Friend Party

This was Kate's first year to have a "friend party" for her birthday. We invited two girls from her Sunday school class to come over for dress up. Plus, we were able to plan the party while the McBride's were in town, so Olivia could be here, too!

Julia, Olivia, Sylvia & Kate

The prima donnas on wheels.

The Birthday Girl takes a little dancing break in the front yard.

Purse Cake.

Happy Birthday Dear Kate!

Two-wheeler

We took off Nate's training wheels this afternoon. In what might be the fastest and easiest transition a kid ever had from 4 wheels to 2, Nate was rolling smoothly around the cul de sac from his very first try. Way to go, Buddy!!

Kate's Birthday

Kate turned three today.

She is the most fun person to give presents to.
She has terrific reactions as you will see below.

Gift from Nate (two plastic headbands)

Gift from Meg (butterfly net)

Gift from Daddy and Mommy...

After a little biking practice we headed to the park for a picnic lunch.
(Note the wardrobe changes. This is her 4th outfit of the day...no, her 5th.
We vetoed a bathing suit as she was coming down the stairs.)

Lots of nice gifts from everyone, but this video took the cake!

Eating her "pupcake" at last!

Happy Birthday, Marshmallow!! We love you!!

First Haircut

Before

For the first ten minutes he sat perfectly still, only moving his eyes.

After

(Don't worry grandmothers, there are a few curls left in the back!)

Saturday Morning Cartoons

Veerman Men

Nate gets a kick out of wearing clothes that match Erik's. Just before Grampy's recent visit, Nate got the great idea to have Grampy bring his orange shirt (Nate remembered he had worn it once on a previous visit), so that all three of them could match. You can imagine his delight when Erik brought Caleb downstairs sporting an orange onesie!! Of course we had to take a picture.

Puppets

Tractor

Building

Nate has spent hours this week working on the junior erector set he got for his birthday in March. He can build most of the vehicles himself now following the diagrams. He can really focus and work diligently when something motivates him. Great job Nate!

Flowers

After the ballet recital the audience was invited to a little tea. I got to do the flowers. It is very fun to play with flowers you didn't have to pay for. (Ignore those droopy sprigs of vinca. They were new growth that didn't hold up after I cut them in the front yard. I snipped of the ends and they looked much better.)

This arrangement was for a baby shower we had last night
for a family in our church who just adopted a baby.

Ballet

Meg's spring ballet recital.
(video possibly coming in a later post...)

Empty Nesters

Our cute little birds have grown up and flown away. Here they are a few days before leaving. Once they were gone we discovered one unhatched egg. So of course we broke it open to examine the mostly formed bird fetus (?). In the meantime we've found a few more occupied nests around the yard and one robin's eggshell on the ground under a tall tree.

Camping

Last weekend we went camping at Stone Mountain with some great families from our church. (When I say "we" I mean I did all the shopping/prep/packing/unpacking, Erik did all the camp duties/activity supervision/tent sleeping with the three big kids. Caleb and I came home to sleep Thursday night--if you know me well you know staying home alone was a bigger sacrifice than sleeping on the cold hard ground!) After a fun Friday of hiking, picnicking, and playing with everyone we planned to give it a go with all six of us in the tent the second night. We had just gotten the kids all settled in and off to dreamland (sometime after 9 pm), when one of the guys walked up with a weather.com radar image displayed on his Iphone and said, "Does this red band of severe thunderstorms heading our way look like a problem?" As lightening flashed in the distance we stood in the middle of the camp site discussing our options. Suddenly the temperature dropped several degrees and the wind picked up. As the first big drops of rain began to fall we dashed between the tent and the van buckling our dazed children into their seats. I headed home to get everyone in bed while Erik packed most of our stuff into his car (and helped some others load up as well), getting drenched in the process. In retrospect we probably could have stayed and just gotten a little wet. But at the time, the thought of high winds knocking a whole stand of pine trees over on our tent made leaving seem like the wiser course. (One family did stay and no trees fell on them.) Sleeping in our soft dry beds until 7:30 the next morning (the latest we have ever slept in as a family!) also vindicated our decision in my mind :) All in all, a very fun weekend; we hope to do it again in the Fall.