Happy Birthday, Kenton!

August 3, 2008

Katrina hosted a nice get together with family and friends for Kenton's 27th Birthday. Kenton BBQ'd hamburgers and hot dogs and we all enjoyed eating in the backyard & visiting with one another. They have such a nice group of friends!

For dessert Katrina made an interesting creation: Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies. You'll have to check out her post to read more about it and see her pictures from the party. (: Josh and I really liked the cookies!

Uncle Kenton got some cool toys & games for his birthday! He had lots of eager helpers (:

Ronan and Tyler playing Rock Band.

Becca and I helping keep the kids 'corralled' while the guys took their turn at Rock Band. (:

little Rock Stars

This picture was taken after I missed an even cuter shot of Sadie holding hands with Ethan & Macey and guiding them around the yard.

The Birthday Boy with his sweet family.

playing + painting

Saturday, July 26th
I'm a little out of order with my posts (:

Our brother-in-law, Brad, and the kids came down for the day to help with painting our house. Well, the kids and I mostly played while the guys worked on siding, trim, and painting! It was fun having the Creagers over! Ronan especially loved having his cousins over to play with all day long! They all played well together...it was a lot of fun.

Silly kids sitting under the rug watching a movie.
(Audrey, Lydia, Ronan, Griffin, and Dylan)
Lydia loves art! Ronan and Griffin joined her for a short time (:
Audrey got to help paint in the attic. She was such a hard worker!
Brad did a ton of painting on the inside of the house while Josh and Papa worked to get the west side of the house ready for exterior paint.
We were hoping to get this side painted so that Josh could take the scaffolding down and put up the fence between the two houses. I had to get a picture of my dad helping Josh at the peak of the house....they were up SO high. It was scary to watch!

They were exhausted by the end of the day. It takes so much energy to climb up and down those ladders!

Brad was able to finish painting the side of the house before dark! Yay! There is still a little bit more siding to do before Brad returns next Saturday to paint the rest of the house. It will be such a relief when the siding is all done! It has been such a huge job!

Cabinets are in...

The Kitchen
'Crisp Khaki' wall colorPantry and Side Bar

Downstairs Bathroom

'Sunset' wall color

Kids' Bathroom
'Halcyon Green' Wall Color

Master Bathroom
'Ryegrass' wall color

Where is Erik?

On a boat on the Mississippi River...preparing to film a reality show for the Discovery Channel about deep sea welders. At least I think so (: He sent this pic to my parents, so I know he has internet access. Erik, you'll have to comment and fill us in on what you've been doing. We love you and miss you!

July 29, 2008

Ronan is 4 years old!!

I took so many pictures between his party and actual birthday that I had a hard time picking which ones to include in my blog. I added an album in the left hand column if you want to view more pictures. (: We had fun celebrating our big boy on his Birthday~ my favorite day of the year as my dad always says on each of our birthdays. (:
For lunch Josh met us at Papa's Pizza along with some family members who were available at lunch time: Memaw & Papa, the Chases, the Greens, and Great Grammie & Grandpa Lermo. Ronan got a free mini pizza and a t-shirt! Gotta love Papa's Pizza!

I brought cookies for dessert...

Becca and the kids came over after lunch to play with the birthday boy (while Griffin napped). Having them over helped pass the time while we waited for Josh to get off work. I was almost as excited as Ronan was about his presents... it was fun shopping for him! (:

Such a cool 4 year old (:

A new Speed Racer lunch box! He also got some new swim trunks, another Speed Racer car, and some books--a Batman one and a Pirates of the Caribbean book with magnetic pieces.

His big gift from us was a new bike!
All ready to try it out!

He needs a little boost to get started, but then he can ride on his own and use the brakes to stop. He's such a strong, confident boy!

A picture with my Birthday Boy (:

A few days later this special gift arrived in the mail from Great Aunt Nancy and Uncle Mike. What a perfect book for Ronan!

Ronan's Birthday Party!

Sunday, July 27th
For Ronan's 4th Birthday we had a Speed Racer party at the park by Josh's parent's house ("Grammie's Park" as Ronan calls it). Ronan had been planning and anticipating this party since seeing the Speed Racer movie in the theater back in May. He has been asking for Speed Racer toys, especially the helmet, every time we go near the toy aisles in stores...so, you can imagine his excitement when it was finally party day!
The Cake
(Made by Costco, but decorated by Becca & me.)

We had a crowd of family and friends, with a total of 19 kids ages 10 months to 9 years old! We were pretty much the only ones at the park, so it almost felt like the parties we used to have in our backyard (before construction).
Everyone gathered under the big trees--and around the food--where we could watch the kids play on the playground. It was a great afternoon for a party!

Griffin and his November cousins loved the sand!
Even the older kids had fun playing in the sand.

Cohen and Griffin jumping in the center of the merry-go-round (:
I think I even caught Cohen in the air in this picture!

Getting ready to open presents!

He got some great gifts--a backhoe, Speed Racer cars, Transformers, a Batmobile, a skateboard...and just what he had been dreaming about...the Speed Racer helmet! What a lucky boy!

Only Josh would think of lighting the candles with a torch! (: We couldn't find a regular lighter at home, so I was going to bring matches, but Josh had the idea to bring the torch in case it was windy. I told him to be prepared to get teased. (:

A group shot of all 19 kids. It's kinda hard to see all of their faces, but amazingly enough, we got them all in the picture!
Back Row: Luke, Kyle, Micah, Ben, Audrey, Macey, Lydia, Dylan, Ellie, and Sadie
Front Row: Ronan, Griffin, Tyler, Ethan, Konnor, Rhyan, Finley, Ryan, and Cohen

still catching up...

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Our moms group from church ventured down to the Elkton Butterfly Pavillion for a bit of exploration and relaxation. The butterfly hut itself did not seem too impressive, but the gardens and nature trails more than made up for it. The kids loved getting to run and hike, and us moms had fun visiting with one another.

A close-up
Since it was a cool day the butterflys were hanging out near the ceiling of the hut where it was a little warmer.
Sadie guiding Griffin in the search for butterflys.
(Cohen, Ronan, and Tyler squatting down)
They found one!

This room had a display of the life cycle of a butterfly from caterpillar to chrysalis. We learned that a caterpillar eats its weight in leaves every day!

Griffin throwing rocks into a little fountain...before we were told not to let the kids throw rocks. Oops (:
Sadie posing on one of the garden sculptures.
Kesch gathering kids for our guided nature walk.


Griffin pointing at a sculpture of a frog playing the violin. (:
My mom took this picture for me.

We heard frogs croaking in the ponds, so we went to find one for the kids to see up close.

This amazing sculpture was a big hit for all the kids...especially the ones that liked to climb.

At the end of the hike we got to pick and eat some raspberries and blueberries--the biggest blueberries I'd ever seen! We ate lunch and picked a few more berries, then headed home to Eugene. We were all worn out from such a fun day!