June 2018

Last day of school!

Mrs. Lanser

Our boys

Our friend's leg got stuck in the bench- firefighters to the rescue

Beach day with the Gabrielse kids

Happy Father's Day!

Lexi and Athiya

Neighborhood kid superheroes

Our hairstyles are beginning to look alike...

Hoffmaster State Park

-The kids finished school! Before the "last day" picture was taken there was bossiness, hitting, mom exasperated, kid refusing to be in the picture, other kids rolling their eyes in exasperation and Mom thinking, sweet mercy how long is summer vacation? 
-We camped at Hoffmaster State Park with the Petersons. Nyriou and Athiya are still with them, so 10 kids between our families- meal times are stressful! But we always enjoy our time together. 
-We celebrated Nate on Father's Day! He is a phenomenal Dad. He is dedicated, brings the order and the fun, is always trying to parent our kids well according to their unique needs, and models how to love deeply. We love him so very much. We gave Nate a lightweight backpacking hammock. 
-We hired College Works Painting to paint the exterior of our house.  What a headache, the job is done but we had alot of clean up. 
-And we spent the month getting ready for our Korea trip- that will be the next blog post. 

May 2018

Sick little boy who fell asleep while I practiced my cello

Tulip Time 5k

Tulip Time

Kinderparade

Caleb marched in 3 parades

Mother's Day gifts- Stephen gave me plugs of dirt with seeds 😂

Love my mom

Lots of garden work

Girls love face painting

Whitecaps game

Last day of junior kindergarten and 3 yr preschool

She picked out this swimsuit

Skiing with the Gabrielse

Mrs. Grassmid and Mrs. Snow

Julia did sacred dance at church

 -Nate and the older boys ran the Tulip Time 5k and rocked it.  Caleb was busy marching in parades and Isaac was glad this is the last year he has to wear a costume.
-Caleb went on a 7th grade retreat for 3 days, had a great time.
-Julia participated in sacred dance, the performance was beautiful
-Our friends the Gabrielse got a boat and took us out- yay for friends with a boat!
-Nate made a wonderful photo collage for me on Mother's Day and the kids gave me flowers and sweet handmade gifts.
-The littles had their last day of school- a fantastic year for both of them.

The rest of April 2018

Four year old (wearing a Julia outfit)- adorable

She loves pandas! 

Handsome boys

Who were so adorable

Caleb's lacrosse team

Nate's spring project

-We celebrated Lexi's 4th birthday! She requested a panda cake (of course) and I think we had macaroni and cheese for her birthday supper- her favorite food.  We gave her mag-tiles for her gift. Lexi is spunk and silliness and strength and smarts and affection and exasperation all rolled into one special girl.
-We got to watch Cardale's soccer game and go out for dinner together.  What a joy to watch him grow up and to see the boys together.
-Caleb had a fun lacrosse year, we enjoy watching him play and become more assertive on the field.  And I still don't know all the rules.
-Nate (and the kids) worked hard on creating raised garden beds- the work payed off!

April 2018

Playing at a local park with Jack

Chilly Easter egg hunt

Happy Easter

Beginning our adventure

Enjoying the museum with Blaise and Simeon

Great day with Reuben's family

Bike tour of monuments

Roosevelt Memorial

Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial

Martin Luther King Jr Memorial

Pandas!

Komodo dragon

Great day at the zoo

Uncle Martin and Aunt Laura

 -We had a spring break trip!  We spent Easter weekend at Mike and Colleen's house. The cousins played non-stop- our kids especially liked the air hockey table and trampoline. We did the sunrise Easter service at a local park- freezing. Then we did an egg hunt, Aunt Colleen had a lot of candy filled eggs! After that we went to the regular Easter morning service.  We all enjoyed our time with family.
-On Monday we drove to Reston,VA and stayed at Stacy's Uncle Martin's house.  Martin and Laura were amazing hosts.  So friendly and Martin cooked/baked continuously for us.
-On Tuesday we took the subway into the city, very interesting for the kids.  We met up with Reuben's family for a day of sightseeing.  We saw the Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museum.  The museums were packed! Very challenging to keep track of 12 kids.  We lost Mattias for a little while, but Reuben had written his cell number on Mattias' arm so a lady called when she found him.  The funny/not funny? part is, no one knew Mattias was even missing. We ate lunch from food trucks- a first for our family. We also walked over to the capitol building for some pictures.  So glad we could spend the day with Reuben's family!
-On Wednesday we left the littles with Martin and Laura and we headed back to DC with the older 3.  We went on a bike tour of the monuments- we highly recommend it! Way better than walking around DC in the heat for miles on end. We also walked thru the American Indian Museum.  Stephen and Lexi went to a park and had a fun day as well. Martin discovered that Lexi will do anything for a dollar. :)
-On Thursday we drove to the National Zoo.  Lexi was so excited to see pandas! The lions and komodo dragon were also big hits.  For dinner we went to the Lotte store with Martin and Laura for some Korean food.
-On Friday we packed up and drove home, grateful for a fun spring break trip together.