outdoor art exhibit

bye bye butterfly

We took our butterflies out to the garden today and let them go!

Saying goodbye

The girls were a little apprehensive.

The boys, on the other hand, wanted to make sure our butterflies had enough flowers in front of them at all times.

One of the butterflies landed on Caleb's toes and stayed there for awhile.

We had five butterflies. Some flew around our garden for awhile and some flew over the fence right away. Jared told them, "Go see the world!"

The kids hoped a few would fly back to visit. Wouldn't you want to come back to this little garden to see these sweet faces?

Lily finally spotted one and Gracie said, "Well, I guess this one only wanted to see half of the world."

I noticed Caleb sitting on the bench all by himself holding out his hand. He was quietly saying, "Come fly over here if you need a nice hand to rest on."

Sweet, sweet boy.

a work in progress

We've been working on fixing up our patio area. Phil built this great pergola last summer after our metal patio roof collapsed two Christmases ago. Phil made our picnic table last year and stained it this past week. It looks so nice!

Last year my sisters gave me a Pottery Barn gift card for my birthday. I picked out this extra long, red tablecloth that looks great on the picnic table.

We'll but these candle sconces up on the pergola beams.

We purchased a few hanging baskets for the pergola on clearance at walmart last fall. I'm planting red geraniums in them.

And here is one of my favorite features of the make-over--we hung these oil lamps over the picnic table. Phil found these scroll-like metal hangers in the shed and they're perfect for hanging the lamps from the pergola! I found the oil lamps just yesterday at Pier One Imports. They were 20% off--about $6 apiece.

break-a-thon

We had so much fun at the boys' Taekwondo Break-a-Thon today! They did great!

weekend in the garden

These pictures are for my dad and/or anyone else who is interested in looking at our backyard. He asked me to post a few pictures of the garden.

We spent the weekend working outside in the backyard. Phil picked up sod at a friend's house and used it to patch up bare spots on our lawn, stained the picnic table, repaired a fence and hung patio lights. The kids and I weeded the garden and planted seeds and flowers.

mother's day

Mother's Day 2010

I woke up to a wonderful breakfast in bed! Notice the crown on top of my blueberry muffin! Jared saw this idea in last month's issue of Family Fun Magazine. They made it out of banana Laffy Taffy.

After lunch we toured one of my favorite parks here in Spokane, Manito Park.

congratulation, boys!

They're happy about the new orange belts, but not the post-ceremony photo shoot.

We're so proud of them!!!

mops

Lily set this table in her room before bedtime tonight so we could play MOPS in the morning. She told me, "I want to be a lady at your table."

orange belts

Jared and Caleb tested for their orange belts last Thursday night! They each had to break a board to pass this test. I was able to get a good shot of Caleb, but there were too many people in the way when Jared broke his board. :(

Here's Caleb right before he took his turn. He told me he was "a little nervous."

Way to go, Boys!

They'll get their new, orange belts this Saturday at the belt ceremony!

On May 22, the boys will participate in their first Break-A-Thon--a benefit for Shriner's Hospital for Children. If you would like to donate money to sponsor them, please let me know. They'll receive money for every board they break (a maximum of 5 boards per student).