on my own

Kenton flew down to San Francisco to hang out with some of his high school friends from Friday afternoon to Monday afternoon. So, I enlisted my family to help keep us entertained & me sane. ;)

After work on Friday, I met my mom at Aaron's parent's house to pick blueberries. I caught a sweet photo of the boys taking a snack break while I picked as fast as I could. :)

Good thing I had my mom helping me pick/watch the kids. Every chance he had, Cedar was off getting into trouble. ;)

I had to keep chasing him around & was reminded why it might be a good idea to pick berries without my kids in tow. But thankfully, my mom donated the berries she picked to my stash & I ended up with 3 large-ish bowls. Thanks Mom!

Finn managed to stay out of too much trouble & even picked some weeds out of Lynn's flower beds. :)

On Saturday, we met up with the Chases & my parents at Alton Baker park to attend the Bite of Eugene. Finn got brave & had a blast in the bounce castle after we'd eaten some yummy food from local restaurants.

Cedar watching the bouncers

The bee lady was handing out free honey sticks - ours were pink lemonade flavored! Cedar ate most of mine. :)

Finn with the weird Bite of Eugene mascot & his balloon sword.

We walked to see the ducks in the pond before leaving.

Checking out the island.

We went home for Cedar's nap & invited the Chases over to swim in our pools. The temperature was in the mid 90's & we were hot!

The kids took full advantage of the pool & even made the slide into a water slide. By the end, the pool was more than 1/2 empty & the grass was a bit swampy, but everyone enjoyed themselves.

The Henrys invited us over for dinner & it was nice to relax for a bit without having to prepare a meal. :) We also were able to go to my parent's house after church on Sunday for lunch & Cedar's nap. I definitely don't think I would have stayed sane without the help. I'm so thankful that our families live so close! And I am very thankful to have Kenton home. The boys did great & were very nice to me, but nothing beats having another set of hands & an extra fun playmate/supportive husband around! :)

happy birthday to me

I got to open gifts from my guys before going to work...we just have too hard of a time waiting around here. Finn was so excited for my birthday. It was very sweet. He was almost as excited as I was! ;)

In fact, he spilled the beans the night before by whispering, "We got you garden shoes!" while Kenton was out of sight. :P I told him not to tell me what gifts they got for me & he said, "Don't tell Dad!" Stinker! I told Kenton anyway & I still had to wait until the morning to open my garden shoes!

They also gave me a fancy running watch that measures my heart rate & distance & such. It's quite complicated & will take me awhile to figure out, but it's cool. Kenton's motivated to help me learn to use it, so that will be great. Now I just have to keep up the jogging! :)

Carolyn was filling in with child care while Kenton's parents were in Finland & she offered to stay later so that I could go to lunch with Kenton. We ate at Sweet Basil, because I'm always jealous when Kenton goes there for lunch. It was very tasty & close to the Farmer's Market...we picked up some strawberries for my birthday dessert.

I went home for the afternoon, then took the boys to my parent's house so that Kenton & I could go to dinner. No cooking for me, on my birthday! ;)

We ate at Cafe Zenon & really enjoyed our meal.

Kenton decided to be brave & order a bottle of wine (their wine bottles are half off on Tuesdays!). We've never ordered a bottle of wine at a restaurant before, so we were quite thrown off by the little ceremony that followed. Kenton didn't know that he was supposed to taste the wine while the waiter was still there...so we felt like big dorks, but whatever! It was tasty wine.

I even drank a glass & I never drink wine! :)

After dinner, we met my family along with Carolyn & Jesse for dessert at our house - strawberry shortcake, of course! Kenton made the cakes & whipped cream & Finn helped me cut up the strawberries.

He also helped me blow out the candles - a "2" + 9 candles = 29! Eek!

Cedar made the rounds & helped everyone eat their dessert!

My audience for the opening of gifts. :P

Such lovely gifts: flowers, pretty clothes, garden cart, garden table...

...garden hat, a rooster tray
(in honor of Stella: our hen that turned out to be a rooster, whom we then ate) :\
I felt very spoiled!

I loved spending my birthday with family & friends. At the end of the day, Finn said, "I love Mama's birthday!" I have such sweet boys.

in the garden

The veggies have been loving the warmer weather!

My pumpkin seems to be doing the best, of the squash type vegetables...though I haven't seen any actual pumpkins forming yet. I've been training the vines to wrap in a circle, to keep it from over taking the lettuce before it's done. Not sure if that's ok, but I suppose I'll find out. The pitiful melon is growing (top left), though much slower. I seem to have trouble with squash/melon/cucumbers.

For example: my two tiny cucumbers have hardly grown since they sprouted! They keep changing from yellow to crispy. I can't get the watering correct. I finally planted some new seeds & those have sprouted. What did I do wrong with the first ones?? So strange!

But our tomatoes are giving us hope! We were so excited to find several tiny Brandywine tomatoes forming! Can't wait for those...

This is the only tomato plant that I started from seed that has shown any promise. It is still tiny, but is finally growing in its own pot of soil from our compost pile. I think I'll try seeds again next year, but will make sure I grow them in a warmer spot than the garage. Hopefully, I'll have more luck with starting my own tomatoes next year...

Lots of green beans too! Finn loves helping my find the long ones. He even ate some! He's been doing so well with eating all of the vegetables we've grown in our garden. Yay!

And for a touch of color, the dahlias are blooming!

More dahlias. Love them!


***Check out An Oregon Cottage for more garden inspiration!***

sadie's 7th birthday

We celebrated Sadie's 7th birthday at the National Academy of Artistic Gymnastics!

Cedar was just mobile enough to enjoy some of the equipment!

Some of the kids participating in an obstacle course.

Finn found his own obstacle course!

Cedar loved the trampoline. When Kenton stopped bouncing him, Cedar started flopping his body around like a fish out of water to keep the bouncing going. So funny!

Sadie's cake request - white cake!

Sweaty boy.

Birthday girl!

Reading our card.

A summer dress!

Sweet preschoolers, watching Sadie open her gifts.

Griffin running towards the big foam pad!

Cedar's turn!

Finn's big jump!

Kenton freaking me (& probably Mummi) out! ;) Cedar held on tight & Kenton didn't let him drop. Not funny, though! :P

Our boys were so tired after the party - such fun! Thanks for inviting us Sadie. Hope you had a great birthday!

visit from the millers!

Our dear friends Sandy, Nicole & Adalie came down to Eugene for a visit. We got to host a bbq lunch on Saturday, July 17th with the Greens & Gibsons, too- so much fun!

Sandy & Addi

Emma watching Finn enjoy his cookie.

All the kids - we started our small group without any kids...now look at them! ;)
Finn, Cedar, Macey, Ethan, Emma & Adalie

The big kids enjoying the (freezing) bigger pool!

Cedar

The blondies playing together

Goofy face!

The whole group!
We've missed the Millers so much & it was so great to spend the afternoon with them! :)