Cousins' Weekend

 Growing up, I spent what felt like a week every summer (might have been more, might have been less - I was a kid!) with my cousins. For many years they had a backyard, in-ground pool, which I was in love with. I also remember flashlight tag, video games, My Little Ponies, and the Farming Game. Time passed, however, and now all of us cousins are grown up. And even weirder, many of us have our own little ones. So, though the week is condensed to a weekend, it's been very fun to get together with my cousins at my Aunt and Uncle's home for the past few summers. Though most of the adults aren't pictured, here's a shout-out to Ben & Landra, Janae & Mark, Elise & Scott, and Jeff & Milla, who made this such a fun weekend. Turns out it's fun to be a grown-up sometimes, too.

Josiah playing with Rocco, Janae & Mark's son

Not my baby, but so stinking cute!

Belated Birthday Bash

Though Michaela's birthday did occur more than a month ago, it's always good to relive great family times. The credit for these photos goes to my father-in-law, who is the resident photographer at any family function. Thanks Papi!

As you can see, we ate...

Yummy Pirates' Booty!

The kids' table - a birthday present from Grandpa and Nana

It's a plane! (Greyson spent much of the afternoon looking up)

And it's a cupcake!

... we opened presents...

A whole box of fun princess/ballerina/fairy clothes

...and we swam... (read, the children splashed a lot)

I love my nephew's look of mischief!

and then there were three...

Little Liam, #4, will be in there next year!

Right after this someone poured a bucket of water over Josiah's head and he howled like a banshee...

and after cuddling and comforting by Mama

Summer Stuff

We may be well beyond order and organization in these posts from summertime. When the weather was so nice, I really had a hard time holing up in the office and working on the computer (wait - I used to do that on a daily basis! - how times have changed).  So the blog has suffered. But here I humbly offer some pictures from a few of our fun times this summer.

BEACH DAY, June 2012 ~ Fun but exhausting. The kids both loved the sand, and Josiah tasted it to see how good it really was. Michaela would love it more if it didn't make her so "dirty." It turns out that taking our black lab with us (who loves the water but whose stomach does not agree with ingesting large amounts of saltwater) just equals adding another toddler to the mix. But I love the beach, and breathing the salt air and dipping toes in the cold, cold water, is always refreshing.

SUNRIVER - July 2012

We spent a 4-day weekend with my sister-in-law, brother-in-law and nephews. It was a baby vacation, with 4 kids under the age of 3. It was nice to get a change of scenery... who doesn't love Central Oregon? It was a big hit with our daughter, who still asks when we are going to go back to vacation in the 'Sunriver House.'  Hmmm... maybe when our 4 kids are all over the age of 3? And though you don't see them, Adam and Dave, and baby Liam, were all present as well.

Empty cooler full of water and melting ice cubes = instant fun

Air High Fives!

They were supposed to be posing for a cute photo...

Morning coffee hour on the deck

Smelly feet?

There was a great park at Sunriver

A Zoo of a Birthday

While I have yet to get and/or post photos of Michaela's birthday party, we did get some photos shared with us from our friend Sarah of Michaela's birthday trip to the zoo. 

Lily likes to hold hands. Michaela was humoring her.

Farm girls

Admiring the ugliest animal at the zoo - the warthog

Josiah taunting Lily with his cell phone

The girls have switched baby dolls by this point in the day

Who you didn't even see in these photos is Sarah, or her baby boy Nathan. But they were there, and added lots of fun to Michaela's birthday excursion. Thanks friends!