Family Pictures from February

 These were pictures taken the day before my birthday back in February.  I can't remember if it was last year or the year before when we decided that part of my birthday celebration on or around it is taking a family photo.  It has been fun going to a fun spot on or around my birthday and the best part of it all is having the photos after all is said and done.
Last year we went on a hike which ended up being more intense then we thought, hikers looked at us funny as we were all dressed up pushing kids in a stroller through the rocky and hilly desert.
This year we really didn't have much time, just a few hours in the morning so we decided to take the pictures in our backyard by our lemon tree.  One of our favorite things about our house that we are renting is that it has a lemon tree! This last year it was full of lemons! I love how pretty it looks, and love even more the fruit it gives us.  We've taken lemons to many people, Alden has sold lemons and lemonade, I've found you can add lemon zest to almost anything, and we usually have had a warm lemon honey drink most mornings.  With all of that our freezer is full of lemon zest and juice that we have saved and we're still getting lemons..even though I think we've just about come to the end of our lemon season.  The new ones are on their way though..so we won't be without lemons for too long.

 Alden our big boy.  Every day when I look at him I am amazed at how big he is and how much he is grow.

 All three boys together, can't even express how much joy these boys bring me each and every day!

 This first picture of Calvin makes him look so grown up but the second is how I see him, my sweet little happy snugly boy.

 We only had a short time to take these pictures and the only time we did have was during this little guys nap, he did a pretty good job though making it through.  He was having a hard time but once we gave him a lemon to hold everything was better!  Benson loves being outside and he loves eating the produce we grow.  I have had a hard time finding anything that this little guy will eat but usually he will be willing to eat at least one of spinach leaves, peppermint leaves, and a strawberry while he is outside as long as he picks them himself.

Start of summer

Neither of these pictures were very good, but between them both you can see all of us! :) This was the Saturday after school got out, we celebrated by going to the play "Marry Poppins".  Everyone loved it! Well I guess I can't say everyone, I'm not sure if Benson really loved it but he sat through it...with some help of some snacks.  I had never seen the stage version, it was fun to see all the similarities and differences.  As always after a musical I left singing with a resolve to be better, now I just need to work on remembering that resolve.

Walking with Dad on a Sunday afternoon.  The weather has been beautiful this whole month of May, we've had our windows open most days and haven't had to use the AC. It looks like the normal summer weather is coming with the month of June, but we have all been grateful for this cooler May.

Over Memorial Day weekend there was a race down town by the children's museum.  The museum was free for the night and all kids could enter a one mile race for free as well.  The boys enjoyed playing at the museum and being able to be part of a race.  Alden got really into it and ran the whole time and actually ended up coming in 3rd for people his age.  Michael ran with Alden and I ran/walked with Calvin and Benson.  Calvin wasn't as into it as Alden we had been running for maybe 30 seconds when Calvin turned to me and said, "Mom, this is a long race!!"  He walked some, rode some and ran a good amount to.  It was fun to see him at the end, everyone was cheering him on, he then got a big smile on his face, and then started running with his big boy stride until he crossed the finish line.  At the end everyone got a ribbon it was fun to see how excited/ happy they were to have been part of a race.