Kanayla's 9!

Kanayla is nine years old.  The time has flown by!!  ( I know that is cliche but it is SO true!)
I made a marbled rainbow cupcakes and cake for her birthday.  Seriously, I made 5 cake mixes worth because of all the cupcakes she needed for school and Activity Day girls and then our family party.  I have no desire to do more cakes for a while.

Before icing...

After icing...

Kanayla's favorite color is now blue.  She is about 8 inches shorter than me so she will definitely be taller than 5 feet.  She still loves animals.  She has developed a love for legos (which made up the majority of her presents). 

Marbled Paper

At preschool we made marbled paper with shaving cream.  The girls loved the activity!  I let them make three sheets each and choose their own colors.  I remember making marbled paper in elementary school with chalk shavings.  It was one of my favorite art activities. I am glad I got to share it with the preschool girls.

Space Needle

The Pacific Science Center is located right  by the Space Needle.  I was able to get a couple of pictures while we were in the courtyard.  One day I want to go to the top...

Crafts

I have been pretty busy the past week with crafts and outings for the kids.  (It has been Spring Break.)
I made this magnet board mostly for the kids.  We have a ton of magnets for pretend play and I would like to start using the board for educational purposes too. (sight words, matching etc)  It was really cheap and I love how large it turned out to be.  I am making some scripture magnets for FHE and family scripture study so we will get a lot of use out of the board.

A couple of friends in the area have this ruler by their doors.  I have always wanted to have something to mark the kids heights as they grow.  So I went over to a friend's house and she taught me how to make the ruler.  We do not have the extra space by our front door to put the ruler but it is going in the hall.  I really like how it turned out! Plus the best part is that it's free!

Thunder-cat

 Around Halloween we adopted a cat from a shelter in the area.  He has been a wonderful addition to our family.  The kids named him Thunder.  So far he puts up with the antics of children very well, only a few scratches.  He tolerates being picked up constantly by Kanayla and Xavien.  Matthew is by far Thunder's favorite family member. Matthew made some shelves for Thunder to climb and get some vertical time.  He enjoys going up on the top shelf and watching everyone below.

Spring is coming!!!

We are still adapting to the weather here in the Northwest. We had a really nice weekend a couple weeks ago so Matthew decided to start working on the flower bed. The next morning we got 3 inches of snow! Luckily the flowers seem to have survived. I also found some dwarf irises at Lowes. They are doing great! We are looking forward to it warming up a bit so we can do some more yard work!

New Van

Friday we replaced our old van! The van was a 1996 GMC Safari and had an incredibly long life. We are beyond grateful that the van lasted as long as it did. We drove it across the country with no problems! Unfortunately since we arrived in Washington the van has steadily developed one problem after another.

Here is our new van....a 2003 Mazda MPV! Granted it isn't a new vehicle but it is new to us and we LOVE it!!

I think Ivie's smile says it all!!