Shiver Me Timbers!!

One of the back alley neighbors had a birthday party Sunday afternoon and Joshua came home with a makeover. We had to capture such a moment for posterity. No question about it, this was a party after his own heart!

Back to School Haircuts

BEFORE:
AFTER:
BEFORE:
AFTER:
It's that time again...back to school haircuts. I bought one of those Wahl kits at Costco and was so excited to find a drape to put over the boys to catch the hair! It was awesome and really cut down on the mess. You can see how the haircut just transformed Joshua. LOL!

Imagine Children's Museum

On Wednesday, the boys and I met up with our friends Nancy, Ashleigh and Lacey at the children's museum in Everett. The kids had a blast exploring the museum while Nancy and I had a great time visiting.

Here's a picture of the whole gang outside the museum. I told Joshua he could pose any way he wanted to. He picked this one.

Catching Up

So let's see...what's been going on around here since Tuesday? Wednesday, the boys and I took a trip to Tacoma to meet some of my 'imaginary friends' that I've met on the Sonlight Homeschool Forums. It was so fun to meet the ladies that I've been conversing with over the past month. They were very sweet, and the boys met new buddies, too.

Thursday we met some other moms and kids from our church at a local park. While we were there, Tommy called and told us they are planning to get a puppy! The boys and I decided we're going to send them a box of milkbones to help celebrate.

Friday, my very pregnant friend Lauren emailed me and said, "I'm bored. Can you come over and play?" So we picked her up and brought her over for a fun evening of fellowship. Her husband and Patrick joined us after work, and we had a pizza and movie night. Her due date is tomorrow, so hopefully little Caleb will join us this coming week.

Saturday, some friends from church who have a pool invited us and another family over to swim and cook out. It was too chilly for the adults to swim, but that didn't stop the kids. Neither did the rain that drizzled on them for part of the evening. They had a blast.

And today has been a nice, relaxing day. After church, Patrick fit in a nap while I played Uno and Skip-bo with Matthew. Joshua entertained himself by drawing Pokemon characters. This evening, we plan to watch the movie "Holes" but first I have to drag Patrick away from the football game. :)

Mt. Rainier Trip

Today Patrick and I celebrated our 14th anniversary by taking the boys on a hike at Mt. Rainier. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful hike. Here's Matthew posing for a photo in the section where Patrick always breaks out into "The hills are alive....with the sound of music!"

This is where we took a break to eat lunch. It's called Panorama Point and has a view of Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Hood and of course, Mt. Rainier.

Matthew created some songs as we hiked. My personal favorite was entitled "The hiking beauty." No, he wasn't talking about me, but about the beauty of creation around us. :)

Another romp in a snow field! I captured a great moment when Patrick got pelted by a snowball from Matthew.

There are lots of beautiful waterfalls along the trail. Here Patrick and Joshua make one even more beautiful! :)

My Blackberry Pies

This blog is for you, Mom! See my two lovely blackberry pies? We are going to enjoy them tonight with FRENCH vanilla ice cream. Mmm--mmmm!! LOL!

And here are pictures of Joshua and Patrick enjoying the fruits of their labor. Yep. They picked all the blackberries so I could make the pies for them. Did I mention that part to Dad? If not, it might be worth mentioning. :)

Our First Camping Trip

We had a great time on our first camping trip. Patrick got up early and cooked fried eggs, bacon and toast over our campfire! (Make sure Dad sees this, Mom. He was asking if we were going to have eggs and bacon!) We also enjoyed s'mores every night and roasted weiners for hot dogs. Yum!

Here is our tent. Patrick also got us a couple of queen sized air mattresses to put our sleeping bags on and it was quite comfy!

My fishermen! They had a blast but no bites.

A camping trip is not complete without burying Matthew in the sand. Guess how dirty the boys were by the time we got home?

Steak, corn on the cob and zucchini fresh off Patrick's makeshift grill. DEE-licious!

My Little Bike Rider!

Matthew has really taken off on his bike this summer, and we have lots of family outings where we ride through the neighborhood together. In fact, the first time he joined Joshua in riding bikes while we were parking hopping, I was startled to find that I now had to run to keep up with them! Now I get my own bike out and we all have a blast. Many evenings, we will ride to the tennis courts and all four play tennis together. We now have a Starbucks and a library in our neighborhood (woo-hoo!), so there are even more good reasons to bike ride.

Eight Things About Me

My lovely sister challenged me to a game of 'blogging eight things about me,' so here goes:

1. I am a confessed addict of chocolate...particularly Rocky Mtn Chocolate Truffles (raspberry and almond...okay my mouth is watering now) or, in the event of dire emergency, chocolate chips from the pantry will do.

2. I am a spelling freak. Misspelled words cause me angst. It's pathetic and ridiculous, but I can't help myself.

3. I am a real princess! I'm allergic to anything less than 24 karat gold or anything more than surgical stainless steel. (Okay, so that has nothing to do with being a princess...just thought I'd throw that in there.)

4. I'm an avid reader. Agatha Christie is one of my all-time favorite writers. AND I love reading to my boys. I could read all day.

5. I feel a huge sense of satisfaction when my house is clean. In fact, I can't cook or even make a sandwich if my kitchen is messy. I'm obsessive about it.

6. I have quite a collection of trivial knowledge. I often know off-the-wall things that are somewhat interesting but not particularly useful.

7. I'm very talented at picking up small objects with my toes...especially toys and such-like. If there's a way to be lazy and keep from bending over, I'll figure out how to do it.

8. I'm a newly crowned 'news group junkie.' Besides my newfound blogging entries, I have begun participating in the Sonlight Homeschool Forums. They're fun but addicting.

Joshua's New Talent

Last night, after licking off the last of his spoonful of cookie dough, Joshua demonstrated his new special talent.

Mariners Game

We enjoyed watching the Mariners beat the Angels on Monday night with our friends the Clarks. I must confess that I didn't watch much of the game because I was having too much fun chatting with Janice. :) We all had a blast and the highlight of the evening was watching Matthew and his little buddy Joshua dance to the music. They entertained everyone around us with their cool dance moves!