Aspen's 5th Birthday!

We celebrated Aspen's 5th birthday the day after her birthday.....remember, she has a pretty cool birthday. lots of sevens...7-7-07, born on the 7th day. Nifty, eh?

Can't believe how fast she is growing up. She is a lovely little lady and I am blessed to have her in my life. Wow, I get to be her mommy! Really...this thrills me more than words can say!!

Here are some scenes from the birthday bash...Hello Kitty style, but of course! :-)

Aspen twig, we love you!!!

dandelions and cookies

Lily and I got a little bit of precious mommy/daughter time. This is always a special time. While River ran some errands with Rocky...Aspen and I did a little cleaning (I know...what mother would have her child clean? Well, she likes to clean..sometimes. Today she helped me clean the kitchen. A huge help she was!!

Afterwards..she wanted to head outside. So, I grabbed the camera and off we went. What a beautiful day it was, by the way!

She headed to our little apple tree and wanted to point out to me all of the budding leaves. :-)

Next up...dandelions! She gathered up quite a few then went to town blowing the little white dandelion petals into the air..

After all the dandelion fun we headed inside and made some flourless peanut butter cookies with dark chocolate chips. She is such a great helper in the kitchen. So thankful for my sweet little girl and for those precious mother/daughter time together.
Oh, and the cookies turned out delicious, in case you were curious. :-)

Flourless chocolate chip cookies

1 cup natural peanut butter
1 cup sweetener (1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 stevia)
1 T baking powder
1 egg (or a chia egg)
dark chocolate chips (optional, but add a great touch)

Mix all together. Roll into little balls, then put on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 2 minutes, then enjoy! These are bit crumbly, but very yummy!

Have a blessed rest of the week!

-kelly

after bath time photo op with the kids..

well, okay...today ended up being shower kind of day, instead of bath time but you get the idea...

i just so happened to have the camera out when each of the kids finished up their showers. convenient, eh?

the kids wanted to have their photos taken. naturally, i obliged.

here are a few (or four) shots of the kids being their adorable selves.

i don't think I have ever been this cute after a bath or a shower. ;-)

my little cutie patuties.

have a blessed weekend!

-kelly

fun with the cousins...

During Thanksgiving break, the cousins came to visit. We took that as a wonderful time for a mini-shoot. I was able to photograph the kids separately, and with their mama...while we were at it I got some cousin shots.
These kids have so much fun together. Right now they are 3, 4, 5, and 6. Pretty fun age span, eh? Makes me question whether or not I should have another baby..I mean, that would kind of throw off the number sequence going on here. :-)

(Not the best of photos...sun was setting ) but...Looks like someone here is either bored or getting sleepy. ;-)

Yes...I know, I am incredibly blessed to have such adorable people as family.

-kelly

me, a soccer mom?

this past october, river got to play soccer intramurals with one of the local church schools (the one he will be attending, in fact, when he starts school possibly next year). this proved to be pretty nice because he got to meet many of the kids that will be in his class. oh, and he got to play on his cousin, amber's team, too.

oh...i don't know about you, but i absolutely LOVE watching littles play sports. you know...generally the kids are all over the field and not always doing what they are supposed to be doing. but, hey...they are kids and it is cute. for example, one of the team members on river's team kept herself busy while doing cartwheels at the goal while being goalie. too funny!  now, granted...at the highschool, college, and definitely at the professional levels this is frowned upon. okay, i understand that, but at the early elementary grades...oh my, it is too cute!!

and wouldn't you know it...they were team red. river knows that red is my favorite color so he was excited. (oh be still my heart). ;-)

so, without further ado...a few photos of soccer:

here they are doing some warm-ups...you know, to warm up their bodies and get them ready for the demands of those soccer motions..it's all just so adorable!

river and his cousin, amber (amber is the one giggling oh so cutely)

Rocky had to finish up a work email real quick during warm-ups. He is a very busy hardworking man.

lily wanting to play next year. ;-)

oh...watching him play soccer truly made my heart melt. can we say adorable much??

;-)

until next time, folks.

-kelly (the proud soccer mom)