A Fishing We Will Go . . . .

Trillium Lake this afternoon . . . . birthday boy Nolan using his new fishing pole from Grandpa & caught his very 1st fish (the biggest one out of all the fishermen too) !!!

Make A Wish!

Left to Right: Darla, Elijah, friend Parker, Birthday Boy Nolan, Payton, Grandpa Ricky, Papa, friends Josh & Madilyn

Nolan making a serious wish....this is the look of 75% deep concentration & 25% shyness.

Well most of his friends & none of his cousins were available to attend his party . . . but the Hopkins Family & Granpda Ricky saved the day!! (Grandma Kris was home sick) Nolan had a great birthday (this morning he came downstairs with birthday snack debris still smeared on his face) & muttered "Mom! That was the best day of my life!!!" And I asked, "What your birthday party?" And he said "Yes! Can I have my next birthday party there again?" So..... thank you Meinig Park....the castle play structure & the wonderful outdoor movie theatre! Last night Nolan asked to go home because he was sleepy half way thru the movie, so we packed it up. I thought for sure this was going to go down as his least favorite party, but I guess I was wrong. So refreshing to have a child so easy to please! Hope it lasts.

Real nasally..... "MOM!!! I CANT BREATHE!"

Nolan's 2nd Yr Preschool Open House

Our little cutie pie with his teacher Mrs Hartman, sister to Darla & Elijah's preschool teacher. This is the BEST preschool in the area!!! It is worth the drive twice a week for me to take him. He cant wait to start on September 10th. The class size is 10 students & he already knows 2 of his peers.

Welcome to Dairy Queen . . . .

may I take your order?

Swimming at Mt Hood Village

As you can see I still havent figured out how to use the "new-to-us" camera. (Sorry)

Above: Elijah king of underwater swimming . . . and Nolan bobbing around in his spiderman donut & floaties. All the kids enjoy jumping in the heated pool. Diving is not allowed.Above: Elijah & Darla behind him

Our "baby" is turning 5 . . .

Blood Drive Today - Thurs 8/20

Lots of blood drive donation time slots are open beginning
at 3pm I am told ....please stop by the Hoodland Lutheran
Church on Hwy 26....on your way up or down the Mountain.
I plan to give the gift of life tomorrow...join me!

Directions shown below at church website:

http://www.hoodlandlutheran.org/Visiting.htm

3 Lil' Monkeys Sittin' In A Tree....

The kids latest favorite thing to do????? CLIMB TREES. Elijah has zero fear factor & quickly scurries to the very tip top of the trees.

Cute Crushes

clockwise a blurry picture of Darla, Nicholas, Samantha, Tierra

When I was a kid growing up, my bestest friend Taira & I called them "Cute Crushes".... harmless lil' things where we thought someone was a sweetie or cute.

Well Darla is fully aware she cant date till she is 16, but her friend Nicholas has had a crush on her since kindergarden and has always called her "Doll Face". Darla has kindof developed a cute crush on him as well this summer. To her great joy he attended Vacation Bible School. His family doesnt yet go to church but have made it clear he is allowed to attend with us. This past weekend Nicholas joined Darla & a group of friends to a local outdoor theatre in Sandy at Meinig Park for a showing of High School Musical Two.

Also suffering from a cute crush is our youngest Nolan (above) and his adorable friend Olivia. Olivia was a classmate of Nolan's in preschool, and a neighbor. Her family has relocated to Washington but the grandparents are neighbors so they visit. When they do visit Olivia comes calling for Nolan.

Happy 41st Alan!

Alans birthday present this year was a full-blown Thanksgiving Feast in August. He loves the turkey holiday meal more than any other . . . . so that's what we did & had a great time. The dessert was not good tho. He wanted a cherry pie - I ran out of time so made a cherry crisp without following a recipe & it showed.

Change

Change sure can stink awful bad sometimes, hurt even.

Out of the mouth of our baby....

Nolan: "Mama! We saw a lot of honey birds! I love honey birds!" (hummingbirds)

Nolan wanted to challenge me to a thumb war (he is the Champion in this house, psycho strong & fast thumbs this preschooler has). . . . . in his dramatic but joking tone we do the normal "1-2-3-4-I declare a thumb war" . . . . then he bellows "Oh yah, you're going down old lady!" He uses this unidentifiable accent/drawl.

Nolan's classic announcement before tackling his brothers or before busting out in a break dance is "Lets get this party started!"

He is like his older siblings and loves to make up songs & perform almost every evening for us . . . only Nolan's songs are unique in that they all begin the same "Once upon a time...." My favorite is about God and as he calls Him.... My Lord!

I have to add more to this posting later.....but this "baby" of ours will be 5 at the end of this month and he is just an amazing child. Love you Nolan Ricky!

Welcome to Club 30

Our adorable niece/friend Shawna turned 30 last month, joining fellow Club 30 relatives like her husband, Jake, Lanelle, & myself..... I think everyone else is in their 20's or younger or in their 40's or older. We celebrated this glorious milestone by "attempting" to throw her a suprise birthday party. She is too clever & figured it out . . . but we still love her.

Shawna....if you ever find yourself wondering ....why does my family love me so much? Here are only a few of the millions of reasons why:
YOU...
1. ...wear your smile on the inside & outside more regularly than most.
2. ...are a loving, attentive, playful, creative, nurturing, & unselfish mother.
3. ...love God, & are raising your family up in Him.
4. ...have a fun sense of humor - our lives would be a bore without you.
5. ...try to always see the best in others.
6. ...are a caring generous sister to your siblings, & daughter to your mom.
7. ...are grateful & humble.
8. ...are all around incredible person!

Special thanks to King Family for opening up their home to hold the party there, Lauri for the cakes, Joy & Jason for the water balloons, & everyone who was able to join us that day (Jake, Lauri, Rachel, Sarah, Alan, Darla, Elijah, Nolan, Jason, Joy, James, Lauri, Jenica, Brian, Tommy, April, Robby, Robert, Austin, Alyssa, Ethan, Lily, Chris, Alloma, Grandma, Aunt Judy, Uncles, Mary, & Emma)

True friends are priceless.

Sprayground at Blue Lake Park

2 moms & 10 kids.....good times!

Back Row of Boys: Nolan, friend Tanner, Elijah
Front Row of Lil' Ladies: 4 sisters (our friends) Karissa, Kiana, Kyra, Keturah, our Darla, & friends McKenna & Samantha

Nolan hammin' it up as always.....

Darla, friend McKenna (getting a bucket of water dumped on her), & Samantha bracing for her bucket to spill a big splash atop her lil' head too.

Heat Wave 2009 . . . . was good enough reason to drive down the Mtn to Fairview's Blue Lake Park. Only $5 admission per car . . . . great bargain for an SUV stuffed full of kids.

Darla running to the rescue . . . .

Friend Samantha . . . our Darla,. . . . and friend McKenna. SUMMER OF SMILES!!

Where do horse flies come from?

A favorite creek side spot, which we usually have to ourselves, was invaded yesterday.

Yep, invaded by giant biting, stinging horse flies!!! We had to leave. The kids kept asking me where they came from, etc., and I have no clue.

A half mile from the creek spot is a small horse farm, so Darla thought it was their fault?!

I dont know....but this is the only photo I captured before I was too busy slapping away the evil winged biters.