Forever Friends

I had the opportunity today to share lunch and catch up with some wonderful people that I used to teach with at Seattle Christian School. A few of these ladies still teach there, but most of us have left over the years to have children, retire, move geographically, or move on to other job opportunities. These ladies (and gentleman!) were a huge part of my life when we first moved here to Washington and remain forever friends. I am so happy that I was able to attend, but sad that the afternoon went so quickly! I look forward to many other gatherings!

Our HOT weekend

On Friday, while the kids were doing this...

We were buying this!

Greg's 1990 Accord was in dire need of being replaced. After overheating (not sure yet exactly what happened!) on Thursday at lunchtime, we decided to start looking. Greg happened upon an ad that seemed unreal. It was a $3,000 mistake on the dealer's end that benefited us! My friend, Jen, came over to watch our kids while we went and checked it out. We drove home with the 2000 Honda Accord!

On Saturday, Greg and I spent much of the day going through things in the garage. Many of you know that we are trying to declutter. We can only do it in bits and pieces though, so it's taking longer than we'd like, but at least we are doing it! The kids played outside in the kiddie pools most of the day trying to stay cool from our hot northwest summer days. They are few and far between, but when it is hot here, it is HOT. Our house keeps the heat in, so we try to avoid being inside.

The kids attended a VBS Day Camp all week and had a wonderful time! Today we attended the service culminating the entire event and stayed for the BBQ. It was HOT. Here are the kids with Erica's fun leader, Amy. She even earned a tiara from Erica on Thursday!

Can you see the kids popping their heads out of their schoolbus, kitchen, cardboard box, tent playtoy? This keeps them occupied for a long time and we are grateful they enjoy it and each other so much!

Here's our goofy Erica with the Thomas sprinkler. You can hear Kyle making lots of noise for the video.

Here's the load I took to the Goodwill today. We took the backseat out of the van, and it's ALL filled up! Wahoo!

Heat and no nap = Tired Caroline. Actually, we were all hot and tired today and this picture of Caroline just sums it up. Here's hoping for a cooler (but still beautiful) week!

The Haircut, Take Two! Socks too!

Today was the day we returned to get Erica's haircut fixed. They actually gave me 3 coupons for free haircuts for our inconvenience! As soon as Erica sat in the chair, the manager sort of laughed and agreed that it was very uneven. She did a great job fixing it and it looks so cute! It even does a little flipdy-flu thing on the ends. Now I know who to request when we go back for haircuts in the future!

These pictures are for Steph's mom. Thanks for the socks, Mom!

Swimming!

Monday night was the first night of swimming lessons for all three big kids. It was Caroline's first lesson ever and we couldn't wipe the smile off her face! Kyle and Caroline are in the same class for beginning preschoolers. They have a wonderful teacher who keeps them engaged and having fun!

Erica had a great time too and it won't be too long before she can swim across the pool! It's been almost a year since she had lessons, but she caught on very quickly again.

Here are a few short videos -one of each child...

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Erica's Haircut

Before

After
Erica loves her new summer haircut. You can't tell, but the ends are layered a bit as well. Unfortunately, you probably can tell that it was cut unevenly. I already had the stylist fix it twice and we will be returning tomorrow for one last fix by someone else!

Friends and Fun Day!

Here are a couple of pictures from our playdate with Tara, Camden and Shelby last week.

Tara was nice enough to take the older kids to the park for a little while in the afternoon while I had the babies at home with me.


Trevor thinks Shelby is pretty cute!
On Friday, I took the kids down to Auburn for a free "Kid's Day." They enjoyed going in all sorts of bouncy inflatable things and had their faces painted too!

Eric Ode was there singing with the kiddos. Here they are up on stage...sort of. Kyle was very hot and couldn't decide where to be.

My friend, Gillian, came along with us and helped me corral the troops. :)

Argh!

Grandma was here!

Grandma Louise was here this weekend and enjoyed all the festivities with us! We also had a nice time just playing at home too.

Grandma helped a lot by feeding Trevor his solids at many of his meals. Thanks Grandma Louise! We love you!

Daddy's Day!

Happy Father's Day to Daddy! You are the best daddy in the whole wide world!

Here are a bunch of pictures from Sunday!

After breakfast, we gave Daddy our present and cards.

Star Wars lithographs, patches, and emblems!

We went to Vasa Park for their Midsummer Event again this year. We missed seeing some of the Scandinavian traditions, but still had a great time.

Cotton Candy for everyone!
The kids went "fishing" and here they are with their loot!
Daddy and Trevor



They had events for the kids which included digging in the hay for candy and prizes.

Caroline went into the bouncy house! She usually stays away from bouncy houses. This was a first for her and she loved it!

Grandma Louise with Trevor while the others were playing in the water.

After trying to eat at Chili's and sadly finding out that they have closed up here, we ended up eating dinner at Red Robin.
Daddy and Our Four Kids!