my birthday is the best day!

lucia turned three yesterday and told us all day "my birthday is the best day!" we woke her up with the whole family coming in her room and singing happy birthday! she was glowing and yelled "thank you it is my birthday!" then she came down to open gifts and blow out three candles on a maple bar! here she is keagan right after opening gifts. she was so excited about her gifts! i got her this little side table for her new cd player grammy got her for her room. i found it at the farm chicks show. it is soooooooooo darling. she totally understood presents this time around and was ecstatic with each one.

she always licks all the maple off and hands me the bar. . . .

then we were off to mobius the children's museum downtown. i took all four kiddos with me and they all loved it. these bikes are always a hit! she loves to stop at the traffic lights.

so this is how we found lucia all day singing to her new cd dad made her in her birthday skirt and NEW RED COWGIRL BOOTS! what sassy three year does not need red cowgirl boots! aaron made her a cd with all her favorite songs. . . . soul sister by train, fireflies by owl city, party in the usa by miley cyrus, and baby beluga by raffi. i'm not sure it was the best idea to get her something that amplifies her voice. it is already the loudest voice i've ever heard in my life.

love this picture!

our darling three year old!

we had grammy and grampy over for a guatemalan dinner and corn on the cob. . lucia's all time favorite food!and of course tres leches cake! nobody could read what it said except for kinkade. WE LOVE LUCIA! duh????

second blowing out the candles of the day!

we ended dinner with everyone saying what they loved best about having lucia in our family. . here is what the family said. . .

grammy - fun and laughter

daddy - all her sweet kisses and how many times a day she says "i love you." to all of us

mommy - she is the happiest human on the planet

keagan - loves that she is from guatemala

kinkade - loves her sass and joy!
grampy - lucia is very very sweet and nice!

then we took lucia to her first movie at the theatre toy story 3! she loved the movie but she loved the popcorn the most!

we had such a great day celebrating lucia! she loved every second and we love every second she has been in our family. we love you lucia so much! happy third birthday!

just me and my boys. . bye bye first grade:(

we had the very best start to summer ever! aaron had a business trip to portland so he took the girls with him and they spent a couple days with papa and grandma. i know, brave dad - a one year old and two year old on the plane by himself. . . but i guarantee he got lots of attention and help. everyone helps dads. . especially cute dads with cute girls:) so i got to start summer with only the boys!!! it was a blast and so special. i can't tell you how excited i was just to focus on them and not have a baby in my arms and a toddler hanging on me. we did every "big kid activity" we could think up. we spent the first day at silverwood and ate subway on the way there and panda express on the way home. . oh yeah then a quick stop at krispy kremes after panda express. i came home with a new love handle that i didn't leave the house with. we went down really fast steep slides for 3 hours and they both held my hands on the trek up to the slide each trip. i know i do not have many more years of hand holding with these boys so i savor it every time and do not take it for granted.
the next day we went downtown to eat at our favorite sandwich place on the planet then off to ride the ferris wheel and rollercoaster at the park. we came home went to the lake and they caught a turtle and named him "charl" no not charles . . just charl mom! they played with charl for hours and then put him back in his habitat. we came home in time to go to the movies. we saw karate kid and cuddled the whole time! it was amazing and we all loved it. i feel like i have been taking care of babies for the last two years and have not just got to enjoy my boys and do big kid stuff. i loved every minute! but we all missed our babies too and were so happy to see them when they got home.

this is keagan and kinkade on the last day of school they refused to smile b/c they were so sad that first grade was over. if the camera was turned my face looked worse. they had the most perfect year in every way. they literally ran and skipped to school each day and we had to hold them back until it was time to go. they learned so much and felt valued and loved each and every day!

here they are leaving the last time for first grade and of course lucia following close behind trying to go to school with them.

introducing mrs. mcquilkin the reason it was the best year ever. she is beautiful on the inside and outside. we all adored her. i could not buy her enough starbucks cards to thank her for all her hard work and the way she loved our boys each and every day. she is amazing and God created her in every way to be a first grade teacher!

a little luau!

the boys and my mom planned a little luau dinner for my birthday. here is the cake the boys decorated. . they called it "find the word cake!" my mom's table always looks spectacular!

love this girl so much. . .

and this one!

a little hula dancing! thanks mom, keagan and kinkade what a fun night!

wildhorse canyon family camp 2010

we had the most amazing long weekend at young life's wildhorse canyon. young life is an incredible ministry and their camping properties and experiences are unbelievable! aaron was asked to speak at family camp and we could not say yes fast enough. wildhorse canyon has a very special place in our heart. the story of how it came to be is one of my favorite God stories of all time. . if your curious check out young life or wildhorse canyone (also known as washington family ranch.) aaron had a huge part in this property from the beginning and it could be his favorite place on the planet. it is located in central oregon and so gorgeous. we spent a month there on young life assignment when the boys were one and half so it holds many special memories for us not to mention all the times we took high school kids to camp. if you ever have a chance to send your middle school student or high school student to young life camp it is incredible! if you want to join us for family camp let me know it was one of the best weekends we have ever have together. i apologize for the marathon post but i just wanted to capture it all. i decided to organize the post in highlights for each child. so here it goes. . . .

first . . . .kinkade's highlights!

this is a picture of dad after kinkade and keagan dunked him in the dunk tank at the family carnival night! he is such a good sport.

here is dad after kinkade earned enough tickets to throw water balloons at dad's face!

he loved this balance game with his best buddy max. kinkade makes friends wherever we go. little boys loved this game helmets, balance, knocking over and really big punching bags!

kinkade and keagan spent hours on the high dive.

max and the boys.

i have never seen a kid so enthusiastic for family field games. he was thrilled with every event.

he did the ice block race i think at least three times. could not get enough. he told me it was a brilliant idea:)

i love his sheer joy jump here as our team performed our team song for the judges. wildhorse canyon is better than disneyland for a little boy. there are at least 5 full beautiful soccer fields, a wiffle ball field, an amazing sportscenter with three full court bb courts, two tennis courts, and 5 huge climbing walls and skate board park. not too mention the gigantic pool, zip line i could go on and on. kinkade said it was the best weekend of his life!

second. . lucia's highlights. ... . . the best part of the carnival for lucia was the cotton candy.

she spent lots of time dancing around and singing at camp and getting tons of attention for it as always.

popcorn at the carnival this kid loves her snacks and treats.

we had lots of time to just be together in the water and the many beautiful grassy fields. i love the willow trees.

lucia is obsessed with horses. there are a few horses we drive by everyday and we spend a lot of our time in the car talking about horses. so we surprised her at wildhorse with a ride on a real horse she was beyond thrilled.

during the family field games each team made a flag and lucia was a our flag girl. she played with the flag the entire time.

another highlight for lucia was the program guys. every young life camp has program characters that are in charge of all the fun! they do walk ons at every club and every meal. sid and captain crunch were her favorite super heroes.

probably her favorite highlight of the entire weekend i did not get a picture of because i was always in the water with her. we got her floaties for the water and she could not believe she could swim anywhere in the pool by herself. she would of swam all weekend. i had to take this picture of her zonked at the end of the day. . so tired from all the fun.

third keagan highlights. . . .

keagan looking smug after dunking dad in the dunk tank at the carnival.

dad in the dunk tank:)

keagan also loved the high dive and even did a front flip we were all amazed.

he was so excited to blob this year!

this could of been keagan's top high light the horse feed, shaving cream, flour all camp war.

the all camp war started with the kids on an adults backs. . the boys were stoked and loved every minute.

more shovel races at the feild games.

keagan was chosen to be on top during the mattress races.

the weekend started off with a bang for keagan at club the first night they sang "party in the usa" by miley cyrus. he looked at me like this is going to be amazing mom! we had been listening to that song all the way down to oregon.
and lastly emery's highlights. . .

love this sweet profile picture.

emery's highlights were lots of cuddling, laughter, and just enjoying everyone being together. she loves it when we are all together in one place.

emery's first ride on a horse. she wasn't as thrilled as lucia buy liked it.

on dad's shoulder cracking up with that darling scrunchy face.

wrestling with dad her very favorite activity.

practicing walking she is so close.

emery at club one night crawled away from us and just watched and listened on her own for some reason i thought it was so cute. so if you are still with me at this point of the longest post of all time i'm sorry. it was just a magical weekend and we have a lot of little humans with a lot of little high lights. go to wildhorse or any young life property for that matter they are all over the country and you won't regret it.