A Blessed Event

May 8th Jayden was dedicated at Nampa First. My family and Steen's parents came up to be there in support. It was an awesome time to be together and to continue a faith based tradition. 

The BBJs outside of Applebee's

The Pettersons outside of Applebee's

Pastor Carol asking for the blessing.

Tammy was there to support this milestone in Jayden's life. 

The little blessing herself. 

Our family.

Father's Day 2011

We were up at Hidden Springs for Father's Day this year. I made Biscuits & Gravy for Steen before we headed out to Nyssa to celebrate with the Petterson crew. Unfortunately we got an undesired present. When we were almost to Nyssa, the Subaru suddenly jerked and stopped. We were literally less than a mile from Steen's childhood home when something fell out of our engine, resulting in the sudden death of our "dependable" family car. Happy Father's Day Steen! We cried a few tears, chatted with insurance and my folks, and then decided to make the most of the day. 

Happy Father's Day!

A purrfect surprise!

Meow

Awe, he is such a cutie.

Spence drew Steen an awesome comic in the Father's Day card that he picked out. He was so proud of his hard work. 

Days Go By

I'm busy and things don't seem to be slowing down so below is a quick look at what our Spring has been filled with. I hope you are all doing well. :) 

Jayden spent the day with me on one of our teacher work days this spring.

Pebbles is such a cute part of our family. 

Jayden's first time eating rice cereal. Woohoo for solid foods. 

Nap Time

Morning fun. The Johnny Jump Up is the best thing to use when Jayden is up before the boys in the morning.

The kiddos striking a pose with Granpa Mike and Grandma Carrie.

Spencer had a blast at Chris' birthday party. The party was at Jump Time in Meridian.

Jayden loves her baths.

Jayden and Autnie Devon

Big girl holds her own spoon. 

Oh no you didn't!

Happy Girl

We love the hat, we love the girl.

Spencer helped me make sugar cookie.

It was a messy event.

Jayden loves and hates this toy. She loves to chew it but becomes enraged when she can't control it. 

My beautiful children.

This was the costume of the week after we watched "Despicable Me".

Trying bananas in the rice cereal.

Not a big hit.

This is Jayden's spot while Spencer and I work on school stuff.

Spencer had an animal project at school that he did awesome with. We made a poster at home for his presentation.

The Annas are so gracious.

We celebrated Tammy's birthday in Hidden Springs. 

BBQ burgers and chocolate cake ala mode.

Our Beth Moore Bible Study crew.

Playing the Pride & Prejudice board game was a fun activity.

At Planet Kid in the ball bin.

We met up with the Cramers and had a lovely afternoon playing, talking and eating pizza.

Me and my girl.

Spence had a blast playing with all the kids there.

Trish and I chatted about baby stuff. She's holding little Mackenna.

The boys played chess and talked about work.

Boring!

After all of his hard work on reading this year, Spencer got Proficient on his Reading ISAT. 

We went to Starbucks to celebrate with warm drinks and cake pops.

I love my family and I love the life we have together.

Happy Spring!

Siblings & Change

I loved growing up with two brothers and two sisters. Although there was a six year span between the oldest and I, we were still super close. Steen wasn't really close to his siblings. The age gaps are much larger and that worries me when I look at the nine year age gap between Spence and Jayden. It is my fondest wish that they will become lifelong friends that can love and support each other through all of the trials that they will face. Family is so important to me and I want them to share that strong connection, hopefully they will.

We have some changes coming up for our family. My maternity leave ends next week and I will have to wave farewell to Jayden at the daycare each morning and rejoin the ranks of working mothers. Ugh. I have never wanted to be independently wealthy as much as I do right now. Oh well. We do what we can and make the best of our situation in life. :) I love teaching and I am sure that once I get back in the swing of things I will enjoy it, though I'll probably still christen many mornings with tears as I give my baby into the care of someone else.

Here are some updated photos of the kiddos (mostly Jayden 'cause she's changing a lot faster than Spence right now) for friends and family. We love and miss you all.

Spence is so excited to have cool Valentine's cards for his classmates.

Jayden is most often found in her Bumpo or the Moby Wrap, helping mommy.

She hates tummy time.

Such a happy girl.

Seriously, don't you just adore her smile?

Spence eats a full meal when he gets home, but we call it an after-school snack.

Yikes, what am I going to do when he's 16?

Steen enjoys the limited time he has to cuddle his little girl.

I just love her color combo, pink and green.

Again... it's totally the outfit.

At the Cracker Barrel, seeing off Shane & Jim.

Sorry, but she just looks crazy, doesn't she?

Shane and Jim came to visit at the beginning of the month and it was an awesome and relaxing time.

Jayden has started reaching for things and she especially love pinching skin. Ouch! Her little fingers are strong.

Cutie Patootie!

Look at her gorgeous eyes.

She just looks like a little doll.

Wahhhh!

Translation: don't leave me by myself, adore me, play with me, sing to me.

Tammy gave us one of her Johnny Jump Ups and Jayden adores it.

I love the way she has her legs positioned.

I couldn't figure out how to rotate the photo, but I love this outfit. She crashed after we got home from Mindy's baby shower.

She and Spence love story time. We are reading "The Magicians Nephew", by C.S. Lewis. Spencer wants to reread the first Harry Potter book when we finish and then work our way through the series. It is a fun time. We all snuggle up in Spencer's bed and then I read, Spencer grabs the book to make sure I'm reading it correctly before giving it back, and Jayden coos her own story, trying to be louder than I am. Yep. A pure moment of motherhood bliss. :)