First Day of School

The boys started school today.  I can't believe how fast they are growing!  Jake started his second year in middle school (7th grade) and has even decided to ride his bike to school this year.  In fact, he was ready and waiting in the driveway when I got back from taking the other two to school...had he actually left then he would have gotten to school 45 minutes early.  He did a practice run with Dean over the weekend and has told us that the only days he won't ride his bike is if it is snowing.  Today when he got home he was very tired and hot (it was around 80 today) and he siad he wasn't sure if he was going to do it again.  We've told him he needs to not give up and keep going.  I'm pretty sure he will :).

Jake ready to hit the road

Austin started 5th grade today!  This is his last year in elementary school.  I've seen how much he has matured over the summer and am looking forward to seeing what changes this school year will bring.  As a 5th grader, he is rotating classes (a mini version of what it'll be like in middle school).  He has one teacher for literacy, another for math, and a third one for science/social studies.  I'm really excited about the teachers that he has and know that he will have a great year!

Austin and Griffen heading to school

Griffen started 2nd grade.  He is definitely growing up too fast.  Is it always like that with your baby?  He is in a 1st/2nd split class which also means that it is a smaller class (only 21 students!)  His teacher seems really sweet and I'm so thankful that he is in her class. He came home today and told me that she called them all "pip squeeks" since they didn't have science.  I'm sure there wasn't any connection to the science thing but I love the way he likes to find reasons for everything :).  He was pretty tickled at the fun nick name.

So... here's to a great year of school for the boys and all of their friends!

Our 4th of July

We actually started our celebration of the 4th on the 3rd.  Dean figured that we should do our little stash of fireworks on Sunday so that he wouldn't be up too late on the 4th (it's hard getting up at 3am).  We had spent most of the day doing things around the house and enjoying the warm weather outside.  Our kitty Maurice made a new friend and Griffen and Austin decided to practice their golf swings in the backyard.  We barbequed dinner and had some s'mores around the campfire.  Then we headed over to the school to light off our fireworks.  Griffen was SO excited about it.  After each firework went off, he would yell, "That was totally wicked!" and run around in circles.  He was almost louder than the fireworks!

Mo and his new buddy

Golf practice

Griff - "That was totally wicked!"

 Aus

Jake

Our boys 

The 4th started with blues skies and we were super excited.  Friends of ousr that live along the lake had invited us down to their house to hang out, enjoy their beach, and watch the show around the lake.  It was such a beautiful day. The boys loved playing in the water and even picked up kayaking.  They first went out with their cousin, Caleb (a seasoned kayaker) but soon felt brave enough to take the big kayak out on their own.  I was a little nervous but then noticed that Caleb went out to coach them.  At about 3:00pm, we even got to see a boat parade.  It started a little slow (only six boats) but then ended up with around 45-50 boats.  When the sun started going down, the show began. People all around the lake started firing their fireworks.  What a show!  We called it a night at about 10:30 (so much for Dean going to bed on time).  On our way up the hill, the sound from the lake was so loud!  It was a great, relaxing day!

Playing on the beach

Caleb and Griff

Caleb and Aus

Griff and Aus off on their adventure

The kids building in the sand

The start of the boat parade (Caleb got a close up view)

Caleb & Griff driving around

Happy Birthday America!

A Taste of Summer

We had a great day on Saturday (I know I'm late in posting once again BUT only by a few days this time).  We spent the morning and afternoon working around the house inside and out.  I was actually able to get half of my kitchen cupboards cleaned out and another part of our flower beds cleaned up too!!  The boys spent the day outside playing and whittling.  Austin and Dean had just done a yearly campout with a program for boys and their dads from our church where Austin earned a Leatherman tool.  He is soooo excited about it and whittling.  Griffen rediscovered the fun of riding the Scream Machine (big wheel type thing) down the hill from our front yard to the backyard. 

Griffen starting down the hill

Here he comes

The one dark spot on our day was after Austin was a "good" big brother and gave his little brother his old pocket knife. Griffen (after being told to not use it unless he was with mom or dad) couldn't fight temptation and ended up cutting his finger across his knuckle.  Thankfully it wasn't too bad.  The moment I heard the scream and then Austin running in yelling, "Mom! Griffen hurt himself and it is pouring blood!" was so scary.  I was sure he'd done some horrible damage to himself  Thankfully, all it took was some pressure, a good tight bandaid, and some neosporin and all is well.

I love sunny days on our deck!

We got to top the beautiful sunny day off with the first campfire of the season.  Dean's brother had made a new firepit a little while ago and we got to break it in.

Gotta love s'mores

Finally got a smile out of him

Whittling by the fire

Now I can't wait for summer to begin!

Vegas Baby!

The first week in May, Dean and I were able to take a little vacation together.  When we were planning this trip we knew we looked for someplace with warm weather and a that wouldn't cost too much.  We ended up booking a trip to Las Vegas.  Neither one of us had been before but we had friends who have, and gave us some idea of what to expect.  We stayed at a pretty new hotel on the Strip called the V'dara.  It was really nice and the weather was amazing!!!  Our first day there we explored the Strip and were impressed with the size of the hotels.

New York New York

The Aria (sister hotel to ours)

On Tuesday, we jumped in our rental car and headed to Hoover Dam.  We had watched shows on the History Channel about the building of the dam with the boys but is was great to get to see it in person.  We want to take the boys there someday.  On our way back, we missed an exit onto a different freeway we needed to take BUT we stumbled across and In and Out Burger when we were starving!  So yummy!

Wednesday, we spent some time relaxing by the pool for a couple of hours which is a long time for Dean who usually doesn't like to sit still for very long :).  Later, we headed to the Venetian to see the Blue Man Group and then experienced the Strip at night on the walk back to our hotel.  We couldn't believe how many people there were on a Wednesday night!

The Conservatory at the Bellagio (the flowers smelled so good!)

The view from our room

The Strip at night

We headed home on Thursday, ready to see our boys.  It was a restful few days and a great time to spend just the two of us.  We love getting away together and we love coming home to our three boys!!

Easter...a little late

And...once again I'm behind in posting.  We had a busy Easter this year.  We went to Longview to spend it with my parents and spend a little more time with my dad before he left for Thailand the following Friday.  As part of the weekend festivities, we also went to my uncles house in Oregon on Saturday.  It was good to see some of my aunts and uncles that I hadn't seen in awhile.  When we left there, we headed to friends house for a bbq.  We had to get back home on Sunday so the boys missed out on the traditional egg dying and Easter egg hunt.  Sooo...Monday night we ended up doing both after everyone got their homework done.  We ended up with a dozen eggs in many bright and interesting colors and the boys got the candy they were hoping for.

Spring!

It was a gorgeous day today and we were finally able to get out and do some yard work.  I could definitely tell that my poor flower beds had been ignored last summer.  The weeds were a MESS!  I lost a few flowers in the clean out process because they were just too overrun with weeds.  Here are some before and after pictures. 

 Before

After

Before

After

 Before

After (not quite the same shot but you can get the idea.)

The job isn't complete but it was a great start!  I think I may need to go and get some more flowers now to fill in the gaps.  Now to get the rest of the yard into shape...

Seven!

Our little Griffen turned seven on Sunday!  We had his party Sunday afternoon with six little boys playing in our basement.  The theme was Star Wars and the boys played Lego Star Wars on the Wii and also built ships from Legos.  The biggest excitement of the afternoon...Griffen finally pulled out his loose tooth all by himself!!!  Well, I actually did the finishing touch...literally...all it took was one gentle touch and it fell out.  He had a lot of fun with his friends and spent most of the day using his status as "birthday boy" to its fullest.  I heard him many times throughout the day telling his brothers, "But I'm the birthday boy!"  Anyway, here are a few pictures from his day!

Griffen is such a funny little guy.  He can make his mom and dad laugh a lot.  He is also still a very snuggly little guy and loves to curl up in my lap whenever he can.  I will take all that I can get now because I know that at some point he won't want to snuggle anymore. 

Happy Birthday Griffen!  We Love You!!!!