Cannon Beach Celebration!

Over Memorial Day weekend we joined a portion of Matt's family at our favorite vacation spot - Cannon Beach Christian Conference Center. Normally we spend a week in August there, but this year with baby girl due, a week in August wasn't going to work for us. We opted to attend the weekend conference.

The only meal "on our own" over the special three-day weekend was Saturday lunch (all other meals were provided) so it was fun to plan a "Cars" themed family birthday party to celebrate the May/June/July family birthdays - Uncle Mike, Jay, Cousin Alex, David, and Cousin Josh.

Here are pictures of the 4 cousins playing together with Alex and Josh's "Cars" collection prior to lunch. How perfect - in the "theme" already!

Lunch - pizza from Pizza a' Fetta

Fruit, Chips, and Salad Fixin's

"Cars" themed plates

Some of the birthday boys enjoying their pizza lunch!

(Clockwise: David, Josh, and Alex)

Present time!

Ice cream cake for dessert

Opening gifts from Mommy and Daddy after nap time

Playing with the new birthday toys!
(We thought it was funny that David liked playing with his feet and legs under the end of the bed.)

Our weekend there ended on a bit of an abrupt down note. Mommy/me/Mindy came down with the signs/symptoms of Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease. (Jay had it early that week and I probably caught it when I was comforting him Tuesday night.) In order to not give greater exposure to family, we hightailed it out of there Sunday morning driving straight back home. (Our initial plan attend the conference through Monday afternoon, spend Monday night in Oregon at Matt's parents, driving back home Tuesday morning to avoid the holiday traffic.) Praise the Lord - neither Matt or David caught it. We continue to pray that Jay and I didn't spread it to any others.

Mother's Day & First Ferry Ride

On Mother's Day, May 13th, we delivered a meal to friends in the Everett area (celebrating with them the addition of a newborn boy). It was a beautiful day, so we made it into a fun afternoon, taking the boys to Silver Lake which had a great big play area.

The following Saturday, May 19th, we visited friends who have recently moved to Fox Island (just outside Tacoma near Gig Harbor) and then visited family in Port Orchard. We caught the 1:45 ferry (an hour long ride) from Bremerton to Seattle -- the boys' first-ever ferry ride. They LOVED it! It was such an enjoyable day.

My 35th Birthday

I turned 35 on Thursday, May 3rd.

My day started with terrific hugs and kisses from my three boys. Then Matt lovingly sent me back to bed to enjoy an extra hour of sleep (sigh - wonderful!). As I ate breakfast I opened my birthday card from Matt. Inside were words that made me cry, a Jamba Juice gift card to use this summer (yum!), and what I'm most excited about - the gift of Thursday evenings to myself this month!! (One Thursday night includes a date night with Matt while PopPop and Nana babysit the boys.)

Out the door we later went to the bi-monthly MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting at church while Matt went to work. At MOPS my tablemate/friend Beth announced to all the Moms present that it was my birthday that day. About 5 or 10 minutes later a box of 12 mini Cupcake Royale cupcakes was given to me. I later learned the cupcakes were delivered from my thoughtful husband for me to share with my girlfriends.

There were some mini cupcakes left over so after the boys and I returned home for lunch, we dived in and enjoyed one mini cupcake each. Below are pictures of David's enjoyment of his chosen cupcake.

 

For dinner Matt treated us to Pagliacci pizza and salad (I loved not having to plan dinner!), plus a regular sized Cupcake Royale cupcake for dessert.

I decided it was probably about time to post a mid-pregnancy photo, so here I am with my birthday cupcake at almost 26 weeks along (out of 40 weeks which is August 11th). YIKES! I'm sure I'll start hearing "you're due any day now, right?" But that's okay -- you just continue to grow getting big and healthy baby girl!!

Happenings Around Here

Here are some catch-up photos and a video from last month and this month.

Jay and David playing together on the kitchen floor with pop cans and toys. They are getting to be really good playmates (most of the time, that is).

David "hanging" on a Saturday in Daddy's golf visor hat.

This is a common sight. The boys take turns climbing up on this chair whenever their curiosity gets the best of them to look out the window at all the construction trucks and vehicles that have been working on replacing the sewer pipe on our street since last fall. Hopefully the project will be completed by the end of May. We'll see...it was supposed to be completed by the end of March.

Jay drew this picture for me last week. My face is the small round one at the top. He told me I've eaten a banana (the big shape in the middle) and it goes down, down, down for baby to eat (the line leading down to baby's face).

And yesterday I was able to capture this video of David singing "Jesus Loves Me."

Easter 2012

Coloring Easter Eggs!

On Good Friday, April 6th, we traveled to Nana and PopPop's house in Oregon for Easter Weekend. Saturday Aunt Shawn (Matt's sister), Uncle Mike, and Cousins Alex and Joshua joined us for a celebratory Easter dinner (at lunchtime). After dinner and before dessert, Nana and PopPop hid plastic candy-filled Easter eggs around the house for our boys to find. They had a blast!

PopPop's birthday was Sunday, April 8th, and Nana's birthday is coming up on Saturday, April 28th. Nana made PopPop a key lime pie for our Easter dinner dessert. Shawn and I conspired together for a surprise for Nana - I made and brought a secret marionberry pie to celebrate her birthday, too! Here are some pictures of them lighting their birthday candles.

Here they are joining in on the birthday song, singing it to each other. Aren't they the cutest??

And I captured the candle extinguish moment - puffed out cheeks and all!

And the following photos are ones Jay captured when he used the camera to capture his own Easter weekend moments. :) They made me laugh.

After dinner, it was time to put David down for his nap (and I took a nap, too). Meanwhile PopPop and Nana took Jay out on a little walk/explore near their home. When he returned Jay reported all the fun things he did -- throwing sticks in the little stream and watching them travel through a pipe and out the other side, etc. He also returned with a bouquet of yellow flowers which he gave to me with a "I love you, Mommy" and a hug around my leg. MELT MY HEART!! (Special thanks to Nana for helping Jay with that project.)

After church with Nana and PopPop on Easter Sunday we traveled back home. Later that evening we brought the boys to a favorite nearby park with waterfront access and I captured this sweet moment. It was a perfect, beautiful ending to a terrific weekend.