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!

No cell phones, no internet, no TV....It must be KIDS CAMP!

Hello,
Kids camp is right around the corner. Cam is all ready as you can see. His first year as a camper. This year we are going to be at a new facility. At least it's new to our Kid's Camp. Other groups from New Song have used it in the past couple of years. We get to do our own cooking at this place so it will save a bunch of bucks.

As Cherise mentioned in her recent blog comment, jury duty is over. The young man will be spending the rest of his natural life in prison. I kinda feel bad he is not going to be able to wear any of the spiffy new clothes he wore during the trial. But that isn't reason enough to not do the right thing for society as a whole and have him locked away.

I've decided to put a picture of our oldest and most affectionate pet. Sabre is such a nice old guy. He likes people a lot just not little people. They make him nervous. Leprechauns beware.

Jury duty

Not a fun subject. I have been to the Multnomah county courthouse 10 days in the past month. Eight of those days have been sitting as a juror for a trial. We reached a verdict today. Only to be informed that we have got to sit for 2 days of additional testimony for the penalty phase of the trial. So..... I'm sure we will get through all of it. It just is getting to be long. Crimes are not nice things to think about and talk about. There is a lot of "warfare" going on in that building if you know where I'm coming from. Today, when the verdict was read, there was an almost palpable presence of evil in the room. It was very oppressive.

I have to remind myself that I can bloom and even thrive in oppressive circumstances. Like the little flower on the left here that is blooming in the middle of a concrete driveway. I can tap into the Power that overcomes all things this world has to throw at me.

Hey It's Your Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOGAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have lots of pictures to post....unfortunately or possibly fortunately for you I am working on a laptop that isn't hooked up to the files on our network.

So I'll just have to let everyone that reads this know that we love you very much and we are so proud to call you our son-in-law. You are one super cool brother-in-law as well to these impressionable young-uns here at home.

I hope your birthday was enjoyable. As much as it can be down there in the heat and humidity :-)

Looking forward to celebrating with you on your actual birthday some time. Twill be great!

Happy Birthday Har!

Hey and Happy Birthday to my One and Only!

You have been my anchor and my inspiration for many a year. Almost 28! It was great to be able to spend the day just kickin' back and spending time with the kids. You are a wonderful Dad and a fun Grandpa.

Many many blessing for the year ahead.
Love you,
Tam

May Bath Babies & "The Kids"

I can't believe it has been more than a couple of weeks since I updated by blog. I know there have been interesting and fun things happening all the time. We have enjoyed having the kids here off and on all month. Jess and Joylynn have been here a few times with Wyatt and Genevieve. Lys and Logan were here a few times with Max. Cherise even came for Mother's Day and Bob's birthday! Bob and Lita have been here a few times too. I even had jury duty on two different days. I'll be finding out soon if I am one of the "lucky twelve" that will be sitting for aproximately 9 days in the courtroom.

I wish I had taken a few more pictures lately. I have some nakey bottom shots of Wyatt in the tub but it wouldn't be appropriate for this medium. So here are a few CLEAN shots and a group picture from Mother's Day.

Grand Puppy

I have to say Mad Max is a grand puppy. Some people don't want me to refer to him as my grandpuppy. He is a toy Australian Shepard. So soft and fluffy and enthusiastic and he has puppy breath!

Logan and Alyssa brought him here shortly after they picked him up from the breeder. He was given a healthy dose of welcome and gave as good as he got. Max seems to have taken to Wyatt especially. Perhaps because he was closest to his size. We can't wait to spend more time with him. Right now he is getting acquainted with Logan's family in Sisters. But soon he'll be back here for more lovin'.

Races and Zoo trips

Last night was the
Royal Ranger Gold Cup Derby. It is always a fun night for families and friends to come and pig out on hot dogs and cheer on their favorite car. This year was a bit different in that the Pioneer Girls made cars as well. The number of girls in attendance was only 2 less than the number of boys so all but one of the first races was a boy against a girl. The racing format had to be changed from the traditional. Logan and a couple of others came up with a brilliant race strategy. Our boys were both eliminated before the final round but both had fun anyway. Hayden got a trophy for the most original car design in the boys category.

Today we got up bright and early and headed for the Oregon Zoo. It was a beautiful sunny day. Har got a bit more sun than he should have. But Wyatt and Genevieve were there along with Jess, Joylynn, Lyssa, Logan, Courtney, Hayden, Cameron, Har and I. We spent about 6 hours there all together. Took 72 pictures. You're lucky I'm only posting three! :o)