I know I’ve posted some of them before, but as we prepare to add 11 new pictures to our collection, I thought I’d post the pictures we currently have in our flip book. 2002 2003 2005 2006 2007 2009 2010 2011 I had so much fun looking back over these pictures and recalling the stories behind them.

You know how sometimes a movie or book will portray how one decision or one event changed the momentum and current of the character’s entire life? Well for Scott and I, that momentum shifting/life altering event was our vacation in 2002. Somehow or other we got to talking about cross country trips. And somehow an idea blossomed for a large out west vacation. We had a huge map of the US in our laundry room and we began plotting our course.

A year ago today Scott and I dropped the kids off at a friends house and went to sign on the dotted line about 20 gazillion times. We left with keys to our new home! Scott and I headed to the new place to enjoy some take out Chinese on the back deck as we celebrated the immense blessing of this new home. Then as is the case quite often for us… our busy lives resumed… Scott back to work… me to grab some stuff from our old house to bring to our new house for our camp out that night… then we met up at the gym for our daughter’s Mini Olympics performance and I think we might have had a little league baseball game in there too… we got home much later that evening…

Our littlest man was so, so excited about his third birthday. I wish there was some way to truly capture his joy and eager anticipation. He talked about his party daily since his brothers birthday in April. He’d tell me the date of his birthday and that he was turning “free” and that he wanted a choo choo cake, and a choo choo balloon, and a present, and a party. Then after his Daddy had his birthday in late May and had to leave to go to a meeting on his birthday, he then would add that he wanted a meeting on his birthday too.

This weekend we snuck away for to celebrate our anniversary. We spent the night in the nations capital. And we had a blast. No agenda. No plan. Just hanging out in DC just the two of us. Confession: I love the monuments in DC. Living in MD, I have seen them a lot. Growing up summer visits from cousins ALWAYS meant trips into DC. And I know they are very touristy.

We celebrated my Dad’s 60th Birthday this week with a party at Hershey park. Dad, Mom, their kids, and their 8 grandkids.  We had a blast riding the rides, but truly the best part was being together as a family and enjoying watching relationships grow.  When you’re the oldest cousin sometimes you have to do time in the kiddy rides. He was quite the sport… and was rewarded with roller coaster time in the evening.

That’s right, today is our last day of school at the building.  As we prepare to leap into summer… let’s take a quick peek back at day 1. Look how much they’ve grown just physically this year! I can’t believe it’s our last day of Kindergarten, 1st grade, an 3rd grade. They got to dress down for the last day of school. (Can you tell it’s been a chilly spring?

The kids were outside playing and I took a few minutes to prep lunch and wash a few dishes. As I walked by the back door, I saw my youngest sitting in a box on the deck. How cute I thought and went to grab the camera. My little man spotted me. I went back to my chores and then noticed he had moved. This time he was on the other side of the door and had set up a barricade with another box.

My 5 year old decided she wanted to write a book yesterday. She wanted it to be a collection of stories about animals. So, she asked if I would write what she said up on our dry erase board so that she could copy them into her book. Here is what she said: I have to wonder how many different ways a cat licks. They all look the same to me.