Tayden is 7!

This year for Tayden's birthday we kept it really simple. The end of June was very busy for us, so we ended up with a DQ ice cream cake and a trip to Chuck E Cheese with some good friends who were also celebrating a simple birthday this year. We had a fun time just celebrating at home with each other and Tayden got some fun presents.

Happy Birthday to my sweet, caring, kind-hearted boy! You brighten my day with all of your kind gestures and spontaneous service. I love all the hugs and smiles and cuddles. Tayden is growing up to be such a wonderful son and good friend to Ady and Kyler. He brings so much peace and harmony to our family! We love you Tayden!!

Grandma M. made a cozy blanket for him and he loves it! Thanks Grandma!

Tayden loves Veggie Tales so a new one was in order
He also got some Lego Bionicles and some books

For every birthday in our family Tayden wants to give a giant Hershey's Kiss so we made sure we gave one to him this year too. He was so excited!

We had a fun time with our friends at Chuck E. Cheese too. Even though we didnt do anything elaborate this year, we still had a fun time!

Hydroponics

Ady and her friend Morgan were very excited for their ballet recital. The name of their piece was Hydroponics. The entire recital had a "green" theme. Her class of beginning ballet had 6 little girls in it.


On the first night the helper who put the girls out on stage mixed things up. One of the other moms tried to fix them, but she got Ady and Morgan mixed up. Both girls just went on and did what they needed to do. It turned out that Morgan had to lead out instead of Ady for something since she was in Ady's spot and she did it without missing a step. If you didnt know any better it looked like it was exactly the way they rehearsed it.



On the second night things didnt go as smoothly. They were in the right places, but the 2 oldest girls in the class had a bit of a spat on stage trying to correct each other. Overall it was super cute, no matter if they remembered all the steps or not. Nana and Papa came to watch on the second night and they gave Ady flowers. She also got flowers from one of her teachers.


The boys were actually pretty entertained by the routines.


I even had Tayden talked into taking Tap classes. (Kyler is appalled)

(I have since decided it is too expensive)

Summer Play Group - Columbian Park and Zoo

Over the summer one of my friends puts together a schedule of fun weekly play groups. For the first one we went to Columbian Park in Lafayette. There is a really nice playground, a free zoo and butterfly garden, two big ponds were you can feed ducks and geese, a train you can ride and much more. It is a really fun place to spend the day.

We started off at the Zoo and Butterfly Garden. We got to see some VERY pregnant goats, ponies, some funky chickens, prarie dogs, and lots more.
There is a big caterpillar that the kids can climb on so we took a some big group pictures.


Tayden checking out his "wingspan"
Cute girls in the nest

I have no idea what Kyler was trying to do....Climbing on the Froggies



Posing

Trying to move the world

After we were finished at the zoo we went to the playground area to have our picnic lunches. Then we headed over the ponds to feed the ducks and the geese.





We ended the day with a ride on the train

Family and Flowers

I love spring! We were out enjoying the deck and the flowers and decided to take some pictures.