Happy first birthday Maizie!

One year ago today we were busy meeting our sweet Maizie Jay for the first time:

I can't believe it has been a year since she was born. And yet she's such an innate part of who we are, that none of us can hardly remember what life used to be like without her.

What a gift is our Maizie.

Happy first birthday, sweet girl!!!

"Thank you! Everything in me says 'Thank you!'

Angels listen as I sing my thanks.

I kneel in worship facing your holy temple

and say it again: 'Thank you!'

-Psalm 138:1-2 (The Message)

Handprints

Ever since Jace built my little garden beds two years ago, I couldn't help but envision colorful little handprints across the boards. This weekend we finally bought some exterior paint in fun bright colors and set out for some hand-printing fun. (Except one tiny girl who had some foot-printing fun.)

Make that one more reason we can never move. :)

Grass Green, Candy Apple, Caribbean Sea:

Before:

After:

I Heart Faces- My Story in Photos: Patriotic Edition

I Heart Faces is having a special week of "sharing patriotic stories through photos". We spent our Fourth of July with some fabulous friends and family, enjoying amazing food, great conversation, swimming, ping pong, dancing, fireworks, and lots of photos!

Red, white and blue fruit kebabs:

Helicopter rides with Ryan:

Helicopter rides with Mandee:

Delaney and my sister:

Me and D:

Playing on the deck:

Miss Maizie Jay K:

Ready for some fireworks:

Home from vacation, and a couple of links

Our originally planned road trip to Yellowstone turned into a road trip to Lake Tahoe once we saw the forecast at Yellowstone was thunderstorms and overnight lows of 33 degrees. (Think tent camping.) So the evening before we were supposed to leave we cancelled all our reservations and made new ones!

The vacation was wonderful and I'm having big time hiking/biking/playing at the beach withdrawals. But it's nice to be home nonetheless. I will most definitely be overloading you with vacation pics as soon as I find time to sit and edit.

For now, check out these cute Fourth of July fruit kabobs from Marie at Make and Takes:


How simple is that? My kids will love both making and eating them.

I will also be taking advantage of this Summer Reads Bingo printable from Playful Learning:


We always love our library's summer reading program, but this will be a fun reading game to do when we finish. Thanks Mariah!

I hope you're all enjoying these early summer days!!!

Father's Day interviews

Last year I came across this super cute idea to conduct Father's Day interviews with my kids, in which they are asked to respond to various questions about their daddy. (As you can imagine, only cute things can come of this.) I printed out each kid's questions and answers, and glued them inside their respective homemade cards.

Here's Jack's card from last year:

I've also been using this idea as a fun little something extra to tuck inside birthday cards. It's thoughtful, personal, and always cute as can be! Time to go quiz my kids!

Things I Never Want to Forget: #19-22

19. Delaney has been developing some imaginary friends lately. The other day I overheard her conversing with one such friend, who she later told me was a three-year-old boy named Blizzards. She and Blizzards were talking about how much they both like kitty cats.

20. She also has two imaginary puppies. One is named Jonesy and the other is named Jonesy.

21. Last week Delaney pointed to a freckle on her arm and said, "Look Mommy, I have a pickle!" Then she pointed to another freckle and said, "Look, I have two pickles!"

22. Jack has been memorizing Psalm 23, so we were practicing in the car the other day. Delaney's rendition went like this: "Lord is my shepherd.... Sheep of his pasture.... Jesus is awesome."

Yes he is, sweetie. :)

Odds & ends

1. I just ordered our kindergarten homeschool curriculum for this fall. Yay! I'm so excited!

2. I'm doing my first sprint triathlon soon. Eek! It's a 1/4 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 5k run.

3. Also coming up soon, Jace and the kids and I are planning a nine day road trip to Yellowstone. And we're tent camping all along the way. Two adults, three little kids, 2000 miles round trip. We can't wait!

4. I bought this dress online, but I don't know how I feel about it. It looks way better on that tall girl.

5. Incidentally, I'm fairly certain I haven't bought a dress since 2003. Dresses and nursing moms don't make a winning combination.

6. The latest argument Jack and Delaney have been having repeatedly is over who is eating who's invisible money. They use their shoes to scoop up one another's "money", and then they eat it, resulting in deafening shrieks of terror. Tonight I successfully diffused the dispute by taking both of their shoes and eating all of their money myself.

And in the spirit of randomness, here are some very random photos.

All three of my kids trashing playing in their bedroom together:

This picture cracks me up. What's with that little sideways glance?!
This one makes me laugh too. Just chewing on my camera strap:
Half of Jack's preschool class on their field trip to the farm. I just love these little guys:
End of the year program. The theme was Noah's Ark, and as you can see, Jack was a lion. :)

Sticky summer days

Nothing says summertime like being covered head to toe in ice cream and dirt. :)

Menu Plan Monday- June 1

Monday: Kebabs on the grill (teriyaki chicken, onion, red bell pepper, mushrooms, zucchini and pineapple), fried rice, salad, and a fresh fruit

Tuesday: Big salad (lettuce, shrimp, HB eggs, avocado, tomato and green onions), whole wheat bread, and a fresh fruit. Mac & cheese for the kids in addition to their salads.

Wednesday: BBQ hamburgers and salmon burgers, salad, and fresh fruit

Thursday: On the go... pick up Subway

Friday: Chicken and spinach lasagna, and a salad

Saturday: Leftovers

Sunday: Grilled chicken, grilled asparagus, whole wheat bread, and fresh fruit

For more menu planning fun, head to orgjunkie.com!

What we've been up to

I can't get enough of all this beautiful sunshine we've been having. Is it just me or does life just seem easier when it's sunny and warm?

My girls are napping right now, and Jack is taking a break from the 88 degree weather to hang out with his cars and trucks, so I'm going to sit here and show you pictures of what we've been doing the last couple weeks. Sound good?

Everybody loves a tire swing:

Picnic lunch:

Picnic dinner:
Swimming:
Mmmm....cupcakes:
It seems we've had a lot of heroes (both rescue and super) running around our yard these days:
Maizie spends most of her time playing by the door:

I love this:
I love this too:
Jack informs me that boys take their shirts off when they work outside:
More hard work in the garden:
Planted!

We've also been doing a whole lot of being pretty: