Reaghan's Birthday!

Saturday we celebrated my niece's 6th birthday at Chuck E. Cheese's. The boys were very excited to celebrate there! Gotta love their pizza...I suppose we got our money's worth since we stayed three hours! :)

Uncle BJ and Brady

Mama, Justin, Jared, and Aunt Alison

Cousins :)

J.R. really enjoyed the cupcakes. I was glad my messy boy was sitting next to daddy instead of me!

The weekend was a lot of fun, but exhausting. BJ preached Sunday morning at Lynchwood (Portland) and then sang in a concert at Hoodview COG (Woodburn) that evening. My boys were pretty tired and took a nice nap in the car between events. J.R.'s new thing is holding hands with the person in the seat next to him. Jared is a nice big brother to accommodate him!

Jesse the Kid

Jesse has been practicing his fancy guns moves lately. (Thanks to a cowboy movie!) He walks around the house trying to show me his gun spin. I feel like I am constantly flinching for fear that he will whack me with it! :)

Strawberries!

What a day! Last night BJ and the boys picked strawberries...a lot of strawberries. They went to our friend Troy's grandma's house. BJ was pretty impressed with her garden and huge strawberry crop. What a blessing to get so many berries for free! So, today we were geared up for making jam. Jared and Jesse were a tremendous help to me. They hulled and crushed strawberries, carried and washed jars, and cheered me on! Justin lasted about five minutes, then was off to play. :)




Looking at these pictures, my kitchen looks relatively clean. Six hours later, it was a disaster! :) I was one tired mama and hit meltdown at about 8pm when the clean-up began. Although I am exhausted, it was so much fun to make jam with my older boys and replenish our supply. We had enough berries to make 36 jars of cooked jam (with a few batches of strawberry-rhurbarb), 4 containers of freezer jam, freeze 2 gallon size zippies full of whole berries, and give a bunch to our neighbor and Aunt Linda. Hopefully, it all set up right. :)

J.R. enjoying blanket time while mommy is making jam!

Independence Day

Our action packed 4th.... Fort Borst park with the Duncans (and running into a bunch of other people we know!)

Jared making a military stencil of his name.

The 4 and unders finding coins in the haystack. (Justin and his buddy Nate would not move from this spot. They thoroughly checked this area!)
You know about Jesse and money! He went crazy!!! But he found...

$2.65 in change!

The 12 and unders' wheelbarrow race. All of Jared and Jesse's push-ups paid off....they came in 1st! :)

During the mixed age race, BJ and Jared came in first and Justin and Jesse came in second.

Jesse, the trolley bell ringer. He took his job very seriously!

After the park, the Duncans joined us at our home for a bbq and the boys enjoyed the kiddie pool. Then it was off to the parade.

After the parade, big Justin and our family headed to the Wiley's for a bbq. Lots of great food, fun, and fellowship!

Hope you had a happy 4th!

Big Justin

We had a wonderful time with my cousin this weekend. He is a great role model for our boys and they really look up to him. Our only issue with his visits - our boys try so hard to show off for him that they get even more wild! :)

My boys enjoy all the attention he gives them.....reading books, conversations (he really talks to them), wrestling, and impromptu water fights!

Thank you Justin for visiting us...and for loving my boys! :)

Living the Dream

I used to dream of the day when I would be a wife/mother filling my family's tummies full of yummy food...and they would love it! The boys, big and small, enjoy desserts. If I want to be the "most beautifullest mommy ever" I just make up homemade goodies! :) Today I was baking for this weekend and brought the boys a snack. They get so excited...I love it! Every once in awhile, in the midst of total craziness, I think to myself, "I am living my dream." Maybe that is why God has given me all boys. I know girls enjoy eating too, but there is something fun about feeding a brood of growing... and very hungry... boys. (Especially when they are not being picky eaters!) And as for my picky ones, I am hoping that someday they will be happy to eat mommy's homecooked meals - in addition to the desserts.