Sunriver

Why I love Sunriver...by Kelly Perry

Free Fishing Day with activities for the kids and a free BBQ lunch.. No fish were caught but we discovered Sydney loves to fish!The pool...complete with a slide and the perfect depth for the big kids to enjoy hours of splashing in.
The kiddie pool....once again the perfect depth for the twins to enjoy hours of floating around in while I read, relax, and soak up the sun.

The park. The house we stayed at was very close to the park and the kids loved among other things the tether ball and merry-go-round.

Not pictured the bike paths. Perfect for hours of biking and morning jogs complete with beautiful scenery and wildlife to enjoy!

The hot tub. Great for family time together and more fun. Yes, I'm fried from the pool!

Picnics together.

The horses. The twins were a little freaked out at first but their so beautiful.

Goody's ice cream shoppe. Arguable the best ice cream shope ever. Adorable stuffed animals, all kinds of candy and popcorn and of course ice cream.

Last but not least....time with my favorite guy. Since starting his own business he sometimes works 6 days a week...10 to 12 hours a day so its great to spend time together as a family. Nate prepared all the meals and cleaned up, encouraged me to go on a run, take naps, and lay by the pool. Kelsey and I even got to go shopping and got some cute clothes!

Thats why theres such a big smile on my face. I can't wait to go back next year.!

Baseball Boy

I survived my first baseball season as a mommy. Until now my kids didn't show any interest and my other mom friends warned me not to do it so I never encouraged them!

Grandma and Grandpa Perry made it to a few games which was great because I liked having someone to talk to and it gave me a break from having the girls hang all over me!There's my boy, he did great and had a lot of fun. There were a lot of rained out games this year but they made them up with double headers on Saturdays. It was rough on my and Noah's allergies but we did it!.

Great catch Noah, one inning he made two outs on the other team. The games were really long, were talking 2 hours, and most were in the evenings so it was very cold! It was rough!

It was coach pitch but if the boys needed it they got out the tee. Noah was very proud he never had to use the tee. He made great hits every time. Doesn't he look cute!

Halfway through the season I discovered a way to make the games bearable....bring my book! Nate didn't approve but I always looked up and watched when Noah was playing. It made the games so much better to sit through!
Playing around in the dug out was one of the boys favorites parts and getting junk food at the snack shack! I almost wish Noah didn't like it as much as he did because he just may want to do it again next year...

Happy Summer Everyone!

Planting a garden

Yes, this is a dog Dash. He is just one of the reasons we haven't had a garden the last couple years. He likes to dig things up. Another reason is we live in the middle of a forest and have ALOT of tree roots in the ground and the soil isn't so great.It is somewhat ironic that living on an acre we haven't be able to find a decent place to grow a garden. It's not because we haven't tried. Some years are more successful than others. But this year it all changes!
See those huge pots surrounding the twins? Those are the brainchild of my Landscape company owner husband. He plants ALOT of trees and has an excess of large pots so what a better to reuse them than to plant a garden in them?

In between rain stoms we went out to plant squash, cucumber, strawberry's, tomoatos, green beans, watermelon, zucchini and more. Hopefully the dog and the racoons will stay away from our "garden" and we'll have a banner year.

We had fun planting until the kids started complaining about their hands being dirty and cold. Then it started to rain hard so we all went inside and let Nate finish himself. Aw such wonderful family memories were making!

Kelsey turns 11!

For Kelsey's birthday she wanted a monkey cake. This is the best I could d without the help of my mom who in the past has helped my construct some amazing cakes! Kelsey was happy and thats the important thing.
We went bowling with a bunch of her friends. These two boys are both in the 4th grade..crazy huh. The big one is her cousin who happened to be up at my inlaws cabin so we brought him along.
The cutie in the braids beat everyone and they all had a great time! After one gamesome played again while other played air hockey. We had pizza and cake and Kelsey opened her gifts!

Kelsey's skirt takes me back to when I was in 6th grade it was the late 80's and Madonna was the coolest thing ever!

The rest of the family was at Noah's baseball game so when we all got home and all the kids were dropped off Kelsey opened the rest of her presents, which were all clothes!

She's such a special girl, I often wonder how I got so lucky. She smart and kind, so helpful and loving. I can't believe she's 11!

Special Delievery

Some people get bills in the mail, or clothes, even DVD's but I get quilt tops. Courtesy of my wonderful, beautiful, and talented, sister with help from my wonderful, beautiful, and talented grandma!Some time after the twins were born my mother dug out these pretty butterfly squares that my now 92 year old grandma had sewn. These are just a small sampling of the many amazing things she has hand stiched over the years.
I'm not sure who came up with the idea my mom or my sister but I'm just grateful someone did to make quilts for my girls using the squares! Luckily in the recent years my sister has become quite the accomplished quilter!

As you can see the result are these beautiful quilts that my daughters will keep on their beds at least until they get married. As you can also see my sister has a creative mind and a wonderful attention to detail that the pictures don't quite do justice.

I'm so grateful to her for all her hard work and the many hours she put in all her spare time between working and being a single mom! And I'm so thankful my girls will always have a piece of their great grandma to keep them warm.

As I mentioned its just the top so now my mom and I get to shop for the backs, and figure out the border or borders. Then comes some more hand sewing! I'm excited to get them done and get them on the girls beds I know they will love them as much as I do!

Sunday Afternoon bike rides

Anyone who knows me know I like to nap.

Sunday afternoons are no exception in fact their the rule!

The fact that by the time we get home from church and eat its 4:00pm doesn't deter me from my nap. So by the time I roll out of bed 2 hours later, (yes 2 hours!) I'm feeling a little guilty about the lack of time spent with the family. To remedy this I take the girls and anyone who wants to on a bike ride around the neighborhood.Luckily the weathers been nice enough and with it staying darker later it works out great. The girls got these bikes for their birthday last year and they love them. Sydney is ecspecially gifted on her bike. She jumps right on and takes off. We can hardly keep up!

So when Noah comes along its nice because he can help keep an eye on the girls. Aubrey's skills on her bike are a little..um...not as developed as her sister. So I'm usually behind with her encouraging her along.

In addition to biking the girls like to collect pinecones, branches or whatever treasure they find along the way. Luckily they have handy dandy little compartments on the back of their bikes to put their treasures in. Theres also a long pole you can put in the back to push them with..my FAVORITE feature!

The outing is yet another lesson in patience for me because the kids are in no hurry to loop around the neighbirhood why should I?

Shortly after these pictures were taken Aubrey was running to catch up with her sister and fell and got hurt. After settling her down and continuing to ride for awhile Sydney suddenly decided she was done and took off in a full sprint for home.

Luckily Noah was there to catch up and escort her home safely while I ended up carrying or pushing both bikes home. Which often happens when the girls decide their done biking halfway through the.

So as you can see everybody wins I don't feel so bad about sleeping all afternoon and the kids have a great time on a bike ride!

Wrestlemania

They all look so sweet and innocent right now, how quickly things can change and potentially go wrong...very wrong.Thats Sydney laying on top Noah, and those are his arms reaching up for help. Imagine squeals of delight from the twins knowing they've tackled their big brother and muffled laughing from Noah.
Sydney is apparently the heavy here, her job is to hold him down while Aubrey is the torturer. Her form of torture is pushing on his belly and tickling.

You can't help but appreciate their cooperation and the way they work together to accomplish their goals...I'm a proud momma!

Ok now Aubrey's had enough of the torturing and is ready to help Sydney with the tackling, which is a good thing because Noah is determined to sit up and get his revenge.

It really warms a mothers heart to see her children spending quality time together and more importantly learn to inner workings of wrestling and physically attacking one another.