Strawberries

After an incredibly wet and cold spring/beginning of summer Strawberries have finally started. They are a little later than they were last year, but we quickly made up for the lost time. James fell asleep on the way there and thankfully stayed asleep the whole time we were picking.

Hailee had such a great time picking berries with her grandparents. She loved looking for unique shapes of strawberries. She picked a lot of great shapes, but her shape of choice was a heart.

Hailee had such a great time chatting with her grandparents as well. She would pick strawberries by grandma and then move to be by grandpa. It was so funny to listen to her chat away with them. I'm sure Todd's dad didn't quite know what to do with such a little chatty girl. The thing about Hailee is that when she talks to you she requires that you respond at regular intervals. If grandpa wasn't responding as fast as she wanted I would hear her say "Grandpa...." To which grandpa would dutifully respond in the correct way. Todd's dad doesn't talk much, but he is so cute with Hailee.  

Sleeping the entire time. What a good boy. Since he slept the whole time, Hailee and I were able to pick 20 pounds of strawberries. Grandpa and Grandma also picked 20 pounds of strawberries.

It wasn't long before James woke up and was ready to enjoy the strawberries.

James even "helped" Grandpa clean the strawberries. It wasn't long before James had jumped in head first.

Overall it was a great day and we loved getting so many strawberries.

Sunny Sunday

Saturday and Sunday have been the warmest sunny days we've had all year. And it didn't last long because the rest of the week has been full of rain and clouds. We decided to take advantage of the great weather and late church to show Todd's parents a beautiful view of Portland. Our new favorite place is Pittock Mansion. The drive there is beautiful and the view is gorgeous. James fell asleep on the way up so I waited in the car with him while the others got to walk around the gardens.The we made it back just in time for church. Hailee got to give the scripture in Primary and she was excited to have her grandparents there to see her.

Recital Time

It is time for Hailee's recital. She has been looking forward to dancing and having her grandparents coming for a visit. She has been taking lessons since September and has had such a good time with her friends in her class and her ballet teacher. She did such a great job and we are so proud of her.

James was even good through the performance. During the dress rehearsal he was running around like crazy until it was Hailee's turn then he got excited to see her on stage so he sat quietly. I was a little nervous how it would go during the show and worried that I would have to be out with him for most of it, but he sat though most of it. It helped that there was a lot of music that he liked and there weren't a lot of breaks.  

Todd's parents drove up so they could watch Hailee's performance. They got here just in time to watch her and are going to spend the next few days with us. The kids are looking forward to time with their grandparents.

After the show we went to dinner. This picture just cracks me up. Hailee is sitting quietly and James has the look of mischief on his face. It sums up those two quite nicely. Hailee always being the good girl and James always looking for trouble.

It was such a fun day!

It has begun

The World Cup has begun at out house. We couldn't be more excited. Back in 2006 when the World Cup was going on in Germany I was using my VCR to record the games for Todd while he was at work. This time around we have a DVR that has made things a little simpler, but no less fun. Now every day for the next month or so will be filled with games to watch. The only thing Todd has to worry about now is to not get the news of who won the game until after he can watch it.

Saturday before Hailee's recital we got to watch the US draw against England. As you can see from the picture it was an intense game. Todd was standing the whole time and Hailee wanted to be by him so she pulled her chair up.

A Wobbly Tooth

On Monday Hailee turned 6 years old. Where does the time go. I know everyone says that, but it's so true. How did she get so big?

Our little girl is growing up right before our eyes. She had such a fun day. When she was born in June I didn't think she'd ever get to go to school on her birthday. Being a summer birthday myself I missed out on being able to take treats to school. In Oregon we don't start school until after Labor Day so Hailee got to go to school on her birthday. She was so thrilled to take chocolate donuts to school today. She informed me that everyone would want chocolate. I decided to get a few glazed donuts as well, just in case there were some that didn't like chocolate. As it turns out I should have listened to Hailee, she must have been paying attention, because everyone wanted chocolate.

After school she opened a few of her packages. Our kids our used to packages on special occasions. They don't get to see their grandparents as often as they would like, but they sure enjoy getting packages in the mail. They love being spoiled via the USPS.

Today was also Ballet day, so we took cupcakes to her ballet class. She was so thrilled to share in her birthday celebrations. After ballet we went to the park to visit with some friends. We haven't seen them in almost 6 years while we were still living in Provo. They lived in Hillsboro before we moved here and they actually used to live in the ward we are living now. While the kids played we got a chance to catch up a bit. Then it was off to Hailee's birthday dinner. When deciding where she wanted to go here is our conversation:

Nicole: Hailee since it's your birthday where do you want to go eat?
Hailee: (without a moments hesitation) Burger King!
Nicole: Since it's your birthday you can pick something a little nicer if you want.
Hailee: Ummmmm...Burgerville.

Not exactly what I would have chosen, but the birthday girl get to choose. She was thrilled when we got to go inside (we usually go through the drive through). Burgerville is quite fun (it's just in the Northwest) and Hailee and James were thrilled.

When we got home it was time for bed so I sent Todd up with her to get ready for bed. When I came up to tuck her in she had the most excited smile on her face. Evidently when she used her teeth to get the lid off her cup it knocked her tooth loose. Since Kindergarten started she has wanted to know when she would finally get a wobbly tooth. I didn't loose my first tooth until the end of 1st grade so I never wanted to get her hopes up. All year long all of her little friends have been loosing teeth and she has been a little jealous. Well on her 6-year-old birthday she finally got a wobbly tooth. It was the perfect end to her special day. Now she is patiently waiting for her tooth to fall out. She's been asking to eat apples for every snack, since Lola's tooth fell out when she was eating an apple.

1410

Hailee loves to read. This summer her school is participating in the Scholastic Summer Reading Program. It started May 1st and goes through August 31st. We're just about a month in and she already has 1410 minutes. We were suppose to estimate how many minutes she was going to have over the summer. I guessed that she would read about 30 minutes a day. I was just a tiny bit off. I had no idea how much she was really reading in a day. There are some days she does just read about 30 minutes, but other days when she reads 3 hours. I think as long as I keep her in books this summer she should easily make her goal of 3500 minutes. She loves to sit and read in the car so I'm sure we'll be taking a few trips to Powells to keep her stocked up on books for our trips to Utah.

James is learning how to love reading as well, but there are times when he get a little tired of his sister ignoring him. At this point Hailee was enjoying her book and James had just woken up. He wanted to play and she wanted to read.

He quickly took matters into his own hands and had her playing with him in no time flat.

Visit from Aunt Ruthann

We were so excited to get a visit from Aunt Ruthann. She and a few friends decided to take a trip to the Northwest and we were so pleased that they stayed at our house a few days while they checked out the Oregon Coast and Portland. Unfortunately the weather didn't really cooperate for them and they got a really good taste of the rain here in Oregon. We've had an unusually wet few weeks here. The spring is always a little wet and normally get quite a few wet days through June, but this year has been crazy.

After Hailee got done with school on Wednesday we got to spend some time with them in Portland. We got to go to our favorite bookstore and then to my favorite store for when I no longer have children wiping their faces on my clothes.

After a fun afternoon we came back to pick up Todd from the Airport. He spend two days in Santa Clara for work. He even got to go to the CFO of Intel's house for dinner. After we picked him up we went to our new favorite Thai food place. Lucky for us it's right by our house and so good.

I am so glad my kids will eat "weird" food. Hailee loved the carrot they cut to look like a flower.

Then it was back home again to play a little more with Aunt Ruthann. Hailee got to stay up a little later than normal so she could spend some time with her. It was a quick visit, but we loved seeing her. We're looking forward to seeing her again at Aspen Grove.