Very opinionated

Lula might be my most opinionated child yet. If she sees something she wants and she doesn't get it...she freaks!!! Some items wouldn't surprise you, like cake from the birthday party, cookies, or milk, but her latest must-have item is her new bicycle helmet. We were trying them on for size at REI last night and she HAD to have it!!

newly found...

makes it as good as new. The kids found these stickers Grandma Ann sent us and had a good time doing whatever with them.

Sam and Liv keep the stickers on their noses until shower time, but Lula, Chloë and I did not like the way it felt. Oh well it was fun at the time!

New trailer for Sam

Well, technically it is not for Sam, but he really wanted it. Sam always wants to ride his bike to school, but that is hard to do with the two little girls, so a bike trailer was the only way to get Sam to school on his bike with the girls.

Actually, I wanted the trailer so I could exercise and take the kids on rides. Last year I joined a swim team, which was great, but I felt like I was away from everyone for so long. It was good exercise for me; I might start it again. But for now I will take the younger kids on bike rides while the older kids are in school. In the picture below dad and the kids are putting it together for FHE. Our theme for tonight's FHE was Work, Play and Pray together (3 Nephi 18:21). We worked together to put the trailer on my bike so we can play and then we had a closing prayer!

****WARNING**** the picture below may cross the line for some manly men (cough,cough) Daniel.
You may or may not have noticed that we are gender unspecified around our house when it comes to some things, meaning Olivia wears her boy cousins' jammies and pants, Sam wears his sister's jammies and Chloë and Sam share pink and blue undies, Olivia likes Thomas the train and Sam likes Strawberry shortcake. So I did not think it would be a big deal for Sam to ride the bike as seen in the picture below. But apparently I have gone too far... Daniel does not want Sam to ride a pink bike. He (and Sam) plan on painting the bike this weekend! I am not sure how Daniel plans on masking the sparkly hearts on the BANANA seat or the heart tire tred! By the way, Sam LOVES the pink bike. When we arrived at school he said, "Teacher, do you want to see my new pink bike?" Then when school was over he said to his friend, "Hey James, do you want to see my new pink bike?" Maybe the fact that he LOVES his new PINK bike so much is what makes Daniel cringe.

By the way, this bike is a hand me down from a friend. I did not let Sam pick out a pink bike at the store.

then and now....

While looking at my pictures from Happy Hollow I found some interesting pictures.
By the way, I think our first trip to Happy Hollow was the beginning of my blog.

This picture was taken on March 22, 2010. This is Olivia and her good friend Miles.

The picture above reminded me of their St. Tim's preschool graduation picture taken June 2008.

Then Kelli took this picture at Happy Hollow today.

We had switched places from 2008. Now Kelli is pregnant and I am NOT!
Look at the difference in Chlover and Josh.

Happy Hollow

No school... let's go to Happy Hollow! I went with my friends, Mandy, Kelli and Jenny and their kids to this great little park that just reopened after 2 years of renovations. We were quite the group. Sam enjoyed some BOY time.

The kids were anxious to get on every ride.

While we were there we ran into some of Olivia's friends from school.

What better way to spend the day than with friends and family!

Happy Hollow is a good mix of zoo animals and rides.

Daniel and Tom's birthday party

Last year for Daniel's birthday we went to Sky High Jump. So this year we thought it would be fun to have a small party. But after each inviting a few friends we have almost 20 people! So much for small.

Here is Mandy and the birthday boy Tom.

Lindsay and birthday boy Daniel.

Daniel did a great job bowling and I did the opposite of great. I think I got the lowest score and Daniel got the highest! Daniel also challenged some people to a game of air hockey.

Yeap...

they look alike...

same eyes, same nose, same smile, same eyebrows, same chin, same happy disposition

Here I am with the birthday boy!

Birthday Boy #32

Now that my hubby is a cake snob I had to make him a cake from scratch. Looks like Lauren and Chloë love it. You can see the cake cooling in the background. One thing I loved about the cake was that is was much thicker than a box cake, so it looked very tall when frosted.

When dad came home from work we were ready with balloons and a cake. Sam picked out the green balloons and Clover picked out the pink balloons. Sorry dad, all ideals of manliness go out the door when kids pick out the balloons!

Here is Chloë and her dad's great smile. This is one reason I married this wonderful birthday boy- he has a great smile.
I love you!

Then it was present time. I gave dad his gift in the morning because I was so excited about it. Daniel is getting private surfing lessons for several days! Looking at the new additions to our library Barb and Mike got Daniel for his birthday, you can judge for yourself what kind of politics Daniel loves to read about. He loves these kind of books!

Daniel was also excited about the rest of his gifts. He is in desperate need of a new suit (he is still wearing his mission suit from over 10 years ago) and work clothes. Both our moms and Mimi contributed to his clothing fund and now he is ready for some new clients.

Now I just have to get him into Macy's to be fitted!!!!!

Guess who is a cake snob??

We had the Miner's over for a Thai coconut chicken soup dinner in celebration of Andrea and Daniel's brithdays. We always love it when the Miner's are able to come over.

This picture just cracked Andrea and I up. Daniel was holding the baby and he and Todd were talking and eating their yummy cake. I think Daniel was telling Todd how great the cake was. (Daniel has become a cake snob! He really prefers the taste of homemade cakes over a box mix.) Meanwhile the baby is going crazy practically DYING for a bite of cake. This picture below captures the baby's feelings perfectly!! I quickly put some cake in a bowl and gave it to her and the ravenous look on her face left. It was so funny.

Cyndee's baby shower

Olivia's first grade teacher, Cyndee (not even Miss Cyndee-they are so informal), is ready to have her baby any time now. As room parents, Kim and I decided to have the kids tie dye baby shirts and burp cloths for her baby. The kids had fun making their shirts and I think Cyndee really thought it was cute. She seems very sentimental about the kids and loves the personal touch from each of her students.

update:
Olivia's teacher had her baby girl on Tuesday the 16th, 9lbs 6oz!