Springtime Shenanigans with the Knights: Part deux

And the Spring Saga continues. My in-laws purchased some land, and on that land is a vacant barn. Now inside that vacant barn are some cute little pigs some neighbor girls are raising for 4-H. One day all the cousins got to go and take a look and had a BLAST! (oh and Evelyne has her first loose tooth)

 Gilbert, Grayson, Henry and Evelyne (the girl with the loose tooth).

 Spencer and the pigs.

 Grandpa Bruce got in with all the kids to watch the pigs outside (have I mentioned evelyne has a loose tooth?)

Aren't they cute? They look very much like country boys in this pic.

 Nathan and Gilbert enjoyed some time together at his preschool on Dad's night (making gifts for mother's day of course)

 Cinco de Mayo...the Knights went wild; Gilbert dressed for the occasion with a snake belt, no shirt, and a sombrero.

In case you were wondering...Evelyne has a loose tooth, it is on the bottom...seeeeeee?!

Playing catch-up in June

 Since I'm incredibly behind in the blog for my family world; I'll try to play catch up. Starting in June with Evelyne's Birthday. We had two parties; one with family and one with friends...the theme was "SUMMER!" After a very long and wet spring, we were all itching for some weather improvement and some Vitamin D.

 Here are a few partygoers; Stephanie, Jason, Bruce, Nathan and Lindsey

 Cousin Emery

 Evelyne and Cousin Hunter

 Her last (full day) of school was celebrated with a pizza party! The kids had a lot of fun eating yummy pizza in their classroom

 Evelyne was selected with her two friends to participate in the all school talent show which was no small feat! Out of 830 kids, only a handful of groups were selected. Evelyne and her friend Priyanka played a piano duet to "somewhere over the rainbow" and their friend Annika did a dance to it.

 Here are the 3 lovelies; Evelyne, Priyanka, Annika. Priyanka gave Evelyne one of her dresses to wear and she LOVES it! You'll see, she wore it to about every special occasion all month long!

 Evelyne's last day of school; here they are (two classes combined) to do the sing-along they'd done all year on Fridays....this was one last hurrah.

 Evelyne with her teacher, Mr. Zack.

 One of her favorite kids in the class was Reece, a sweet boy who was always very kind to her.

 The friend party was all about summer, too! I made some cute cupcakes and we did face painting and decorated flip-flops to take home!

 Flip flop craftiness!

 Fun friends, Ainsley, Lauren, Rosie, Bailey, Aubrey, Carla, Evelyne, Priyanka, and Annika!

 We also had the opportunity to attend Nathan's cousin's wedding in Albany so these photos are from that lovely event.

 Gilbert loves to dance, by the way, and was crazy break-dancing all day long!

The two kids dancing as a pair; so sweet!

More soon; hope you enjoy these pics...wish time wasn't zooming by so quickly!

Spring Shenanigans with the Knights 2011; Part un

Spring has been busy for the Knights, I swear as the kids get older our time gets stretched thinner (you with teens please don't tell me it will only get worse)....Here are some of the latest photos of things we've been doing. The first is of our annual Villebois Easter Egg Hunt. One thing I love about this neighborhood is the way neighbors come together to plan and create fun and safe events for the kids. 

 Evelyne with neighbor Elisa after the big hunt!

 Gilbert excited about his loot!

 My sweet niece Emery showing off her basket

 The easter bunny always shows up and gets lots of hugs from the kids....especially Gilbert

 Evelyne and her good friend Annika

 My lovely girl

 Kids exchanging easter stories...here's friend Jeffery and cousin Hunter

Next on the docket was coloring easter eggs which we hadn't done until the day before Easter. The weather was so spectacular I couldn't bear to do it inside so we went outside. A couple of neighbor kids, Siona and Kavin joined us! I actually sprinkled them with water that day it was so warm!

 Dyeing eggs the old fashioned way...no PAAS here, just food coloring and vinegar.

 They actually came out pretty good!

Easter morning was met with relaxation after a harried Saturday of preparing for the big meal. We have the family over to our house which I love...it's just the prep and cleaning that I hate. Luckily, it's all done by Saturday night so we can rest on Sunday and enjoy company with family.

 I bought hot cross buns at Lamb's Thriftway to eat with our hardboiled eggs and mimosas on Easter Morning. Evelyne set the table for us and even put our initials on the napkins.

 So, instead of buying flowers this year, I decided to venture outside and pick what I have even if it meant green leaves. I happily discovered the shrubs I usually don't like that are right outside my front door have lovely lily - like flowers in the spring that have a nice scent so I picked a bunch.

We went to Easter Service at Community of Hope and they had a nice display of easter lilies at the front of the church; perfect to snap a few photos!

Easter dinner is always a family affair; all of us select a couple of items and bring them to the table to share. I'm usually in charge of a main meat dish, this year I did the leg of lamb and all of the appetizers.

 Dining room all set for dinner

 We had a chance during appetizer hour to snap a few photos outside. Here's the lovely Sadie (now Kelley), mom and Evelyne in her apron.

 My grandpa John enjoying an old song book. This year, Nathan and I did some spring cleaning and got rid of lots of books. Rather than send them to Goodwill we decided to give them to family and friends. So all weekend while people came for a visit, they got to take some books...fun!

 Preparing the final plates; Nathan is cutting up the lamb (with my apron on...guess I need to get him one).

After dinner we celebrated my dad's 67th birthday.

Look for the next installment coming soon! Can't promise a quick delivery however.