Zacky's Birthday

That same night after Makenzie's recital we all came back to the house and had Zachary's birthday party. His birthday fell on the day after Thanksgiving this year and with all of the friends out of town or busy with family this was the only night to do it. The kids decided before we left for the recital that Zacks party would be a dress up/mickey mouse party. So as soon as we got back they ran and got their costumes on ate some cake. It is so much fun watching Zacky open his presents this year. Everything was "just what I wanted". Thank you to the Bug's and the Thornburgs for spending a late evening with us!

Makenzie's first Recital!

This post is a little late, but o'well. Makenzie first said she wanted to learn the violin after she heard Kyndra and Landon's concert last spring. I figured she would forget through the summer, but of course she didn't. Soo, on Oct. 4 th she started her first music lesson. She had only had about 5 lessons when she had her first recital. I was so nervous for her! I really didn't want to go. I didn't want her to make a mistake and get a bad taste in her mouth for performing. I thought we would get there and she would freak out as she has been known to do. But as daughters love to do she proved me wrong agian! She did great! She and Avery were the newbies but they both did great. They each had one solo and then played one with the group. I was barely holding it together by the time they where done. Makenzie asked if her teacher Hilary could play with her as she was still a little unsure of the song. I have the video of her playing and will upload it as soon as Stacy shows me how!!

Halloween!!

Friends

One of the things I really struggled with when I quit my job to do daycare was ,what am I doing to my own kids? Will it change who they are? Will it make them not as close as siblings? Will they become those children that can't entertain themselves? And mostly how do I chose daycare kids that fit in with my own kids personalities and become lifelong friends? I should have known that God had it all worked out and I wasn't going to chose them, they would choose me. I was looking at some old photos today and saw how the kids interact with each other. I was so worried that they wouldn't have the perfect childhood as I did that I failed to see that they do. How many of us have photos of all our bestfriends since before we could talk? Most of the kids have been together since they where one! Anyways here are some of my favorites.

Trip to Spokane

In Sept. the kids and I went to see Uncle Mike and Auntie Katie in Spokane. The weather was great and we did alot in a short amount of time. We went down to the water front to fed the birds and went down the gigantic red wagon slide. We did a little shopping, much to Zacks dismay! Then we went to an orchard and picked apples and fall raspberries. The kids had a blast and I got to spend a little time with my brother, who although I am very proud of his dedication to school, I miss alot. We also had a chance to spend some quality time with Katie, although next time I think I might pick out the board game! :) We played a game made by Cranium that was fun I will have to admit ,but I spent the entire time singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall!

Well we finally did it! We took the kids camping and everyone made it home in one piece! I don't know what I was so worried about. Everytime Travis brought up the idea of taking the kids camping the last couple of years I thought of some excuse not to go. I guess if figured with Zachary being Zachary he would fall in the fire or hurt himself in some way but he did really good. We were going to go to jubilee lake and sent Travis and Paul ahead on friday night, with Kat, Mom, the kids and I following on Sat. morning. Turned out there was a fishing derby up there with nowhere for us to camp. We ended up going to Indian Lake, which turned out to be a very nice campground despite my apprehension at never having seen it before. The kids had a blast! With fishing and smore's topping the list of best liked activities. Makenzie really took to fishing and can even cast her own line fairly decently. She ended up catching 5 catfish(she then asked if they had dogfish since there was catfish:). Zachary caught 2 and Rylee caught 3. Kat won though with a whopping 23. We threw them back with only a few casualties. The only thing we would have changed would be to bring a boat next time as the banks are hard to fish off being full of grass and seaweeds.

helping with the plumbing

The kids decided daddy needed help with the plumbing so they got out all of Zachary's tools and 'fixed' the sink.

In Feb. Makenzie started her first set of swim lessons with her friends Kyndra and Landon. She was a little apprehensive at first, but by the end of the first sessions she was doing great! She has now started her second session and is able to float on her back and loves to do "whitewater" kicking. Maybe by the time summer comes around she will be able to swim.

New island!

My new favorite place!!

We let the kids paint the wall before we took it out. They had so much fun!

I am so excited, my long awaited kitchen is finally done!! It turned out even better than I had expected. I can't believe it is the same space! We only made it about five inches wider, but what a difference. The fact that I have actual countertops and not the plain particle board ones anymore is probably my favorite part. The cabinets that Travis put in so many hours building are beautiful. He was so nervous about them not turning out right that he about drove me crazy the week we put them in. I knew that they would turn out fine though, he is so talented at everything that he does. This was definetly a family effort. My mom took the kids to her house so they wouldn't be in the way, or trying to help. My Uncle Dave, Grandpa, Dad, brother in-law Mark and Tim all had a great deal to do with the demo and installation, thank you so much!! Without all your help we would still be working on it! With all the help we were able to complete the kitchen in about three weeks from demo to the end. These pictures were taken last week when it was almost done, he has since put the toe kicks in and we are still waiting on a stick of countertop moulding that refuses to come in undamaged! Third times the charm?!