Seventeen!

Olivia turned 17.  I can hardly believe it!

Olivia has THE best group of friends ever.

They texted me the day before her birthday and said that they wanted to surprise Olivia before school.  They showed up at our house a 6am with cupcakes, flowers, balloons and of course, Starbucks.  

They even decorated her car.

They got everything in order and then woke her up singing Happy Birthday.

Olivia was so surprised.

Olivia's boyfriend, Craig was in on the surprise too. 

This was the photo taken after our family dinner.  

I made a cake and bought Olivia her own Marionberry pie.  :)

Olivia and Craig

Olivia and her sweet friends getting ready to leave for school.  

Best group of kids ever... You will see more of them next week when I post prom pics.

Wait until you hear the story of Olivia's prom dress.. it's absolutely crazy.  

I will be posting about it next week. 

Spring Break..

Spring Break...

We had an uneventful, busy spring break...

Olivia had to have her wisdom teeth removed, so we ended up having a "staycation" right here at home. 

Jeff took a few days off and he and Jack went fishing and worked on some house projects.

Olivia was down most of the week and unable to eat solid foods.

Lucy took a sewing class and loved it.

We celebrated Easter, but I just enjoyed the day and didn't take any photos. 

The kids still colored eggs and we had an egg hunt Easter morning. 

Here's some iphone pics documenting our week.

Jeff and Jack have been fishing a few times in recent weeks.

They are enjoying catching trout.

It's nice when they go fishing and bring home dinner.  :)

The first day of spring break it snowed... Luckily it didn't last long and turned to rain.

This photo was taken out our backdoor.

I really love this view!

 Jeff has been teaching Jack how to be a "handyman."  Here is a photo of Jeff and Jack working on installing new deck stairs.

 I took this photo of Olivia after her surgery... she was cracking me up.

She asked me to go buy a marionberry pie and put it in the blender so she could it.

She also refused to take the sunglasses off and was talking about how sad it was that people are mean to chickens.  She watched a recent documentary on Netflix about chickens.  LOL!

 Besides reconfiguring our deck, we are also installing new interior doors.

Here's a side by side of the ugly 80's door and the new door.  The new door has yet to be painted, but you can see the dramatic change.  

Here's Lucy in here sewing class.

She has been waiting a long time to learn to sew. 

She attended class everyday from 9-12 and made a beautiful pillow case and flannel pajama pants.

Our little fashion designer was in her element. :)

Jennifer (our exchange student) returned home to Beijing over spring break, but is returning tomorrow to finish out the school year.  Jennifer will go back home for summer break and will join our family again in the fall. 

We are really enjoying her and missed over spring break.  

Fourteen....

I can't believe this cutie is now 14! 

Happy Birthday Jack!

A Spirit Award...

If you know my Lucy you know she has the kindest heart of anyone.

Lucy is the happiest kid.. she still skips and sings everywhere she goes and her world is always half-full.

She is always so positive and helpful to others.

Last week, 

I received and email from Lucy's teacher saying that Lucy was winning a "Spirit Award" at her school.

Lucy's teacher went on to say that Lucy always does the right thing.

Here is some photos of Lucy getting her award.

We are so proud of our sweet girl!

March 365

I'm still working hard on my 365 project.. here's March photos. 

Whew.. I'm not going to lie, it's getting harder to keep up.

I have a new macro lens arriving Monday and I'm hoping it will help jumpstart my creativity.