Long time no blogs!

WOW! It has been forever since my last visit to blog-land! Since the last time I wrote things have been crazy on the homefront!

The kids started school. Noah is in 2nd grade and loves his new teacher. Avery is in 1st grade and is reading and enjoys her new friends. Paris is in her second year of preschool and is looking forward to being with her siblings at "big school". All in all the are doing great!

The second week of school I started a new job. The Abernethy Center is a local event facility in Oregon City, not far from Sandy. (abernethycenter.com) I am loving every minute of it!

Shortly after that the kids started soccer once again! Noah played with the 9 year olds this season! And played awesome! He just gets better and better each season. He really loves the game and as long as he loves it we do too! Dan was the head coach for his team and they really enjoyed the one on one time together. It took some getting used to at first for Noah to not treat Dan like and and treat him like Coach instead but once they worked out the quirks it was smooth sailing. Avery played too! She had a few friends from school on her team. Her good friend, Molly joined us this season. Molly's dad and grandpa coached and they all had a great time! Paris is really itching to play as well, but I just explain to her that "our family has only one mommy" so we will probably wait one more season until she plays as well! WHEW!! What are we doing? ;-)

Noah is a EIGHT!

My baby boy is EIGHT years old! I can't believe it...that means Dan & I are OLD! Noah had a blast for his bday. He invited several friends over to spend the night. (what was I thinking?) We had a total of 8 boys here to watch movies, eat pizza, play and stay up way too late! They had a blast but Noah had a soccer game the next afternoon...bad idea mom!

Road Trip!

With summer almost over Ginnie and the kids decided to hit the road and visit family in Southern California for a week or so! The kids did great and couldn't wait to get there so we drove straight through...18 hours later we arrived, ready for action! We had a great time hanging out with cousins, hitting the beach, Sea World and luckily, we're able to be there for the newest cousin to arrive! Baby Caden came at a whopping 10lbs! As cute as can be!

65 Years of Wedded Bliss!

Dan's grandparents, Harold and Marge Kitchen, have been married for 65 years! Here are a couple of pictures of our family with the happy couple standing in front of the car that Harold purchased when he was just 16 years old. We were able to drive this same car for our wedding! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for your unwavering love for each other and Christ. We pray that we have the success that the two of you have had! We love you!

Fun around town!

While Ginnie's nieces were in town we tried to do as much as possible! Portland Children's Museum, Portland Timber's soccer game and so much more! We had a blast!

Cousins!!

For the past two weeks Ginnie's nieces have been in town visiting from Chicago. Camille is 14 and will be a freshman in high school this fall. Lydia is almost 8 and will be starting 3rd grade. We have been going non stop since they arrived...playing in the pool and at the park, going to the Portland Children's Museum and much, much more! It has been crazy but super fun! Jamie, Ginnie's sister arrived last week to spend some time as well. Enjoy a few pics of the kids!

Cousin Troy comes to town!

YEAH!! Troy is finally here! Troy has been coming to visit for his birthday every summer since he was 12. Noah has decided that Troy is his hero! All he talks about is Troy-this and Troy-that. Troy has been been wresting for his college team in California the past two summers and hasn't been able to get away long enough to make it up. This last weekend he came up to visit for a couple of days and we had a lot of fun with him.

This is Troy celebrating his 19th birthday at Who Song and Larry's, a local Mexican place (they had Troy help out with a few songs!) and Troy and his sister Jacki (who lives here in Portland) also celebrating Troy's bday at the bowling alley. Good Times!