Wednesday, July 18, 2012

finley's preschool graduation

 On Tuesday, June 12th, Finley Stoerman Henry graduated from Grace Community Preschool!  What a big kid!


 GCP's co-director, Miss Debby, did a wonderful job running the ceremony.  :)  We love her!


 Finley's class was the last of 3 classes to be given their diplomas, so he was on stage the whole time.


 We joked that this was probably the hardest thing Finley has ever had to do!


 Caught a smile!


 Time for the graduates in Finley's class
Victoria, Haley, Finley, Macey, Tayden...


 Griffin, Ethan, Xavier (with his back to us) & Bailey (cut in half).  Great photos, I know!  :\  In the middle of the year, two kids in Finn's class had to move away: Corey & Gaby.  :(


 Sitting big, making us proud!


 Getting a little antsy...


 Uh, oh...bending over...


 ...making silly faces...


 ...screaming silently!  Eeks, he was losing his patience!  :P


 Finally, Finley's turn! 
Miss Janelle said, "Finn has a heart of gold.  If someone is sad he's always the first one to console, he's always the first concerned & to notice."  She asked him what his favorite parts of the school year were & he said the talent show & learning how to read!


 Flowers from Mama & Dad!  We're so proud of you Finley!  You have blown us away with your mental math skills (calculating age differences between your parents & grandparents without skipping a beat - I can't even do that math as quickly as you!) & your interest in reading.  You work hard at sounding out words & you've got a great memory for words you've already learned.  We are super excited that you get to experience a Spanish Immersion education! If you ask us, we think you would've been a little bored in a regular kindergarten.  ;)  We hope you enjoy the challenge of learned Spanish & we hope your desire to learn a secret language (that your parents don't know) works out for you!  :P


 Our family.


 The fans!
Jesse, Carolyn & Alma


 The grandparents!


 Cousin Griffin!


 These two got to be in class together for both years of preschool & next year they get to be in the same kindergarten class!  What lucky cousins!


 After the graduation, we went to Dairy Queen with the Greens to celebrate!
Ethan, Finley, Macey, Emma & Cedar


 All the kids enjoyed a dilly bar.


 I don't want to forget that several weeks later, we were at Dairy Queen at the coast & Finley requested a butterscotch dilly dog!  :P  I just thought that was sweet that he remembered enjoying his dilly bar on this night...and that he couldn't quite get the name right, but tried anyway.  Dilly dog is a great name for  an ice cream treat!  :)


Yumm yumm...

home tours

 Aunt Nancy (Mom's sister) & Uncle Mike had not been to our house yet (or my sisters' houses), so they made a special visit down from Portland (where they were staying) to see all of our homes.


 Our home is pretty small but we love our big backyard, especially in the Summer when it's nice outside!


 Aunt Carol (another one of Mom's sisters) & Uncle Keith hadn't seen our homes either, so they made sure to get in on the quick tours.


 Sadie is always helpful in entertaining Cedar!


 Ronan got in some baseball practice with Cedar's tee ball set!


Katrina, Becca, Janice, Nancy, Carol & Gretchen

Thank you so much for making the time to visit our homes in Eugene.  It was fun to show you all around a bit!  :)

hannah's graduation party

 On the evening on June 9th, we went to a high school graduation party for my cousin Hannah (on the right, in the white dress)!
(photo borrowed from Gretchen)


I didn't take very many photos, but it was a lot of fun & they did a great job decorating!


 The kids spent a lot of time jumping on the trampoline.


 Aunt Robin & Uncle Truls set up tables in the alley way behind their house & it was really cool!  We had a lot of family come up from Southern California (some of them for the first time in 10 years!), so we were super excited to spend time with all of them.  Erik came down from Seattle & his girlfriend, Julia, lives in Portland, so she was able to come too!


 Taking turns supervising the kids on the trampoline.


 Yummy mexican food!


 The cute alley.  Someday, I will get better at taking photos of people, not just the surroundings at parties.  :\

omsi

 On Saturday, June 9th, we met up with the Chases at OMSI for a quick visit before heading to our cousin, Hannah's, graduation party.


 This was the first time to OMSI for Kenton, Finley & Cedar!


 I hadn't been for many, many years...maybe not since 8th grade??


 Testing their grip strength!


 All the organs in the human body.


 Cohen might be cheating a bit during those wall sits.  ;)


 Cedar was a good sport, but he was getting a little tired of the older kid exhibits.


 Luckily there was an area just for kids his age!


 Checking out the store.


 Another room to explore!  OMSI is SO big!


 Shooting a puff of fog at Finn!


 Cohen & Cedar watching balls fall through pegs.


 Brain teasers!


Electrified Finley!  It made tiny pie tins fly off of his head!

alma's baptism

 On Saturday, June 2nd, we went to Debby & Steve's house (Carolyn's mom & stepdad) for a prebaptism day dinner.  Carolyn's sister Jen has two boys that are really close to our boys' ages & we thought it'd be a great time to play & get to know each other again.


Logan (3), Drew (5), Cedar (3) & Finley (5.5)

 The next day was Alma's baptism & we were asked to be Alma's Godparents!


 Father Bingham baptized Alma.


 Our whole family was invited up front to be a part of the ceremony.


 Alma did great & didn't make a peep!


 After the church service, Carolyn & Jesse hosted a luncheon.


 Yummy sandwich bar.


 The cake!


 I painted a sign for Alma & we gave her a board book of Bible stories.


 The letter "A" made out of buttons from my mom.  :)


A close up of the sign & the Bible verse: our prayer for our sweet God Daughter, Alma West.  We love you, Alma!