We are still hanging around.....

We have been pretty busy lately. Not too much exciting news to write about. I did get a chance to do a couple of photo shoots. If your interested, swing over to my other blog to check them out.

Cody Birthday Road Trip

This is a whopper of a post! We had a great time, lots of pictures, here is few of them....

Beautiful Seattle.

They swam in the rain.

They sang to him at the Rainforest Cafe.

Watch out for the crocodile!!!!

They sang to him at Dennys.

Push harder Trent!

Cody said he was taller now that he was 5, I think he was right.

My first attempt at cake decorating.

And we sang to Cody at home...... Happy Birthday Cody.

After all out celebrating, we manage to squeeze in a quick photo shoot with baby Ava. If your interested in checking them out hop over to my other blog.

Cody turns 5

My little sweet boy is turning 5 in less than a week. I can hardly believe it. I think year 4 was such a transitional year for him. Last year at this time he was still so much my baby boy and this year....all boy, full of mischief and testing his limits. Don't get me wrong, he still has time for snuggles with mom. It appears is energy level has tripled in the last year. He seems to be always running, karate chopping, punching, getting dirty, breaking things and always SHOUTING! Gosh, parenting is fun! I love seeing my children change and become there own persons before my eyes. Each child different in there own way and figuring out what works for one most likely won't work for the next. I think God each day for my special kids.
As for celebrating Cody's birthday, we have something most special planned. This is the first year I threw out the combined party idea that I usually do, and decided each child needs their own special day. Cate got the traditional party this year. Cody and I brainstormed together and came up with "Cody is 5, lets go for a drive". Cody and his best buddy Trent are headed on a road trip with good ol' mom. Per Cody's request, we got a motel with a pool and hot tub, we will be dining at the Rain forest Cafe and either going to the Children's Museum or the Zoo. That last part seems to change daily so we will just play it by ear when we get there. To conclude the trip, we are making a "pit stop" at home for cake and ice cream with the family. Should be fun, can't wait to share pictures. For now here are his 5 year photos.

Cabin 2009

We made it home from the cabin, well most of us. Eric and Emilee are still in Idaho. They will be back tomorrow. I had to work tonight and my two party animals didn't want to miss the big 4Th of July horseshoe tournament. Anyways, we had a grand ol' time. I was joking with a friend of mine up there, I told her after coming to the cabin year after year, I feel like I am taking the same pictures every year just the kids are getting bigger. Sure enough, I got home and went through the photos.....

2007

2008

2009

It was a little greener this year. Actually it was absolutely beautiful. We couldn't have had better weather. This year was the easiest by far in terms of the kids. They wondered around, did there thing. Crashed at night. Even slept in a bit. I was able to sit back and relax, Whoo Hoo!!!

I took a ton of photos, but as I said...pretty much same photos-bigger kids. Your welcome to take a look if you want.

Wow.

We Partied Hard

Caitlyn had her second birthday party on Saturday. We had a such a wonderful time. We had plenty of nice guests, beautiful weather, a very special clown and a ton of laughs and smiles. I am so thankful for all of out wonderful family and friends that take the time to show up for a 2 year old birthday party. My littlest princess had a wonderful day and truly felt special and very well loved.

My littlest lineman.

It has been a crazy week. My grandma has been in the hospital. Many ups and downs with that whole situation. Today she had surgery on a mass they found in her colon. I haven't heard the outcome yet on that. This has been week one of having a sitter watch my older kids while I sleep. Yeah for sleep! It seems to be working out really well.

Cate is turning two this Saturday so I am throwing together a little shin dig for her. She is at such a fun age. Full of opinions that's for sure. Most of which we can't understand in her newly developing language. Check out her little photo shoot.

We are packing our bags and getting ready to get out of dodge. Time for the annual trip to Orofino to stay at the cabin. Our poor little camper that we have used all of three times is in not-so-good condition and is being left behind. Plan B is borrowing my brother in laws camper when we get there. Makes it a little harder to pack for a week long trip, Oh well, saves on gas at least. Anyways, hopefully I will have time to post some pics from the birthday party before we take off. If not, I will have those and a bunch more from Idaho when we return. See ya.

A new day!

Like Mommy,Like Son.

I got these beautiful flowers from Caitlyn (with help of daddy). They are so cheery!

AW WWW, I had a whole night of uninterrupted sleep last night. I feel so much better. It has been a challenging week. Let's just say that "Plan A" is out and "Plan B" is being implemented starting next week. We will have a sitter come and stay with the kids while I sleep for a few hours each day. Lesson learned.

I have the whole weekend off. I will probably spend some time with the dads for Fathers Day. Go check out the lineman rodeo at our Walla Walla point park, hopefully get the boat out and maybe to see a horse show at the Town Toyota Center. As for today, HOUSE CLEANING! I think a tornado touched down sometime last week. I didn't seem to notice at the time probably because my eyes were drooping so much from lack of sleep. Now that I am alert and conscious.... I need to get to work!

We are having a messy day!

My Children Are Angels....

Day one of our new summertime routine. Cody and Emilee are on summer break so the plan is they stay home...with me...attempting to sleep. I was doubtful that this plan would work, I even had begun working on plan B. Anyways, today was our first day. My husband kept the kids up nice and late so both kids were plenty sleepy this morning. I came home, crawled into bed at 5am, woke up at 9:30 to a very quiet house. I got up, saw that my children were playing nicely, had even fed themselves. I went back to bed, slept until 12:00 and woke up nice and refreshed. The kids had a wonderful afternoon complete with a water balloon fight. WOW. It worked. My kids are angels!! Now if only the rest of the summer goes this smoothly.....

Happy Birthday Eric

We had a pretty low key celebration. I took the night off work, made a nice dinner and a cake. It was great. We are planning a "group" party this weekend with a few friends.

As you can see, the cake was a hit!

A sunny afternoon....