The Airshow!

We love when it's Airshow time!

We have great seats right in our yard. The girls love it and hate it. Natalie and Angela hated one of the jets - not sure what it was, but I know it broke the sound barrier every time it flew because you could see that really cool thing the air does behind it when it breaks the sound barrier. Listen to me, I sound so technical.
When the jet that was doing this went over our house I have to admit it scared the heck out of me too. It really sounded like it could hit the house. So I don't blame the girls for the crying episodes we had every day for three days. But they seemed to really enjoy the other stuff quite a bit. Until we actually went to the air show. We have such great "seats" that we've never paid to go in before. However, this year some good friends shared tickets with us. We decided to check it out. It was a great show, but once the supersonic jet flew by it was over for Angela. She covered her ears the whole time and when the jets that fly in formation came out for the big show she FREAKED out. We still had fun though and luckily got to see the show two other times with less drama from our house!

One day we had a picnic outside and watched the fun. I really enjoy this time of year - all the neighbors come out to watch and there's a lot of excitement. A lot of traffic too though - that was a huge bummer when I had to go to a photo shoot and was 20 minutes late because they diverted traffic all in one direction from our neighborhood. Grrrrr. That is my only complaint though. It's worth the inconvenience.

This was when Angela still liked the Air Show. (o:

Oaks Park

Every summer, if you participate in the library summer reading - they have a day when you can go to Oaks Park for only $4 per child. It's a pretty good deal and we've never taken advantage of it before. I decided it was high time we do it. I grew up near Lagoon in Utah. This is no where near as big as Lagoon, it's more like a county fair that stays in place all year round. But my kids don't know any different and they wouldn't appreciate all the BIG rides at Lagoon yet anyway.

We had a blast together. The only thing that would have been better is if daddy was there with us!
Sarah and Natalie felt so brave going on the kiddie roller coaster. My kids are not dare devils so by their standards this was great! As you can see in Natalie's expression, she was not a big fan of this "thrill" ride. It made her nervous. Sarah LOVED it - she is the bravest one of the bunch as far as this stuff goes.

Our pretty picnic spot right on the Willamette River in town.

The girls loved the carnival mirrors everywhere.

Angela loved the very very tame rides - like this very boring train ride! (o: But we were in the shade and it was relaxing so I can't complain!

This was Angela's favorite ride. Sarah felt very left out when she couldn't go on this kiddie rides because she was too big. The world is full of injustice for an 8 year old. But I remember the same thing when I went to Lagoon with my friends around her age. I was always tallest and it was devastating to me watching them ride together on the kids rides without me. Height prejudice is a huge problem in America. (o:

Summer is Coming to a Close

Have you seen that office store commercial (maybe Staples?) where the dad is prancing through the aisles picking up school supplies with his kids and the music, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is playing? I think that commercial is hilarious, but I don't think it's the most wonderful time of the year. I LOVE summer. I don't want my kids to go back to school. In fact, they are more excited about it than I am.

We had a great summer and we had a really long list of things we want to do. I think we put a pretty good dent in that list this summer, although there are some things we never got around to. Good thing we have one more week to go. Here are a few pictures of our summer activities that I will miss when Sarah and Natalie are gone all day. )o: sniff sniff

A fun birthday party for Lauren at the Children's Museum
Playdates with friends.

Our local library had some great shows this summer. This juggler was highly entertaining. He made me laugh until I cried, oh, and the kids had fun too!

We worked on chores together . . .

Corn on the cob. Winco always has the yummiest, freshest corn all summer from local farmers. Ohhh will I miss the corn.

The girls were often in all kinds of dress ups during our days at home. Playing all sorts of creative things. I love that they have played so well together this summer. We've hardly had any playdates because they have so much fun playing together. (But don't assume that we don't experience huge, screaming fights requiring a referee at times.)

Watching movies together.

We worked on keeping up our mental skills - Natalie continued reading lessons and has progressed so much farther in her reading. All the girls have workbooks they do "homework" in each week. Luckily, they are fun workbooks so the girls think it's fun. Not sure how much longer that will last.

This was a big puzzle we did together in a day! We had so much fun doing this and even Angela did really well! My dad would be proud! (o:

The girls had lots of time playing with Littlest Pet Shop and Polly Pockets. I love the carefree time that summer brings.

The girls all participated in the summer reading program and loved picking out their books at the end.

Sarah got to have a couple playdates with good friends from school.

Little Sis

This is my little sister - isn't she cute? (o:

She turned 19 this month!! I waited extra long to get a sister. I always wanted a sister growing up, but it didn't seem like it would ever happen. I prayed and prayed for a sister. Don't get me wrong, I love my brothers, but I envied my friends who had sisters - even though at the time, those friends didn't see what the big deal was about having sisters. (o:

Finally, when I was 15, my mom got the shock of her life. The youngest in the family was my brother Andy. He was 8. Now that I have kids I can better relate/understand to why my mom was freaking out about being pregnant. I was in heaven and I prayed and prayed again that it would please oh please be a girl.

Well, I think you can figure out the end of the story. My mom always said it was actually my fault she got pregnant, that I prayed my sister here. I think for a while she actually resented me for this. (o: I got what I wanted, but she had to suffer a pregnancy at almost 40 years old. (Again, my perspective has changed and I understand what a big deal that must have been much better now!) I'm 125% sure my mom is glad I "prayed her here" now. Our family wouldn't be the same without her.

Christine gave me great practice for being a mother of my own kids - she was my guinea pig. I was her sister-mommy those first few years of her life and I still remember getting funny comments from strangers who thought she was my baby. (I always looked older for my age as a teenager.) "Ohhh, she looks just like you." and "when did you have her?" and the one that freaked me out the most, "Are you breast-feeding?".

Nope, I didn't get THAT much practice in motherhood with her. But I got good at changing diapers, feeding her, bathing her, etc. Those were fun times and even though my mom had to deal with pregnancy later in life, she got a pretty good deal having a live in nanny/babysitter!

Another funny thing - I remember when I was 15 - holding baby Chrissy and thinking that when she was 15 years old, I would be 30!! I thought that was sooooo old at the time, yet here I am long past 30.

So happy birthday this month Christine! I am so glad that you decided to join us and that I finally got my sister!! LOVE YOU!

Fellow Blogspot Bloggers

Grrrrr - I am having technical difficulties. I'm finally sitting down to do some blogging and when I click on the little icon to insert a picture the box comes up, but the button that says "Browse" and allows you to find what picture you want isn't showing up. I've opened and closed several times. What in the world? Has this ever happened to anyone else?

Nackie the almost first-grader

Natalie has been working hard on her reading with me this summer. I am so proud of how far she's come. It wasn't easy, but it seems like things really clicked and now she has confidence and enjoys reading. For a long time, it was a dreaded chore. She is so ready for first grade! Way to go Nat! She also has very nice handwriting - every reading lesson has a couple letters to practice writing and she is a pro now.

Natalie has always been a pro at drawing. This is what she LOVES to spend her time doing and she is so creative. Her pictures always make me smile. If there's one thing the girls are good at and enjoy doing, it's definitely drawing pictures. I think this particular drawing is a park design with winding sidewalks and gardens and teeter totters. All the makings of a great park in my opinion!

Water Fountain Park

This seems to be an end of summer tradition. It wasn't even that warm this day, but it didn't stop the girls from having fun, plus there were fewer people. We met with the other moms/kids in Angela's preschool group to make some plans for this coming school year. We got a lot done and had fun too!

Sage came along for the fun too!

Soccer Begins

Sarah and Natalie were excited to start soccer this year. The league we play in has grown quite a bit since we started playing two years ago. The field at our stake center is full to the brim with over 300 soccer players plus all their parents and siblings! It's such a convenient and cheap way to get the kids involved in soccer that the word is spreading fast. A little too fast!
Angela is officially old enough to be on a team this year, but she wasn't interested enough and I didn't want to be running between 3 soccer games. She was just as happy playing on the sidelines with mommy, daddy or whoever was around.

Pictures of Sarah playing coming up soon . . . (o:

Hagg Lake fun!

A refreshing mud mask!

He he - sorry Missy and Lizzy - I didn't mean for this to be the top picture (although it's my favorite for the day) but it accidentally got erased and when I add a picture back in it goes at the top. Oh well - serendipity! (o;

Our second annual summer outing to Hagg Lake was a big hit this year! We didn't have the boats to go waterskiing in, but I thought it was even more fun staying close to shore. The kids thought of lots of creative ways to play with the Cochran's raft. (o:



Here are the girls who chose to watch all the craziness! Me included. I think they had fun too.

This kayak was a lot of fun. I got a turn and loved it! It was such a beautiful day and the surroundings are gorgeous. Kayaking is a very peaceful thing to do. Then when I came back into shore it was definitely not peaceful, but it was a lot of fun! See a couple reasons why...