momma's and daughter's recipe night

brittany (my sister in law) and i each brought some of our friends together and started a recipe club. we meet once a month. there is an over-all theme (ie main dish, appetizer, crock pot, healthy) we bring a sample of that dish to our get together. we take turns hosting at our own homes, we laugh, we eat, we get inspired to make great new meals for our own families.

may was my turn to host. i thought it would be fun to invite our mothers. my mom and i love working together and this is what we were able to create. it was such a beautiful night, in a beautiful place, with beautiful amazing women!

annabelle is an amazing girl. she snuck around after she lost her tooth made this secret note for the tooth fairy and cut out these hearts. talk about making it tough for that poor tooth fairy! 10 o'clock at night is not an easy time to find a silver dollar. good thing the tooth fairy had a brilliant idea...

annabelle was ecstatic with this note she received! phew! one more tooth down only about 20 more to go...

Barn House!!!

one of my favorite places, ever! i love barn house. my mom and aunt laurie of worthy goods have created, yet again, a beautiful masterpiece. they came together with many other amazing vendors and of course it wouldn't be barn house without 'the boys' and had an opening like i have never seen. the people came out in droves.

since it was the saturday before mother's day, i thought it would be a perfect gift for my mom if i could work along side her at this incredible event. so thanks to jesse's mom, i was able to work kid free for 4 hours.

beautiful people

beautiful day

beautiful momma

(thanks mom, this was a gift for me too)

a quick trip

a man who laughed and served.

jesse's grandpa passed away and we traveled up to kirkland to be at the service.

i am honored to have known this great man. he lived a long, happy, healthy life. he gave what he had, he served always, he loved unconditionally. he is an example for me of a life well lived. we love you grandpa atwood.

sawyer already has many questions when it comes to death (i don't know why) but when it came time for the graveside service he continued those tough questions. sawyer and i went down by the casket and i kneeled down and hugged him and he started crying. "i want grandpa to still be alive, mommy!" woah..."but sawyer, remember he is alive, he's in heaven" "but his body is in there!" "you are so right, buddy. but his soul, everything that made grandpa, grandpa is up in heaven." his face lit up and he wiped away his tears..."oh yeah! he is walking on streets of gold!!! and he see's golden doggies and...and..." that boy had joy oozing out of him by the end of our conversation.

we will miss grandpa atwood, we will not forget him, we will honor him by living our lives like he did. thank you grandpa atwood for being that great example to my husband, you are a huge part of making him the man he is. and thank you for that special moment i was able to have with my boy. we love you.

it's a 'bowling' party

here's my stud bowler. (i have these pictures in the wrong order, this is where we ended up.)

all the kids had their awesome 'pose' after they had an amazing bowl, this is annabelle's.
look how cute this boy is. all is right in this boy's world. sawyer and 14 friends went to big al's after having cake, ice cream and presents at our backyard.
last year sawyer didn't blow out his candles, someone else helped him out. he was very concerned that this might happen again, but thankfully he was able to blow them all out himself! go sawyer go!

this is the party table minus the bowling cake. it was a 'candy bar'. each child got a bag with m&m's, a lollipop, laffy taffy stick, a ball, rip roller (i didn't know what this was either but it was blue, ha ha), and a scoop full of gum balls. the kids loved it.

at the end of the day i asked sawyer what his favorite part of the day was and he said, "everything!" perfect day.

sawyer berkeley atwood is 4 today, sunday april 18th...

i love this boy.

he always goes #2 till his legs "go tinglely"

he asks tough questions about God, death, bad guys

he is really smart and he knows it

he loves his sister and he calls her "sister" (which cracks me up)

he would rather stay home then go somewhere

he loves wearing jammies

he would just wear his undies all day everyday if i let him

he wants to go potty outside instead of inside

he always wants to pray at dinner time

he has amazing manners (if i forget, he always reminds me too)

he says the funniest things ("mom, you are the BEST.........putter in time-out-er!")

he is caring and giving to others

he is an incredible scooter rider (and can ride a 2 wheel bike)

he started learning sign language and it fascinates him

he thinks he has the best daddy and he tells everyone that

he plays the wii way too much and he's way to good at it

he has an awesome imagination

he could play by himself for hours, "reading", playing cars, setting up his train set, or the wii :)

he is quiet

he loves to cuddle

he has the best grouchy face

he is the only one in the family who drinks milk

he randomly says "i love my family"

he will not walk in the rain or on the wet ground

he is so funny...on purpose!

he is 4 now and i will miss 3, 3 and a quarter and 3 and a half and 3 and three quarters, but now i have 4 and i will enjoy every minute of it!

i love this boy.

spring has sprung here at the atwood house. we have 3 new baby chicks, with 3 "lovely" names steve martin, cookie, and penguin. we have an exciting birthday coming up in a couple days that i can't wait to share with you!