4th of July

I love the 4th of July... and this year's was especially awesome! We had such a blast celebrating at my parent's house. We had lots of delicious food, the kids went swimming and we blew up lots of stuff. Or actually, the guys blew up lots of stuff (even an apple-- it was hilarious!)

At the first sound of Fireworks, Ian told anyone that would listen that he "DOESN'T LIKE FIREWORKS!". Daddy came to the rescue and brought out the headphones. He literally didn't take them off the entire night. He even ate dinner with them on. The best consequence for bad behavior was having to take them off. Here are a few pictures... (my sister has the better pictures. I'll have to get some from her.)

Any Recommendations??

To all my Mommy (or Daddy) friends out there.... we are looking for a few recommendations. Here's what we need:

1. Good books on CD for Preschool/Kindergarten ages
2. Quality chapter books for Reagan and I to read together.
3. Spanish learning CDs for kids

I've been looking at Amaz0n.com for these things, but there are too many to choose from.... I'd rather know what y'all have used and loved!

Thanks! :)

He's THREE!

Happy Birthday Ian! We all love you SO much..... Here are a few reasons why...

1. You are ridiculously funny.
2. You are joyful. Always.
3. You are passionate.
4. Your smile can melt any heart.
5. Your energy is endless.
6. You sleep like a rock.
7. You're a semi-adventurous eater.
8. You make us laugh every.single.day.
9. You give incredible hugs.
10. You have dimples.
11. You are friendly and extroverted.
12. You love your sister... and she loves you!
13. You are creative.
14. Because you say "I can't like.... " instead of "I don't like..." It still gets me everytime.
15. You love to tell us what you're thankful for.
16. You pray the best prayers.... I'm certain God smiles when He hears your sweet voice.

Here are some of your favorite things: Family. Golf. Sharks. Frogs (specifically Red Eyed Tree Frogs). Tools. Baseball. Bikes. Basketball. Drawing. Bubbles. Almonds. Blueberries. Bananas. Smoothies. Cars. Sprinklers. Airplanes.....

Alright. All that to say that we are madly in love with you. We are so thankful that the Lord chose us to be your parents. You (and your endless energy) have helped us become more patient and have also taught us to stop and see the world from your joyful point of view. You are in store for great things.... I pray that you will always have your joyful, passionate spirit and that you pursue everything you do in life with the exuberance that you do today.

You rock, Ian.

And, I love you.

Mommy

A busy day...

First there was this:

It was Reagan's Preschool End-of-Year Program! It was so cute and she did a great job!

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Then we had a not-so-quick errand run that included a bit of spirited discussion. Here are 2 quotes from Reagan:

1. "Mommy? If a giant robot stomps on a big building, is that sin?"

2. "Mommy! You are making me have a big, big, BIG attitude!"

We got home and had some much needed quiet time. All of us. :)

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We ended this incredibly beautiful day in the best possible way.....

She's FIVE!

Wow. My little girl is FIVE! It is so cliche.... but time really does fly by. I remember THIS day as though it was yesterday....

We have a few days full of festivities to celebrate our girl. I'll post some pictures when we're done partying! For now.... a quick note to Reagan for her to read later.

Dear Reagan,

I love you. I love you with my whole entire heart. You rock my world every day. Here's the thing though.... I really like you, too. I like spending time with you, I like snuggling with you, shopping with you, watching movies with you, playing on the computer with you, talking with you, praying with you, counting the things we're thankful for, sneaking a spoonful of peanut butter with you, coloring with you, crawling into bed with you in the morning when you wake up and say "Mommy... the sun came up!", reading with you, having you read to me, listening to (and laughing at) your silly jokes, and watching you learn and discover... You love to do puzzles, still love princesses, you're crazy about our cat Smooches, and you love playing with Ian (except when you're driving each other cuckoo). You loved Awana Cubbies this year- it was so fun memorizing verses with you! You and Daddy have a very tight bond... an unbreakable bond. Nice work getting him wrapped around your little finger.

Really.... I could go on and on and on....

You are so incredibly curious.. In fact, it tends to get you in trouble from time to time. :) You are a very smart girl, very technologically savvy. It's pretty amazing! You love to read and are getting SO good at it! I love it when you point out signs as we're driving.

You love passionately, play hard, sleep like a rock, eat like a bird and smile more than not.

You are so special, Rea. And don't ever forget that our Lord, the creator of the universe, knows your name. He thinks you are special and loves you fiercely.

Again.... I love you. More than you'll ever know.

Mommy

My 2 favorite boys....

Completely Random

I feel like I have all kinds of random thoughts swimming around in my head. I guess I'll dump them here.

• I have 2 large bunches of fresh lilacs in my house right now. Every single time I breathe, I smell them. It makes me really happy.


• I sat at an open house today for 4 hours. Why is it, that when you sit and do nothing productive, you are more exhausted at the end of the day? I didn't do ANYTHING worthy of being this tired.


• There is no place more beautiful than Western Washington on a sunny day. No offense to those of you who don't life in Western Washington. But really. Try to beat it.


• Why can't my husband just realize that I'm right almost all the time. Seriously. After almost 9 years, you'd think he would quit "betting" me. He owes me SO much money. Today's bet was about the size of the hungry hippo marbles.


• Wanna know my goal for Mother's Day? Yep, you do? Great. Here it is..... that no one throws up on me. Yep. That's it. Not asking too much am I? Wanna know why that's my goal? Because last year's Mother's Day began by Ian throwing up, in the Starbucks parking lot (actually in the car, in the Starbucks parking lot) on our way to church. Could've been worse.... But seriously.


• I am so thankful for my Mom. She is amazing. I could rant and rave about her, but if you know her, you already know this. If you don't know her.... I'm sorry. She's the best. I love you Mom!


• Why do my neighbors dogs only bark at night? Actually, this is one of the first nights where it has bugged me. Guess I can't complain. But again, seriously. Be quiet!


• I told you this is completely random.


• Our daughter is going to be 5 years old on Wednesday. FIVE! I love that girl so crazy much. She's sassy and silly. And apparently just.like.me. Remember that wonderful Mom I mentioned a couple of bullets above? Yep... that same Mom loves to point out all the ways that my sassy daughter is just like I was. And then she laughs. Apparently pay back?


• I love Cherry Limeade. Yep, S0nic just opened here. I don't ever need to eat the food again (not impressed), but the Cherry Limeade could become a problem. I kinda want one right now.


• I really love Real Estate.


• Sean took Ian golfing today. They had a blast! We might just have another golfer on our hands.


• Reagan had a special day with Grandma and Papa today. They took her to the zoo, to Build a Bear and out to dinner. She had so much fun!

(here she is heading out with grandma and papa and her new camera!)


• Sean is at the grocery store right now. I wonder what kind of goodies he'll come home with?

I think I'll be done rambling now. Sadly I could go on and on and on.... but there's no need to. Because I'm SO tired. Remember? I sat for 4 hours. Apparently that's exhausting. And... Sean is walking in the door and I need to investigate his purchases.... I'm hungry.

Night.

Cheap gas?

Our old laptop kicked the bucket last week.... all the way dead. Thankfully, we had backed everything up. In the process of restoring all of our pictures onto the newer computer, I came across this picture. I remember the day very well. I was with my sister and had to stop for gas. I was so excited that regular gas was under $4.00/gallon that I took a picture. And I titled the picture "Cheap Gas". Yikes. I guess that's good perspective.... but I think I'd like to stick with the current $2.15/gallon. Thankyouverymuch.

No Words Necessary.

Guess who doesn't get to color with markers anymore?

We hit the slopes!!

All the boys (My Dad, Sean, Ian & Asher) and I decided to hit the slopes today! It was Ian and Asher's first time on skis and needless to say it was a riot! We had such a great time, in spite of the rain. The boys did remarkably well! We can't wait to do it again.

Trying on Ian's boots!

Asher & Uncle Sean "flying" down the mountain!

Pile up!

Asher and Nee Nee (me)-- self portrait!

Papa and Ian

Goofin' around during our lunch break!

Conquering the ski lift!

Ian headed down the mountain "ALL BY MYSELF!" (we heard that a lot today...)

Mommy and Ian skiing side by side.... doesn't get any better than this for me!