Mommy's 29th Birthday!

It was a fun day when my birthday rolled around this year because we got so lucky that it fell on a Saturday, which meant Daddy didn't have to work, and he rearranged to not have study group either, so we got to spend a fun day celebrating and enjoying being TOGETHER! Woo hoo!! That is such a treasure to me these days! Crazy that this is my last year in my TwEnTiES...so crazy to think about, but I love that this whole past decade started out with a temple marriage to my wonderful husband and has been filled with the blessings of these cute kiddos and the challenges, opportunities for learning and growth and complete joys that come with family life ever since!! I am so thankful for these wonderful people in my life who make it so meaningful, special and fill my days with excitement and hearts full of love!

 

Pumpkin waffles with strawberries and cantaloupe for breakfast! My all time fav! =D

My sweet boys- Nathan speedster man (4 years), Joshua (8 months)

My darling little ladie- Kakie Bakie (7 yrs), Gracie June-bug (2 yrs) and handsome hubby!
The kiddos each had a card prepared for me and Jonathan surprised me with a final complimentary band to my wedding ring.  What a surprise, but special way to reflect on our 10th anniversary coming up next year! I am so thankful for the blessings that have come all throughout being in my 20s!

More highlights from the day: Katelyn's cute card she made for me all by herself!! She is a talented writer and artist too!

Fishy silly face!

Family bike ride! Loved getting outside, even though it started pouring rain right after we came back inside!! Such is life, sunny skys and pouring rain...all in the same day!! Thankfully, we ended the day with sunshine, warmth and family time.  As long as we have each other and our Savior, we can make it through anything! :) 

My whole heart in a picture!

Tradtional hold-my-hands-up-to-count-the-years pic!! WOAH how the fingers needed is sure growing! heh heh ;) Good thing I have such cute little helpers to lend me a hand as those years keep adding up! ;)

I am so thankful to be a mom and for my dear husband who works so hard so that I can stay home with them and learn and grow with them each day.  I am so thankful for this sweet season in our lives with these precious cutie-pies and my sweetheart hubby who supports and loves us so much along the way!

Woo hoo! Another successful year at a 6-cup carrot cake with cashew frosting this time around! DElish!! Super yummy, I was so pleased with how it turned out thanks to Mom Ralph's recipe revamped from Aunt Ruth, it's so dense and full of moisture and wholesome texturized flavor! Mm mmm! We made cupcakes to celebrate Gracie's upcoming birthday too! So happy we can share celebrations, she is a little doll...and melts my heart to wrap her up in my arms and see that sparkle in her eyes and light in her smile...everytime! Happy birthday to us June-bugs!

We were so glad we could all celebrate with Austin's brother Jared, wife, Sereen and their cute family! We got to go on a family bike ride earlier in the day...and then come for beach sand play, playground fun and cake!! 

This cute guy even managed to squeeze in some volleyball pepper time with me too at the end, which was the bucket list part of my day, we haven't peppered in forever, and it was just the perfect touch to do something I love with my fun other half too! I am so thankful to all those who called who made my day even more memorable and special!! I love my family and that even despite my imperfections and shortcomings, they find a way to love me back and grant me one of the greatest blessings I have ever known, love and being with family.  What a fun day it was and a start to one last awesomely youthful last number to this decade year!

And...we topped the night off with my favorite game...Qwirkle!! AND just at the last second, this guy stole my win!!! AGHHH!!! lol.....Good thing I will still love him anyways!! Stinker!! It was my birthday! lol... See, I'm still even smiling! ;)

June Beginnings 2016

We decided to make the most of our early summer in Texas and venture over The Heard Museum nearby! They have lots of animatronic dinosaur trails (which we didn't do this time since it was pouring rain!) and an indoor natural history science museum with all kinds of amazing exhibits! I love sharing my love for learning and science with these little ones I am so thankful to spend my days teaching, loving and learning with! #perkofhomeschooling #lotsoffieldtrips #lovelearningwiththem! #ourfamadventures2016

It was neat seeing hundreds of years worth of tree rings on this tree as old as the first Industrial Revolution! Each ring represented an important historical event and spanned all the way out to modern days.  It was incredible and so neat to see time captured in the layers of this amazing tree!

The first exhibit was an indoor connected to outdoor beehive, showing the honeycomb and thousands of bees and their life cycle and honey making processes!

Don't get eaten by that alligator statue Nathy!! ;)

We even learned about the different capabilities and compositions of various animals and the shape of their eyes! So neat to see such a huge diversity of eyes! Everything from a fox, frog, snake, goat, shark and butterfly!!

Some sweet treats earned at our family chore auction! We have the kids do their regular expected routine chores throughout the week and then, on Saturdays, if they have got stickers each day of the week (to earn a sibling sleepover on Friday night!! hhehe...such a treat, they love this reward!!) they can earn money for chores on Saturday!! We put them to work and sure get lots of chores done together!! They are becoming quite good at them too!! Nathan is quite the helpful microwave, bathroom and toilet cleaner, while Gracie loves cleaning windows and folding towels and Katelyn is my go-to-girl for cleaning the stove, mopping, dusting and vacuuming! So proud of these hard workers!!

Nathan finally earned his ninja turtle night light after many many weeks of hard work! Each square is a quarter, and what an accomplishment it is for this boy!! Love that he keep with it, even after facing lots of discouragement and delayed gratification. So proud of these kiddos!

Reading books together!! I love seeing Katelyn play and take care of little Joshy...so sweet when he just sits with her and this gives her great motivation to read to someone!! He is such a little peaceful listener!

Fun friend poutluck gathering! Yummy treats too!

A fun homeschool learning book we have been reading! It is all informative about animals and on a 1st grade reading level too! So glad I found it for a quarter at our local library!! Score!!

In honor of World Oceans Day, on June 7 we created recycled art sea animals with friends and brought them to the SeaLife Aquarium for their Young Environmentalist Program!! So proud of Miss K and excited to see all our friend and family creations on the aquarium walls soon! 🐋🎉💕‪#‎marinebiologistsintraining‬ 😉😀 ‪#‎ourralphfam2016‬ ‪#‎bestplacetogowhenoceanisalittletoofaraway‬

Our recycled art seahorse!!

June 8, 2016 We headed over to the SeaLife Aquarium to participate in the young Environmentalist Program for Miss Katelyn, color a fun oceans mural, turn in our recycled art creations and reveal some cool new recycled art statue of a crab!

So amazed and in awe at the awesome octopus we saw swooping, swishing and climbing about in his tank today! Never seen an octopus so active before!!! AND we lucked out to see a baby Epaulette Shark developing too along with white polka-dot jellies, and getting to actually touch bright pink sea anemones too! They were sticking to the kids' hands with their unnoticibly stinging cells and they all LOVED it! ‪#‎soproudofmylittlemarineenthusiasts‬!! ‪#‎worldoceansday‬ ‪#‎lovelearningtogether‬! ‪#‎lovethesekidsandtheirsurprised‬&sillysmiles!

  

Woo hoo for our garden finds in early June too! A HUGE zuchinni, and a few partially devoured green tomatoes.  Those yucky grasshoppers, ants and Texas pests!! =P   So happy about our zuchinni though, my fav veggie! Hooray, stuff can be grown after all!! #wehadaroughfirstyeargarden #thosedarngrasshoppers!! #hoorayforagoodcrop!!

Cute Mr. Joshua turned 8 months on June 5th!! Such a cutie-pants!! Everything sure goes into his mouth!! AND he mastered the art of plank position holds (push-ups) and already started rocking and crawling a few strides on his own within weeks of this picture! We SURE love those big chocolate eyes and world-brightening smile!!

 

We decided to go out to celebrate my and Gracie's June birthdays early!! We each got a complimentary yummy dessert! AND it was fun going out together, since it is quite a rare occurence with our lively bunch and budget! ;) ;)  #JuneBugGirls!! :)

Hooray for June and the adventures and memories in store!