A month in review. . .

The next several posts are dedicated to what we've done in the month of MAY. It has been a great month . . . full of so many fun memories that I never want to forget.

the Pritts visit

Jon's parents and brother, Jordan, came to visit . . . it's kind of a tradition that they come to celebrate Jon's and Landon's birthdays with us every year and Jon takes the week off from work to hang out with them. here are some of the things we did.

watched this little guy play soccer. he is probably the slowest kid out there (actually there's no probably about it), but he has soooo much FUN and i LOVE watching him, he's so CUTE.

like i always say, "if you can't play good, you can at least LOOK good while you play" :) . . . here's to my little poser-i love you!

[5.3]

we also celebrated jon turning 32. the man can still blow out all of his candles with one breath, but he can also blow up one of those long skinny balloons that most people need a pump for, you know the ones used to make balloon animals and stuff . . . seriously, am i the only person who can't blow up those balloons?

[5.4]

the next day this little guy turned 3! i included this picture to remind myself how he covered his face when we started singing "happy birthday" to him. shy? embarrassed? i don't know, but it was sooooo cute!

we also went bowling, played at the park, played games, watched movies and worked on landscaping while they were here.

okay, so here is the landscaping we worked on . . . we just did the area around our front walkway- we wanted to hide the hose coming out from our sump pump. i think we did good. we were unsure at the time what we wanted to plant on the corner, but opted after much deliberation and soul-searching (well I did) to put our little weeping crab (red jade?) in there. it's an UGLY little tree, really it is, but i couldn't stand the idea of throwing it away ---we had dug it up from the backyard with the intention of getting rid of the little eyesore, but i just couldn't do it---i know i'm weak, but i always have a little soft spot for the underdog. with some affection we call it our "charlie brown tree" because it reminds us of the pathetic, ugly, little tree in charlie brown's christmas.

lets go ride a BiKe

lauren learned to ride her bike without training wheels . . . i can't remember WHY she decided now was the time, but she asked me take off her training wheels and i did


we spent the morning outside practicing, and it was done; she was SOOO EXCITED to show daddy when he came home. this is a video i took that morning.

Nana Comes to Town

Nana came to visit for a week. She treated us to a night at the movies and was here to celebrate Jayden's 1st birthday and attend Lauren's dance recital. The kids were so excited . . . and bless her, she let Landon and Lauren sleep with her EVERY night (Landon snores and my Ls are both bed hogs). Thanks Mom for taking care of the little ones so that I could go on a fieldtrip with Jonathan - it was nice not having to worry about my little crab-apple (jayden) who likes to give anyone who isn't mommy a hard time (but she didn't cry for Nana the whole time I was gone - YEAH!).

finishing up kindergarten

i can hardly believe that the school year is almost over. time really does seem to fly the older i get. the little ones and i were excited to hear jonathan and the other a.m. kindergarteners sing at the kindergarten concert; soooo cute!

my handsome kindergartner

KINDERGARTEN CONCERT

ready for the concert

my little kiddies. lauren and landon were perfect during the entire performance even though i wasn't sitting next to them (i was standing at the back videoing so that daddy would be able to see it too) and jayden slept the whole time (HURRAY!)

jonathan with mrs. patterson, his kindergarten teacher. jonathan LOVES mrs. patterson; i am so grateful for and happy with the wonderful experience she has provided for jonathan this year.



OXBOW PARK/ZOO

i was really excited to go on a fieldtrip with jonathan. my mom watched the little ones so that i could go. it was the first fieldtrip i've been on as a chaperone; i had a lot of fun. here are a few pics i took.

here was my little group: carter, jonathan, and katie. i couldn't have asked for a better group of kids.

this was the first fawn i've ever seen (except for bambi). i can't believe how tiny it is.

Father/Son Campout

Jon took the boys on their very first father/son campout. Jonathan and Landon were so excited they could hardly wait for daddy to come home --- from all accounts everyone had a great time.

I have to admit I was curious how Landon would do since I know he is terrified of bugs (hehe) . . . Jon found this out too when Landon spotted an ant in their tent . . . oh how I wish we had a video of that . . .

GIRLS NIGHT

well, the boys went on a campout with daddy and lauren was a little sad to be left behind, so we (nana, lauren, jayden and i) decided to have a girl's night. we did a little shopping, ate out, baked jayden's birthday cake, let lauren paint our nails, and watched "bride wars" (well nana jayden, and i did, lauren was sleeping). . . it was a fun night and i look forward to many more father/son campouts. :)

me and my girls

BFFs

Lauren and Nana

Me and my sweet Jay-Jay

Lauren painting our nails . . . it was her first time

DANCE

lauren took a community ed, dance class this past year and LOVED it. the teacher of the class, ms. tanya, has her own dance studio and allowed the ce girls to dance in the recital this year. i thought that lauren might get a little nervous on stage in front of so many people, but she loved it . . . she was so adorable (note: jonathan looks a little grumpy in the fam. pic because he got woken up from his nap--- he stayed awake until after lauren was finished, then slept for an hour and half :)--- reminds me of papa).

FIRSTS

May was full of a few "firsts" for Jayden.

First steps (sorry the camera was turned the wrong way and i can't remember how to fix it :) )

First black-eye (happened on daddy's watch)

first time she ate a flower, yummy tulips

and her first BIRTHDAY!!!

she doesn't like the hat, but landon wants her to wear it anyway

THE CAKE

the giant cupcake cake . . . my masterpiece :)the birthday girl getting ready for cake

yeah, that's about it . . . i fed her a couple of bites hoping to tempt her to dig in, but it was a no go . . . all she did was spit and wave her hands trying to get the frosting off her hands when she actually touched the cake. she's always full of surprises.

PRESENTS!

she loves her little cd player, it's cute to watch her carry it around and she hasn't messed with ours since she got her own

thanks for the swimsuits nana, watch out florida here we come

just enjoying all of the attention

i love her expression in this picture . . . she got tired of opening this one, but once lauren started opening it she got excited again

Birthday Celebrations!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN!

Wednesday, March 11th was Lauren's 5th Birthday! It was the coldest day of March so far with a high of 11 (how appropriate) although it never felt that warm thanks to the wind.

We had a simple family celebration . . .

the boys helped me bake/decorate her cake (she picked white cake with pink frosting) It's tradition that the birthday girl gets to pick the meal . . . whatever she wants. With the sky the limit here is what we ate. Yum :)

A special card fit for a princess

Daddy helped her assemble the crown . . . :) she's daddy's little girl.

Lauren loves Fancy Nancy and for her birthday Jonathan picked out a Fancy Nancy trunk full of dress-up stuff. She loves it! Here she is getting ready for mom to light the candles on her cake; with five candles it's going to get pretty bright so she's wearing the sunglasses too.

"PINKALICIOUS" PLAYGROUP

I opted not to throw a kid party for Lauren this year, but I did host our playgroup here on Friday the 13th. In honor of her birthday we had a "Pinkalicious Playgroup" and baked/decorated pink cupcakes just like in the book. We also read the books Pinkalicious and Purplicious. It was a fun morning and Lauren really enjoyed celebrating with her friends.

I was so busy with the girls that I spaced taking pictures, still I snapped a few once I remembered (at the end!).

Here's my very own "Pinkalicious"

Here are all of the girls (and Landon) wearing their "pinkalicious" aprons! Aren't they cute?
And while I missed the girls decorating . . . the aftermath was still waiting for me when they were gone :) Good times!