Activity Day Camp

Aubrey had the opportunity to attend Activity Day Camp at our church. (These girls are ages 8 to 11.) She came home every day - of these two fun filled days - excited about seeing her friends, meeting new ones, and the activities they learned and were able to experience. Some of these activities include: soap carving, painted snakes (faith), helped missionaries with scripture study (highlighted verses in scriptures for investigators), made biscuits & honey butter, hand cart games, tote bag she sewed the letter "A" onto the front, songs, helped make cough pillows (serving others), decorated journals, and friendship bracelets. She's so excited to go again next year!

Things Usually Happen In Threes, Right?

I should clarify: It's not always bad things that happen in threes. The three things that I'm talking about are the three weekends straight we had with company and barbecues and I'm wiped out! Don't think I'm complaining because I'm not in any way. It was all so FUN...but exhausting. I need a good month to recover before going back to entertaining again.

The first weekend, we had my cousin Holli and her family over. As always, it was so good to see them - especially since their new addition to their family will be arriving soon. Aubrey and Jocelyn always love to see my cousin's son so they were bouncing off the walls with excitement when they were here. So fun to watch them run around in the back yard and play ball. I made the mistake of telling Jocelyn he was coming over after nap time. Therefore, there WAS no nap time! (And I sure learned my lesson not to say next time.) Luckily she slept really well that night. :) Also, for all of our outdoor eating needs, John built a lovely picnic table in just a matter of hours. Found plans online, got the supplies and worked away on it. It's really nice and we even have neighbors requesting one to be built for them! Go John!!

{Menu: Burgers, Hot Dogs, Corn on the cob, Baked Beans, Chips, Brownies and Ice Cream.}

* Made these baked beans for the first time! Definitely a "keeper recipe."

The second weekend, we had some really good friends of ours come over. (I used to be her visiting teacher and he's our home teacher who also gave Andrew his baby blessing.) The kids call them Uncle Rick and Aunt Annette. It's really cute. We had a great time eating and chatting together! And the weather couldn't have been nicer! (We have been experiencing a lot of severe thunderstorms here in the past month or so. We lucked out this day and enjoyed the outdoors!)

{Menu: BBQ wings, Ribs, Hot Dogs, Corn on the cob, Pasta salad, Baked Beans, Veggie Sticks, Cherry Dump Cake, and Lemonade.}

The third weekend that we had a barbecue was today. The weather was borderline cooperative so one of John's running buddies and his family, who we had invited over suggested we have it over at their place since they had more room to have it indoors. Another one of his running buddies and his family also joined us. One of the main reasons to have this barbecue was to see them before they moved back to California in the next month or so. Such is the military life. While it's true that I was barbecued out, I was grateful that we all got together. It was fun to finally meet the host's wife. In fact, it was pretty funny. All three of us ladies were inside gabbing away while all three of the guys were out on the deck talking away as well. I held Andrew a majority of the time so I regret to say that I didn't take any group photos. A few of Jocelyn and Aubrey was all I could muster up while I was taking care of my mommy duties. Luckily, we're all getting together one more time before they move and after both families get back from their vacations. So I'll be sure to get some photos then.

{Menu: Burgers, Hot Dogs, Potato Wedges, Baked Beans, and Mud Pie.}

* We received rave reviews on the potato wedges!

{Going...}
{Going...}
{Gone! Until next time...}

And this ends our barbecue fun. At least until July! We love spending time with our friends and look forward to more get togethers soon. Hope you are all enjoying your summer so far. :) And please try the recipes. They're SOOO good!

Last Day & End Of The Season Soccer Party

It's hard to believe that my first born is now a graduate of the 3rd grade. Seriously! Where has the time gone?!?! Unlike most kids her age, she's sad school's out. She LOVES school. Not that summer vacation isn't fun for her but she'd rather learn more spelling words (I can make some for her if she'd like!), read a ton of books (which she will be doing through the summer library reading program I signed her up for), and socializing with all of her friends (with friends coming and going and her going and coming - I'm pretty sure she'll get in a ton of socializing! Especially with girls camp this week). So that's that. We're set. And our family road trip is just around the corner. I don't think the car ride will be that boring for them either. Snoozing, movie watching, hat knitting, page turning (ie: books!) are ALL on the list of must-do! (Lucky bums! A lot more interesting than starring at the road ahead and driving! Ahh...to be a kid again.) And that's just for the car ride. There's so much more to do on the outside of car riding but I'll save that for another day.

This year's spring soccer ended awhile ago but last night was the end of the season soccer party at a local pizza joint. The party room overflowed into the restaurant dining area (which we gladly took part of due to the lack of enjoying crowded spaces) and watched all the girls hopping around and acting giddy. Like they needed the cake!! :) It looks like we'll be having a new coach for the Fall season. We'll for sure miss the old (GREAT) coaches if they decide not to return. Aubrey is already so excited for the next season to start - just as much as she's already so excited to become a 4th grader. Wow. I still can't believe it. Just as that song goes: "Don't blink." Time sure goes by quick.

{Jocelyn waiting EVER so patiently for her cheese (and only cheese) pizza to arrive!}

{But for entertainment purposes, she was on a roll. That sitting around business was MUCH too boring! Can't see what's she's doing? Let me get a better view for you...}

{That's right people. She's learned something new. Definitely a two year old little girl!:) }

{Ahum. (clearing the throat!) On to more exciting things. Trophy time! This is Aubrey with her soccer coaches. These ladies are amazing!}

{And Aubrey with her soccer buddies.}

THE END!

On The Trail Again

We're back to our Sunday drives and walks again. It's hard to stay inside when it's decent weather and Sundays are family days for us so we've made this a tradition. Either we drive somewhere or we take a walk around our neighborhood on most Sunday afternoons/evenings. I'm sure being a TRUE Oregonian has made us love and appreciate the outdoors so we take advantage of it anytime we can. Here are some pictures we took with our new camera tonight on our nature walk.

{Of course, I had to take a nap with the kids first! :)}

{Here is the start of our walk. This picture was kind of hard to get. Lately, Jocelyn doesn't want to look at the camera. So I do what I can without her cooperation. Spontaneous is good.}

{I really liked how this picture of the girls & I turned out. This was a first for the kids & I to go on this trail as John and his work buddies go running on this trail often. We've been to the park as a family before. Just not on this trail. The scenery with the nature all around us was really nice and refreshing!}

{Here's a closer shot.}

{Looking up to the sky}

{The girls were walking ahead of us here. They may look brave but they were scared out of their pants at first. This is all we heard from them while they were walking: "Are there bears out here? Are there snakes out here? Are there animals out here that are going to hurt us? Will a bear eat me? What was that sound? Oh my! Is that a fallen over dead tree? Ewww. GROSS!" LOL They were quite comical.}

{"Mama...there are snakes in here!" I checked. The coast was clear. :)}

{John and the kids}

{We heard a plane flying overhead and actually got a picture of it through a clearing in the trees.}

{Some of the nature floor we walked past.}

{And another. Only this one has some fungus. John thought it was pretty cool.}

{Andrew did so well on the walk. He kept busy by sucking on the Baby Bjorn straps. Hey. Whatever works right? :) He was content the entire time. He really is such a good boy. I just love my little guy! :)}

{And I just love my sweet girls too! We made it back to our starting point just before sunset - when the park wants us gone. The girls were worn out but we all had a great time. But NEXT time, we're wearing our tennis shoes and NOT our flip flops/ salt waters. :) Those sticks sure didn't feel so hot sliding under our bare feet. But hey - with no injuries to report, having fun is all that matters, right? Can't wait to do it again.}

Andrew's Pasttime

I finally caught Andrew rolling over on video today!!! So excited over the little things, can ya tell? I did get to SEE him roll over for the first time on Thursday and now that he's rolling over more and more often, I thought I should film it for the fam to see. (Please don't mind me and my high pitched mama voice cheering and encouraging him from the sidelines!) Anyways. I am so excited that he has gotten the hang of rolling over and scooting all over the place. I'm sure I won't be saying that when he's pulling things left and right off of shelves, but then again, our stuff isn't within toddler reach so he can have at it with his sister's toys. Just not sure SHE'LL be too thrilled. :) Oh well.


Andrew - Rolling Over 5/24/09

End Of The Week Surprise

This week was Aubrey's first time experiencing the SOL tests in school (can be quite stressful for 3rd grade on up) and I thought it would be fun to surprise her at the end of the week with a treat. Now that Carl's is back up and running for the past few months, I thought it was the perfect place to go. I also talked earlier in the week with Aubrey's friend C's mom that I also happen to be friends with and we decided to plan this little surprise together. Ice cream and then a trip to the nearby park. The weather was perfect. A little too perfect. Not only was the ice cream melting, but so were the kids by the end of the trip! You should have seen Aubrey's face when she figured out that we were up to something. Especially when we pulled into Carl's.

{Me and my girls}

{Aubrey and her friend C}

{Jocelyn enjoying her yummy ice cream. Her shirt enjoyed it too.}

{Jocelyn's first time on the merry-go-round. She LOVED it!}

{Round and round they went!}

{They all loved playing on the merry-go-round so much that this is really all they wanted to do.}

{Couldn't escape the park without a ride on the swing first! Of course, right?}

{A little fuzzy, but you get the picture. She's LOVING every minute of being on the swing!}

{Aubrey and C playing at the park}

{"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"}

{Aubrey saved the day and slid down the slide with Jocelyn who stood frozen up at the top! She's such a great sister.}

{And where were the guys you wonder? At home chilling out together. Doing bonding things I'm sure. Like watching a basketball game or dreaming up the next house project. :)}

We all had so much fun. I can't wait to scheme up another fun surprise for her last day of school!

I Spoke Too Soon!

HE DID IT! Andrew rolled over today!! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see this exciting event occur. I'm kind of bummed about that but I'm sure I'll see it happen in the days to come. I had just gotten done helping him to roll over (we've been practicing) and when he looked tired, I covered him up with his blanket and gave him his pacifier while he layed on his tummy. I came over to the desk to tidy some things up when I heard him crying. A moment later when I walked over to see what he was crying about, he was on his back. I actually had to think for a second, "didn't I lay him on his tummy?" I honestly couldn't remember. But he was in fact on his tummy so he rolled over all on his own - just when I started to wonder when that was ever going to happen! The day after turning 5 months, he finally did it! I took a picture of him as soon as I found out that he had rolled over for the first time. I think he was a little scared by the look on his face. (Don't worry, I picked him up right after I took this shot and snuggled him and congratulated him on his newest achievement!) Yeah Andrew! :)