January through June

January

This month was spent keeping warm indoors and playing non-stop!

February

 Emma must have been having some wild dreams, because for about a week she would wake up with a rat's nest in her hair.

This kid always wants to see the action going on, so he is constantly doing a back bend.  I can put my whole hand under his back, it looks so uncomfortable.

 These boys love each other, Noah is always searching for Adam and trying to get his attention. I can't wait for Noah to be old enough to really play with Adam.

We spent our Valentine's Day at home and I made a nice dinner.  The kids were super excited for all the candy I sprinkled on the table, I think more of that ended up in their stomach than actual food.

March

Emma, Noah, and I seemed to spend a lot more time in the kitchen, Emma is my constant helper.  She is always asking if she can help, and I must admit she is getting pretty good at it.

 This kid is always smiling!

 We had a wedding in March, and so Matt's sister and her family came in from Kentucky!  These two are just 3 weeks apart and beyond excited to see each other again.

 Pre-wedding dinner goofy faces.

 Nathan and Kate, the happy couple

Melissa and Pat

Steven and Ashley

 Matt's Parents

All the kids were dancing at the reception, it was such a blast!

 After many more days playing inside, mostly tea-parties, it started warming up enough to play and work outside.

On the side of our house we have a bunch of volunteer quakies (or aspens, I'm not sure the difference) and an ugly rock wall made with rocks that range in size from a softball to a basketball.  It was not well done and it looked terrible, so Matt obliged me and took out all the rocks and sloped the ground better.

Then he even planted 4 fruit trees just for me.  And after that, he removed a massive amount of bark next to the house and laid down more top soil so I could plant flowers there.  Man, he must love me!

 

April 

We have 18 pine trees in our yard.  No joke.  So needless to say we have a TON of pine needles ALL over the place.  The yard was pretty ramshackled when we bought it so there was years of needles everywhere. There were many weekends spent raking!  

 Noah's first haircut. He did great for me! Which is good since I'm horrible and make all my family get haircuts from me.  (Matt included)

This boy turned 6 months old, though I sound like every other mom in the world, I can't believe how fast time with Noah has gone!

While taking pictures of N, Emma of course wants her own photo shoot.

April also brings (usually) my second favorite holidy, Easter, and this year it was no disapointment.  Dying some Easter eggs is a favorite at our house.

 All the kids found their Easter baskets in a hurry

 Pictures of our Easter duds.  Adam said he likes my striped shirt, and then he said I look like an Easter egg, which in his mind is awesome.  I haven't like that shirt quite as much since.

May

This is my first baby that burns easily.  Adam has hardly ever burned, Emma burns maybe slightly more, but Noah gets burned at the drop of a hat.  I am terrible at using sunscreen, so I now try to be very conscious of sunburns anytime we are outside. We went to a nursery to pick out fruit trees and plants and Noah got toasted.

 Adam graduated from Kindergarten.  He had such a good year, and I really enjoyed volunteering to help in his class.

 Planting flowers in the front yard

 Adam played t-ball again this year, it was a million times better for me since I didn't coach!

 Emma would run back and forth the whole t-ball game to where ever I told her, so we came home with tired kiddos.

 Proof that I can grow peas.  Last year not a single pea grew.  But I did it differently this year and we had a plethora of peas, and I also have two separate gardens this year instead of just the one. Some day I want a garden about the size of 1/8 acre. To plant whatever my little heart desires. I also grew tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, carrots, squash... and I am super proud with myself as I transplanted a bunch of strawberries and raspberries from my parents garden, and they are thriving.

I know my garden looks white-trash with the bricks and the railroad ties.  But the ties were here when we moved, so I moved them out and extended the garden and frankly you do what you gotta do even if it's not esthetically pleasing.  Some day I want a garden as big as this!

June

We had more t-ball, petting zoos with cousins, bike rides with dad, mine and Adam's birthdays, and camping.

 Adam turned 6 this year and decided he wanted a snake cake, so I was happy since it was relatively easy to do!

The five of us went camping up by Magpie, and it was a huge success!

Even though camping is a ton of work I have always loved it and I hope my kids will have these fun memories!  It was a perfect beginning of the summer!