Roof Pests

I thought Piper and Juliana had climbed out her window to hang out on the roof.  My heart palpitations came when I saw them try to get down by way of wishing well.

Suffocating Grandma

Darlene doesn’t seem to mind the dogpile her three youngest grandkids are giving her!

Evidence of Friends

As I was going through my pictures, I realized that I have proof of friends!  Which made me want to make my own personal “facebook” page and collect pictures of me and my girlfriends, instead of just taking pictures of kids.

Liza

Laura

Alicia

I love that this tea was “cowboy” themed—my daily style is “lumberjack chic” so no extra effort on my part!

We’ve Arrived!

Kyla is big enough to mow the lawn now. 

Life is so good.

Family Weekend in Spokane

My oldest niece graduated from college, and it was our one chance this year to see Dwayne’s side of the family, so we went over for the weekend to hang out.  We only saw the graduate for about 15 minutes total,and headed home as everyone else headed to the stadium, but it was worth the trip!

We went swimming  with Grandma and Grandpa.

Played a lot of backyard Snakes.

(This is my bragging picture.  Trust me, I don’t typically throw this sort of score; hence, the photographic evidence.)

Enjoyed time at the Riverfront Park.

Fit in some down time.

And savored meal times with family. 

Thanks for the great memories!

Playing the Mom Card—Mother’s Day Pix

We spent a weekend in Spokane and took advantage of Esther’s hair dressing and Darlene’s camera skills to take my annual Mother’s Day pictures.

I’m unexpectedly proud of my smile crinkles.

I usually forget to get a picture of Me & 3, but here we are!

Piper and Wesley Team Up

She is his go-to tattoo artist. 

That’s a Pokemon  character and musical notes he sported for about a week.  (Maybe he needs more baths?)

What We Came Home To

Putina & Sons came for a visit today!  It was the most unnerving encounter so far, in retrospect, as I found out more details later.  Wesley and Kyla should have been home for about 10 minutes before I pulled up, but as I found out later, Kyla had been chatting with a neighbor, and and really gone inside a minute or two before I drove up.  Piper and Abby were running ahead of the car, but stopped short in the driveway when Piper spotted what she thought was Mama Bear going through the trash.  I put P&A in the car, and very bravely drove the minivan up blaring my horn at the bear.  (I’m very brave behind lots of metal.)Turns out Putina was really one of the cubs, because if you look to the right in the picture, Mama and Thing 2 are fleeing down the hill.

Another close encounter with the original natives.  Sorry, bears.

Mothers Day, 2018

I was excited that we could be at the cabin for beautiful Mothers Day weekend. 

Piper was certainly more interested in catching bunnies in the parking lot that waiting for healthy food at the healthy restaurant in downtown Langley.  At least we had outdoor seating!

We haven’t quite graduated to giving Mama a day alone, but at least all the kids were being pretty charming.

And Dwayne and I got to practice our technique at the kissing bough. 

The water was blue, the sun was hot, and it was hard to remember that we weren’t on a more tropical island.

Nice job, Whidbey!

So Satisfying

More satisfying than vacuuming, more satisfying than mowing, more satisfying that a perfectly cleaned up kitchen (okay, maybe it’s tied), is pressure washing the Trex deck and patio furniture.

 

Summer!  Summer! Summer!

Boys BBQ

Piper was a friend’s birthday party, so I invited friend’s little bro over, and another little bro (at our school, Piper and Wesley are one of many, many pairs of 4th/2nd siblings) for a boy’s night.  (That was part of our present to the b-day girl!).  They roasted dogs and mallows, and had perfect time without any girls around.  Moms don’t count, I understand. 

P

I thought this was an attractive way to serve veggies!