OMSI

We made it! I wanted to go see the Ancient Egypt exhibit at OMSI all month. We were able to squeeze it in only a few days before it was over. The boys enjoyed it, but I think I was the one most fascinated. I gotta say, it was a little creepy.

My happy mother's day....

Jared worked hard to have this nice breakfast ready for me. I was impressed when I came out of the shower to my "breakfast in bed." :) The note he wrote me was so sweet....and I felt undeserving of such kind words. It described so many ways I strive to be and yet fail. It was such an encouraging answer to prayer...and nice to see my Jar-bear believing in me.

My heros....

I am happy to announce that there are no more bears in my home. The territory has been conquered. :)

Easter 2011

You know me and the messy activites. We actually had a nice day so we dyed eggs outside.... under the supervision of daddy. :)

After a nice Easter service we headed home to do Easter baskets and then to my in-laws' home. We always have such a yummy meal (I seriously look forward to the food) and the boys have fun hunting for eggs.

Grandma Sally put these cool shades in each of the grandkids' easter baskets. Aren't these guys so "cool"?

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter. He is risen indeed!

Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm....again

My mom, sister, and nieces met at my house a couple of Fridays ago. My mom's birthday was the day before so it was nice to all be together to celebrate. Here's a few pictures from our outing to the tulip festival. Even with only a 10 minute drive, going anywhere with eight children can be a major ordeal. :) It will be interesting when we add the next three to the group. At least then Amy and I won't be pregnant so we will have more energy, right?

Taking time to "smell the tulips"....
Paisley Mae and Judson Lee were not excited to sit in the shoes.

Jared loves littles. He wants to hold babies any chance he can...Paisley was the youngest one of the bunch.

Unfortunately, we had a lot of grumpies on this day. Since half the kiddos were crying anyway, we told them all to cry. :)

Back at our home we enjoyed pizza, cake, and icecream for my mom's birthday. We are so thankful to have another year to celebrate with her.

Tulip Festival

Now that we live in Woodburn again, we can enjoy the tulip festival! (Sorry Lewis County friends but this one is waaaay better than Degoede's tulip fields in Mossyrock.:) We avoided the crowds by going during a weekday afternoon.

I love these pictures of the boys. Baby Judson didn't like being a tulip.

As you can tell by their eyes, it was a very sunny day.

My boys are a ton of fun. I am so thankful to be their mommy.

Our Family Vacation

It is so nice to get away. We were blessed with a trip to Seaside, thanks to some dear friends in our church. The timing of our trip was wonderful, coming out of an extremely busy week for BJ and missing all the spring break weeks for Oregon and Washington. For the first couple of days it was just our family and a bunch of retired people enjoying Seaside. :) The boys literally oohed and aahed at our place....okay, and mommy did a little too. :)

The boys went for a walk. I snapped a few pictures then went back to our room for a little rest. All by myself. It was divine. :)


Our boys love to swim any chance they get. The weather was chilly and windy, but the pools were heated. I was the only chicken in the family.

Judson was only watching this time, but he got his turn in the water later on.

Daddy and J.R. doing tricks in the kiddie pool.

Poor Jud didn't get his own, but with so many brothers giving him licks, he got his fair share. :)

Another one of BJ's things...I think all of our boys had a turn at wearing a hand towel after their bath at this age.

Each boy got to pick one activity that we would do for sure at the beach. Jesse picked Monopoly. Daddy was the lucky parent to play with them while I knitted and watch a movie with the younger boys.

Johnny had just fallen asleep when we pulled into Pizza Hut. BJ snuggled him for a while, but put him down when our pizza came. He was obviously exhausted because it took a while for him to really wake up.

Jared's choice activity.

Judson loved the kiddie pool.

Definitely a memorable trip. Great time tying strings with the boys and relaxing!