Happy 15th Birthday Kath ~

You're so special,
Oh so special.
God gave you to us.
It's no wonder that we LOVE you so!


Ah, Katherine, you are becoming a beautiful young lady.  Fifteen years old!  Soon you'll be driving, much to your sister's chagrine.  You decided you wanted to go fishing on your birthday; of course your brothers were delighted.  Almost the entire time, little Nickles was glued to your side certain that was where the excitement was. The littles adore you and you adore them ~  it's a perfect match!

I love you, Katherine.

Love,
Mom

Dom loves fishing, but is mostly skunked~

Eric trying to steer the dock to where the fish are hiding ~

"If we hang close to Katherine, maybe we'll catch a fish."

Dom's very first totally-by-himself fish ~

While holding this little guy, Nickles says, "If you squeeze them, their stomach makes this sound."

(meanwhile the fish is squeaking....hopefully he made it.)

Fortuitously, Uncle Ben bought the relighting candles.

This kept them lit while you blew them out since there was a strong breeze.

Unfortunately, while everyone was licking frosting from 

the bottoms of the candles, they were relighting.

Uncle Ben found this hilarious!

Happy Birthday to one of my favorites ~ I love you!

May

May has always been my favorite month.  Unfortunately, lately it has been so blessed busy that I rarely take time to smell the roses, or lilacs as the case may be.

This year, Joey and Stacy ushered in the month with their wedding.  Then, we were blessed to have their daughter for a week while they went on their honeymoon.  Annika loved, loved, loved having a "little sister" around the house.  She did Halle's hair, dressed her up, had tea parties, played in the sandbox and generally enjoyed someone besides her tortuous brothers.  

Meanwhile, Michaela left for a month long trip to Germany to help Margaret.  I didn't quite realize how her absence would make the month slightly more chaotic.  

There was Mother's Day and Annika's birthday.  Next was my birthday, a couple godchildren's birthdays, Mom's birthday and Katherine's birthday.  Sprinkled in between everything we've tried to complete our school work, pour concrete at our house, take a little roadie to visit a friend, have friends over and compete on a track team.  

Did I mention eat meals, pray together, and function as a normal family?

Last night following our final track practice, we did stop to smell the lilacs (and pick them.)  Turns out some people are really unhappy about the alley side of their lilacs being trimmed.  Ugh. It was a rather embarrassing moment.  As I related the story of being caught to Shannon, he couldn't believe we were out of the car picking them.  Mind you, this is the guy who will present me with huge bouquets of lilacs throughout the month.  His response, "Man, that wasn't smart.  I only take about four per alley.  And, it's like robbin' a bank.  Get in, get out, and certainly don't hang around out of the car!"

Starting Annika young betting on the Kentucky Derby ~

She won $100!

Halle & Annika sharing a birthday Blizzard ~

Part of our little track team ~

Burning our field ~ because we had nothing else to do!

A glimpse of three grizzlies on our way to kalispell ~

Again, since we have nothing on our plate, a new house idea ~

Uncle Ben's little pup ~

Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky ~

Teaching little Maximo to eat ~

He was born for the job!

Grandma's birthday hike ~

Two of my favorites!

Almost ALL of my favorites ~

"Little" Michaela is missing.

A birthday tree ~

Birthday flowers

Pizza time in Kalispell ~

More birthday flowers ~

Part of our track team out for last practice treats ~

My favorite part of May ~ lilacs ~ we'll beg, borrow, or steal!

A Beautiful Morning

Since Max has been born, I have not been super quick about getting up in the morning.  Last Saturday, though, Shannon kicked me out of bed to go run with the kids.  Am I ever glad he did, the morning was glorious!  We left our sunny driveway to descend into the clouds down on Mom and Dad's road.  With the birds singing and blue sky and sunshine peeping through the fog, it made a perfect run.

Thank you, Shannon, for knowing what's best for me!

Happy 9th Birthday Annika!

You're so special,
Oh so special,
God gave you to us!
It's no wonder that we love you so!

Annika, you are growing up!  You still like a good tea party, but you enjoy going to work with Daddy too. I think it's only because he buys donuts and you have a sweet tooth!  You love to do girly things with your sisters, but just as much you love playing with the boys, despite their teasing.  You'll hunt with Daddy, but cuddle with Maximo.  You are a true Montana girl!
And when you grow up, you're planning on owning a blueberry farm, to make blueberry pies.
I can't wait to visit you!

Annika waiting to open her presents with Halle Jo ~

Brothers are such turkeys ~

A tea cup just for tea parties ~

The most hoped for present ~ a box of Happy Hippos from Germany~

A race track cake ~

I love you Annika ~ 
Love, Mom

Tea Party

The girls and I had a tea party this afternoon.  I haven't done this in forever, but need to begin doing it more regularly.  It was enjoyable to simply sit and enjoy a few minutes of down time.  New tradition, high tea on the mountain!

We sent the boys off with a handful of cookies to search for paintball items on Craigslist while we indulged in tea, cookies, and chocolate fondue.  This was right up Halle's alley, lipstick and all, especially since we all dressed up.  Thankfully, I was behind the lens so there is no evidence of what I was wearing.  Why I didn't dispose of the dress I wore during the Great Purge of 2014 is beyond me, but it came in handy today.  It may also work for a Halloween costume in the future.  

While we were all sitting around the table, practicing our best English accents, Dominic walked around the corner.  One would have thought we were all sitting there naked. He immediately looked up at the ceiling, turned around, and hightailed it for a less feminine area of the house.  Kath couldn't stop laughing.

 Halle's demure look

She didn't want to drink her tea, lest her lipstick rub off

Nickles wasn't intimidated by such a scene.

He told Halle he'd be her boyfriend.

Then they watched the tractor outside.