The Baby is 1!

How can this little one be a year old?!?  It just doesn't seem possible.  He is really developing a little personality. He has a mind of his own and please do NOT take a toy away from this one or you will hear the shrieking down the block.  I think he is destined to follow in his siblings' footsteps (kneesteps?) and wait on the walking since crawling is so much faster.  He is also super cuddly and gives great hugs.  He is signing "more" (and saying it) and saying "ball" and "dog" and probably some other things we haven't picked up on yet.

So, here are some one year old birthday pictures from the "Conor Man" (in Will's words) or "Tahn-Tahn" (in Miss Laney Beth's words).

Waiting for Cake!

REALLY???

Okay, I'll try...

Pretty good!

All business with his cake.

Finally a smile!

Straight to the sink for a bath!  What a mess!

...and bath was immediately followed by his first haircut.  He needed it!

And finally...presents!

 Happy Birthday Conor!

Summer is Here and William is 5!

Last Day of School...                                                                                

We went out to a celebratory breakfast (fancy -- McDonald's) on the boys' last day of school.  They actually finished on the same day and it was a Friday so it was a nice clean ending to the school year.  Hard to believe we are going to have a first grader and a kindergartener next year!  I know Ian is so ready and I can't wait to see what Will can do in his first experience in a typical classroom.  Next Fall will certainly be an adventure!

William Turns 5!

We had a little family party for Will this evening to celebrate "his 5th birthday" which is what he tells everyone rather than saying "I'll be 5".  He also informed me today that he is changing his name and I can't call him "Will" anymore, I have to say "William".  I'll try to remember...

Will's birthdays always stand out to me because I know my life changed so much on the day he was born.  It is hard to remember the details of that first year, but I wish I could have seen a glimpse of him at 5 to know how far he would go.  This picture is a vivid reminder of how much we worried and how much he has overcome!  Look at that little Peanut...this is at 4 weeks and it is still a 6 on the scale!  :)

Beyblades from his siblings. 

Very excited about opening presents!

Spider Man.  He still loves to dress up!

This was the big surprise...a guitar.

Rockstar! And his performance below...

Happy Birthday to our sweet boy!

Memorial Day Camping Trip in the Wenatchee National Forest

I just wanted to share some pictures from our camping trip over the holiday weekend.  We had a really great weekend with some family friends (also with 4 kids) and the kids had a blast getting dirty.  The weather held up for the camping although it was a bit chilly at night.  Still, pretty successful for WA in May. 

The girls getting dirty.  Morgan and Delaney digging in the dirt.

Waking up...

Good Morning!

Warming up by the fire and waiting for breakfast.

The "beer garden" in Leavenworth.  We spent the day walking around here.

Hiking together.  Our "frenemies".

Throwing rocks in the river.

A view...

Conor in his rented stroller.  He was happy to ride and look around.

Another view from Leavenworth.

Tailgating...snack time.

Loving on Papa.  Conor gives great hugs!

Ethan and Ian checking out the rapids.

Cameron and Will.

The rapids next to our campsite.

Happy Mother's Day! and a bit more

Well, I did it again and went months between posts because, as always, springtime is a bit slow around here. So, I'm just going to post some pictures to catch up on the last few months.

Last night in the apartment

January and February were all about moving into the new house, which really means all about leaky roofs and new ceilings!  I thought we would never have a living room, but we did...by March.  Then the kitchen started leaking, but that is another story.

No ceiling!

Finally getting some work done...with Silas's help.

Almost feels like home...at least there is a ceiling!

4 kiddos in the tub at the new house.  They're getting too big for this.  :(

We went to Nana and Grandaddy's new house in Denver for Easter in April.  We were excited to have a place that we could actually drive to, but not so excited about the hit and run accident on the way.  We were all fine, the police tracked down the driver and the car is all fixed, but we could have done without the excitement.  :)  The rest of the trip was relaxing and we loved the sunshine and warm weather.  The kids had a great time and the whole week went much too quickly.

Coloring Easter eggs the night we arrived.  We had to stay up a bit late, but the Easter Bunny was impressed!

Laney joined in a bit as well...

A story from Nana before bed.

We visited the Downtown Aquarium in Denver while we were in town.  The kids had a great time, the shark tank was a favorite!

 The highlight of our Denver trip for Ian was definitely the trip to Coors Field to see the Rockies play the Giants.  Ian is a huge Giants fan and to top it off we even got to see "The Beard" close the game  The Giants pulled out a win (barely) and Ian was a very happy kiddo...poor Grandaddy!

Cheering for different teams.

The Beard (this was the last game he pitched before going on the DL)

The flu hit our house pretty hard in late April.  Ian definitely had the worst of it (his caused croup that ended up with an ER visit for a breathing treatment) but even three weeks later some of us are feeling the after effects.  Just some sad pictures of the sick kids.  We are glad this is over!

And finally May..we celebrated Mother's Day by enjoying the gorgeous weather downtown.  We spent the afternoon visiting the Ballard Locks and at a couple of different parks.  The kids climbed trees and ran around and looked at boats.  Conor discovered grass and it didn't slow him down a bit. We all enjoyed the sun and a relaxing day out! 

 Happy Mother's Day!