Beautiful Eyes

Kayla had the prettiest green eyes today and I really

wanted to capture them with the camera. Not sure I did

them any justice but we had fun nun the less

.

Adorable sisters!

And then Lydi wanted a turn getting her picture taken.

I'm 5 months and sweeter than ever!

For a complete update on my progress you can check it out at

http://www.maliajoy.blogspot.com/

Dad, Adam, Olivia, Emma, and Evan come to town!

Highlights from Dad, Adam, and the kids' visit

The boys hiked a 14er on mom's birthday

4 wheeling at Amy's (the kids loved it)
Us kids and dad

Enjoying the pool!

Emma

We went to the zoo one day, the kids loved feeding the giraffes

Olivia loved taking care of Malia, she a great diaper changer

Happy Birthday Mimi

Today was my mom's birthday. All the guys (Harley, Nathan,Adam, and Dad) climbed a 14er on this special day in honor of mom. While they were hiking, I had the privilege to watch my 3 kids along with my brother's 3. I say privilege because I know my mom would have watched that many kids in a heartbeat and it was a special time with the kids remembering Mimi/Grandma. The way we celebrated was buying a dozen balloons, writing special notes to Mimi and sending the balloons up to heaven. Lydi asked the next day "mom, do you think the balloons made it up to heaven yet". The kids really did enjoy sharing memories and talking about the fun they each had with their Mimi. She was such a great Grandma and she is so,so missed!

Kayla,Evan,Emma,Lydi,Olivia

Writing special notes to Grandma
These are some of the sentences we wrote
-Dear Mimi, I miss you so much
-I miss you taking us to the park
-I miss making cookies with you
-Grandpa can't make cookies, he'd probably burn them
-I wish you could come and visit us
-I wish you could sleep in my bed again with me
-I love you Grandma, Happy Birthday!


Emma writing her note

Tying the notes to the balloons

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, up,up,up they go!

Memories with Mimi

In addition to letting off balloons, the kids also sat around the table and colored their favorite memories they each had with Mimi/Grandma. This was lots of fun. The kids have such wonderful memories and it was so fun to talk about them and listen to what they each had to say. It was truly a special time and a great way to keep the memories fresh and alive.

Olivia
Hiking the blueberry mountain with Mimi in New Hampshire

Emma

Baking cookies with Mimi (don't you love the hair)

Playing grumpy o'l troll at the park.

Kayla's memory was riding the train with Grandma at Black Berry Farm

Evan missed making cookies with Mimi

Lydi

Going to the zoo with Grandma (Olivia helped a little)

It was an emotional but memorable day. It was a day to reflect and honor an AMAZING woman. She set the bar so high on how to be an incredible mom, an interactive and loving grandparent and a loyal,kind friend. I miss you Mom so much! I'll do all that I can do to keep your memory alive so these kids will never forget how much you truly loved them. Thank you for always loving me, loving my kids and demonstrating the importance it is to love Jesus and to have a relationship with him. Because of that I know we will spend eternity together. Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Balloon Glow 2010

Every year Colorado Springs hosts a big balloon festival on Labor Day weekend.
It's called the Balloon Classic.
On Saturday, Sunday and Monday 75 or so balloons take off each morning at 7:00am.
On Saturday and Sunday evening, they have a balloon glow where 10-15
balloons lights up the sky for about an hour.
I love waking up early and seeing the balloons take off, Harley on the other hand
likes to sleep in and attend the balloon glow. He won this year but next year we are going to the balloon launch!

Happy
BIRTHDAY
LYDI!

We started the day off with Donuts, followed by McDondalds
for lunch and then homeade pizza for Dinner.

Topped off with Princess and the Frog cake for dessert.

You could tell Lydi was so proud to be 4!

Seriously, she is filled with 100% sweetness!

I made this tulle skirt for her birthday, I'm not so sure about it but it's cute

.One of her presents, Hello Kitty Lunch box. She also got a

Hello Kitty electric tooth brush from her sister, a water bottle,

princess and the frog bandaids and a rock'n'roll t-shirt.

This is the outfit she wore to school. She was dressed pretty cute for her birthday

Lunch at Mcdonalds.

Aunt Amy, Uncle Nathan and cousins met us there for lunch party

Making homeade pizza

Licking the cake, hey...... it's her cake right

Sisters

Lydi got to hold Malia b/c it was her special day.

The cake ceremony in the back yard