Railroad museum in Sac

While Nate and the rest of the crowd took the older kids to Despicable Me 2, I took Julian to the railroad museum. He loved it.

California

Just realized I never posted pictures of the california trip. The kids were so worn out at the end of every day, we were so busy and stayed up so late. The beach pictures and views are from our place in Aptos. I only have ONE pictures of any of our friends, Zane, Nina and Kai with their ice cream cones in Capitola. Julian at the park we went to almost every day when we lived in Sac, behind Kai's school. Our good friends Dave and Tanya with Julian. The kids in the new pajamas that Sam, Ben and Ruby gave them.

family day in new orleans

This was the day before Nina's bday, so we made it a special day for her and did what she'd been wanting to do so badly - we rented a four-person bike in City Park, then went to the Insectarium, and ended our day in the city at Pink Berry.

May visit with Nana and Dup...

pool days

Our summer included lots and lots and lots of this.

Nina's turn

Nina's birthday was also a sweet one. She was so excited. She's such a precious, grateful girl. She couldn't believe how many presents she got. We started the day with scones, sent sunflower cupcakes to school for her bday snack, ended the day at a japanese restaurant where the kids loaded up on dumplings and lemonade.

Kai's 8th birthday

Will post more pictures of Kai's crazy, exhilarating, exhausting party later. But here is his bday morning. He was so irritated that he had to GO TO SCHOOL ON HIS BIRTHDAY! But he recovered after he got some presents and here he is leaving for school. It was a great day. I think it made up for last year when we didn't have a party bc our lives were turned upside down with Meecie's cancer.
I almost forgot about the cards mom had written for the kids. Big smiles on their faces when they opened their cards from Meecie. I was pretty choked up. I remember so clearly the day we sat around the table working on those cards, just a a few months before she died. She was doing so well that day...

in the kitchen with nate

Making homemade root beer!