Ethan's First Day of Preschool

Ethan has told he "hates" school for the last week. I have been trying to prepare him for the return to preschool but I don't think it helped much. Last year we had the same problem but it never lasts, thank goodness. Once he gets going Ethan really starts to enjoy his time at school. His teachers love him to death because he has a great personality. I wasn't excited about having to drive him 3 times a week but I found someone in my neighborhood who is taking their daughter to the same class. Yeah for carpooling! We love our Ethan and we know he is going to learn a lot this year from school to prepare him for kindergarten.

This morning all the boys got together and decided to have thier very own birthday party. As you can see from the picture they sat on the ground with all the pots and pans and sung happy birthday to each other. I love it when they all get along so well. It was only 2 minutes later I had 3 out of the 4 standing around me crying. Its an emotional roller coaster around here each and every day. Is that the way it will always be?

First Day of School!

Noah's First day of 2nd grade! He wasn't very excited for summer to end but this morning I could tell he was pretty pumped up to get to school. He has Mrs. Beaver and I hear that she is a very nice teacher and I know that Noah is a good kid so they should have a great year together. I am happy to see Noah ready for an excellent year of learning and making new friends. Matt and I are very lucky to have him for a son and he is very helpful at home with his little brothers. We love you Noah!

Here is a picture of Noah with his friend and neighbor Sanford. Sanford got a new haircut for the first day of school and I think he looks ready to rock the school year!

The Flood...again!

So here we are again with another summer including another flood. Matt and I cannot believe that this could happen a second time. What happened is the canal ditch up on the hill gets infested with gophers and they put holes all over in it and then it breaks and we get overflowed with water. The irrigation district in charge of the canal didn't "think" this would happen again so they didn't line the canal the last time this happened. Last summer at about this same time we were flooded as well. Here are some pictures of the horror we experienced this weekend.

We are hoping and praying that there isn't any really bad damage since the water can enter our crawl space whenever it floods. Last time there was a lot more water than this but a house can only take some much water!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream...

For family home evening we decided to break out the ice cream cones and of course it was a hit, well...for a while anyways. I've tried really hard to keep the kids outside and active all summer long. Mostly so I didn't go crazy trying to keep my house clean. You moms know what I'm talking about. Here is Hunter after his chocolate cone.

Mack is always the easiest to get a big smile out of. I just love him for it too!

Then there is Luke, and it can be really difficult to make him sit still long enough for the camera to capture an image. He is still adorable even covered in chocolate.

Ethan would eat ice cream for every meal if I would let him. Our dentist will get a vacation home out of us here shortly.

Camera shy is the last thing Noah would ever be. Wanting to be silly is just more fun!

And of course here is the scream portion of our ice cream night. What kid wouldn't fight over the amazing window squeegee?!

I for one will be sad to summer end and school year begin. Its been a lot of fun to spend quality time with all my boys. There have been a lot water fights, slip and sliding, Lego's, video games, and of course ice cream. Who could ask for a better time than that, not me.

Seattle Trip

Matt and I decided we had better get our kids out of the house for a little family vacation so we set out for Seattle. We all had a really good time! It started kind of sick but we it turned out great. Friday morning we packed up the car and headed out and Ethan ended up getting a little bit car sick as we entered Snoqualmie and threw up in the car. I tried to pull over in time but didn't make it. My car ended up smelling like puke all weekend long. I swear we tried to clean it up.
My best friend Anna Marie was kind enough to let us crash at her house. She is a brave soul to let 7 people take over her house for the weekend. I love you Anna Marie, thank you!
We went to the Zoo all day Friday and saw every animal you can think of. The boys really liked the bears, gorillas, and elephants. We saw some great snakes too. While we were at the Zoo we ended up running into one of neighbors from the Tri-cities. What are the odds of that ? Anna Marie cooked a delicious dinner for us and we ate all of it.
Saturday Matt took Noah, Ethan, and Mack to a Mariners game and I went shopping with the twins. The older boys had a really good time at the game and I had a really great time shopping all day. For dinner we went to the park and had a picnic. All the kids got dizzy on the marry-go-round and piled on to the teeter totter(sp?).
It was a wonderful weekend and I am ready for another trip. Anna Marie was such a good hostess and I can't wait to see her again! I'll have to post some picutes later.

We had some birthdays this last week in our family. Noah turned 7 on June 17. He is getting so big I can't even believe it. On his birthday he had a couple of friends come over for a sleepover. They seemed to have a good time. Noah enjoyed all of his birthday gifts and has been playing with them daily. Just the other day he was complaining that on his birthday he only got 4 presents but when we counted them he had really gotten 8 gifts. After this realization he stopped and I haven't heard him complain since. Noah is such a great kid and I am so blessed to have in our family. He helps me out a lot! I love him so much and all of his little brothers love him too.

It was also my birthday on June 20. Can I just say that we ate a lot of cake that week. I had a wonderful birthday thanks to friends and family. My friends Jenni and Tami put together a neighborhood party and it was really a lot of fun. All the kids got to run around outside and play and all the moms got to sit and eat lunch together. I love it when we throw a party. My neighborhood is so cool! Matt took a half day off so he could help with the kids and got his parents to babysit that night so we could go out. My boys got me a new baseball glove so we can all play more catch together and Matt got me some new patio chairs. Thank you to everyone who helped make my birthday so great!