Vacancy

"Poor indeed is the garden in which birds find no homes."
- Abram L. Urban


Looks like a typical front door, right? Take a closer look.
This little nest has recently been vacated, and is now ready for occupancy. Never mind that the landlord didn't even know it was there. Don't tell the kids. They will be bummed that they missed out on all of the fun.



I spent some time in the flower beds Friday. I was delighted to have enough blossoms in bloom that I could start taking some cuttings into the house without it being noticable out in the garden. Aren't they beautiful?
I especially love them in my new ceramic pitcher. It was a D.I. find from April. Isn't it cute? Perfect condition too. Love it. Love that it brightens the kitchen on a gloomy day.

Photo Shoot Sunday: Pretty In Pink

Last Sunday I couldn't help but get a few photos of my cute little girlies. They looked so pretty in their cute hot pink dresses, that I scored at the outlets in Park City last week for $4.99 each. I know, I KNOW. I scored big time.
The photos are a bit bright. You know how it is though. You gotta get them when you can. I knew getting them back into their dresses that evening would be a joke, and FORGET about getting them before Church. There's just no way. Oh well, I still think they are stinking cute pictures.



I couldn't resist getting them with their handsome Daddy. They really are Daddy's girls. I wouldn't have it any other way either.

I Thought School Was Out For The Summer?

Yesterday was the last day of school. Or so I thought. Ally had her friend Ashtyn over yesterday, as I came into the backyard this was the sight I found. Apparently "School" is still in session. Silly smart girls.

Flashback Friday: Ethan's Costume Party June 2006

Since Ethan's birthday is coming up VERY soon, I thought I would use today's Flashback Friday to revisit one of his earlier birthdays. For his 7th birthday party he wanted to have a costume birthday party at the park in Fruit Heights designed like a castle. I think it's Fruit Heights, maybe Kaysville. Anyways. We had a great time. Here are just a few picture highlights of the party. We had a great turnout but for some reason I don't have a ton of photos.

I love this photo of Ethan. It is one of my all time favorites of him. He mixed together some of our dress-ups to create a Spy Kids costume. Very cool dude!

I also REALLY love this photo of Ally. She put on her Snow White dress and any and all fairy or princess paraphanelia she could. Very cute! I love that I caught her mid-swing. She was almost five years old here.

I don't remember why Ryland wasn't in a costume. The only thing I can figure is that he was 2 and was having "One of THOSE days". You know the ones.

This is my cute niece Jaicia. She was a great sport and put on a colorful witch costume. Love It!

Anyhow, there you go! This certainly put me in a Birthday celebrating mood. Which is good because if you had any idea what kind of birthday party he has in mind for this year, you would know that I am gonna need it!

A Puzzling Time

About a week ago I did some reorganizing of some closets. One of the things I did was bring up our preschool age bins of puzzles for Evelyn. They have been down in the kids toy closet since we moved in almost 4 years ago. They haven't pulled them out since around the time we moved so I figured they had outgrown them. Apparently I was wrong.

No sooner had I moved them upstairs than they had them all dumped out on the living room floor. They were determined to do each and every one of them. Just like the good old days.

Ryland and Ally have this same trait of sticking their tongues out while they concentrate. Being only 6 Ryland has to concentrate on these puzzles much more than eight year old Ally does. He became fixated with our wooden map puzzle of the United States of America. Over a week later he still likes to pull this one out and have someone time him to see if he can complete it faster than the time before. Last I heard he was around 4 minutes and 40 seconds. Go Chub!

Ethan doesn't normally go around wearing blue paint on his face. He and Nate had just returned from a Webelos over nighter that had had an Avatar theme. He loved it. This particular puzzle he is holding up is one of two that Nate and I brought home for the kids from a trip we took in 2004. It is all the way from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Crazy that we traveled to the other side of the world and we brought home a very "American" gift. In fact Ally received a Disney Princess puzzle. Crazy.

We have two plastic bins we keep these puzzles in. These photos don't really show the extent of our preschool puzzle assortment. I keep one just for the puzzle bases and one for the puzzle pieces. I learned long ago that the only way I would keep them organized and my sanity in check was to organize those puppies. So I channeled my inner Monica and wrote on the back of EACH puzzle (and it's pieces) that we own, the name of the puzzle it belongs to.

For these puzzles that don't have their own individual boxes I used a sharpie to write the name of the puzzle and how many pieces on the back. Also on the ziploc baggie I wrote the name of the puzzle and how many pieces it should contain. I cannot tell you how many times this system has saved me through the years.

It was especially nice having it set up that way on this day. The kids did each and every puzzle and then put each and every one of them in their proper place. SUCCESS! Monica you rock!

Wordless Wednesday: Cute Kids

(june 2009 ethan, ally, sydney, carson. logan. ryland)

Triathlon

It's that time of year again. Time for the annual Triathlon at Ally's school. This year she teamed up with her friend from primary, Vanessa. Ally wanted to do the bike riding portion however her bike is currently out of commission thanks to the puncture burrs that so graciously hang out all over our neighborhood. So, like last year Ally did the running portion, Vanessa did the bike riding and then they did the obstacle course together. They did a great job! They got a fabulous time. Way to go Al!