Spring swim

It is warm enough here to swim already! A neighbor had a heated pool, and the kids got to swim twice: once at night, and once in the afternoon.

The night swim:








It was past Archie's bedtime, so this is how he and Dad enjoyed the swimming time:


Afternoon swim: those are super-sweet goggles Elliott!


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Some things shrink in the heat...

...Like lucy's hair!

Here are her glorious root beer colored locks before the cut.


The prep.


The cut!!


The cleanup.


The cuteness.


This is the second time Lucy has cut her hair for Locks of Love. We are so proud of her ! Thanks Aunt Alicia for making it so fun and beautiful!

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Still Living it up in AZ

We got to pick citrus at an old friend's house. Yummy!











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Quick AZ moments

We are visiting my family in Arizona!!


Here are my little ones at the airport.


The turtle Dot. She loves me.


Elliott and Will riding around.


Lucy, Sara and Cassidy playing on their DSs.


First night's dinner was hot dogs!! Yummy!


Papa and Gramma had a grapefruit the kids could pick and I could eat.


We tried giving Archie some formula. After 2 sips, he threw up his weight in yuckiness, then broke out in hives. Guess he's allergic to formula. Oh well, it wouldn't be a Hynes family vacation without a little drama!


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My Birthday's done, but I guess I can still keep posting...

What's that I hear?

(this is a picture of Archie's cute little ear freckle he's had since he was born....LOVE IT!)

It was Valentine's Day?

(My first silhouette machine project was to decorate the window)

Archie is so happy about that!

(notice the cute little teeth. He has 4 now)

The Hynes family made Owl cookies for friends...

Thus facilitating Archie's first Oreo experience.

(It was quite messy)

Elliott had a school Valentine's Day party.

(Complete with orange smiles)

We decorated cookies with the neighbor kids.

They were beautiful AND yummy.

(there were also some secret decoder valentines messages...very fun)

The Birthday Wrap-up

My birthday week wasn't all about me you know...there was so much amazing stuff going on, it will take another post to catch you all up. First of all, I have to say how much I love my family. I love Mike's and my little family, and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my family that raised me. My parents are the greatest two people in the world, and spending time with my family spending time with my family is one of my favorite things to do, ever.

One of those moments:

Aunt Heather spending some quality time at the piano.

Little Kason. He is such an independent little man! He is so young, but still insists on feeling himself, and it is so cute.

Elliott and Karver were again inseperable, and Elliott liked showing him how to jump on the tramp.

And helping him tie his shoes.

Papa captured this picture of Archie while he was watching him for me.

This one too. I love seeing how Papa sees Archie.

A little moment Uncle Jason captured. Archie, Aunt Heather loves you!

Ok, I'll admit, I'm not the only one who loves my parents.

This week was officially sponsored by our smart phones, and more specifically, the game Words With Friends. It's like the game of Scrabble, but you play it one turn at a time on your phone, over vast distances! Or, while sitting across the couch from each other...whichever!

The kids had other things to do to keep themselves happy.

Elliott bought some speed stacking cups, and they kept him happy. It doesn't take much.

My birthday was pretty perfect, but when combined with all this family time, it is one for the record books!

What a Birthday!

BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!

My parents just happened to schedule a Boise visit over my birthday weekend, which was enough incentive to get my sister Ruth and her family up here too! Combine them with Emily and Heather's family, and you have the makings of the best birthday gathering ever!

We had so much fun, and it will take several posts to catch up, but I have to start somewhere, so I'll start with MY BIRTHDAY! A very good place to start, if I do say so myself!

Kason was very sweet with Archie. He kinda liked the Buddha Archie statue more than the real thing, but he was still very sweet.

We got tickets to a hockey game on friday night for the whole group, and we had fun!

We had a birthday "breakfast for dinner" on Saturday night, and my sisters and Mom were VERY helpful. Look at the slaving away over my dinner!

The kids' table isn't just for Thanksgiving at our house. Little Korean tables are very useful.

Have you ever seen a more attractive picture of a man, EVER?!?! He must really love me...

As an early birthday present, my parents brought up a box of Arizona oranges!! SPECTACULAR!!! They taste like sunshine and my childhood...I love them!

One of my gifts came delivered with plenty of packing paper, which Kimo and Elliott enjoyed very much. Kimo is the teasiest and funnest Uncle to have around, and Elliott is such a good sport.

Breakfast for dinner is such a sweet meal, that a cake just seemed like overkill, so we put a candle in some cinnamon rolls and called it good.

I wish you could see the panicked expression on Archie's face here. He was so freaked out by the candle, or maybe the singing; no, it couldn't have been the singing, my family is so melodious...

Archie is so relieved when I blow out the candle! Mom's can make everything better.

On my ACTUAL birthday, we went to lunch at a yummy BBQ restaurant, and Archie had his first high-chair meal.

Gramma Karen came prepared to do a Valentine's Day craft with the kids (and Emily). They made cute candy heart topiaries.

And finally, rounding out the birthday festivities, desert with Mike's family! Mike made his world class brownies (from scratch...I know, right? He's amazing. He didn't wear his apron this time), and we had them with ice cream and caramel!

Whew! You can never celebrate a birthday too much. That's what I always say.