Happy Birthday Cael!!!

I had hoped to sleep in this morning. I had hoped to snap a photo of Rhys on the toddler bed (yup, he took me up on sleeping in my room even though he barely fits!). But no... the kids were too excited to give Cael his present. So... here we are: up bright and early!


Looks like he loves it!


And, it seats two.

And the seats fold down for naptime.

(Note: if the wheels are not as sturdy as the box claims and won't hold up on our dirt road, it's going back to the store. The wheels aren't the hard black plastic they appear to be, but I'm not convinced they'll work out here. Stay tuned... )

"Sit Down!"

That is what Cael says when he wants to sit on the stools at the counter. He sits there so well and
asks for help when he wants down. So... we let him.

Happiness is...

A glow stick leftover from Rhys' week at camp!

Sleeping in mama's room...

Footwear for the Five Year Old

When Jason is out of town, each kid has the opportunity to sleep in our room one night. (Until Cael claims the toddler bed as his own, that is...) Last night, George slept with me. Notice, he sleeps on top of the quilt. He likes the "pokey" blanket and nothing else. (It's "pokey" because the fleece melted a bit in the dryer. I hang dry it now. Good thing it's fleece and dries in minutes!)

Anyhow, you can see his new "favorite" shoes. When he and Kjersten played dress-up yesterday, he found these. Aren't they pretty? Really, what he likes is the "clop-clop-clop" noise they make when he walks around.

Playing Dress-up

Isn't she pretty?


She wanted a picture of her hair.

Spider-man didn't want to be left out of the photo shoot...

Murphy again? Maybe not...

This is a problem. Given how the year has gone so far, I assumed a very expensive problem. That would be par for the course... That thingy, for those of us that are non-mechanically inclined, is a strut. It's a rear strut in our Subaru. It's not supposed to look like that. The pointy thing on the left is supposed to fit into the round doohickey on the right. Hmmmm...

Well, surprisingly enough, Jason didn't have to replace anything. He just had to unscrew some stuff, move some stuff, tighten some stuff, and it was fixed! Whew! That's not how the year's been going so far, so we're ecstatic right now. Doesn't take much these days.

OAMC (Otherwise known as "How to NOT eat at the ballpark EVERY game night!")

We're back at it again! It's been far too long and my freezer is lonely. My husband longs for choices other than mac & cheese or fried egg sandwiches when I'm gone. My children are going to get tired of eating at the (very best ever) concession stand. Won't they?!

Tawnya and I OAMC'd on Saturday. It's been so long since we've done a "real" OAMC day that we both felt like newbies. Planning, shopping, and organizing wore us out before we actually began to cook. Bad sign...

Remarkably, we did great! We made lots of yummy food and got done cooking, packaging, and cleaning by 3:00. Now, for the fun part... The list of meals now tucked safely into the freezer.

• Bangkok Chicken Satay x 2
• Parmesan Garlic Chicken x 2
• Grilled Rib Eye Steaks x 2
• Honey-Dijon Glazed Ham x 1
• Steak Soft Tacos x 2
• Spicy Peanut Chicken x 2
• Dijon Beef Tips x 2
• Cheesy Chicken Bundles x 2

15 meals. Mmmmmm...

All but the last 2 recipes are from my new OAMC cookbook- Don't Panic: More Dinner's In the Freezer. Like it's predecessor (and the source for the last two recipes) Don't Panic Dinner's In the Freezer, every recipe we've tried has been great. I'm hoping for similar success. In any event, like the meals or not, we have a variety to choose from and I can save my pennies instead of personally funding Little League with our frequent financial support of the concession stand!

Doing it by himself!

Cael loves to dress himself. He still needs help, sometime a LOT of help. But here he's just being silly... putting on PJs over his clothes!

See what George can do...

Brennen had another "see what I can do" day at gymnastics today.

Waiting to demonstrate his amazing skills....

Showing off his "tripod". This happens to be one of George's preferred stances throughout the day.

Here he shows how to flip over the bar. George's buddy, Zeb, is next in line. The last little boy needs a bit more assistance, which George assures me is par for the course!

Rub-a-dub-dub... Two boys in the tub!

Off to Camp...

Where did I get such a big kid!? Rhys left for science camp yesterday. Here he is with his overnight bag. (Actually, it's his "4 overnights" bag which holds among other things a sleeping bag, snow boots, winter coat, and requisite care packages from the mama.) He's gone for the week to camp in the mountains. Sound like fun? Not to the mama. It's May. It's Montana. With all the rain we had today, I'm convinced there's LOTS of snow up there. No thanks!

Guess what Cael can do now....

He's been able to shut doors for some time. Now, he can open them as well. The upside? No more banging on the pantry door wanting to be let out... (Yes, those are PJs. Yes, those are Crocs. Yes, he puts them on himself upon waking and only takes them off for bedtime.)

Brennen's Baseball Birthday

Brennen's actual birthday was gorgeous. It was 80 degrees, sunny, and perfect! Unfortunately, it fell on a Tuesday after 10 very, very busy days! I simply did NOT have the energy to plan something ahead of time and certainly did not have the ability to throw together an impromtu party that day. Instead, we grocery shopped. 10 very busy days leaves little in the cupboards...

The day after his birthday, spring packed up and headed to whereabouts unknown and winter moved back in. Nasty weather, snow, rain, more snow, wind, clouds, more snow... No chance for a day at the park to play ball and celebrate George's fifth birthday. Poor kid!

Last week, the weather broke. Spring checked back in. A serendipitous schedule of events allowed George's friends to join us at the park last week for some playtime and birthday cupcakes. It couldn't have been more perfect if I had actually planned it!


The baseball cupcakes.


Emma, Jackson, Aspen and George.


Hannelora, Cozi, Kjersten, Cael, Aspen, and George.

Somehow, I failed to get pictures of Ethan and Zeb. They came. They ate. They had fun!

Sleepovers are the best!

Remember sleepovers? I loved them so... Spending the night at someone else's house meant I got to watch cable TV, eat white bread, and stay up late. Heaven!

My kids' friends aren't so lucky... but Evan and Emma keep coming back for more! Here they are from last weekend.


Getting some computer time in on Saturday night.


Bathing with baby Cael. That's one full bathtub!

Sundays here are still "screen-free" so the boys had an opportunity to flex their creative mind muscles. Go figure...


Here's the bomb. They took immense pleasure in sending it straight to h...


Evan looking up from the underworld (or from the bottom of the laundry chute, if you prefer). His job was to send the offending bomb back to heaven for judgement once again...


Rhys preparing to send it plummeting back into the depths of despair (the basement) again.

The boys entertained themselves for a good chunk of the morning with their activity. Whatever works, eh?!

How to burn off LOTS of energy!

Rhys & Evan have birthdays exactly one week apart. That's very handy when you're best friends! (Interestingly, Evan's mom shares Rhys' birthday and Rhys' dad shares Evan's birthday. Whew! We add George's in the middle and often Easter and we have one VERY busy week!)

In any case, we do eventually manage a joint-kids party for the boys. This year, we took Rhys & Evan along with 5 of their friends and their sisters to the local climbing gym. They climbed. They ate pizza. They climbed some more. They ate cupcakes. They played tag running in and out of the store displays. (Argh!) They had a fabulous time!

On the other hand, my camera batteries died early on. I need to get some pics from Jen. Until then, here's a few...


Rhys and Evan- 12 year old buds.

Kjersten & Emma- poor little sisters of 12 year old brothers!