Tacoma here we come!

Actually we won't be going up there until Saturday but Harlan and I haven't been to Alyssa and Logan's apartment yet! We are going up just in time to help them move out. Then in little over a week we get to go and help them move into their house!

Genevieve's birthday party was fun. Typical of a little girls birthday. Lots of oooohs and aaaaahs at all the cute little outfits. Plenty of good food and messy cake. She had a brother to help eat her dessert. And help her play with her new toys too.

I hope to have lots of pictures and news and such after the expedition. I may have to break it up into a couple of blogs since the Hallelujah Party is the Tuesday after we get back. Busy busy busy.

Happy Birthday Genevieve! The Big ONE!

Our little doll baby is officially one year old. Here are a few pictures of us from this past year.


You are such a sweet little girl. Your Aunts and Uncles and Grandpa and I are so glad you are a part of our life.

Have a wonderful time today with Mommy, Daddy and Wyatt. We'll party soon!

I like my job.

Loving on these grandbabies of mine is one of the best jobs around. I do enjoy hanging around our kids in residence too. They are each growing and changing and getting to be fun people. But these little critters keep us on our toes.

Hope to enjoy the next one and the next one and the next one and the .... for years and years to come.
Amen

Hello Old Friend.

I realize that a blog title like that can pertain to lots of people, places and things. Like seeing Travis Adams at church last week. Seeing an update on Michael or Micah's blogs! Talking to a girlfriend that has been in my life since Kindergarten or a cousin that I've lost touch with...Hi Sandy, Hi Deb. This however is a "welcome back" to the truck that Har and I dated and honeymooned with.

It needs some work to get her on the road again. Basically new brake lines. Could use a touch from that Overhauling TV show but don't have plans to do anything like that. Just enjoy being able to visit Home Depot, do an occasional dump run, perhaps pack a lunch and go up to Rocky Butte and eat overlooking the airport, freeways and the 205 bridge. We already have 3 kids that are chomping at the bit to learn to drive in her. In any case it's good to have her home.

Stages and phases

Boy kids do grow and change in the blink of an eye. Going from little dependent creatures to crawling, standing, taking some steps on their own, then running climbing, biking, driving... Miss Genevieve is almost a year old and loves being a big girl. She has been standing for a while but is bravely taking steps in the middle of the room.

Wyatt as achieved a new milestone of being able to be up in the tree with the big kids. He is exhibiting quite the sense of humor too. "I have diapie hat" was his latest attempt to be funny. His "y' welcome" instead of thank you is so precious. He thanks us all the time. For food, for drinks, for changing his diaper, giving him a bath, getting him dressed, putting on his shoes..... He is quite the unique young man. Of course I'm not biased or anything. ;-)

Sabre, You were the best!

July 7, 1992- September 18, 2006

Fairest of them All

I don't know if all 4 of her sisters voted on this one. But someone dubbed Joylynn the fairest of them all. She was definately first and foremost of them all. She is a beauty inside and out that is for certain. She's a good mom too!

A Belated Happy Birthday to Joylynn!

I'm not making excuses but I haven't had more than a minute or two to myself for the past couple of days.

I did however want to wish Joylynn Marie a very Happy Belated Birthday. She was 24 yesterday,September 10th. Unfortunately she had to work on her b'day so we had a little get together on Saturday night. Lys and Logan and Zarah Ham were able to be with us there too. A few presents and a little cheesecake and we had to rush home. We did take Wyatt and Genevieve with us and they are still having fun with G'ma, G'pa and the Aunts and Uncles.

We will hopefully get together with Joylynn later today and take Genevieve for her official 11 month photo shoot. It's tradition you know.

I don't have a pic of Joylynn at this time but will post one later when I have access to a computer that can do that sort of thing.

So Happy Birthday LPSM! We love you.

Wyatt is CUTE.

We have a fun Wyatt to play with and snuggle with. I can't put him in a dress anymore though. He is going to be a Marine some day.

Off to school....1st day!

We are starting our 2006/2007 school year in a different fashion. Every morning we are going to go to school. Which means leaving the house and via bike, bus, van or foot we will go to school. This morning took us by bike to Starbucks, Irving Park and back to Hilman Connections Academy.


There will be days that we just want to roll over and go back to sleep but seeing as that isn't an option for students in "regular" school, it shouldn't be an option for us. So if you want to reach us by phone between 8 and 9 on school mornings we'll be out having adventures.
Have a good academic year everybody!

School is right around the corner.

Summer is for all practical purposes over. We have had a fun August this year. We got to spend a whole weekend in Walla Walla! Yay for La Quinta, food, pool, nice rooms, and an extra YAY for Journey Church. They are so cool.

Wyatt and Genevieve came over on Tuesday night and left this evening. Five fun days of babies! I only took a couple of pictures. Wyatt's t-shirt says "My favorite thing at Grandma's house is Grandpa!" Both of the kids were really good for us.

Last, but not least, school starts for us on Thursday, Aug 31st. We are gearing up for it. Check out Courtney's new "high school" look. Pretty cute hey? I hope you all enjoy the rest of your summer too.

(3rd and Final Round) HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAYDEN!!!

I'm finally getting around to posting a birthday blog for our Hayden. Today is his 12th birthday. We have had a fun time eating breakfast out (Original Pancake House), giving him his new bike, shopping, shopping with Logan, going to the Coliseum to see some extreme bike tricks and stunts, eating barbecue, eating ice cream cake, playing with new video games and having one of his best local cousins over for dinner and FIREWORKS!

Yup we did fireworks one more time. Have about 5 of the medium (legal) fireworks left. Set off about a dozen. The police drove by after I had everything cleaned up. Whew.

Hayden has been a great asset to our family and a blessing to many. He is kind and considerate. He is a GREAT Uncle to Wyatt and Genevieve. He has a wonderful sense of humor and a real quirky streak. Many a time I've been scrolling through the photos on my digital camera and find a really strange self portrait on there. I have a few I'd like to show but Hayden is above all modest.

Happy Birthday Hayman! We love you.

(Round 2) "Happy Birthday Cam"!

Here are a few tiny glimpses into Cam's World. He is such a fun and goofy blessing of God in our family. He is officially EIGHT years old today. Happy Birthday to our Camma Lamma Ding Dong Ping Pong Head. AKA Cameron Philip Hilman. WE LOVE YOU MAN!

Picture

It took forever to post but here is one of the most recent pics we have of the "Birthday Boy". He is the tall one on the upper right :o)

Happy Birthday, Rylan!

I want to post pictures! But I am having the same problem Alyssa seems to be having with her blog. Won't upload photos.

You'll just have to trust me on this one. Rylan is quite good looking. Downright handsome some would say. We have more holiday and airport shots of him than any other kind since he has been able to come home for Christmas the past couple of years.

All that aside.
IT'S RYLAN's BIRTHDAY! Happy happy birthday Ry! Hope you do something special today to celebrate. It is hard for us to have you so far away. We'd love to put 26 candles in the traditional birthday watermelon. You start out the birthday season around here, you know. I even have leftover fireworks that we could have blown off.

We are very proud of the man you have become and the direction God has led you. Korea, though far away, seems to be the place you are supposed to be for this season of your life. We have often heard that young people do the most growing and changing in the years from 18 to 25. Congratulations! You are officially grown up, having just surpassed that mark. So make the most of the year ahead. I'm excited to see what it holds.
Love you! Mom & Dad

Slow down Summer

SLOW DOWN SUMMER, you are going way too fast! Just over one week left in July. Though July is one of my favorite months. It is when we have our wedding anniversary. Twenty-seven years last Friday! We had a super duper day. Biking, shopping and seeing a movie. Then of course it was pizza night. We ended it up eating eclairs on the porch with Lys and Logan. Fun stuff.

August is our busy birthday month. August 1st, Rylan's 26th birthday ; August 7th, Cameron's 8th birthday; August 17th, Hayden's 12th birthday. Of course with Har having such a large family and me having a substantial number of siblings and their offspring, there isn't a month that goes by that we don't have a bunch of birthdays to acknowledge.

Between our 8 and the sons-in-law and grandkids the months of Jan-June are taken as well as Aug-Dec. I'm sure glad July is still just Har's and mine. By the way Har, thank you for being everything to me for all these years. You are a "keeper".

Yo ho ho and a bottle of pop

Pirates everywhere! A couple of our kids got to see the movie this weekend. One saw the midnight showing Thursday night. The other saw a late night show on Friday.

I heard that Cherise might have gone to see the movie too but haven't verified it. Lys and Logan did you see it?

We had another fun weekend with Wyatt and Genevieve here. Cam finally decided he was going to learn to ride his bike once and for all. We let him coast up and down the sidewalk without pedals at all. Hoping to undo the crazy angle his body got used to riding in with the training wheels by getting him to balance as he pushed along with his feet. Friday and Saturday were spent doing that. Today the pedals were put back on and he rode up and down the sidewalk several times independently. A couple of the first times with Dad running along side. It's going to be a few weeks before he is ready for a family bike trip but he is doing very well. Should be joining us out there on the trails before too long. Yay hay hay for biking!!!

Gotta love 'em

Wyatt spent two nights with us this weekend and Genevieve was here for just one. We had a great time. Friday aka Pizza Night, we had Bob, Lita, Zarah, Alex, Wyatt, Cherise, Micah, Alyssa, and for a brief time Derek, in addition to our 6 resident Hilmans here. A bunch of us went to the Oregon Zoo Saturday morning too. Vehicles started departing from here mid afternoon heading for Walla Walla and Sisters. We were left with just the 6 of us and the Grandbabies. Another fun day was had by all today but it was very busy. But was capped off by a rousing game of "beh-boo" with Grandpa and Wyatt.

Kids Camp was fun. The facility was really nice. I had the pleasure of sitting on the back porch of the staff room during the outdoor worship time. The praise music echoed off of the hills on either side of the river valley that the camp is nestled in. I haven't heard anything like before. Absolutely awesome!