We're Back!

I dont have time to post the big story yet (that will have to wait for tomorrow) but I have gotten pictures up
My Pictures Are Here
Family Portrait Pictures are here
We had a blast and now want to grow up to be ranchers. lol

I think we are kind of cute together

CHARGE!

We went on a little family walk on Sunday with the kids. Tyler started out in the backpack, but he wanted down so we let him do his thing. HE LOVED IT. Seriously this kid just charged ahead with his little walk/run. If we stopped to look at something he would grunt at us and get all grouchy and pull on us to get going again.
The video might be one of those things that is only interesting to a mom, so dont feel like you have to watch all of it lol.
Kyle was a cross country runner all through highschool and I joked that he is going to take after his daddy running through forests. (except that daddy grew up in utah and Im pretty sure he never ran through forests like this.)
Play close attention to the swinging arm. It cracks me up.

Katie Rides Her New Bike

Andrew Riding Kate's Other new bike.

Both of the big kids have needed bikes for a while now. I scored last night with a sweet deal on a 20" bike for Kate. (20 bucks) Then later we scored on an even sweeter deal on a 20" bike (12 bucks) We couldnt return the first, but we figured we could sell either on craiglist and make a few bucks so we bought the second too. When we got home we noticed another price sticker on the first bike and it turns out it was actually 14 bucks, so we now have a 10 dollar store credit and two bikes for 30 bucks.
Kate was beyond thrilled this morning when we showed her the bikes. Andrew was bummed and WOULD NOT ride a girl bike. I eventually convinced him to "test" it for me and he didnt get off them for another four hours. So while having a girl bike for him isnt ideal, it will fill the need until we can find a boy bike for him.
Anyway, Kate had a little 12" bike that she hasnt fit on for a year or two. Since then she has only been riding her razor scooter. Kyle gave her a little push on the bike this AM, but we live on a hill and the hill scared her and it wasnt successful.
After we got home from our errands I took her two houses down to a small (and flat) couldesac street that offshoots from our street. I dont exagerate when I say I pushed her for maybe ten feet and she managed to ride another thirty feet on her own. With in ten minutes she was riding back and forth on this street that is the length of a football feild. By the end of our riding sesson she was stopping and going (albeit not gracefully) all by herslef. She has this bike riding thing NAILED!

Grandma and Grandpa Bake

The Bakes came to visit us the first week of June. Its always a little crazy to have extra people in our little house, but the kids had a blast. They loved having extra people to climb on, to read to them, and to play with them. We got to do some fun day trips and just relax with eachother. Rhonda brought stuff to make bead lizards and little airplanes and the kids were in HEAVEN. Kyle and Mark took friday and went up Eagle creek just past tunnel falls. Too bad Kyle doesnt blog because he got some great pictures and videos from it ;)
It was a great week, but it definitly made me a little sad that the Bakes live so far away and the kids only get to see them once a year.

First week of summer break

Goodness! What a week!
I havnt had much "me" time this week, and so my computer usage has highly dropped.
We managed 5 trips to the park last week
one trip to the zoo
we went on three long walks
weve done two workbook pages everyday
only managed an hour of reading time per kid (im hoping for closer to two this week. We need fifteen hours by August 12th)
one trip to the library
one trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house
and many many hours of playing in the backyard and riding bikes in the front yard
Im exhausted

I might need more cell phone minutes

Andrew got his first phone call today from a school friend just to chat. He was on cloud nine that one of his school friends would call him. Ten minutes later he asked me if it was possible for HIM to call one of his friends house. I told him that was fine and he looked at me with total awe and wonder. He knows I talk on the phone all the time, I just dont think it quite "clicked" that he could call HIS friends too lol.
Random Picture

Starlight Parade

ok, so Im two weeks behind. oh well. We went to the starlight parade for the third year running. The starlight parade opens the rose festival in Portland and its a night time parade. We usually leave the house at 5ish so we can be downtown by 6ish (riding the MAX) The streets get closed at 6:30 and the kids get to run free on the streets until the parade starts at 9. There is also a five K run that goes down the parade route, so the kids enjoy cheering on the runners and seeing the people that dress up in funny outfits for the run.
Andrew found some older kids to play catch with and the middle two kids just played with sidewalk chalk and bounced their rubber balls up and down the street. Tyler was the hard one. He LOVED everything. He is NOT a shy kid. So we had to keep an eagle eye on him to make sure he didnt wander off too far. We ended up just trading off who walked all the way up the street, then all the way back down the street with him. He was totally digging watching the people we were walking by. In fact I think that the was entire point of the exersize was to people watch.
Kate still loved the princesses, Dyl was still THRILLED at all the big trucks and trailers, and The older family members favorite was the Cloud City Garrison entry to the parade.
This has become a great family tradition. I love that its smaller and less hassle then the big Rose Parade, and the kids love that they get to stay up late. Next year I will just make sure we havnt planned a camping trip the night before because church that sunday was PAINFUL. lol

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Crazy Hair Day

We had crazy hair day on tuesday at school and I thought I would share the pictures.

I didnt get Andrew before he ran out the door, but he had alternating black orange white stripes all over his head.

Bob the Builder

I think we have another fan.