September 1 - 8

We had our family friend, Ron Cieslak, come visit us.  He arrived the evening of August 31.   The next day we took the kids to the Oregon State Fair.  They loved it.  We had tears from Daniel when he found out he wasn't tall enough to ride the Ferris Wheel.  He had anticipated it so much.  I think he had plenty of fun on the other rides to more than make up for it.

Touching the horn on a longhorn cow

They were excited to see the pigs

Aren't you glad you don't have 8 babies at once?!

Goats are soft

This lama was taller than me, super soft and very friendly

Lydia was a trooper hangin' in her stroller for so long.  Pretty sweet ride if you ask me

J on the Ferris Wheel with Ron

D on a roller coaster ride with Ron

They had the ride to themselves.  D loved it.

Round and around and around...

Sunday - September 2nd Brent was called into the Elders Quorum presidency.  That's going to make for a lot of meetings on Sunday's.  I'm in the Primary Presidency so it's going to be fun juggling all the meetings with taking care of the kids and getting ready for church.

Monday - Labor Day.  Ron worked with us in our back yard pulling weeds and other tasks.  Brent continued to work on the foundation for our shed.  We worked hard for several hours while Lydia napped.  Once she awoke we went to Multnomah Falls.  It was super crowded and took us almost an hour to even get to the parking lot.  We ate a delicious lunch at the lodge restaurant there and then went to see the falls and make the short hike up to the bridge.  Such a beautiful place!  We came home very tired, but fulfilled, from our day.

Tuesday - 4th
Jacob started Kindergarten today.  He was very excited to see some of his friends from Gaarde preschool and Hyrum from his church primary class.  His teacher is young and very nice.  Jacob took to her instantly.

In the hallway of his Kindergarten wing

With his teacher, Mrs. Pelser

Wednesday - 5th
I sent Jacob off to school on the bus.  It was very strange for me to see him go and I had no control over him and his safety.  Daniel was so sad that he couldn't go on the bus too.  Jacob came home bouncing with joy from his day and the bus ride.  He thought it was "awesome".  :o)  After several days of lots of walking, pushing a stroller and yard work my hip was out of alignment again and pretty sore.  I went to the chiro today to get it put back in.  ::sigh::  I wish it would just stay in place.

Friday - 7th
Brent's birthday.  I spent much of the day preparing for his party.  I made him a Burnt Almond Cake.  The best one is found at Dick's bakery in San Jose, CA.  I called a dozen bakery's up here and not one of them had even heard of that cake before.  So I determined to make my own.  It didn't go smoothly, I burned my first set of almonds, but in the end it looked ok and it tasted ok too.  For dinner we all went to a Japanese restaurant and Brent was able to enjoy some sushi.  Jacob informed us he is now ready for "adult food" and he ate his Miso soup, tempera and Teriyaki chicken bento box with ease.  He even tried some of Brent's sushi.  He's a great eater and for that I am thankful.

We came home and had a small party for Brent.  His mom sent a snoopy card that lit up and danced and it was definitely the highlight of the evening for the kids.  They've been playing with it for days.  I sure love my sweetheart.  I'm lucky to have him.

Goofy grin.  At least he's excited.

Brent with his loot (and Daniel with the beloved Snoopy card)

Saturday - 8th
Our home teacher and his family came to help us put together our shed.  They are such good friends of ours and have helped us several times with home projects.  It was great fun to work with them and laugh at the ridiculous instructions.  The kids played well together and a good time was had by all.  We didn't get to put the roof on but it's looking good so far.  We rested for a bit then headed over to the Elders Quorum BBQ were we had a great time with our friends.  We love our ward and the people in it.

The platform.  All primed, painted, and ready to go

Lydia really enjoyed helping dad organize the parts...

... and eat his tools

Brent and Brandon starting work on the frame

Mid day progress.  We were done with all but the roof when we actually quite for the day. 
(Jacob and Ephram are snuggling on that chair.  Too cute)

Week of August 19

Monday - 20th
The usual shopping and errands occurred in the morning.  Lydia had really short naps (thanks to the boys waking her up) and I never had any down time during the day.  That's never good.  Once the kids were down for the night I spent the rest of the evening making 4 batches of peach jam.  I found this awesome pectin called "Mrs. Wages Lite" and I was able to use only 5 cups of sugar for 12 cups of chopped peaches and it set up marvelously.  I am delighted.  I love making my own jam.  I can actually taste the fruit.  I love feeding my children preservative free jam with no added colors, chemicals or high fructose corn syrup.  Especially since jam is something that they eat so often.

Yummy Peach jam

Tuesday - 21st
Tuesday is Library and laundry day.  After morning nap I took the kids to our lovely Library.  They played in a room they have open with toys out for kids to enjoy and I went around gathering books and movies and taking care of check out.  I love our library and so do the kids.  The boys spent much of their time riding their bikes today.  I love that I live on a dead end street and don't have to worry about cars.  I check on them every now and then and it's wonderful.  I'm so grateful for summer right now and that my kids can enjoy outside activities like bike riding.  I know that all too soon the rain will begin and bike riding will take a back seat until next year.  The evening was spent working on our hobbies and planning out our morning routine and daily schedule for the upcoming school year.

Wednesday - 22nd
What a fun day we had today!  This morning we joined the ward playgroup at Ibach park and the kids played in the sand,   Daniel of course spent all of his time between the sand and the swings.  Jacob enjoyed playing with his friend Gracie.

Daniel on the swings.  My friend Jessica is pushing him.

Jacob playing in the sand with Gracie

Lydia looking super cute in her shades and hat

After nap time we went over for a play date with their best buds, Alex and Ian.  They have been looking forward to this play date all summer and it didn't disappoint!  They have a fun play structure in their backyard along with a large sand box with lots of trucks, shovels, and sand toys.  Daniel was in heaven.  I had a nice time chatting with Karen and playing with Lydia.

I gave the boys haircuts after dinner and Brent and I accomplished tasks around the house after kids were in bed.  We even folded 4 loads of laundry while watching a show.  This was a great day.

Friday - 24th
Lydia is 8 months old now.  Time is flying by fast and I can't believe how much I love this little girl and what fun she is.

8 months old

8 months and cute as can be

I never get tired of seeing her peek at me then bust out this super big grin and giggle when I look over at her

Brent took off work a few hours early and we took the kids to a Pool.  I didn't get pictures but this was one really cool place.  It's had a really fun kids area that was really shallow, even Lydia could stand up in at one end of it.  They also had a current swirl pool, two slides and more.  We had a GREAT time!

Saturday - 25th
A neighbor on our street won some Nascar tickets when he entered a drawing and then was unable to go.  I took the boys on Saturday to watch the practice runs.  The National Guard was there and had many vehicles the kids could explore and we had a wonderful time.  It was hot but we survived.  Daniel is so into race cars right now and I thought it was neat to take him to see the real thing.  He even got to meet a race car driver and get an autograph!

Watching the race cars

Don't they look cool with their ear protection?

He thought it was really cool that the tire was taller than him.  That was one HUGE vehicle!

Sittin' in a Jeep

A real tank?  So awesome.  They were blown away here.

Peeking out of the tanks side window