It's Been Quiet Around Here...

With Shanna gone to visit our friends Byron and Sarah's little girl Caitlin. We met up with them at PF Chang's at Bridgeport Village on Sunday, had a great visit, then off they went!

Caitlin on left and Shanna - so happy to see each other after a year!
Our dear friends Byron and Sarah, we miss going to movies with them every weekend!
The girls hamming it up....
Karol and Sarah, bff's of course! Byron and Sarah's daughter Megan and son-in-Law Andy.. They're moving up here in a month! yayayayay!!!!
After lunch, the kids played in a radio contest promo game.... Andy won a gift certificate at UnderUForMen - haha...

Getting sticky with it....
Caitlin and Megan - twins much???
After saying our goodbyes I met my mom who had my brother Greg and wife Jen's little girl, Morgan with her.... we went to Ross and had a fun time with her. I believe my mom (Nana) was told NOT to purchase any toys for Morgs but we had to bribe her to get her into the cart!! Sorry Greg and Jen..... btw, my name is "Auntie Teerol".
It's been good for Shanna to be away with her friend, but I'm anxious to go get her tomorrow!!

30th Anniversary Party!

My sister-and-brother-in-law, Tim and Judy, had a surprise 30th Anniversary luau thrown by their 5 kids this weekend.. The kids had them arrive at the park blindfolded (they thought they were going to Mexican food!).....
and then they took the blindfolds off to "SURPRISE!!!" and many, many old and new friends and family members! Plus a big sign announcing their gift of a trip to Maui this December!
Tony, the oldest, almost 30 years old, read a very touching and funny poem written for his parents..... there's a lot of humor needed in a family with 5 kids each born 2 years apart! The 4 kids pictured are: Jana, Janine, Tony and Jandi. Timmy, the baby, is serving a mission in Brazil for 2 years.
Tony and his wife, Krista, put together a fantastic video presentation with lots of great pictures from Tim and Judy's wedding, then a journey through each of the kids being born, then on to the grandkids.... everyone was in tears, it was very touching.
This is our great-niece, Abby, Tony and Krista's 2nd child. (Tim and Judy's only grand-daughter out of FIVE grandkids!) Anyway, nobody can get near Abby except Krista when she's awake, so I got this shot quickly!

This is Conner, swinging away at a pinata... He's Janine's baby.
This is Kasen, Rosie's 3rd child. Rosie is another one of our nieces from sister-in-law Joann.
This is my baby girl Shanna with Rosie's middle child, Graci. She's actually so much like Jenae as a 3 year old it's unbelievable.
And here's Preston, Tony and Krista's son, spittttttting image of daddy as a baby!!
Benjamin is Jana's oldest boy, he's one of the few blondes in the family because his daddy is very blonde! There's never been a blonde kid in Tim and Judy's family so Jana having little blondes is very funny!

And here's Jana with tiny baby boy Elijah.... he's blonde too and just as precious as can be. What a sweet cuddle bug he is!
Eric and Jenae (and Shanna of course) pretty much spent the day chasing around after their cousin's little babies... the moms are completely worn out these days!
It was a beautiful party with chicken and beef kabobs, lots of fruit, salads, rolls, chips and salsa and costco cakes (the best!)... Grants Pass Oregon has a beautiful park but boy, was it hot that day! Us Portlanders felt a wee bit uncomortable .... (read: sweating like pigs).....
Great Job Tony and Krista, Jana, Jandi, Janine! It was an awesome day!

SENIOR!??!

Jenae's starting her senior year next week! I can't believe it. I. Can't. Believe. It. She's such a great girl, just so darn funny... she keeps things hoppin' wherever she is. I'm going to really try and focus on savoring every single moment of this year before she's off to OSU or UO next year. Last year of being a cheer-mom unless Shanna wants to cheer in high school -- she's recently saying she does want to be a cheerleader. I took this picture of the 4 senior girls on Varsity at Tualatin High School last week. They're beauties, right?? (Jenae's the one without blonde hair and blue eyes FYI) She looks like a foreign exchange student in Sweden.

White Christmas - I Mean Summer

This is what we awaken to after our short summer night's sleep (because Jenae comes home in the wee hours and Eric and friends are very loud playing whatever it is they play)............

Seriously, I'm sick of toilet paper in our trees. This has been our plague since Jenae was in 8th grade.... no matter what school she goes to, no matter where we live, WE are the ones that get tp'd. Twice in the last week! The kids here are amateurs compared to the tp'ers in Medford that used to get us... they were real pros.

Waikiki To Visit The Sharps

Eric and Shanna were really great together on this trip to visit Bob and Cindy.

This is Cindy with a little Japanese lady at the Food Court at Mauna Loa center. She spoke verrry little English, and we couldn't understand what she would say to us... the words would just get more and more emphatic and harder to understand! She wanted me to give her either my camera or a picture of her but I couldn't do either. I think she got mad.
The food court was crazy busy and we were lucky to get 3 seats together.
Eric wading in the water by Bob and Cindy's house.
Bob - looks like he walks on water. He does not.
Shanna at Waikiki Beach.
We had such a great time visiting with the Sharps, they were great hosts to us. We ate out at several restaurants, some better than others - haha, and played cards every night. Their condo is nice and clean, freshly painted with Cindy's artistic decorating ability... very oriental. Bob's working hard as the resident manager over all 64 condos... it's too much for a retired firefighter in my opinion! Thanks again guys, we'll be back in a couple months!

Sorry - I've Been Busy!!!!!

A lot of the fam and friends have been saying, "Why aren't you blogging??" Simple answer: kids home for the summer. I've just not been able to get to the computer and download photos... but I HAVE been taking pics all along!

Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow - NOT.

We took Jenae and Eric to the Portland airport for their big first trip alone together! They're going to spend 5 days in Huntington Beach Cali with my dad and step-mom. It's the world series of surfing this weekend and Eric's crazy for surfing! Jenae will just hang out at the beach and shop with Grandma Laura. They're also going to spend a long day at Disneyland by themselves, that will be a big occasion - no supervision!!

It's interesting that when I had my little babies I couldn't imagine an hour without him or her. Then when they started getting close to school age I couldn't imagine how I was going to make it 4 WHOLE HOURS without him or her. Then the first time they spent the night at someone's house - how long the evening was! Now that my 2 oldest kids are high schoolers (senior and freshman) I look forward to them out of the house and some ALONE TIME!!! The two of them are never here without at least 1 other body. Jenae usually has her 3 closest girlfriends with her at all times and Eric has the neighborhood boys and his 2 good friends that live a few blocks away. We stash them in all parts of the house for guitar hero, Wii, etc. -- the garage, the living room, the family room, etc. and we retreat to our bedroom for quiet! In just 4 more years it will be relatively peaceful with only Shanna at home. I love the kids and their friends and I know they're safe when they're here at home but I'm going to enjoy the next 4 days for all it's worth!

Oo-oh-hhh, Say Can You See??!!!??

Haley and Shanna in the Escalade..

4th of July Parade starts at Bridgeport Elementary and winds through our subdivision (Fox Hills). It's just good ol' Americana at it's best!

Lots and lots of little kids, babies, moms and dads -- on bikes, scooters, wagons, even a tractor!
Ready, set, go!!!
Eric's gang throwing candy AT the parade kids.... (he's 2nd from left sitting. )
BFF's with red and blue hair. Haley's got a Sunriver tan. Shanna's red, WHITE and blue.
Hope you all had a Happy safe 4th!

View With Caution.....

Don't say I didn't warn you....
Jenae's cheer coach just posted pictures from cheer camp.
There's this little gem of the girls with greasy hair parted weird (and tied under her chin??!!?), no makeup and sappy grins.
Oh and I do love the ear sticking out also.
I'm one proud mom indeed.


This is what she looks like tonight, just 1 week later.... Extreme Makeover concluded.


Sorry about the odd size of this picture... not sure what's up with that.

4th of July Pictures Up Next!!!! Stay Tuned!!

THE REAL Dynamic Duo....

It's not Batman and Robin after all.
The Dynamic Duo is these two cutie pies:

I am a crazy, itching fool after I shave (legs, armpits, whatever).... and these were selected from their homes on the store shelves for their pronouncement of being for "XTRA-SENSITIVE" skin (although one was for merely "SENSITIVE SKIN") ......

No false advertising!! THEY WORK!!!! No itch, no burn, no sting, and best of all -- no hair!!!!!

Just thought I'd share. Do any of you girls get itchy legs after shaving? Or is it just me??