Father's Day 2014

Happy Father's Day to a really great Dad!

The Start of Summer! (Finally!)

To get the summer started off right, we held our 3rd Annual "Last Minute Memorial Day BBQ".  We wait and see what the weather forecast looks like and if it is nice, we send out an email the week of Memorial Day.  This year we rented a bounce house since we had 31 kids!  So fun to see them all having a blast together!

Harrison is one of the "boys of summer" playing coach pitch baseball.  Amazing how these kids improved in such a short time.

 

Q has been having some play dates.  She has been playing a lot with her former "nanny share" pal Audra.

Harrison graduated from Stepping Stones. It is bittersweet.  We have loved everything he has done there the last two years but are excited for the next stage...Kindergarten!

 

We will particularly miss Ms. Coreen. Love her so!

To celebrate the end of school, we went to Burger Jones for dinner and to ride the Lake Harriet Street car.

The kids were excited  to see their cousin Baby Teddy!

 Just a couple of cute pics of the kids (or at least I think so)!   Safety first for Harrison!  He got some safety goggles and loves to wear them biking too.  According to him, he doesn't have to worry about sand or bugs going in his eyes when he is going so fast if he is wearing the goggles. Fair enough...

Then there is this one....she is loving being able to be outside! When it is time to come in, she typically responds "No thanks, I'm good."

Mr. Lichty wants to wish Avery a good summer!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day started with Auntie giving the kids their gifts from NYC.  Our little Statue of Liberties!

Two great mom's and AMAZING grandma's were celebrating with us!

Sunday Funday! Matt should have been in the picture since he really made today great.  I got to go to yoga, he made a shrimp boil and cleaned up after! Plus a gift card to a fun boutique!

Harrison made me a tile coaster (for my coffee). He was so proud.  He hid it in his room all weekend and was so excited to present it to me.  Luckiest mom ever!!! They are growing up way to fast.   

Beautiful Easter!

We were a little busy leading up to Easter but finally got to dying some eggs the day before!  

The first hunt of the day....EASTER BASKETS! It actually took Harrison a while to find his but it was worth the wait.

 Q found her basket a little quicker but with a bit of help from big brother.

 My two little bunnies!

 It was basically like Christmas without the snow.  Everyone brought treats and gifts for the kids.  Of course they loved every second of it.  Who doesn't love Jelly Beans and Minnie Mouse...

 ....and LEGOS!

 ....and super hero masks...

 ....and dress-up clothes!

 Now time for the big Egg Hunt!  It was 70+ degrees so perfect for an outside hunt!

 Harrison drew some maps for James and Mary Martin Thornton who were over celebrating with us.  They raced around the yard but with 150+ eggs and only 4 kids, there were plenty to go around. I have a feeling we will be finding eggs for quite a while!

Seriously....could he get any cuter???

 OK...this one too!  He wanted his picture taken too.  (I do really have 3 kids sometimes!) He wanted credit for making the ham.

Fun in the Sun!

The Lichty Family finally headed to the sun after a LOOOOONG winter.  Q was temporarily taken off of the Federal "No Fly" list.  She, of course, was dressed for the occasion!  Other than deciding she wanted to start potty training mid flight (she always had perfect timing), she actually did pretty well on the flight!

We got to Gold Canyon just in time to celebrate Grandma Ann's birthday!

 One day we went to Scottsdale to log some serious pool time with the Larson and Hoffman families (minus Dave and Mike).  Matt liked being with "The Housewives of the West Metro".

Lots of fun hikes and GEO-Caching!

 A trip to the ghost town.  It was a little windy but we were just happy that the wind didn't involve a chill below zero!

 

Always a Diva!  For some reason she was loving all the birds.  There was one on the neighbors house and Q was yelling at the bird "Birdy...be careful!  Get down birdy!".

 Mommy and Daddy were able to get in two (yes, TWO) rounds of golf!

 One of Harrison's highlights was a ATV ride in the dessert!

 Q had a favorite ride of her own...Grandpa's golf cart!  (I think it was because he drove her threw the McDonalds Drive through in it to get ice cream!)

 At the Botanical Gardens, the kids learned about telling time with the sun.

 Harrison's longest hike...Silly Mountain!  It was quite the challenge for a 5 year old to get to the top.  I was proud of him!

 The week was capped off with a birthday cake for mommy. While a snow storm dropped 10 inches of snow back home, we enjoy 80 degrees and sun.  Not a bad way to celebrate!

Some memorable quotes from the trip:
Mommy: We got you a surprise treat for the plane.
Harrison: Is it relish?
(Note: It was not relish...it was gummy bears.)

The car alarm was going off.
Dad: Did you press the car alarm button?
Harrison: Yes
Dad: Why would you do that?
Harrison: Daddy, you know I am a very curious boy.

Mommy: What was your favorite part of the trip?
Harrison: Happy hour.
(Note: We discussed hiking and ATV rides were actually his favorite part....particularly when they ask at school.)

Quick Trip to DC!

Harrison and Mommy did a weekend trip to visit the DC to celebrate a certain uncle's 40th birthday!

A quick check of the cockpit!

 Since we have been below zero for the majority of the last 2 months, the 40's and 50's in DC felt so good!  We walked the mall and went to the Air and Space Museum, American History and Natural History museums.

Cousins Beth and Beatrix met up with us!  Beatrix and Harrison were two peas in a pods! Harrison did his first sleep over at their house too so mommy could enjoy a FANTASTIC dinner with Grandma, Grandpa,  and Uncle.

 We walked the monuments and memorials on Sunday.

 So these pics aren't from DC but I am a little slow in blog updates.  Before we left, there was actually an evening that the kids could actually play outside!!!!

 Harrison and daddy wrapped up their regular season hockey.  Not sure who had more fun!

 Celebrating Mardi Gras! Our friends the Thornton's threw a fun Mardi Gras party. Harrison liked the King's Cake the best!

 It has been too cold for ski school but the boys did get out for an evening ski. Hopefully March bring some better weather!

Valentines Day party with one of my loves!  I was in charge of the smoothy station at Harrison's class party.  Fun to see him in his school environment.