Hot!

This week the weather has been HOT! Although I am a little miserable our children are thrilled and love playing in the pool...

First Grade Field Trip to Seahurst Park!

Austin has spent the last couple of months learning about the Ocean and all it's inhabitants. His school set up a field trip to Seahurst Park to see and touch many of the things he has been learning about. I was thrilled to be able to join the trip and enjoyed spending some one on one time with Austin at the beach.



We were asked to have the kids wear some boots to keep their shoes from getting wet. I must say that Austin is one of a kind. Out of the 100+ first graders there, he was the only one that managed to get wet all the way up to his thighs. At one point he sat down, took off his boots, and dumped the water out! I really wish I had gotten a picture of that!

Seaweed...isn't it cool!

You can touch with 1 wet finger...

Touching a barnacle






Just having some fun


A wonderful day together!

Memorial weekend...camping!

We LOVE camping with our friends! This year was awesome as we had a group of 30! The river was freezing but that didn't stop our children from enjoying it...and even one crazy adult (Mr. Wagner!).

The trip didn't go without a hitch...or maybe a few. It began with a very LARGE backup causing the normally 1.5 hour trip to be more like 3.5. Then three families didn't have heat, one had to go to the store to fix their water pump, and our water pump stopped working again (for an unknown reason). But it wouldn't be memorable trip if we didn't encounter any problems, right?

I'm thrilled because we didn't have any unexpected trips to the ER. Remember last year??



Kadin did great with almost no accidents! When we first got there I asked him if he needed to go potty and he said yes, I told him that he gets to go on a tree and in his confusion he forgot to pull down his pants! Poor guy.



In all our craziness we forgot to get a family picture. Here is the closest we got to a group picture...but we are missing a few.

We don't need to bring our own wood! Our manly men take care of gathering the fire wood!

Arm farting! Those Finnestads are such a great influence!!!!

Moving up!

I can hardly believe it! My youngest son decided that he was ready to join the big boys. I was afraid to say anything until now but I think it is official...


Kadin is POTTY TRAINED!!!!


I have always let my children choose the day they get to stop wearing diapers and Kadin woke up two days ago and told me no more diapers. Since he has been wearing diapers full time until now I was a little hesitant to move forward (like always). I really didn't want to worry about cleaning up accidents or running to the bathroom but WOW...he is doing great! He has only had a couple very small potty spots on his underwear, but NO real accidents. He even woke up dry this morning (I am still using a diaper at night).

Now all we have to do is get through the camping trip this weekend...

And a little background,

Austin was 22 months when he chose his day. He wasn't quite ready and struggled with accidents for a little while.

Emma was 21 months (I was pregnant and 2 days overdue!) when she chose her day. She was completely ready and didn't have any accidents.

Kadin is 30 months (2 days before vacation) and seems to be doing great so far!

WAY TO GO KIDO!

Celebration of Learning

Austin has been talking about it for days. He has been so excited for today to finally come. He got off the bus and said "YEA! Today is our celebration of learning mom!"

We were thrilled to get an opportunity to go to his school and check out all of the progress he has made in the last year. We came home with a HUGE pack of work that he has completed. He is doing such a great job in his first grade year.

Kadin thought that the best part was the bus ride. He loved every minute of it. He said "Autin bus fun...Autin bus fun...Autin bus fun" He even kissed the bus good bye!

Here is a picture of Austin with his favorite book "Chester". He was cracking up while he showed me all of the funny things that Chester does in the book.

Austin has a poster all about him hanging above his desk. He was able to fill out information about his family, favorite foods and favorite things to do. It even has his pictures on it!

Austin and his teacher, Ms. Fisher. She has been a blessing and joy for him this year. When he first met her he said that she is the "pretty one"! As you can see...she is indeed the pretty one.

Mother's day...take two!

Celebrating with MY mom is always a JOY!

Doesn't she just LOOK fun?





I have the most exciting news! My sister is getting married!!!! She has fallen madly in love with Eric and can't live another day with out him. (Okay...they will wait until the wedding, but you know what I mean) I'm thrilled and can't wait until I get to call Eric my brother-in-law and Uncle Eric.

(As fun as this picture is, it's not really how it happened. He really proposed privately (I couldn't talk him into letting me watch). But what a great photo opportunity!)

Mother's day

~I love Mother's day~

I love spending the day the kids while I get to watch them play. I love just celebrating the lives of these wonderful children that we have been blessed to have in our arms and in our hearts.

I love being able to take the kids somewhere special because their joy begins before we leave the house. I spent the morning giggling as we drove to the beach listening to "Are we there yet?...When are we going to be there?...AND...How many more minutes till we get there?..." Their excitement is priceless. It's funny to listen to Kadin mimicking his older brother and sister just to join in the conversation.

We went to Salt Water State Park. Awesome. I could have stayed ALL day but after about 4 hours our little Kadin was getting tired and needed some down time.

This log was a perfect way to cross the stream. Austin and Emma were able to cross it easily. In fact I'm surprised that they weren't running across! Kadin and I on the other hand...yep, that was a little more interesting.

It look many tries to get all three kids to sit in one spot long enough to take a picture. But finally success! All of them together (for a minute at least).

We couldn't leave Mocha out! And yes, I am holding a couple of them in place!

My one true love! Isn't he cute?

Mocha sure is getting big isn't she...he...?

Hunting for crabs. They were everywhere. We would flip a rock just to watch them scurry away. I believe that there must have been more then 30 under a few of those rocks. I loved the screams of excitement with each new rock.

Emma holding her treasures. I think that she is holding at least 3 crabs for this shot!

Sand... oops, I mean MUD!