This was a nice surprise....

My camera was holding tight to some pictures from this summer that I just could not access and it finally dumped them all for me. Can you say Summer Time...

At the Sandpoint Music Festival, thanks to b-day tickets from Paula and Susan.

The market...me and Ava's favorite Saturday treat.

The lake house.

Oh summer, we miss you.

It is almost impossible to get a non-blurry shot of this kid:

Henry. He's not your usual Driskill babe. He's into everything. Except toys. Which means he's learning all about the word "no". I'd feel sorry for him, especially when I look at that cute face, but I know better. He's eighteen months old, 50% for height and weight and one tough cookie...no crying for shots, no crying when tackled, no crying when carried around like a dolly. But a whole lotta crying about the six teeth coming through and the fact that he can't play basketball in the driveway with Jack. And speaking of basketball, he's seriously addicted:

He likes to have one (of any size) at all times. I got him up the other day and he had one in his hot little hand and was grinning like crazy cause I hadn't caught him with it when he went to bed. He has also given up his morning nap (man, I drug that out as long as possible) but he has replaced it with a need for cuddles on the couch, which I'm happy to oblige. Just weeks ago he wouldn't have been caught dead sucking his thumb in public (I don't think the other kids even knew he sucked it at all...only in his crib, only at bed time), but he's been popping it in there pretty regularly lately. He says the usual words but my favorite is when he yells "Jack", which is pretty much all the time. He is a sweet sweet (busy) boy.

We've been busy.

Doing what? That's hard to put my finger on. After a pretty crazy event season (at one point there were four events in two weeks), I'm taking the spring off and it feels, well, weird. Between not working and living in a rental, my creative itch is not getting scratched and honestly, while I am a serious procrastinator, I do my best work under pressure. The busier I am, the more efficient I get. So I am finding myself all busied up with not much to show for it. Ideally I'd be working on my house plans but we're in the middle of a crazy stretch of nasty weather so I have been putting that off till the sun starts shining (see? procrastination at its finest). I'm not doing any house projects, my kids are trucking along, Ed's traveling like crazy so I rarely cook, and yet, I seem to have a load of clothes in the dryer at all times (not to mention one in the washer, which I keep forgetting about and having to re-wash). And I still feel busy. all. the. time. It's weird. And I'm gonna blame it on the weather. So here's to a happy, productive, dare I say crafty April!

Happy Happy Birthday....

to our favorite person

in the whole

wide

world!

this would have been awesome

in December.

Jack says

"I think my best years will be when Henry's big enough to play with me all the time."

Special guest

Pete the Panda is visiting Jack's class from China and gets to go home with each kid for a night. Jack.is.pumped. As soon as I saw his little face at pick up, I knew this was his day. Jack's got a busy night planned out for him, which includes pizza and ice cream...cause he is company after all.

Breaking ground!

The driveway.

That was yesterday. Today it's covered in snow. Poo.

Spring at Grandma's

March family picture!

And Happy St. Patrick's Day!

And as you can see, my little people take the pinching very seriously so we wear green. And it can't be on your unders. That doesn't count.

This is what I'm telling ya...they are a funny bunch

Jemma just got up from her nap and said, "Jack, you the bomb...thank you for cleaning my bedroom."

Today

Ava was downstairs "babysitting" the littles, while Jack and I were upstairs cleaning. (He's my cleaning machine) I was mopping and tearing up to "Don't take the girl" (why? I've heard that song since high school maybe, but it still gets me), Ava's soundtrack to High School Musical was coming up through the vents, and Jack was blasting "YMCA" from Jemma's room where he was cleaning. And I got some serious giggles. Bad enough I had to sit down. These are funny people I live with. Thank goodness.

Spring!

It's spring. Which means right now it's sunny and Jack's out playing basketball. This morning, the ground was covered with snow and ice, yesterday we had separate rain and snow blizzards, Sunday was just plain nasty, but Friday and Saturday were gorgeous. We've learned to soak up the sun when we can and if it's a bit too chilly in town, we head south to L-town and the temp raises 10 degrees...always just right in spring!

Started out with jackets...after a few minutes, Jack stripped down even further:

(but his pants are still on, so that's good)

I LOVE this picture. It's my people exactly...Ed's feeding a squirrel, Jack's moving in close, Jem's hiding behind her daddy, and Ava's hanging back to observe.

My boys.

Sun lovin'

Spring Break!

So it's the end of the first official day of spring break and collectively we have watched the Narnia battle scene five times (and re-enacted it another 3 times), painted 30 fingers and toes, walked downtown and played at the park, had hot chocolate and treats at the coffee shop, hit the library and loaded up for the week, reorganized two closets and found Yahtzee (happy day), played Yahtzee, completed laundry day, passed Jack off for his cousin sleepover, had three bubble baths, and ate more than our share of meals for the day. Now the monkeys are tucked in tight and I.am.tired. One day down, all week to go.

Slumber party!

Ava kicked off spring break with a cousin sleepover. They were some seriously busy girls...I don't think I saw them till breakfast the next morning.

Jack talked them into taking out the bikes in the morning...he's a hard one to turn down!

Plans!

All staked out and ready to roll:

That's Ava standing in the kitchen and I'm in the front yard.

Talking to daddy on the phone.

Super pumped:

Step 1

Ed and Jack started to clear the lot for our house this weekend. There was one dead tree smack in the middle:

Phil and Bryce showed up to help.

Jack stayed and worked hauling branches for four hours. And so when we headed out for dinner that night he looked like this before we got two blocks from home:

Heading to Ava's last basketball game.

And a close up of this handsome bugger:

Action shot.

In the huddle.

Team shot. These girls were awesome...they crushed the competition almost every game. Or maybe it was the coaching?

Jem

I cannot get enough of this girl these days. She is just too funny, too sweet, too three. Totally delightful.

Beauty

This little beauty cut her hair a couple weeks ago and it was long enough to donate to Locks of Love. She's been wanting to do this for awhile and I finally gave in...and I'm glad I did cause she looks gorgeous!

Spring! (at least till tomorrow)

Today was gorgeous and we were too busy soaking in the sun to get any pictures but I just like to take note of the first day of "spring" each year. I've lived here long enough to know that it's gonna be a good long while before it gets this warm for good. But I'll take a single good day whenever I can get one! We spent a long time staking out the new house today...every little inch one way or the other matters to me and the angle has to be just right. Ed's nice enough to let me hem and haw while he holds the measuring tape. For hours. And now I'm already changing my mind. I'll probably head back tomorrow with Jack as my tape holder and start all over! Then I went for a long walk in jeans and a t-shirt and actually got hot. Hot! I plan to hang on to that feeling for the next couple weeks (months?) of winter!

February picture!

Thank goodness for leap day! Got this one last night just before bed. I don't think I need to tell you how proud I am of making the first two months of the resolution....but I'm gonna anyway! I'm awesome. I'm thinking this is more family shots than we took Henry's first year of life.

So true, right?