Emily turns 12!

Last week Emily had her 12th birthday.  She invited Grandma and Grandpa to join us for dinner.  We had lasagna and breadsticks for dinner as Emily requested.  Then we opened presents. 

Megan, Nathan, and Melissa watched the present opening from their warm seats on the wooden kitchen bench.

Emily was very pleased with the gifts she received.  But she picked most of  them out so she should be pleased.  The thing she is holding in her hand is eyeshadow.

She set right to work building her new lego house.  She told us she had to finish it before she went to bed so that she could play with it.

On Saturday she invited over some friends for a birthday party.  You may notice that Emily's hair is shorter and layered.  That was another one of her birthday wishes.  A really nice lady cut it at Greatclips and she did a great job.

Emily got lots of lotion, body wash, and body spray from the Bath and Body Works store as gifts.  She will be smelling sweet set for at least a year!

 Today I am thankful for:
 the beautiful tulip that Holly made in art class.  It hangs on the wall in my kitchen. 

 The tulips in my backyard.  They looked like this on April 12th.

and 11 days later they looked like this

Happy May everyone!

Fun in the sun

We had a sunny weekend so we decided to head to Seattle.  We visited the Japanese garden there.  We were hoping it would be free but it wasn't.  Because our family is so large it was cheaper to buy a family season pass.  I guess we can visit here again during the summer.  Here Scott is with the kids posing by a traditional Japanese garden statue.  There were several of these in the garden and each one had quarters sitting in the open window.

We saw about 20 turtles sunning themselves on the rocks.  This photo shows a grown and baby turtle together.

 Scott took this picture of us when we were looking at the koi fish in the pond.

 On the way home from Seattle we stopped at the temple to see the tulips in bloom there. 

Some highlights of the week were:

*Melissa attending a build a bear party.  Isn't her bear so cute?

 *Holly brought home her window box project from art class.  This is the window closed.

*And this is the window open.

 *Emily attended 6th grade camp for 2 days and 2 nights.  This is a photo she took of her cabin.

*And here is Emily trying on yet another dress for the upcoming wedding.  My mom is trying to find matching orange dresses for all the granddaughters to wear and this is the latest option. 

This is my first time using this new blogger format.  I was a little nervous to try it but it is actually easier than the old format.

Spring break in pictures

On the first day of spring break we watched general conference. Holly and Emily played with legos while they listened to the talks. Holly made this cool superhero city for Nathan.
Emily made a dentist's office. The cleaning chairs are on the left, the x-ray machine is in the left hand corner, a small room for filling cavities is on the right and the waiting room is the room at the front right.

On the second day of Spring Break we went to Gas Works park in Seattle and flew kites.

On the third day of spring break we decorated Easter cookies. Yum, Yum!

On the fourth day of spring break we dyed eggs. This was my first time doing this with my kids. Unfortunately I didn't boil the eggs long enough so they were still runny inside. Yuck!

On the fifth day of spring break the kids enjoyed playing in our backyard in the sunshine. Megan and Melissa play so nicely together.

On the sixth day of spring break we visited our cousins in Seattle. We got to go with their mom to pick them up from school and play on their school playground. We thought the graffiti was funny. "I love my dad".

Then we walked back to their house and made Easter crafts together.

The final day of spring break was filled with more time at a park (it was sunny for most of the week) and a trip to the grocery store. We parked next to this small car. Nathan thought it was a power wheels for grownups. I'm not really sure what it was.

Today I am thankful for:

*all the sunny days we had last week. It is so nice to play outside and not have to wear a coat everywhere we go.

*Easter Sunday to remember the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and a nice family dinner at the my parent's house.

*The flowers in my front yard. I just love to go outside and look at them.

Melissa's b-day

Last week Melissa turned six years old. Holly and I decorated the house including her chair.
Melissa wanted brownies instead of a cake and so we fanciest them up. The banner idea I got on pinterest but it was a lot more difficult to make than it looked.

Grandma and Grandpa Moulton came over to see Melissa open her presents. They were tending Andrew's kids so they brought them too. Nathan loved holding his baby cousin.

Here is Melissa posing with her new birthday gifts. She got 2 webkinz and lots of other fun things including a really loud harmonica (what was I thinking?).

She got another "Lego freinds" kit to share. Her big sisters Emily and Megan helped her put it together.
Today I am thankful that

*it was sunny and warm yesterday because today is raining and cold. I'm glad we spent so much time outside yesterday to enjoy it.

*Holly and Emily have friends over to play. It's amazing how quickly kids can get bored over spring break.

*there are several blossom trees I can see when I look out the windows at my house. I just wish the blossoms would stay all year.