A Regular Saturday

Every Saturday down the street from us is a farmers' market/fair. We love walking down to see what they have. This week Esther and William talked us into getting their faces painted. I'm pretty impressed with the artwork. Esther's excited to go to her Joy School graduation tonight with a beautiful butterfly on her cheek.

Our other regular Saturday hobby is yard sale-ing. We usually find some great deals, but this one takes the cake. Today we got this entire china set for $50! I didn't think I'd have china for probably 15 more years, so I'm pretty excited. Granted, it's missing a few pieces and since the average cost per piece is more than $25, I probably won't have a complete china set for 15 more years, but that's okay.

Smiles

A week or two ago Alex discovered a new talent - SMILING!

We're very proud parents.

City Beautiful

Memorial Day weekend we went on our first family vacation ever - which sounds kind of strange coming from people who have traveled as much as we have. But this was the first time we went somewhere just to enjoy it, and for no other reason.

Saturday morning we met my brother and his family in Nauvoo, IL.



We went to the temple while all the cousins pretended to be pioneers. (Thanks Mike and Emily for watching them!)




Then it was our turn to watch the kids while Mike and Emily went to the temple. William found Danny's crackers and enjoyed feeding his cousin.



After that we were off to the Family Living Center for some more pioneer fun.




We said "goodbye" to our relations, and got a little more sightseeing in before bed.

Sunday after church we went to Carthage Jail (the place of Joseph Smith's martyrdom).

Monday morning we took a wagon ride tour to see everything else before leaving Nauvoo.






We had a great vacation!

Happy Birthday

Sunday was Cameron's birthday. He was up late the night before at a YM activity, but the kids were so excited to give him breakfast in bed and presents that they wouldn't let him sleep in. Alex helped him catch up later that day.


I could write pages about Cameron, but I think I'll just leave this simple.
Happy birthday to the greatest dad and husband in the world!

Science Fair

Today Esther participated in her first science fair! We're very proud of our little scientist. First she wanted to do a project on whether or not unicorns are real. That would have been fun, but after some discussion on what constitutes science she decided to find out what sticks to magnets instead.

She had some guidance on following the scientific method, but had very little help with her project. She came up with all the ideas of what to test herself. She gathered and recorded her data. She also designed and put together her poster. I admit that I did the typing of what she said - but she even learned how to change the color and font herself. She also got to show off her mad cutting and gluing skills.

She did such an amazing job that she got first prize for her age group! Granted, there were no other participants in her age group, but I think she would have done well even if she had some competition.

Too Stinkin' Cute!

William learned cuteness as a survival technique. Otherwise I would have killed him by now. Here are some recent examples:

On Wednesday morning we went shopping while Esther was at Joy School. He was crying because I put him in a cart and he wanted to walk. His tantrum was so cute that an elderly lady gave him a stuffed animal from her trunk on our way in (which actually helped him calm down and we had a pleasant shopping experience).

Later that day he was supposed to be taking a nap. Instead of hearing snores I saw his new stuffie's feet sticking out the door. Will's feet were soon to follow. He's so cute when he's naughty that it's hard to be strict.

Grosse Pointe Hunt Club

Hay is for horses!



So are apples.

Budding Artist

Though you can probably tell which LarryBoy was created by Esther and which was created by the makers of VeggieTales, I still think it's pretty impressive work for a four and a half year old.

Found!

Last week, late one night we received a phone call from the police. They said that our lost family member was found associating with unsavory characters and had been detained until someone would claim it (from the impound lot) and post bail.

He was a bit worse for wear, and hence didn't receive the welcome home with open arms that he had expected. (The picture doesn't do it justice - it was in really bad shape).

We're fairly unforgiving people here, so we traded our old family member in for a new one. (The scooter - not the two-year-old)

So here is a big "welcome to the family" to The Bee (as William named it).