Savannah – 12 years old!

This is a big birthday for Savannah!  She turned 12, which means she gets to go to Young Women’s at church.  That includes weekly activities and girls camp this summer!  She also gets to wear make-up, and takes on the responsibility of managing her own yearly clothing budget.

 

To celebrate the big step, she got to have a sleep-over party.  That’s a big deal, because we don’t do sleepovers… ever!

The girls had fun with a snowball fight (ordered from Bahama Bucks) and water balloons.  They stayed up late and watched a movie, and spent some time just hanging out and having fun.

Savannah is such a great girl.  When she was a toddler, I wished that I had given her the middle name of Joy, because she had such a happy disposition.  She still does.

She always notices when I am having a hard time, and is quick to offer to help.

She is FUNNY!  Her sense of humor keeps us all laughing.  I often hear her and Rebecca in their room giggling long after they should be asleep!

She is really smart.  I’m not sure she realizes how smart she really is.

Besides just natural brains, she is also a high achiever.  She always tries her very best on whatever she does.  In some of her classes she earned higher than 100%!

She loves to learn new things, and has a variety of interests.  She makes rolls from scratch, takes really artistic photos, excels at piano lessons, and has a list of other things she’d like to learn.

Happy Birthday, my sweet Savannah!  You are truly a joy to me!

Why I love 2 year olds

 

This guy makes me smile so many times a day!  He spent the afternoon, happy as can be, wearing only his big boys, his new “fli-flops,” and his stickers.

He’s  a willing participant in whatever schemes his siblings think up:

And he’s full of enthusiasm!  He runs, jumps, and dances all day long.  If only I could borrow a fraction of that energy!

Having a 2 year old in the house makes life a lot of fun!

Jonah – age 6

Jonah had promised me that he would stay 5 forever… but it was a promise he just couldn’t keep.

He turned 6 on May 21st, and planned a super fun Halloween-themed party to celebrate!

All the guests came in costumes.  We had pizza and a jack-o-lantern cake, and then everyone went Trick-or-Treating.  He got a Lego watch (which he’s been wanting for months), a glow in the dark doodle pad, and lots of other cool stuff.

Some things we love about Jonah at this age:

He is super smart.  He reads his chapter books in his bed at night, and tells me what happened in the book the next morning.

He’s crafty.  He spends lots of time making cards and pictures for all of us.  Many of them are stuck to the walls around the house with duct tape.

He’s a good big brother.  He and Simon can spend hours outside together jumping on the trampoline or playing in the sandbox.

He’s very loving.  He likes to tell us that he loves us frequently, and gives really good hugs when I ask him.

He’s got a great imagination, and a vocabulary to match it!

We love you Jonah!  Happy Birthday!

My own personal cheerleader

The other night I was trying to open a new box of diapers.  It was a big box, with tape running all the way around it.

As I was tugging at the tape, trying to get it off, Simon came up and stood in front of me.  He started cheering.

“Come on, Mom!  Pull!  Pull, Mom pull!  You could do it!”

“Gimme a O!  Gimme a S!   Goooo Mommy!”

Who could  possibly fail with a cheering section like that?

Secret Weapon

Jonah has been getting picked on at school.

Some mean boys at school tell him that he HAS TO play the chasing game at recess, and  that he HAS TO be on the girls’ team.  Then they chase him down and shove him into the fence or wrestle him to the ground.

Recess was becoming less than fun for him.  Until yesterday.

We were having a talk about standing up to those boys.  I told him that he did NOT have to do anything they said!  He came up with an idea of his own.

“I know!  I can just breathe in their noses and they will run away screaming!”

It’s a technique that has proved successful against his brothers and sisters, due to a chronic and potent case of halitosis.

Yesterday he came home from school feeling successful and powerful.

“It worked!” he proclaimed.  “I just breathed in their noses and they all ran away!”

They haven’t dared to bully him since.  I’m so proud!

Seattle

Jeff and I wanted to visit Lindsey (and Preston, I should add,) in Seattle before she moves in June.  So we left all the kids with Sarah and my Mom – bless their hearts- and took off!

Lindsey was a great hostess/ personal tour guide. She even provided us with lovely, sunshiny weather, which I hear is pretty hard to come by!

We visited the famous Pike’s Place Market, and ate the yummy homemade doughnuts.  We sampled lots of fun things, and took home some delicious rosemary-garlic pasta!

We toured the underground of Seattle.

We got to ride on a ferry, and tour some gorgeous countryside!

We saw beautiful Snoqualmie (sp?) falls, and got caught in a little hail storm.

We took some “couples pictures,” as proposed by Lindsey.  First Jeff and I…

Then Lindsey and I…

 

We Tiptoed Through the Tulips at the annual tulip festival.

It’s too bad I can’t include all of the pictures. Jeff really got some great ones!  It’s interesting though… as much as I loved all the entertainment, and the new sights, they weren’t the highlight of the trip.  For me, the best part of the trip was getting to sleep in every day.  I rested when I felt like it.  I ate when I felt like it, and didn’t have to worry about any responsibilities for a couple of days.  What a treat!

It sure was nice to get home though, to my wonderful kids.  It’s nice to be missed and loved and needed!

Spring

And last, but not least… the spring/summer haircuts!