Mother's Day Photos

With Mother's Day behind us I can finally share some special photos that were taken by my BIL Jason of Revival Arts Studio as a present to our Mom on Mother's Day. 

 

And one of all the cousins together :)

There were plenty more, but I thought I'd share the best ones! We are so lucky to have a photographer in the family. I've sent picture 6 off to get printed as a large canvas for in our family room. I have had this blank wall there for 1.5 years, and finally it will get something beautiful and meaningful to fill the space :)

Build-a-bear

For Melissa's birthday she wanted another Build-a-Bear as we have done the two previous years. This year she had her heart set on a Hello Kitty. 

Here is a view of the wall where you select your stuffy shell... so many options to choose from!

Here is a video of the stuffing process: 

After stuffing, she "cleaned" Hello Kitty - fluffed up the fur and blew off loose fluff...

Then she picked out some clothing for Hello Kitty and signed her up online. 

Here is a pic of the final Hello Kitty...

First Teeth

I took this pic last Tuesday to show Brody's two new teeth which have finally broken through! Yippeee!

Here is another one of our cutie all smiles :)

Four Leafed Lucky Charms

I found a bunch of photos that go along with this one, so I have reposted this entry with them. 

Melissa has been on this kick lately of searching for 4-leaf clovers. Just her luck our lawn seems to produce a number of them. Here are some pics I took of her one afternoon... she just kept coming back to me, saying she found another! It used to take me what felt like hours to find one when I was a child!

Hunting with her hands-on helper :)

Melissa compiled this sheet to show everyone. She brought it to school for show-&-tell and she asked me to post it on the blog too. You'll see she has collected them for particular people / pets :) If you are in need of a lucky charm, I'm sure she can find one for you too! 

April Birthdays & Easter with the Thomas/Brooks Family

Early April we celebrated a combination of Ken & Melissa's birthdays as well as Easter with Ken's family. 

Brody saying hello to Pop. He really seemed to enjoy the feeling of Pop's scratchy gotee :)

Melissa was excited for this early present opening - seeing it was a week before her actual birthday! She was thrilled to receive a Wii Build-a-bear game "Friendship Valley"

And a basket of wonderful smelling items from the Bath & Body Works store. Melissa and Nana had a special time together the weekend prior shopping for these girlie items, which included body spray, hand lotion, lip gloss, a special mirror and hand sanitizer.

Brody scored with his Easter basket from Nana & Pop... a bath toy, baby crackers and snacks. (notice he is "thumbing" his toy)

Melissa's Easter basket was full to the brim! Enough treats to take us to Halloween I figure ;)

Instead of birthday cake we tried something new this year - cake pops. This was my first stab at them, and I wanted some practice before making them for Melissa's "friend" birthday party.

We were joined for dinner with the rest of the Brooks family (Nana's side). Here Brody had a little visit with "GG" (Great Grandma)

Swinging

A fun addition to our playground has been adding a baby swing. Brody has thoroughly enjoyed it too!

Thumbing - Brody 9 months

Here is a video I took to show Brody's unique approach to feeling things:

Hatching a Butterfly

Back in fall Melissa and I were winterizing the garden... I found a caterpillar that was eating my plants, and she wanted it for in her bug container. She ended up leaving it in there for a bit, and next time we looked it was in the process of building itself a chrysalis. So we left it alone for the winter, keeping an eye on it in our garage. Mid April for some reason I thought to have a look at it... and low and behold this is what I saw!

Melissa was soooo excited to find see the butterfly when she came home from school.
We took the it to the backyard to release it.

Waiting for the butterfly to work her way up the side...

Then she suddenly took flight! (the yellow blur above Melissa's head)

Examining the chrysalis...

Dad's Birthday Present Hunt

For something a little fun, this year for Ken's birthday I set up a treasure hunt for him and the kids to find his presents! Here are the clues and pics to show the fun :)

Clue #1

"Dad’s gifts are too big to give inside our home,

So I’ve made a treasure hunt where outdoors you’ll roam...

Head out the front door, and here’s your clue,

Each has one leaf on it, and you can step on it too!"

Which took us to the front yard stepping stones.

Clue #2

"This is a good start, but just you wait...

You’ll need another clue to get through the gate.

So head to where you might find,

A sweet treat in the summertime!"

Which lead us to the strawberry & blueberry patch...

Where Daddy got his first of the presents, a new bike!

Clue #3

"Congrats you found the first one :)

Head to the backyard for some more fun!

This one’s more tricky, so do not haste,

It is hiding near where we put our kitchen waste."

Which brought us to our backyard compost, and present #2... a Wee Ride child carrier.

Clue #4

"Hooray, you’re doing just fine!

You need to keep going, there’s more in line.

Now this one’s trickier, you’ll need to think,

It’s the way in the summer I give the flowers a drink."

Right beside our garden hose was a bike rack, to mount on the back tire of our vehicle.

Clue #5

"Oh so you think you’re smart? Well here’s one more!

Find the outside wall to where I have my computer."

Melissa wasted no time to run down the side of our house, where they found a trail-a-bike! Now we are set for family bike riding trips! Yay!!!

Shortly after we set up the seat on my bike for Brody to try out! He seemed to love it, except for the bright sun.

Easter Egg Hunt at Klassens

Here are some pictures I took at Easter with my family, when the kids did their Easter Egg Hunt!

Cousin Justus (only 1 month old here) getting in on the action :)

Melissa's 2011 - 2012 Class Photo

Only one of Melissa's teachers is present in this picture - Mrs. Gain.

Her other teacher is Mrs. Flynn.

Wagon Ride

So glad we saved our wagon... Melissa and Brody enjoyed a ride together :)