Summer Begins.....

I took the girls and Audrey to the pool and we ran in to some friends from school who had the same idea. The girls swam for hours playing games and enjoying cooling off in the water. I don't think we left until after 8 pm. What a great start to the summer..... one more week of school and were there!

Back to school hair cuts for all the kiddos

We went to Salon be today for the kiddo's to get their hair cut for school and even before we went Emily had decided that she would get her hair cut short. She likes short hair and it suits her. She volunteered to go first and was so excited with her cut. Our stylist's name was Sarah also =D

It was funny as we walked in the place Ian wasn't so sure that he wanted to get his hair cut there {their logo dose have a bit of pink in it} but he let Sarah cut his hair and she did a great job even though he wasn't very clear on what he wanted "short but not too short over the ears, long in the back but give me a short cut". Sounded like he was describing a mullet but lucky for us Sarah was able to decipher what exactly he wanted. She also cut 5 inches off the back of Sarah's hair but it is still so long, almost touching her butt still. All in all, the kids look fantastic and ready for their first day of school.

All trimmed and cut and ready for school

Picking Dandelions

Last days of summer

This morning Emily and I headed out early {for a summer morning} and went to an audition for the Oregon Children's Choir {she got in} and on our way back as I was driving up the driveway I noticed all the dandelions and stopped the car. I pointed them out to Emily and before I could suggest it she said "I should go pick some for Yourtus {the turtle}". As I watched her with her hair blowing in the wind seriously picking the best dandelions for the turtle I got a flash that summer was just about over and she looked so beautiful sitting amongst the weeds so I quickly snapped a photo.

A Vision in Lights

My vision, Terry implemented it. Yea!!

I have wanted bistro lights for some time. I love the ambiance and have researched the a few times but never made the move because the ones I wanted were quite expensive. So I finally decided to go "the less expensive route" and maybe not get the exact strings I wanted but at least get some. I did some more research and showed Terry what I found on hanging them permanently and then placed my order. The next part was all Terry. He had an issue or two but got it all figured out and Vuala! 

A Vision in Lights!

Finally...... Summer!

Finally we have gotten a few days of sunshine in a row and we can finally enjoy the pool at the Oregon Golf Club. It came AFTER the 4th of July which is typical for Oregon. Either way we are thrilled with the sunshine!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Dear Emily, 

My little baby turned 8 today and I don’t know where the years went. It feels like yesterday that you were going into Kindergarten and now you will be entering the 3^rd grade in the fall. You are such a wonderful mix of little girl and tom-boy, wanting to wear dresses with all the frilly things on them playing Pokémon, loving reptiles and asking for play dates and even sleepovers with the boys in your class.

You are ready and willing to give a hug or a kiss and a helping hand around the house. You have a sense of style all your own, putting together quite the interesting outfits.

You love the color pink, animals, and Dragons and draw them almost every day.

 You spend most of your time drawing or working on something creative and I love to watch you as your mind works.

I’m not sure what your most favorite thing to eat is these days but you’re willing to try just about anything and everything and have recently really enjoyed eating Cesar salad.

I can’t get over how much you have grown, both physically and emotionally over the last year but I see it by how much you do all on your own. And when you put you mind to something there is no stopping you, like learning to ride your bike. You made up your mind you would learn to do it and so you did!

These days if you get into trouble it is usually because you are fighting with Sarah but a littler separation and maybe time out dose wonders for the both of you. You two girls have been sleeping in the same room and bed with each other for over two years now with only an occasional night in you respective beds. This year when Sarah went to camp you were a little lost and wanted to sleep on the couch every night.

 When you turn into a couch potato you like to watch iCarley or Dragon Ball Z Kai and you also enjoy playing games on the computer or your game boy.

Your bedroom hasn’t changed since we moved into this house. The walls are painted green and your bedding is pink and green and quite girly. You asked today if you could redecorate you room with a dog theme, which was what all your party plates, had on them for your party.

Your best characteristic is you loving heart. You care deeply for people and animals and show that love on a daily basis.

I am so proud of the little girl you are becoming. I love you so much and am so blessed to have you as my baby.

I love you to the moon Emily.

Xoxo

Mom

Holy Moly!

I just figured out how to get my photos from my phone to my computer with out having to first email them. I have had a phone that took decent photos for quite sometime now and have only once in a while emailed it to myself so I could blog it and quite frankly I am most often taking photos with my phone because I don't have my camera and I think that it is a blog worthy moment. So I finally figured it out and had well over 1000 photos on my phone - UGH!

Now, not only do I have to try and manage/organize the photos I upload on an almost everyday basis from my canon camera now i have another thousand or so photos to manage. I finally figured out how to make a folder and put all the phone photos in one place at least.

So I have decided that I still need to blog those photos and needed to figure out a way to keep track of them.

I'm going to put them on an external drive {also make a disk of them all} and then move them all the the "phone" file and arrange by date. Then I am going to blog them by date. I may leave them at the front of the blog for a few days before putting the correct date in.

Now I better just get moving on it. I hope to be done blogging all phone photos before the kids go back to school.

Wish me luck, I'm going to need it.

In Sunriver...

We came home from dinner tonight and the girls and I laid down in the middle of the road in the dark to look at the stars. 

While in Sunriver....

The "big boy's" are golfing Tonya and I decided to take the kids on a hour and a half white water rafting trip down the Deschutes river. We are leaving RIGHT NOW! Big Eddy Thriller here we come

HOT, HOT, HOT

We have had a string of super hot days here in Oregon {even got hotter than this} and in all the years i have lived here I don't think I have ever seen it get this hot!

The 4th @ OGC

We went to the Oregon Golf Club for the annual 4th of July celebration and the kids had a great time bouncing in he bounce house, shooting water guns and eating snow cones and cotton candy, getting their face painted and watching Molly the clown make balloon animals. I made sure I fed them before we left {from experience I knew they would go for the sugar instead of hot dogs and burgers} but Emily really made me laugh when she walked up to me double fisted with a snow cone in one hand and cotton candy in the other. She did her very best and ate most of both of them. Sarah had a little boy who asked her to dance and they were both so serious about it. They danced the entire song and he even twirled her a few times and even though his older sister stood on the side of the dance floor laughing at him he never wavered, too cute. Lucky for Sarah Ian was too buys getting people wet with the water guns to notice her.

Em Learns to Swim!

Swim lessons don't start until Monday and every time we have been at the pool I have made Emily wear her life jacket while she swims in the "big" pool mainly for my comfort. She has always been braver than her ability when it comes to the water. A few days ago she asked me if she could take off the life jacket and stay on the stairs and I agreed. As I was chatting with a friend I watched her out of the corner of my eye take off and jump into 4 feet of water onto a kick board. When I got up to make sure she didn't go under and asked her what she was doing {because she can't swim} she just smiled a huge smile at me. She really is on the verge of swimming and I know once she starts the lessons this year she is really going to take off but for now the yellow vest was so I knew she was safe. The other night we were the only people at the pool and she asked again to take off the vest and sit on the stairs and the next thing I knew she was diving to the bottom to get toys. I had her move down a ways holding on to the wall and asked her if she thought she could swim back to the stairs. With a huge smile she said "YES" and off she went! There was no stopping her as she worked on mastering the task - over and over again. By the time we went home she was quite proud of herself, however, I sure am going to miss that little yellow vest and the comfort it brought me. I will defiantly need to keep a much closer eye on her now that Em's a swimmer.

HOT

We had record breaking temperatures today {100 and in the month of June, go figure} It was Hot, Hot, Hot!

No Life Guard on Duty!

But that didn't stop us. Today was such a beautiful, sun shining day that once the kids got home from school we decided to go to the Oregon Golf Club pool. I called to see if the pool was open but couldn't really get a clear answer so we loaded up with swim suits on and pool toys in hand and took a chance and headed over. Lucky for us the gate was unlocked and I had a swim vest for Emily {which she was not happy about} and we spent the evening at the pool {we even had dinner there} and didn't get home until almost 9PM. I'm glad we took the chance and went up there because the forecast for the rest of the weekend doesn't look too promising for swimming.