more fun(ny) things

i just noticed i'd already uploaded thises pictures a while ago and i forgot to post them...



malachi loves chocolate covered strawberries!



rayna loves chocolate



maybe it's not nice of me to post this one, but it cracked me up... one of malachi's temper tantrums. he's the first of my kids to do the full on lay-on-the-floor-and-hit-things kind of tantrum, generally over silly little things, but he sure knows how to act heartbroken too.



this baby blue jay fell into my back yard a month or so ago and it took him the whole day to figure out how to get back up into the trees. i'm kind of glad they've moved on though, it's amazing how much bird poop falls eneath a nest!



and this one just makes me smile. paul and chi frequently go on walks in the evenings just before bedtime, but one day malachi wanted to ride instead, so he took his horse along. it's just so in character for both of them.



pre-k graduation

so afton just graduated from pre-kindergarten (which is perhaps silly because pre-k is not even considered 'school' yet, so it's a bit much to have a special ceremony...) but it was cute, so here's some pictures:

as each class came up, the readers in the class got to read a little quote to the audience, afton was the only reader in her class. i tried to video it, but my camera failed me (it went all blurry and couldn't focus that far away), but she did great, reading loud and clear.



"the more that you read, the more that you know. the more that you learn, the more places you will go." --dr. seuss



they had this cute little school to pose under while they wait for their name to be announced

that's the principal giving afton her fake diploma (i love that they announced to us it was the fake one, because the real one was in their folder back at class...)

and most important: the after party!!! with cupcakes and juice boxes!!! so exciting :) it made malachi really glad he'd skipped naptime to come.

mothers day photos

playing with my new editing stuff:


so for some reason, this one won't show up with the edits, i just added a simple border though, so it wasn't very exciting anyways. we took this with a self-timer... we're that cute! ;)



i think daddy took this one, but now that i think about it, i may have them confused, either way, i like them



and last but not least, aren't we cute?!

mostly, i just wanted to take pictures sometime, and we were ready for church a couple minutes early, so this is what happened. i'd better hit 'publish' too, or else i'll start rambling...

malachi's birthday

so i'm way behind with posting again... and that's partly because of me not taking many photos, and partly because i just haven't made this a priority, but enough excuses... malachi turned 2 last week!!!
it was a sunday, so maybe not as exciting as it could have been, but i think he had a blast just the same. he's just now getting to the point where he likes going to nursery, as opposed to going but letting us know he's not too thrilled. he had a nice nap after church, then we had grandma/pa, nicki, naomi, becca, and our friends the wests come over. malachi LOVES becca, it's almost weird, since he's only met her three times now (in his memory). he got lots of cars/trucks and dinosaurs for gifts. they were a big hit with everyone

i actually have quite a few pictures of his birthday, but they all look similar...

i love this one, though i do need to point out that he did not wear that outfit to church, he just got to switch shorts to something less stain-able than his light khaki's... and paul let him pick them out himself.

we also had meatballs and cucumber for dinner (not together--but yes, 2 of his favorites), and a chocolate cake, that i didn't bother taking pictures of because it was boring, but it was 'choke-ate' and that's what mattered :)
one more picture that i love:


malachi playing cars with grandpa... so cute!

 thanks to everyone that came and celebrated with us, we had a blast and we're so grateful for this crazy boy to love!

some other random pictures from april

actually, this one was in march... sliding down the stairs in a sleeping bag. can you beat that grin?!

afton's artwork. self-portrait with rocks and shadows.

can you tell the letter of the day? gimme-a--K!

not much to do with anything, but we took this pic of my irises the day before the hail. good timing for the pics!

the best thing about the saturday morning session of general conference cinnamon rolls! (and they get to eat them on mom and dad's bed while we watch on the computer)

throwing things in the creek with grandma

sleepy kids. and yes, rayna picked those socks out on her own, and on purpose!

pretty easter dresses poses

clearly, the girls LOVED their new easter dresses from maggie (thank you!!!), and they loved posing in them too:

perhaps malachi wasn't quite so happy to pose... he was doing his level best to hide from the camera (and my battery was almost dead so i couldn't chase after him too much)

we went on a little walk before church, just around our little block, but malachi still wasn't interested in pictures. i do like this one though. note his cookie monster socks?! those are from my mom, and he LOVED them, he kept them on the whole day, he usually rips his shoes and socks off by the time we get to church, then again as soon as we sit down, on easter he lost the shoes a couple times, but kept the socks :) it kinda cracks me up :)

rayna is clearly NOT camera shy, i love how she's been posing and big smiles lately for (almost) all her pictures, she's got such a pretty smile :)

an almost-family shot:

and just to show i was there too... and yes, malachi was deliberately closing his eyes, until he heard paul turn the camera off, then he jumped down and ran inside... goober!