Turning The Big 4-0 Today...

Here's how I basically feel about that!

Sisters

So, last April, Alli gave Chardy a book of customized coupons for her birthday. Things like "I will...let you use me as a test subject for one of your cooking experiments...because I love you" and "I will...let you use the computer when I'm on it unless I'm doing school work...because I love you." So sweet.

Fast forward to this weekend. I go up to Chardy's room and she has accumulated about a month's worth of dirty laundry. Of couse, I tell her to do it...immediately. A few hours later, I hear the two sisters arguing over something fierce. I go upstairs to see what's going on and find Chardy with this totally wicked look on her face waving the coupon below...

Mt. Rainier -- Happy 40th!

No, Mt. Rainier is actually about 1 million yrs old. But, Tim turned 40 last week and what better way to celebrate than to spend the weekend at Mt. Rainier hiking, glassading, and playing in waterfalls!

Potty?

Today while we were playing a card game, Dad was trying to get information out of us about where we are going for his birthday. Dad asked Ginny and she replied with a huge smile on her face, "Potty!" We eventually figured out what she meant was "Party," which makes a lot more sense.

The Best Cards Ever...

...from the best kids ever. An assortment of their cards for my birthday and Mother's Day.

From Aaron:


I love the multiple attempts he made to spell "Your family loves you..." "a" "Are" U" and then finally he went oh what the heck: "we all love you a lot"!

From Chardy:
Who knows I'd rather have a cold drink than be "queen for a day"





And, from Alli, my amazing artist:

The Big 6

Aaron turned 6 today. I will write more later, but I have to jot this classic down. As Aaron was opening up his last gift (from Grandma and Grandpa), he saw what was in there (a $25 gift card) and carefully sounded out the words on the card: "Toys R Us - 25% off coupon." "Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!" It was so cute.

Ginny Turns Two!

After weeks of insisting that she was 2, 3, or 4, Ginny really turned 2 today! I woke up at 4:15am and thought for a few minutes about 2 years ago when Ginny arrived at 4:25am (then, I went back to sleep!).

Ginny's day started off with everyone singing Happy Birthday to her as we changed her diaper. At that early hour, she actually wasn't too thrilled about the whole birthday thing, but once we explained that birthdays meant cake, cookies, and toys, she perked right up!

She had her first party of the day at Amanda's, where she helped decorate cupcakes with sprinkles (and a few germs...poor thing has a cold). She got a lovely set of puppets that she has had fun playing with.







Then, it was off to her second party at home with the family. We had cake of course,



and lots of presents.


The birthday girl eating her cake with a spatula (who needs a fork anyway?!):



Aaron gave Ginny his set of legos and Chardy gave Ginny the first hat she knit on her new knitting loom.



Most importantly, we celebrated and gave thanks for having such a vibrant, sweet, and funny girl as part of our family.







The big Two Year Old: