Birthday Gift

I haven't had a chance to post about Birthday Month yet - and it's already June! Izzy, Hannah, Kirk and Paige all have April birthdays.  It was a fun month - full of parties, gifts and lots of dessert!

Kirk turned 40-something this year and informed me that he was purchasing his own birthday gift...

It's a little too small for Kirk (although we can both ride it), but it is just the right size for the girls!  And that's just what he intended. Hannah, Paige and Maren can all ride it and are loving buzzing around the field.  Izzy wants one her own size, but she'll have to wait. For now she can ride with Dad.

Dirty Jobs

Have you every seen Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel?

After the latest project on the farm, Kirk officially qualifies for a spot on the show.  The episode would show him scraping cat poo off the tack room ceiling in the barn.  A pile a few feet high and more than a few feet wide. 

The worst part?  It smelled like CAT POO!

Lots and lots of cat poo!

Fair Results

The results are in. We went to the fair tonight and came out pretty well with our photo entries. 2 blue ribbons 2 red ribbons Yeah!

The Fair

The Bonner County Fair begins this coming week. We love our local fair. Kirk and I enjoy it mostly because it's small - which means easy parking, small crowds and seeing friends and neighbors. The girls love all of the animals and the horse rides and the face painting.

One of Kirk's more recent hobbies (he has many of them) is photography. This past year he challenged our family to submit a photo at the Fair. We've just had them printed and are submitting them today. Here are the photos we've entered. Hannah

'Sophie in the Morning' - domestic animal photography

Kirk

'Sebastian' - wildlife action photography

Kirk

'Green Monarchs' - landscape photography

Kirk

'Half Moon over Hope' - sunset photography

Kirsten

'Toothy' - child portraiture

Kirsten 'Sisters & Best Friends' - family portraiture

Kirsten 'Miss Photogenic' - black and white photography

As you can tell, I didn't get too creative. Just stuck with the standby photos of my kids. But I was impressed with how Kirk has developed his creative side. Hannah, too, was excited and really started figuring out how to use a camera. I'll update our standings after we visit the fair this week.

Bows and Arrows

Who says you need sons to shoot bows and arrows? Kirk has started the latest craze in our neighborhood. All of the kids love to come over and shoot. The goal is to get the arrows as far into the neighbors yard as possible - and they love it!

Happy Birthday Kirk!

Happy Birthday Kirk! Somehow you managed to sandwich your birthday in the middle of Birthday Month... surrounded by your girls. It's fitting. You are such a great dad and I can't see you anywhere else, but surrounded by your girls. We all love you and appreciate having the balance that you bring to our lives. I love it that you are the favorite parent in many respects. I love to watch you playing soccer, or skiing, or hiking, or whatever you are doing with the girls. They crave to be around you because they know how much you love them. You are talented in so many ways. You can do anything you put your mind to. We are able to do and experience so many things because of your talents. I love all you do for me and our family. Thanks for taking me along for the ride!

For Kirk's birthday we had our first real warm day of the year. It was nice enough that we cooked steak on the grill and ate outside. A birthday gift in itself!

Play Date

There are date nights, blind dates, prom dates, weekly dates, etc. Kirk and I have play dates. Although we enjoy the occasional dinner and a movie - our funnest dates occur during the day. In the winter our we have our weekly play date on the ski slope. It's a great time to enjoy a fun activity, have time to talk without children interrupting, get some exercise and clear our heads. Today, Kirk took me on our first moto play date. He loaded up the quad and the motorcycle and we headed to Roman Nose. It's a beautiful mountain peak just north of us. I have ridden the quad in our driveway, but that's about the extent of my quad experience. Kirk picked an easy, but beautiful and fun trail. The idea was to make it to lakes and granite cliffs at the top. Just as we got close to the top of the ridge, we ran into snow and couldn't go any further (although Kirk couldn't help but try). We had a nice picnic lunch on a granite bolder in the middle of a small, picturesque stream. I always enjoy spending time with Kirk and am glad we have the opportunity to do so many fun things together.

Birthday Month

Tonight we had the official closing ceremonies for Birthday Month. Whew! I feel like I just completed an olympic event. It's been quite an action packed few weeks...

Isabelle got us rolling on April 1st with her very first birthday. Yipee! She didn't know what to do with presents or cake, but was very excited to have everyone cheering and singing to her. No cake in the face for this baby - it was all about picking off the candy.

Hannah continued the birthday celebrations on the 14th with a horse themed birthday - complete with horse cake and a gift certificate for horse riding lessons. She can't wait to meet Puddin' and her teacher, Jessica. Now she can put those cowboy boots she got for Christmas to some good use!

Kirk made me promise months ago not to throw him a party for his big 40. He wouldn't even let me invite a few friends over. So he celebrated the milestone on April 16th with his girls and some Rhubarb-Strawberry Pie (thanks Mom!).

Paige had her very first 'friends' birthday party on Saturday - Tinkerbell style. Tonight we had a little family celebration for her actual birthday. She was thrilled to open presents filled with craft and office supplies. She is always making or creating something. Hopefully, she will stop borrowing my stapler and tape now that she has her own.

As for me - I think I'll be able to do without cake and ice cream (or any other form of desert) for quite a while. I had better avoid looking at the scale for a few weeks until I can exercise the birthday calories off. Now that everyone's birthdays have been celebrated I can relax and enjoy the rest of the year.