Happy Birthday Joel!

We had already celebrated Joel's birthday over the weekend, but we did a couple of special things on his actual birthday.

He got a crown (made by daddy!) to wear for the day.

Then we went to a park with some our friends and played, had lunch and popsicles for dessert!


All the kids sang happy birthday to Joel and brought him presents! It was such a fun impromptu party!

Mimi visits!

My Mom came to visit in June for a long weekend. It was SO much fun to have her here, and the kids absolutely love her.

Maren trying on her new gardening gloves...the fingers were about two inches past the end of her finger, but she still wanted to wear them all around!

Joel got new gardening gloves, too (they double as biking gloves!) and they both got these buckets. Here are some creative ways to use them!

We had a little family celebration for Joels Birthday while my mom was here (she left the day before his actual birthday).

We got him a real soccer ball, as well as a baseball mit and balls. My mom and Carolyn both got him TONS of art stuff! Carolyn put together a whole rubbermaid box that slides under his bed and it is full of paints and paper and different things to use for collage. Mimi got him a small rubbermaid box with three drawers in it and filled them with glue and scissors and a hole punch and tape and string and little papers...he is totally set up for a LONG time! (The pictures with these things in them were not blog-worthy! I was in all of them making strange faces!)

Maren and Joel also both got watering cans and aprons! Thanks Mimi!

Carolyn and Amit (above and below) hosted the birthday bash and helped us celebrate the birthday! It wouldn't be a party without them!!

Happy Birthday to you! We had strawberry shortcake for dessert and Joel got to blow out his 4 candles!

One of the highlights of the weekend was going to the Saturday market. They have free art workshops for the kids every week and my Mom and Joel did this one together.

Maren's favorite thing at the market was the fountain, and the live music!

And of course who can resist balloons?! Mimi and Joel - enjoying doing art together!
On Sunday, we all went for a hike in the morning. It was a beautiful hike and so fun to be together as a family!
Sunday was also Father's Day, so Greg, even though he had worked 6 nights in a row, including the previous night, came with us on the hike. By the time we got home after the hike, he had been up for 22 hours! That just goes to show what a wonderful dad he is! Joel and Maren have the best daddy I could hope for...Happy Father's Day!

Well there are a TON more pictures, but these are the highlights. Thank you for coming to visit, Mom! We loved having you here and we miss you!!

Bikes!

I got a new bike today!! The one that Greg gave me when we were engaged (7 years ago!) was quite a bit too big for me, so we sold that one, and bought this new women's Specialized. I rode it on the greenbelt this afternoon and I love it! My plan is to get in shape and ride in the Portland Bridge Pedal next August.

I also got a new helmet-it has flowers on it AND it matches my bike!! :)

Joel is also excited about his bike! Greg took the training wheels off yesterday and he picked up right where he left off last summer. Basically, he can ride it completely by himself, and in no time he learned to turn around (even go in circles) and is working on stopping without crashing. :) We are so proud of him!

Funny Felines

One of the best parts of bath time is when they get out and get all snuggled up in their fun towels (thanks Aunty Christina!) If only you could hear all the roaring and meowing going on!

Graduation

Last Wednesday (May 28th) Greg graduated from his first year of chaplain Residency. They had a nice ceremony and send off for the residents. I am so proud of what Greg has accomplished this past year! I can't wait to see what happens in year 2 of residency!

All of the students took part in the ceremony...

This is the whole group, including the supervisor Charles (far left).

Of course the kids were there to support their Daddy and generally disrupt the service! :)

Snuggling...

Joel came and snuggled with me on the floor, then we decided to get Maren in on it...and then, why not take a family picture?!

Maren pretending to sleep...

All of us together.

Reno Trip

Greg took the kids to Reno to visit his parents for a long weekend at the end of May. It was a nice visit for all of them, and I got to have a girls weekend with my sister. Greg took a lot of pictures and video, but I have included some of my favorites here: Grandma and Grandpa LOVED having their grandkids with them.
Throwing rocks in the river.
Greg got to spend some special times with his Mom.
Peek-a-boo with Grandpa.
Some other silly game with Grandpa.

Max LOVED Maren...I guess he wanted to be near her all the time, almost like he was protecting her. She loved him, too!

Though the doggy kisses were a bit overwhelming!

The weather wasn't great, but the boys got out in the hills for a hike on Saturday.

Pool Time

We had a couple of really hot days in mid-May, so we got out the pool and let the kids play. They had a blast in the water!

Photo Shoot

I wanted to have some nice pictures of the kids to hang on the wall, so I had a photo shoot with them in the front yard. The first three are the ones that I enlarged and framed.

Maren got the rock collecting gene!