Emerson's 6th birthday

Emerson turned six on May 23rd, which just happened to be a Saturday so she got to have her birthday party on her birthday!  Emerson is still a very curious young girl.  She enjoys getting her hands dirty while being crafty or playing in the mud.  She is a great problem solver and strong willed.  She and Landon play together some, but their ideas of fun are quite different from each other.  Emerson loves getting out all kinds of things to play with, but does NOT like having to pick up all of those toys!  She is sweet and loving and 5 days away from being a Kindergarten graduate!!

 We got Em some new items for her doll Sadie, an outfit, and more loom bands to play with.

 For her party, she really wanted a Star Wars theme.  She and Landon and Matt have watched 5 of the 6 movies and she loves them!  I felt a bit out of my league with this theme, but got a lot of useful advice from Matt! :)

We made light sabers out of pool noodles to send home with the kids and they also each got a cup.

 The young padawans had jedi training.  They had to keep a balloon up with a light saber:

Then they had to battle each other with the light sabers.

Good thing they did because Darth Vader showed up at the party!

But they were able to defeat him!

Emerson loved all of her gifts she got.  She got some Star Wars gear, clothes, books, and crafts to do.  That should keep her busy this summer!

 She had Princess Leia cupcakes (for some reason this picture always loads sideways :( )

and other Star Wars characters.

  We had lots of Star Wars food like Han burgers, Droid Doritos, Ewok snacks, Carbonite jello, Sithberries, Light Sabers, and Yoda Soda.

 Then Em got to blow out her candles (we couldn't fit 6 on her small cupcake).

We all had a great time!  She invited 3 friends from her class (Kyler, Landon, and Allie) plus our usual crew of friends and family (Davis's, Fryes, Clarks, Hahns, and Bergers).  Happy Birthday, 6 year old!

T ball

Tball has been in full swing for a few weeks now and surprisingly, both kids are really enjoying it.  Emerson did NOT want to do tball, but we asked her to try it just once to see if she likes it.  And she says that she does.  She and Landon are both on the Cardinals, which makes it easy for us, and Matt is helping to coach.  It's so neat to see the kids' progress through the season.  They start off kind of unsure and most of them need to use the tee to hit from and by the end of the season, they learn a lot.  Here's some pictures from their first game (as you can see it was COLD!):

Mother's Day 2015

 I had a wonderful celebration for Mother's Day this year.  The kids were SUPER excited to show me their gifts.  It was so adorable.

 Emerson wrapped all the gifts (notice the Christmas/snow motif) which Matt was thrilled about! ;)

They made so many adorable cards/gifts in Kindergarten and were so proud to show me!

We took the grandmas (and grandpas) out for dinner this year at Applebees.  It took so long that the kids had to get in the shower and then we remembered to do our annual picture.
I just adore being a mom.  It is certainly a difficult calling (some days more than others :) ), but I've never done anything more rewarding.  There's nothing like hearing your kids say, "I love you, Mommy!"

Weekend Projects

We are in the process of getting a barn built in our backyard.  To do that, we'll need a drive that will go right through our current garden.  So, we decided to build raised beds since we needed a new garden anyway.  Matt worked really hard to build the boxes and get load after load of dirt to fill them up.  We were just going to build one, but then realized that we wanted to plant more.  We planted strawberries, tomatoes, peas, herbs, green peppers, kale, carrots, and zucchini.  The kids helped with the planting and raking the dirt.  We are hoping that with more sun, water right next to it, and raised beds to keep out the critters, we'll get a better crop this year than in years past.

 At the end of April, we bought an RV.  We had been looking around and found a good deal on a 10 year old RV that we couldn't pass up.  It needed some major cleaning and could use some sprucing up on the inside, but it's in good shape and will fit our needs.  We can't wait to take it out and learn how to use it.  I am super excited to sleep off the ground and have somewhere to go if it rains.  The kids are having a ball playing in it.

I'm hoping to redo the wall paper border.

There are 4 bunk beds in the back.

REALLY small, but usable bathroom

The picture does not due justice to the ugly curtains.  I want to get new fabric for all the curtains and cushions.  But it works for now!

I am loving that the weather has been nice enough for us to get outside and get some things done.  Counting down the days until summer break! :)

Mary's visit

The last weekend in April, we had a guest come and stay for the weekend.  Landon's birthmom, Mary, came to stay from Colorado.  The last time we got together was for Landon's 2nd birthday so it had been awhile.  The kids were excited, and I think a little nervous, about her visit and talked about it for days.  We all stayed home from school on Friday, watched a Star Wars movie, went to the Maple Syrup Festival, and tball practice.  On Saturday, we did some shopping, went to Grace and Tyler's birthday party, and had Cook's pizza.  Sunday was church, lunch with mom and dad, and building our garden boxes, dinner with Todd and Cathy.  And Monday morning we said our goodbyes.  We had a busy, but fun weekend and it was so nice to visit with her and catch up together.  The kids had a ball showing her around and playing games together.

The first night, we saw Landon's shoes nicely placed right beside Mary's. :)

Festival fun-Friday afternoon is the best time.  It wasn't busy at all!

lots of UNO games

 

bedtime Star Wars reading

We have been so blessed by the wonderful gift of Landon and having Mary in our lives.