We are SO happy tonight. Today was a monumental day in our family and one that we were afraid would not happen for many moons.

Today we went from

THIS...


to THIS...



By her...



AND him...

Both in the same day. No more training wheels. In 45 minutes they were riding like champs. I couldn't believe how FAST they picked it up once they really wanted to try.

Goodbye Trailer and lugging 200 extra pounds (not joking) up the hills on our bike rides. Hello skate parks.

WAHOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Sum-Summa

I sure do love these munchkins--even though we seem to be going through a "no" phase right now--at least I hope its a phase. They are so fun to watch together and very creative, I should take a picture of their play room every few days to remember the imaginations that they have. They currently have an entire village--with rameumptons (sp?), ziplines, and huge towers all over and doll's birthday parties going on.

This was something Aubrie made today.
King Diego with his crown and sword (toothpick) and cape riding on his dog sled (you can't see the dogs tied with strings to the front of it for his dog team. He has his dog riding with him on the bed. She is SO creative. I just love it.


Aubrie is now a FIRST grader and it is so exciting! We waited SO long to go to school and then the year just flew past.
Just so that we can remember--Aubrie started at Powder Springs Elementary with Mrs. Hill and Mrs. P. She went for 1.5 months, then we pulled her out and "moved" to Texas for 6 weeks and did homeschool there--no we really did:)--came back, re-registered her and she was in school for a few weeks, had a week off for Thanksgiving, went back for a few weeks again, then had 3 weeks off for Christmas, then went back for another 1.5 months and we moved to NH and registered her at Memorial Elementary school with Mrs. Lalibertie and Ms. O. She didn't start for two weeks because of a snowstorm and then a week of winter break. Once she started there was about 1.5 months, a week for spring break and then another 1.5 months. So I think that Aubrie might have some sketchy ideas of what school is really like. However, she has received her "kindergarten diploma" :) and I liked both of her teachers ALOT!

Aubrie and Nicole

Under our back deck, a robin keeps laying eggs and then we watch the whole process and then it starts all over again. Its awesome! The kids check every day to see the status. Here one had just hatched.
Lots of days at the beach...i think we've check out most of them along the coast here in NH. Some days are coldish and some are so nice but we always love the beach.
Going with our friends Ron and Rebecca Emro and kids.
One day after the beach. Hallie had just woken up and she was just so out of it. she ate her whole dinner like this. her little pudgy hand on her cheek was so cute and she never moved it the whole meal. I thought it was adorable. I think I took 15 pictures of it.
Fathers Day was fun. The two youngest thought it was his birthday and could barely fall asleep the night before they were so excited! They made some fun cards and gifts. I was excited for the bluetooth I bought Ryan for the commute he has now--and his face when he opened it was priceless. Everyone that knows Ryan knows how nice he is. He was trying so hard to stall to think of what to say. Finally he says hesitantly "Amber, did I mention that my company gave me a bluetooth a few days ago?" It was kind of funny. I tell you what, I sure love Fathers day. last year I got a GPS and this year a bluetooth headset. Ryan is a WONDERFUL, wonderful father and I love the way that he loves our kids and tries so hard to make sure they are learning good things, do good things and being wrestled! The kids go to the porch every morning and stand there for dad to give them a "honk-honk" and then they blow kisses and catch them until they can't see him any longer. Which I think is pretty sweet. Especially because I remember doing that to my dad for many years.

and lots of playing in our yard. We used the slide we got from our local dump and have it going from the rocks into the pool. Its been fun. Between that and sprinklers on the trampoline it keeps them wet and cool in this 90degree/90 per humidity.

popsicles on the porch

and.....we have AC--kind of. as I mentioned earlier, we have had butter (and my nickname in HS was Butter) melting in our house. Its been SO hot and humid that if you move, you start sweating. So, we convinced our landlord that for as much as we are paying in rent, that this was ridiculous. As I speak we are sitting in our living room with a portable AC just starting to cool the room (and WHY central air is non existent in the New England area I'll never know). We are really hoping that this helps on the 90+ days. (cross fingers).

My favorite part of one of my favorite talks I've ever listened to.

Good things to come

Life is good...

-Summer is "officially" almost here with Aubrie's graduation on Tuesday. We are immediately celebrating by going to the beach with the Hahn's. LOVE the beach!
-We are going to Utah for about 6 weeks--love all the time to spend with lots of gente.
-Ryan starts his new position tomorrow (he's been doing special projects the last few months trying to re-organize some of the things for Kaplan's 5 ground campuses here in NH) and now he will be the jefe (director) of one of the campus' near here in Salem. He's wicked nervous (that was for you DaveP) and we all know he's going to be amazing and extremely busy! So, we'll see him again sometime in October maybe:). And now we know where we'll be for the next 3-5 years.
-our garden is growing and we ate homegrown cilantro in our soup tonight and it was YUM!
-Anna is in the hospital about to have numero 4 and I'm so excited I feel like its me.
-We have made such good friends here and we are loving it more and more.
-did I already mention how close we live to the beach....(albeit a FREEZING water beach).


Here are a "few" pictures from our trip to Martha's Vineyard with the Hahns (we are quickly becoming there best travel partners :) right, tara....hello!?! It was one of the prettiest places I've been to. And I finally got to be up close and personal with a lighthouse, which was a little dream I had. We all took our bikes over on the ferry and toured the island on bikes which was perfect! Overcast, warm, misty day was just a perfect backdrop for the island too. The kids did awesome in the trailers and had fun playing on the beach, rocks and anywhere else we stopped. They got to ride America's oldest carousel too. Really an amazing place!

Riding over on the ferry.

Stopped for lunch and to fish and fly a kite.
One of the cutest streets--I took a video of the whole street I loved it so much. It was perfect!
Stopped to eat dinner and ride the carousel.
(something is happening with that yellow horse....i think he's possessed.)
Poor Hallie just crashed right before we were leaving. We looked back and there she was. And Aubrie was really excited about getting her picture taken as usual.
Lining up to board the ferry
Crossing the great waters :)

Our cameras aren't the greatest but we sure had fun taking pictures. The night before we drove down halfway to Boston and Ryan and I took turns going to the temple and when he was in Hallie and I had some photo ops while the other two watched a movie in the car. We stayed at Hahns that night and left the next morning to drive to Marthas Vineyard.

Boston Temple

Grandparents day at Aubrie's school is once a year. When the notice about it came home inviting grandparents/senior citizens to come for the day for activities I just kept throwing them away because we really don't know anyone here that well and grandparents live in Utah. Randy and Karen came to NY for Doug's graduation and stopped (8 hour detour) at our house for a few days. (sidenote: We just loved it. They are just so much fun (Karen laughs at everything) and have a wealth of knowledge about being parents,careers, etc, etc. ) Anyway, Karen and I were sitting outside with the kids playing and I said something about them leaving the next morning and Aubrie looks up from playing with a concerned look on her face, "but you are coming to my school tomorrow grandma!" Karen and I thought she was just really wanting Karen to see her school, but I went and checked her school calendar online and lo and behold--grandparents day was the next morning. Karen was jumping up and down (literally! what a grandma). I am not sure who was more excited. The funny thing is--Aubrie was thinking the whole time that, that was why they were here. For her grandparents day. and if she wouldn't have mentioned it the night before we wouldn't have even known. I was REALLY, really glad for it.

Lucky girl!

(Randy and Karen said they had never felt so old as they did going to the school for grandparents day. Everyone else there had at least 10 years on them)