Rachel's birthday hippo

Rachel's 1st birthday

 

June 11th was Rachel's 1st birthday. She was adorable sitting in her decorated high chair eating her little star shaped cake. The rest of us ate an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. She couldn't blow out her candle so Daddy helped her, but she loved being serenaded. She sat in the special chair to open her presents, but she didn't know how to do that either, so once again Daddy helped her. She got a hippo shape sorter and a new outfit from us, and a rock and roll Ernie and 3 new dresses from the Anderson's. She had no interest in the clothes, loved playing with the hippo, and was terrified of the rock and roll Ernie.

Trip to Chicago

The kids and I took a roadtrip to Chicago for Mimi's graduation. It was a fun filled vacation: We went to an awesome park with super fast slides, a huge spiderweb to climb, and a water area to cool off in. We also visited the Racine Zoo which is right on Lake Michigan. The kids all put their feet in (except Rachel, she stayed dry with me) and Michael ran in and tripped. It was a cool day, very breezy and the water was definately not warm. It didn't phase Michael though, he played in the sand awhile and then put his feet in again. The last day we were there, they took us to Six Flags. Hannah was old enough to ride all the rides this time, which she did. But she still had just as much fun in all the little kid areas too. Michael couldn't ride all the rides, but the ones he could ride he rode over and over. He would literally RUN from the exit to the entrance. Bekah and Sarah were happy with the little rides and they had plenty of big kids to take them if they needed an adult with them. Rachel mostly sat in a stroller all day, but she was perfectly happy as long as we kept the popcorn and cotton candy coming. It was a blast! The kids loved seeing their cousins. Even the car rides were pretty uneventful. Except for a few unexpected detours and one nasty traffic jam where we sat still for an hour on the freeway, it went surprisingly well. They even earned an ice cream cone once we were about 30 minutes from home. Hope you enjoy the pics.

Last days of school

 

Pictures of Hannah on Field Day with her friends, Michael's field trip to the zoo, and lunch at Sonic on the last day of school.

Cute girls

One of the rare occasions I am able to do Bekah and Sarah's hair. If you think they look cute in the picture, you should have seen them before three hours of church.

Brenda turns thirty-*&$#@

May 16th has come and gone. With Mother's Day so close to my birthday I really get spoiled. The kids all came through for me on both days. My birthday was on a Saturday so I had the kids around all day-we mostly just relaxed. The kids had to finish their chores before Mike would take them to the store to buy me birthday presents. So in the mean time, they wrapped up what they found around the house. Michael gave me one of his Star Wars figures, Sarah gave me a piece of pvc pipe, and Bekah gave me a giant plastic penny. It was very sweet. They were very excited to give me their gifts. Mike arranged for a babysitter and took me to dinner and a movie. Then we got an ice cream cake and the kids sang to me.