Birthday Fun Ashton Style!

Happy Birthday Baby!

I can't believe Ashton is 5 already! We started Ashton's birthday out right with me waking him up at 3:10 am by singing him happy birthday. It was so sweet. At the end he said cha cha cha and then fell back to sleep. The bad part was two hours later he woke up and was throwing up on the stairs, so I had to help him get cleaned up and settled down. No fun getting sick on your birthday.

We kept breakfast simple in hopes that it wouldn't upset Ashton's tummy more. We had birthday waffles with candles and all! Here is the video of us singing happy birthday.

As you can see the birthday waffles were a hit!

Ashton got some really fun gifts. Thank you to Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa Lawrence, Aunt Mindy and Uncle Andy, Grandma Bea, and Grandma and Grandpa Casper for thinking of Ashton. He really enjoyed all the fun things! Ashton is excited to go shopping with his gift card. I hear he may be getting a lot of hot wheels! Ashton and Thaddaeus will also be joining the Chess Club at school as a gift.

Ashton wanted to bring cupcakes to school for his class, so we made vegetarian vanilla cupcakes with orange icing! YUMMY! As you can see Ashton couldn't believe there was only 1 left!

We'll continue the celebrating this weekend at the Hagerman Fossil Bed National Monument. Look forward to seeing you if you can come with us!

Red Rocket turns Party Wagon!


With a full car load we set off to Hagerman to visit the fossil beds. We battled some weather along the way. It prevented us from going out to the beds them selves but the visitor's center was so full of information and activities that I don't think we missed out at all. The staff was so amazing and really made every effort to make our experience both educational and memorable.

Here is the main exhibit area where actual fossils are on display from the local fossil bed. This is one of the prehistoric horses that have been found at the site.

One of the rangers explaining some of the exhibits on display.

One of the Rangers talking about how these large cats that would attach the horses and other smaller mammals in the area at that time.

Thad is getting attacked by one of these fossils, like a cute little bunny!

Trinity is showing Ashton some fossilized teeth. She may have a future in teaching. She is such a smart young lady.

Everyone getting ready to practice digging out a man made fossil!

Even Ranger Steve joined in the fossil excavation!

Here are the birthday cupcakes I made for the party. My long neck dinosaur was a little cramped on the cake pan.

Our troop leaving to go home. We stopped at the look out point for the fossil beds. Great view!


Thank you Amrta & Sara for letting your families come and celebrate Ashton's birthday with us. We really enjoyed the whole trip! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends!

Somebody turned 10!

Birthday Wishes to you Emily!

My wonderful friend Emily turned 10 today and I wanted to wish her a special happy birthday! She is a wonderful young lady and I so much enjoy her association! So Emily here are a few of my favorite pictures of you and I hope you know how much you are loved by all of your friends and family!

Car Camping under the Stars!

Star Gazing!

The Boise Astronomical Society held their 24th annual Idaho Star Party at Bruneau Dunes State Park. We decided to camp out and join in the star gazing. Of course I didn't attempt to take any pictures of the stars, which seems kind of silly that I didn't, but oh well!

There were so many wonderful people there totally willing to share with us what they could find in the night sky. I have never seen so many telescopes! Many of them we had to climb ladders to see into the eye piece, but WOW what a sight to behold once you climb up there! We saw entire galaxies, double stars, planets, and shooting stars. Not to mention we got to see our first ever Moon set. The stars really came out once the moon light was gone. It was really a treat to go and experience this wonderful hobby.

Car Camping!

We enjoyed roasting potatoes on the fire. The roasted corn didn't turn out to my dismay. I think it got too hot, so now I am on a mission to master roasting corn at some point when we go camping again.

You'll see the boys enjoyed them selves playing and getting good and dirty. The sand is still coming off of them two days later! Oscar, Thad's half brother, joined in the fun over at our camp site for a while and wanted to take pictures with us. He was just too funny!

At the end of hours of star gazing we curled up all together in our tent and sort of slept, well the boys slept really well, but Steven and I mostly tossed and turned.

Soccer time!

Practice


Both Ashton and Thad are playing soccer this fall to their great delight. Ashton had his first practice on Monday and really enjoyed it. I was impressed at how well he listed to instruction and didn't just run all over the field. I made him wait until now to play to make sure he would really want to do it and it turns out he did. His willingness to listen and practice shows how much he wanted to do this.


His first game is this Saturday, at Simplot Field B, if you would like to come watch you are very welcome to join us. Game starts at 9:45 am. Good luck Ashton!

Game Time!

Both of the boys had their first soccer game for this season on Saturday. It was an exciting time seeing Ashton play for the first time and to see Thad start his third season! Ashton's game was first. Here are a few shots I got of him during the game. He had his game face on the entire time.

Ashton practicing a goal kick. He told me after the game that his job is to kick that ball in the back of the net! It was so funny!


They're on the line and ready to play! As you can see Ashton has a soccer hawk hair do!

Chasing the ball.


Ashton on the attack. We were very impressed for only having two practices under his belt he kept up with the ball and made some nice passes to his team mates.


Ashton still serious even during his rest period.


A few hours later we were back at the Simplot Sports Complex for Thad's game. He didn't have his jersey yet, so he had to borrow Ashton's to match his team mates. Luckily we brought it with us. Thad seemed to enjoy the game this year. At this level they do keep track of the points and so Thad's team the Raptors weren't able to pull a win this time but showed good effort. Thad was more aggressive this year and played some offense which I was surprised to see. Here a few shots from his game.

This is one of my most favorite pictures of Thad. He has such a wonderful smile.

Thad and his best friend Phisher at the ready.

Thad and his game face. I think Wilson was telling him to move it!

Thad going for it. We were so pleased to see him go after the ball. It makes up for last season's funny moment when I got a video of him pleading with his team mate, "Don't pass it to me, pass it to him!" He's come a long way!

Thad coming in after a rest and ready to play!

See you next Saturday on the field! Go Dragons! Go Raptors!

Birthday Fun Steven Style!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE MOST WONDERFUL HUSBAND IN THE WORLD!

So my wonderful husband turned the big 33 on Sunday and we celebrated quietly together. I did make him blow out candles as everyone should on their birthday. I tried to tourture him with Zip lining in the mountains but that wasn't what he had in mind. Instead we went for a nice bike ride and walk in the quiet as my good friend, Amrta was nice enough to watch the boys in the morning.

The boys made him beautiful cards decorated with dinosaurs and family portraits. It was very sweet.
As our gift to our family hero we gave him an Indian drum called a mrdanga. He should have lots of fun learning how to play this instrument. This huge boxed was in our hall for about two weeks, so it was nice to have it opened.


We ended our celebration with 33 cup cakes with 33 candles and a roaring chorus of happy birthday. Here's to Steven another year older and wiser. Thank you for all that you do for our family. We love you very much!

The school year begins at Rose Hill Montessori!

Our boys started their first year at Rose Hill Montessori! We are so excited for them. Thad is in the upper elementary class in 3rd grade and Ashton is in the primary class starting Kindergarten. Steven and I attended the parent orientation for both classes. I have to say we learned a surprising amount of information. I was most impressed with the primary class lesson demonstration. It really show cased the principles of a good Montessori lesson.

Janmastami Festival

Our local temple held a grand Janmastami Festival, to celebrate the appearance day of Krishna. It was filled with many events, fun, and food. Here are the highlights...

The House of 10,000 flowers was unveiled first and was totally breathtaking. The pictures didn't do it justice. All the caring hands that went in to making all the fresh flower garlands really did an amazing job. There were so many flowers that I couldn't fit them into one picture.

Steven and I worked on the giant diorama at the base of the alter. Steven laid actual sod down to create the base and we recreated the pastimes of Krishna in miniature. It was a fun service and allowed us to put on our creative hats to figure out how to depict some of these stories.

The kids joined in the fun by participating in a fashion/costume show, dances and plays. I got to help get not only my boys ready but my best friend's youngest son and daughters as well. It was fun transforming them into their different roles. Here are some of the shots I got of them.

Thad & Ashton as Balarama & Krishna

Hal as Bhima

Laura as Hidimba the Deamon

Emily as a Bharata Natyam Dancer

The children really enjoyed the activities. I will post Emily's dance video as you will see they are very expressive, not only with body positioning but their hands and facial expressions.

Here are some pictures from the play that was put on by the kids and a few fun loving adults.

We did lots of singing and dancing! You can see from the pictures below there was music both inside and out!

There were hundreds of people through out the evening during this celebration which is by far the biggest we have ever attended. Here are some of the pictures from various points in the evening.

Thank you Boise Hare Krishna Temple for making this event possible!