New haircut.

Saying "cheese".

Matthew's old t-shirt.

Jake, the rascal.

Sponge-curls.

Dalmation-print ribbon.

Gymboree ensemble.

Isabel, the first grader.

He's Two!

Jake is showing a little attitude right after
blowing out his two candles. He was happy once
he stuck his whole face in the cupcake.
He also loves to give hugs and kisses.
He is wild as ever;we officially have a leash
for him now. Still, life is good.

The Latest...

Isabel on June 3rd, the day of her
end-of-kindergarten celebration.
The next day (which was the actual last day of school)
she lost her two front teeth. She was as happy as could be.
She is SO ready for 1st grade. We are both excited.

So on her first day of summer break, she wanted to do
something special, like get her haircut. She had been
begging me for a while. Her best friend Kaitlyn has short hair.
Well, I figured, hair grows back, so why not?

The girl loves to play will play with Jake's toys.
Jake just got a really cool tool bench for his birthday
and she said to me, 'Mom, when Jake goes down for a nap,
I'm going to play with it, so DON'T put it in his room'.

Fun at the Springs Preserve

In May, when the weather was nicer, we all went to the
Springs Preserve (www.springspreserve.org).

There was a lot to see---and next year they will even add to it all with the NV State Museum and some other building devoted to everything about water. I can't remember the name because it was a month ago--and I've noticed I'm starting to have trouble with my memory these days.

There was a cool play area for the kids
with desert-type animal creatures.

Then they had a little concert in an amphitheater
and the kids gladly joined in.

We watched the show.

And Alexa watched Jake.
She is really great at helping us chase after him.

Getting there.....

I'm not completely back to where I was before I got sick last year, but I'm working on it. Last year Miss posted a picture of her running the half-marathon, the one I was supposed to run as well but had my fourth surgery just days before. So here's mine of this year's half-marathon when I was crossing the finish line--or basically when I thought my legs might fall off.

But somehow I managed to do it, just like Missa said I could. I ran (and quite slowly I might add-especially towards the end) 13.1 miles without stopping. So, what do I have to say about it? I LOVE aerobics. I just got back tonight from my 'Extreme Knockout' Kickboxing Aerobic class with weights and ab training---and I LOVE it. I missed all last week because we had a terrible stomach virus and strep-throat here in my house, so I'm SO happy to be back. Aerobics is definitely the right exercise for me. Running, not so much--but I do like it. And I'm going to keep doing it. I don't however think that I'll ever be as fast as Garett, Melissa & Kelly. You guys ROCK! Thanks for an awesome experience. And maybe I'll even do the half-marathon again next year. I heard a rumor that Caity might be in. Yahoo!

Jake is actually cooperating in this picture--for once.

The shade makes this picture a little dark but the shot shows a full view of their new t-shirts from Mini-Boden. Have you ever ordered anything from Boden? I love the look of their clothes.
He was doing this on purpose. The little stinker.

Isabel was trying to help by holding him back from running in the street. We have a similar picture of Alexa holding Isabel back. He's at the impossible picture-taking phase.

Managed to get this ONE shot of his Easter outfit.


Jake again on Sunday (with a new haircut) wearing a Polo shirt Papa & Grandma bought him last year that gratefully still fits. I wish I had some updated pictures of Lexa but she's been traveling all month. We will see her again in May---but then she's off again for the month of June for her World Championships. Hopefully I will get some up of her soon.

Oh, how I love SPRING.

We had some fun family time feeding the ducks.

The weather was perfect. It was just the right

temperature with a nice breeze in the air.

Lexa played with Jake the whole time.

Isabel would have jumped in to swim with the ducks if I let her.

Jake actually did.Na, I'm just kidding. We did have to strip him though when we got home. He was covered in dirt. What a BOY!

Storybook Character Day

Today Isabel's school asked all the children to dress up as their favorite storybook character. Isabel has been reading all of the Dr. Seuss books, including Cat in the Hat. Technically, Cat in the Hat doesn't wear socks, but Isabel still wanted to wear them. I am posting these pictures at her request. She gave me strict instructions this morning...."Mom, first I want you to take a picture of me on your cell phone and send it to Daddy. He will love to see me and it will make him laugh. Then, I want you to put my picture on your blog so that everyone can see me." She started naming everyone she could think of.....Grandma, Papa, Grace, Caity, Bridget, Daddy's Dad who lives in Arizona...the list went on. She wanted everyone to see her all dressed up. She had a fun day.....and I admit, I did too!

I haven't posted in a while so what the heck, I'll post twice tonight. Lex had her Spring National taekwondo tournament this past weekend. I posted pictures of this annual event last year on my blog. Here is a cute picture of her with some girls from church. It was fun that they got to come and see her. It's a two-day tournament so I also included pictures of the kids that I took on those days.

Some things since my last post......

Isabel turned six in January. She had a bowling birthday party. Everyone loved it.

I took Lex to the mall to use one of the gift cards she got from Christmas. She picked out this pretty dress for church.

Jake is 20 months.....and I still cannot cut off his curls. Oh, those are pretzels in his mouth, just in case you were wondering.