Sunday night...let's have some quiet time

Last night I had gone outside with the kids to watch them ride their bikes in the cul-de-sac and burn off some Sunday energy. We hadn't been out there too long when the thunder and lightening made me rethink the plan to be outside. We reluctantly came back into the house and I asked the kids to find something to do that didn't involve the T.V. After just a few minutes I realized how quiet it was in the other room so I went to investigate and this is what I found...

Presley sound asleep with her BFF, Angela.

Stratton in an uncomfortable position, but still sleeping hard.

And Cas...reading like usual!

I love the Summer! I love having the kids home (most of the time), I love having a more relaxed schedule and I love the kids playing so hard that they pass out on the couch!

Stratton's Birthday Continued...

Stratton thought that he needed a "friend" party this year for his birthday so I went along. He decided that the party should be Construction themed so everyone got a plastic hard hat, and an apron full of "tools". Stratton really didn't care too much about the party--all he wanted were the presents!

Summer, is that really you?

We've learned that because we live in Oregon summer tends to take a long time to get here. Up until this week, June has been a bust as far as nice weather and we have all been longing for some sunshine! We're tired of being pastey! :) The temperature finally got warm enough for the kids to want to play in the sprinklers out back. I was happy to turn them on and watch the fun!

This is Kara, our neighbor, Presley and Cas on the trampoline having a little fun in the sun!

Stratton and his best buddy, Bryce, hangin' out on the play structure.

Twelve Big Ones

This week has been a very busy one. Packed into three days we had my birthday, Stratton's birthday, Father's Day and also mine and Jeff's 12th anniversary. The anniversary often gets overshadowed by everything else that is going on so I wanted to post something just to let Jeff know how grateful I am to be his wife. This week he is in Japan so maybe when he reads this he'll realize how much I love him. Twelve years is a pretty long time and we've had a great time along the way. We got married when we were too young to realize how young we really were. We have moved four times, lived in four states, had three kids and many adventures along the way. I just now feel like we are beginning to be able to take a deep breath and get started on the next twelve years! Jeff, I love you because you are hard working, fun loving, easy going and my best friend. I know that no matter what the next twelve years (and many more) hold, we'll be side-by-side and face life together. Happy Anniversary, babe!

Look Who turned FOUR!

Stratton couldn't wait to celebrate his birthday this year! Hard to believe that he is already FOUR! Stratton is a really fun kid and keeps us all laughing a lot. We are certainly blessed to have him as part of our family! Here are a few pictures of him loving his birthday.

This year for Stratton's 4th birthday, we decided to take a little road trip and stay the night in a Bed & Breakfast. This was no ordinary B&B though. This one had a caboose that you could stay the night in! Stratton loves trains, so we thought that it would be a memory making adventure of all of us. The drive to Cle Elum, Washington was about 3 1/2 hours, but it was fun. The kids thought that it was neat to be actually sleeping in a caboose! We had a great time and wished we could have stayed another night.

Our night in a caboose

We've been busy!

The last day of school for Cascia and Presley. The girls finished school a few days early this year because the current Happy Valley Elementary school is being demolished and in the fall they will attend the new and improved Happy Valley Elementary as a 5th grader and a 2nd grader!

Cascia also had her piano recital a couple of weeks ago. She did an outstanding job on her two pieces! She loves to play the piano and it certainly shows.

And then there was Presley's tooth. It was wedged in by the tooth coming in behind it so she couldn't get it very loose. One afternoon I pinned her down on the couch, with much drama and tears, and wiggled and wiggled that tiny tooth until I finally won and pulled it out. Now we have to work on the other front tooth!

All A-boooaarrdd!!

This past Christmas Jeff's brother's family gave our family a gift certificate to ride the Mt. Hood Railroad. We weren't able to get it scheduled before the railroad closed for the winter, so we had to wait until this past Saturday. Lucky for us, the weather was great and the trip was too! This picture of Stratton is my favorite one of the whole day. He was super excited to go ride on a real train and I think this picture shows just that. The train ride was just over two hours long which was just perfect. There were two passenger cars, the snack bar car, the caboose and the open air car. We really had a great time together. Thanks, Pete and family, for the great gift! (There are more pictures of the day in the slide show below!)

The Mt. Hood Railroad