Insta- Friday

This week in random....

Me: "What's on your face Cait?"

Cait: "me my mah-ker"

That's my white girl in the middle.

Doing hip hop.

Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings.

Makes me happy.

Maximum capacity.

Meeting Aunty Shelley for the first time.

Ice cream at Grandma Cricks.

Cait is still happy getting a tiny one.

I like those happy toddler days.

Walking to the park with Meghan.

{Uncle Brian's girl}

The mice that are leaving trails behind in my kitchen serve only one good purpose....

Their mess caused me to clean my pantry!

Isn't it pretty?

Found my sailor dress in the garage and put it on Caiters.

Throwback.

Awesome.

Possible vacation plans.

Info complied by Mikayla.

Me: "smile Cambria"

Baby: "I'll smile after you feed me"

Happy clean baby

Mailee.

Growing too fast.

67% of my kidlers.

Oh the sweetness.

When she falls asleep here,

I'm paralyzed.

Trusty yellow cardy.

"take one of me Mom!"

Mixing patterns?

For sure.

Fashionable?

I say yes.  Look HERE

Real ballerinas have holes int heir tights.

Their $18 tights.

All the time.

And their mommies keep having to buy new ones...

Aftermath of craft time.

Scary.

Spice cupboard was jealous of the state of the pantry so I had to share the love.

One day they will all be in uniform containers with pretty labels.

Dreamy.

You got some random happy phone photos??

I wanna see!

Link up!

Tea For Four

Impromptu tea parties are a regular occurrence at our house.

Here is one that sprang up last week when Lorien came to play...

Notice:

Mailee's gloves

Maddie's boa

Caleb's cape

The lovely guest Lorien, dressed up like "a little girl".

Mailee plaing the part.

There had to be place cards.

Super pretty ones to be sure.

Notice the super long straw?

So random.

So fun.

And masks were a must as well.

Caleb stickered his own place card and found himself a suitable mask/sword in this peacock feather.

Perhaps the next time we have tea it will be with you!

Smiley Mailee

Mailee put this bridesmaid dress on for a tea party the other day and she looked so grown up.

Not like an adult "grown up".

Just bigger.

More mature.

Less little girl.

Further away from the needing me days.

I love this free spirited happy go lucky kid.

She can use her imagination better than anyone I know.

She gets lost in anything that touches her fancy.

She is free of judgement and worry.

She's the family pancake maker,

most likely to sneak to the bathroom during clean up time,

the ultimate savour-er of tasty food,

and at times Punky Brewster-like in her style.

This girl knows who she is.

She makes me so proud.

Needing me less is not all bad, she is growing into a lovely young lady!!

Learning About Japan

 We went to the library downtown with the Stangs and checked out an exhibit all about Japan.  This month is Asian Heritage month

It was really awesome to see all the toys they play with and hear about traditions they celebrate in Japan.

This year in {home}school we have been studying countries and cultures in depth.  We are studying the continent of Asia right now so this exhibit came at the perfect time.

Playing the Japanese Harp.

A tissue paper ball.  

Koi flag for "Boy's Day".

Families display one flag for each boy in front of their home for the month of March.

{I guess we would only have one flag for that day BUT, "Girls Day" in May well, now that's a different story}

Ethan checking out the dragon puppet.

The guy running the exhibit had tons of toys and he spent quite a bit of time showing the kids how they all worked.

Doing this kind of thing with our kids is so enriching...for their little minds, for their understanding of the world, for quality experiences we can share together and discuss at the dinner table...

Insta-Friday

So here's the deal, this is Insta-Friday.

I take ramdom photos all the time through out the day.  

On their own, these photos are rarely blog post worthy.  Without Insta-Friday these images would likely end up taking space on my hard drive for years with no other purpose.

With Insta-Friday, these images all get smooshed together into one big happy post all about "what we did this week"

I know the pictures are not top quality.

But all the cool Insta-edits sure are fun!

 Teacher Amber came to drop off our 2nd semester Portfolios.  

We love Teacher Amber!

We got Jenga!  

It's as fun as an adult as I remember it being as a kid.

The pieces smell like chipotle seasoning.

The kids think that is hilarious.  

They say "it smells like BBQ" Everytime they open the game.

Caleb got this game for his birthday.

Animal Planet's Creature Features.

So fun.

Highly recommended. 

In order for us to get to California this summer, our newborn needs a passport.

As if I'd be nursing someone else's baby standing in the border crossing office at 11pm with my 5 other cookie cutter kids...

As if I'd steal a baby when I already have 5...

Whatever border patrol.

Here's her mug shot.

Love this.

Longing for a few updates to the wardrobe.

Still rocking this outfit pretty much exclusively.

I am not a pet person.

My kids seem to think I should be.

They tried to tempt me with this cute pup.

I reverted to my go-to line:

"I take care of kids, not animals.  Don't talk to me about getting a pet until every member of our family can feed themselves, clothe themselves, and take care of their own potty needs."

Aunty Terri is gonna have a baby.

Really soon.

We are so excited!

Needs no words.

Grocery shopping helpers:

Cait and Cambria.

Super helpful helpers.

{enter sarcastic tone here}

My Grammie is 94.

She is moving.

She wants me to have her tea cups.

So special.

I love that she thought of me,

I love that I have so many little girls that will be thrilled with this fantastic collection.

We had friends over.

They brought a cool toy.

We rented Justin Beiber's movie.

He's good!

I'm a fan.

We are trying to stay on task with school.  

It's tricky with a new baby and our cute toddler but we got quite a bit accomplished this week.

Maddie did her own make up one afternoon just for fun.

Fancy dancy.

Oh to have that fresh skin...

Mike holds a Community Dinner the third Monday of each month.

I love seeing him in action!

I also love the night off from cooking!!

Braids.

Maddie screams and struggles the entire 10 minutes it takes me to put them in.

No Joke.

{It would probably only take 6 minutes if she'd sit still.}

While the other kids are playing, Mikayla keeps working.

I planted my tomatoes.

Five different varieties of organic heirlooms.

Super stoked.

This is her feet when she nurses.

Ahhh. So sweet!

Link up!