watching water

Vendome Well

Sam and Awyn pose in front of the fountain. They really liked this part and asked to return many times.

Looking out the window

Both take a sip

Sam and Eric took sips at the same time - I looked, this is Pavilion Spring

Getting a Drink

Sam takes a drink from one of the springs. Please don't ask me to identify springs yet!

New Park

Sam and Awyn thought this little creek that flows under Daddy's new nature center was a river. Of course, they've really only got the Rio Grande to compare to, and this creek was about the same size and flow rate.

mmmm frosting on icecream cupcakes

Decorationg and eating cupcakes

Juice Break

Some of the kids took a juice break at Sam's party.

It's R2D2, no, a Rocket, well, it's a cake

Sam wanted a robot cake, so I attempted to make R2D2. Sam had some other decorations he thought it needed, like red stripes. It tasted good too. It took two recipes of buttercream frosting though, that's a lot of butter, and a lot of sugar.

Cake Bakers

Cake Mix

Parsley from the Garden

I have volunteer parsley from the garden, it's actually last year's plants, only way healthier than they were last year. I only have the three plants, and they've kept me in parsley for about a year now. This parsley was put into the red beans.

Chopping peppers for the beans

Yeah, so this one is an inside joke. I am such a pepper diva.

Cooking for Sam's Birthday

Peeling an egg

Awyn likes to peel them, but not to eat them. Good girl, just like her mama. Sam and Eric can eat them all by themselves. Even funnier, Sam got all plastic eggs at the hunt, and Awyn got all hardboiled, and they ate from each other's baskets.

Admiring the loot

It was kind of nice to be able to let Easter have religion this year. In normal years, the hunt is sponsored by the school, so no religious references past the obvious. This year the bible study class and Sunday school classes sponsored the hunt. In this picture Sam and Awyn are finding all their Easter tattoos so I can put them on. They didn't last very long for temporary tattoos. Sam and Awyn like them; and there's something different about a tattoo that says, "Jesus Lives".

Comparing Cards

Sam reads his Easter Card

Yes folks, my son chose to be Captain Kirk for Easter.

Wow, an Easter Card!

Yay, we're done!

Here I confess, I forgot to take the camera to the Easter egg hunt and Sunday school.

Easter Eggs

Sam and Awyn enjoyed dying Easter eggs.

Sharing Milk

Desert Hike

The other day Eric took the kids for a short hike to get them out of the house. They came home tired but happy. It wasn't a very long trail, but it was out on the desert floor, so a little hot.

Reading a sign

Yes, Sam is wearing two hats at the same time. One is orange, his favorite color, and the other has a giant 5 on it, his favorite number.