Happy 7th Birthday Andrew

Andrew was thrilled to have 3 birthday - one more than Emily. Its always a contest ya know. We were in Klamath Falls for a golf tournament for Zach and so Andrew celebrated his actual birthday in K Falls. He woke up to donuts and a new bike! What a great deal since we rode bikes all over the Running Y! With Sean never home we celebrated a family party the night we drove home. We pulled in and Jenna had decorated the house all perfect and Sean wrapped all the gifts and Grandma and Grandpa came over and we had a great celebration! So here are 7 things I love about Andrew:
1. He says the funniest off the wall things
For Example: In explaining before his friend party we talked about saying thank you etc. and so I said "What do you say when you get two of something or you get something you already have?" "That's easy mom, I say Thank You very much it will go perfect with my collection!"
2. He still likes to cuddle
3. He is a fantastic story teller
4. His front teeth are loose and so he talks funny
5. He loves to wear pajamas
6. He loves to be outside
7. He could go days without watching TV

Happy 7th Birthday Andrew

Fender Bender

This summer all I do is drive everyone every where. Last week I had to drive Zach to his tournament in Woodburn race home to get Michael and take him to SK8 camp in Lake Oswego come back and get Emily and Andrew ready to go back to get Michael then back down to Woodburn to get Zach and bring everyone home. Somewhere in there we picked up Michael's friend Taylor in Tigard and took Zach back up to the Oregon Golf Club before we headed downtown to North East Portland for appointment. Traffic coming home was awful on I-5 so Emily and Andrew and I took highway 43 down thru Lake Oswego and we made awesome time 15 minutes - yes! Then bam literally out of know where we went flying forward hard. You know those commercials where the happy family is chatting and bam the get hit - well that happened we never saw it coming or anything. Thank goodness the kids were tired and gelled in front of the tv watching Sponge Bob and not squirreling around in their seats. So much for me making great time! The police came and apparently the girl behind the car behind me grabbed her phone and slammed under the SUV in front of her and the SUV rammed into us. Great - that's all we needed because I have all the time in the world to deal with this. None of us were hurt and they car is still completely functionalble - I just look more stupid now driving the ridiculous mini van around all beat up. We ended the day too with the long drive out to Newberg to stay out there so we could be an hour closer to Zach's tournament the next day. Ugh! The car is still not fixed - what a much un needed headache!

Creature Feature

We celebrated Emily's 9th and Andrew's 7th Birthday with a birthday party at home with the reptile man. I have to laugh that I figured no one would really come considering it was during the week and during the middle of the day and during the middle of the summer and with only 1 week notice but just about everyone came and it was so cool! Unfortunately Emily developed a fever in the middle of it but despite that glitch it was amazing and so much fun! He brought a viper and rattlesnake, a kissing lizard, a wall climbing gecko, a huge boa and an alligator and much more. The kids all got to hold a snake, alligator and everyone helped to hold up the huge boa. So much fun!

4th of july

We use to celebrate the 4th with a big barbecue and parade in our old neighborhood so when we moved last year we were lost - this year we decided to start up our favorite tradition and invite family, friends and neighbors to celebrate with a good old barbecue and family fireworks. Hot Dogs and Hamburgers with lots of fruit and chips and yummy deserts along with cans and cans of silly string (thank you Jason) and delicious homemade ice cream (thank you Leslie) made this old tradition in our new town super fun plus Ian learned to ride his bike and Emily and Olivia sang a bueatiful duet of the star spangled banner! We will definitely do it again next year so please plan on coming!

Happy 9th Birthday Emily

Every year we celebrate Emily's Birthday on the 4th of July by going out to breakfast at Elmer's in Tigard. We all eat a huge breakfast and then they bring her ice cream with a candle in it and we all sing her happy birthday.

We then come home and open gifts and eat yummy cake. This year she chose the costco 7 layer chocolate cake. Good choice Emily; Zach and I both had that cake too! We put sparkler candles on and it took her forever to blow them out! Her face cracks me up in the picture she is blowing so hard!

I have a friend who on her blog writes things she loves about her child on their birthday according to their age - I love that idea so Lisa I am going to copy you - thanks!
Nine Things I love about Emily
1. You are a girly girl
2. Your a great leader
3. Your not afraid to get up in front of people
4. Your kind and thoughtful to others; minus your brothers!
5. Your a great athlete - especially at cheerleading and tumbling
6. I love that you can out arm wrestle the boys in your class last year!
7. You write amazing stories
8. You are extremely responsible - maybe even too much sometimes!
9. You bear your testimony every fast Sunday

79th Junior Amateur Golf Tournament Champion

Zach finally won his division this year at the state match play tournament. He placed second during the stroke play on day one and was seeded number 2. On Tuesday he easily won his match and then realized he would probably be playing his two good friends over the next few days. On Wednesday he play Nigel Lett and did a great job winning 8 & 6 and the next day he played Max Carter and again won - watching Max not watch Zach's putt on 14 to win just about killed me. It is so hard to watch good friends play each other - it actually brought tears to my eyes. This day however, Zach played awesome and on hole 9 Max was way off the green and down a hill in the dirt and bushes and he chips it up and the ball lands less than a foot away from the hole. Zach being in the bunker I was thinking uh oh Max might get him on this hole and Zach chips it out of the bunker 6 inches from the hole. It was an amazing shots for both of them - it was like Max had 4 aces and Zach said yea well I have a royal flush. Friday came and Zach had to play Sulman Raza his rival friend Eugene. These two have gone back and forth for years and it wasn't until last year that Zach and the other golfers learned they could beat Sulman. Sean flew back in on a late flight to come and watch and we were confidant he was going to win. It was finally going to be his turn. Starting off both boys were nervous and Sulman missed a couple of shots and gave Zach a 5 up lead that Zach never gave back until Sulman birdied 13 & 14 and I have to admit I was a bit nervous because when Sulman is on he is on and he does not give up. Well on 15 Sulman missed a putt for birdie and Zach chipped it in from just off the back of the green and it dropped right in the hole and he sealed the deal and won. I was thrilled for him and so excited - he did it and after a fantastic week he definatley deserved it! Great job Zach and congratulatons.