Two years have flown by...

August 2007 Wyatt

August 2009 again Wyatt





August 2007 Genevieve August '09 Genevieve

And then there's the August birthday girl...

Danika 2007


And we will be celebrating her 2nd birthday this Saturday.

Here she is on the eve of her second birthday.


Still cute as a bug!






The pictures of Wyatt and Genevieve were taken today too.


I took a whole bunch of Danika though and couldn't decide which ones to post so you'll have to suffer through a few...


Uncle Hayden took this one of her. He had her take the plug out and she "cheesed" for the camera.

Sitting patiently near the impatience.

The only birthday "girl" in our family of boys born in August.

She can be silly sometimes. Has a ready smile whenever she sees us though.

She is mostly easy going, tries to repeat most words when asked and is doing well with potty training. Two years has gone by so fast.

We sure love our little Danika Dolly.

Happy 2nd Birthday!

A bit of a birthday-ish blog..






Tried to find the oldest August digital picture I had of Hayden. The one here is from 2005. He was 11. I think he has changed just a bit.

I think one of the "milestones" this year is that he drinks coffee drinks now. I don't know if that is a good thing or not :P

We finally got to take him out for his "Birthday Dinner"....
he chose:

We had never been to Typhoon before. Hayden always researches "best" restaurants in Portland and chooses one. I think he made a good choice this year. It was tasty.

The traditional picture outside of the restaurant. I think he's going to be taller than his Dad.



Here are a few more pictures of some of my favorite people.

The whole R-fam clan eating shared meal with Pastor Gary this past Sunday.

I love these kids~ dirty faces and all!

Classic Rowan. Bike in the background and soccerball on his shirt.

Danika and her curls. She's a dolly!

Genevieve wanted me to take a picture of her and "Po". She is such a loving little girl.

My first "best boy", Wyatt, is going to be in Kindergarten in a couple of weeks! He is so ready. Gramma not so much.

Our littlest best boy, Henry. Growing up on the East side of the state. Hopefully vehicle problems will be solved and we can get to see him in person often. He is so precious.


The youngest half of our kids were with me at Fred Meyer. I, of course, had my camera....

They were very tolerant. Or at least didn't give me too much trouble.
It's fun to still have these guys around the house.
They will be on their own before I'm "in a home" though. I hope.

A La Grandeoso Time

We are still in La Grande. Having a "grand" time.

Harlan and I have played a bit in between getting to know Henry.

Kiel and Cherise recommended a coffee shop in the downtown area.

Joe and Sugars

Yes it is.

Their food and sweets are really good too.

We have gone for a couple of walks around the neighborhood. Harlan did miles of walking while Cherise was in labor.

His new t-shirt says "She says I don't listen or something like that" :P

I went for a bit of pampering at:

Eclipz Salon

This isn't the best picture of my new "do" but it's a cute picture of the sweet stylist: Tiffany Garrison. She did a great job. I have a new sassy haircut!

Our main objective here is to enjoy watching Kiel and Cherise start out on their road to parenthood and to bond a bit with Henry since he lives so far away.

Grampa has the touch to relax those little ones.

Just like cousin Rowan needing to do chores by helping wash the vehicles...Henry went out on an errand yesterday.

He had to mail all of the baby announcements.

I have a feeling LaGrandians are going to see a lot of this scene in the months ahead.

The official first outing.

Grampa talking to his "little man".

This morning Har and I got to spend a couple of hours alone with Henry while his Mom and Dad slept a bit more than he allowed them to during the night.

He did join his mom for breakfast.

He got his first.

He is quite observant at this stage. Likes to be talked to.

I guess you could say we like him.

Birthday/Baby Blessings

I am doing my official birthday blog of Hayden and a later date. After I get photos put together. However, he did turn 15 yesterday. We were not able to spend the day with him because we were summoned to travel to LaGrande.... for a very good reason.

This is what Hayden wanted for his birthday. A new cell phone. Notice the time we were presenting it to him? Yup, before 6:30 in the morning.

Hayden was a good sport about it all.

Harlan and I were off to meet...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HENRY!

About 1 hour old he is letting me know that he wants his Mom and her provision.

Harlan stayed away from the house during labor and delivery but he was back and ready to meet his newest grandson.

He is the boy of a million grimaces, grins and other goofy faces at this point. He is a real content little guy.

Welcome Henry! We are glad you are here!

Find us faithful

A couple of women that were such a integral part of my early life as a mom and wife and I have reconnected.
Facebook is amazing! I wonder how many other people are reestablishing friendships and just reaching out via that "social network".

Paula, Karen and I got together for coffee this a.m. .... almost 4 hours later we had learned a lot about each other and things that we are going through and have gone through.
I came away realizing that my affection for these women has never gone away.
"A friend's a friend forever if the the Lord's the Lord of them"
How true!

I also am amazed that in the 78 combined years of mothering we've collectively done for our total of 17 children, we have not lost our vision and dedication to those kids and our calling.
This Steve Green song "Find Us Faithful" came to mind and I sang it on my way home.

the chorus is:
"Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful
May the fire of our devotion light their way
May the footprints that we leave Lead them to believe
And the lives we live inspire them to obey
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful"

I thank God for faithful friends.

Birthday weekend

I know the weekend isn't over and there are plenty of photo ops to come but here are a couple that I'd like to post.

Cameron is 11 years old!!!!

I think he had a good day.
He chose where he wanted to have his "one on two" birthday meal out with Harlan and I. He decided on Chang's Mongolian Grill.

There is a similar place up by Logan and Alyssa's that Cam really likes so this was a great choice.

He wanted a birthday pie. It's a little difficult to get candles supported in pie crust but we managed to do it.

This was during the singing so it's not super great of anyone but the birthday boy himself.



Logan, Alyssa and Rowan had to head back tonight. We were pleasantly surprised to have some friends stop by with there darling little girl.

Rowan is a little over a month older than Ophelia. They posed for a picture on the swing.

Ophelia knows why her Daddy has those big chops... so she has a good handhold to plant a kiss on him.
Thanks for stopping by Michael, Sarah, and Ophelia. Do come again.

While Logan and Lyssa were tiring Max out by having him do laps in the house. Rowan wanted to take a walk with Gramma.

Here he is just strolling down the evening sidewalk with his bare feet and his fish.

Courtney waved goodbye from her perch up in the dieing maple tree. It will be sad if we lose that tree. It is great for climbing and has a matching tree on the other side of the yard.

Just leaving with this picture from a week ago Sunday after our Starbucks run. Logan and Alyssa put their drinks on the Subaru to be able to get Rowan in the car and again say goodbye to all of us. So everybody joined in and turned the vehicle into the ultimate drink carrier.

Yum!

Another week....another birthday. Happy Birthday Cam!

Didn't want the day to get away from me before officially blogging a

Happy Birthday to Cameron!

11 years old!

Huzzah!!!

I'll edit this tomorrow after I upload pictures and do an official b'day recognition.

Until then...

Hope you had a great day.

Doing fine at 29!

29 years ago today Harlan and I became parents of an amazing little boy that has turned into an amazing man. We are so glad God entrusted us with rearing him.

He has been joined by 5 sisters and two brothers but he was the start of this great clan that has now grown to include another generation.
Here are four members of the 2nd generation of the Harlan Hilman family.


We had a nice family party.

We missed Krystle, Kiel and Cherise and Bob, Lalita and Simon though.

Ry isn't much for cakes or pies so we give him a birthday watermelon.

Alyssa commented that he turned 29 in 2009. Notice the two zeros in the cantaloupe?

I know weird...

Danika is the only female member of our branch of the family to have an August birthday. All 3 uncles, cousins Simon and soon to arrive, Henry all have August b'days.

Danika will be 2 years old on the 29th.

She and Genevieve watch Uncle Rylan open his presents.

I'm closing this post by showing you the quilt I made for him. It turned out really nice and understated just like he likes.

I recommended he make a list of things he wants to do or see before he turns 30.

Any suggestions?

Happy Birthday Ry!