another family walk

starting off up the hill, with ice cream cones.

well, hello, blue eyes!

s and her daddy

s didn't quite know what to do about the sprinkler. it was pretty cute how it startled her.

slip n slide & swinging

z had fun playing with his neighbor's slip n slide.

z can now swing all by himself! however, he still appreciates a push every now and then. 

more berry picking!!!!!

the kids did so well with berry picking on july 4, so i decided to take them again, by myself, to get some more raspberries. look how much we got! z was a big helper, keeping an eye on s, playing with her, and picking lots of berries himself. most of these went into our freezer.

july 4, 2013

most of our friends already had plans for the 4th, but we finally found two who were free!

j prepares salmon wrapped in bacon

dinner on the deck with friends

dessert - pavlova - yum!

waiting for fireworks

july 4, 2013

 we went berry picking after the parade, for the first time since having kids. the kids were remarkably well behaved. 

s had fun eating all the berries she could find.

s picked berries too, just not always the ripe ones, as you can see from the green ones in the box.

some raspberries, all cleaned and ready for dessert!

july 4th, 2013

little patriotic s, ready for the parade

waiting...

yay! love the candy! love the parade!

family picture

8th anniversary

family dinner.

z took this picture for us! happy anniversary to us!

play date

s, z, & x playing well together

little baby t

our friends are back in pdx for a few months! this was my first time meeting baby t - she reminds me so much of s. baby t actually liked me - she had no problem with me holding her.

z makes banana bread!!!

i unleashed z in the kitchen and let him make banana bread all by himself. i did tell him how much of every ingredient to put in, but he did all the measuring and mixing by himself. it turned out really well! it also gave him a good idea of how much energy baking takes. 

both kids had fun standing up on chairs by the counter. later that night, s dragged a chair back over to the counter because she wanted to stand up again. she had so much fun. they both did!

fathers' day '13

here are a couple clips from after dinner....

dinner time!

mmm - chocolate!

opening cards...

having fun playing mommy's old plastic recorder

too cute...

sleepy s

we went to canby for a brunch celebrating m's graduation from her residency in family medicine. s fell asleep on the way home.

ASLEEP!

congratulations, dr. jeffers!

aunt m, being lauded by one of her advisors at her family medicine residency graduation.

we were invited to a dinner to celebrate m's graduation from her family medicine residency. it was an evening full of toasts, speeches, and good food. we were honored to be there. at the end, two members of the next graduation class put on a musical skit. two sang, one played the guitar, pretending to be paul simon and art garfunkel. they made up their own lyrics, dedicating a song to each of the six graduates. this is m's song.

kissing

this little lady is so cute! she just started walking, making kissing noises one day.

big shoes

during the second week of z's safety town, i was doing teacher training at george fox university for suzuki book 1. i had to leave at 6:45 each morning to drop off the kids at my parents' house before continuing on to newberg. it was 28 hours of lecture, 17 hours of observation when it was all finished. here is a picture of z one morning, when we were practicing before getting into the car. he is wearing my shoes! you can see the practice candle lit, on the counter. he is standing on his foot chart.

safety town

the week after school ended, z attended safety town camp. it lasted two weeks, with two hours each morning. he learned all about mr. yuk, stop drop and roll, and stranger danger. i'm glad he's not easily scared because i think other kids would freak out after learning about all these dangers in the world. he had two camp counselors whom he grew to like, and they sent a list of all the counselor's names and phone numbers home with z to use as baby sitters.

gales creek camping

daddy & s by gales creek

just had to be done...

two little campers

eating breakfast

we spent two nights at the gales creek campground. we had fun, but we determined we don't want to go camping again without other kids camping with us.

gales creek camping

is anybody in there?

night picture...

napping

napping

s'mores

oh - there she is!



the formatting for this is driving me crazy! i added some pictures, and i can't get them where i want them to go. oh well. i don't have time to mess with it.

last day of school '13

on the last day of school, we all went out for ice cream! yay! 

i learned to not let z order a dipped ice cream cone at the dairy queen- too messy.

we left for camping later this day.

e.t.

for some reason, this picture reminds me of e.t.

mystery park

 we went to magnolia park one morning to play.

 the kids call it the mystery park, because the first time i took them to it, i didn't tell them where we were going. i just said, "it's a mystery!" clearly, the name stuck. 

 it's not too far from where daddy works, so he came and met us for an early lunch! 

a pensive look from s on a cloudy day. we ended up leaving soon after eating because it began to rain.

strbx

s and i visited starbucks one morning. she looked so sweet, sitting there eating her mini vanilla scone. she loves sitting in chairs at the table - what a big girl! several people commented on how cute she is.

new house bbq

uncle c's bbq at the NEW house!

 several friends have purchased and moved into new houses this summer - so exciting!

love the faux tuxedo bike top

playing

for whatever reason, the kids were both doing this "dance" one morning.

 

mommy built this excellent fort!!!

s loves playing with her big brother

mr. roly poly.

rocking the rocker.

byebye butterflies!

all the butterflies finally hatched - four in all. z releases one in this video.