the day after

On Friday evening, we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family. I contributed my sweet meat pie & the traditional Henry family cranberry-orange salad that has been passed down from Kenton's great-great-great grandmother, Addie Varner! I didn't do it justice, but it was still pretty tasty. :)

Kenton made sweet dinner rolls! Yumm!

The spread
I remembered to take pictures before eating this time. :)

So many place settings.
Our family has grown from the original 6 Hechts to 16!

Youngest to Oldest
Erik came down from Seattle :)

The kids
Cohen is mostly out of the photo, but you can see Ronan, Sadie, Tyler, Griffin, Finn & Cedar (or at least some portion of each child) :)

Enjoying some adult time while the kids watched a movie after dinner

Tyler loves his littlest cousin. Cedar's pretty fond of Ty too!

Not the best idea. I needed help to get Cedar's hand out of my hair. But it makes a cute photo!

Now for the annual family photo shoot!

The Henry Family
Finley (3), Katrina (28), Kenton (28), & Cedar (almost 7 months)

Memaw & Papa

Quick music break while others gather for their turn

The grandkids
Sadie, Cedar, Ronan, Finley, Griffin, Tyler & Cohen

The Chase Family
Aaron, Tyler, Sadie, Becca & Cohen

All 16!
We had 3 cameras set on auto timer, so everyone is trying to look at the correct camera at the right time. Except for Cedar - he's apparently confused. :P

The original 6
Somehow, I missed the Ruddick family photo. I think I was taking it with their camera. Whoops! Maybe I'll steal it when Gretchen blogs her photos. :)

Twins!

Cedar always enjoys his cuddle time with Uncle Aaron

However, he was a little unsure of this Uncle Erik character!

Memaw will save you, buddy!

Perhaps the feeling's mutual, Cedar. Sorry. :P
Cedar has just started to show anxiety with unfamiliar people. A friend of mine responded to this news by saying, "Phew! Cedar is NOT actually perfect." Hee hee...he's pretty close! :)

thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Kenton's family on Thanksgiving day. Often we celebrate with two dinners in one day, but this year my family celebrated on Friday. We enjoyed spreading out the yummy dinners! :)

Cedar (almost 7 months old!) & Mummi

Brian & Kenton

Erik & my mom joined us for dinner; my dad was taking his turn working Thanksgiving day at the hospital.

Of course, I forgot to get any photos of the food until after we'd eaten. I contributed candied yams, chocolate cream cheese pie & a mini blackberry pie (with extra pie dough from my sweet meat pie). Outi made the rest & it was all so delicious! I love this holiday! :)

An after dinner table shot. It looked so nice with all the pretty plates & glasses, as you can imagine. :)

We finished the evening off with cranberry margaritas (plus a virgin version for Finn). They were really tasty & I don't even care for tequila. :P

from scratch

Kenton picked out this sweet meat squash to use in our autumn decor. We'd heard that it was yummy to eat, so I decided to try to use it somehow. I looked online & found a recipe for sweet meat pie - much like pumpkin pie. That particular recipe was a little complicated, so I ended up following a recipe for butternut squash pie & just used this squash instead.

My first time making a pie from scratch.

Done roasting...

Time to puree.

I followed a Pampered Chef recipe for pie crust. We got a Kitchenaid mixer on Craigslist a few months ago & have loved it! Really makes everything a little easier. :)

Ready to bake!

All done. Lots of cracks, but it smelled so good. Tasted great too! From start to finish, it took me about 5 hours to make a pie. If I do it again, I think I'll try to split it up & roast/puree the squash on a different day. But it worked out pretty well & I was very pleased with how it tasted.

novemberists

Monday, November 23
Since my parents were out of town during Finn & Cohen's birthdays, they threw a little family celebration for all the November birthday boys: Finley (3), Cohen (4) & Griffin (3 days until his 3rd birthday).

Memaw made "Up-cakes" - cupcakes decorated to look like the balloons in "Up"

Memaw & Papa with the birthday boys!

Blowing out their candles. Yum! What a fun night!

brothers

This may end up being our Christmas card, if I can't get a better family photo. But man, those boys love each other. It's so great to see their eyes light up when they see one another. The feeling is totally mutual. What a blessing!

3 year portraits

We braved the JC Penney portrait studio once more, despite how chaotic it has felt in the past. Unfortunately, we came away feeling frustrated once again...but amazingly enough, we got some nice photos. Kenton says we're never paying someone to take our annual photos again...we'll see. It's nice to have them done & I'm glad it's over. :)


Big 3 year old Finley

Favorite blanket

Our family
Cedar chewed on his sleeve for most of the photos. :)

Sitting up...with a little help from the crate.

They love each other!

Not sure where he gets that devilish smile from. ;)

Everyone look at Cedar!

I just noticed that one pant leg is rolled & one is not...oh, well!

Blue eyes!

6 months old!

We ordered this family shot for our wall.

Snuggle

Super Cedar!
This could be his superhero name - Superseder! Maybe someone more clever than I can come up with what his superpowers might be?? Always taking the place of...I don't know. This is a silly joke! :P

We ordered this one too! Our boys!

Sweet Finn

Another favorite blanket.

Not too bad for Finn deciding he was done with being at the mall 5 minutes into our 30 minute wait (because they were so behind schedule). :\

cohen & finley's birthday party

On Saturday, November 7th (Cohen's actual birthday), we threw a party to celebrate Cohen & Finn's birthdays at Rainbow Park & Playground. It was a great place for an indoor, fall party & was super fun for all the kids & grownups!

Cedar & Mummi

Amy & Ethan at the top of one of the structures

Kenton helped Finn enjoy the bounce castle since he was a little scared.

Birthday boy Cohen!

The grownups were allowed to use the bounce castle too!

Sadie, Ronan & Griffin on the tire swing

Macey swinging!

Cedar enjoying his snack.

My first time in a bounce castle...I think??

Great action shot of Sadie

Rainbow is a place that sells play structures. They also offer open play times & party spaces!

Our party room!

The birthday boys

New swords!

Finn scooted his chair closer to Cohen so they could see what each other got!

A Transformer!
(As Finn calls it "Fansmormer!")

Ice cream cake by Becca

Blowing out their candles...

& licking them, of course!

The party planners & their birthday boys
Becca, Cohen (4), Katrina, Finley (3)

We love Finley so much! It has been such an amazing experience to have him in our lives. He blesses us everyday with his wit, curiousity, kindness & energy! We thank God for our wonderful son.

after dad got home...

Finn got to open one more gift, before sitting down to dinner. We let him unwrap his gift from Nanalee & Papa Lew - all the way from Utah! He was super excited to see a Bionicle (or as Finn says it "Binonicle!") & 2 Lego sets!

Dad helped Finn build the Bionicle right away!

Finn chose corn dogs & canned pears for his birthday dinner...not sure where he got the pear idea, but it was his birthday so he got to choose. :)

Time for gifts from Mama & Dad...
He looks like such a big kid to us, despite the messy, wet spot on his shirt from dinner. :P

Sweet Cedar, studying his Dada.

Time to pay attention to that fast moving brother!

Some police officer & fire fighter dress-up gear.

Fun wrapping paper from Ronan's school fundraiser.

Gears! Gears! Gears!
We tried to buy some toys for Finn that he'd never seen, to try to expand his interests a bit. It worked out pretty well & he seems to really enjoy his new toys. So fun to have an excuse to get some new things to play with. It's been a long time since we bought anything real special or fun, so even Mama & Dad were excited to play with Finn's toys. :)

happy birthday finn!

Finn woke up on the morning of his birthday to streamers & balloons throughout the house! So fun for a kid that likes to kick & hit...things. ;)

Cedar was interested too. :)

He got to open one present from us before going to Mummi & Pappa's house for the morning...

A dinosaur book that plays noises in surround sound! A big hit for our 3 year dinosaur fan!

Cedar was interested too! :P

halloween

We met up with my sisters & their kids at the Valley River Mall to make the rounds at all the stores.

We got there 30 minutes after trick-or-treating had started & about half the stores were out of candy already! We were pretty shocked at how many people were at the mall. Here Finn is getting a sticker, since this store was out of candy. :P

Finn also had stubbed his toe earlier in the day so he didn't want to walk.

After the mall we trick-or-treated at Memaw & Papa's house!

Sisters + Mom

The guys!

Memaw & Papa gave glow-necklaces to all the kids. Fun!

The grandkids
Baby Dragon (Cedar - sleeping), Boo! (Tyler), Ninja (Ronan), Kitty (Memaw), Belle (Sadie), Skeleton (Papa), Pterodactyl (Finn), Black Widow (Griffin), Batman (Cohen)


After visiting my parents, we trick-or-treated at Mummi & Pappa's house! They surprised us by being dressed up too - they were all wearing old costumes that Kenton had worn as a kid/teenager. Outi was there too, wearing a joker costume, but didn't want to go public with her costume. :)

Close-up of Cedar, since he spent much of the evening snoozing in his car seat. I love that his dragon costume looks like a sleepy dragon. :)

more solids

Cedar quickly figured out how to use the mesh feeder! We stuffed it with chunks of acorn squash & he went to town!

Finn was curious. :)

Sweet boys.

What a lovely invention. Cedar was content & independent for 20 minutes! He certainly didn't want to be done & was happy when I helped him get every last bit. I hope his love for healthy veggies lasts... :P

pumpkin carving

Wow - have we been busy?! The last few weeks have been filled with activity & I can't believe we are already well into November! On the Tuesday before Halloween, we carved pumpkins at the Green's house. It was fun to let Ethan, Macey & Finn help scoop out the guts & design the jack-o-lanterns!

The Mamas & Stephanie did the cutting. The Dads & Colin watched the littlest ones. :)

Finn & the jack-o-lanterns - ours is the one that looks scared!

Finn & Me - we also carved a spider on the back side of our pumpkin - by Finley's request, of course.

the barn party

Every year the Schar family hosts the Barn Party at their farm, for our church. All the kids (& some adults) dress up & play games for candy, explore a hay maze, go on hay rides & eat hot dogs, donuts & cider. I've been going since I was a kid & this was Finn's 3rd time. :)

My little pterodactyl!
Finn picked out this T-rex costume at St. Vincent de Paul's for $4 & declared that he wanted to be a pterodactyl. Kenton helped me come up with the alteration design & I added wings, a "cone" head thingy & cut off the sharp teeth. :) Not too shabby for $4 + some spare fabric from my mom.

A pterodactyl in the wild. :P

I couldn't stop taking photos of him.

Every angle just cracked me up!

My view of the baby dragon in the back seat.


So cute!

We stopped at Kenton's parent's house to pick up some pieces to add to Kenton's costume. Outi caught this great shot!

Our family
Cedar is missing the top half of his costume, Kenton is a forest fire fighter (wearing some of his dad's authentic gear!), & I'm a fairy (with a few more layers than the typical fairy). :) We were going to go with a theme, since Finn originally wanted to be a knight. Kenton was going to be a wizard & Cedar & I would fit right in. Then Finn changed his mind, so we ended up being a bit random.

There's my baby dragon! Cedar's first Barn Party! :)

Waiting to play some games.

Bean bag toss with Pastor Steve. Finn kind of cheats. :P

Getting his face painted.

Some custom work by Jeff Harris - a pterodactyl, what else?? :)

Batman Cohen

Boo Tyler (from Super Mario Bros)

On the hayride.
Cedar spent most of the evening chewing on one of his "claws" :P

Belle Sadie

One last photo of our family.
Lots of photos, but we had a really great time. Some other highlights for Finn were the bus ride from the church to the barn, playing by the campfire, going upstairs in the barn with Cohen, & the "glo-bracelet" from one of the families at the party. He used it as a light saber, of course, & got to sleep with it that night. Fun memories!

happy birthday papa!

We celebrated my dad's birthday on Monday, October 19th (the day after his birthday) with his classic birthday dinner request: sloppy joes & tater tots! Yumm!


Cohen & Finn sticking close to the cupcakes, trying to wait patiently. :)

Papa & his 7 grandkids
Sadie, Cedar, Tyler, Finn (whining because he can't pull the chair out), Cohen, Griffin & Ronan

The birthday Papa!

Wearing a gift from the Chases & us - an apron to wear while working on his bikes!

Family portrait - smiling parents, sad kids. :P

Totally separate day, but I wanted to share this sweet, smiley photo of Cedar. So happy, even though he's wedged in between couch cushions & his track suit is all bunchy. :P What a good sport!

night out

My friend Ben (from high school) was in town (all the way from Thailand!) visiting his family. He only comes home every couple years, so we were excited to spend some time with him. :) We got a group together & went to dinner at Mezza Luna (such yummy pizza!). After dinner, we went to a brew fest where we met up with Stu & Jacque.

Helen, Carolyn, Katrina & Jacque -
all wearing our varying shades of green coats!

Kenton, Ben, Stu & Jesse

It was fun to have an evening "out on the town" without the kids. They stayed with Mummi & Pappa & had much more fun with them than if they'd been dragged to a restaurant. :P We picked them up afterward & brought them back home, where they had a chance to meet Ben (a second time for Finn, though it'd been almost 2 years). Finn made quick friends with Ben & even reached for him at church the next morning to be held! Guess he knows a good guy when he sees one. ;) Thanks for making time for us, Ben! It was fun.

outside with dad

Kenton got some great photos of the fall colors in the backyard before the leaves fell. He often takes Finn & Cedar outside while I cook dinner. Keeps the kids entertained & the Mama sane. :)

Kenton's favorite tree.

Spit bubbles.
Finn's really into spitting & spit bubbles & making sound effects with spit, etc. Such a boy. :)

Cedar is thoroughly entertained by his big brother. He finds it so amusing when Finn runs. I love watching Cedar watch Finn. They really get a kick out of each other. I know they won't always get along, but I hope they are good friends for the most part.

Another shot of Kenton's favorite tree.

Such a sweet big brother. Finn is always willing to help & loves doing things for Cedar. He even reminded us the other day that Cedar needed his pacifier before leaving the house. Thank you, big brother Finn! Where would we be with you?!

One last shot of some of the fall colors we see from our kitchen window. Soon the trees will be bare, so it's nice to have one last burst of color!

first veggie - squash

After trying rice, oatmeal & barley cereals, Cedar was ready for his first vegetable - acorn squash from my mom's garden. :) Of course, he delivered numerous expressions of concern & confusion, but I believe he enjoyed his first taste of squash. See for yourself:

Not bad, Mama. What else you got? :P
Cedar has since tried butternut squash, which he seems to really enjoy!

That same evening, Pappa made Crème Brûlée for us! So good!

Finn got to help torch the sugar.

Finn loves to help in the kitchen. He even tries to convince us that should "make something" before going to bed. Such a helper!

it's fall

Here they are - the fun pumpkins we picked out at the farm. Finn picked the long, odd-shaped one - which is funny cause I think Tyler picked out one just like it on a totally separate trip to the farm. :) Kenton picked out the white/grey one - it's called Sweet Meat & we might try to cook it up to test if it lives up to its name. :) I picked out the rest, including the dark orange one with warts & a bumpy, white bottom. Hee hee! :) Happy Autumn!

Our fall decor, so far. I'm taking a trip to the pumpkin patch with my classroom, so I'll probaby add another pumpkin to the group. Also, this week we are carving pumpkins with our Bible Study group. I think we'll help Finn carve his first pumpkin - should be fun! And messy. :)

I had to share my awesome, hugging carrot buddies that I picked up at the Farmer's Market. So cute, we almost couldn't bring ourselves to cut them apart & eat them...almost. :P

soccer game

After picking out pumpkins & eating a quick lunch, we walked over to Kelly Middle School to watch Ronan's soccer game! It was our first chance to see Ronan play & he did great! :)

Griffin & Finn had a lot of fun playing together! They don't always seek each other out when all the cousins are together, but they did great when it was just the two of them.

Those two really kept each other entertained the whole time! I practiced letting Finn be more independent while he & Griffin played just out of my sight. It felt weird, but they were safe & playing well together. It was pretty fun to see them interacting, talking & laughing together.

We enjoyed visiting with Ronan during his breaks. :) Everyone always gives Cedar so much attention. It's very sweet to see his cousins so very excited to see him all the time!

But, really?! How could you not love on this little guy every chance you get?? He's such a wonderful addition to our family. We just LOVE him!

Action shot! I think he was falling. :)

Great job, Ronan!
They don't keep score but he scored at least 3 or 4 goals for his team! What a great way to burn some of that 5 year old energy. :)

pumpkins

On Sunday, October 11th, we went to Thistledown Farm & picked out some pumpkins to decorate our house. It was a warm, sunny day & I was wishing that we had planned to take the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch...we only had time for a quick trip this time. But, I wasn't about to miss the chance to get some cute photos of my boys.

Finn was very interested in the goats!

Making sure I'm still there...

Yep! Still there, hanging out with Cedar. :)

Finn is getting better at holding Cedar...

...but it's still a little scary...

...& Finn nearly dropped Cedar, after losing interest.
Luckily, I was close & ready! Scary, though! :\

september randomness

Kenton put his birthday gift from my parents to use - a "hazmat" suit for crawling under the house.

Looks spooky down there! Finn was so sad that he couldn't go with Dad. :(

Good thing he duct taped his socks - no spiders were getting in there! Everything looked good under the house. It was a success! :P

Just another light saber battle in the living room. This time, with Jon & Ethan!

Finn thought Jon's hood was so cool that he asked me for his little hoodie. Finn tends to like the bad guys the most in movies. Not too sure how I feel about that. :)

My poor, beat up kiddo. Scrape on his chin from a bush, bruise on his cheek & gash on his eyebrow from falling face first into a chair.

Life can be rough when you're a busy almost-3-year-old! But those owies are getting better. Almost gone already. Boy, that eyebrow gash was a scary one for me - the closest we've been to stitches so far. Thankfully, my mom & Becca were there to help me decide that a bandaid would be fine. :)


Mama & Cedar (+ a little Finn in the background).
Cedar's wearing my old sweatshirt from my Aunt Robin. It was a chilly day - perfect weather for a cozy, hooded, sweatshirt.


Such a sweet, cuddly guy!
He sucked on those sleeves all day long. I'm glad I tried it out on him. It's a little big still, which means he'll get some use out of it.

4.5 months

Sorry for the absence of blogging lately. I haven't been taking a lot of photos since being back to work. I'm sure it'll pick up now that the leaves are starting to change colors & the weather is cooling down. :)

I was trying to get a good photo of my handsome boys, all dressed & ready for church.

None of the photos turned out perfectly, but together they're not so bad. :)

Big boys!

Cedar was sitting still a bit better than Finn. Go figure! :)

Bed head!

Cedar's hair is growing...just enough that it can get messy now. :)

This morning, our house was so chilly after leaving the windows cracked a bit. We broke out this warm, cozy suit that Cohen handed down to Finn. Finn was never quite the right size for this suit.

It was a little disorienting for Cedar to be bundled up so thickly, but once he warmed up a bit he went right to sleep in Kenton's arms. Just what he needed on this cool, fall morning. :)

Happy Grandparents Day Mummi, Pappa, Memaw, Papa, Nana Lee, Papa Lew, Oma, Grandpa Stoerman & Grandma Janet! We love you all! :)

*Photos by Jesse

4 months old

Yesterday, Cedar had his 4 month checkup with his doctor. He weighs 15 lb 12 oz (60th %-ile) & is 26 1/2" long (90th %-ile)! His percentile in weight actually went down from 77th at 2 months, so Dr. Miller encouraged me to feed him as much as he wants. :) He also said it would be a great time to start rice cereal & so we have!


Cedar seems to enjoy his new food & is eating a little more each time we feed it to him. It's great for the grandparents who watch him while I work + big brothers like to help too! :) I love to see Cedar's reaction to solid food & am looking forward to this new phase.

He is getting so long that he has graduated out of his cradle & into his big crib. I need to take photos of Cedar in his crib because he still looks so small & it won't be long until he's filling it out more. My baby's getting bigger but he still feels small to me. It helps to have a big -almost- three year old running around. I'm trying to be better about letting Cedar have time on the floor (despite the busy Finley) & he's getting close to rolling over on his own. He'll be mobile in no time! :) Eeek!

first fire

Kenton's parents gave us a bunch of firewood from some trees they cut down. So on Sunday, we used our fireplace for the first time.

It was a rainy & cool day - just perfect for a cozy fire.

Finn was so excited to help!

Success!
Kenton built a beautiful fire & we were warm & cozy through the whole evening.

I had propped Cedar up to watch & turned back to find he had slipped down. Such a good sport - he didn't seem to mind. :)

mckenzie & tiffany's wedding

A 1920's themed wedding in a beautiful theater in downtown Portland. McKenzie played the music in his own wedding. Lovely!

His brother, Courtney, holding the balloon that his son, Henry (the ring bearer) carried down the aisle (& reading something special). I loved it!

The kiss!

It was a semi-formal wedding, so we enjoyed the chance to get dressed up. Plus, we let Finn spend the night with Mummi & Pappa, so we only had to keep Cedar entertained. :)

As a special treat, we got to hang out with Sandy & Nicole, who came down from Walla Walla, Washington, as well as the rest of our Bible Study group.

Cedar, Kenton, Katrina, Sandy, Nicole, Jon, Amy, Colin & Stephanie

What a fun date!

For Amy to steal for her blog. ;)

The Getaway!

What a great wedding! So beautiful & so much love. :)

california, part 8: saying goodbye

On our last day, we spent most of the morning/early afternoon in the pool. After packing up, we went out to dinner with the Hickmans & Barretts at Round Table Pizza. It was a good last meal before hitting the long road home!

With the Hickmans:
Aunt Carol, Natasha, Katrina, Finn, Kenton, Cedar, Wyatt & Uncle Keith

After dinner, we made one last visit to the Barrett house to have some dessert (cookies & ice cream) & say goodbye.


Katrina (28), Cedar (4 months), Lincoln (7 months), & Melissa (26 1/2) :)

Cedar likes looking at Lincoln. Such a sweet smile!

Emily & Cedar getting in some last minute cuddle time.

Cedar & Melissa

What an amazing trip, full of wonderful time with family. I am so glad we were able to come down for my uncle's Memorial service & to have the chance to meet sweet Lincoln. We will miss Uncle Tom & remember him always! Thank you to our California family for welcoming us to your homes & making time for such a great visit. We love you guys!

We drove overnight & made it back to Eugene in 14 1/2 hours. The kids did really well & slept through most of the driving. It felt so great to get home. We drove straight to Kenton's parents house & dropped of the kids so we could go home & nap. :) Sleep never felt so good!

california, part 7: fun with lincoln (& his parents)

We stayed with sweet baby Lincoln & his parents, Melissa (my cousin) & Shaheen. :)

Finn absolutely loved to play with Lincoln & Cedar was interested too.

Cedar's smiling at his big brother but Lincoln is watching me carefully & keeping Cedar at an arm's length away. :P

We loaded up in the Barrett's Suburban & drove with Melissa & Shaheen to San Clemente, CA in search of Rainbow Sandals for Kenton & me. :) The babies rode next to each other with Melissa in the middle seat.

Finn & I rode in the back.

Sleepy babies.

Success! We joined the club & bought our first pairs of Rainbow Sandals. They've been all the rage in California for awhile now...we'll see if they live up to the hype. ;) So far, so good.

After shopping, we ate lunch & headed back to Melissa's house for naps. We ate dinner together, then drove to Pasadena with Kellie, Emily & Ryan to visit a game store & walk around downtown. I didn't end up taking photos, but we had a fun time & ate a yummy dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. So good!

california, part 6: the pool

Thank goodness for the Barrett's pool! We were so glad to have a place to cool off during Glendora's heat wave - over 100 degrees everyday! We had a couple of night swims too, which was so super exciting for Finn!

He was getting so brave after a few swims - jumping off the diving board to Kenton or to a floating ring. He even jumped to a ring without water wings on (with Mama very close by & Aunt Becca helping when he slipped too far forward & slid out!). :\ It's great to see him gaining confidence in the water over the course of one summer.

Fun with Uncle Erik & the pool vacuum.

The "Novemberists" with their water wings & rings! So much fun!

Cedar getting in some cuddle time with Uncle Keith & Aunt Carol.

Finn slept so well every day after swimming so hard. He loves the water!

The cousins
(minus Erik, Hannah & Eleanor)
Becca, Gretchen, Katrina, Melissa, Kellie, Emily, Natasha & Wyatt

Silly faces!

The husbands/boyfriends
Shaheen (Melissa's husband), Kenton, Josh, Aaron, Steve (Kellie's boyfriend), & Ryan (Emily's boyfriend)

Silly shot!

california, part 5: visiting oma

Before Erik & the Ruddicks had to head back home, we made a quick visit to see Oma (my dad's mom). She agreed to have all 4 of us siblings, our husbands & our 7 young children over for lunch - so sweet!

Cedar's first time meeting his great grandmother.

Oma with 7 of her great grandchildren!

Erik had all the kids entertained by a game on his iPhone. :)

Cohen & Finn are such good buds. They play so well together & can always be found laughing & joking about something silly. They really miss each other when they've been apart & talk about each other often! I love that Finn thinks of his cousins as his friends. :)

Cedar is always surrounded by a cousin or two (or more!). He managed to get both hands in his mouth, while smiling. :)

Thanks for the great visit, Oma! It was so nice to see you! We love you.

california, part 4: in-n-out

Sunday evening, we met up with my parents, siblings & the Barretts at In-N-Out! This was one of the three meals we ate there over the course of the week. We love In-N-Out & have to get our fill while we can. :)

My cousin Melissa had baby Lincoln 3 months before Cedar was born. It was fun to see them next to each other, occasionally noticing each other. :)

3 months apart, but Cedar's not much shorter than Lincoln. A little lighter though.

My mom with her sister, Nancy & their grandbabies. :)

All 7 grandchildren, together in California!
Griffin (2 1/2), Tyler (9), Cohen (3 1/2), Memaw, Cedar (almost 4 mos), Sadie (6), Ronan (5), Finn (2 1/2) & Papa

Silly faces with Mama!

Beautiful sunset (partially due to smog & smoke from wild fires) over the In-N-Out parking lot. :) Really, very lovely.

Note: I should have divided these posts by "days" instead of "parts". There are many more "parts" to come, since this is only day 3 of our 7 day vacation. :) But I can't leave anything out, it was such a great visit with the people we love! :) So stay tuned...I will get through these photos as soon as possible.

california, part 3: the beach

On Sunday, August 30th, we drove to Huntington Beach with the Chases, Ruddicks & my Aunt Carol, Uncle Keith, Natasha & Wyatt. This portable dvd player was such a life saver for the whole trip - Finn is so much more willing to go for long rides in the car if a movie is involved. :)

It was about 20 degrees cooler at the beach than in Glendora. Which meant 80's instead of over 100 degrees! It felt great to us!

Finn was a little concerned about getting sandy, but that didn't last long.

Aaron & Tyler worked hard to create a great castle with a huge wall surrounding it.

Finn helped Kenton dig holes & build piles. They definitely look related in this photo. :)

Aunt Carol never turned down a chance to cuddle Cedar. She rocked him to sleep & he slept so peacefully to the sound of the ocean waves.

We always try to make it to the beach when visiting our family in California. It's so different than the Oregon coast & it's so fun to be able to actually go in the water. Natasha, Josh & Wyatt spent most of the time surfing/boogie boarding. Everyone had a really great time!

Kenton allowed himself to be buried in the sand - crazy guy!

Ronan working hard to dig a huge hole!

Tyler hanging out.

The kids all loved the sand the best. None of them really wanted to play in the water, but I think they all got a little wet. Finn even got to go out with Dad & jump in the waves!

I love this shot - so much sand on poor Finn's face. He doesn't look to pleased, but was so excited to tell everyone about his experience at the beach!

california, part 2: the memorial

On Saturday, August 29th, we honored the memory of my Uncle Tom.

My mom shared some stories about what it was like to grow up with her brother. He was a musician & an artist, so they displayed his instruments on the stage & shared some of his artwork through a slide show & in the foyer. It was so nice to be able to see all of the photos of Tom, throughout the generations & I loved seeing photos of events that I remember. He was a funny guy & always made me feel loved. I will remember his sense of humor & cherish his love for art.

My dad played "Love is the Answer" by Todd Rudgren (a favorite song of Uncle Tom's) with Uncle Tom's friends & his friend's daughter.

Some of our cousins on my dad's side of the family came to the memorial too. Youngest to oldest: Erik, Katrina, Gretchen, Becca, Heather & Adrienne

After the memorial, we drove up to the place where we were planning to spread his ashes, but the gate was closed. Everyone parked on the side of the road & discussed the plan.

We ended up squeezing through the gate & walking to the bridge that my cousin Wyatt built for Eagle Scouts.

It was getting dark but I was able to get one clear shot of my mom, spreading her brother's ashes. Aunt Robin is kneeling below, Aunt Nancy standing behind, next to Aunt Conxita (in white; Uncle Tom's ex-wife) & Aunt Carol was next to Conxita. Each took a turn, then my dad & Tom's best friend Kevin took a turn, spreading a handful of ashes & saying some words. It was very emotional & I felt honored to be a part of something so special.

california, part 1: family bbq

We just returned from a week long visit to Southern California, for my Uncle Tom's memorial (who died in June). We decided to drive overnight to take advantage of sleeping children & made it down there on Friday, August 28th at about 7:30 am - 14 hours! We made good time & felt pretty energized after only a few short rests. On Friday evening, my Aunt Carol hosted a BBQ at their house so that we could all get together & visit.


A recurring theme throughout my pictures is Cedar being held by my extended family members. He's such an easy baby & seemed to enjoy the special attention he received. :)

Uncle Truls, Great Aunt Norrine, Great Aunt Sister Roberta, Aunt Nancy & Great Aunt Judy

Here's Cedar, being held by my mom's cousin Pam. He also has been chewing on his fingers constantly.

Cedar & Uncle Mike. Such a sweet, cuddly baby.

All of the cousins were gathered for the first time in about 2 years (on this night we were missing the Chases, who arrived the next day). We always have a great time together. Pictured above: Natasha, Ronan, Josh, Elle, Emily, Lincoln with Kellie, Melissa, & Shaheen.

colossal carnival

What a fun weekend! First the Fair, then the church carnival. Finn had a blast!

His favorite was the bouncy obstacle course.

The golf game was a little tricky, so he just picked up the golf ball & threw it towards the hole. :P

He did great on the baseball game though - even made it through one of the holes, without cheating. :) Needless to say, he didn't want to leave the carnival either!

sweet moments

There are so many sweet moments between my two boys. I was pleased to have captured some on this lazy morning.

Daddy & Finn playing legos.
It won't be long before they'll all be playing together!

One random photo of sweet Cedar in his church clothes. :) He had a little blow out at in the nursery, so I'm glad I got this photo before hand.

lane county fair

We got into the Fair for free with our Bi-Mart cards on Friday. It was an overcast morning, but ended up being sunny & warm by the time we left. We had gone to the Fair last year, but Finn was much younger & didn't remember. We had so much fun showing him all of the big rides like the Ferris Wheel & the Zipper + some new rides that go really high & super fast! He seemed so amazed & would have been fine with just watching other people go on rides. One of my favorite moments was when a man on stilts came up & shook Finn's hand. Afterward, he told us, "That guy was really tall!" I love to think that he really thought that guy was tall & had no idea that he was wearing stilts. ;) What a fun experience for our bright boy!

We met up with Gretchen, Josh & their boys to go on some rides! Finn's first experience on rides of any sort, so we were pretty amused by his huge grins & laughs!

Ronan & Griffin were on the motorcycle behind Finn. Ronan seemed to have a great time, but Griffin seemed quite shocked & a little concerned. :( He's a much more cautious, little boy than his older brother & cousin.

Griffin decided to pass on the canoe ride. This one cracks me up because it's slow & not too exciting, in my opinion. But I heard Ronan say, "This is really fun!" :)

Me & Kenton, waiting for the canoe to make a full circle. :)

Finn's final ride was the Dragon Wagon!

I was a little worried that he would get scared on this one, cause it's a bit faster & has a little dip + all the kids were screaming. But Finn just practiced his scream while in line & had a blast!

I had a hard time narrowing down my choice of photos from this ride because Finn had a huge smile in every shot! It was totally worth the $3 we paid for this ride to see him so happy!

And I have to include this one, for Ronan's expression alone. :)

We met up with the Greens for a quick visit & Amy took a photo of our group, minus Josh who had to go back to work after lunch.

We wrapped up our Fair experience with a walk through the farm animal exhibits. Finn & Griffin loved all the little baby animals - they're checking out the chicks here. :)

The whole walk back to the car & drive home, Finn repeated "I not want to leave the Fair" over & over. He had such a great time & was very excited to tell everyone about his fun. :) We will definitely be going again next year!

scandinavian festival

We dressed Finn in his cool, Finnish sweat shirt for our trip to the Scandinavian Festival. Suomi is Finland in Finnish. :) What a dude!

We went on Friday night (it was Swedish Day) for dinner with our friends Carolyn & Jesse.

Our little, wild thing!

We had yummy things to eat, looked for a sword for Finn (no luck), looked at some booths, saw a viking, & went home. That's pretty much what we do every year at the Scandi Fest...but we never miss it! :)

7 years!

On Monday, August 10th, Kenton & I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary!

Kenton's parents watched our kids so that we could go to dinner at Ring of Fire! We had a gift certificate & some gift money, so we felt like we could splurge & get dessert - Ruby Island! Yumm.

It was quite indulgent, considering how well we've been doing at only eating local produce this summer. The banana, pineapple & oranges were definitely not local! But marachino cherries were invented at OSU, so that has to count for something, right?!?

Anyway, it was a wonderful evening & a great chance to spend some alone time with my best friend. The past 7 years have been absolutely incredible & I love to look back to see how much we've done & how our lives have changed. We have two amazing little boys (I never thought I'd have 2 boys!) & a lovely home, near our family. It's been so fun to work together with Kenton to create a loving marriage & to raise 2 cool kids. I can't wait to see what the next 7 years will bring & feel so blessed that I get to do all of this with such a wonderful man! Thanks for a great 7 years, Love! It's been a dream. :)

old friends

We had a fun visit at the Ruddick's with Matt, Jessie, Cameron, Claire & Cadia, friends that were visiting from Iowa. Matt & Becca are birthday buddies (exactly the same age) & he's been a friend of the family for many years. It was fun to meet his kids & see our kids enjoying some fun play time together!

Cedar & Cadia are only about 2 weeks apart. He was zonked & couldn't be bothered for a photo op. :P

Ethan, Claire, Griffin & Macey having a snack at the counter.

Cameron & Ronan checking out Ronan's new drum machine.

All the kids! Between 6 couples we have 14 kids!
front: Macey, Emma & Ethan
back: Griffin, Cohen, Tyler, Ronan, Finn, Claire, Cadia, Sadie, Cedar, CJ & Cameron

A group shot.
It was so great to gather together & spend time catching up. Thanks for hosting, Ruddicks! And it was great to see you, Switzers! :)

happy birthday becca!

We celebrated the final summer birthday - Becca's! - in the Chase's lovely back yard. Aaron got a delicious cake from Sweet Life - oh so good!

The kids enjoyed one of Becca's new gifts - a snow cone maker! Yumm!

Aaron's mom, Lynn, brough a fresh blackberry cobbler too! So much yummy-ness. :) I had a little of both!

Kenton, Dave (Aaron's dad), Josh, Papa & Aaron, posing for a photo.

The birthday girl with her gifts, including some fun, new flowers to plant in her garden.

Our family went in on a hammock with the Ruddicks & my parents. Their backyard just keeps getting cooler! :)

another graduation

On Thursday, August 6th, we graduated another group of preschoolers - heading to kindergarten! We got a photo of us ladies while Matthew was running an errand...but never got a chance to get us all together. Whoops!
L-R: Becca, Tamy, Angie, Katrina & Jacque.

We had over 100 people (parents, kids, grandparents, siblings, friends) attend the graduation. We love to have a big celebration & it's always amazing to see how many people are excited to see their favorite preschooler graduate. :)

Kenton always comes to support me & this year he had our two boys too! Finn did a pretty good job through the ceremony but really just wanted to play on the playground & eat the pizza & cupcakes we were serving afterward. :) It was a great evening & we were all so thankful that we avoided the forecasted rain. Congratulations graduates! We can't wait to see what amazing things you will all do!

randomness

A couple photos of my big kid, looking quite handsome!

He got some cool new shoes from Finland & I've been having fun picking out clothes that work with them. :)

Posing with a granola bar. Finn always can get into a fighting position!

Big kid Henry!

In other news, one of my random, scraggly bushes in the backyard decided to bloom & identify itself!

I was so excited to discover that I have a hibiscus growing in my yard! It has purple & white flowers opening at the same time. It's also a specific breed that has blossoms that last for 3 days, instead of the typical one day. It's a little out of control, so I'll need to prune it to get it looking nice again. But I love the flowers!

Self-portrait, feeling tropical. :)

happy birthday dad!

Our little family tradition is to open presents as soon as we wake up! We just can't wait. :) So on Monday, August 3rd, we let Dad open his presents quickly before heading to work.

After work, Kenton & I dropped off the boys with his parents & went out to dinner at La Perla.

We love La Perla pizzas because they are the only ones around that actually taste like the pizza we had in Italy. So yummy! Only thing wrong was that we couldn't order Cokes - only Pepsi...so not authentically Italian. :P

My handsome husband.

After dinner, we gathered at Kenton's parent's house with the Hecht group & had dessert - cookies, of course! We also watched home videos of Kenton as a little boy. What a silly kid! :)

Finn loves birthdays!

All the kids love birthdays!

My parents were creative & "made" the haz-mat suit that Kenton had requested on his list - so he can crawl under our house & check things out without getting attacked by something scary. :)

Fancy shoes from his parents - he's been wanting these shoes for awhile now!

Cedar & Pappa - Cedar's outfit had to be modified after a blow-out, I'm sure.

Our family.
Not sure what Finn's hand gesture is supposed to mean. :\

The kids spent some time at the end of the evening rolling down the little hill in the backyard. Such a fun day! We love you, Kenton! So fun to celebrate you!

backyard: before & after

We've made a lot of progress in our backyard this summer & I wanted to look back & see what it was like when we bought our house. Here are some photos I wanted to share.

BEFORE:
Completely overgrown with blackberry bushes.

AFTER:
We attacked the blackberries, uncovered a lilac & shrub that were overtaken, pruned the giant photinia (on the right of the photos), planted a cedar tree from Kevin & Outi (in honor of Cedar's birth), dug out some flower beds & planted some new flowers. Our new fence sure makes a big difference, too!

BEFORE:
More overgrown blackberries, flower beds overgrown with grass & ugly dead grass on the lawn.

AFTER:
Cleaned up all the shrubs & beds; watered & fertilized the grass. Not perfect by any means, but such a huge improvement! Finn tells us often "I like our yard!" Can't beat that! :)

3 month portraits

A backyard photo shoot for our 3 month old Cedar. I have thoroughly enjoyed each stage that Cedar goes through. I am intentionally trying to appreciate each moment & not be so rushed to move on to the next stage. He's only little this one time & it's been so fun to experience babyhood again.

Even more fun to watch Finn get excited about each little grunt, cry, coo & smile. He loves his baby brother so much & always has a smile or sweet words for him. Cedar is so close to giving us a little laugh. He had great happy moments with ever-expanding "sentences" & complex coos. But he hasn't yet lost the ability to sleep among total chaos & falls asleep best while being rocked. He takes amazing afternoon naps next to me & will continue snoozing after I sneak out of bed. I have been spoiled with almost always getting both boys down for a nap at the same time (Finn hasn't given up napping yet & we're holding onto it for as long as possible). I do not take this for granted. It's so great to have that restful time, since I'm still up atleast once a night for feedings.

So there's a little glimpse into what Cedar is doing & what we're doing with Cedar at 3 months old! What a joy he is to our family!

all clean

All done with bath time, taking a little rest on Mama & Dad's bed. So clean & sweet & handsome...if I do say so myself. I love my boys!

a pirate party!

We celebrated Ronan's 5th birthday with a pirate party!

Pirate Playmobils for the birthday boy.

Josh worked super hard to finish a new play structure in the backyard before the party. It was SO close to being done by the time the party started. :) It was a huge hit - all of the kids were highly entertained!

My little pirate, dressed up with his party favors. Apparently, he chose the pirate name "Jolly Jolly" yesterday at my parent's house. :) So creative.

Finn was excited to dress up for the pirate party, so we pulled a little outfit together consisting of a bandana & a "sailor" shirt (that's really a Finnish shirt). :) So cool that Ronan provided the eye patch & earring.

Gretchen's lovely cake!

Ronan got a little shy when we sang "Happy Birthday" to him during his "kid party".

Finn loves birthday parties - he has a sweet tooth like his Dad! :)

Memaw & Papa's gift was super exciting. They filled a treasure chest with a pirate hat, treasure map, treasure &.....

Two "Gunners"! Memaw showed Finn the gunners the day before & they were all that he would talk about whenever we brought up Ronan's party. He couldn't wait to play with them. I tried really hard to prepare him for not getting a turn right away but I'm pretty sure all he heard was "Blah blah blah GUNNER blah blah GUNNER blah blah blah!" :)

He was pretty devistated when it was time to go home & he didn't get to take a gunner home. (Super hero Papa promised to take him on a special trip to get a gunner of his own, so there was still hope for "Jolly Jolly")

Sweet Cedar hardly ever makes a fuss. We were at the Ruddicks for 5 hours, celebrating Ronan, & Cedar did a great job. What a trooper!

Birthday cake for the "family party"

Kenton wore a matching shirt & a bandana too...but it was pretty hot so the bandana didn't last.

Amazing lighting during sunset. Sweet Cedar fell asleep sitting on my lap...no rocking necessary this time. I love having him in my family. :)

Happy Birthday Ronan! What great fun we all had at your Pirate Party!

new haircut

I buzzed Finn's hair last Wednesday. He looks so strange! It's been weird getting used to it, but I like it. He looks like a big kid, for sure!

Also, we started potty training two days later, so that really makes him seem older. He's doing really well & only has occasional accidents. We're still at the point of reminding him to go all the time cause we don't quite trust him to tell us. He's picking it up though & it seems like he's getting it. So exciting!

oakway park

We met up with the Green's at Mucho Gusto to pick up food & then took it over to Oakway Park, so the kids could play after eating. During the summer, whoever is in town from our Bible study group has been meeting up to hang out. This week it was just our two families. It was a pretty warm day...but nothing in comparison to what was to come - a week of 90-100+ degree days! Ick! :)


Cedar's first ride in a swing. It was a very slow ride. :)

Emma trying to crawl without touching her knees to the pavement.

Macey & Finn - both spent a lot of time climbing through the tunnel, up to the tallest part of the structure. :)

Finn!

Ethan working hard to fill his bucket with water. What a fun park!

happy birthday katrina :)

On my birthday, Kenton took my on a date to El Toritos. My parents watched the kids so that we could go to the Cantina for Happy Hour & enjoy a relaxing dinner.

We used to go to El Toritos all the time before having kids, so it was a nice treat to go again.

I love their chips & salsa! I was careful not to spill anything on my new dress from Finland - thank you Kevin & Outi!

We had fun ordering 4 different appetizers for dinner - half price! What a deal! :)

After dinner, we invited everyone over to our house for dessert. Becca made a special ice cream cake with lots of yummy, chocolately goodness + espresso. It was SO tasty!

Mama & Cedar

Aaron & Cohen. I think it's funny that Cohen was ready with his mouth open for that bite, but Aaron took it himself. :)

With my mom & sisters

Everyone gathered around to watch my open gifts. Notice the fence in the background - in the process of being built. Our neighbors replaced their fence, so we got a portion of our fence replaced for free! It's all done now & looks so nice!

Sleepy Cedar with Aunt Becca & his usual groupies of cousins + Finn. :)

happy birthday sadie!

We celebrated Sadie's 6th birthday on July 18th! She had a fun craft station set up & Finn chose to paint a little plastic snake (actually a snail) light-catcher thing. :) He did a great job & didn't want to be done...but there was more fun to be had!

Sadie, the birthday girl, painting so very carefully.

Ronan was pro at climbing the cherry tree...I supposed it used to be his tree (the Chases bought the Ruddicks old house).

A pinata!

All the kids got a turn taking a shot at the pinata.

Waiting patiently with candy bags in hand.

Score! With a little help from Aaron, the candy was scattered. :)

Sadie & Cedar

With Papa & Memaw

11 weeks old!

Big cousin Tyler is always excited to hold Cedar. He's usually the first one to ask for him once he wakes up. :) He does really well with Cedar too & is always able to get some sweet smiles.

the boys

Cedar at 10 weeks - sweet smile. :)

On July 10th, we watched Ronan & Griffin so that Josh & Gretchen could go on a date for their 10th anniversary.

Those boys had a great time! Finn & Ronan started the night with a little light saber action!

Dinner time

We spent most of the time playing outside. Kenton kept all 3 busy with swords of all sorts + some paper airplanes.

Cedar & I spent some time laying on a blanket. This is a funny angle - I was on my back with Cedar resting on my shins. I love to see his sweet expressions.

Don't forget a little bit of tree climbing!

What a good time we all had with the Ruddick boys!

last group with the millers

On Tuesday, we met as a group for the last time with the Millers; Sandy, Nicole & Addi are moving to Walla Walla, Washington. :(

Sweet Addi in the swing

We've known the Millers for 5 years & have been meeting as a small group for about 4 1/2 of those years.

Macey on the slide

Finn kept asking me to take a picture of him jumping. :)

Emma, Addi & Nicole

Nicole & Addi

We made an attempt at getting a photo of all the kids. Not too bad for a photo of 6 kids 2 1/2 & younger. :)
Emma, Ethan, Addi, Cedar, Finn, & Macey

It got a little chaotic but we had to get one last photo. :)

Our group
Greens, Millers, Gibsons & Henrys :)

The two-year-olds piled into the same car. :P

We're going to miss the Millers so much! It's going to be so strange not to see them every week on Tuesday evenings & Sunday mornings. We're excited for the adventure that awaits them in Washington...but we're sad to see them go. :(

smile

Cedar's sweet smile has been warming our hearts! He is such a happy baby. It's so great to hear his sweet voice. He gets so excited when we talk to him. His eyes light up & you can see the wheels turning as he tries to say something back to us. We're hearing lots of oohs, goos & squeals & we can tell he's trying to figure out how to imitate us when we click our tongues or blow "raspberries." He's 9 1/2 weeks old now & has teased me with one 8 1/2 hour stretch at night. I know he can do it now & am so ready for him to sleep that long every night (especially since I started back to work this week)! It'll happen soon enough... :) But for now, I'll take what I can get & enjoy every sweet smile & coo!

independence day

Red White & Blue
Cedar was also wearing blue but he was sleeping. :)

We spent the evening with Uncle Brian, Carolyn & Jesse & their friends, Brian & Helen. We swam in the pool, barbequed shish-kabobs & walked to Alton Baker Park to watch their fireworks show.

We only bought a handful of sparklers because we knew lots of people would be lighting their own fireworks at the park.

Finn was very into using the sparklers as "lightning" swords!

Fighting Dad!

My parents met up with us to watch the show. Cedar woke up just in time for some cuddles before the fireworks started.

Finn was very patient, letting Kenton light each sparkler & he handled the duds really well too. :)

Papa & Cedar

Two at a time!

It's getting darker! Almost time for the show to start. It didn't actually start until about 10 pm! It takes so long for it to get dark enough in Oregon.

Carolyn, Jesse & Kenton had fun messing around with the settings on our camera during the show. Not sure who took these photos, but they turned out pretty cool.

The show lasted for a lot longer than we expected. It was great! We were all pretty tired but Finn had skipped his nap & was kind of out of control. He had a really hard time sitting still but he loved the fireworks. He & Cedar both stayed awake during the show but they fell asleep in the stroller on the walk back to our car.

july 3rd

On Friday, we went swimming at Carolyn & Jesse's pool for the first time this summer. We will definitely be using their pool as much as possible. It felt so great on that hot day! Not the best photo of Cedar's face, but I was so excited to dress him in his swimming "outfit". I flipped the front of his hat up so he could see & Finn said "Cedar's a pirate!" :P

I was so impressed with how well Finn did in the pool. He was practically swimming by himself & only asked for help a couple of times. He kept his head above the water & had a great time jumping in to Carolyn or Kenton, over & over again. It was great to see how independent he can be in the water...he's only going to get better. What fun we'll have this summer! :)

300th post!

Man, I love this kid!
Hope everyone had a great Independence Day.
More photos to come...I'm off to bed!

climbing a mountain

We told Finn that we were going to climb a mountain. It's actually a Spencer's Butte (not technically a mountain), but who cares? :)

Ready for an adventure!

We each had a kid strapped to us.

My kid was a little sleepy.

Kenton's kid was ready for action! He walked for a small stretch of the trail until he tripped on a rock & scraped his knee. :\ But he still had a good attitude & talked to everyone we ran into on the trail (telling them all about going to the "music theater" - movie theater).

We made it to the top - sweaty, out of breath & hungry. This squirrel was SO brave & came right up to us. In fact, he took a bite of Finn's sandwich while Finn was holding it! We both had looked away for a moment & turned around to see Finn feeding the squirrel - eeek! :P We had to shoo him away.

At the top

Dad with his boys

Mama with her boys

Beautiful view

Quick poopy diaper change before heading back down. :\

In the cover of green leaves - such pretty lighting.

Almost everyone who we passed seemed surprised to see such a little baby on the trail. He was a great little hiker & hardly made a peep the whole way up & down.

We were pretty warn out but it felt great to hike. It's only going to get harder while the kids keep getting bigger...until they're big enough to hike on their own, I suppose. The second Kenton let go of Finn's hand at the bottom, he fell & scraped his other knee. :( Bummer. But he fell asleep on the way home & took a nice long nap - Mama napped too.

We woke up & tried to enjoy the sprinkler & kiddie pool on this crazy 90+ degree day. Kenton & Finn had a great battle with the hose & squirt guns. Ahhh...gotta love Summer time!

2 months old

Wednesday, July 1st was Cedar's 2 month "birthday" & we had his 2 month check-up with Dr. Miller. I was so prepared to hear that he was a lot bigger than Finn had been at this age, but turns out he only weighs 6 oz more than Finn did. Cedar is 12 lbs 13 oz (77th %-ile) & 23 1/2 (73rd %-ile) inches, his head circumference is only in the 50th %-ile. So he's a little bigger than other 2 month olds, but just by a little bit. :P It was so sad to see him get his shots, but he handled them really well & wasn't even particularly grumpy afterwards.

While Cedar & I were at the doctor's office, Kenton & Finn went to see "Monsters Vs. Aliens" at the cheap theater. Finn was quiet for the whole movie & has been very excited to tell me all about the characters. In fact, he will tell anyone who will listen - including strangers walking down the street. :P

We stopped by to see Uncle Brian yesterday evening. Cedar was doing pretty well staying propped up.

He seemed to enjoy his new view of the world.

Then he very slowly slid into this position. I only snapped a couple photos before helping him up. He seemed completely unphased. What a good sport! :)

Later that night, we dressed the boys in their first matching outfit - Robot Jammies!

Pretty much the same photo as the one above, but I really noticed in this one how much Cedar looks like pictures of Baby Uncle Erik. Anyone else see a resemblance? The blond hair really helps. I remember Finn going through a stage a looking a little like Uncle Erik. :)

Sweet brothers.

day 4

On the 4th day of our stay-cation (is that word annoying anyone else yet?), we started off the morning at the library for preschool story time! But I didn't get any pictures cause I was self conscious. Finn was pretty shy - more so than I expected. He didn't sing along with the songs or get up & dance along with the class. But he's been talking about it a lot ever since, so I know he had a good time.

After story time, we walked over to the Farmer's Market. Ever since reading this, I've been really into supporting our local farmers! :)

We've managed to hit the Market every week for the last month - which is way better than we've ever done before. Plus, I've prepared broccoli & green beans for Kenton in a way that he actually enjoys! Yay for more vegetables in the house! We've been enjoying strawberries for the last month too - so tasty.

We met up with Stu & Jacque at a new burger place called Dickey Jo's! They compared the burgers to In-N-Out so we had to check it out.

We were quite pleased! :P

Finn had the best PBJ ever, on homemade bread.

The burgers were very tasty, but a bit more spendy than In-N-Out. I guess you have to pay the big bucks up here to get a taste of SoCal. :P It was worth it, but Kenton called it a "sometimes food." Probably smart to only eat burgers & fries sometimes, anyway. :)

duck pond

On Monday (stay-cation day 3), we went to see the ducks. We decided that we weren't going to feed the ducks because, for one, we heard it's illegal. For two, it gets a little crazy with a small child. Besides, there were mostly geese - not so many ducks. And geese are BIG! :)


Self-timed family portrait.

We walked around the park to check out the different bridges. Finn was really good at watching where he was walking to avoid the duck/goose poop - it's everywhere!

"Hi duck!"

In the middle of the pond there is an island. We found lots of ducks & geese sitting on their nests & one little group of baby ducks. Very cute. Finn posed so nicely for me in the middle of this circle-art-thing...or as Kenton calls it, a sun monolith. :P

Walking with Dad

We walked onto the pedestrian bridge to show Finn the river. As usual, Cedar snoozed in his car seat through the whole park adventure. Maybe next summer he'll be a little more excited about the ducks. :P

day 2

I just love this outfit. It makes Cedar look like a baby from the 1940's or something. :) I realized he was nearly too big for it & I really wanted to get at least one use out of it. Sunday was the perfect opportunity, since it was a gift from one of the ladies at church.

Sweet smile.

After church, we went to a BBQ hosted by one of the families from my class in honor of us teachers. :) It was really fun to see Finn interacting with my students - he's getting to be such a social little boy & I love to watch him play with other kids. He had a good time with one of the older sisters, who was helping him shoot baskets. We had a lot of fun & I felt so comfortable I hanging out with the kids & parents from our class on a social level. :) We've got great families this year - I'm really going to miss our transitioning kids/parents!

goodbye millers

Yesterday, Jon & Amy hosted a Goodbye party for Sandy, Nicole & Addi. Lots of people came to show their love for the Millers. It was a great day for playing outside & the kids had a great time together.

Amy, Emma (9 months), Katrina, Cedar (8 weeks), Nicole & Addi (1 year)
(We all had a baby within the last year)
We pretty much just hung out & pretended that they really aren't going anywhere. :) Sandy & Nicole have been in Eugene for almost exactly 5 years & we've been friends with them for almost that whole time. We've been in a small group together for at least 4 1/2 years & have gone from a group of married people without kids to a group of married people with 6 kids!

Finn, Macey & Ethan playing in the sand box.

Cute family - Sandy, Addi & Nicole
We're going to miss them SO much!

Sweet Addi (& a cute family portrait with Sandy in the background)!
She's changed so much in the last year...I can't imagine how quickly she will change after they move away. Thank goodness for blogland! :)

Carolyn with Cedar.
Gotta include a shot of the baby. ;)

"stay-cation" - day 1

Inspired by this, we decided to have a "stay-cation" (instead of a vacation) this week because Kenton is off work (& I'm only a little jealous that everyone in our extended family has been or is going on fun plane trips, over seas this June/July). ;) So on Day 1 of our stay-cation, Finn chose to go out to Ice Cream! Yumm! He got a strawberry ice cream cone!

Kenton called Uncle Brian & invited him to meet us. So, he was there...but I didn't get a good photo of him. Sorry Brian - it was fun eating ice cream with you, though! :) Cedar was there too but he didn't eat any ice cream. He just slept. Surprising, I know. :P

Finn had to choose between going to ice cream or going to the duck pond. But after finishing his ice cream he declared that he didn't want ice cream...he wanted to see the ducks. Bummer. :\ I'm pretty sure he enjoyed his pink ice cream, we'll just keep working on making choices.

Stay tuned for more fun adventures with our little Henry family!