Happy Birthday Sydney!  When she woke up she found a bike downstairs.  A great way to start the day.  Then she had to wait until Daddy got home from work to open the rest of her presents.  It was a LONG wait until 11 am, when Andrew was done teaching.  :)

 Thank you for the ring pop Grandma!  It kept poor Soren occupied.  :)

My beautiful 5-y-old girl!

After lunch and quiet time, we went to the spray park for a party with friends.  Jenna took some pictures for me.  I'll let you decide what's going on in this next pic....

 My cute friends!  Love these ladies!!

 Me with all the kiddos.

Presents!

 This is Melissa.  It was her birthday too.  She works across the street from the spray park and was waiting for some kids to come play so that she could give them water toys.  For her 22nd birthday, she was doing 22 acts of kindness.  Very cool.  We gave her a cupcake and wished her a happy birthday too!  The kids enjoyed the water toys as I forgot all of ours at home!

On to pizza and cake at home.  Here she is pretending to blow out the candles.

Cute Soren still needed to finished getting dressed after the spray park.

At the end of the day Sydney said, "Thank you Mommy for a beautiful birthday."  So I guess she had fun.  She stayed up until 10 playing with all her new toys in her room... :)

http://www.argusobserver.com/obituaries/walter-irvin-durfee/article_d3ab5248-b719-11e1-9afe-001a4bcf887a.html

Yesterday was a sad and happy day.  My Grandpa Durfee's funeral was yesterday morning.  I was sad not to be there.  While growing up, I visited with my grandparents nearly every day.  I'd bring them the mail and then chat about school or anything else.  Every Sunday afternoon Grandpa would pop popcorn and we'd eat it while we visited.  They went to every big school event of mine and I have lots of wonderful memories.  He was a great man.

Sydney also turned 5 yesterday.  I love my big girl!  Pictures to follow.

Bennett Spring State Park

 Soren trying to get Sydney with a stick...

                                  Sydney and Soren feeding the trout.

Those are rocks they're throwing...

These are pictures from our trip to Bennett Spring state park in the Ozarks.  We spent the night in a cabin and had lots of fun.  It's a big place for trout fishing.

 I love strawberry season!  These berries were so big!

We've been reading Little House in the Big Woods.  Laura had rag curlers in her hair before they went to town, so I ripped some cloth and tried it in Sydney's hair for Mother's Day.  It reminds me of when she had ringlets as a baby.  I did it again this week (see very last picture), but I forgot to put mousse in her hair before putting it in rags and it went frizzy!!

 Breakfast with the rags still in.  Soren wanted his picture taken too!

Life is great!  Andrew graduated with his master's in math and was hired at MU as an instructor.  He'll keep working in the math department while working on an atmospheric science Phd.  I'm working a few hours in the afternoons at a Sylvan Learning Center teaching and tutoring while Andrew is home with the kiddos.

Surprise Pictures

The above pictures are surprise pictures.  They happen when children get into drawers they are not supposed to and use the camera without adult supervision...

Below are Bailey and Sydney.  Cute friends.  :)

A day at the park

Soren's manly ABC's.

These kids just keep growing up!! I want to hit the FREEZE button and enjoy this time. Sydney will be in school next year and I feel like time is passing so quickly! Soren still loves to snuggle each night and asks to rock in the recliner before bed, but he's getting taller and resents being called a baby. Sydney has a toothless grin on the bottom, can read the first half of Hop on Pop by herself, and likes to tell her Cindy Lu Who knock knock joke. They play together so well and are both so much fun!