Teaching Ava how to swing--if you have ever had a 3 year old, you know how hard it is to tell them how to do anything. . . then later playing in the wet sand on the volleyball court. (click picture = bigger)
 

Baseball with Dadda the first day--it was raining (I should say POURING) when we arrived. Warm Springs (where Kah-nee-ta is located) gets about 4 inches of rain each year, but I think they got almost all 4 that day . . . the kids taking swings, passing off the ball, just playing around.


 

We just got back from Kah-nee-ta Indian Reservation (we got a hotel room, Jerry and Louise RVed it, and their friends Tom and Betty met us there with their RV), where the kids love to "dwim and dwim and dwim" (swim), but unfortunately I got ZERO pictures of them swimming . . . pretty smart, eh? So here's some pics of other things . . . walking 'round, hanging out, Father and Son, the Rellie.

Hanging out on the beach . . . Mindy, Melody, Christy with baby Rebekah, and Jenni. Great friends and we had such a wonderful time!

Walking to the beach . . . Baby 'Bekah-Boo . . . Crowding 'round the Salty Seadog . . .

Elisabeth's weekend with friends!! 

In about one hour I will be on my way to the beach for a much needed child-free weekend with 5 of my close girl-friends.
oh yes, R-E-L-A-X-A-T-I-O-N . . .

Jonah (5 1/2, pre-kindergarten) read this by himself the other day:
"This isn't a garden at all," Susan said presently. "It looks like a castle and this must have been the courtyard."
(from Prince Caspian, book 2 in the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis)
Can you say firstborn? :)

Louise took the kids to Baskin Robbin's to get ice cream...
Jonah: Why is there a 31 on the sign, Nana?
Louise: Because they have 31 flavors of ice cream here.
Jonah: oh...(proceeds to go "check out" the ice cream)...
Louise:......
Jonah: Nope, they only have 29!

Random rantings:

Rellie-Roo...

"I went to get a 'nana, and I got two, but then I put one back, so then I couldn't open it...will you help me? puleeeease? And I want to eat it like a MONKEY!"

Joney-Joe...

"Mom, when I'm a Daddy, will you be the Gramma?"

Elisabeth: Yup.

Jonah: But I don't want you to be the Gramma, I want you to be my mommy forever!

Elisabeth: I will be your momma forever, but when you grow up you will get married and have your own house and have a baby and then I'll be that baby's grandma."

Jonah (near tears): But I don't want to move away! I want to live here forever with you and Daddy!

Our son the beggar.
We're so proud.
Seriously, though, at the freeway exits near our home and church, there are "People with signs" which the kids are curious about.
This morning Jonah found a piece of cardboard in our house and said, "Momma, I'm going to make a sign." I sort of knew what he was leading to, so I said, "What's your sign going to say, Joe?"
"It's going to say 'I need money' and then I'm going to stand by our church!"
Interesting that he didn't ask for more, though...

Our friend Christa's in town! (she lives in China) We went to lunch at Mother's Bistro downtown with all the ol' gang--Christa, me, Shannon, Tonya, Angela, Janna, and Jenni! We had so much fun! (Oh, and Christa's new babe Kaya, of course!)

Jenni and Christa

Christa with Elisabeth and Shannon

A BBQ with old friends last week in our backyard. Jon and I with Brooke and Steve Schlange and Dan and Janna Garland.

Christa with Miriam

Brooke with Miriam and Siyana

Cruising around on the John Deere Gator, that's Simon driving with Siyana and little Addysen in the back.

Christa with her daughter, Siyana.

We are now living Jon's dream: We live within walking distance to a 7-11, where, of course, we buy Slurpees! And trust me, everyday is deemed a Slurpee Day by my kids!

We're so proud of Jonah! He finished his first year as an Awana Cubbie and got an award last night for memorizing all his verses (27 of them!) Here are some highlights of the night...singing the Cubbie theme song...checking out his certificate and little Cubbie Bear pin for his vest. That's his pal Aidan Durias on the right side of him, all decked out in his fancy tie and shirt. They were so cute!

Just fooling around with the collage option on my computer...pretty cute stuff! 

Horsin' 'round today 

The other day Jon and I went to the Portland Nursery, but when we got there they had JUST closed. I saw that the doors were unlocked, and since I just had a quick question I ran in.
Ava saw me talking to a man with long dark hair and a beard through the doors and said, "There's JESUS!"
When I got back in the car, we tried to tell her that it, in fact, wasn't Jesus, but she was adamant! "NO!! IT'S JESUS!!"
Then yesterday she rode in Nana's car and out of the blue says to her, "I love Jesus."
That just makes our hearts so warm and happy.

Ava has a cold...yesterday morning she woke up and noticed that her voice didn't sound the same: "I think my voice is brokened!"

Pink Snow! 

Jonah and Jon's FAVORITE game. They are creating the necessary father-son bond thru the competition of striving for the elusive "High Score". Actually, Jonah's getting pretty good. He can get to level 13 now, while Jon tops out at 22.

Here are some new pictures, finally . . . We thought our camera had broken, but the other day Jon turned it on and it worked! I don't know where Ava gets her cheesy-ness . . . heehee! Jonah took the bottom one--he did a pretty good job!