Tulips

This past weekend we made a little trip down to the Tulip fields.  It was the perfect day, not raining or too chilly.  The sun even came out!  It was beautiful.  We drove around and saw fields upon fields of daffodils and all colors of tulips.  We stopped at one farm and walked around, it was incredible to see the number of flowers blooming. Such a treat to have it so close to us. 

 I think Elliot was the photographer for this picture.. he did a pretty good job.

 These two are nuts.  They both picked out their own clothes (yet during the week when we are trying to get ready they both insist they NEED help picking out clothes and getting dressed, why not when there is photographic evidence?)

 E has already asked if we could go back to that tulip place and get stuck in the mud.

 We took the long scenic Chuckanut Drive home, there were 4 hang gliders soaring in the clouds.

We stopped at Larrabee and did some beach exploring, finding tide pools and purple starfish. Played at the playground, and enjoyed all the fresh spring air.

Easter

What a beautiful Easter weekend.  So much sunshine and happiness.  I think on Saturday alone the kids were outside for 9 hours.  I got some spring cleaning done, with all the windows open and then we had a sister BBQ just like it was summer. Gabby had been counting down the days till Easter for well over 3 weeks, I am not sure what brought on the excitement.  Hopefully the Easter Bunny didn't disappoint with his practical baskets which included new sunglasses, flip flops, Nikes, pajamas, a silver dollar and a chocolate bunny.  Thats it, no other candy. He even hid eggs around the house with quarters and dimes (maybe due to being too lazy to run to the store for candy the night before).  

 Don't let this sad face fool you,  he was excited about his basket.

 I think she woke up with the bunny ears on!  Bummer, her shoes are a little too big and she lost her awesome purple sunglasses the next day on one of our park adventures.

 He just won't stop looking so big! 

 This was it for our pictures, goofy looks only. 

My beautiful girl.

After Church and a few hours outside we had a wonderful family dinner at Aunt Mary's.  It was a wonderful weekend!

Tall as the Trees

These two trees, they keep growing by inches and inches.  It was a NEED to go shopping this past weekend, they were both in high water pants.  E got his haircut yesterday, which just means he looks even older.  Oh and yes, this picture was today.  It was warm enough to go barefoot in the yard, and I guess shirtless if you really have muscles for it!

Concertina by E

Here is an original piece performed and written by Mr Elliot.  "It was my pleasure" he says at the end. Thank you Grandma for the newest addition to the Loud family!

Mermaid Party

What great fun it is to celebrate Gabby turning 6.  In fact we did it a few times.  Friday night was the family pizza party.  6 pizzas, lots of family and a few friends, and a yummy ice cream cake made by Aunt Molly. The whoopi cushion Elliot got as a replacement from the one that got broken on Christmas was a huge hit.  Kids squealing and laughing and running thru the house.  After the party Friday, I stayed up late finishing my crafts and Saturday morning we had the early basketball game to complete the Kindergarten season.

  

 Celebrating 6 years old at the family party.

 The "Sweet Shop" set up in the living room, all the kids got to fill up their own little bag with lots of candy.  Gummy sharks are a must at a mermaid party.  Clay and I have discussed keeping this up in the living room full time, HA!

 Starfish hair clips and a few headbands I made for each of the girls.  I wasn't sure about how to make these when Gabby suggested them, but I ended up being pretty happy with them.

 My oyster cookies.  2 shortbread cookies (these had swirls on them which worked well for looking like shells, or you could use nilla waffers) some pink frosting and a hard mint for the pearl. 

 Mermaid tails diving into the blue ocean... or so they were supposed to be. The frosting was kind of a mess, but I loved making the green mermaid tails out of chocolate. 

 At one point ALL the girls were playing dress up, good thing we have a big selection!

 Happiest of birthdays!

These are mermaids made out of clothespins. I painted the green, and had the tails cut out (Actually I gave Clay the task of tracing and cutting out all the foam tails!) before the party. Each girl got to draw her own bikini top, face and then pick the hair color they wanted.  

I would say the party was a success, I stressed out about it a bit- but we all had a great time and it was nice to get to know the kids outside of school and some of their parents!

6 is sweet

Sweet Gabby Jean is six years old!  How can that be, the most amazing day...  the day that Gabrielle was born.  It is when I became MOM, my most favorite thing in the world.  Yes, Clay and I were our own little family before she came along, and then with the addition of Elliot j we are a complete family.  That day 6 years ago is what changed my life, and I am so blessed by all that has come between then and now- and all that is to come.
  French toast and bacon were requested for breakfast.  With too early a wake up after too late a bedtime for me, let me just say I am no french toast master. She brought pencils to all her classmates since they can't do any food items. Her teacher is out with the flu so she didn't have her birthday bag waiting for her, but I had warned her it might happen and she was just fine with it.  She wore a new outfit from Grandma.  She skipped her last basketball practice and stayed home to play Barbies instead., with her Barbies driving around in a new VW Bug. She wanted dinner from Jack in the Box.  During her shower she wrote on the fogged up door "I love trng six."  Tomorrow she is wearing her Perry shirt, she is so excited Party Auntie and Fancy Uncle.  We tried to do her Hello Kitty Chia pet, but it turns out you have to soak it for an hour and it was already too close to bedtime. I tell her how amazing she is and how I love being her mom, and she tells me the best thing is her getting to be our girl. Did I mention she is Sweet?
  A family pizza party is planned for Friday, followed Saturday by a party with school friends. It sounds like almost all of the 11 girls will be here.  Eek, what did I get myself into?  I am currently making felt starfish hair clips for the mermaid swag bags and a dresser has been moved into the living room to be set up as a candy shop! Pictures to come next week, if I can manage to take them and post them.

Remember.

Things I always want to remember:
Elliot told me he was going to marry me on our drive to the library. Then tonight I asked him after reading a book about basketball if he was going to dream of basketball, or baseball? "no. I gonna dream about you. When I marry you."
 Gabby reading books, sounding out words like a champion. Asking me to ask her more math questions.  In the car I asked her multiplication. She did the 2s and the 5s,  easily. Kindergarten doesn't teach that- that is US, her parents teaching her.
Veggies and kids, a winning combination in our home.  Yesterday they both needed snacks (per usual) and both grabbed heads of romaine lettuce, taking huge bites and laughing the whole time.  Tonight while I made chinese chicken salad, after they took turns spinning the napa cabbage clean they nibbled it and talked about if it was musical. ... musical, ya know- gives you toots.  Gabby said she really liked the napa cabbage, better than the regular.
 At the store, a new big plant in the cart taking up most of the room.  Elliot sat in the big basket, with the leaves hanging over him.  He was Tarzan in the jungle, I got to be the gorilla. He wanted to buy the little plastic lemon or lime filled with juice. We went with the lime, he opened it up and tried to taste it. Sour a bit? Then we picked out 3 new flavors of bubble gum, lemon square and sherbet along with watermelon.  Our new favorite lately is root beer float, all these kids love gum.
 We have spent too much time cooped up in the house, cold weather, zero visibility fog, colds. We finally are back into 40degree weather. Yesterday I had all 4 kids, Gabby had a fever the night before so we waited for her to be 24 hrs fever free to go back to school. We stopped at Grandpa's, baby EE took a nap on Grandpa while we cruised around the block and the alley.  G & E on scooters and cousin C on her trike.  We visited the chickens and ducks, did the "BIG" hill down the alley, and finished up climbing the tree and drawing bright beautiful chalk pictures all over the sidewalk.  Today was Elliot on his 2 wheeler and me trying to run.  We made it 1.12 miles, it took 23 minutes and I had to keep corralling E along.  It was a great time.
Gabby is on the countdown for her birthday, so excited and anxious.  It's hard to plan a party when you can't send invitations to school unless you invite the whole class. Not going to happen. I finally got all the girls in the class parent contact info. Half got email invites the others I had to call. A few of the parents and I struggled to communicate in English, so I texted them the info.  This was the night of the fever, so when she awoke in the middle of the night I laid down and told her about talking with her friends parents and our plans for a mermaid shindig.
 War and slapjack have been happening, it is so hard to play with this family.  Everyone but me is so competitive. Gabby asks Clay why he won't go easy on them. Elliot stacks the deck when he deals, and peaks before laying down each card.
Love these kids, they melt my heart and are so much fun.