Will and Ella's Birthday Party

Hanging out at the arbor with Kohyn


Mike's mom made these activity books for the children. They love them!

Kristin reading Curious George--Ella's favorite

Thanks, Uncle Jeff! Will's first baseball mitt. He loves it!

Opening presents was quite the event! The kids received so many wonderful gifts from friends and family. Thanks everyone!!!

Ella enjoying the birthday cake

Lighting the candles--4 for Will and 2 for Ella

Trevor informing Will how old he is now

Ella looking cute with some booty from the pinata. Apparently we took no pictures of the pinata.

The birthday cake--only 2 1/2 layers this year instead of 3

Needless to say, it's been a little crazy around our household. I guess that explains why I'm just now catching up on all of the blogging for the entire month of July! We celebrated a nice low key birthday with family and a few friends. The big story this year revolved around the cake. I almost gave in this year and bought a cake. Will had wanted a pirate ship cake that he saw at the store. I was talked out of it and made my three layer mocha cake. The night before the party I made the layers. I was too tired to frost so I covered the cake in tea towels to cool overnight. The next morning I woke up and pushed my chair over to the counter so I could search for an ingredient in my cupboard. In my absent mindedness I left the chair right in front of the counter and left the room. The next thing I see is my dog up on the chair chowing down on one of the cake layers. I managed to abstain from yelling any obscenities, but I yelled my dog's name so loud that I'm sure all of my neighbors were wondering about me. Daisy ran off with her tail tucked between her legs and found a quiet hiding place until my anger subsided. Mike suggested salvaging half the cake and making it tiered. Brilliant! That's just what we did. Don't worry, I'm very anal retentive when it comes to my baking and cooking. I made sure everything was sanitary.

The party was a success. The kids were happy and exhausted at the end of it all. So was I! I had my first cankles of the pregnancy. Too much running around I guess. I'm grateful that we get to celebrate our beautiful children one more year. I love those little ones!

Loungin'

A rare pic of Daisy!

Sometimes it's nice just to document the everyday things that I get to do with the kids. I set up the sprinkler for them. Mostly they just drank out of it like a fountain and then ran back to lounge on their towels. Oh to be a kid again...

Fourth of July

Mike looking rough and tough

Checking out the fireworks
Daddy's girl

Ella put on my father-in-law's Red Sox cap, isn't she the cutest?

After the marathon we met up with my friend Katie Jane in Portland. I was able to have lunch with her and check out her new digs. Not sure why I didn't click one picture of her place. Guess I was too busy chatting. That happens with us sometimes! After that we headed home, freshened up and went out to see the fireworks. We were all a little exhausted. Good thing my in-laws were around to keep up with the kids! Ella was running in circles, which is what she does when she is super tired and we have run her ragged. It took days before the kids were back on track again. Whew! What a weekend!!!

Sauvie Island Marathon

Mike and his buddy, Eric, who also ran the marathon
Enjoying the "cow train"

Kristin and Mary entertaining the kids. They were studly in their own right and biked out to the course!

Taking a rest with Daddy

After marathon pic

Hanging out, waiting for daddy to finish



This was part of our crazy fourth of July weekend. After Katie's wedding we headed up to Portland and spent the night at Kristin's place. The next morning Mike woke up early and headed out to the marathon course. Kristin and Mary woke up early too and biked out there. I packed up the kids and pushed a gas pedal for my exercise and drove out to Sauvie Island. It was really beautiful out there. It was also a pretty festive race with plenty to do with the kids while we waited for the finishers.

Katie's Wedding

My beautiful friend, the bride

Mike giving the wedding a thumbs up

Sherry & Terl dancing with Ella

Will enjoying something from the yummy spread of food

Tom & Katie

This is one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever attended. It was held at a place called O&L Gardens. I have known Katie forever now and it has been so much fun to enjoy all of the festivities leading up to her marriage. Tom is an absolute catch and they just belong together. I love the pictures of Katie. Doesn't she look like a glamorous dame from old Hollywood? I love it--the swept up hair, the strapless dress. Absolutely gorgeous. No wonder Tom is so giddy when he is around her! :) We all had a good time at the reception. You can see that Ella got her groove on with our friends, Sheri and Terl. They have hosted Bible study many times and are a pretty sweet couple in their own right. They are always teasing each other You can see that the kids love them too! The top pic is for Anne, who requested a preggo pic. There you go! :) That was four weeks from the due date. I'm even bigger now!!!

Lilith Fair 2010

Kara grooving to a Michael Jackson tune
Sheryl rockin' it. I love this woman!

I love a woman who isn't afraid to take on a Led Zeppelin tune! My hero!

Ten years later...it's back!

I just want to say that we looked really cute for the occasion even though we are covered up in fleece and rain coats! Rain on July 2nd. Bah!

One of the gals on the small stage. Her first name was Marie and she was great. I took a picture of her because she was cute and I want her haircut! :)


This was the start of a crazy weekend. I heard Lilith Fair was coming back into town and I was so excited. I knew it meant seeing Sheryl Crow in concert and I am a huge fan of hers. The last Lilith Fair was ten years ago and I remember going with my college roommates. It was a great experience and I was sad to see it come to an end so soon. To me, it's historic. All of these fabulous women musicians just rockin' it. They are so talented and make me proud. I had just watched Coal Miner's Daughter, which is the story of Loretta Lynn. It got me to thinking about how amazing it is to be a woman in the music industry, especially in Loretta's case. She had all but two of her babies before she even began making music commercially. Juggling motherhood with other ambitions in no easy task and it was admirable to think back to the days of Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn and the precedent they set for women. I appreciate them and what they have done for music and for other women. I'm so grateful for the sacrifices they have made so that we could have wonderful, beautiful music written from a woman's perspective. I love music written from a man's perspective too, by the way. Sheryl sang a Led Zeppelin tune and I just about jumped out of my skin from the excitement of it all. The guitarist she has with her is amazing too. She put on a great show, as did the other acts. One of the newer bands that Kara and I heard was Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. They were on one of the small stages and caught my attention almost immediately. I bought the album right after they performed. The music itself was a cool blend of rock, soul, etc. The lead singer had a voice that made you sit right up and pay attention to her. I was impressed as I watched her during the finale of the show with some very strong vocalists just belting it out with all the confidence in the world. Go buy her album. Sheryl Crow also just released a new cd and I'm loving that right now too!

The best part of the show was hanging out with Kara--a true friend rain or shine! :) We were two pregnant mamas rockin' the music scene!

Teddy Bear Picnic

Gabe, Ella & Will with Llama (from Llama, Llama Red Pajama)

Stephanie and baby Evelyn, have you ever seen a cuter pair?


Will, holding his stuffed animal and a picture of the featured singer

Ella looking adorable with her stuffed animal

Stephanie and Evelyn--one more time just because they are so sweet!

Every year the Teddy Bear Picnic comes into town. We have an amazing library who puts on such events and we are lucky to be connected with them. Families can spread out blankets, eat their snacks and listen to some kid friendly music. We've gone several years now and the kids just love it. They wanted to bring dogs instead of teddy bears. The animals they are holding are probably their favorites. Will brought Fred who is actually from Switzerland. Mike visited a museum there while on a business trip to Italy and Fred was the souvenir that he brought back for Will just before Ella was born. Ella, following suit with her big brother, became attached to another little dog we had around the house. She likes to carry him everywhere. It was a beautiful sunny day and we even had the chance to meet the famous llama from the book Llama Llama Red Pajama. If you're looking for a cute read aloud try this book. I believe there are a series of them. Yes, I'm still a teacher deep down inside!

On a side note, Fred was almost a goner. We had walked back to the car, which was quite a ways, when we realized Fred was not with us. I'm not going to lie to you, I'm a little attached to that dog myself. I dragged my big old belly and two toddlers back to the park and we found Fred lying in the grass. Whew! Crisis averted.

Summertime

We have just been caught up in life around here and haven't made the time to write about it, which is a shame because we've been having a lot of fun. Also, our computer has decided to spontaneously shut down without so much as a warning so it has been frustrating to do any sort of long project on it, including downloading our pictures. I will have to post some of those later.

Summer is in full swing, which just fills my soul. I love being out in the sunshine with the kids. I've even hauled my large body out in a swimsuit to cool off in the pool with them. Look out fellow pool mates! It's too hot to care, folks, and the water feels great.

I am getting anxious to meet this little one inside of me. Who is she?

I would love to blog more, but motherly duties are calling and I'm sure the computer has almost had it's fill. How does anyone work from home with children? I would love to know. I can hardly check my email!

Hope you all are enjoying the sunshine!