Blue Man Group

We had such a great time in the city going to the Blue Man Group and felt like real grown-ups! :) It was so interesting, fun, interactive, thought-provoking, funny, crazy, and messy with a cherry on top. The whole time I was thinking about what a blast the girls would have and how I must take them soon. We are so blessed with such fun, adventurous friends.

Please disregard this horrible picture of me, it's the only pic I have and if I'm ever to remember anything before yesterday, I need pictures.

First day of school for the 7th and 5th graders!

Since when did I raise a 7th and 5th grader? After a little arm wrestling at the main office, Maddie has a schedule she is happy with and feels pretty confident at Haines. But would you believe they have no air conditioning in the entire building? Steve thinks it's going to take the death of a student from heat exhaustion for them to make a change! Let's hope not. Rylee is now the top dog at Ferson Creek and has a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Goodfellow. Although her bestie, Livvy, is not in her class, she's got some other great friends in there.
This picture cracks me up. Maddie is clearly very irratated with me for taking pictures when she and Makayla should be on their way to the bus stop! And this, my friends, is why I have more of Rylee.
I had to get a picture of Rylee's hair. We crimped it and then she put a little braid on the side. Too cute.

Down-town Chicago

The reason for the hyphen in Down-town is because each and every time we would drive to Beaverton from Vancouver and would drive through Down-town Portland, we would get excited about the city lights, the Willamette River, the bridges, and the fact that we were at least halfway to aunties/manaws/uncles and would loudly exclaim "Down-town Port-land". All 4 of us are lovers of big cities (although the girls are not lovers of walking!) and Chicago takes the cake! Last spring when Steve was jobless, he and I would take the train downtown as soon as the girls got on the bus to get our daily exercise and would take the 1:40 back so we could be home in time to get Rylee of the bus. I have great memories of those times and am grateful to live near such a great city.

This slide rocked! I don't think it's really a slide per se, but we couldn't resist.

Who wants a Mac?

Our computer decided to quit on us (I love my Mac's but shouldn't they last more than 4 years?) and so for our 15th anniversary, Steve and I decided we would buy each other a new set-up. We brought our old computer to the Mac store for a data transfer but they told us we had to take it back with us because they can't recycle it at the store. Anyway...after I signed the paperwork and used the bathroom, I found Steve outside the Mac store with this little display. He didn't want to carry it to the car and being the entrepreneur he is, thought he could make a few bucks too. Man, he keeps me laughing. (The little 3 X 5 card in the corner says $25.00)

What we have been up to lately

Dealing with poorly shipped SilverSavers,
Making SilverSaver displays and driving across Illinois to deliver them,
and fixing broken SilverSavers.
The End

Cousins

How many kids can brush their teeth in the same sink at the same time? Apparently 5! Their sleeping arrangements were perfect; Teisha's living room made one big bed!

I Love these kids!

And the braces come off!

Maddie made it almost 2 years with braces and the torture paid off...her teeth (and her) are beautiful! Actually, there wasn't much torture because she still ate taffy, chewed gum and chomped on jaw breakers. I remember a weak parenting point I had when we were on a field trip to the Naperville Settlement and she was pleading with me to buy some taffy. I told her to call the orthodontist and if they said she could eat it, I would buy it for her. She called and they told her...that SHE COULD HAVE IT! At that point all the 'braces' rules went out the window and she never had any issues. :)

Maddies's 12th Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADSTERS!

This is one happy birthday girl; surrounded by great friends Britton and McKinnley and eating a chocolate bar!

Rylee and Kennedy jumping for joy with the completion of the toilet papered tent! The big girls were inside and didn't know what they had in store...the bad news for Rylee was that it rained that night and she got to clean up wet toilet paper!

S'Mores outside.

McKinnley, Brittany, Emma, Britton, Sydney, Addison, Caitlyn, Maddie, Amelia. This really is such a great group of girls - I love them all like my own.

Mads got to celebrate twice this year - what with her popularity and all - we had to split her parties into 2 groups; friends from school and friends from church.

Both groups made puffy paint t-shirts and (attempted to) camped out in the tent.

We've had a wee bit of an issue with brown dog ticks this year - we may or may not have found them in our beds with us at night. Stuck.to.us. Anywhoo, Mads regularly has nightmares about them and so I had to let her know that I would kill all the ticks in the world for her on her Birthday sign!

The kitchen, decorated with birthday signs.

We are so grateful that Madison is a part of our family. She is often the life of the party and loves to make everyone laugh. She is not afraid to be silly and/or make fun of herself and doesn't take life too seriously. She has a HUGE heart and honestly wants to do what is right. WE LOVE YOU MADS!

Sunday afternoon's

Steve may kill me for posting this, but I had to capture a familiar Sunday afternoon activity: naps on the couch and a little grooming from the girls. Sometimes they buff and file his nails (he HATES to cut his fingernails...claims it hurts him??) sometimes pluck his eyebrows (but finds this strangely relaxing) and also allows an occasional makeover...but we won't go into details here!

Ryry's dance recital

I am still mourning over the fact that I didn't get any pictures other than those here. And it's not just cause I spent over $130 on the costumes, although that was one hard check to write. It's cause Rylee looked so stinkin' cute...she danced 2 different performances: the first was Cinderella and the second was West Side Story. State Street really knows how to put on a show; the performances lasted the ENTIRE day! Really though the day was a great culmination to 1 year of weekly dance practices with Ry and her 2 besties Olivia and McKenzie.