The last and the first...

Last night was Jacob's LAST Cub Scout Pack Meeting! He turned 11 just after May's Pack Meeting, so he had to wait until June to receive his Arrow of Light award. He and his best friend Jason were presented the award together, so that was special.



He also got a High Five from the Cub Scout Master for finishing the last of the Webelo activity pins. There are 20 or 21 in all and he finished all of them.



Last night was Jared's FIRST Cub Scout Pack Meeting! He received his Bobcat award. He's very excited to be in Cub Scouts. He has a lot of friends his age in his Pack so it's extra fun for him...probably a little extra work for the den leader though! :)



What outdoor Pack Meeting would be complete without a game of Red Rover (I haven't played this game in over 30 years and I still hate it!) I was able to catch a cute picture of the brothers though - man, they sure are growing up fast!



The whole family was there to celebrate with the boys:

Jason, who I am pretty sure grew up overnight! Wasn't he just my baby...you know, like yesterday?



Maddie sure is a firecracker. I can always count on her to be fun and silly! And I can also count on her to be my second set of hands. I don't know what I'd do without her help. I try really hard not to ask her to help out too much - after all, they are my babies/responsibility, not her's - but she is always stepping in and helping out even when I don't ask, and I'd be lost without her!



Megan sure is a good sport. She is at that point where she's big enough to do bigger-kid things, but the little kids still love to play with her and never leave her alone (See Malorie there in the background? She wasn't just sitting there - she was abt to throw grass on Megan's head!)



Malorie is a bundle of laughs. She wants to be a big kid so bad she can hardly stand it - little does she know that she only has to wait until tomorrow...I swear it happens that fast!



Melanie is still our shy little viloet. We like her that way though - quiet and soft...that is unless she's in the van, then she's bellowing nursery rhymes and made up songs at the top of her lungs! (Which we love, too!)



Joseph is always our wild card. Last night he was a bit on the shy side when we first got there...that's when I took this picture. By the end of the evening however, he was the life of the party.



Meredi is such a wonderful baby! She has started to laugh this week - not really laughing AT anything we do...it just happens when she smiles. She smiles so big that she either chuckles or she gets the hiccups.

Summer Days!

I'm betting y'all are thinking that with summer being here, and everyone being at home now, there would be a ton of things to share here...well, week one is gone and so far we really don't have much to report.

We're enjoying the lazy days of summer - but not by doing anything earth shattering. Right now we're just enjoying being home with very few things demanding our attention. We are, however, gearing up for the three older boys to attend scout camps, Madilyn will have Girl's Camp (church) in another couple of weeks, and there will be a few other things going on that we'll be doing...so we know our lazy days are numbered! Sorry we aren't more exciting - but I'll admit, for now BORING is GOOD!

(For your viewing enjoyment...Heeeeeeere's Joe - our resident clown!)

3 months ago, right now...

Can you believe Meredi is 3 months old already? Wow!

She's simply perfect in every way. She's doing everything a normal 3 month old baby should be doing...with the added benefit of sleeping 6-7 hours at night! That is just a flat out blessing b/c it's for sure nothing we've done!



Gush, gush, gush...who really wants to listen to a mother go on and on? Just know that Meredith is doing GREAT! Nothing hindering her from being premature at birth...she's just a wonderful baby!

Father's Day 2008

Wow - look at all of the changes in just a year!



Everyone is growing up so quickly -



We had a great Father's Day - a wonderful BBQ dinner and strawberry rhubarb pie! How could that not be a great day?

We were also surprised today to have Brandon called to serve in our ward's bishopric...again! Same song, second...no wait, third verse. It was nice to have this take place on Father's Day though - many people mentioned Brandon's father to us today and even though we never forget him, it's nice to know that others still think of him as well.

Where have we been!!!

We're up and running again - thank goodness! There wasn't a ton going on around here while we were gone, but a few things that we didn't want to miss!!

Most importantly, Melanie turned 4 years old on the 9th! She had a great birthday - complete with a princess dress cake! (FYI - total pain in the neck to make!)



The best gift ever was this puzzle I had made for her (Snapfish.com). A lot more pieces than I realized it would be, but still a lot of fun.



Princess books and barbies were favorites also...




The siding is still going up on the house and should be completed this week. Joseph has been glued to the windows watching "the guys". He has become buddies with Rowdy...I can't tell you how many times, while working at the living room windows, Rowdy would lift his head from nailing siding and see Joseph's face right next to him. Poor guy - it must have been somewhat startling.



Joseph also found a box of toothpicks this week and while watching Rowdy, found that he could make the toothpicks stick into the drywall above the windows. Grrrreat!



School is finally out for summer!! I didn't get any great pictures at the awards assemblies (remember, our camera is on life support) - but the kids all did wonderfully.

Marilyn came out to spend the evening with the kids while Brandon and I hit a date night. The kids were having Marilyn withdrawals, so this was a very fun visit for them. Having her bring a chocolate fountain made it an even better visit than the kids could have imagined!!

Down and Out

Ok, mostly just DOWN!

As great as it is to get the siding on the house finished, the down side of it all is that they had to take our dish down and our satellite internet connection has been out since last Friday. I broke down and signed up for dial-up in the mean time, but honestly don't have the time (mostly the patience) to sit and wait for it....so no cute pictures this time - not even any more details of how we're doing b/c as it is, this will probably take until Saturday to actually upload and show up on our blog.

There really is no comparison between a 28.8Kbps connection and satellite!

Hopefully we'll be back up and running soon!!

Boys -

Sometimes my rough and tumble boys do things to melt my heart - like this...

Jason & Joseph

What a blessing -

Finally! I posed little Meredi for pictures in her blessing dress yesterday. She sure was a good sport. I think we counted over 75 pictures on our camera...the beauty of digital photography! I never would have taken (and developed) 75 photos on our 35mm...now I don't cringe when I see a picture of her cross-eyed or with her hand in front of her face - - - DELETE - - - it's a beautiful thing.

Grandma Janet made her dress. Mom's getting pretty good at banging out these gorgeous dresses - wish it were as easy to get a baby here to fill the dresses!



Meredith has officially graduated into the smiling and coo'ing stage. Oh sure, some will say she has been smiling at them for weeks - that may be true...however, it doesn't go in to the baby book until she smiles at MOM!



Meredi's blessing day was back on May 4th (it's taken me this long to take pictures). We were blessed to have family with us - Uncle Dave and Aunt Raye - Marcus, Uncle Mike and Aunt Lori - Michaela & Adam, Uncle Dick, Cousin Mardi - Derik & Kera all traveled from Colville. Of course Grandma Janet and Grandpa Gary & Auntie Lindsay were there too. Our friend Marilyn, Uncle Courtney and Aunt Alicia - Cami & Zack & Dylan & Emma came from Spokane. And Grandma Lee was there - she just lives around the corner, it's nice to be able to count on her to be at most every family function!



Due to troubles with their van, Uncle James and Aunt Lisa's family missed the blessing in the morning, but were able to make it to Jared's baptism in the evening. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family near by - we love you all!

I wanted to add this cell phone picture just because I think my dad is really cute - (look at her little tiny hand on his great big hand....awwwww!)

Exsiding news from our house...

Yes, I know that's not how you spell exciting...I was going to just leave it the way it was, but then I was afraid some of you might think I'd finally lost my last marble, and I didn't want you to worry abt me!

SIDING! Our siding is going up! We have a couple of shifty interesting looking guys coming out each day - working for a couple of hours and then knocking off for the day...we've come to enjoy them - they're kind of like watching zoo animals from inside our house. Not saying they're "animals" - just saying when the kids sit glued to the windows from inside the house watching them work, it is a lot like being at a zoo! :)

Since this picture was taken, the entire front was completed and they're moving around the garage...oh, and Brandon did add a cute bathroom window near the mudroom door - you'll have to wait until our next house update to see it...it's pouring rain today and I'm just not dedicated enough to the blog to go out and take a picture.



The line "2 weeks" from The Money Pit keeps coming to mind when they tell us when they'll be done - I figure we've lived here a year without siding - what's 2 more weeks, or 3 or 4...Hope to be updating again, soon, with pictures of a finished siding job!