4th of July!

We finally got to celebrate Independence Day with family this year! :) For the past four years, we've been spending the fourth of July in Virginia so we were VERY excited to be back in the NW!! We started the day off by meeting my Mom in downtown Portland to get the kids some books followed by some lunch. After the kids had a much needed nap, we drove up to Vancouver Washington to my sister and brother-in-law's house and spent the evening with them having a bbq and watching the kids have fun with each other. As we have found out since arriving in town, no occasion with the cousins together is complete without some T-R-O-U-B-L-E! Andrew and Owen were found in the bathroom dumping toilet water on themselves! HA! Funny boys! When the sun started to set, we went out front and lit up some fireworks. After they had their fill of pop-its and sparklers, John and my brother-in-law took the kids around the corner to a blocked off street and watched a HUGE display of fireworks. Washington fireworks are a lot different than the ones we've been used to seeing in Virginia and Oregon. They don't have to stay on the ground so it was very exciting for the kids! I'm so glad they had fun too - it's so nice to see them play with their cousins (also known as their friends!) :) Wish we lived closer!

 Happy 4th! :)

  Our family!

 John, Step Dad and Brother-in-law

Cousins & friends

 Goofy boys!

YUMMY deseret my sister and her neighbor made

Waiting for the FUN to begin!

 Poor little Andrew was scared of some of the LOUD neighboring fireworks :(

Andrew LOVED the sparklers! His first year giving them a try.

 

My sister and her family - minus my 9 month old nephew who was napping

but here he is from earlier....so cute!!

Brother-in-law helping the kids with a new batch of sparklers

Shields Family Photos - 2011

Going back home to Oregon usually calls for another family photo session by my dear friend, Bethany. And once again, she did awesome! We had a fun time catching up with her while being at one of our favorite spots in Oregon: The International Rose Gardens in Portland. I love how she captured our family - especially with the recent addition to our bunch and with our family moving to Germany this summer for the next three years.

 (You can go here to see our photo session on her website). 

Andrew: 2 1/2 years old (turning 3 in December)

 

 Jocelyn: 4 years old (turning 5 in September)

 Aubrey: 11 years old (turning 12 in October)

 Landon: 3 months old

 Trying to capture just the kids faces. Was almost successful - if only I was a bit taller! :)

 

In The Middle

After the kids were feeling better and the house was all packed up, we have been spending the remaining of our time with our great friends, the Kemmeys, while we wait to leave for vacation tomorrow. We WERE going to leave early this morning but after an ALL DAY clean out party at the house yesterday to get things nice for our renters, we were just plain exhausted!! We really needed another day to recover and get things in order for the road.

Here are some pictures of our last days in our Virginia home. Oh, how we are going to miss it!

{kids lounging in mom and dad's room on the start of moving day!}

{i couldn't resist taking a picture of his little baby feet} :)

{our paint helpers and awesome friends! :)}

{cleaning house!}

{movers taking boxes to the truck}

{helping to get the furniture ready to be put into storage - minus the crib that's being shipped to the new house}

{crates for our household goods}

{moving almost complete!}

{packing!}

{Sad day for the kids - packing our suitcases to live out of for the next 2-3 months}

{At hotel while movers packed our things}

{guys working on home projects}

{painting the house}

{front yard}

{backyard}

{Sabine and Jocelyn - on our big cleaning day. SO thankful for her help!}

We spent a few months getting things prepped and ready to move by painting the home, getting projects finished, gutting the house and making numerous Goodwill trips, keeping kids out of the way of the movers and escaping the heat by trips to the mall, library and pool, and cleaning the home inside and out. It took a lot of work and a lot of helping hands! The hard part seemed to be over - until we had to say goodbye to our home! :( Our family made a lot of memories here. Tears were shed and we will miss it dearly!