Liz is a Blogger Now!

I've recruited another member to the Blogging club (cult)! Liz came down to visit today and I helped her set up her Blog! Check it out! www.thedacars.blogspot.com

Keith and Sheri's Anniversary Party

Our friends Keith and Sheri had a big party at their house for their anniversary, so after the garage sale we all got cleaned up and headed out to their house to celebrate!

Natalie and Jessica were servers at the party!

They even made some tip money!

Christy and I sitting by the pool in Sheri's beautiful backyard

The Fultons, The Hakalas and the Lynch's
enjoying a glass of wine at sunset




They even had a live band!



Me, Sandy and Christy

I wish I would have gotten a picture of Keith and Sheri!
Its the least I could have done after enjoying thier awesome party!

Garage Sale 2009!

Natalie and Lucy working their shift at the lemonade and cookie stand

Me, Mom, Sandy and Christy waiting for some customers

Oh Yeah! . . . look at all of that junk!

It was actually a really successful day, we had tons of people come through and I made more money than I thought I would. It was also fun to hang out with the girls for the day. The kids made a killing at their stand too!

Making Cookies for Our Garage Sale

I love having a garage sale every summer!

I know it sounds crazy but something about getting rid of all of the extra junk, making a bunch of cash, people watching, and seeing my kids pitch in and have fun . . . I get a little thrill out of it!

The kids always have a lemonade/cookie stand to make some extra money for themselves.

getting ready to put a batch in the oven!

. . . gotta love the mess!

Max was so excited to make some $$$ selling his cookies!

Max got so good at making cookies, that he made the second batch himself!

Camp Harlow & Football Camp!

The day is finally here for Lucy! She has watched her brothers go off to Camp Harlow since she was a baby, but you have to be 5 years old to go, so it is finally her turn! She and Sam were both excited to go to a week long day camp with swimming, canoeing (sp?), bumper boats, playground, horseback riding, huge tire swing, crafts, face painting and much more!!! Camp Harlow is the best and it is right here in Eugene.

Sam and Lulu on the first day of camp!

Lucy, Brendan, Sam, Ethan & Colin
The Campers




Sam giving himself "bunny ears" since I wouldn't let him do it for his sister in her picture.

Lucy "posing" as usual

Lucy and her "best buddy" Ethan

They are in the same group!

Sam and Colin got in a group with about four other 7 & 8 year olds!

Wow I hope their counselors have a lot of energy!

Lucy with her camp counselor "Mocha"

Her other counselor is a H.S. boy named "Hurricane"

Sam and Colin have "Turbo"

Max isn't going to Camp Harlow because he is going to the Marist Football Camp this week.

I haven't taken any pictures of him at camp yet . . . mostly because I am discovering that Max is at the age where he doesn't want his Mom following him around to every event in his life and making him pose for pictures (imagine that)! Max will be playing tackle football for the first time this fall. He is really liking football camp so far. This is a picture that I took of him the day he got his practice gear :)

Hayride at the Konyn Dairy!!!

Our very good friends Leticia and Chad invited us to their house/dairy for Will & Cade's Birthday Party and Hayride. It was so much fun to hang out with good friends, eat some burgers, visit the cows and go for a Real Hayride!!!

The Konyn Dairy at Sunset

It was a perfect night for a Hayride!

The kids all getting loaded onto the back of the trailer . . .

Sydney and Lucy

Sam and Ethan on the Hayride.

Mooooo!

Max and Sam checking out the baby cows.

Lucy LOVES animals (she didn't get that from me)

so she was so excited to pet a real calf!

Leticia (holding her friend Kendals son),

Christy and

me . . . sitting on a much higher hay bale and closer to the camera

(I am not a giant! . . . I like to call it curvy!)

Lulu picked her own piece of corn

Sam and Ethan having a "Star Wars worthy" battle with their corn

The Girls

Sheri, Sandy, Christy, Me and Leticia

The Guys

Donnie, Pancho and Chad (enjoying some corn!)

Thank You Ficek Family

for a really fun night

and the very cool experience of going on a Hayride!

All dressed up . . .

Pancho and I got all dressed up for a night out without the kids.

Well, I guess we are in jeans so we are not THAT dressed up, but after cleaning the garage all day, I thought we both cleaned up pretty good.

Golfing with the Hakalas!!!

Pancho and I both love golfing. Neither of us is very good at it, but we both love it anyway! In fact, back when we were 2 income . . . no kids, we lived about 2 blocks from a golf course and we would walk down there and golf almost every evening in the summer. Now don't get me wrong, kids are a lot of fun, but not very conducive to golfing, so Pancho and I have not had the opportunity to golf together as much in the past 10 years. We were so happy when Christy and Donnie called us and asked us to golf 9 holes with them. Of course we had a blast with them (as we always do) but it also made us realize how much we love golfing on a summer evening and that we are excited to have such a fun activity that we will be able to do together for many years to come! We have made it a goal to go golfing more often . . . anyone want to come with us?

We started the evening off with a delicious dinner at three forks. . .YUM!

Donnie and Christy

I have known Christy since High school and we were college roommates.

We met Donnie in College, and I have been cursed with him ever since . . .just kidding!

Me and Pancho!

. . . 14 1/2 years of wedded Bliss!!!

Christy and I are such good friends that we even dress alike

No . . . we didn't call each other.

Donnie is doing something inappropriate behind us as usual.

Pancho and Christy watching Donnie take a swing.
What a beautiful summer evening!

Look at my awesome form . . .

did I mention that we all pretty much suck at golfing? Well, actually Donnie, Christy and Pancho always have some really great shots and parr on a few holes. I am out there purely for fun and to laugh as much as I can!

Donnie's showing off his swing

Pancho recreating his ESPN slow motion wave as he takes the ball out of the hole after his pretend hole in one!

Group Shot!

Going Back to Work

Excited and Nervous!

I still can't believe that I am going back to work!

I have been going into my classroom this summer and slowly figuring out curriculum, setting up my desk etc. These are some "before" pictures of my classroom. Now that it is August, I am really starting to feel like this is for real. My life is about ready to change, but I am excited and nervous for this new turn in my path.

. . . just be understanding if there are a lot fewer Blog posts this fall!

My name is officially on the sign outside my classroom!

5th grade . . . Here I come!

I Love Not Camping!

Ok. . .so I am not much of a camper. In fact I really really dislike camping, but I do LOVE the great memories and pictures that I have when I get home. It makes it almost worth it to do it all again next year.

Every year we go camping with 4 or 5 families. We usually go to Detroit Lake, but every few years we switch it up a little bit and go to the Beach. This year we were at Beachside near Yachats and Waldport. I dislike camping so much that we only go once a year, and I refuse to sleep in a tent (primadonna . . .I know). My kids love camping so much that I always feel guilty and vow to go more often when we get home. The weather wasn't great, a little bit cold and windy as well as overcast, but that didn't slow the kids down at all. In fact I don't even think they noticed.

Brendan, Lucy, Ellie, Max, Ben, Jack, Ethan and Sam

(Colin was not in this picture)

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A few years ago, my good friend Steph gave me this picture on a postcard and I had it hanging on my fridge for a long time. It still makes me laugh whenever I look at it because it is so me!



I asked Pancho to buy a pump to pump up the air mattress in the tent. When we got there, he unpacked a hand pump. I asked him in a slightly annoyed voice why he didn't spend 10 more dollars and get one of those "new fandagled" electric pumps. He immediately answered "because we already have free labor . . . kids get over here" (we are so classy). Lucy and Ethan pumped up the air mattress all by themselves and they were so proud! Pancho gave them this big speech about working hard and finishing a job and having a feeling of accomplishment when you are finished. It was actually really cute to see their proud faces! OK Pancho maybe you are right . . . sometimes.


The proud cuties playing on their newly pumped up air mattress.

See the van to the left? That is where I sleep!

The rest of the family sleeps in a tent.

Lets just say that I am not a tent person.

OR public toilet/public shower/being cold/being dirty.

I could give you more, but I don't want to sound like a complainer (too late)!

I can't believe that we get invited back every year!

Max, Brendan and Ben

Amy, Liz, Christy and Me

things I LOVE about camping . . .

spending time with these wonderful friends,

laughing, telling stories around the campfire, eating junk food

I could give you more but it might sound like I am trying to kiss up after being such a complainer!

The kids finding their first jelly fish.

They ended up finding hundreds more!

Sam thought this seaweed looked like the palm trees in Hawaii.

Don't I look happy?

The guys - Doug, Pancho and Donnie

(Kevin missed this pic)

The kids played in the forest around our campground for hours.

They all got along so great and had so much fun!

. . . I am not sure what is going on in this picture, it looks like Sam is being rescued!

Ethan and Lucy

oblivious to the cold and playing on the Beach

a shot of our Beach hangout and view

Lucy

she didn't get those legs from me

. . . or Pancho for that matter hmmm!

The Moms all bundled up.

Yes, we were feeling the cold and wind.

Max, our little engineer, worked all day on this with Ben, Brendan and Donnie.

Lucy and Jack roasting marshmallows for smores.

Ellie and Sam

Sitting around the campfire making smores

. . .these are some good memories!

Max and Jack perfecting their marshmallow roasting technique.

group shot around the fire

Lulu playing in the sand

Oh Yes . . . those crazy kids were playing in the waves the whole time

brrrr! I remember doing this when I was a little kid, but now it seems crazy!

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All in all it was such a fun trip. When I get home and I look at the pictures, I am always so happy that we went. We always have so much fun with the Hakalas, Dacars and McCarthys. When I asked the kids in the car on the way home "Did you guys like camping this year" the response was a resounding "YES! we can't wait for next year". Hopefully by next year the memories will have faded of the 8 loads of laundry that I have to go fold and put away right now, and we will happily head off to the campground to make more fun memories!

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I Love Not Camping!