Our new family member

Introducing Mila (long I sound). Avery picked her out yesterday from a litter of kittens her teacher's cat had. She is a sweet little girl, she even snuggled up next to me today, and warmed me up- by peeing on my lap. She'll figure it out quickly. Avery is in love with her and hopefully it will help Avery miss Cortez a little less. He disappeared over a year ago, but Avery still cries for him.

Cole's first bike ride

Cole was given a used bike a few weeks ago. On Saturday we took off the training wheels and pumped up the tires. He had never been on a bike with pedals until Saturday evening. Sunday after church Cole came running in to me and told me to come watch him. He said he couldn't go far, and couldn't turn, but wanted me to watch. And he did this:

More camping

I just couldn't fit it in one post, so deal. We rode the train which was fun for the kids. At camp Amy's new talent came out as "Pancake flipper extraordinaire". The kids ate in the bed of their truck most of the meals. The final morning Amy and I ran back to town while the dads took the kids hiking at the quarry in the campground. We cam home wet and soppy, but all the kids did a great job and hopefully we can do it again.

Columbia camping

The first weekend of May we went camping with some good friends and had quite an adventurous weekend. What began with a 40% chance of rain ended up being a 100% downpour when we got there. Bryan and I were putting up the tent in the rain while the kids played in the puddles and our tent broke. Now we were soaked and had a dripping, half raised tent. When the Duecks got there we went to dinner at Applebees to figure out the plan. We all decided that Avery and Cole would sleep in their trailer (with their 3 kids also) and Bryan and I would sleep in the car with Q, although the Duecks had offered to have all of us in there. The next day it sprinkled most of the day, lightened up in the afternoon. We went into town to the annual Fire Muster weekend. Cole was in a contest rolling up a fire hose and he was amazing. If you see in one of the pictures the fire men are pointing at him. A lady standing near me mumbled to me (not knowing he was mine), "He's done that before." Nope, just once. I had to put another little guy up just to see the other hoses. Each kiddo got a ribbon and each was equally proud. I town we also bowled and hand dipped our own candles.

Kindergarten physical

It is so hard for me to believe Cole will be in school next year. He had his physical two weeks ago which included 3 shots, a TB test, a finger prick, and a big scoop of ice cream. It ended up that his iron is low so he is now on some special vitamins to try and fix that. Other than that he is wonderful. Daddy had tweaked his back the day before so he was home and able to come with us. Cole was so brave, a bit nervous about the shots but didn't even cry!

First Yosemite trip

We'd never taken the kids to Yosemite, so we headed up there yesterday. They were amazed at the waterfalls and how big everything was. We took up tri-tip sandwiches and went around doing the touristy stuff. We went to the museum and gift shops and just played around. The kids slept all the way home and woke up just in time to eat grilled cheese and soup and go back to bed. They loved talking about how beautiful God's creation is.

Happy Easter

Easter Sunday we went to church, then came home and decorated a few eggs. Next we had an egg hunt with Kyle and Joshua at the park. Then we headed to Grandma's and Grandpa's house for lunch and fun. We relaxed and ate delicious food. I loved this picture, so here it is.