Birthdays are better when shared

We celebrated birthdays today. Hooray!
Grandpa Erickson, Ethan, and Payton all have birthdays this month.

Paving the Way

We added some cement to our driveway. Oh, my word! It helps so much to have it poured all the way back to the sidewalk. Before it was at this really crazy angle which made it hard to pull in and park straight. Now we have more room for all three of our cars. Happy parking indeed!

We had Juan, who works for Aho during the week, and our neighbor Steven, who does cement work as part of his job, helping us lay a good slab of cement. They really did a good job.

The pouring...and splattering.
It travels pretty far.

The finishing

and finishing

and done!

One of our little friends took a few steps into the wet cement.
It was classic. She really thought it was solid cement.

Paul wanted to help so badly and of course we were very reluctant to let him.
At one point Paul was able to try working with the tools
while we waited for the second trailer of cement.

We had some extra so we put in a pad for the garbage can and lawn mower.

This is what the kids were doing while we worked.

A twin pair of shoes

Benjamin and Claire got new shoes. They were in dire need of some new ones. They absolutely love to wear them. Every morning now they wake up, get changed, and put their shoes on. It's fantastic!

A new place to play

Lainey loves to play in the new cupboards of the desk. It's hilarious! She swings the doors open wide and sits inside. Usually she loves to pull my paper out, or she clasps and unclasps the flap on my camera case. Too funny!

The park is Green

They hydroseed-ed the park. Yay!
The great promise of a park across the street is actually coming to pass.

Paul's Desk Design

With the completion of our new office desk, we put our old desk in the girls' room for Emma to use. Paul was completely devastated. He wanted to be able to use the desk and feels like he can't if it's in with the girls. Understandable. He has now been hounding us about getting him a desk. It may have trumped the other projects next in line because that's all we hear out of Paul's mouth. "When can we work on my desk?"

To placate him, we asked him to draw a picture of what he would like the desk to look like. It only aggravated the situation. He took that drawing task seriously and got very sad when it didn't turn out like he wanted. I helped him use a ruler to get some straight lines (that's what was giving him trouble, crooked lines) and then he was able to finish.

Here's an up close shot:

Button Friends

Emma traced Ben and Claire with buttons. They were still as stone on the patio so she could creatively place each button.

Sneaky Snail

Emma received a snail from her friend at school. She brought it home thinking that it would make the greatest pet. That is until she actually looked inside. It was a lot bigger than any of us thought.

So we promptly set it free in the wilds of the open lot near our house. Paul was the brave one that would carry it; So resolute in his role as our family protector.

Conference Tent 2011

We made our Conference Tent again this year. Only, they were more excited to use it as a desk than to sit under it and listen. Each time we make it I remind them of the story of King Benjamin and his people from the Book of Mormon. They came to listen to their prophet and pitched their tents toward the tower where he stood to speak. Our tent is symbolic of this ancient people and their desire to come listen to a prophet's voice.

Out in the Garden with Grandma

Lainey loves to be outside and she loves to be with her Grandma. Grandma stopped to pull a few weeds and Lainey joined in.

And if you don't see Grandma with Lainey in her arms, you're sure to see her faithful dog following, ever so slowly, behind.