Camden's 4K graduation

Camden graduated from preschool on 5/16/2008. She sure has enjoyed her time at Little Imaginations, but she's also excited about moving on to "big school." We are so proud of her!

Down on the Farm...

We're glad that summertime is here! Our relaxed schedule will give us more opportunities to enjoy some of our favorite places. One of those is the "Demonstration Farm" at Oak Mountain State Park. We were there on 5/21/2008. We hung out with the animals and had a picnic. The baby goats and little lambs were the stars of the day.

Aldridge Gardens

We love to spend time hanging out at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover. We didn't go too often during the winter months, so we took advantage of the warm weather today and headed out there for a picnic lunch. Camden was in school, so it was a special outing for Owen and Langley. Owen really enjoys feeding the fish and the turtles. The overcast conditions seemed to invite a little picture-taking.

Sunday Pulla Baking

This past Sunday, we opted to skip church and just enjoy a relaxing morning at home. Alan and the kids decided to bake pulla. This was the first time Langley was around for the baking...and the first time she was old enough to eat it!

This is a Keravuori tradition that has been passed down for generations. Alan uses the same recipe that his mom and his grandmother (and probably others before her) have used for many years. Eating pulla and drinking hot chocolate were part of his childhood memories with his Mummi and Taato. Our children love to bake it with their Gram and their Daddy. I love to watch the whole process--they take turns grinding the cardamom seeds in Mummi's mortar and pestle. In something as simple as baking bread, they are learning layers and layers of lessons.

Nature Lesson

We returned from our Spring Break trip to find that a bird had built her nest in Camden's bicycle basket. Over the course of the next three or four days, she laid a total of five eggs. She's still very diligently sitting on the nest. In fact, she seems to have grown quite accustomed to our comings and goings. The kids have been super-excited about the whole process. We're hopeful that the baby birds will hatch out anyday now.

Click on this picture to link to our March/April misc. photo album; this includes (among other things) a visit from Gram, a trip to Moss Rock with the Petrellas and an outing to the McWane Center with Nonna and Mary Emma.

AU Lulu

This one is for Tiff.

Since we live in a "Divided House" around here, I had to seize the opportunity to document Langley in her Auburn attire. War Eagle! Of course, what the picture doesn't show is Owen standing right beside her in his "Big Al" shirt (which he insisted on putting on after he saw Langley sporting the orange and blue).

Tooth Fairy Times

Camden lost her first tooth this week (on 4/3/08). We took these pics as she was heading to bed last night. She was super-excited about a visit from the Tooth Fairy.