Christmas 2008

Well the last 2 weeks have been an adventure to say the least. With all of the snow that fell and our 1st white Christmas since I can remember, we have been having a blast. Dad was home a lot during this time due to the holidays and snow and we were very spoiled. We spent Christmas Eve with the Earle family and had such a good time. The kids could hardly contain their excitement to open presents and play with their cousins.

Christmas morning we opened our gifts from each other and Santa and then headed over to my side of the family where we opened MORE gifts and had a very yummy dinner. The kids were in heaven and have been busy ever since playing with their new gifts.

We are so thankful for all of our family and friends and hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Next...Birthdays!

Snow Fun Day #3

We love the snow! I know that in a couple days we will wish the snow away, but right now we just can't get enough. The kids have been having a blast sledding and playing with friends.

Snow Fun Day #2

We were out early to enjoy the snow some more today. The kids love this stuff. I'm sure we'll be out for most of the day today. The twins can't get enough and Bry and Bug are getting more and more bold on Grandpa's old sled. Bry was snowboarding at a friends house yesterday and loved it. Dad said that he was really good doing jumps and turns. I'm sure we'll be heading up to the mountains before long to get snowboarding lessons.

Snow Fun!

We waited...and waited...and waited for the big freeze to hit us and finally got a little snow last night. The kids had a snow day yesterday with no snow. That wasn't fun! We woke up this morning and had about an inch of snow for the kids to play in. They were so excited. All of them loved it, now all we can do is keep hoping for MORE SNOW!

We are Best Friends!

Gingerbread House

With the cold weather in town we decided to do some indoor activities. The boys painted decorations to put on the tree and we made a gingerbread house. The had so much fun creating and eating. The last photo is the tiny amount of snow that started to fall last night around 9. There probably isn't an inch on the ground but the boys are out playing in it right now.

Merry Christmas

The last ones were deleted somehow. Enjoy!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Santa, I would like a Robot!

We had our yearly visit with Santa tonight and as always it was very entertaining. The boys were very excited to tell Santa what was on their Christmas list. For Bry he wants Bakugans and for Bug he wants a remote controlled robot. Miss was most excited to get off of Santa's lap with her life and O was excited to see the candy cane and football from Santa but didn't care about much else.

Bug's Field Trip

Bug had his 3rd field trip today to the bowling alley. All the kids had so much fun. On his first try he knocked down 8 pins. Way to go Bug!
Nice roll Bug!
I can't look!
Yeah!

Tis the Season

The kids couldn't keep their excitement in when it came time to decorate for the Holidays. They were all such big helpers, including the twins. They seem to be more fond of undecorating these days but we are working on that.

December Fun

After being stuck in the house for 2 weeks with sick kids we decided it was time to venture out of the house this week. We made it to Spanaway lights again, a tradition we have done for the last couple of years and the kids love it. They cheered and clapped for all the lights and didn't want to go home afterwards.

Last night we went downtown Puyallup for their annual Santa Parade and the kids enjoyed that as well. Next, zoo lights if the weather permits and a visit to Santa.

From December

Bug's Field Trip to the Mast Center

This afternoon I took Jaden on his field trip to the Mast Center (Marin Science & Technology Center). They were able to touch fish, crabs, starfish and other sea animals. He had a great time with his class and was able to learn some new information about the water on earth and the creatures that live in it.

O's Allergy test

Well, O is a peanut, egg, dog and tree. We took him to get tested today to find out if he was allergic to anything. We have been putting it off probably mostly in fear, Thank you Brandi for giving us motivation. He had the scratch test and blood test. We'll need to wait to get the results of the blood test but for now it was very apparent that he is allergic to peanuts and eggs. We are going to start a new lifestyle here in the Earle house minus peanuts and eggs and plus one epi-pen. We'll keep you updated as we learn more. Here are some photos from our adventure today.

Owen enjoying a banana during his wait.

Both these photos are less than 5 minutes after the scratch, they got much bigger!

Trick-or-Treat

We went to the Hentschell's last night for Halloween Fun. The boys enjoyed trik-or-treating with Dad and Mom and the twins stayed in this year. I'm sure next year the twins will have their own agendas:)

Skate Night

Well tonight I took the boys for their first skate night sponsered by Bry's school. It was pretty amusing to say the least. Neither of them had a great time and refused to leave the carpet after falling on the wood right after we got there. They skated around on the carpet for awhile until Bry took a pretty good fall and that was it. They played a few games and chatted with a few friends and we left. They spent most of their time watching the other kids fall down. Hopefully next time they will hit the wood.

Putting the skates on...still having fun!

Wow! This is harder than I thought it would be

We refuse to leave the carpet!

My head hurts from falling!

The skating rink is cool even if you don't skate.

Pumpkin Carving with the Earle's

We love to carve pumpkins! The boys have been waiting patiently to carve their pumpkins this year and tonight we were able to squeeze it in after swim and before bath. This is the first year that Bry carved most of the pumpkin himself and he is so proud of it. I was amazed at how well he did. Bug drew the face on his pumpkin himself and Dad helped cut it out. The first picture of Bug with his decorated pumpkin is from his Special Persons Night at school. Bug and Dad went to his school at night with all the other kids and their Dad's and carved pumpkins that they picked out from the patch. Very fun :)

Watching the Dynasty at work

Today we went to the Todd Beamer girl's soccer game to cheer Carrie and her team on. Beamer is ranked #1 in the state and 15th in the ESPN national poll. After today's 3-0 win, they are 12-0-1 for the season. Last year Beamer took 2nd in state. We had a small soccer-girls reunion today with Carrie, Jill T., Jill B., Danielle, Andrea and me there. It was fun to have all the kids around and they all had a blast running and playing at the field. Carrie also had a really fun article written about her in the Seattle PI which we've linked below. Way to go Carrie the architect!
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/preps/384751_soccbok24.html

Bug's field trip to Terrys Berrys

Today I ventured out with the Preschool to Terrys Berries. Bug had such a good time with his friends. They first got to go on a hay ride to the apple orchard where they got to pick thier own apples. Then they were off to the potato fields to dig for potatos. They made a couple quick stops to visit the goats and chickens before picking their very own pumpkin out. He had such a blast and the weather even stayed clear while we were there.

Pacific Science Center

Somehow on our day of relaxation Bryson talked Dad into all of us going up to the Science Center. We all piled in the car and headed up to Seattle in the early afternoon for a couple hours of fun and excitement. We saw bugs, dinosaurs, marine life, reptiles, played with water and many other fun things.

After we were all Science Centered out we headed to the water fountain in the middle of the center to get some more energy out. We were planning to take the ferry across to Bremerton on the way home but our timing was a little off so we'll have to save that for another day.

By the time we were headed home all the kids were tuckered out and sleeping except for Bryson. Tomorrow a new adventure...The Pumpkin Patch with Bug's class :) I need a vacation!!!!

Trik-a-thon 2008

Trik-a-thon 2008 was a big success. The kids had so much fun riding their bikes around and playing with their friends. Jaden had so many people come and support him and donate to the school. He says Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you. Grandma and Grandpa Earle, Aunt Jean, both Hentschell families, the Tschimperle family, the Alvarez family and the Perez family came to show Jaden their support and he was so excited to see them all. I think that's part of the reason why he rode his bike around and around for at least 1 1/2 hours. Thank you to all the family and friends who donated but couldn't make it...Grandma Koenigs and the Butschli family. Jaden and the school really appreciate it.

Halloween Cookies

We needed another exciting thing to do on the big guy's last day off school so we decided to make Halloween cookies. Things have been pretty hectic here the last three days but today it's FRIDAY!!!! Yeah! Tomorrow the Trik-a-thon and then time to relax for the rest of the weekend and Monday...back to school:)

Day at the Zoo

The big guy has 3 days off for conferences this week and the house was in chaos this morning so I decided to load everyone in the car and head to the zoo to get some energy out. It was a cold but beautiful morning and the kids enjoyed seeing all the animals.

Fright Fest...Scaaaary!

We finally caved in. Bryson has been asking to go to Fright Fest for 2 years now and every year we tell him that it will be way too scary. This year since we had our season passes we thought we'd go when it was light out and leave when it got dark since it wouldn't cost anything and hopefully wouldn't be too scary in the light.

It ended up being just Scott and the two older boys and they went when it was starting to get dark. They had a great time for awhile, that is until they decided to go into the Haunted House (not a good idea!). No amount of prepping a 4 year old for a Haunted House is enough. Needless to say that they had to use an emergency exit because someone jumped out and scared Jaden. Bryson is asking to go back without Jaden before it closes so he can go through the Haunted House and the Trail of Terror.

We'll have to see about that one!

Pumpkin Patch

Today we went to the Pumpkin Patch to pick out our pumpkins for Halloween. The kids had a blast looking for pumpkins and playing hide and seek with Dad. It was a perfect October day to be outside. The twins enjoyed their freedom from the stroller and got to adventure out on their own. If only they would both go in the same direction:)

Final weekend in September

Well this weekend we had a lot of fun catching up with friends. We had Todd and Jill over on Saturday and then headed to the Brad and Carries on Sunday. All of the kids LOVE playing together and are so sad when our time comes to an end. We got to meet the newest member to the clan on Sunday. Baby Jordan is beautiful!!! Congrats Marcus and Andrea on your newest addition.

Grandpa turns 60!

Now when the boys say Grandpa is "as old as dirt" we can agree! Just kidding Grandpa:) Yesterday Grandpa turned the big 60! He still seems as young as ever and said that it didn't bother him a bit and he doesn't feel any different. The kids got him a cane with a horn on it as a joke and he played along with them which made them laugh. We had a fun night with the family. Happy Birthday Grandpa, We love you!

Bug's 1st day of school

Well our little Bug started his first day of school today. He has been waiting to go back to school since last April and was so excited that his day finally came. I stayed with him for awhile to see how it went but he was so busy he barely noticed I was there. By the time I left he was having so much fun doing art that I almost didn't get a goodbye. We are so excited for him to meet some new friends and learn new things. We love you Bug!

Brooks 1st Purse

Our little girl is growing up so fast. :) Today, she got her first purse and has been gloating around the house all day. These are the moments that cause her dad to get very worried for what's to come. A one year old shouldn't have this look yet. AHHAHHAHAH!

The Fair....Again

Back to the fair again, but this time the kids enjoyed endless rides. There has been perfect weather for the fair this year and yesterday we enjoyed one of those days. After school we hopped in the car with AJ and headed downtown. The kids had so much fun on the rides and looking at animals. The fair is always something so special to the kids and they already can't wait until next year.

Do the Puyallup!

Friday morning I took my 3 little ones to the Puyallup Rodeo parade and fair for a little bit. All of them loved the parade! They got so excited when the bulls ran through streets and the bands walked by playing music. We went back later that evening with just the boys to watch the Rodeo and their 1st Country music concert. The boys love the song "Chicks Dig It" so when I heard that Chris Cagle was going to play at the fair we had to get tickets. They LOVED it! On the way home they were both talking about who they would love to see in concert next.

1st Day of school

Well our big guy started 1st grade this year and it has been a big and exciting change for him. He started on Tuesday. Everything went great in the morning, but in the afternoon the school sent him home on the wrong bus. I went to pick him up at the bus (he was on the same bus as last year)and when all the other kids got off the bus but no big guy, I was a little flustered. The bus driver located him on another bus quickly, but by that time she found out where he was he was pulling up right behind her at the bus stop. He had given the bus driver directions from all the way across town to home. I was SO proud of him. The 1st thing he told me when he got off the bus was "I didn't even cry". Except for that minor detail he is having an absolute blast going all day and loves his teacher.

Walking into school for the 1st time this year

In front of his classroom, he was probably a little embarrased

Labor Day Weekend

To finish the summer off we headed east to spend the Labor Day weekend with friends at their Lake Place. Thank you again for having us this weekend, your place is so fun. We relaxed a lot before we have to start school this week. There were 7 kids, 6 adults and 4 big dogs. There was always something going on and we all had a blast.

Mossyrock Aug 08

We took off Wednesday for another long weekend camping. We had 1 1/2 days of rainy weather which the boys loved because they rode their bikes around with new friends and were able to get muddy. We also had a few days of beautiful weather before back to the rain AGAIN! We asked the boys what their favorite parts of camping this time were and Bug said that he loved to play at the park with his friends, the beach, campfires and sleeping in the trailer. He is so darn cute! Bry's favorite parts were the BMX track (as Bry would describe it "I was tearing it up") and playing "don't touch the rocks" with his friends at the park. We still aren't sure how the game was played:)

Aug 11-18

This was a busy week. The lightning storms last weekend blew out our modem so we had to wait until we recieved our new one to update the site. So I'll recap last week. On top of going to the zoo we had some friends over for dinner, had a weekend at the cabin, spent some time at the beach and the boys received some new Mexican wrestling masks from one of Scott's friends who visited Mexico. The photos say it all.

WATER FIGHT!!!!!!

There's nothing like 90 degree weather, a house full of energetic kids, and waterguns to create some excitment. On Sunday we turned the backyard into our own little waterpark to enjoy the heat. We filled up the blow-up pools and fired up the waterslide, but the highlight of the afternoon was the boys teaming up to battle Dad in a watergun fight. Dad thinks he won the aquatic battle, but the boys will tell you the real story.

Woodland Park Zoo

We ventured up to Woodland Park Zoo today with family and everyone had a lot of fun. The kids had some unique experiences that they hadn't had before. The boys pet a snake, fed a giraffe and some tropical birds. At one point a bird landed on Bry's shoulder to snack on some food (needless to say he was very surprised). The babies were troupers again and had a good time looking at the animals and snacking pretty much all day. Everyone did fantastic until about 4 when we decided to call it quits and head home to see Daddy.

New Pets

We came back from Vegas and found and unusual bowl on the counter. Grandma and Grandpa told us the boys had been frog hunting with their cousins at Great Grandpa's Birthday party and all the children were lucky enough to find their own frogs...and bring them home with them. Soooo, we are the proud new owners of two little tree frogs named Petro and Chim(something) and the boys couldn't possibly be happier. We HAAAAAD to go get them a real house and real food yesterday so they wouldn't die. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa :)

VEGAS!!!

My friend Carrie and I decided to treat our husbands to Vegas this year for their Birthdays so we hopped on a plane and off we all went. We had a lot of fun relaxing in the sun and having some adult time. Here are a few shots from the weekend.

Blue Angels at Seafair

We headed up to Lake Washington today to watch the Blue Angels. As always they put on a great show. The boys loved being so close to the action on the water this year (Scott went last year with some buddies and we stayed home). We have been driving up every year to let the boys watch but Scott had so much fun last year on the water that we made the trek this year. The lake was full of boats and the water was really rough but the boys still had a blast. We were a little worried last night with a forcast for rain today, but the weather cleared up and it was beautiful.

Years, Days, Minutes, Tag....

Okay, first of all Thank You Gina for making me take a few minutes to myself to recapture a piece of my past:) I'm sure this will be fun If I can remember that far back. 20 years, that seems like forever ago.

20 years ago I was...

Well, that would have made me 11 and I think it was the summer before 6th grade. I think we had just moved to our new house in Federal Way and I was probably meeting new friends. During the summer I played in a lot of soccer tournaments so I was probably up at 60 acres running miles and miles and trying to score some goals:)

10 years ago I was...

I'm sure I was soaking up the sun on the lake or in a bar somewhere with my girlfriends or Scott before I had to head back to Central (in about a weeks time from now - a month and 1/2 before any other students came back to Central - soccer started. I know boo hoo)

5 years ago I was...

Our first born Bryson had just celebrated his 1st Birthday in June. We were probably camping somewhere on the Eastside of the mountains and we were just about to find out that baby #2 was coming along.

3 years ago I was...

Running around like a mad woman chasing my 3 and 1 year olds trying to keep them busy and Scott and I were deciding whether we would like to add one more to the crew (little did we know that adding one more would really mean 2 more). We had just bought a boat and we were enjoying it at the cabin.

So far this past year I have...

Started my first born in Kindergarten, that was HARD. I witnessed him riding a bike with no training wheels, learn to read and swim. I also helped my #2 man get potty trained and start Pre-school. Our twins celebrated their 1st Birthday and learned to walk. Now I really run around like a mad woman! I could go on and on about the joys of the past year...

Tomorrow I will...

Go to my mom's house and we will celebrate Scott's 32nd Birthday! Wow, I'm married to an old man. We'll probably come home and work and play in the yard.

Next year I will...

Have most of my kids in pre-school or school all day!!!!! What? Did someone say that I'll get a few hours to myself? I think that is still an illusion or a dream that I have in my mind.

I tag Brandi, Sarah and Rachel if you haven't done this yet. I would tag more people but none of my other friends have sites up yet. Get on it girls!

Yard Upgrades

We have been very busy over the past week getting our yard ready for some much needed improvements. We have been talking about redoing and adding to our patio that we have now and improving our deck for a long time now. We still have LOTS to do, but here are some photos of the work that we have done (when I say we, I mean Scott mostly. He finished 90% of the patio in one day). We'll add more pictures as we finish.

This Week in Pictures

Just thought we'd do a summary of this weeks photos.

On the Road Again...Montana

Okay, so we have been told that we are a little crazy for our many adventures with our 4 amazing children but the latest was truly our most ambitious adventure yet. We put all 4 kids in the car on Thursday morning at 3:30 am to make the 12 hour drive to Montana hoping that they would sleep away some of the hours. Nope, they were just as excited as mom and dad for our latest road trip. They may have slept a total of 3 hours on our drive there and totally amazed us with how well they traveled.

We made the long trek to attend my cousins wedding, it has been 10 years since I had made the drive back there. Man, time flies when you get married and have kids!! The last time the whole family was together was 8 years ago for our wedding. My mom, Aunt Jean, brother and sister made the drive as well. It was great to see all of our family and meet the new additions. The kids had a great time playing even though most of the time they were exhausted from getting up early and staying up late.

While we were there we mostly spent time with family at my uncle house/shop/car museum. His place is amazing and would be a favorite of any vintage car fan. We also had fun visiting Pictograph Cave State Park, where you can get about 15 feet away from ancient Indian cave drawings. Although the kids had a blast doing everything, especially staying up really late at the wedding, they probably had the most fun at Big Splash water park - the scene of the incident where Scott flew down the water slide with Owen and plowed over Bryson while going fully underwater with O. Despite the dunking, Owen still asked for more.

Happy 4th of July!!!

We left Wednesday for another long weekend at the cabin and to enjoy their 4th of July show...on the 3rd. Some of our family came down from the other side of the lake to enjoy the show that was in front of the park this year. The kids loved it and Bryson didn't cover his ears this year. We spent some time on the lake but the water was really rough from the not so pleasant weather and the lake being over crowded by visiting guests. The kids got to light their own fireworks on the 4th and were so excited about it.

Camping at Potholes

We took off Wednesday for a long weekend of camping in Eastern Washington at Potholes State Park. There's nothing like camping in record breaking heat on the East side. I think they were at 105 on Saturday. Thank goodness for air-conditioning.

Our friends the Marecle's met us there on Thursday and we had so much fun. The kids had a great time playing with each other and begged not to leave again. They all did so well considering they were up until about 10:30 every night having a campfire and smores and up the next morning about 7 am for breakfast. Someday I'm sure they'll be so tired that they want to sleep in like mom and dad.

We tried to keep them busy all weekend. They have an amazing new playset that the kids enjoyed. We both had our boats there, so the kids got to experience tubing on the lake at the park and then the dad's took them fishing at one of Jamin's secret spots. Bryson and Kara both caught their first fish and were so excited.

Weekend at the Cabin

We took off to the cabin this weekend for some fun. We had a couple of 1st's this weekend. The morning after we got there the boys woke up early and came downstairs to climb in bed with us. As Jaden was watching himself do some Karate in the mirror he fell off the bed and hit above his eye on the dresser and split his eyebrow open. Sooo, Scott got to drive back to VM in FW to get Jaden his 1st and hopefully last stiches:)

After Scott got back we put the boat in and the babies took their 1st ride. Since neither of them like to sit in one spot for 5 seconds anyway, they were not very happy when they realized that you have to sit when the boat is moving (notice Owen's not so happy face in below photo).

For the last 3 summers we have been trying to convince Bryson unsuccessfully that he would love the tube if he would try it and he's been convincing us that he would do it when he was 4, then when he was 5, then when he was 6. Well this weekend he finally went on his 1st real tube ride all by himself and was loving it. Scott was cruising and he kept saying faster, faster! Jaden wanted to go, but couldn't get his stiches wet so he'll have to wait until next time. All in all it was a fantastically fun weekend and the kids begged not to leave.

Enchanted Village!

Today we spent the morning at Enchanted Village. The poor twins spent the day in the stroller AGAIN, but the boys ran, jumped, flew, hopped, drove and spun their way through the rides today. They had so much fun on all the rides. Bryson was just a tad too small for all the big ones but he wanted to go on them which is an improvement from last season. Hopefully by the end of the summer Bryson will have gained that 1/2 inch that prevented him from doing most of the big rides. Next time we may try the waterslides if the weather is a little nicer.

Zoo Again...but this time with Friends

Well after going to Members night last Thursday we needed to see the zoo again with less chaos. We met our some of our friends there today and the kids had a blast. For some reason they never tire of the zoo. I expect in a few more weeks I'll hear the I don't want to go to the zoo again, but hopefully by then the weather will be nicer and we can start going to Enchanted Village as well.

Owen Update

His older brothers better watch out because in a few years Owen is going to be giving them a run for their money - in every way possible. Owen wants to run and play with his older brothers so bad. Sometimes he gets a little too close to the action and he gets clobbered. It's hard to get after Bryson and Jaden for playing so rough with him because he is usually laughing histerically. This kid just has an amazing personality. Most of the time he has a huge smile on his face and is usually going 100% miles and hour.....typically on his way to trying to find a baseball, basketball, soccer ball, or any other type of toy he can treat as a ball. You've got to be ready when he has a toy in his hand because before you know it a car might be coming at your head like a fastball.

Happy Father's Day!!!

Happy Father's Day Daddy! You are the greatest Dad in the whole wide world. We love how you always have hugs and kisses for us, how you chase us around the house and you are wild and crazy, how you play hide and seek, how you take us on long walks to the park, how you play whatever we want in the backyard, how you tuck us in at night, how you let us help you with construction work around the house, how you read books to us, how you let us play ball in the house when mom says NO! okay, there are too many fun things that you do with us to list. Most of all Daddy we LOVE YOU!

Bryson turns 6!!!!!

What a big week for our little/big man Bryson. He turned 6 this week and finished his first year of school. He is very excited to be starting 1st grade in September but is also sad to leave his Kindergarten buddies for the summer. On Monday we took the family to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate Bryson's 6th Birthday and this weekend he had his party at the Jump Zone with his family and friends and he had a blast. He is already looking forward to his next Birthday and school year. Happy 6th Birthday Bryson!!!!

Bry's Field Trip to the Beach

What a perfect day for the beach:) Cold and rainy in June. Today was Bry's field trip to the beach. This is the day that the tide is out the farthest of the year so it is easier to find sea animals. The schools had divers out catching all kinds of critters for the kids to see. It wasn't too bad and the kids couldn't have cared less that it was raining, they planned on getting wet anyway. By the time they got back on the bus they were all soaked and tired but had a blast.

Morning Time with the Earle's

Although our house is usually total chaos, there are times that the children suprise me and do something out of the ordinary. Today they all wanted to sit on the fireplace together quietly and make funny faces. I had to capture this moment because they were all so adorable and it is so rare that they all 4 want to just sit together and do something quietly without me asking.

Prosser Camping Trip

We ventured East for the long weekend to go camping in Prosser with Grandma and Grandpa Earle. Everyone was very excited for the trip as we had four nights and five days camping in front of us. Although everyone was filled with excitement, we couldn't seem to avoid reenacting the movie RV at every turn.

Below is our not-so Top 10 camping trip highlights.
#10 Bryson and Jaden constantly taking off from our campsite to visit every other kid in the park.
#9 Having the front tire in the Twins' double stroller go flat, and then after it was repaired, it BLEW UP!!! After that, the back tire popped.
#8 Jaden thought hanging on the wall coat hanger was a good idea...it wasn't, and it broke.
#7 The dogs puked all over our campsite, then shredded and ate an extremely poopy diaper in front of our trailer.
#6 We lost our only set of keys to the trailer.
#5 Brooklyn and Owen got up at 2 am on night one and played in their cribs for two hours - waking everyone else up.
#4 We stopped in Ellensburg to get our favorite Philly Cheese Steaks to find they changed and now suck.
#3 Owen cried and screamed for a combined 3 1/2 days of our five day trip.
#2 One of the dogs peed as if she hadn't gone to the bathroom in a week all over our bed while we were out and ruined our bed.
#1 The sewage hose came apart while Scott was emptying the tanks at our campsite - spilling toilet sewage all over the place.

Despite so many freak "accidents", we still had a lot of fun camping with grandma and grandpa and were thankful to be able to spend some time with them.

Home Run King!

Bryson is having so much fun playing baseball this year with dad as his coach. He is doing really good in the field, but his hitting is ahead of the game. Bryson and Jaden are left handed batters and can both really smack the ball. Here is a video from Bryson's game.

Spring Fun!

Over the last week we have had lot's of fun playing out in the sun and having our friends over.

Bryson's End of the Year Performance

Today Bryson had his end of the year performace for Kindergarten. It was called EiEiEiEi Oops! It was definetly priceless. All of the kids were so adorable, Bryson of course being the cutest. He even had a speaking part. We will add video of the performance later.

Tulips, Tulips, Tulips!

After wanting to check out the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival for several years, we finally rounded up the troops and headed north for the day to enjoy the flowers. The fields were absolutely amazing and almost seemed fake. The kids had a blast. Owen and Brooklyn watched from their normal perch - the double stroller, while Bryson and Jaden jumped through the mud. At one point, Bryson two foot jumped into a mud puddle and the mud splattered all over Owen and Brooklyn's faces.....he was busted!

Bryson's 1st Tball game of the season

Bryson had his first Tball game of the season. He did great and had a lot of fun. The first team they played was against the Raptors which had some of his friends from school on it. The weather was perfect and the whole family enjoyed the outing.

Day at the Zoo

We went to the zoo this morning and all of the animals were out showing off. The boys had a great time and the babies had their first experience seeing all of the animals out.

Jaden turns 4

Mossyrock Camping Trip

We recently purchased a new camping trailer that will actually fit our entire clan. Our new trailer as two sets of bunks and a queen bed slideout for mom and dad.....we love it. We took our first camping trip down to Mossyrock. We were a little nervous to see how the kids would sleep all together in the bunkhouse, but it went great. The lake's water level was amazingly low and there were really neat stumps all over the place. Everyone had a great time exploring.

Mossyrock Camping Trip

Arizona Trip

Despite the fear of traveling with four small children, we packed up the troops and flew to Phoenix to enjoy beautiful weather and some baseball. The trip was a blast as we stayed in the same condo complex as Carrie and Brad Hentschell. The kids loved the pool and the boys swam for hours upon hours. It was a lot of fun being in Arizona with Carrie and Brad.

Arizona Trip