June Joys

The month of June was a busy one for our family, what with trips across the country, camping expeditions and two birthdays. I confess I'm rather glad that it is over. July promises to be a little less insane, but it too is quickly filling up.

Andrew celebrated his 10th birthday just a couple days after he and Tyler and Katherine got home from thier trip to Colorado. Andrew is my gourmet child - the one who requested Chicken Teriyaki for his birthday dinner when he turned 5. This year for his birthday cake he wanted a flourless chocolate cake and homemade chocolate ice cream with fudge sauce and pecans swirled in it. Flourless chocolate cake!?! I consented to his request, but only after warning him that this particular cake isn't served by the slice but by the sliver. I also made some cupcakes for all the cousins who don't have the highly developed culinary tastes my son has.

I thought the cake turned out rather nice and the cupcakes were a big hit with the little kids.

Andrew really was thrilled with his new watch, he just has a funny way of showing it.

Lida got to celebrate her second birthday out in the wild. We spent that weekend camping with my brother James and his family in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness area. Lida didn't seem to mind that her birthday cake was really brownies with a little decoration and failed to notice the total absence of ice cream. She did, however, love the bead necklace and bracelets and the new sandals she received as gifts. She still insists on wearing them everywhere and is only disappointed that we won't let her wear them to bed. She also enjoyed sharing the package of bubbles she received with her cousins.

It broke my heart to ruin perfectly good brownies with pink frosting, but nobody else seemed to mind.

Lida thought opening the presents was really fun. And she showed appropriate appreciation for each gift. Why can't we all be like that?

With her new sandals and beads - her favorite gifts by far!

I've been waiting now for half an hour for the pictures to upload to the blog and they don't seem to be any further along. So I guess I'll have to try again later because it is bedtime and I'm beat!! See - this is a big part of the reason I don't update my blog more often. When I think of spending 45 minutes just waiting for 3 or 4 pictures to upload to the site my head starts to ache. As a result I haven't posted Meet Peanut, Pumping Iron, or Camping with the Cousins, all of which are very neatly and entertainingly composed in my head (and have been for quite some time) but have yet make it to "paper." Oh! It looks like you'll be getting pictures with this blog after all...Enjoy!