the deck

kristopher got a bee in his bonnet to make us some shade in the back yard. well, i did not discourage that idea. so now we have a 12 by 12 deck with a simple pergola, it is so nice to have a smidge of shade in our very hot backyard. the sun sets on the yard so all day we are getting full sun. great for gardens hard for people... i wish i took some finished pictures of it. but i was forgetful - i guess i was probably tired from all the trips to the hardware store and helping him with this and that. so in one weekend (memorial day weekend) he finished the deck. yippeee....

we havent actually gotten to enjoy it much. we soon after got bad news that kris' grandmother passed away and needed to travel to southern idaho. so we were busy with this and that preparing for our long trip to southern idaho and then off the creswell ( a previously planned trip) so it has become a LONG trip . Aubrey kris' sister graduates from eugene bible college.

riverfront park runners.

this is a great picture of my son at riverfront park we had a date last summer. played Sorry on a blanket , went to sawtooth grill, watched an imax underwater movie and so much more. it was a wonderful day with just the two of us i look forward to more of these this year. just thinking about it makes me excited!! i recommend dates with your kids it really helps them open up and bloom with you. what a fun time one on one time is..

the mcgees

These are our good friends from our lives in puyallup. we love stephanie and shawn they are wonderful friends that we only see about once a year, we have set in motion having annual camping trips. this will be our second year. our kids are getting old enough to do this without bottles and hopefully diapers -much longer. God gave us this friendship that we may not have seeked out but our relationship grew nonetheless and know we have a wonderful set of freinds that feel like family. Thank you God .

Avery and cousins

Baby Avery, my niece, Phillip and Desi's little one . We have had her at our house 3 nights thus far. this last time I was able to see more of her personality. she is a smart little girl who i am sure will thrive with the wonderful parents she has. She was quite interested in this pooh phone that Liams nana got for him, it lights up and does all sorts of things. I so enjoy seeing her interact with my boys as well. I have been longing for the boys to have a strong connection with their other cousins in Stayton Oregon so i want them to have a sense of family here with Avery. Growing up my sister and i had cousins but we didnt exactly feel like family with any of them. there wasnt a strong bond with either side of the family. I see my sister and i both trying to give our childern what we lacked growing up with our cousins. It is so nice to be able to make those choices and to have christian relatives to enable such friendships to grow. God is good to have blessed Dee, my sister, and I with opportunities for such strong families to be a part of.

Elijah is 6!!!

Elijah is 6.
wow he had a star wars themed birthday party i put together some of his legos to make star wars themed cake topper(see pic at bottom) anyways it was a fun birthday party. Just family we havent dived into the whole friends party yet, maybe next year we will 1st grade is a good time to start having friend birthday parties. He got a pokemon book collection that we have already started to read i am hoping to get him more interested in reading so that he will be more enthused about reading himself. He does not have any drive to start reading or writting I have been trying to find ways to get him going on that. We have been so focused over the last couple years with his speech that i fear that i have not been diligent with the rest of his learning. I keep hearing in my mind one step at a time, but i know that we are a bit behind becuase those steps have been so slow.

so another posting... i dont know why-well wait i know why i dont post daily like some people. but i have a little boy who likes to get on my laptop and push buttons as i am so it makes for a control game i dont really want to play..
this is what has been going on in my life.

so this is easter morning our boys are so sweet (when they so choose to be) i have to say we are the luckiest parents in the world. i have been blessed with two boys who love to cuddle and be loved on -i guess that is not as normal as i thought it was. anyways we had a great day with a wonderful church service at Faith Bible church with our amazing pastor Dan Jarmes. Then we were off to grandma and grandpas house for Easter lunch and a fun egg hunt.
This egg hunt is one i hope i never forget it showed how great a big brother Elijah really is. As Elijah was finding eggs and Liam was only finding a few Elijah saw that and he took some of the eggs from his own basket and rehid them for Liam. It was so sweet and it is so typical for Elijah to do such a thing. He likes it when everyone is having fun, especially his little brother. Liam is so blessed to have a wonderful older brother I pray God will strengthen their relationship through the years and they will always be concerned with one anothers happiness.

bowling

bowling on base what an interesting day. we had fun .. i suppose. liam didnt want to take turns so that was tense. elijah took out a bumper and got his ball stuck. liam is able to pick up the balls and drop them luckily not on any toes. we hope that we will be able to go back and have a better experience. but it may be a while before kris is up to another day of liam being so upset .