Cakes

Miss H is now 3! She was thrilled with the Little Einstein's rocket. She also received a bunny quilt. She's in pjs for these pictures because she opened her presents at 7:30 am- who can wait?!

Not that I make fabulous cakes, but I'm always looking for kid cake ideas, so I thought other might also. If you click on the "cake" label at the bottom of this post, it will pull up pictures of:
Dora cake
Bunny cake
Via Rail cake (my son may be the only child on earth who is a fan of the Canadian passenger railway, but I'm adding it anyway)
Diaper cake
Cars donut tires cake
& Fancy Nancy cupcakes

Here are some great cakes from other blogger friends:
Hannah Montana cake (from Becca)
Robot & Skateboard cakes From Lisa- she also has some cute cupcakes & a volcano cake posted the same month
Duck cake (from cousin Sally)
Adorable monkey cake from the friends who gave us the name "Lempskies"
Pirate cake (w/ hilarious story! from my friend Amy)

It's been a somber week. I attended the funeral for a baby. My cousin's daughter (who lives just south of here) delivered preterm & the baby only lived 10 days. Sure made me want to hug my kids 10 times more! Our heart really goes out to them.

1st day of 1st grade

D's favorite things about 1st grade:
-big kid playground
-riding the bus both ways
-eating lunch at school
-hearing he was missed
(notice Miss H even wore her backpack to the busstop the 1st day.)

Nine & Counting

We've been married for 9 years,
have 3 kids,
claimed 6 addresses in 3 states,
earned 4 degrees, collectively,
owned 2 cars (been a one car famiy for 2/3 our marriage)
purchased 1 piece of real estate,
made 2 TV debuts,
attended 11 temples,
owned 0 pets,
explained our reasoning for not getting a pet 823 times to the kids,
had 0 fights (Seriously. Zero. We disagree at times, but we talk about it, we don't yell and insult each other's mothers because of it) and
shared COUNTLESS LAUGHS!

Create

I love this video from Dieter Uchtdorf:
CREATE
An FHE idea... share this video with your family. Read Isaiah 64:8 about how God created us. Explain that God is pleased when we create- then use playdough or another medium to create something.

Summertime Shots

Happy 4th of July!
All smiles

Baseball season

Guess who learned to ride a bike? He was so proud & he should be! He learned how to ride in one evening (abt. an hour, actually). He still needs a steady hand while he gets a push off, but he can turn all by himself and "jumps clear" when necessary (and sometimes even when it's not necessary- I think the crashing stunts were his favorite part.)

Miss H, not to be outdone, started using pedals.

Hope your all are enjoying plenty of sunshine & watermelon. What a great time of year!

New Blog

To provide amusing anecdotes and to plug his business, my husband started an HR blog:

www.hrqa.blogspot.com

If you get a minute to read and/or comment on it, we would appreciate it!
There's a funny skit for you SNL fans.

Happy 6th Birthday!

As a follow up, things went very well in NM. The kids were really good for me (mine because they were happy to be with cousins, theirs because nearly every kid acts better for strangers than for their own parents... they aren't certain of the limits and don't want to push it when there are no other credible adult witness around.) The picture above is from a hike we did to the edge of the mesa.
D celebrated his 6th birthday with a ride on a real passenger train.
He was so excited & kept saying "this is the BEST birthday I've ever had!" Of course, he only has 6 to choose from and probably can't remember 3 of those, but that's beside the point. He had fun.


Here's a funny picture of the baby: