Berry Patch

On June 26th, we started off the day with our Moms of Grace group at Lone Pine for our annual strawberry picking event!  It's always a lot of fun for the kids, and a great time for us moms to catch up.  This year the berries were huge...which makes the time spent picking much more rewarding!  I made strawberry jam and had extra berries to freeze!

Kristin and her daughter Caitlyn getting ready to start picking.

Tate loved looking for berries to eat! (;

Amy with her three kids: Macey, Ethan, & Emma

Susan & Avin

Amy & Cooper

Griffin filled a whole bucket on his own!

Becca & her kids

My guys & Me

Kelly, Eli, & John

Tate & Mathea

June 25th~ Ashley, Camilla, & Mathea, our dear friends from Norway, came to Eugene to visit Ashley's family for a few weeks.  While they were here we squeezed in a few get togethers and had a great time catching up! Ashley was working in Seattle for part of the time, so Camilla & I made plans to hang out a couple of times!

Tate and Mathea were SO cute together!  They are about two months apart. (:  

Such a sweet pair (:

Lunch Time

We brought watermelon to share, and Miss Mathea loved it and kept asking for more. (:

(:

Cousin Night

June 23rd~ Occasionally we swap childcare for date nights with my sisters, and on this night we watched the Chase & Henry kids at our house.  (Josh and I got to go out the night before, and the Chases watched our boys!)  It was really fun having all of the cousins here together!  We had homemade pizza for dinner and cookies & ice cream for dessert.  The kids played upstairs, downstairs, in the hot tub, and finished off the night cuddled up watching a movie.  We are so thankful to have family close by (on both sides)!  It is a blessing to watch the cousins grow up together!

Ready to eat!

All Eight!

Josh even brought Tate in for a little bit!

Cedar & Tate emptied the toy box together. (:

Starting to mellow out...

Dessert time!

Snuggle Time

Oakway Park + more

On June 21st, Amy invited us to Oakway Park to play with her kids and the Neale family.  Ronan, Griffin, and I rode our bikes there (Tate was in the bike trailer), and it went really well!  I'm looking forward to many more family bike rides this summer!

Tate loved the fountain, and Ronan as always was drawn to the sand & water. (;  Thankfully I came prepared with baby powder and extra clothes!

Emma & Ethan

Tate was trying to have a conversation with this little boy:

Hooray for Summer!!!

I don't think I mentioned yet that we agreed to take care of Manuelita, Ronan's 2nd grade classroom pet, for the whole summer!  She is a very sweet turtle and is easy to take care of, but you know, it's another think to remember to take care of. (;  It's going great so far!

Tate is gently laying on Manuelita (;  I made sure that he wasn't squishing her before I took the picture!

June 15th continued~ We had dinner at Mom & Papa's house with the Chases, Henrys, Jahangards, & Adamians.  

Melissa, Becca, & Katrina

The little cousins must have been eating outside, because all of us big cousins took over the dining room. (;

Group Photo Time

Line 'em up...oldest to youngest
Tyler, Sadie, Ronan, Cohen, Finley, Griffin, Lincoln, Cedar, Tate, & Dominic

 After dinner we went to the church where Kenton & Katrina were hosting a game night.  Melissa and I ended up hanging out in the nursery most of the time with the little kids. (:  It was fun watching them play together!

Tate was really into pushing the stroller & other carts. :)

Tate & Lincoln

Sadie is so good with kids!

 Steve & Kellie got in on some of the games. (:

 We had such a nice visit with our cousins--we were sad to see them leave the next morning!    

Thanks again, Kellie, Steve, Melissa, & Shaheen (and boys) for including us in your Oregon travel plans!!  You are welcome to come back and stay with us anytime!