Happy Memorial Day

Today was a BEAUTIFUL day!! It was so sunny and so warm! Such a welcomed break from the cold and rain we've had since...well, November!

Mikelle and some of the little cousins. Joseph, Melanie and Malorie think Mikelle is the best!



Shauna & Maddie



"Who is the tallest cousin?" (Shane, Shauna & Jason)



Malorie & Becca (I called their names so they'd turn around for another picture. I asked them what they were doing and they answered, "We're sitting by grandpa." instantly turning THIS into the cuter picture.)



The whole fam! (Lucky for us, Marlee brought a boyfriend/picture-taker home this year so everyone could be in the family picture!)



Cousins...



Some aunts, an uncle, more cousins...



Mikelle and Joseph



Gracie and Mom



Maddie

Ouch!

This is what it looks like when you're almost 5 years old and a family sized can of soup rolls off the kitchen table and falls on your toe! Poor Jaynie!

Oh yeah, Mother's Day

I don't have a lot of photos to share for our Mother's Day here. It was a beautiful sunny day. Brandon didn't have to leave early for meetings (that was the best gift ever). We had wonderful Strawberry Shortcake for breakfast and a roast for dinner! It was a great day!

Brandon and the kids gave me a game for the Wii - yes, that's what I asked for! :)

And I also kind of got a Mother's Day picture...whadda ya think?



Last year I wanted a picture with the kids, but failed to give everyone enough notice before church, so it didn't happen. Oh sure, we could have done it after church, but we all look pretty hammered when we get home!

This year, I remembered and gave everyone 2 hours notice that I wanted everyone posing for a picture with mom for Mother's Day before we left...and this is the best we could come up with.

Maybe NEXT year we'll pull it off???

The Hummers are back!

I can't tell you how much I love our hummingbirds! They make me so happy! I finally captured a picture of "Red" - he's the one hummer that we don't see very often...maybe once or twice a week he'll spend a day with us. He's fast and he's mean. He won't let any of the other birds around "his" feeder. I am just blown away by his beautiful color. I have tried for weeks to get a photo of him and finally, just this week, DID IT!!





My next quest is to get a photo of our black chinned hummer. When you can get a close enough look, the black is actually a deep purple. Beautiful!!

This and That...

A few things that have gone on over the past couple of weeks!

Jacob got an early birthday present - a Leatherman from Grandpa to take on his camp out.



Meredi has mastered standing and is venturing in to short walks between people.



Megan has developed in interest in the guitar and Jason enjoys teaching her.



$3.50 in pennies! I wish I had gotten the camera fast enough to get a video of them jumping with the pennies. They were flying EVERYWHERE!! (Oh, and we know it was $3.50 because we found the 7 empty 50¢ paper rolls in Jacob's room!)

Math Team Masters 2009

This was Jacob's third year to compete on the Math Team! Back in February his team qualified to participate in the Masters competition held in Moses Lake this last weekend. I'm not sure why, but the school wouldn't/couldn't/didn't provide a math team coach and pretty much told the kids that they were out of luck. Jacob asked every teacher he could think of to help them out...even went back to the elementary school to ask previous coaches for help...finally, Dad stepped in and did the job.



Here's the team getting ready for the college bowl.




And here they are in the thick of it...




Thanks to Grandma Janet's help, Meredi and Mom were able to travel and be there, too.



When it was all said and done, the team placed 9th! We are so proud of them! This is a state wide competition - the best of the regions compete - and to place 9th is impressive!!

Jacob placed 8th in the individiual competition. He never ceases to amaze us!!

Jr. Lilac Parade 2009

The Parade!



The Spectators!



Maddie! (Front Flute)



Jacob! (First Sax From The Bottom)



Cousin Cameron! (Trumpet NOT Wearing Pink Sunglasses)



Stopping To Play On The Way To The Car!




A Long Day!

May Birthdays

Jared and Dad both celebrated birthdays this month.

On the 2nd Jared turned 9.



On the 5th Dad turned 39.



Jared had a party with friends and Dad told Mom to forget inviting anyone over for his birthday - party pooper! (He turns 40 next year...we'll get him!)

A Day at Grandma & Grandpa's House

While Brandon & Jacob were camping, the kids and I spent the day (and night) at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Some of the older kids opted to go to school so they came up later with Brandon (who was camping north of Colville) - but the hookie kids went for milkshakes and played at the park for a while! It was a beautiful day!

Pinewood Derby

Last week was Jared's first Cub Scout Pinewood Derby! He and dad made his car to be a Wii Controller. It was wonderful.



Jared ate light-up Ring Pop's so that the lights could be put in his car (that was much easier for him than running the power tools). Mom's contribution was printing and cutting out the buttons...and throwing in the idea to have the controller say "Lii" at the bottom instead of "Wii" - I'm not sure everyone got it, but I sure thought I was clever! lol

Quick Update

We're visiting with my parents while Brandon and Jacob are camping so I figured I'd take advantage of a highspeed connection and get some pictures up on the blog. I'll also add Joseph's birthday photos to his birthday entry, too.

We went to Dustin's Eagle Court of Honor a couple of weeks ago! Congratulations Dusty!




(And Jared fell asleep during the program...)


Meredi continues to grow like a weed!




Uncle Larry completed the Wood Badge requirements and we attended his presentation. Way to go, Uncle Larry!!!



And a couple of token "Surprise Mom" pictures that I found on the camera that the kids took without me knowing!