William's Blessing

Five months old and William finally got his baby blessing!  Good thing my mom made his outfit big enough.  He looked very handsome in it.  

We were lucky enough to have some family able to come for this event, too.  My brother and Jason's brother and their families made for a wonderfully loud house.  I will miss these kids when we move!!!

Melissa Turns 11

I have some old kids.  Wow. 

Melissa had a great birthday.  She's old enough now to appreciate a cake for it's taste rather than it's looks, so we had a very delicious s'mores cake with no princess attached and nothing pink on it.

This is her "you mean now I can have all the gum I want?!?" face.  That's right...a gumball machine. 

 Mario Party.  Yea.

 The inside of this wonderful cake.  Pinterest is my new best friend.  Those are layers of buttery graham cracker crust in between the layers of dark chocolate cake and ganache.  Oh, my goodness, so yummy!

A Little Much????

I just had to share a picture of the enormous ball physical therapy sent home with me today for William.  He seems to love it, but that thing takes up my entire living room! 

Looks like William really wants to be like his dad--bald.  No worries, his new hair is coming in beautifully.  In two weeks he'll be a new man.

Easter 2012

Here are the pictures of my kids (I can't say girls anymore!) on Easter morning.  It was only 40 degrees outside, so if they look cold, they are!  That's also why William's picture was taken indoors.

I had to add this picture of the back of Melissa's head because this hairdo took me most of the morning.  Pretty neat, though!!

Retrospect

I was reminiscing this morning as I watched Emily playing with kid scissors.  At the time, (nine years ago?!?) this seemed so serious and I was crying as I took the picture and gathered all the hair.  Now as I look back, it's very funny to me!  As I was screaming at Ashley for doing something so horrible, she calmly looked at me and said, "But Mom, I think she looks beautiful".  Having children is certainly an adventure!!

Ashley's Growing Up

While Grandma Parkinson was here, Ashley decided to get a total makeover.  Maybe it wasn't anything that drastic, but to me it was a lot of change in a little amount of time.  She asked me to cut off ten inches of her hair, which was donated to Locks of Love, then she got her ears pierced, then she got contact lenses.  She's like a whole new young woman!

 Of course, I have to add a very cute picture of the little man in his "first time going to church" clothes.  LOVE him!!

We're Going HOME!!

Mountain Home, that is.  Close enough!  Just look how much more sun we're going to see!  This is Danville:

 And this is Mt. Home, Idaho:

It's very gloomy right now even as I type this, and this has been my life for 8 years.  So ready for some sunshine!!!!  I really will miss the fireflies, though.  We move sometime around the first of July.