Silly lunch

If I had a camcorder, I would've loved to have taped our lunch this afternoon-I think we were all silly and giggly from being tired and working hard this morning. The kids started to play with their watermelon rhines and Dad taught the kids the word "militant" after pounding his fist on the table-everyone just erupted in more laughter. Mom is now enjoying the peace of nap time.

Therin's first birthday present arrives.....

Therin wore his Batman mask and pirate boots to help Dad plant ferns and work around the neighborhood this morning. The neighborhood felt quite safe! Thank you Aunt Julie and Uncle Josh!

Lucas' birthday party

Therin got to go bowling for the first time last Tuesday for Lucas' 5th birthday which was April 9th. Better late than never!! Therin bowled a 72.

Weekend in Madison

I have created a monster! The whole weekend Therin kept saying, "Mom, take a picture of me and put it on that computer thing." So it seems that at least for a while, Therin will be more cooperative about taking pictures. The kids took an early nap Saturday and after they got up we went to the Henry Vilas Zoo (Therin loved watching the alligators.). After the zoo, we took the kids to Ella's Deli-we let them pick between ice cream and riding the carousel-you can see what they picked. Travis heard about Films in the Field-where they played Horton Hears a Who on a big blow up screen with activities before the movie-Kya got her face painted and Therin got a sword balloon. It was a beautiful night for it until the wind picked up and blew the screen over-so we had an excuse to leave and put the kids to bed at a reasonable time. Sunday was more low key but all in all another great family weekend with lots of fun memories.

Miss Kya in the tub

The Superhero Smith Children

Kya and Mom

Little Man in a tux

Therin was the ring bearer for Travis' best friend from medical school, Sean Smith. He married Stephanie Shintani on July 19th in Chicago. Therin cleans up well.

Some of our best friends

So this is the famous Johnson family and Therin's best buddies-Lucas (left) and Jacob. Phil and Celine provide for us at our second home. Always good times!

Our own little X games

This is Therin's latest favorite-ramp jumping in the alley. Not the greatest quality picture I know but I needed to get some more of him in the blog. Notice how as he's jumping he's looking at me-Are you getting this Mom?

Our bike trip to Hokah

Last Saturday, August 6th, some friends called and asked if we wanted to go swimming with them in Hokah-it's this little pond with a diving board and the kids can catch mini frogs and tadpoles-about 11 miles away. How do we know the mileage? We biked there as a family-Kya in the bike trailer behind Dad and Therin rode behind me in the tag along. I was impressed with how enthusiastic Therin was the entire ride. Kya was still bushed (as you can see) after her arrival home so we let her sleep.

Our garden

So this is a picture of our garden. The kids sunflowers which we planted in the compost pile actually are/were over 9 feet tall!! The tomatoes are as tall as me-all 7 of our plants-and will have at least 50 ripe tomatoes in the next three weeks!! The peppers are coming on strong and are between 3 and 4 feet tall. Next week the kids and I plan to pull the green beans which are done and plant some more spinach and broccoli.

"I'm getting bigger"

Can you believe how long my hair is getting in such a short period of time? As of January I barely had bangs!

As Granny knows, Kya often sings-hence the title-a song she's made up. She is getting bigger!

Grandpa's Garden

Grandpa's attempt to prove that he can grow something bigger than Dad-look at the size of those "green beans"!!

The author and my teacher

I assigned Becky the administrative position for my blog so she can go in and edit my blog (i.e. do things for me I can't!). This picture we pulled from her flickr account-we took more of these beautiful pictures this last winter which you can view on her flickr page.

Playing after the rain

One of the things the kids love to do is splash in the puddles after the rain. Kya looks so carefree and girly actually, picking up her pants-what a change from last summer when she rolled in the puddles and we always ended up walking home naked (not me, her-I don't need an audience).

Mr. Cooperative in the second picture. Clearly, he has a vested interest in some cute pictures with his sister.

The First Entry

So one of the most computer handicapped people is attempting a blog with much help from her ever patient sister-in-law. Hopefully this will increase my less than computer savy capabilities. Here goes.............