Merry Christmas (and the magic of Photo Shop)

After a long absence from the blog, I am back! I will probably post some catch-up pictures later, but for now here is our family at the annual tri-stake community creche exhibit. Jeff was okay with dressing up for a photo at first but then dug in his heels and refused to cooperate. The photographer actually took his picture separately over on the couch and then photoshopped him in! Happy holidays!

As promised here are some pictures of Barb's visit in June. We went to the beach and built a sand castle and looked at tide pools.

Sarah really isn't into the beach yet, but she did manage to get a nap.

Ezra and Sarah were cute together. We're so glad they were able to come see us!

This week it is hot, hot, hot at our house so we are doing stuff like swimming and saving our yard work for the evenings as the sun is going down. The kids did a huge load of weeding for me and earned Blizzards from Dairy Queen. Of course we are all looking forward to fireworks tomorrow night!

Last weekend we went to Washington to visit with family and attend Brian's wedding. Part of the fun was a day at the cabin to play at the lake. Here are Danny and Megan in the float tube.


Brian and Meaghan are the cutest couple ever (besides Tom and me). We're so glad she is finally officially part of our family!

All the nieces were flower girls, except for my Megan, who was sick with the stomach flu the whole wedding day. She was a relatively good sport as we dragged her along to the day's events anyway.

So this begins our summer vacation. The kids are really enjoying sleeping later in the morning. They help with the housework in the morning and then play in the afternoon. We went out to the strawberry farm this last week and picked 4 gallons of berries and probably ate almost 1 gallon as we went. We have also been enjoying having Barb here with her kids, and we all went to the beach on Saturday. I'll have to post some pictures of that later.

Summer vacation, here we come!

We've been busy, busy, busy around here lately with the last day of school coming up so quick. The end-of-year rush can be a little overwhelming but also fun as we run to the PTA barbecue, final programs, field trips, and more. All three school kids have had big field trips in the last 7 days, which is really fun for them.

Haley decided it was time to get a summer haircut and finally make everything the same length as her bangs, which have been growing out FOREVER. She looked up the info on Locks of Love online and decided to be brave and cut her hair short enough to be able to donate a ponytail for a children's cancer hairpiece. The result is quite short but cute. We love it, but I did have trouble finding her in the library yesterday because I was looking for her long hair and walked right past her a couple of times.

As you can see in the background, our yard is greening up nicely. I love this time of year! The garden is growing, the chickens are getting ready to start laying, and all is right in the world. Except for seasonal allergies. This year is the first year that Haley and Megan have joined Tom in suffering through the heavy pollen season. Thank heaven for Claritin!

Sarah had her first taste of solid food yesterday. This is the longest I have waited to try feeding any of my kids. She is almost 6 1/2 months old. But maybe that is the trick, because none of the other kids liked to eat baby cereal and she was excited about it from the first bite! It was actually fun to feed her, and I can't wait for Tom to get a chance to be part of it. Right after she had her cereal, I helped her with a sippy of water and she gladly drank that too. (Really, I'm not sure if she is one of my kids if she's going to be this enthusiastic at the table!)

Haley and her dad at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.
He took the day off work to go along as a chaperone
on the fifth grade field trip.

Haley and Angel touch a ray.

The girls in Haley's group checking out the view from under the tank.

Saturday we went back to the Oregon coast as a family. Of course the weather was cold and windy instead of warm and calm like the day before. (The beach hates me! ;) )

Danny spent most of the afternoon crawling in the sand or scrambling up the dune cliffs.

This is Tom's favorite photo of Jeff.

Megan spent a long time making a trail by dragging this piece of driftwood along the beach. Then she and her dad followed the trail FOREVER to its end.

Sarah enjoyed the beach the least. Daddy built us a windbreak to sit in for a while and then put her to sleep.

We had a fun time and are determined to get back on track with at least one outdoor family outing each month!

My little copper-top

I realized that most of our extended family didn't even know that our latest arrival has some red to her hair! So here is our attempt to show it to all of you who are far away. Of course, it's cuter in person, and you're always welcome to come see for yourself. ;)

What have I been doing with my time lately? Well, Haley had a Revolutionary War unit at school, and they did a parade and a "wax museum." We put together a statue of liberty costume that her friend Marcella wore on the float, and here is a photo of Haley in her Betsy Ross garb. It occupied all of my time for about 4 days, but I have to admit it was kind of fun sewing again.

I don't have a photo now, but Jeff's first grade music program was this week and he did a great job. He even had a part introducing one of the songs. And Megan went crazy getting a picture book of her own creation all illustrated and ready for publishing. The fifth-graders have been working on the same thing for half a year, but at the last minute some teachers read a story Megan had written and decided that if she hurried she could be included in one of their batches. She wrote a myth about how pearls came to be.

This weekend we are eating the food from our 72-hour kits to see whether it is adequate and how we might want to change things (plus it is just time to rotate some of it out before it expires). So far Tom and I are feeling a little bit hungry. Wish us luck!

Happy birthday Megan!

Megan is 9 years old now! I can't believe that my kids are getting so old. To celebrate, she invited one friend to come with our family to the local indoor water park. Here are Haley, Megan, and Jeff lined up along the wall of the wave pool acting a bit goofy. Jeff enjoyed going over to the fountain and jumping off the edge into the shallow pool there.

Here is Megan at our house afterward. We picked up dinner at McDonald's and then did cake and ice cream at home.

This was Sarah's first time in a swimsuit and she is definitely no Kate Moss lookalike. (But who really wants her to be one?) I love her kissable cheeks.

Third time's the charm

I am so excited to be posting again! Here is a cute video Tom took of Sarah talking to us the other night. It's sure fun to see her personality developing.