Park Fun

 Last week we went to see my grandma and she suggested taking some bread to the park to feed the birds.

 They were glad to see us!

 This guy followed Jack for a while.

 He stuck with him until all the bread was gone!

 The kids found their way into the water, too.

 Thankfully I had some extra clothes in the car!

We finished up at the playground.  We have been having cooler weather so far this summer and it has been wonderful!

Bird Babies

 Each summer we have at least one killdeer nest in our driveway but something has always happened to the eggs and we've never gotten to see the babies.

 This year we watched the nest and waited...and waited and waited.  I thought the eggs were never going to hatch but then we noticed two were gone.

Jay came home and asked if we'd seen the killdeer babies.  Sure enough, there were three tiny little killdeer running around our front yard!

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

 Last week we went to a fudge-making demonstration at our local Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

 The kids got to go back and see how they mixed everything up in the giant copper cauldron.

 Once it reaches a certain temperature, they pour it out on a granite slab.

 Then they add in chocolate pieces and whatever else they need to make that kind of fudge.

 I am pretty sure dinner would be more exciting if I could make it on the table with a giant paddle.

 Everyone got to taste it!

 The kids also got to take home a chocolate coin.

 After the demo we each picked a treat.  Alice made short work of this bear.

 Jack went for chocolate covered marshmallows.  I had the pecan clusters.  Oh. My. Goodness.  They were sooooo good!

If you're local, they're doing this every Wednesday at 4:00 through July.  It's so much fun!

Party Day!

 We've always done birthday parties at home or at the park, but this year we held them at different places and both on the same day--it was a long day!

 Jack had a swimming party and before they could swim, the kids had to do a swimming assessment.  Even though Alice can't swim, she charged right in.  The lifeguard helped her to the other side and she waited patiently for her floaties.  She had a great time!

 There was one other party for part of the time and then the kids had the pool to themselves.

 Jack chose a Sponge Bob cake.

 Can you see the glee on his face?  He got an Annoying Orange DVD.

 The whole group!

 Alice had her party at Little Gym.  She has been asking to do this since we went to a party there in February.  It was so cute when she and her friend saw each other through the window.  They were excited!

 Alice loved sitting in the middle of the parachute.

 Her favorite thing, though, was knocking over the cheese mat.

After they played it was time for cake!

 She was quite the ham when it came time to open presents.  I think it took her about ten minutes to open this one--the more people laughed, the more she took her time!

 The whole group--some were nice enough to spend their whole afternoon and evening with us!

Thank you so much to everyone who came and celebrated with us.  Our kids have some terrific friends!

Happy Birthday, Jack Henry!

 Jack started his day off at 5:00 with his new copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  Thankfully Jay had left it by his bed and I was able to sleep until 7:00, when I got up and found him lying in the hallway reading.

 This is how he looked the entire time we were in the car.

 We went to the movies and I had a coupon for a free medium popcorn, so he got his own bag.  It turns out the a medium popcorn is huge.

 He requested Applebee's for lunch, where the waitress brought him a free dessert for his birthday.

 Then it was off to the store to spend some of his birthday money--here he is telling Jay about the TMNT figures he got.

 Back home it was more of this.

 His 4:30 picture--I was playing with Alice and her dollhouse and he had just come in to see what time it was.

Singing "Happy Birthday" one more time!

 

I agreed to a game of Monopoly since it was his birthday.  We played more today and there's still no winner.

After that we found that my computer was in imminent danger of bursting into flames (or something like that) and I had to go to the store at 10:00 to get a new external hard drive to back everything up.  Hopefully we (and by we, I mean Jay, or course, since I know nothing about computers) will have it all back to normal soon!

Happy birthday, Boots!  We love you so much!

Happy Birthday, Alice June!

 Alice started off her day with a new dollhouse!  (Kudos to Jay for staying up late and assembling this!)  It was a nice way to start the day after sleeping all by herself all night for the first time--and she's also ditched the pull-up at night!

 She has been asking for hot chocolate all the time lately and I haven't let her have it because it's so hot out already.  Guess what she had this morning?

 We ran errands and visited Jay and my parents at their offices while Jack was in VBS.  Then we had pizza with cousins for lunch.

 Alice was excited to play video games with Piers.  I love this expression on her face!

 We had dessert at CherryBerry.

 And of course this is what she picked!

 June 5, 2013, 3:31 pm:  Exactly 4 years old!

We spent the evening playing and reading and Alice decided she wanted to have a sleepover--much like her very first night.  I could still hear them laughing when I started this, so I hope they're ready to get up in the morning!

Happy birthday, Alice June!  We love you so much!