Happy Birthday, Audrey!

Our niece, Audrey, is now ten years old! It's hard to believe it! She was just 6 weeks old at our wedding, so I will forever remember how old she is. (: We celebrated with all the family the evening of Memorial Day (we made it back from the coast in time) with a BBQ and dessert.

Audrey was very excited about her gifts! She's all set to redecorate her bedroom!

Audrey with all of her cousins. Such happy kids! (:

Super Daddy!

Memorial Day

Since Josh had the day off we decided to go to the coast for the day. Lately we have been working so hard on finishing up projects at our house so we thought that we all needed a break! Also, Josh and I were preparing to leave in a week for our 10th anniversary trip, so we really wanted to spend some quality time with our kids before then! When we got to Florence we stopped at a family fun center to check into renting dune buggies. It turned out that Griffin was too young to ride in one, so instead we took the kids on a little train ride that was there.

We got some lunch then headed to the beach. It was a sunny day, but really windy...perfect for kite flying and kite surfing, apparently. At one point I counted ten kite surfers out in the water! It was fun to watch!
Josh (and Ronan) talked with some of the guys about kite surfing. I'm sure they'll be out there doing it someday. (:

Getting our kite ready...

The boys worked together to dig a big hole and make a tunnel in the sand. Then they all tried to crawl through the tunnel. (:

Happy Birthday, Mom!

May 21, 2009
My mom turned 55 this year, so my sisters and I wanted to do something special for her big day. We ended up taking her to lunch at the 5th Street Public Market, and a couple of her friends were able to join us. We ate some yummy food and shared a delicious chocolate cake. We all had a really nice time!

We had a family party a few days later: Happy Birthday, Memaw!

Mom surrounded by (almost) all of her grandkids. Cedar must have been sleeping at the time.

Every year we try to play softball together either on Mother's Day or my Mom's birthday. The kids, especially, were very excited to play and could hardly wait for dessert to be over and for Memaw to open her presents! (:

Ronan sliding into home plate.

Cohen at bat

Memaw and Griffin running the bases together.

Mother's Day part 2

We continued our day of celebrating Mother's Day by going to Amy and Jon's house for dinner. Josh's parents were there along with his grandparents and his sister, Erin, and her kids. The cousins had a great time playing in the Green's backyard! They have a fun swing set and a sandbox--and a big yard to run around in.
Dylan, Audrey, Macey, and Lydia

Ronan, Lydia, Dylan, Audrey, and Ethan playing in the sand.

Amy with her kids

Erin with her kids

Grammie and Grandpa with all eight grandkids!!

The whole group
(minus the photographers)

Mother's Day-part 1

I had a very nice Mother's Day this year celebrating with my sweet family and most of our extended family. It started off kind of mellow because Griffin and I stayed home from church because he was getting over a cold. When Josh and Ronan came home they surprised me with a bouquet of flowers from each of my boys.
Josh also got me this really pretty pearl bracelet.

Next we went to my parent's house to have lunch and celebrate with all of the moms on the Hecht side of the family. Papa barbecued London Broil steak and we all brought side dishes to share. It was a beautiful day, so we got to eat and play in the backyard.
Photo shoot with my boys:

The Moms with our Mom. (:

Becca and her kids

Katrina and her two boys!

Special School Party

Ronan's preschool teacher did a great thing during the last week of school and had a special birthday party for all of the kids with a summer birthday. I thought it was such a neat idea, and Ronan was very excited to get to celebrate with his school buddies. I was taking care of Cohen that day, so he got to come along for the party. Ronan was extra excited to have his brother and cousin there. (:
So very happy!
Ahhh, frosting. (:

Erik's Visit

My brother, Erik, came down to Eugene the day after Cedar was born, so Becca and I went to the hospital with him to visit the Henry family.

It was fun having all four of us together to share in this special occasion. (:

Afterward, everyone came over to our house to have dessert and hang out. The kids always love having Uncle Erik around!
In this picture we were all watching one of Erik's short films: Brad's Big Day

This picture was taken a few days later when Katrina, Kenton, and Cedar stopped by on their way home from the hospital. My boys were so excited to get to see their newest cousin again. (:

Later in the week we went to the Henrys for a quick visit... and Ronan decided he was ready to hold baby Cedar for the first time.