the merry month of May

Well, we have had a lot of things happen this month, so I will just put a couple of highlights. It seems like May gets so busy with the end of school, soccer season finishing up, so many parties and things to go to, our anniversary, Mothers Day, trips and family coming to visit. It just flew by in a flash of fun activities, but we loved it all. My sister Suzi and her husband Matt came to see us. Suzi is a whiz in the kitchen, here she is whipping up a batch of blackberry cream cheese muffins for ally's school teacher appreciation. Those lucky teachers, they were the tastiest muffins I ever had. I tried to re-create them later, without Sue, but not even close. She also gave me the best recipe for Mexican Lasagna I have ever had.
Josh and I got to spend a few days in SanFrancisco last week. We are sad that Cale and Hailey moved so far away but are glad that they moved somewhere so fun. We are at the Golden Gate bridge. It is very high. A helicopter flew under it while we were on it. We ate delicious sourdough bread and saw the sea lions and rode the Trolley cars and went to China town, and walked and walked and walked all over the town, there was so much to see and do. We can;t wait to go back.
Here are the kids modeling their Chinatown pj's.
Pretty tricky.
Uncle Nick also got back from China yesterday, after being there since December. We were happy too see him, Ava loves Nick. We are excited to go up today and see his pictures and hear all about his trip.

So those were a couple of May highlights. I can;t believe that the month is already gone. Only three more days of school, and then summer is here. Hope everyone is doing good.

Happy birthday batman

Our little superhero is 4 today. He wanted puffy pancake for breakfast, complete with four candles to blow out. They kept melting in the hot pancake though, so we stuck them in a hamburger bun where they stayed in place beautifully.
And then after church we went up to grandma and pa-pa's where Luke got a cake in the shape of an L. I think 80% of the frosting got eaten and 10% of the cake.
That frosting with the dots is rather tasty though. I was giving some to Ava, but then there was some still left on my finger. Really. Look at the excitement on that little face as he sees the four-pack of superheroes. I love being the mom to these little kids, they make everything so exciting and fun.
and here is batman in his cape, mask, utility belt and bat-arang enseble. Looking good batman, here's to another year. We love you!

moneydooz and skateboarding

Ally got to go to Monkeydooz for a friend's birthday, a hair salon fir little girls. They did her hair and nails. she loved the hairdo, and slept in it for two nights until it was super fuzzy and we had to take it out.
Look at this little teenage wannabe and her posing. and look at my sad daffodils that I bought from Costco, I just don;t think they are going to make it. But isn't ally's hair cute?

and Luke' new love besides superheroes is skateboarding. His pinata for his birthday is a skateboard even though it is a superhero theme (he just can't pick between batman and incredible hulk. too hard, they are both so cool) so here he is trying out a few tricks.



However, this new hobby has not been healthy for our wood floors.
Look at that caveman go!

Easter

The Saturday before Easter we spent a fun day with Cale and Hailey and cousin Kira up at Grandma and Granpa Wester's house. Here are some of our fun activities.

Ally was so happy that grandma bought a new juicer, they wasted no time in cutting up all kinds of fruits and vegetables to juice, it turned out really yummy.

Gail had a fun Easter egg hunt out back for the kids. They had fun finding eggs, Ava liked it once she figured out there was candy in there. But she never really got the plan of getting a lot, just enjoying the one or two she happened to stumble into.
Luke and Ally raced around getting eggs. I put this picture in also, so you could see the beautiful view behing Grandma and pa-pa's house.

Then we played some games, had egg races, and chick races. Here, if you can't tell, the chicks are racing to see who can be first to make it from the edge of the sheet to the food in the middle. I think batman won. He is the most competitive of the chicks.
And then Sunday, while we were at church, the Easter bunny came. He followed the Campbell tradition of throwing the eggs and candy all over the floor so the kids could rush around and grab it up. Ava could tell it was candy this time and got into the fun. I think the Easter bunny brought too much candy though, as there was still quite a lot on the floor by the time the kids stopped gathering.

We then had a good talk about the real meaning of Easter, and had a great holiday with our family.

baby chicks for Easter

Happy Easter!

Well, Ally has been asking and asking for baby chicks this year for Easter. (Can you tell that she is an animal lover?..that is all she talks about. Oh, and boys. And Hannah Montana. And her friends, and sometimes school,but the rest of the time, animals.) I told her no.
...but thanks to Grandma and Pa-pa Wester, who live in a chicken-friendly community (we do not) and decided that fresh eggs might be tasty and fun, they decided to get some chicks. Which meant that Ally, Luke and Ava got to go to the feed store and each pick one out.

I don't know if Gran and pa-pa will ever actually get to see, hold, or keep at their house-these chicks- now that the kids have picked them out and named and loved and loved and loved them. They have spent most the night just sitting and watching and patting them. They are planning on sneaking downstairs while they are sleeping to play with them in the night. Ally has been asking me all day if this is just a dream, and that she loves the chicks more than her guinea pig, hermit crabs, and fish. And they have been so loyal.

So let me introduce you to Batman, Peepster, and Chicken (from left to right) the most loved chicks in Eagle city limits. Lets hope they survive that love, and that they are girl chickens. It is really hard to tell, Gail and I had a hard time, but the guy at the feed store had a "trick", girl chickens have weaker leg muscles and can't reach up and peck you when you hold them upside down by the legs. So we either have girls or weak-legged boys. Only time will tell. but at least we have some happy kids this Easter.

weekend in the snow

Despite the spring weather here in Eagle, we went up to a cabin in Tamatak with some friends last weekend, where winter is still alive and well.

The kids are enjoying a treat of icicles. They were all around the house, some almost as big around as the kids, I am glad that none of them fell off while we were under them. they could have done some serious damage.
Little snow angel Ava.
Besides being a tasty treat-it didn't take the boys long to figure out an additional use for the icicles.

We had a fun time, the kids loved playing in the snow, but after putting on and taking off and putting on and taking off the winter clothes,-well, lets just say I am grateful that Spring is almost here.

music fun

The kids have come up with "can music" which means one kid is banging on the pots and pans while the other plays the "cymbals". Luke is pointing at Ally letting her know she is up.


Then they switch. I love that they are so creative and work so well together. I just wish it was somehow a little quiter. Josh and I have to escape upstairs during a few of their numbers. To keep our sanity.
Our other favorite musical activity is putting on my running play list and dancing around the house, practicing for the girls dancing with the stars audition.
Here I am showing the kids that this old mama still has some moves.
And I love Ava's face here, wild and happy after some having a fun time together.