Seattle Trip

We made a quick trip up to Seattle to see the Bronco v. Seahawk game. We had so much fun. We had AWESOME seats on the 50 yard line, only seven rows up from the field. We could see absolutely everything. It was such a blast being at the game. We kind of feel bad for not taking Ryan.

I was surprised at how many players the Broncos had, especially since they were the visitor and had to bring them all. There were a ton.

We were right behind the Bronco sideline. It was fun to see what they do in their down time. It really looks like they have lots of fun.

It was so cool being so close to the actual game. You could hear what they said(when the crowd wasn't going wild) and see their expressions.

These are our friends that also went to the game. Unfortunately we didn't get to sit by them.

We had so much fun we will have to go again next year. It was a special treat watch the Broncos.

Summer Recap Part I

The summer went by so fast. We didn't do anything spectacular, but we did have some fun. I decided I would do a little recap of the summer. I'll post a couple pictures of some of the things we did. It will have to be broken down some since there are lots of pics. We'll call this part one, which is all of June and some of July, I think.

Baseball
Ryan had lots of fun playing ball at the end of the school year/beginning of the summer. He played third base and outfield. He had some really good hits and earned lots of RBIs.

Slip and Slide
The boys had lots of fun playing in the water. We had some hot days this summer. We had to keep moving the slide to different parts of the yard since it was ruining the grass.

Chloe wasn't a huge fan of the water, so she watched and wandered around the yard.

My brown eyed beauty.

Berries and Jam

I thought I would post pictures of these just to make my mom jealous. She has wanted to come and pick blackberries for a long time. These are actually marionberries that my mother in law grew and picked. Thanks Goldie.

The finished product. We'll save some for you mom.

Swimming Lessons

This was Evan's first year taking lessons. He was so excited and jumped right in the pool the first week. The second week, for some odd reason, he totally freaked out and cried and screamed during his ENTIRE lesson. His teacher told me to leave him so I did. Two days of screaming the whole time. Week three, we resorted to bribery. I don't normally like to bribe my kids with food, but you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes. Fruit snacks did the trick and he was great the remaining three weeks of lessons.

Chloe was a great spectator.

Ryan actually got suctioned to the bottom of the kiddie pool. Scary! Luckily it wasn't that deep and he could breath until he got unstuck. He had bruises for over a week. Nice pattern from the drain, huh? Lesson learned, don't let your kids in the kiddie pool at Stayton pool.

Mint Festival

One of the guys that works for John was in charge of the Jefferson Mint Festival. John judged part of the car show for him so we all went along for some fun. John squeezed himself into a cow so Chloe could go on the ride. Lookin' good babe!

Ryan looks like he is super excited.

Cruisin' with the top down

Evan loves to drive his jeep and Chloe loves to ride. They are a perfect pair. Evan drove Chloe around all summer long. It is so cute to watch. They crack me up. Evan goes over to the neighbor's driveway, which is steep so he can cruise down it and get going faster.

Cub Scout Camp

Ryan had a fun time at camp. It happened to be the same week we had 107 degree weather. It was so crazy hot. The camp was behind a fire station. During the heat of the day the firemen would come and spray them down with their hoses. Despite the heat, Ryan had a blast.

Evan and Chloe loved watching all of the crazy scout skits.

Dinosaur Sandwiches

Yum. Evan and Chloe love them. Ryan too, actually.

Grandpa's Farm

We went and watched some of the wheat harvest.

Evan loved playing in the tractor.

OK, so this is maybe gross to some of you but it has been an overall theme for the entire summer. Evan has no shame. He pees wherever he likes. Whether it be grandpa's field or a parking lot at the mall. In my defense, all I can say is I have NO control. He has his pants down and a stream going in a matter of seconds. I turn around and there he is, PEEING. It must be nice to be a boy.

Here we go again.

I have a FOURTH GRADER!!!
I can't believe Ryan is now in fourth grade. Time flies. He has been counting down the days until school started again. I guess I sufficiently bored him to death during the summer(speaking of which, I will soon post all of our summer haps). I have to say I feel like I need to step up my game as a mother now that he is a 4th grader. I remember tons from when I was in fourth grade so I figure he probably will too. I am all of a sudden worried about how he will remember me as a mother and the things I do and say.

August 31 was the first day of school.

Ryan's new teacher, Mrs. Bromley.

He loves her already! She seems like a great teacher. She has already called me just to touch base and let me know she is accessible for any thoughts or concerns we might have. Talk about going the extra mile.

Ryan at his new desk.

Ryan was a pretty good sport to let me come and take his picture in front of all of his friends. I realize that can be devastatingly embarrassing for a fourth grader. Thanks for humoring me Ry.

Evan's new glasses

This is Evan (with a blue mustache from who knows what).

This is Evan with his new glasses.

This is Evan with his new glasses and a patch. Arghhhh!

This has been a long time coming. Finally, Evan was old enough that they could more accurately test his eyesight. He does not have a lazy eye. They are using the patch to try and strengthen his eyesight in his right eye. Turns out he has perfect vision in his left eye, but his right eye, not so much. Hopefully this will improve the vision in his right eye over time and he won't have to wear glasses anymore. That would be nice, because they are a pain in the you know what.

Before and After

One of the projects I have been working on this summer has been to reupholster our dining chairs. I finally found some fabric I liked in Portland. After getting a quote of $800 to have them done I decided to attempt it myself. I think they turned out pretty good. What do you think?

What the freak are diapers made of anyway?

Ever wondered what would happen if say, a three year old were to take a full urine soaked diaper and swing it joyously around his head and then slam his nine year old brother in the head with it?

It Explodes!!!

And there would be plump gelatinous urine soaked BB things everywhere. In the rug, the carpet, furniture, you get the picture. There would also be clumps of other indescribable clumps of pee fiber from wall to wall. Good times!

In case you were wondering it would not be a good idea to try and clean it up with a vacuum. That would just smush the gelatinous pee into the carpet and rug. You would have to pick up each individual little pee clump up one by one.

It would also take every fiber in your being to not beat said three year old. Lucky for Evan he was spared. He did however get to help clean up the pee goo. I think he will be taking a nap today.

Our 4th of July!

We had a fun and busy 4th of July. This year our ward had a flag raising and breakfast. John took the kids while I stayed home and packed everything up for the rest of the days adventures. After the breakfast we started our traditional activities.

We go to the parade in Monmouth every year and sit on the same corner. They have a kids parade before the big one starts. The kids decorate their bikes, scooter, wagons or whatever and get to ride a mile or so with the crowd watching on. Our kids love this every year.

My little firecrackers.

Chloe sat and took in all the excitement, when she wasn't trying to run into the street.

Evan hung out with Aunt Michele in the back, as far away from the loud noises as possible. Thanks Michele.

All the cousins sit on the curb so they can run out and grab the candy that is thrown.

After the parade we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for a BBQ. The kids had lots of fun playing with their cousins.

And lastly, we always go to the Salem/Keizer Volcanoes game. It is lots of fun and they have great fireworks after the game. This is the only good picture I got from the game.

All the other pictures of the game turned out like this. Basically because I really have no idea how to work our camera properly. This is with the fill light maxed out so you can even see the people. Oh-well. Better luck next time?