Welcoming Senya

After much coordinating and many phone calls it was finally decided that Matt and Dawn's baby shower would be thrown on July 23rd. Baby Senya was not due to arrive until mid-August so we thought that was plenty of time to celebrate before she made an actual appearance. Apparently Senya had other plans! Dawn's water broke around midnight that morning and after a long, anxious day, Senya Evelyn Paul was born about 11:30 July 23rd weighing 5lbs 10oz. She was 3 weeks and 3 days early. She is perfection.

Making the most of summer

Devin's company picnic (with Cherry City Electric 2011) was a lot of fun.. It was very kid friendly and both Turner and Harley had a blast! There was a lot of food, drinks and tons of treats including cookies, snow cones, and cotton candy. There was mini golf and a bouncy house. The favorite, though, was a huge inflated caterpillar that they could actually go in through the mouth and out....well, the other end! I thought it was strange but the boys loved it!

extra stuff from a bad blogger!

I am not a habitual blogger. That being said, I wanted to add a few pictures taken this summer just because they are cute!
Food Face--->







































Dilly Bars in the tub

Out in the sunshine!

Although I admit there is not always a lot of sunshine to be had here in the Pacific NW, it is fun to get out and enjoy it when it appears. I much prefer cooler weather but I do love being able to show Turner and Harley that there are so many beautiful places so close to where we live. Both boys requested to see "a big waterfall" this summer, a wish easily granted.

On June 25th we decided to drive out to Multnomah Falls following the historic highway route. We stopped at the Vista House to see the view since it was such a clear, sunny day!


Then we stopped at Latourell Falls and walked down to the falls. Of course there was some rock climbing on the way and the kids loved that they got wet at the bottom of the falls!


Then there is Multnomah Falls. Turner couldn't wait to see it! He has been there before but he was too young to remember. I think it is so much fun to be able to show him things now that he is old enough to ask questions. Harley follows his big brother's lead and asks about everything too. Of course Harley is always less reserved than Turner was at 3 (when it comes to verbally expressing his opinions) so we heard a lot from him all day! Such a fun day.


The next day we decided to head out to McIver Park. We didn't take the dog this time but I think next time we will have to. It was one of our favorite parks to take Jazzy dog to when she could still run so it's nice to go and remember what an amazing little diva that girl was. When we go, we let the boys take frisbees and "play frisbee golf" which really just means we let them through regular frisbees at the gold course but they have fun and run a lot!


Oh how I love my little flower child!!!! Always picking flowers for Momma. :-)

And I love my little rock tosser. So handsome!


Harley coming through a "secret passage" to scare Daddy!

I had to sneak to get a picture of that beautiful real smile of his!

Harley sings! (or maybe not so much...)

Harley had his first Pre-school singing program on April 22! He is such a big boy! He went back and forth between excited and nervous all week and practiced singing but I wasn't sure he would go through with it. Since it was the Friday before Easter, Grandma Diane was able to make it in time to come see the show! He went into the school all by himself to meet up with his class and when it was the 3 year olds turn to come out (they were first) he was right there with the rest of his class. Then it was time to sing....so he stuck his hands in his pockets and just took it all in. As his friends all sang away, Harley just listened, shyly. It was pretty cute. He finally joined in for the last two songs and said it was fun after all!

playing catch up!

I seem to have miss placed my account info for a while during our move in March but all is recovered now and I have to do some catching up! We are liking our new apartment, although the boys are missing the yard at Oma and Papa's and we all miss our pup (who we left to be spoiled by my parents since they have more room and the yard). We are closer to Harley's school which is nice and next year Turner will get to ride to bus so he is a bit excited/nervous about that.

Easter was great this year, we had the chance to see most of our family! That means two days worth of eating Easter dinner and Easter Egg Hunts but it was all fun. The kids are both old enough to participate in egg hunts now but Harley still isn't so sure he likes them. Harley's preschool let the kids dye eggs and have a hunt on the Thursday before Easter but he started crying as soon as another kid took a treat he was about to grab. Eventually he caught on and found some stuff....



Then on Saturday before we had dinner with Devin's side of the family, we went to a huge egg hunt at a park near our apartment. It was a fundraiser for our friends church, they are going to Mexico to build houses. Turner found a friend from school and then we played at the park after.
Here is Turner with his friend....

and Harley waiting to go get eggs!

January Birthdays!

Matt and Harley both celebrated birthdays in January! Harley got an early gift from Aunt Wendy and Uncle Ernie, we let him open it right when it came. He loves his new trucks, the Walks are great at picking out little boy gifts!



Then for Matt's Birthday on the 22nd, we all had dinner at Azteca like we do every year. Then we like to go to Grandma Evelyn's house for cake. Matt posed for a few pictures with the "Azteca Birthday Hat"!!!




Singing Happy Birthday to Uncle Matt!



Harley turned 3 on January 28th and we had a family party on the 29th. Gram brought him his cool candle birthday hat! Poor Duncan Dog spent some time outside since he is a crazy dog, Baby Gavin was checking on him :-)



Jonas and Miles helped with gifts. Harley also had to make sure to get some Aunt Carly wrestle time in! My boys LOVE to wrestle with Aunt Carly!




It was a good, mellow day with some of the people we love, good Costco food, and handmade cupcakes (Harley made me make 3 kinds, one for each year).

Bridge Walk

The old Arch Bridge that crosses from Oregon City to West Linn is shut down for restoration for about the next 2 years. Before they closed it off completely they let everyone come walk across one last time. Turner and I went with Mom and Dad to see what it was like to walk across without any cars.





I'm pretty sure Turner had fun even though he pretended not to like it. He did get to stand in front of a police car for pictures!

Children's Museum

Just after Christmas we visited the Children's Museum in Portland. We met a friend of mine from high school and his family, he has kids about the same ages as Turner and Harley. It had been a long time since we were there last and even longer since I had seen Tim, it was really fun and great meeting his family! The kids loved the cow art just outside the front doors......


There was an exhibit with huge "linkin logs" so the kids could see what they could build. The boys teamed up to see what they could do with Turner's planning and Harley's brute force!




The water area is always the most fun at The Children's Museum! They love building waterways and dams. Harley really loved playing with his new friend Ethan.





Then there was the big "TV screen" that the kids can project their images onto a big screen, Harley and Ethan had to test that out together. You can see how wet Harley still was after the water play!





They also had fun with an over sized, lit up peg board that looked like a "Light Bright".
Once they found the room with the train sets and the emergency vehicles, all four kids were happy to play together.



By then all the kids (and the parents) were ready for naps!!! Overall it was a great day with friends and we can't wait to see the Stacy Family again!




Here are Kayden, Turner and Harley driving the ambulance!

Christmas 2010

So it has been WAY too long since I posted any updates on here! Here it is almost 2 months into 2011 and I haven't added our Christmas pictures! Christmas 2010 was wonderful but so very busy! We went on our annual Tree Hunt.....


















Turner and Harley made cookies with Oma and Papa this year! Harley watched Oma mix and roll and bake then Papa helped the boys decorate their gingerbread men!





We spent Christmas Eve with my Mom and Dad, Matt and Dawn, Lanny and Sue and Grandma Evelyn. It was a great evening with people we love.




Then, Christmas morning, right after seeing what Santa brought for the boys' stockings, we headed out the door for Grandma Diane's. We took a long detour to pick Devin's Dad, Don, but the long ride was a bit easier than usual since we borrowed my Dad's car (which is bigger than ours) and the boys got portable DVD players for Christmas.


Gram got a wii for Christmas from Carly and Dustin!! SO much fun, the boys LOVE it! And Carly got the flash she wanted for her camera and took some really great pictures of everyone. Here are a few.....