Trucks and Cars

Just a cute picture of what little Mr. is into right now. After I took this he sent each one racing accross the floor crashing into each other :)

JJ Jump

We've been going to a lot of birthday parties at JJ Jump lately and Ashley has gotten brave enough to try the swing. Unfortunately I didn't get any video (per her request) since my camera ran out of memory, but I did get this one. Isaiah was all excited to try the swing like his big sister at a birthday party last weekend, but apparently he needs to get a little bigger.

Walk to School

We've been able to walk Ashley to school most days that I'm off since the weather has been so beautiful. I love our walks in the morning and afternoon. Sometimes they're in the stroller cuddled up with a blanket, sometimes Isaiah rides his bike and sometimes I get to walk behind these two and capture moments like this...

Week with Gram

Gram spent the week with us while Papa was hunting in Eastern OR. It was so nice having her help and company all week. The kids really enjoyed their time with her as well. Isaiah spent good quality time with Gram while Ashley was in school. They went to the pumpkin patch, got books at the library, went out to lunch and Gram got to see his first soccer class. They decorated halloween cookies and ghosts to hang in the house. We all sure missed Papa though and he surprised us by coming home a day early with his buck's antlers in his hand!

Pretending to be their own ghosts

day at the park with Gram

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Kindergarten Field Trip to Pumpkn Patch

I went with Ashley's class to Lee Farms last Friday for a field trip to the pumpkin patch. They do such a great job with the kids showing them all around the farm, letting them taste fresh squeezed apple cider, taking them on a hay ride and letting them take home a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch. It ended up being a gorgeous day after torrential downpours all week, so we got lucky! After the pumpkin patch we went to Atfalati Park for lunch and play time.

Ashley and her friend Abby

9 years!

9 years I've been married to my best friend. Cheers to a wonderful marriage, an amazing life together, and the perfect evening out with my sweetheart!

Seabrook 2013

We had our 2nd annual trip to Seabrook a few weeks ago and had a blast. We stayed at the same house as last year, "Ocean's Five," which fits all 3 families with plenty of room left over. There is a huge play room upstairs and this year the kids played so well, the adults could enjoy some time together too! We rode bikes, checked out the "gnome trail" and planned to make a gnome house to contribute next year, went swimming, played at the beach, and enjoyed some much needed time together after a busy summer.

Celebrating Nathan's 4th birthday!

Sand castle competition

One of each age.... Ashley- 5, Nathan- 4, Isaiah- 3, Saywer- 2 and Ellie- 1.  Next year Reese will be in there!

Kindergarten!

Ashley had her first day of Kindergarten on Monday and absolutely loves it so far. Their daycare has a wonderful Kindergarten program, so we decided to keep her there for that reason as well as the before and after school program on days that I work. The transition was easier as well, especially since her pre-K teacher moved up with her and she's in the same building. She'll get to ride the bus and go to public school next year. Mom and Dad are still getting used to the fact that our little girl is growing up and it's very emotional, but we are so proud of the little young lady she is becoming! Starting Kindergarten was a big day. Brian took the day off and we walked as a family to school. She walked right into the classroom, found her name tag, and was ready (Mama and Papa were the one's with tears in our eyes)! There are 30 kids in the class, but 4 teachers, so they get the feel of a big classroom with more individual attention for learning which we hope will give her a strong foundation for starting public school next year. She had her outfit all picked out and couldn't wait to wear it. Check out the Leopard high tops with sparkly pink laces her and Papa picked out after practicing and getting down tying shoes! She is going to learn and change so much, we can't wait for all the new things this year has in store for us!

She picked waffles for breakfst on the "You are Special today" plate

Labor Day 2013

We had an awesome Labor Day weekend this year. It started off going down to Foster Lake and camping with the Patton's Saturday night. We headed down early and spent almost the whole day on the boat. That night the husbands and older kids entertained us with a game of Kickball. Of course there were a few modifications to make it fair ... the guys had to kick the ball with their left foot and run with a beer in their hand. You can only imagine what kind of entertainment that was and how many beers they went through! I'm sure this is going to be a yearly competition from here on out. I only wish I had my camera, I didn't get any pictures of the trip down there. Sunday night we went to the Ronne's for a Salmon feed. Dave was in Alaska for 10 days fishing and so they threw a pool party to share his catch. The kids had a blast in the pool and it was great to catch up with everyone. Somehow Brian talked the kids into going down the slide head first! I got a picture of Isaiah, but Ashley's is only a big splash. I did catch some video, but our computer is not wanting to download those right now. On Monday we headed up to Mirror Lake to hike and have a picnic lunch. It was a perfect day for hiking, not too hot and beautiful once we got to the lake. We were very proud of the kids. They hiked for about 2 hours and not one complaint out of either of them. In fact they kept saying how they couldn't wait to do it again, that they love hiking!

Picnic lunch at Mirror Lake

Without the cloud coverage, this is a beautiful view of Mt. Hood

Body went swimming, Ashley and I found some crawfish and Isaiah caught a butterfly!

Zoo Day

We went to the zoo with the kids' friend Emma, her Mom Cynthia and sister a couple of weeks ago and ended up spending 5 hours there! Isaiah did great, no nap and he was happy the whole time. We even got to ride the train around the zoo and Washington park for the first time!

Baby Lily.  She is so cute to watch!

Isaiah being a pickle and not wanting to take the picture (maybe it was because he was a tad outnumbered!)  Ashley, Madelyn's friend, Emma, and Madelyn (Emma's sister)