The view from my Saturday

Shout and sing the sun came out on Saturday morning!

 Little lady was rockin' sweet hair and equally sweet morning breath as she made her appearance downstairs.  Everyone (except for the Mr.,  and a tentative Cole) was all smiles for today my friends... was race day. I had been looking forward to this day for months. A family 5k was on tap for the morning. It was time to spend outside together being active and healthy....sounds sublime! 

My Morning Kate ready to start the day. I do love a good pair of rain boots. You really can pair them with any outfit....so functional. Especially since it has been raining 85% of these last 2 summer months, but whose counting?!

My thrilled and supportive hero!!

 Never mind my mess of hair or the fact that I wore the

 "gigantor glasses that take up half your face...." the entire time,

focus on the fact that my darling other half agreed to run our little town's annual 5K with yours truly and our older fellas.  This wasn't the funnest thing ever for him but he did it for me simply because he's cool like that. This was big, it was huge...he's not a "public runner."  Neither am I for that matter but I've learned to get over it. It helps if you wear gigantor glasses that take up half your face....no one will see you! -Be still my heart.




Then we came home all tired and sweaty. The sun was still shining..this too was a big deal, so I ventured out and picked a bowl full of beautiful from my garden.

Now that was just a plain old fabulous day!  

The Juners

I adore these two right here...my firstborn and ladylove! They go really well together, she finds him simply hilarious and he loves the positive feedback.  Jack has always been a tremendous help with Kate which I thoroughly appreciate. He's a trooper when it comes to helping with his sister so it's quite perfect that these two pals share a birthday month...June. In honor of my darling bookends I present....the birthdays!



We're all still questioning the pucker....where did it come from? He claims complete ignorance..never happened!



I love this little girl!



The Birthday Boy!
He was pleased with his loot. Comic books, cook books, drawing books, cool fact books, and of course Butter fingers!



Mickey Waffle breakfast it is!



This kid reaaalllly likes Batman..oh, and he's 9..did you get that?



The Birthday Girl!!!



I love this picture...she was so pleased with the entire process! Her poor cake was another story. I had big plans for a giant CUPCAKE cake. (Wilton cake company-stinky design on the pan-grrr).  Needless to say, it did not turn out as I had planned and thus became a giant pink egg with sprinkles!




How is she already 2?




Finally...a barbie doll (ce-EL-LL-LL-LA) has graced our home!




Cole cannot hide his enthusiasm any longer! -Would it be shocking to know that in this home, Cinderella has already lost a leg? Seriously gentlemen...did we have her for 3 weeks?




Oh boy...Strawberry Shortcake!




Nothing more attractive than watching your husband detangle doll hair!



             Happy Birthday my darlings...June is a pretty fantastic 
                               month around here thanks to you!

Blogworthy...early June

I've pretty much lost my blogging mojo for the summer.... it's just not in me.  However, one day...... mark my words, I will make a blog book and it will be lovely and packed full of events I want to remember.  So I must continue (for the sake of the book I dread making),  posting blog worthy tidbits from my life. Let's take baby steps into early June shall we?

Trip to Kennewick for cousin Sam's baptism:

We made a trip over to the east side to attend cute cousin Sam's big day. He looked pretty handsome in his fresh new 8 year old duds. The weather was perfect, the food delicious, and the company was fun and casual. It was short and sweet but worth the trip! Favorite part of this picture: Ms. Kate feeling every part of the gust of wind that just blew past her cute little body!



My handsome and oh so talented younger brother Allen. Not only can he host a great after baptism luncheon wearing a green plaid apron..he can play a mean beat boxing key board while holding a sweaty toddler. We had great food AND great entertainment!

Stake 5k:

Our stake puts on a 5k race each June and it has become our annual running gig to kick off the summer. I love doing it. Mr. Coley pants decided to get in on the fun this year. Since it was his first 5k I deemed him the honorary user of the family Ipod, you know....get some good tunes to keep him moving!  Lesson learned: 7 year olds who fight back tears and want to hold your hand while running cause their legs are about to fall off should not attempt to use an Ipod. It will become loose, fall off, get tangled, play continual "weird" songs and otherwise be a complete nuisance for said 7 year old's mother who thus will end up wearing a second Ipod on her arm. Good times none the less.



Moments of genius:

For some special reason Kate allows Brody to brush her teeth and no one else.  Whatever!

                              Becoming the two year old:


Kate has officially had her moment(S) of being a two year old. I absolutely adore her in everyway!  Yet as she gets older I'm learning quickly the "ways of her force." She's real good at slobbering and spinning and flopping on the ground for no reason. It doesn't happen that often but when it does...Whoa Nelly!


                                 She's also good at smiling and swinging and being completely fantastic!

Up next....late June...oh the suspense!

the champ....

When you're an almost 9 year old kid who loves with every fiber of your adolescent being growing out your ultra thick, sweaty, shaggadelic hair,  the reality of the haircut that IS about to take place can be quite painful.

It's a good thing his totally awesome and short hair loving parents had already picked up his brand spankin' new football uniform earlier in the evening. Ultra thick, sweaty, and shaggadelic heads were not allowed in brand new beautiful bright goldy yellow helmets. That was the deal. Hands were shaken.



"I don't have shaggy hair...can I try it on?"




He oozes tough.





Pre cut....still smiling.





There's that forehead...I knew he had one!



A beautiful site indeed!

I'm proud to say that Jack handled the haircut like a champ. Kyle is kind of a haircut nazi around these parts. Our gene pool produces some crazy thick hair and thick hair produces a very sweaty big boy. He's been dying to bust out the clippers and give the kid a trim for months.  Jack was an obedient little soul whose clean, dry, fuzzy head fit like a glove into his shiny new helmet! It's all good.

What I've got...

I've got a mole causing all sorts of havoc and mayhem in my front yard. A bunny up to no good circling my beautifully growing garden in my back yard. And an almost 9 year old who #1- desperately needs a haircut and #2- thinks he is absolutely THEE most hysterical thing on planet Earth when he swipes my camera for a private photo session. Dork.

Cousins

I love that my kids have cousins that live close by. I love that my kids think it's parTAY time whenever our families get together.  I love that my kids have a certain cousin that shoots a pink BB gun while wearing a pink cowboy hat. I love that my kids and their gun 'totin cousin take pictures like this when not a single adult is around. 

The trip that turned out Mahvelous

Months ago I decided that our family needed to spend some quality time together.....just us. We WOULD go some where different/interesting/out of the ordinary and WOULD enjoy each other's company. I found suitable accommodations and by golly I booked them, right there on the spot. I talked up the trip months in advance..constantly reminding the crew that a bunch of fun was about to be had.

We packed the car with rubber boots, buckets, and a whole lotta skittles and headed down to Seaside!



Our house was a perfect block away from the beach. We enjoyed a hefty 6 minutes or so of beach fun before the rain began to mist.




Right after the mist turned into a downpour.....

We splurged on doughnuts for the walk home one night after dinner. The boys were absolutely thrilled... no forced sharing was involved.



I had seriously prayed for at least ONE day of sunshine so we could enjoy the beach. Thankfully Saturday of all days was gloriously perfect!



Perfect until Kate and ocean collided.



If you ever get the chance, be a complete tourist and rent one of these silly bike thingys. The kids will love you for it. However- don't wear a tank top under your long sleeved shirt with a fleece on top and wrap your chilly self in a scarf...you'll get real hot and sweaty as you pedal your ramshackle mobile with all your might, and your husband will make fun of you.



"My mom is #1 for making our family go on this awesome weekend trip!"



We explored the fabulous beach and collected pockets full of seashells....not to be confused with sunshine.

 A trip to the Oregon coast wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Tillamook Creamery where we learned all about the making and "cutting of the cheese!" -Thank you Jack.



And devoured  ice cream cones....



Little Lady was pretty much a travel champ in the car...




Classic..Brody and Kate were hilarious in their front row basket seat. Cole couldn't reach to help peddle at all and Jack kept stopping to "take a quick break." Hence sweaty mom.




2 thumbs up for Po!




And two thumbs WAY up for the fact that I caught all persons OVER  the age of 4 sitting and watching Thomas the Train as I came downstairs one morning.  I find moments like this very enjoyable. They on the other hand....not so much!



I'm proud of myself for planning this little adventure.  Much to the  Mr.'s slight dismay, I made the decision to make the effort to spend quality time together.  I had big plans that we would have big fun and that is exactly what we did.