Thursday, April 30, 2009

School, Siblings, Seattle and Salt

Friday the 24th was a big day for our Josiah, who attended Kindergarten Round-up at Meridian Elementary. The morning started out with a bus ride around the neighborhood, which proved to be his favorite part of his morning...of his entire week really! He met the teacher he will have in the Fall and enjoyed playing in his new classroom.

A few days later, he was thrilled to discover he and Jonathan have (almost) matching Jammies - both have sports equipment and stars on them. He even managed to find another blue pair of jammies for Aliya matching their theme.
Jonathan hit the 6 month mark on the 28th and is not taking this big milestone laying down...nope, he's starting to sit up by himself for longer periods of time. So cute!

April 30th, James' class attended "I Was a Rat" at the Seattle Children's Theater. He was so happy to have Jimmy there as a chaperone. Jimmy had a good time hanging out with James and his buddies.

Here's a picture of Jonathan trying out his new swing. The picture really doesn't do it justice. He LOVES this swing - giggling and smiling as he rides. James especially enjoys pushing him on it & takes just as much delight in watching Jonathan, as Jonathan does in swinging.

Jimmy & I also had an opportunity to go out on a date this past week. It felt like we merely blinked and 2 hours had gone by.
Last, but certainly not least, Aliya was my little helper in the kitchen at dinnertime Tuesday. After stopping to take a quick picture of Jonathan, I turned around to find her washing her mouth out with a washrag. Fortunately, I still had the camera in hand as I discovered what the problem was. My little chef had dumped a very large quanity of garlic salt into the noodles & decided to sample one. Needless to say, we ended up having a box of macaroni and cheese with our meatloaf that night!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Happy 3rd Birthday Aliya

She is officially THREE today and to celebrate Jimmy took the day off of work. Our first stop - Cutter's Point for Hot Cocoa and Donuts with sprinkles! Talk about a perfect morning for our big girl!Happy Birthday Leela Lou!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

He is Risen

It didn't take long for our kids to begin saying "He is Risen indeed!" after hearing the congregation at church say "He is Risen!" What a blessing to get to celebrate the incredible gift of salvation with our family today!

The kids thoroughly enjoyed playing with their cousins...and Aunts and Uncles too! Here is a fight over candy between James and his Aunt Stephanie. Their mutual love of black jellybeans has created quite the bond between those two!Here are some more fun photos of our Hirst Family Easter Celebration!



Then it was off to the Finnestad's for more fun with the cousins. We are so happy to have Kristin home from Argentina and Jeremy, Maria and the kids in town from Utah. The cousins have a ball together!



Friday, April 10, 2009

Spring "Break"

On Friday the 5th, I had the opportunity to be in Abby & James' classrooms. At the end of the school day, James' teacher asked "How many of you are going on an airplane during Spring Break?" Several hands flew up in the air. "How many of you are taking roadtrips this Spring Break?" Even more hands went up. James leaned over to me and whispered "Where are we going this Spring Break?" to which I responded "We're staying home to play with friends and jump on the trampoline." He was quite satisifed with that answer, however our week ended up being a little more than that. This past week was certainly a break from the norm, but not at all a break from excitement. Here's a recap of our adventures:

Saturday - Jimmy took the boys to Men's Breakfast, while the girls and I stayed home and made our own special Women's Breakfast. Afterwards, he helped some friends move into their new home and that evening we enjoyed having a couple of families over to hang out.

Sunday - We celebrated Jacob's 6th birthday. The theme of the party was "Camping" and included a tent full of balloons, great decorations, a fun fishing game and cooking s'mores over a firepit in the backyard. The boys were then invited to spend the night there - their first slumber party. They watched Bolt in the evening and ate Mickey Mouse waffles in the morning.

Monday - Picked the boys up in the mid morning and then began preparing for Aliya's birthday party.

Tuesday - We celebrated Aliya's 3rd birthday Princess Style. Abby was the official Hair Stylist/Nail Polisher and thoroughly enjoyed doting on the little Princesses at the party. The boys and their friends spent most of the day on the trampoline. Some of us Mommy's enjoyed a little trampoline time ourselves! The kids had a Candy Treasure Hunt in the backyard, followed by more playtime and bubbles.
About 2 hours into the party our "special guest" arrived all the way from Argentina...Auntie Kristin!!!

Wednesday - We switched into Easter mode and dyed eggs at the Currey's. Emma looked like she was turning into the Incredible Hulk when she finished dying hers. It was quite comical. That evening we headed over to the Finnestad's in honor of Kristin's 30th birthday. It's so wonderful to have her back in town.


Thursday - We caravaned to Ferndale for a playdate with the Williams. It was so nice to feel like no time had passed since we (or the kids) had seen eachother last. Everyone just picked up where we left off. We had an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids, which was a big hit. As if there wasn't enough sugar from all the candy, we then pulled out a birthday cake and sang in celebration of several birthdays. I can't believe how many are so close together - Kristin (8th), Jacob (9th), Erin (11th), Aliya (13th) and Jenna (17th). The time went far too quickly. The kids & I loved the time in the car with Auntie Kristin though. We stopped at a rest area about an hour from home and spent some time running through the grass and picking flowers. The remainder of our ride was spent singing Farm Animal songs, which Kristin probably still has stuck in her head!

Friday - Was pretty low key during the day, filled with cleaning & laundry. Though we managed to spend an hour dancing to the HSM 3 soundtrack (I admit, I like it). We had a movie/popcorn/jammies kind of day with Oslakrinkla for dessert...yum!!

This afternoon we will be celebrating the marriage of our cousin Carissa and then it's off to the Finnestad's for Kristin's birthday party/welcome home party. It will be fun to reconnect with people we haven't seen in a while. We especially love spending time with the cousins.

And tomorrow is EASTER!! That will require it's own blog I'm sure. In the meantime, I am so grateful for the precious gift of salvation that we celebrate this weekend...and everyday!

Whew! I think I need a break after this break!