Daddy Weekend

I seriously have THE best Mister ever!  He so kindly took the kiddos to his parents again this weekend, leaving me all by my joyous lonesome!  I always have so many projects/things I want to get done, that just don't seem to get done with three little people constantly needing my attention.  It's really a win/win situation for all...the kids get some much needed time with daddy, they get to hang out with gramma and grampa, they get to do fun things...and I can get sooooo much accomplished when I don't have any interruptions! :-)

 

 

As soon as they got down to Elfrida, they went on a picnic and to play in the creek!

 

 

I so love this girl and her many facial expressions!

 

Oh this kid kills me!

 

Apparently, he'd had a long day!

 

Horses are always a big hit!

 

Except, apparently, for Alexa this time! :-)

 

Kevin even took the kiddos to church all by himself, with the help of his parents, of course.

He's my  hero!

Sure love him and his willingness to give me some much-needed ME time!

The Girls

Photoshoot of the girls...just because!

 

 

LOVE them!!

Rain Boots

Barrett got some rain boots.  And it rained today.

He. was. in. heaven. :-)

 

 

..::Payton's 1st Day of Joy School::..

 

Payton started Joy School today!

It's a home-based, mom-teaching type of preschool program.  I'll admit that I was quite hesitant in making this decision to do this...but we'll give it a go and see how things go!

 

 

I forgot to take pictures of all the kids on her first day, so here they all are on her 2nd day!

Seems like a fun bunch!

..::Alexa's 1st Day of Kindergarten::..

 

My firstborn started Kindergarten today!!!

To say she was excited would be a HUGE understatement!!!

 

 

She even rode the bus her very first day.  Here she is waiting for the bus with her best little friend, Ally, who also happens to live right across the street AND is in the same kindergarten class!!!

 

Getting ON the bus!

 

Sharing a seat with Ally!

Getting OFF the bus at school!

 

Her home away from home for the next year!

 

And her teacher, Miss White....I can tell already that we are going to LOVE Miss White!

 

Her table...and two of her friends we already know, Ally and Krew, were assigned to the same table!

Coming home after her 1st day of Kindergarten!  Such a big girl now...only 12 more years to go!! :-)

 

Mortenson Family Campout 2012

It's that time of year again...time to go camping! (MY personal favorite time of the year...no sarcasm whatsoever!!!)  However, my sweet Mister LOVES camping, as do my kiddos, so it's a small sacrifice on my part!! :-)

 

Alexa and Barrett look ready to start our camp out, don't ya think??!!!

 

 

We went up to the Whitetail Campground on Mt. Lemmon this year and it was a great campsite.  Spots for 6 or 7 tents, a campfire area and a covered eating area, complete with electricity.  Oh and separate bathrooms for each campsite so we didn't have to share with any other families.  It was great!!

 

The kiddos had fun playing t-ball with Grampa!

 

They always love to spend time with Gramma and Grampa!

 

The "Triple A" cousins all born the same year (Alexa, Ainsley and Amelia)...such cute girls.

 

Can you believe they used to be THIS...???

(can you tell which one is Alexa??? oh my...I sure make squishy babies!!)

 

We had fun roasting marshmallows for s'mores.

But even more fun eating them!!! 

 

Barrett's favorite spot was the van...he wanted to play in it constantly!!

We went on a little bit of a hike the 2nd day...and Barrett even got to go, had the best seat in the house in fact!! 

The treacherous mountain terrain was worth these views...my handsome Mister AND the landscape!! :-)

Alexa chose to stay back at camp to play with cousins so this is our family picture from the hike.

We realized while we were up there, that ALL of the Mortenson siblings made the trek...several cousins and spouses had stayed back at camp, but all of the actual siblings were there so it was definitely picture time!

This little guy just loved being outdoors...sure wish this picture had been in focus cuz he's one handsome little dude!  Man, I love this boy!!

 

And this little lady was beyond infatuated with her new baby cousin, McKinley.  She'd been dying to hold her the whole weekend and was so happy when she finally got the chance!!

Grampa and Gramma with all their grand kids...what a cute, lovable, crazy bunch!

Thanks to all who made this a great campout...looking forward to next year!!