Shawn, I need new shoes!

I guess I need to buy some new shoes...mine seem to be borrowed!

My heroes

We have a couple things that are found rampantly in our yard. One of them is blackberries, and September is the perfect time to pick blackberries. The other is ants. So, Jada and Brayden decided to build some new homes for the ants and show them how to get there with a path of blackberries. Of coarse, they had a couple for themselves. It is hard work helping out ants!

1st day of school

This is the first year that the girls get to go to the same school and they were totally thrilled about it! Kailey is starting 3rd grade and is most excited about learning cursive.

Jada is starting all day Kindergarten and was a little nervous about the whole thing but seems to be adjusting very well.Brayden is going to a preschool that is a working farm. They have horses, chickens, goats, sheep, bunnies, cats, hamsters and a pot bellied pig. Brayden helps feed and take care of them as well as tending the garden. He loves it! What will I do with all my extra time....(tongue in cheek)?

5 things I learned camping

Our good friends the Kunos invited us up to their family property in the Mt. Baker National Forest. It is a beautiful 20 acres that Shawn and I used to spend a lot of time at before we had kids. But, it is just forest, and I learned a couple things on this trip.

#1. If you go camping with four kids, you definitely want to go to a campsite...with bathrooms and running water. The bathroom part is pretty self-explanatory, let's just say we were digging a lot of holes. And the only running water we had was this one that the kids were playing in.#2. Kids love a rope swing#3. You can catch Salmon without a fishing rod. However, spawning salmon don't taste that great.

#4. I will never go camping with Ethan until he learns to sleep through the night and in his own bed. Mummy sleeping bags were not meant to be shared. 3 hours of sleep doesn't cut it for this momma!

#5. It is always fun to have good friends around to share the memories!

Yeah mon!

For our 11 year anniversary, we decided to go cruisin around the Bahamas with some good friends, the Jamisons and the Wells. Many years ago, we had talked about going on a cruise for our 10th anniversary because all of us have anniversaries in August. Well, I spoiled it last year because I had a 4 month old baby, so this year we made it happen! The men decided that they were going to grow mustaches (much to the dismay of the women) but Shawn decided to buy one instead...security made him take it off though!So we dined...and shopped...and combed the beaches...and kissed...and of course, I was sick the entire time!

C'est la vie!

Tonsils and Adenoids

Both Brayden and Ethan need surgery so being the efficient mom that I am, I brilliantly scheduled both surgeries for the same day. Brayden was having his ear tube and tonsils removed and Ethan had ear tubes inserted and adenoids removed. Here they are, the happy before shots...

And the drugged up after shots
The funny thing was, Brayden had had the exact same surgery as Ethan at the exact same age: 16 months and 2 days. How is that for unusual! So, just for fun, I threw in a picture of Brayden from his first surgery ;>

Looking back, I forgot how sick he looked back then! He is so healthy looking now!

Franklin Falls

The Hatches wanted to do a kid friendly hike since they were now living in the Evergreen state and so we all trekked up to Franklin Falls for a good cardio workout On the way up, we practiced "tree huggin"...Darrin was so proudThe kids all made it up to the falls

On the way back, we found some fun places to play in the freezing water

and Ethan was having the time of his life!