I have promised the kids that once spring came around we can plant a garden since in our top back yard we have 2 big beds. It was s a lot of work to clean out the beds it was full of debris that took us a long time to sift out, but it was oh so worth it! I wish I had before and after pictures to show you just how bad it was, but I didn't think about it because I was in full on mission mode. We still need to plant the second bed, it has been a bit rainy, and to be completely honest I am terrified of worms, caterpillars and snakes. My community Facebook page has been posting about copperheads everywhere so I am hyper paranoid when I am out there, but I hope to get around to it soon!

I cannot rave enough how much happiness and sass she has brought into our lives! Amalia is brilliant and keeps us on our toes at all time, you can't put anything past her! She loves school and is learning to read quite well. She is incredibly independent and can hold her own with her two big brothers. She is always quick to say "I'm sorry", and is constantly professing her love for each one of us individually. She always likes to be the one to say prayers at dinner time, and for almost 2 years she starts her prayer, 'Thank you that Grandpa feels better." There is no shortness of love and gratitude in our how, and on her birthday we are particularly thankful for our 5 years spent with Amalia. As her main gift I got her an outfit to match Willa, her Wellie Wisher. As a special surprise I dropped off an outfit to math Ashlyn, for her best friends Kinleigh. The surprise went over very well, I will never forget the look on her face when she realized! O

Kaiden is in training to become a camp counselor and his second training weekend unfortunately fell on Amalia's birthday. He really wanted to be a part of her celebrations so he helped to decorate the dining room and pick 2 gifts for her to open with the Friday morning before her birthday. We also got her a donut and a candle so he could sing Happy Birthday to her, they were both so sweet! And I am really proud of Kaiden for wanting to be a counselor, I know without a doubt he will be a wonderful leader!

This is only the second time since being married we have taken a trip without the kids. As I mentioned in a previous blog we were waiting for this trip because it was so close to my birthday, it was short but really fun! I found this amazingly wonderful babysitter, I love love LOVE her!! The kids had just as good a time as we did, until of course Amalia and I started missing each other, we can't go more than 3 days without needing  our snuggles. We met up with our team, they are awesome! Our leaders have worked so hard and won their place on this cruise, it is really nice to be surrounded by like minded, hard working people with good integrity and morals.  A lot of fun hanging out with them, and even more fun having lots of alone time with John.