Major yard work...

Saturday morning, Jason and I spent 3-1/2 hours moving strawberries and pulling out the wild flowers that we had planted along the neighbor's fence.

Eariler in the week, she had contacted me to let me know that she had purchased 46 Evergreen Arbervitae trees for us and the neighbor on the other side of her to plant on our side of her fence. At first, I'm thinking, how are we going to pay for these trees? Then, she informed me that she didn't want us to pay for them...huge blessing! She just wanted to help us with the privacy issue...which will take a couple of years with these trees but we are thankful for them! We planted 31 trees and this is what the fence line looks like now!

We haven't actually asked her why she wanted to do this or felt like she needed to do this. We are chalking it up to the fact that we have been dealing with her 4 BARKING dogs for 3 years now and finally took matters into our own hands this year...the garden hose does wonders!! (Why didn't we resort to that sooner?) Whatever the reason, we are so very grateful and didn't mind one bit doing all of the labor to get the trees in and I don't have a problem going out and keeping them watered.

Crazy but fun...wouldn't have it any other way!

On Sunday, my NEW nephew made his entrance into the world. Wyatt John is absolutely adorable and a great addition to the family! After a visit to the hospital, I went to Tyler and Tanya's to pick up the boys. Tanya's cousin stayed with the boys that morning so that I could go meet Wyatt...thank you Kelsey!!

Wayne and Weston have spent the past four days with us...my main reason for no blog updates, just a little crazy around these parts. We have had so much fun with these boys!

The girls slept on the hide-a-bed so that Wayne and Weston could have their room for the four days they were here. Each morning, the three boys would go find the girls and wake them up.Ethan and Wayne are best buddies and they sat on the couch each morning and evening playing their V-Smiles together.The girls tried to entertain Weston but he would just run from one thing to the next so they quickly gave up on that and we just let him play with whatever was making him happy at that moment. (We got tired just watching him run from one thing to the next.)

Jason had taken Monday off to be home to help me the first full day of having five children to care for. So, because he was home and Weston was napping, we let the four older kids go swimming for awhile. They had a blast and Ethan had fun spraying everyone with the water guns. (My standing rule with the girls was absolutely no swimming pool as long as I was the only adult here with the five of them. The girls are fine in the pool but there is no way I could "man" three boys alone.)

After being outside, the two big boys were filthy and entered the tub. I should have known better than to put these two boys in the tub together. My floor was soaked when they were finished. Oh well...they had fun and that's all that mattered.

Yesterday and today have been laid back days around here just trying to keep everyone cool.

Ethan was very sad this afternoon when I left with his buddies. The boys were able to go home to their daddy and mommy AND their new brother.

We are going to miss those boys around here. It already feels very quiet here and our kids are still up and playing. We will have to get the boys back over here soon for a play date!

Pictures of our Ethan boy!

We have been trying to get Ethan's 4-year pictures taken for a few weeks but for awhile the weather just wasn't cooperating. By the time our nice weather came back, our family photographer was out of commission...but that's okay because the baby will arrive this week! So, I called our neighbor who also has one of the best cameras out there and takes amazing pictures of her kids. She immediately jumped on board and filled in for my sis-in-law. So, Thursday night we headed over to the Lynden City Park with Ethan and these are just a few of the shots we got. I was so happy that he cooperated, for the most part, with Ashley. He can usually get away with acting up a little bit with Auntie but I was so hoping he wouldn't pull any of his photo tricks with Ashley. There were a few moments but they were minor! Enjoy the pics!

This one is for you Auntie!! :)

Sleepover at our house

Trisha and the girls were over Monday night and before leaving, all three BIG girls come running up to me jumping around like crazy people and giggling. I finally get out of them what they were wanting...a SLEEPOVER. The "please"s and the giggles wouldn't stop. If only I had a picture of all the commotion that went on before I broke down and said yes. So, Trisha went home and got everything that her Brenna would need.

The picture is from Tuesday morning when Paige and Trisha returned. Brenna and Paige were going to be spending the morning with us so Trisha could deliver tomatoes to all of the local Haggens. We decided it would be fun to get a picture of all the kids...minus the nephews...having a sleepover at our house. (Paige had her first sleepover at auntie's house last week but we didn't get a picture of that so this will have to make up for that.)

What will it be like when they ALL decide they want to stay at auntie's house? Will I have enough energy for them all?

Wayne and Weston will come next week for their first sleepover at auntie's house while Tyler and Tanya will be at the hospital. Next week is BABY WEEK!!!!! Hmmmm...will I get a niece or nephew? The suspense is killing me!

Happy 4th of July!

This morning started out slow! Jason had to work so the kids and I just took our time getting ready to head out to the bay. It has been a long week and with a full day of parties yesterday, I decided we all just needed to sleep in and take our time.

We left around 12:30 and arrived at Mom and Duane's place at Birch Bay at about 1:00. We unloaded all of the "goods" for the day and settled in for a fun afternoon. Mom, as usual, had plenty of yummy food and had hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch with a great spread to go with it. Too bad I didn't get a picture of the food table.

Once we were finished with lunch. The girls and I went inside to decorate star cupcakes that we had made earlier at home. My niece Brenna McPhail was out at the bay also so it was fun to have her helping us. The three girls had so much fun with the frosting and sprinkles. They did a great job!
Jason made it out to the bay around 2:30 and grabbed a quick bite to eat before we all headed down to the swimming pool. (Those pictures haven't arrived yet...thankfully my sister had her camera with her down at the pool. Once I get them, I will share them!) We had a great time swimming for about an hour and then headed back to Mom's place for dessert.

Mom had also made a very festive dessert!
The girls were very proud of the dessert table.
We headed home around 6:00. Jason and Ethan went to bed on the early side and the girls and I stayed up and watched a few of the big fireworks displays around the neighborhood. We get a pretty good show here.

I hope you all had a fun and safe 4th!

Our Baby Boy is 4!

I love getting pictures first thing in the morning of our kids on their birthday. Their expressions are priceless, at least to their mommy they are. It is so hard to believe that he is 4.

I had taken Ethan to the Lynden Dutch Bakery earlier in the week so that he could order his birthday cake. Yes, he did the majority of the talking. I had printed off a picture from the website where we had ordered all of his Madagascar 2 party supplies. He took the picture to "Miss Kathy" at the bakery and asked her to make him a cake. Kathy was so great with him. She directed all of the questions to him, or as many as she could.

So, this morning, when we went to get his cake and cupcakes (for his little friend party). He completely by-passed the front counter and headed straight for the production area. (It's a good thing Mommy works at the bakery so he could get away with doing this!) He was looking for "Miss Kathy". He was so excited when he found her and instantly asked, "Did you make my Madagascar 2 cake?"

Kathy was very sweet and wished him a Happy Birthday and then took him over to where the cake and cupcakes were waiting for him. She even took the time to show him what it all looked like.

After lunch, Ethan had four of his friend over...Wayne, Carter, Tyler, and Elisha. We let the boys play for awhile. They had so much fun with the baseball set but it was very hard for five little boys to wait their turn with this fun toy.So, after they each had a couple of turns, we were able to get them to come to the table to sing to Ethan and to have BIG cupcakes and ice cream.

We then did the pinata. I love these pinatas with the pull strings. I could not imagine these five boys swinging at a pinata with a bat. They were all so excited when the candy fell out of the bottom of the pinata. Here's Ethan collecting his stash. They all went home with plenty!

Here are the boys showing off their goods from the pinata. It was all we could do to get any of them to look at the camera for a picture. This is the best we could get. (Wayne, Ethan, Elisha, Tyler, and Carter)

Later that evening, we had Ethan's family party. We thought we had better get our picture with the birthday boy and his cake before any little fingers went in the cake.

Here are just a few of our guests...Aunt Trisha, Aunt April (in the back) Grammy with Paige, Great-Aunt Lyd (she is always so good about getting Grandma to our parties), and Great-Grandma Vi (Silves)...

Grandpa Norvel, Uncle Ryan with Autumn, and Grandma Nancy. There were others who some how escaped from getting their pictures taken.

Ethan was so excited to get his new Webkinz. It was a Zebra...went along with the party theme...and of course, he named it Marty. This is the name of the Zebra on Madagascar.

I'm not sure where my mom found this picture but it will be hanging in Ethan's room. He was so excited to get this.

Jason and I got Ethan a bike for this birthday and didn't wrap it. So, Ethan and I were hiding our eyes together while Daddy brought the bike out. You can't see it here but Ethan had the giggles while we were doing this. I love this boy!

Excited to finally have his Big Boy Bike. He has been asking for a bike and we had the big debate over which size to get and had him sitting on bikes at WalMart. It was torture for him to not ever take a bike home with us. Now, the boy has his bike!

Ethan got so embarrassed when everyone started to sing to him.

We had a great time and the weather was gorgeous! It was so nice that the cousins were swimming during most of the party. Uncle Tyler even got in on the swimming action.

Ethan is so excited to be 4 because he knows that means he gets to go to Preschool this fall and he can't wait to start school.

This little boy is so fun to have in our home and I am so thankful that God blessed us with him! He is so busy and keeps us on our toes. But, he has his moments of just wanting to sit on mommy's lap and snuggle. Or, as he says it, "Let's nuggle mommy." He knows I can't ever turn him down. Could you?

Camp pictures as promised

Here are a few more camp pictures from Brenna's week at Camp Gilead...as promised ;)

Alyssa and her BFF, Kylie, made this sign for Brenna. It was so cute and they worked so hard!
When Alyssa and I pulled up to camp, we found all of the campers sitting in the parking lot. I quickly realized that there were counselors showing off all of the clothing that had made its way to the lost and found during the week. It was very comical to sit and watch. There were a few pieces of clothing that people were not claiming and the counselors kept repeating, "Somebody wore this during the week. One of you brought this from home." The kids were all just staring with the look of 'who cares, it's just a shirt.' Basically, what it boiled down to, these kids hadn't had breakfast yet and were more concerned about what they were going to eat than any piece of clothing waiting to be claimed.

It was so fun to be able to sit with the girls from church, and their new friend Larissa, during breakfast. Alyssa and I shared a cinnamon roll with one of the girls...they were very BIG cinnamon rolls and Brenna went back for seconds so we could try some of the yummy food. Yes, camp food that was yummy!

Do you think these two missed each other? YES! They were so excited to see each other. Its nice to actually see the love between them. At home, it's the usual sister fights and they share a room so they sometimes get tired of each other. The week apart was great for both of them but they were so ready to be back together again.

We had a great trip home. Alyssa and I just listened to Brenna tell us her camp stories and then by the time we got to Marysville we had no choice but to stop for lunch and a break. Brenna was car sick (no, she didn't eat much for lunch). The fresh air did her some good and having a little something in her stomach again seemed to help her. The poor girl! I think the combination of being warm and being very tired is what did her in.