More Update

I wrote an update and then added pics, so here are pics from our 4th of July trip and then there is an update and more pictures.... yes this is probably closer to a book than a post, but here it is.

This is all of the great-grandkids with my Grandparents. They were kind and brave enough to let us ALL stay with them. It was really fun for me to watch my kids play on the parks where I used to play when I was their age.
The Goonies house in Astoria, OR.
The jail from Goonies.
Here we are at Long Beach, WA. We went with all of my siblings, all of the kids, my parents and Grandparents. Lewis was the only one who couldn't make it... there were a lot of us!
Brooks and Fish had so much fun together!
The girls. All the kids sat in the back while we drove down the beach chanting "USA!"

Here is a backwards progression of Sophie in the water. Notice that everyone else had sweatshirts on. She ended with no clothes on.
Had just a shirt on for a little bit.
And here she is getting wet with her pants on.
Fischer made sure his shorts didn't get wet.
My Dad took all of the kids over to Marsh's museum and bought them a dolphin.


We took a few days to drive up the Coast Long Beach, WA. Here we are having a windy picnic.
We stopped to say HI to Paul and Babe.
There was an elk right next to the road.
The first night we pulled over on a dirt road and camped. It was Finn's first camping experience.
Finn Soph and I slept in the tent and Fish and Matt slept under the stars.


We are HERE!! They kiddos have changed a lot in the last six months, so here's an update about each of them:

Fischer:
He started preschool for the first time and loves it. He has one friend from church in his class and on the first day when I picked him up they were rolling around on the carpet together laughing. So I think it went well. He is playing soccer again and likes it more than in the Spring, which I am happy about. :-) He learned how to swim this summer and loves it. He loves it when Matt throws him high in the air. Although he said he hit his head, lightly, on the bottom, so Dad is not allowed to throw him that high anymore. He still loves Star Wars! Oh, and he swallowed a quarter, had an x-ray, and we are still waiting to find it.

Sophie:
She has changed a lot. She is our crazy girl in a pink tutu. Here are some crazy things she has done lately:
-dumped flour all over the kitchen
-took her clothes off and ran naked through the park
-ran to the sand box, pulled down her pants and peed
-sliced her finger, didn't cry just started singing "I have a poke" and then smeared her blood all over the counter and wall
-jumped from the coffee table to the couch, but missed and hit her head on the front of the couch
-0ne day I was trying to make her sit down and eat dinner so I said "Sophie, come sit down in your chair by the count of three or I'm going to give you a time out." She said, "Mom, just calm down, okay, just calm down. I will be done in a minute and then I'll come sit in my chair."
-But my favorite thing is once in awhile she will just come up to me out of the blue and say, "Mom, you're a great Mom." :-)

Finn:
Finn is such a good baby. He lets anyone hold him and smiles and laughs at anyone who is talking. Although I've left him with Matt a couple of times and he has cried for two hours straight... I guess he doesn't mind if other people hold him as long as I'm close by. He is in the 100th percentile for height and the 50th for weight. He loves Fischer just laughs when he sees him, but he starts crying if he hears Soph.

Soph has started picking out her own outfits.

Fischer with his cousin Brooks this summer. Best buddies!
Brian and Jackie visited us and the boys took the kids swimming.

We went to Lake Tahoe for a weekend but forgot to take pictures. This is the only picture we took. Having a picnic at a park.
This is for JJ! Sportin' the tye dyed t-shirt!
Best Buds again.
All the cousins on my side in their tye dyed shirts.
We took the kids to get ice cream. This was right before Curt and Susan left for Moldova. We miss them!
Picking yummy blackberries!
Matt took Soph to get some cake.... which was a huge piece of cake and she loved it!
This is what happens when Matt watches the kids.

Sophie is in dance class. She loves it, but all she does is just stand right by the teacher. The teacher asked all of the girls to go sit by the mirror. Sophie said, "I will not sit. I will just stand."
Soph climbed in bed with Fish.
Finn doesn't just grab his feet, he grabs his leg and puts his foot in his mouth.
Fish doing a front flip into the pool.
She likes to wear goggles out of the pool.
Fish playing soccer.
Fish on his first day of school... isn't he cute!!

Fish swimming and Soph dancing. This is what she does every night when she puts her pj's on.