picnic lunch and then then enjoyed watching the ducks play around in the ponds.

Amie took some portraits of each of the kids that turned out very nice…

            

Next we visited Hunt’s tomb. George W. P. Hunt was Arizona’s first governor and served 7 terms. He built the tomb for his wife, and was himself entombed there after his own death. It sits elevated above the valley and offers some great views. Since it sits right next to the zoo you can see some of the animals.

Finally, we ended by hiking up to “The hole in the rock”. The kids had a blast climbing all over the rock formations.

Christmas Morning

Here are some pictures Christmas Morning.

Kaleb got the Wii he so desperately wanted, Kate got her Easy Bake Oven, and Will got his Bike.

Then we were off to Mesa to have more fun with family.

This year was wonderful and we are so blessed.

Christmas Eve Traditions

This year we spent Christmas Eve at home, just our little family!

It was a first for us! So we thought we would make a tradition of having a candlelit dinner and try to teach our kids some manners!

Then of course…the Nativity Play

Then we went out in the front yard and planted our little candy mints in the ground, so that in the morning, after Santa came with his magic sleigh, the mints would grow into candy canes!

(With all the commotion in the morning, I forgot to take a picture! They really did grow into candy canes though!)

Finally, before the kids hit the hay…they must snuggle up and listen to the “Night Before Christmas”