Levi turned 5

Cake Adventures year 3: After the efforts I put in to make fire truck jello cake and shaun the sheep cupcakes, it was with some trepidation that I asked Levi what shape of cake he wanted for his birthday.  I was very worried he would choose Megalosaurus, and then hassle me over the details.  I was so relieved when he held up his hands to demonstrate and said "circle".  I gave him a high five and promised to deliver.  
I was up late the night before his party, thinking about how I could make a round cake with no round cake pan and decided to make a rectangle cake, then cut it.  Well... you see, I thought I had come up with a good egg substitution that would hold the cake together (cream cheese) but such was not the case.  That cake turned into a rubble of vanilla flavored crumbs immediately upon exiting the pan.  No rectangle, and no circle.  Improvising, I began to moosh all the cake bits together into a dense circle-ish form.  After that was accomplished, I added frosting and sprinkles and we had ourselves a cake!  Maybe next year we should just go for cookies.

The celebrations included 3 days of saying "this is for your birthday!" about every activity. See below:

A certain je ne sais quoi

How was the trip to Paris you ask? Here are some hints.

The kids were with my parents in California.
We spent and lived like aristocrats. 
Great weather.
Pastries at every opportunity.
Vivian and I celebrated our 3000 days anniversary.
Both Carrie and I celebrated a birthday.
Chris navigated the city and the language like a local.
Bikes were involved.

Jen!

Jen came all the way to NH to visit!  We had such a good time with her.  My kids love her and we had many good adventures.  Highlights include
-Being asked to pose for a picture for the website at sugarbush farm (no sign of the picture yet), and getting paid in cheese and crackers for our work
-While canoeing, we saw the Dartmouth crew team putting in their boats and I hear Jen behind me, "Uh, stop the boat."
-Camping right on the lakeshore
-Picking up Jen from the airport without any kids and eating some lunch, without any kids

One Year Old!

Oh what a difference a year makes.  Gwen Sophronia has grown so much since June 7th a year ago. Now she's crawling and standing and pushing around a pushcart.  She tells babbling nonsense stories.  She loves to slide and swing.  She will eat almost anything on her plate.  But will throw half of it on the floor anyway.  She gets excited to see animals, loves water, and likes to flip pages of books, especially the hymn book.  She still prefers her mommy but tolerates the presence of strangers.  She is a great sleeper.  We love you baby girl.

April/May

Just catching up on some recent pictures.