Kodak Moments

I was strolling through the hallway one morning, and caught sight of this little cutie hard at work!

Some moments are too cute to pass up!

Especially ones like this! =0)

I met my sister at Country Village this summer. We let the kids play on the toys, feed the ducks, and tried to snap a few pics in the process. Here they are showing us how old they are...

Monkey boy

Best Buds taking a stroll through the Farmers Market...

Feeding the ducks

We made lots of trips to the Kirkland Waterfront this summer. There were times when we would pack a picnic and even let the kids take their naps on the beach blanket! Gotta love summer time!

Oh the lazy days of summer! =0)

Montana Camp

We went to Montana Family Camp this summer with Brad's parents. Something we hope to keep doing in the future. The kids had a blast! Traveling with a potty trainer makes for an interesting road trip though...I can't tell you how many times we pulled over on the side of the road! I couldn't resist taking a pic of the little cutie pie!

There were quite a few families from Cedar Park that came over to Montana Camp also, so that made it fun for the kids to have little playmates! I had no idea how close it was to Dawn's house either (about 10 minutes)! So it was fun to pop over and see her a few times too!

Is this not the most gorgeous view you've ever seen? There is absolutely no editing done to this picture whatsoever, it's just straight out of the camera. Amazing, huh. This is the view from Dawn's backyard, standing on her porch. Absolutely breath-taking.

I was cracking up at these two! When they were 3 and doing swimming lessons together, all I heard was, "Caleb's my boyfriend!" When they turned 4, we did home-school preschool together, and they were already planning their wedding, "Caleb and I are getting married when we grow up!" Now that they are 7, they are too cool for each other! ;)

Toothless grins!

Buds

Most of the gang, minus the littlest two.

Josiah and Grandma planting some flowers in Grandma Jeanette's flower bed.

One day after a morning service we took the kids to a Black Bear habitat. It was pretty cool. Thankfully you stayed in your car, and just drove around getting an up close and personal view of the bears. Fun, yet a little scary at the same time.

Dawn invited us over for the 4th of July, so we headed over to her place just in time for Strawberry Shortcake -yummo! Here are some pics of the kids with their fireworks!

Chloe was fascinated with the sparklers.
The fireworks...not so much.

Madelyn's first sparkler!

Minutes after this picture, Madelyn started crying and saying, "Owie! Owwwwiieee!" I thought she was getting burned by the sparkler (the stick was was probably just heating up). So I panicked and tried to wrench the sparkler out of her grasp. She wouldn't let go, so I ended up twisting and bending it back and forth, and I accidentally bent it back on her hand and burned her! Then she really started to scream! Talk about feeling horrible. Poor little thing. She'll always have a little souvenir from her first sparkler, just in the shape of a pretty white scar. =0( There have even been days recently where she'll look at her hand and say, "Mommy, I have an owie by a firework!" Sad. Good thing she doesn't tell people the truth that she really has an owie from her mommy! =0(

Cousins - Summer 2010

I have a few hours while the kids are napping, (actually I should be cleaning our house that is completely trashed with Christmas decorations/boxes all over the place), but posting pics is way more appealing at the moment! =0) So I thought I'd try to crank out as many updates as I can, since there really never seems to be a convenient time.

At the beginning of the summer, my sister and I met at our parents, and had a little vacation with the kids. They reminded us so much of us when we were little. Always having a big "plans" and ideas of things to do. They had high aspirations of making a fort. There was lots of digging, moving boards around.... and very little accomplished. But it did keep them occupied for a few hours, which was heavenly for us moms! =0)

Even the little ones wanted to help!

After all their hard work, they wanted to go swimming. So we took them up a few miles to a private beach that my uncle is building a cabin on. It's small and quiet, and usually we have the whole beach to ourselves.

Reagan caught a tadpole

Madelyn, never one to be outdone, is trying to catch up with her little cousin Stefan, as he swims past her with a life jacket.

These two are quite the pair. They have a love/hate relationship, that we hope one day will even out into a friendship. They really do love each other about half of the time. They are so cute to watch! They chase each other, hold hands, and belly-laugh like the best of friends. And the other half of the time they are taking things away from each other, competing over everything and tattling like the best of them. =0)

These bikes caused World War III, but as soon as everything was settled.
They were off and riding!

My parents have an ancient old tricycle. I mean so old, that I don't even think the tires have air in them, they are some weird kind of tire that just feels really hard. You'll have to excuse my lack of mechanical knowledge... I'm sure there is some word for that. So since I had my camera out anyway, I couldn't resist taking some cute pics of my sweet little nephews feet! =0)

Aren't they sweet!

I love this pic!