Grand Assembly

I had the privelege of accompanying Seri and six other girls to Grand Assembly in Yakima this past weekend.
The first day Serenitie competed on a six man team in ritual and they came in third place, woohoo. For the rest of the day we hung around the pool. The girls spent a great deal of time playing this game where they all hang off the edge of the pool and dunk themselves while holding their breath to see who can stay under the longest.
All the vehicles in our caravan got decorated. I wish I had pictures of our van (they did it up good).
At the North Bend McDonalds while everyone was still excited.
Out of order, of course, but when I came out of the house with the last load this is where I found Riah, she apparently wasn't about to let us leave without her.

As you can see, Tristan was in heaven being held all weekend by a ton of girls.

The theme was "Life Is A Highway" and we got these flag waving things. Tristan had a death grip on his. This is where he lived for a good portion of the weekend. One of the best carriers we have found, and believe me, we have been through a ton of them!
Seri got this hat at one of her lunches and her hair was so full of static! Reminds me of when she would go through the McDonald's tubes as a little girl.

This pic was just too cute not to add. Here's my little "failure to thrive" baby.

Notice in alot of the pictures this is the girl who has Tristan. She is so smitten with him. In the Installation blog there is another pic of her holding him.

Strawberries

I have always wanted to take the kids Strawberry picking. When we were in Germany there were always plenty of u-pick farms, but for some reason we never went. I bought an Amish cookbook the other day and there was a recipe for strawberry/rhubarb jam that sounded really good, so I promptly got out my farm guide and started calling around only to find that it was already at the end of the season and only one farm was still offering strawberries.
So, off we went. The kids picked one flat and we bought another because they were really tired of picking. This is a picture of "our mountian". One of the things we love about our area is that there are lots of views of the mountain.
Once Sariah realixed that you could eat the strawberries she ate everyone she picked.
And here is the proof.

When we first started out Riah was just picking up the dirt and wood chips and putting them in er basket.

come out, come out, wherever you are.......

About Christmas time my friend Teresa had a thing on her blog (can't for the life of me remember what it was called) where each person that views comes out of lurkdom to post a comment. she then randomly picked a few and sent them some little gifts. I was one of the ones chosen (loved the German chocolate cookies) and was given the responsibility to pay it forward. So, now it is your turn. Come out, come out, wherever you are and post a comment, maybe it will land you a few treats!!!

Happy Independence Day

I know I said it last year and I say it often, but I adore the 4th of July. It is by far the best holiday from beginning to end!
The pics are out of order but I can't figure out how to coordinate it so that they are sequential. Oh well.
We started our day in Auburn at their festival which once again proved itself to be one of the best. That evening we went out to my friend Mem's house on whidbey Island again. I so look forward to it. On the drive home last night I found myself beginning to look forward to next year.
Mem's brother was there also, I haven't seen him in about twelve years. He's all grown up now and great with the children. They would take turns choosing one for him to light and then they would all walk to the wall seperating the lawn from the beach. John would light it while the children would get in position and then John would yell "Run for your lives!", or "Save yourselves!" and they would all take off running and then dive or do cartwheels at the blankets. We tried to get Riah to go to sleep, yeah right. What was I thinking?

I love him dearly, but I still maintain that he looks like a monkey :)

Mem and I, friends since I was about sixteen. We have been through a ton together. she was my maid of honor and tried convincing me to climb out the window and we could just drive off right before my wedding. She has been present at three of my births. I like to say she is one of the only people who knew me before I was me. Wouldn't trade her for the world. Besides, she has an awesome place to escape to for the 4th. The property looks out at the sound and you can see all the ferries come in, you can also watch all of the cities within an hour of Seattle light their city displays. the neighbors on either side must spend thousands on fireworks, they light huge ones and they go on all night.


Last year at Pioneer days both children won the pie eating contest and this year they did the same thing. They both won in their age division. when asked what the secret was I said "We starve them". :)

Seri licking her plate after being declared the winner. Notice everyone else is a boy and they are all still eating.





They had a ton of inflatables and the children played on them for a couple of hours. This was a huge tornado slide and Riah was really wanting to go on it. I was a little hesitant at first but Matt said let her try. True to form and to the experience we have had with her siblings at just under two years of age, she has no fear. She went straight up the stairs and then down the slide all by herself, and then did it again and again and again............

Her other "no fear" sibling at the top of the rock wall,
and doing flips on the bungi jump.

It was fun to sit at the bottom and listen to all the other parents wondering if she would actually be able to do it. We have been through this a time or two before.....

Here she comes, she is at the top left corner.



We weren't prepared last year for the bike parade, but we were this year!!!!

Back at the lake

We spent a lot of last week at the lake.
I love this shot. My mother recently moved into an apartment that is about five minutes away. Since Tristan's birth Sariah has been a little, well........ how to say it nicely, unruly. But when Nana is around she is once again the center of attention and the baby. She adores the time she gets to spend with Nana dotting on her. They have a great relationship.
He is past birthweight but I still get comments about how small he is. However, he is incredibly long. Someone said I needed to fatten him up and I replied "I try, but he only uses it to grow another inch"!

Sariah's friend. He is a day older than she is and they went through the trauma of having to go to nursery together.
After her other friend showed her to kiss at the church activity, she has been a kissin fanatic.