let the mystery be: New house, birthdays, and ..........favorite things about spring/summer

It has been nearly three months since we took the time to sit down and mull through all the photos and activities of our days of late. They have been full. Spring is always a busy time... and a joyous time. Mom is preoccupied with birds and all their breeding activity that is squeezed into these beautiful and bountiful months of spring. The end of the semester overlapping makes for a very hectic time indeed. Amidst it all though, we spend more time outside as a family - eating our meals together picnic style, going for walks and hikes, kicking the soccer ball, exploring the world around us in search of critters and flowers. And amidst all of that, this year we somewhat spontaneously moved into a new house and sold our old one. Suffice it to say that this has been an exhausting endeavor, especially for Jason, but one that we feel good about.

We are now fully settled into the new house with ideas for projects and ways to make it our special home slowly emerging. We were very fortunate to sell our old house in one day, followed by two months of repairs and headaches to finally close with a big sigh of relief. Jason has spent many nights and "spare" hours over at the old house fixing stuff and we are grateful to have him home with more time to play guitar and chill. We actually went on a date and had a 14 year old neighbor babysit! Also, the bird breeding season is past its peak and at a much more manageable pace. Now is the time for sitting by the pool and planning camping trips/fun activities...more to come on this.....

So, what sorts of fun have we been having amidst all the chaos...???? Well, Jason planned a mother's day canoe trip to a local wildlife management area where we paddled, picnicked and fished. Perfect day.

...and Alder turned 6!! Alder has become such a big boy lately. He is getting very excited to transition to 1st grade at a new school in the fall. He is reading very well and continues to be facsinated by predators of any kind. He is very inquisitive and enjoys non-fiction books about animals. He had a birthday party at Pump It Up - a blow up castle crazy funhouse for kids. He had wanted such a party ever since his good friend had one there months before. This was a first for us - paying to have a party somewhere, two hours of complete madness, no house to clean (pre- or post- party), and one happy kid. Fun, but don't really care to do it again. I made him a double decker strawberry sheet cake with cream cheese frosting and Jason beautifully decorated it. I have to say it WAS super yummy.

Here are some recent drawings from our blooming artist. Art camp to come in August. That is a crystal and a "cheetah bat" incase you were wondering.

He lost a tooth and has another loose.

...and went to his first taekwondo class today - returned super excited to go back and learn all there is to learn. Seems like this will be a very positive thing for him. We will see.

Heath also had a birthday more recently and is now 4! Here is the scene from his party. Chilling under the carport. Baking Shrinky dinks. Adults sipping beers, kids eating cupcakes and running up and down from the playroom or squirting water shooters. Good times.

Two of Heaths best buds from school - Camilla and Charlie.

Vanilla cupckaes with buttercream frosting. Leopard cupcake paper (from Joanns). SCORE. Generally, this was a much more enjoyable party from the grown up perspective. Despite the mess to clean up (which wasn't much).

..and finally.....a few things we are loving about summer:

sidewalk chalk on our new driveway (old house had gravel and boys are enjoying this new surface for bikes and drawing):

Smoothie smiles. We are thankful the boys still love the fruit-filled, peanut butter and soy milk laden smoothies of their toddlerdom. Best lunch around on a 90 degree day.