Slip Slidin' the Afternoon Away!

After quite a few days of May grey, we were thrilled to wake up to the sun shinning yesterday!  It was a gorgeous day, and to top it off, it was even warm!  We decided to celebrate the beautiful day with bringing out the new Slip and Slide that Faith received from Uncle Russell for her birthday.  The kids had a blast (I think Steve did too!), and I loved watching them enjoy it!  Because they were having so much fun and they were so cute, I took tons of pictures!  Here are a few (well, maybe more than a few!) highlighting the backyard adventure!

Here's Faith gearing up for her first slide

Steve needed to show her how to use it! 

Giving it a try...

Taking a break from "sliding" and having fun with a new sprinkler

Shane's first trip down...notice the lack of sliding as well!

Time for a popsicle break!

Splashin' around and having fun!

An action shot of the Shane-man

Literally soaking it all in!

Using the boogie board

Shane love the sprinkler too - he kept calling it Buzz, as in Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story! 

It was pretty funny!

Another action shot!

Trip to Michigan!

What a week it has been!  Last week Thursday we left for Grand Rapids to celebrate Grandma Swagman's 90th birthday!  While this would be a joyous celebration under normal circumstances, it was especially meaningful as Grandma broke her hip eight weeks ago.  Thankfully, she is doing extremely well and is even able to walk again!  We were able to enjoy a dinner out with the extended Swagman family.  Here is a picture of all who were able to make it to the dinner!

The kids and I with Grandma Swagman

The following day, Saturday, we were able to see the entire Bruinsma clan as we gathered for a family picture.  It was quite an adventure as there were 8 kids involved (the oldest being 7...I think!), including my two who never seem to want to pose for the camera!  Despite the difficulty, it was great to have everyone together.  It had been years since we were all in one place at the same time! 

Since it is no small task to travel from LA to Grand Rapids, the kids and I stayed for the rest of the week and were able to see some friends, do some "Grand Rapids" things, and just hang out with Grandpa and Grandma!

Faith playing with bubbles at the Children's Museum! 

Makin' some music!

One of the fun, unexpected treats was being able to see some friends of mine who live outside of Michigan, but were home visiting their families the same time I was!  On Monday, we were able to have a picnic lunch with the Verwys crew!  It was so fun to see the kids play together.

Here is Grace, Sam, Shane, Rita, and Faith enjoying their picnic lunch!  Little Ellen didn't make the picture.

Faith and Rita are about 6 months apart and had lots of fun together!  We noticed that they even looked alike!  If only they had the same name, they could be twins!  (That's a little old neighborhood humor, in case you think that sounds completely crazy!!)

Blowing bubbles after lunch

Sadly, I didn't take any pictures after Monday!  We were able to visit both Great-Grandmas at their respective retirement communities (apparently the residents of those places don't like them to be called Rest Homes anymore!).  We had lunch at the Woods with G.G. Max on Tuesday, and lunch with Gswags  at her new home, Sunset Retirement Community, on Thursday.  We were thankful for a nice trip, being able to see so much of our family and friends, and just being able spend some time at Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Hello Kitty Party!

The parties are over, and I think that we are all starting to get back to normal life once again!  April has been a very fun, but also extremely busy month for us!  We enjoyed having many of our family members over this past Saturday for a "Hello Kitty" birthday party for Faith.  Despite the theme she picked, she could not be talked out of the rainbow cake she saw at Vons (a local grocery store).  Once again, we had a beautiful day for the party, and just loved celebrating our little lady!

We were glad that Grandpa and Grandma Bruinsma made the trip out here for the party!

Faith showing off her great hula hoop skills! 

Shane worked the crowd and made sure everyone received an avocado!

From Uncle Joe and Aunt Renee, Faith received a microphone and amp.  She immediately began entertaining the party, and hasn't stopped using the microphone since!

Continuing to sing...

Finally Shane is able to try it out!

Using the boogie board for the slip-n-slide as a surf board!  

Again, we had a great time and are very thankful for Faith! 

Happy Birthday Faith!

It's hard to believe that my little girl turns 4 today!  What is most amazing to me is that I see her become more "little girl" as opposed to toddler every day.  The things she asks to do (practice writing numbers in a workbook, play games, for me to paint her nails!) and the things she says (the other day in the car she said, "Shane is going to be two soon.  I just can't believe it!") and remembers (well, she pretty much remembers everything!!!) remind me that I need to savor each one of these days as they are going by quickly!  Each day is a gift - even the hard ones, and we need to enjoy each moment!  We are very blessed to have Faith in our lives, and I look forward to celebrating many, many, many more birthdays with her!

Cowboy Birthday Party

Faith called "Giddy up!" to all her friends to come on over for a Cowboy party to celebrate her 4th birthday!  It was so much fun to see Faith so excited about her school friends coming over!  As a parent, it's great to see them all playing together and just having fun with friends!  Shane enjoyed the party too and loved all the attention he received!  Thankfully, we had perfect weather - sunny and about 70!  Now we are getting ready for celebrating Faith's birthday with our family next weekend!

Faith and friends having a tea party

It's not a party without a bounce house!  And since they didn't have a cowboy themed one, we went with one of Faith's favorite characters in Dora!

Enjoy the party!  And the apple slices!

Cupcake time!  Faith made sure that she put her hat and boots back on for the singing of  "Happy Birthday"!

More Ballet Fun!

Today Faith began her second session of ballet.  Since it was the first class, the parents had the opportunity to watch!  The most interesting part for me was to observe the progress that Faith since her ballet debut!  Not only does she point her toes better, jump higher, and do an improved plie', but she also was more patient in waiting for her turn and a better listener!  Faith still seems to have an over-abundance of engergy for ballet, but she continues to love it and is excited about everything that the do in the class. 

Doing some bunny hops

I think they were learning the all important Chicken Dance!

In motion!

Showing her enthusiasm!!

She was supposed to be a "sleeping turtle", but Faith had to quick pose for me!!

Tomorrow is Faith's birthday party with her friends, so look for an update with those pics soon!!

Lake Havasu Spring Break!

For spring break we headed to Lake Havasu for a family vacation! The weather was nice, the water was a bit chilly, but we had a great time. It's great that the kids are at an age now where they can play together more, and that I actually have the chance to sit down and watch them play for more than 10 seconds! Besides being at the beach, we spent quite a bit of time at the pool (no pics from there though!), and it was so fun to watch Faith enjoy the water so much! We look forward to a couple more trips to the lake later in the year!!

We bought the kids wet suits so that they would enjoy the cold water more! And we were very glad we did that!

Sporting the wet suit and the "cheese" smile!

He spent quite a bit of time throwing rocks!

Steve and Faith getting ready for a jet ski ride!

Shane with Daddy!

Just taking it all in!

Relaxing after riding the jet ski

He loved the beach!!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to our family to yours! I hope that everyone has a wonderful day celebrating the resurrection of Jesus and all it entails!! What a wonderful day!

Before heading to church this morning, I attempted to capture a picture of the kids wearing their new Easter outfits! As usual, this proved to be challenging! But here are a few pictures of the little cuties!

Shane did not want his picture taken; all he wanted to do was swing! We tried to work with it, but he still attempted to resist the picture taking!

Not exactly sure what changed his mind, but he became a happy, cooperative boy pretty quickly!

Having fun!

At least their next to each other and looking at the camera! It was as good as we were able to get this year! There is always next year!!