A Quick Review Jan-Jun 2010

January: 

My aunt who is super crafty and creative introduced us to rock painting. We loved it so much that we bought our own supplies and spent much of the month looking for odd or unique shaped rocks and turning them into mice, dinosaurs, hamburgers, or what ever the rocked seemed to want to be. Everyone got really into it. We had friends, family, and neighbors over for rock painting parties.

February: 

 I LOVE valentines day. Not for the floo floo over done chocolate and roses part of it, but just for the hearts, the doing something nice for those that you love, the red and pinks, and the opportunity to have something special in the middle of a dark and usually wet Washington month. We always have a Valentine's meal, the kids hand out the cards they make for their parents, grandparents, and each other, they get little gifts and decorate heart shaped cookies. 

March: 

This is a special month because we celebrate Ella's birthday! She turned 4 in 2010 and wanted a Dora/Princess/Music/Diego party. It was an interesting combo. We did kind of a jungle/monkey theme, she dressed like a princess, we did a conga line, and parachute with balloons, and had the kids pick the activities from Dora/Diego backpacks. I think we got everything she wanted in there. Here's hoping we can convince her to embrace ONE theme in a couple of months. :)

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day at Great Wolf. We were there three days and Jon's Dad joined us for one of the days and on the last day my brother Adam brought up our little Danali. We had fun in the craft center, and the kids and Dad LOVED Magi-Quest (I loved the precious hours of alone time), the water park was amazing, we had such a wonderful time that it was tears and sadness from Caden when it was time to go. 

 Another fun March event was a concert I went to with my friend Monica. It was hosted by a wonderful couple who are devoted to promoting up and coming artists and creating an intimate yet thriving music scene here on the peninsula. This band was called the "Make Peace Brothers" and they are great. Look them up on youtube and you will see what I mean. It started out as a concert, turned into a dance party, then into the ultimate limbo show down.  It was such a great evening. 

                                                                          
                                                                             April:

We took the kids to an Easter egg hunt in Belfair. It was too funny watching Ella's group rifle through the straw looking for eggs. She was unstoppable and won the competition in her age group for finding the most eggs. I shouldn't have been surprised that she found egg after egg no matter how cleverly hidden they were because she is the first one we call upon when we can't find something at home. She was really uncertain about getting her award basket from the guy in the bunny costume, but with Daddy by her side she claimed her reward. Bolstered by Ella's win, Caden went tearing onto the field when his age group came around. Unfortunately he was distracted by the shear joy of diving through piles of hay, throwing the the hay, and flopping around in the hay. He didn't win for finding the most amount of eggs and was so disappointed that we had him "win" which ever baked good he wanted from the bake sale table. Every one was smiling when we left. 

April was also the month that we started in on a bunch of remodeling projects. We got a new refrigerator and vanity for the bathroom as well as a sink and new stove all of which came in large boxes. So we decided to put the boxes to good use and created "Box City". We taped all the boxes together and the kids decorated it with tissue paper, glitter glue, and markers. It stayed up all of spring break and beyond and every kid that passed through our door put their mark on it. After almost two weeks it was a time to take it down, sad day for our little ones. I found half of all their toys in there, remnants of snacks, blankets, pillows, and all sorts of treasures. It stands to this day one of their most favorite "toys". 

                                                                          May:

My heart breaks to say this, but because of the robbery, I don't have any photos from May of last year. It know it was a full month because I pulled out my 2010 calendar and every square has something written on it. I started off the month with a trip to Utah to be there when my dear friend Alexys had her baby girl. Being there for that event was a wonderful gift. We also celebrated several birthdays including my mom's, we had a wonderful mother's day, and Jon and I had a great vacation to Las Vegas with Monica and Brian. Ella finished up her session of ballet and she was just beautiful (and I had taken the most adorable photos of her admiring herself in the ballet mirror every week) and so proud of the things she learned. She also had a field trip to Miss Barb's garden. This is an annual event at her preschool, one which Caden went on twice and this was Ella's second trip. Her nana and Despa came and she felt so special to have not only her mom chaperone but her grandparents as well. May was also the last month of Caden's tee ball season. I can't believe how much he improved from the beginning of the season to the end. He started off   counting bugs and butterflies in the outfield to playing every position from first to catcher with some amount of skill. 

                                                                         
                                                                      June:
June was unseasonably warm which made it the perfect time for an outdoor party. It marked the beginning of summer break and we started what I think will be an annual tradition of throwing a laua party. With the help my good friends we had a fun with bubbles, water balloons, running obstacle courses in the sprinkler, and basically setting the tone for a fun active summer. It was also the beginning of a budding friendship between Danali and Danika. Danika is only a month older than Danali and they either adore each other or torture one another. I love watching these babies together. They crack me up every moment.

My friend Jackie and I took our kids to the Underwater Naval Museum. They had a fun time with water activities, making hats, getting their faces painted, and learning about submarines and boats. They had an area for kids to play with legos, lots of coloring stations, story time, and a host of other hands on activities for the kids. I love living on the peninsula. You never run out of educational, interactive, and entertaining activities for kids.