It's raining, it's pouring....

You know the familiar nursery rhyme... Well, there aren't any old men snoring in our house but the rain is still continuing to fall! The weather channel is promising us sun this weekend and temps into the 70's! What a dream that'd be!! I do love the rain - and I was actually pleased when yesterday it did more than spritz and sprinkle. We had a nice consistent downpour for a good part of the day. I decided to hole up in the house and not go anywhere until we HAD to for Noah's school program.

The house got clean, the kids were fed, and I even had free time.

This morning Eric was woke up at 5 am with Micah running into the bedroom telling him, "I think Hooper is throwing up." Hooper is our year old black lab that sleeps in his kennel in the boys room. Sure enough. He's been destroying his doggie bed when he's apparently bored at night and we think he was eating the stuffing. Ick. If it's not kids puking, it's a dog. Nasty. Eric was a champ and cleaned it up. I held the flashlight. I was lucky! I think we're one step closer to Hoop dog being an exclusively "OUTSIDE" dog. I wish we had a garage that we could put him in when necessary to be out of the elements. I'll be making that mental note for the next house we have.... :o)

We're looking forward to the long weekend. Tomorrow we have a family birthday party for my nephew (And Josiah as well, i think). It will be good to hang with the cousins! Sunday is church and helping out a friend move a bed... and a friend and I might just run a way for a few hours, the 2 of us. We'll be leaving our husbands with 10 kids between their 6 and our 4! Good times! :)

Monday there isn't school. Chinook Pass has now opened for the season so we may head up to the mountains toward Mt. Rainier and do some hiking around. The kids LOVE to go and feel like it's a real adventure.

There are only 2 weeks of school left!! We are busily getting Eric's classroom packed up and sorted through. We're looking forward to the relaxed days of summer.... warm days... hiking... camping... music in the park... seeing/visiting family.... and time together! :o)

Happy 3rd Birthday, Josiah James

So, May 19th was Josiah's 3rd Birthday! He was stoked! I accidentally loaded these pics backwards so you're seeing the end of the day first. Josiah doesn't like cake or pie or brownies. He will eat cookies but what he REALLY loves is ICECREAM! So, he had vanilla ice cream with sprinkles. He was on cloud 9. He's started the stage of fake smiling now as well. Here he is with his dessert and candle.

Dinner was fish sticks and tator tots. We were certain to make a dinner he'd love so we didn't have to have food be an issue on his birthday. It turns out he's extremely picky. Lovely. I never thought I would have a picky eater but somehow God knew that's what I'd need, right? So I could stop looking at other people's kids and saying, "Oh good grief, just make them eat it. You're the boss." Which yes, as the parents we ARE the boss... but.... oh nevermind. It's really not the place for this discussion, now is it?! HAHAHA!

I had a morning appointment so Josiah and Micah went to hang out with my friend, Jani and her daughter, Sydnee. They ended up at the park playing and that is where I picked them up. He konked out in the car on the way home!!! :)

He absolutely LOVED his card from Grandma and Grandpa B. He carried it around most of the day. Here it had to sit by him as he ate yogurt for snack.

This weekend we plan to pick out a plastic bat and whiffle ball for him. When he was at our friends house last night he played with that NON stop! He can toss the ball and hit it himself. He also likes being "pitched" to. He actually made impact and hit it once. Too cute.

a tad behind

Okay, so it's been a while.........

Recently we've all been sick with something. If it wasn't strep throat it was a tummy bug/food poisoning, or if you're Noah it's now an allergic reaction to the antibiotic. He'll no longer be having any kind of penicillin's as they give him a horrific rash/hives. Pics are below. I best tell about our life in pictures so buckle up. There are a lot.

These first few pics are obviously not my kiddos :) Though they are blonde and easily fit into the looks in our family :) A friend of mine asked me to take some pics for them as their camera was on the fritz. I took these and they turned them to black and white and are now framed in their house. I find that kinda cool :)

Meet Levi, Maisie, and Max. They belong to our good friends, Sam and Shannon.

Levi. Shannon said this is Sam's favorite.

Levi (again). This one is blown up big in black and white and mounted on a big piece of painted plywoood. It looks very cool.

Maisie. She's such a bald beauty! :) I couldn't ever capture Max as he is a mover and a shaker!! They had another picture of him that they chose to blow up for their wall.

Next we have soccer pics! Noah played UPWARDS soccer this year. It was his first time to play any kind of sports and he did fantastic. He got the first goal of the year at their first game. This last game he played he scored the tieing goal just seconds before the whistle!

Daddy pile up
Doesn't he look so cute!

Josiah, watching the big boys play and wishing for when he's old enough.

On the move!

A few weeks ago I took some fun close up's of the kids. I am thinking about enlarging these and either putting them on painted plywood like my friend, Shannon did with her kids pics... or mounting them on a canvas like I did with some pics in our master bedroom. We've lived in our house for nearly 2 years and it's high time I get some more pics on the wall!!!

Noah. I adore his freckles.

Carissa. Sweet rosebud lips.

Micah. Can you see the mischief?

Josiah. Acting all bashful. I might try to get a better close up of Josiah. He's a hard one to capture as he's a mover too.

A few weeks ago Spring Fever hit and I took on the hall closet.

BEFORE.

AFTER. Phew, much better. Purged some stuff and reorganized the rest.

We've taken to swapping date nights with our friends, Sam and Shannon. Here are the kids at the end of the night. They'd been outside and running around. Nothing like a good movie to hypnotize them! HA HA

On Easter we had Eric's mom and sisters come hang out. Here is Brea, Michelle and I. Michelle is pregnant and having a baby boy this July. Her belly is oh so cute if you ask me :)

We did an egg hunt for the kids with plastic eggs with candies inside.

Here we are at the end.
The big kids all got flip flops in their buckets for Easter... along with activity pads, a candy bar, the boys got kites and Carissa got a jumprope. Thanks, Dollar Tree! :)

Noah on the run!
Josiah and the ever present tongue sticking out.

Carissa, "I GOT IT!"

The kids and Auntie Brea.

Happy EASTER :) The boys got new shirts and Carissa got the capri/shirt combo. I let the big boys pick out their own colors.

And... more soccer..This time a game shot.

Noah and Hayden.

Aunt Brea was in town for his first soccer game since it was the Saturday before Easter. It was FREEZING cold! She regretted the ice coffee big time!

Carissa has also learned how to ride a bike on 2 wheels! No more training wheels for her! We've since gotten her a bigger bike which she's quite proud of. No news pics of it yet though.

Here's just one picture of Noah and his rashy glory. It doesn't truly do it justice but gives you an idea of how widespread it was.

And yesterday on Mother's Day Eric hung my pictures that I'd worked on. I had taken a few and blown them up and mounted them on a canvas. Now we have some artwork above our bed. It sure makes our bedroom feel like it's more complete and homey.

So there ya have it. The last month and a half in photos! :)

In 9 days it will be Josiah's 3rd birthday! I'm sure pics will be followed soon after :)

Stay tuned....