Camping!

This past weekend we drove around the mountain and camped next to Baker Lake.

We did all the classic campout things: hot dogs, marshmallows, s'mores…

  

Benjamin felt really lucky to be able to stay up late and sit by the fire with mom and dad. And he took it upon himself to tell the littler kids to quiet down and go to sleep when they were giggling inside the tent. He then chatted our ears off about things that are important to his six-year-old self. It was fun to listen to him talk and talk and talk.

While sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag with a nursing infant isn't the most fun for mama, this little six-week-old lady did great!

A little pre-breakfast snack of Jiffy Pop...

Then some pancakes!

After we packed up our camp, we drove to a new spot for a hike.

The boys wanted their picture taken by every big rock, or tree, or stump that they found.

We had lunch on this suspension bridge, then walked a little further before turning around to go back to the trailhead.

It was a beautiful day, and a beautiful hike! I loved the color of this water!

Some little legs started getting tired on the way back, so we started trying to find alphabet letters in nature. Can you guess which letter we're looking at here?

But we made it!

Heading home, This was our view of Mount Baker.

We are hoping to do several more camping trips this summer. We would love to camp with friends if anyone wants to go!

Graduation!

The class of 2025 are on their way to 1st grade! Our whole family went to Benjamin's kindergarten graduation this morning. It was super cute! When they started playing Pomp and Circumstance as the kids walked in, I had to stop myself from crying. I'll try to save that for his high school graduation.

2-wheeler

Rhett had long insisted that he wouldn't ride a 2-wheel bike until he was 5 (the age Benjamin learned). We're so glad he changed his mind! It's a good thing he has a birthday coming up because that bike is getting a little small for this fast-growing boy!

Growing

It was good for Rhett to spend some time with Paul the other day helping to put in the bean poles. As you might guess, one-on-one time is hard to come by these days.

I once lamented to a sweet lady I know that it was hard to find time to do all of the gardening and canning I thought needed to be done. She reminded me that I am busy growing children.

We certainly are. Hopefully we'll have time for a lot of both this summer.

Sibling time, and other bits of life

I just started blogging from my phone, which has its drawbacks, but may be the only way that blogging gets done at all. One of the drawbacks is that I can't know for certain when certain pictures were taken. Do any of you friends know how to check the time stamp on iPhone photos?

It's all sorts of fun having a new sister. What better model for your superhero masks?

Rhett so sweetly reading a book to Ella (Please don't judge me for my messy living room.)

Rhett had me take a picture of every single angle of his Finn McMissile LEGO car. 

Lucy loves her little sister. Really. She does. Even if she does smack her in the head all the time.

I love this face!

And this one.

This may have been the first time ever that she fell asleep in the middle of the floor. I hope it's not the last.

This guy is doing everything he can to challenge my parenting confidence lately.  Well, he and his brother take turns.

To show that he's still around, even though I hardly have any pictures of him, here is Benjamin with his donut this morning.

Doesn't Ella look like she's enjoying Rhett's company? I hope these two become great friends.

Donuts!

We celebrated National Doughnut Day a day late. But they tasted just as good!

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/chocolate-fudge-cake-doughnuts-recipe

In the meantime…

It's hard to keep up with a blog when you have a new baby! Having three other kids doesn't help either. Hopefully sometime soon I'll be able to post about what's been going on, but in the meantime here's a cute picture of Paul and baby Ella. I think this was a week or two after she was born.