12 months old

After multiple stressful experiences at the "professional" photographer, we have decided not to go back for Cedar's 12 month portraits. I'm willing to take his portraits, it's just difficult to make it happen when life is busy (always). So I'm guessing Cedar's 12 month portraits are a work in progress (especially since he's technically 13 months), meaning I will take some here & there as I see the opportunity arise. :) That being said, here are some recent favorites. :)

Sweet profile.

So proud of himself - I think he knows he's doing something "dangerous" :)

portland family

On Saturday, June 5th, the Neals came down from Portland to visit & celebrate Spring birthdays.

We all gathered at our house so that they could see our garden & chickens. :)

My cute parents. :)

Sadie is always drawn to Cedar - & he loves her too!

Cool hair, Finn.
The boys all played in the water table & got soaked. They all dipped their heads in the water. :P

Mama & Finn

The girl cousins
Elle, Hannah, Katrina, Gretchen, & Becca
Elle was getting ready to graduate from 8th grade!

The whole group

We all went to my parents' house for bbq beef sandwiches afterward (except for the Ruddicks). Memaw, Cedar & Tyler got to open gifts for their birthdays. Thanks for coming down Neals! We had a great time. :)

walk the diamond

Every year, the Early Education Program throws a walk-a-thon fundraiser. This year, we moved our Walk the Diamond event from Civic Stadium to the Babe Ruth Complex. Every classroom brings fun activities for the kids to do & we walk around the baseball diamond.

It threatened to rain all morning, but it held off until after lunch. It did end up sprinkling on the afternoon group, but I was gone by then. ;)

Our group brought a ball pit & magnet toys, covered by tents. We were prepared. :)

Matthew got the honor of dressing up like Twiggle the Turtle: a character from our curriculum. He was a good sport & the kids LOVED seeing him. :)

Our morning team:
Jacque, Becca, Matthew, Katrina, Cliff (our student teacher from the UofO), Tamy

tracktown throwdown

On Saturday, Kenton ran his third (almost annual) Tracktown Throwdown Heroscape tournament. Tyler was the youngest player & I think the age range went up to 50.

24 people participated & some people drove down from Portland & Vancouver.

Carolyn, Jacque & I helped things run smoothly & sold snacks! :)

Carolyn actually played a couple of rounds because there ended up being an odd number for a while. So Jacque & I cheered her on! Yay, Carolyn! :)

One more shot of the ladies...we had a lot of time to kill. :)

I helped everyone score up their games & wrote them up on the white board in between rounds. It was a pretty important job...or at least, I thought so. ;)

Everyone brought a Heroscape related item for the prize table & Kenton got some local & online stores to donate gift certificates.

The top player chose first & so on, plus the top three players ended up getting to choose 2 prizes.

The lovely assistants.

In the end, there was an extra prize, so they all rolled a 2o sided die to see who'd win it...in true nerd fashion (tee hee)!

The biggest nerd of them all rolled a 20 & won the final prize! (Just kidding, Jon) :P It was a lot of fun & everyone was really nice. They were all good sports, which makes it so much fun to help out. :)

tyler's concert

On Monday evening, our family attended Tyler's choir concert. Tyler did a great job & I was super impressed with how interested my boys were. Finn & Cedar just stared at their cousin & listened intently the entire time. Cedar joined in for some clapping occasionally. :)

Tyler (in between the two heads)

After the show. Cedar sure loves his biggest cousin. :)

riverplay

Last Saturday, we visited RiverPlay park for the first time this year, with Carolyn & Jesse.

Slightly different smile than the previous photo. He's just too cute, I couldn't decide. ;)

Finn was off exploring the second we got out of the car. He really enjoys this park & is getting more brave all the time!

Cedar liked playing silly games with me & the camera more than he actually liked swinging.

You can barely see his top two teeth poking out. They finally came a week or so after his first birthday. Finally! Now it looks like he might be getting two more on top. He's enjoying his new found ability to chew things up a bit more. :)

No pictures of the grown-ups, of course. But we did enjoy some tasty treats at Sweet Life, after the park. We just can't go to RiverPlay without visiting Sweet Life! :P

mom's birthday

For Mom's birthday, the girls went & got pedicures in the middle of the afternoon. :) Mom had given us daughters gift certificates to City Nails & Spa for Mother's Day. So we all enjoyed a break in our day to be pampered!


Mom & me
(Notice my new hair cut - bangs & 3 inches shorter)

Gretchen sat a little bit away from us

Me & Becca

Our lovely toes

So much fun!

After my pedicure, I got a call from Kenton that he had cut his finger with a razor blade at work. So after I picked up the boys, I picked up Kenton & we spent about an hour in Urgent Care. He got 3 stitches - we think. He didn't watch & still ended up fainting for a moment. :(

We ate a quick dinner from DQ & still managed to make it to Memaw's birthday celebration at the Ruddick's house.

Gifts for Memaw - we got her a hibiscus tree for inside their house.

The cake was delicious & we ate it while watching Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

wild, wild west dinner & silent auction

Kenton & I borrowed from family & friends but managed to pull together some "western wear" for the high schooler's fundraiser at our church.

We spent the first hour browsing the silent auction items & enjoying fruity drinks. We ended up winning some hand crocheted wash cloths! :)

My parents were there, too!


Gretchen & Josh were helping out - making drinks & managing the sounds system.

Our table was very nicely decorated & we enjoyed our dinner - pulled pork sandwiches, cole slaw, beans & apple crisp for dessert. The high schoolers performed a talent show for us & we were really impressed. It was great to see some of our former middle schoolers dancing & singing. :)