Marv's 90th Birthday

My step-grandpa, Marv, is turning 90 (June 5th) and the family wanted to throw a surprise party for him. Everyone thought it would be easier to travel Memorial weekend (more time) so we celebrated a week early! The drive down was loooong, all the way to Medford, OR. We left Friday and it took us 9 hours to get there. But the girls did amazing in the car, I think that was our first successful road trip. Marv knew that my dad and step-mom were coming into town so the plan was for them to take him out to dinner Friday night. What he did not know was that the rest of his kids showed up to pick him up for dinner also (he has 4 children in all). It was told that he was SHOCKED and could not believe the surprise. While they were all at dinner all the grand kids (and great grand kids) decorated their house and waited for them to return. He did not know any of us were there either, at this point he thought just his kids; which was a surprise. We waited in the dark kitchen for their return and when he came home he said, "How did you guys decorate while we were at dinner?". He had no idea we were in the kitchen waiting for him. We finally flipped on the lights and surprised the heck out of him. I have never seen a face so happy in my life. He was grinning from ear to ear and getting all choked up. The surprise could not have gone any better. What a wonderful birthday surprise for such a wonderful, caring, and amazing individual. Happy 90th Marv...you are truly one of a kind!

To top off the weekend, Jim's sister, Erin, lives about 3.5 hours away from Medford, OR. She and her family were kind enough to drive up to meet us on Saturday, hang out some and we all headed out on Sunday morning. Thanks Erin, it was great to see you all and have to girls play together!

Cousin Casey and Julia (happy now Casey??? :-))

Cousins!

Waiting on the back porch

This picture was taken in the dark.....guess my flash works well :-)

Does he look surprised?!

Blowing out his candles

Reese eating the yummy cake!

Reese and Ellie playing with Opa

Reese loves her Opa

Swim Time!

Jim in the pool with all the kids....Reese, Julia, Arundhati

Solana and Reese with Jim. Solana just turned two (4 days after Reese) and that girls can swim! It was so crazy to see her tiny body jump in the pool and swim anywhere she wanted to go! Everyone that was at the pool tried to save her until Erin told everyone she could swim :-).

The Boot is Off!

Last Tuesday we went to get new X-rays of Julia's toe and low and behold they told us it looked awesome and she does not have to wear her boot anymore! He then asked me if I brought her left shoe.....which of coarse I did not. It never occurred to me to bring it. So poor Julia had to wear her boot out of Children's Hospital and all the way home. So excited to get the boot off, but still had to wear it. What is 1 more hour, right? She has resumed her activities and last night was her first night of swimming. I was a little afraid she would struggle with taking over a month off, but she did great! She cried her eyes out beforehand because she was afraid but after some coaxing I got her in the pool and she did awesome. First thing she said when she got out was, "I want to go swimming every night!". Relief!

And yes, my daughter does dress herself, all day, every day. I hope you all know I would never put this together, especially with the socks :-).

Ellie Turns 9!

My sweet niece turned 9 last week! Where does the time go? Anyway, she had a Harry Potter Birthday party and was nice enough to invite her young cousins to hang out with her and her friends!

Cousins! Kate, Ellie, me, Julia and Reese

Reese and her Harry Potter glasses

The whole wizard ensemble

boy cousins....Brady, Cameron and Wyatt

Happy 9th Birthday Ellie!!!!!

Mother's Day Tea

Another fun year for the preschool Mother's Day Tea. They made the school look so nice, the kids recited two songs/books....they put on a show of Brown Bear, Brown Bear and did the signing ABC book (I will not show the videos as they take forever to load and are most likely only fun for me and Jim to watch!). Then they served us a special treat and then the teachers read some of the questions from the interview they did with the kiddos.


Julia's Interview:

What does your mom do while you're at preschool?
Julia: She goes grocery shopping at Fred Meyer - it has everything she needs.

What's your moms name? How old do you think she is?
Julia: Stefanie - I call her mommy. I don't know maybe.....50?

What is her favorite food?
Julia: A chicken burrito, but only at Ana's.

If you had lots of money what would you buy for her?
Julia: Flowers. All kinds of flowers. Pink, red, and orange. I think they would cost $5. But I have lots and lots of money that I'm going to save until I'm old.

I know my mommy loves me because.........
Julia: she kisses me and hugs me and tucks me in at night.

Is all this not enough to make you cry and fill your heart! I admit it, I teared up on more than one occasion!

About to do Brown Bear, Brown Bear (Julia was a blue horse)

Serving me our treat

Me and my girl!

Jayden and Julia

PEPS Kids Turn 5!!

About 5 years ago I met some pretty amazing women and their sweet little babies. As luck would have it we still meet once a week and see each other usually more often than that between preschool, parks, and parties. A lot has changed in the last five years, but it has been so nice to experience all that change (both good and bad) with some really good friends. Each year we get together with the original PEPS kids and celebrate their birthdays. The kids were born from March - June (Julia the only in June, being the youngest). This year we went to Sleeping Beauty at the Kirkland Arts Performance Center.

Jayden, Julia and Kayla

Waiting for the play to start

Cupcake Time!

All the kids enjoying their cupcakes

Duck, Duck, Goose