Father's Day

I've been wanting to do this post, but wanted to spend time on it. It has been a really busy couple of weeks since we are trying to cram in some fun along with the cleaning and packing before we head to Utah on Thursday.

I have been greatly blessed with a wonderful father, who made many sacrifices while I was growing up to provide for his family. He traveled a lot and missed out on a lot of our lives when we were younger. I can vividly remember being about six years old and being so excited for my dad to come home from a trip. It was one of his longer trips and he had been gone for weeks. When he walked through the door everyone was surrounding him with hugs and kisses. I stood on the side lines and started bawling. I was embarrassed and didn't understand why I was crying. I was happy not sad. My mom explained to me that sometimes when we are really happy we cry, too. I don't know why this has always stuck in my head, but this is my most vivid memory of my dad coming home from a trip. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for him to leave his family behind in foreign countries and miss out on so much of our day to day lives. Now that I am an adult, I know it must have been very difficult for him.

My dad is a softy who had more bark than bite. I could almost always get him to cave into me with a pathetic look on my face. He is such a great dad and a wonderful grandpa. All my children adore him, especially Jaron. It doesn't matter how long we go without seeing my dad, Jaron always attaches himself to grandpa as soon as he sees him again. It is so sweet.

Dad- I want you to know that I love you and I think you are a wonderful father and grandfather.


Growing up with my dad's example of hard work and doing what is necessary to provide for your family. I was looking to marry someone with those same qualities. Pete is such a hard worker who provides for us so well. He is a wonderful dad to our children and the best husband ever. I adore his sense of humor and his willingness to help out around the house. I love the close relationship he has with each one of our kids. I love how he makes them feel important and shows an interest in their lives.

Pete- You are a fabulous father and husband. Thank you for all that you do for us. I love you more and more every day.

On Father's day we decided to have a picnic at Pacific park. This park is so beautiful and scenic. We had a great time playing and walking and talking. What a great way to spend this special day.

Little League

So, for baseball this year, Pete decided we should put the boys in little league instead of Parks and Rec. Wow, was it intense! But, Pete and the boys loved it! They were the Red Sox team which Pete was very excited about. It was amazing how much Brandon and Kenyon improved over the season. Doing parks and rec. they just stayed kind of stagnant and didn't improve much. In Little League the boys did machine pitch and both of them could hit consistently off the machine by the end. Kenyon even caught a fly ball and Brandon was great at getting kids out on third base. It was a fun season and the boys have definitely caught the baseball fever from their dad.

The Little Mermaid

Shaylee had her first ballet recital on Friday June 19th. She was a crab in the Little Mermaid. She was a darling crab and loved every minute of it. She loves ballet and can't wait to start again in the fall.

I think the back of the tutu is so dang cute!

SCHOOL'S OUT! SCHOOL'S OUT! LET'S ALL SCREAM AND LET'S ALL SHOUT!

On Thursday June 18th, the kids had their last day of school. Both boys had a wonderful year with great teachers. Now it's on to having a fun summer. YEA!

School was only in for two hours on the last day, so we went to the Red Robin for lunch with some friends.

No More Preschool...

... for at least three months anyway!

On Thursday, June 11th Shaylee had her last day of preschool for the year. That night she had her end of the year performance. She did a great job singing her songs, and dancing.

When the older kids were getting in their caps and gowns, she had her moment to shine. She sang "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", it was probably the funniest performance I have ever seen! Her microphone was up so high she had to stand on tip toe and stretch her head up to reach it. I laughed through the whole thing it was so cute and funny. Then she got to say her age and name. This is what she said,
Miss Keli- What's your name
S- Shaylee
Miss Keli- How old are you?
S- Six!
Miss Keli-Six? Shaylee's a mathematcian, she is six divided by two. You're three, right?
S-shaking head, no

She's not three, she's four, but she told everyone she was six because we had been playing with dice the day before and she rolled a six and said that she is now six like Kenyon. As you can tell, she is stubborn and if she says she's six, then she is six and nothing you say will change her mind.

Shaylee had a wonderful first year of preschool and loved going with her two best friends Maddie and Hannah. She loved being a honeybee and she loved her teachers, Miss Keli and Miss Michelle. Great job, Shay!

In the Garden.... and the hot air balloon launch

Finally we are coming down to the last of the many end of school year activities that this elementary school has every year.

On Monday, June 8th, Kenyon had his musical informance for school. The first grade program is about all the little critters, you can find in your garden. Kenyon was a butterfly, he played the xylophone and the drums. It was a cute performance and he was a wonderful butterfly.



On Thursday, the first grade had their annual hot air balloon launch. Each class makes a hot air balloon out of tissue paper and then as the final event of their science unit on solids, liquids and gas, they launch their balloons up. All of the younger grades and the first grade families are invited to come see the launch. It was a lot of fun. Jaron was fascinated by the whole thing.





On Thursday when the boys got home, and I went to unlock the door for them this is what I saw....


Oh Joy!!!!!! Yippee!!!!! Kenyon got his name pulled out of the hat to take his class's hot air balloon home! I was so excited to have this huge tissue paper balloon in my house I could hardly contain myself! I know, I know, the rest of you first grade parents are SO jealous of my child's good luck. You wish this was your kid. I'm sorry, but only I am so lucky as to have this wonderful balloon in my home. What am I going to do with this lovely object, you may ask.... well, when my kids aren't looking one day I am sure you will find it in my garbage can one Monday morning in the near future! :)

Second grade bowling

Every year the second grade goes bowling for their field trip. I really enjoyed this field trip. I had a group of four kids that I was in charge of and they were such a great group of kids! The four of them came up with a name for our group- the Glowing Dragons!

The kids bowled two games and let me tell you, I am surprised there were no injuries. Some of the bowling was really wild! I don't know how many balls went off in the wrong direction and thank heavens no kids were hit by these bowling balls gone wild!

FUN RUN!!!!

On May 30th, I ran in the annual Starlight run in downtown Portland with a group of my friends. This is the second year I've run it and even though it was blazing hot, I did much better this year. That's what happens when you're prepared! Like last year we dressed as bees and this year we decided to throw out Bit o honeys at the kiddos along the parade route. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed going for desert afterward! My ice cream was yummy!

In the middle of our run!