Friend

This morning my long time friend, Christina, stopped by for a surprise visit.  She is from Holland and has been traveling around the western US these last couple of weeks.  She and her boyfriend are currently on their way to Yosemite... it was SO good to see her!  I was SO surprised!  Christina and I met during H.S., when she was a foreign exchange from the Netherlands.  I hadn't seen her since 1996! She and I kept in touch after she left although, our lives are pretty busy now so it's gotten to be more like Christmas and birthday cards.

Even though she was only able to stay for a short time, it was great to see her and have her meet my kids and Casey! 

A few fun pictures from this last week... 

 My parents arrived late Sunday afternoon to be with us for Mother's Day.  They had plans on staying until Tuesday however, my dad had a dental emergency and they ended up heading back to Boise early Monday morning so he could go to his dentist... although quick and short, it was good to have them here for the evening! We bbq'd and took the kids for an evening walk down to the golf course and back.

 We celebrated Casey's birthday on Monday.. his day off.  As tradition in our home, whenever it's anyone's birthday we all get donuts for breakfast! I ran 5 miles that morning and opted out of the donuts this time.  The kids were happy to have mine :)   That evening we had our friends, Tony & Becky, over for dinner and bbq'd... to top off the evening we enjoyed Casey's favorite birthday cake, homemade German Choc. cheesecake.

 Kristiana has spent her week practicing at pulling herself up to a standing position.  The other night she worked and worked at climbing onto Trenton's bed... with a little help from her siblings she made it!  Everyone was SO excited!  Here are our 4 little monkeys (5 including the real monkey) celebrating Kristiana's big accomplishment!

 Such a big girl now!

 Trenton and Jesse are great buddies

Kristiana loves being outside; although, she's still figuring out whether or not she likes the grass!

Happy Birthday Casey!!! 


Your family loves you!!

Muffins with Mom

 at Muffins with Moms with my girlies and Taylor

To celebrate Mother's Day, the public schools had a big Muffins with Mom breakfast at the Civic Center yesterday morning.  The boys went to the babysitter and, the girls and I got to spend the morning together! The event was lots of fun... there were games, a flower given to each mom, a tribute to mom video, LOTS of moms and kids and, of course, muffins! We met our friends, Lisa, her mom, Taylor and Dalton there too...  I am so thankful to be the mommy to 4 wonderful kids! Each child is a special blessing and brings joy to my life!

Katie and Tys are now in the middle of T-Ball season and having a great time! The team practices on Mon. & Wed. at 4:45 and games are on Tue. & Thur. at 5.  Their fielding, catching and batting are continuing to improve... infact, Katie has been getting some really great hits these last couple of games! At last night's game Tys played 1st base and Katie played catcher... two positions which get lots of action in t-ball!

 Tys' "grrrrrr" face...

 Playing with my camera case.. never mind her crazy outfit and dirty face... she's fighting a cold and a little raffamuffin :)   Trenton is climber in the family... here, he climbed to the top of a caterpillar.

The weather has been so warm and sunny lately so, after dropping Katie off at school this afternoon the younger kids and I went to the park.  Tys was happy to find his friend from school, Jazmin, also at the park... they all had fun playing hide 'n seek and playing on the equipment.  Kristiana and I relaxed in the shade and did a little swinging... which she loves!

While in Idaho last weekend, Kristiana turned  10 months old!  She has really grown over this month and is developing her own personality.  She can now wave "hi" or "bye", says dada, mama, papa and nana (all those "a" words!) and is pulling herself up to her knees.. yesterday I found her actually standing up against a chair!  She was SO proud of herself and had the biggest smile "hey, mom, I am standing!"  Kristiana loves being outside, eating Cheerios and getting into everything!  She is a fast crawler and doesn't sit in one place for long.  We love her great, big smiles and giggles!!  

 Eating pancakes for the first time... yummy!

 Kristiana is very much a daddy's girl! She says "dada" constantly throughout the day and knows just how to melt her daddy's heart :)

 Having fun exploring at Monkey Bizness, Boise

"Look, Mom, I'm standing!"