Sean, Francine, Will and Annie!

My brother Sean and his family came down to Eugene from Seattle to go to Seans 20 year class reunion. According to Sean, the Marist High School Class of 89 had a fun time together (maybe too much fun, Sean had a bit of a "recovery" day on Saturday). Our family always has so much fun when they are here. The cousins have a ball playing together, and Sean, Francine, Pancho and I are perfectly content to relax, chat and laugh a lot (thanks mostly to Pancho's inappropriateness).

Hanging out on our back porch

what a perfect weekend!

We all went out to Lone Pine Farm . . .

Sam holding his cousin Annies hand . . .

(she was having a bit of a wardrobe malfunction)

with Lucy trailing behind.

Annie and Francine

Max feeding the goats. . .

me and my awesome husband

Lucy and "Florrie" the goat



Sammy hoping the goats won't eat his shirt since he was out of goat food.

Uncle Sean pushing the cousins on the swing!

They always have so much fun together.

It's fun to watch!

Will and Lucy will both be starting Kindergarten in the Fall!



Max looks like a teenager to me in this picture.

My baby is growing up!

Pancho had lots of "goat comments" for us. . .don't ask!

mmmmmm. . . icecream!

Lucy was crying after she fell off the merry-go-round

Pancho tried to cheer her up by swinging with her.

She told him that he was too big for that swing and started laughing.

I guess it worked!

Girls Trip to Nordstroms!

Ok, so out here in the Boonies (Eugene), we don't have a Nordstroms. Therefore it is considered a "girls trip" when we actually take a day to go up to Portland and do some shopping! It doesn't hurt that Nordies is having their big anniversary sale right now. . . add in the fact that it was my good friend Stephanies Birthday this week and we had reason to celebrate!!! It was so much fun to head up to Portland with Steph, Brenda and Darbi (we even got a bonus friend, Melanie, on the way home)! I was on a mission for this trip, to get myself some decent "teacher clothes" since I live in sweats and jeans right now. As you can see from the pictures of our bags in the back of Brenda's car, my mission was accomplished and then some! I came home with lots of clothes and fun goodies from Sephora too, as well as great memories and a lot of laughs with good friends.

We had dinner at Bennihana's. . .YUM!!!

The waiters sang Happy Birthday to Steph!

Brenda, Me, Steph, Darbi and Melanie

OH YES!
Our shopping bags from a VERY successful day of shopping!




The girls in front of the restaurant.



Part of the reason that I look so forward to this trip every year is that we are treated like royalty at Nordstoms. Our friend Amy has a connection with Nordies, so she can get us a special room upstairs with our own personal attendant who helps us with whatever we need. We also get lunch served to us in the room. We have turned this trip into a tradition because we always have so much fun. I can't wait for next year!

Camp Harlow Pool

OK, I was even getting bored with my Blog (I needed a new post!), so even though we haven't done anything very "Blogworthy" this week, I am just going to Blog about an average day. . .

I have been getting up everyday this summer at about 6:45. By 7:00 I am out on my run/walk to Starbucks (about 2 miles). Then I sit there and read the paper and have an iced tea. Then I run/walk back home. I usually get home at about 8:30 which is right about when the kids are waking up. After I make them some breakfast, we usually do a little bit of summer school. I have workbooks and 2 of the kids are working on pages in their books while I am reading with the other one. It takes about an hour to rotate everyone through. Today we just hung around the house for the early afternoon, the kids jumped on the trampoline and made a pillow fort while I did laundry. At 3:00 we all went to Lucy's swimming lesson, then we met Stephanie and Spencer at the Camp Harlow pool for a swim. Finally, I got to drop the kids off at Mom and Dad's house (thanks Mom and Dad!) and Pancho and I went to dinner at Chili's and the movie "The Hangover" with Kevin and Amy. The movie was hilarious by the way, and we had a great time with our good friends!

I LOVE summer!!!

Lucy, Sam and Max

at the Camp Harlow Pool!

Playing!

. . .taking a snack break to watch the swimmers.

Ice Cream . . . Yummy!!!!

We Love Summer too!

Fourth of July on Lake Sawyer

We are so lucky every year on the Fourth of July to get to go to my Aunt and Uncles House on Lake Sawyer, which is about 2o minutes S.E. of Seattle (I think). Most of the Kelley side of the family made it this year! My mom has 5 sisters and one brother, they all have kids (my cousins) and now the third generation is getting bigger with the addition of two more babies within the past 2 months! We always have so much fun with plenty of cousins aunts and uncles to play volleyball, go fishing, play soccer, go out on the boat, sit by the fire pit, laugh, eat and tell stories with. It is always such a fun weekend! Every year there is a Boat Parade. We decorate my Dad's boat with whatever the theme is that year and the kids ride around the Lake waving at all of the people watching from their docks and houses. The day always ends with as many of us as possible, piling into all of the boats and heading out to the middle of the Lake to watch the HUGE fireworks show set off from a floating barge. Watching these fireworks, surrounded by 3 generations of my family, wrapped up in a blanket, usually holding one or two of my kids, is one of my favorite moments of the whole year! Thank you Uncle Jack and Aunt Michelle for opening up your beautiful home and hosting this Big Family Reunion every year. You have given us so many wonderful memories!

Me, Marrene and Tawnya
(. . . my cousins-in-law! I Love them!)

Darci, Kelly, Kevin, Allison (holding Gabriella), Francine, Annie & Sean

Joe, Heather, Gabriella (8 weeks), Finn (2 weeks) Kevin and Kate

My cousin Heather and My brother Kevin with their new 3 person families!

Pancho, Marrene, Brian and Tawnya

kickin back with a cold one!

The view of our party from the canal. . .

Sam caught a fish (and some seaweed)!

Lexie and Lucy
They are only one month apart in age and they tell us they are
". . .best friends, almost like sisters"

I am such a proud Aunt of my new nephew Finn!
He is so cute!

What a cute family!

Max (10), holding Finn (2 weeks), Lucy (5), Annie (almost 3),

Sam (8), and Will (5)

The first picture with all six Murray Cousins!

Johnny, Denise, Pat, Colleen (my mom), Michelle & Karren

My mom with her Brother and Sisters

The Kelley Family

Gabriella and Finn

Our two newest members

They are both really good babies!

(taking a much needed break from every member of our crazy family wanting to hold them!)

Casey, Annie, Max, Lucy & Lexie

Our floats theme this year was "The Little Mermaid"

All of the girls wanted to be Ariel, so we had 5 of them!

Max was King Triton. . .

King Triton and Ariel

I love Lucy's pose, she has gotten really into "posing" ever since she saw the Princesses pose in Disneyland

Two beautiful Ariels



Sammy (the fish man)!




Pancho got the "Lucky" job of driving the boat in the parade!


He's a very good sport!



Here they are, out on the Lake, so proud of our Boat Float!

Kyla (the fish) and Skylar, Lexie and Lucy (the Ariels)

Sam's End of the Year Party!

We left for Disneyland, the day after this party. It was on Sam's last day of school. Sam's wonderful teacher made all of the kids these cute shirts and she created a mini camp at school for the kids. She calls it Camp Swimmy Hop Hop (not sure why - but cute). She assigned each of us Moms a station and the kids went around from station to station doing things like making bead necklaces, making pet rocks, painting pictures etc.

Sammy and his awesome teacher Ms. Piper Paulish

Some of Sam's friends at my station



. . .with Athena building with Enviro-noodles
(he always tells me that Athena has a crush on him, no lack of self confidence here, because she chases him at recess everyday)


proud of his Masterpiece

Sam and one of his Best Buds, Jeffery, drawing with chalk



I am so happy that Sam had such a great year at his new school. It was a much easier transition for him than it was for his Mom, but it all turned out much better than any of our expectations! He can't wait to go back next year and he already got a letter from school telling us that he is in Ms. Chang's class for 3rd grade!