Strawberry Picking!

May 2013

 This year I had a super fun birthday.  Devin had a business trip in Charlotte so I joined him.  My sister in law Sara lives on the way and offered to watch my kiddos.  Having an entire day to myself was heavenly.  I slept in, work out, swam in the pool at the hotel, did lots of shopping, tried on clothes for as long as I wanted without having to worry about a child escaping under the changing room door and my not being able to chase after them because I'm only half-dressed.  It was great. 

 We ate a Cowfish, a cool burger/sushi fusion restaurant.  Then they brought out this amazing dessert, free of charge.  mmmmm.....

 Devin spotted this girl, Sarah, at the restaurant.  She is from a show called "Ready for Love" that got cancelled after 3 shows.  But we still watch it online.  Yep, total nerds.  I don't know what's funnier, the fact that Devin recognized a girl from a dating show or that he convinced me to go talk to her.  Either way, I'm sure this is about the closest I'll ever get to someone famous so I took the opportunity. 

 The kids had a great time playing with their cousins and I got to take pictures of baby Leah, who is so super cute and smiley. 

 Later that week I went out with my friends to celebrate mine and Kim's birthday.  I've always wanted to try brunch at Millie's and it was awesome.  I love these girls.  I seriously have the best friends.  (Jenny, Leslie, Emily, me, Ashlee, Kim, Jeanene and Jen.)

And this was the moment I realized I take too many pictures for people.  Bed head and iPad.  I'm ignoring my kids too much.  So I'm going to try not to do family picture jobs in the future and just stick to a few newborn and kid shoots that come my way.  It's just getting to be too much for this stage of my life.  

 My kids love hanging out on the front step.  The watch the dogs walk by, play with the kids, watch the sunset, it's really nice. 

 Sophie is a funny one.  This one particular morning she asked me to make her an Asian cabbage salad for breakfast. 

 Here's a cute picture from Amelia's birthday party.  I'm amazed Joy got all the kids to cooperate!  Such a cute picture.  Eva loves swimming in the pool now and could stay all day, every day. 

I love to see the temple

 Last weekend we went up to DC for a quick temple trip.  The girls insisted on dressing up.  I think they instinctively know the temple is a special place. 

 I love this one with Sophie climbing into the water fountain in the background.  I was basically just chasing my kids around and pulling Sophie out of the flower bed the whole time.  Everyone walking by just chuckled at me with that, "I've totally been there" look on their faces.  I love these little girls of mine!  

Eva's Preschool Graduation

 Eva had a fantastic year at preschool this year.  After a rocky first couple of weeks of testing her teachers' limits she settled in and became a wonderful, happy student.  She loved her teachers and her "schoolmates" and always had stories to tell about them.  Here are a few pages from her yearbook.

 Look how much her drawings improved over the school year...

 Preschool graduation.  They sang "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah". 

 Mrs. Hughes.

 Our carpool buddy, neighbor, every day-playdate-playmate, Adeline.  The best thing that's happened to me in a long time.  :)

 Here are a couple school pics.  I had a hard time paying for these since I can take her pictures.  But I never get her to smile like that so I couldn't pass them up. 

Congratulations Eva!  You sweet, funny, spunky, loving, lovable little girl!