Friday, April 18, 2014

Making memories galore


Pizza night
 Day of "rest"aurants
 Krystle and her friend John joined us at Taco Bell after church and then took the kids to the park for a fun afternoon.
I'm going to miss these blossoms












The neighbors are planning to take these three trees down sometime this summer. I've enjoyed these delicate  pink blossoms for the past twenty-five springs and I will miss them.
Making big batches of food
I've been making what some friends call "big food" recently with all the company we have. Above is breakfast dished up and ready to be brought to the dining room for the seven grandkids that were waiting there.
Selfies with three grands

 You can tell which kids are okay with having pictures taken. I think it might be that Evie doesn't know me super well. She's quite the little singer and talker but not so much a snuggler.
 We visited the zoo




 It was a good day for hiking around the zoo. Cool and cloudy. I'm happy to see that a bit of the construction is nearing completion up there but there are still a lot of changes in the works. I got a great workout though! We rented a double stroller and the three youngest kids took turns providing weight for me to push.
I've got bunnies peeking out around corners in various locations.
 Alyssa decorated the bathroom, den and fish tank with cute clings.  The grandchildren really like that sort of thing.
Wednesday morning entertainment
 I took off with the truck on the way to bring kids to school when I realized something was very wrong.  The passenger front tire was flat. The gang loaded into the van and we headed out. Alyssa took this photo of what was going on while I was commuting. Logan had an audience while he got out there and changed the tire for us. What a guy!
Pip's trip
 Alyssa knows the owners of Pip's Original doughnut shop. It's been years since she's seen them. It was fun to bring her, Logan and the kids up there to get a taste of those delectable delights.



Two awesome flavors: The Dirty Wu (named after the police sergeant in Grimm) and the seasonal offering... Strawberry Rhubarb :0)
Park playing











After we dropped Hayden off at PCC we stopped at our local park to let the kids play. It was a bit chilly and it had rained so stuff was wet but it didn't slow them down too much.





Katie, Rowan, Garrett and I walked back to the house while Logan, Lyssa and Evie drove the van back. The leaves and flowering trees are just beautiful! This dark pink apple blossom and yellow magnolia were stunning.

Lookin' kinda dirty ;0)



Garrett had the kitchen sink to himself while Danika shared her bath with Katie and Evie. They all slept  great after  their long fun day.
Rain showers off and on



Lyssa's kids have the cutest little rain coats. It was good they had them available since we had some rain to dodge on the way in to and out of Fred Meyers. But the skies were blue by the time the sun started setting.
Playing outside on the cul-de-sac






 Alyssa had never been to Joylynn and Jess's so we stopped by there and Kate and Eve got to play outside with Garrett. It's nice quiet street for kids to ride on stuff. You should see it when the whole neighborhood is out of school! It's loaded with bikes and skate boards and other ride on things.
Posing with the posies :0)
I mentioned all of the blooming and growing things. The rhodies and azaleas are so pretty. Katie picked this pink one to pose by. I love how each one of them is being goofy in their own way. Silly sweet children. It's going to be fun sharing more time together on Easter Sunday this weekend.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

A weekend with kids and grands




I can't believe I didn't take more photos!
We just finished a great weekend with all of our kids and grands. Cherise turned thirty and spent a couple of nights at the beach with her hubby and Quinn while Henry and Anabelle stayed with us.
 On Saturday morning we got up in anticipation of the arrival of our Virginia gang. 
Notice our D.C. and Portland coffee cups in honor of their flight?
The welcoming committee at PDX!
 Grampa at the airport with nine of the grands. If you look really closely you can see a bit of Henry's profile down between The stroller and Danika's leg. He was camera shy all weekend.
First stop in P'town? BURGERVILLE!
One of the places that Alyssa and Logan miss living so far away is Burgerville. It was nice that they flew in around lunch time. Pretty close to dinner time for them, being on east coast time.

 The cousins had a great time at the kids' table while the adults visited a couple feet away.

Birthday celebration for the two April birthday kids






  Twenty-four of us sat down to Sunday dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory. We were missing two of the sons-in-law that were away for drill weekend but we had Lalita and Simon there to celebrate too.

There was no kids' table this time. We had them set up one long table and interspersed children along the whole thing. A favorite activity was "pass the baby" from one pair of loving arms to another. Quinn looks pretty happy to be a part of this tribe :0)
Little smiley guy!
After dinner group photo and run around
 The whole gang ranging in age from 15 to 33. Nice looking "Hilman"beings if I do say so myself.
Gram and Gramps with the grands
We have five grandsons and five granddaughters….. so far ;0)









Official proceedings 



 Henry believes that you don't turn a year older until you have cake and candles and the birthday song. We took care of all that back at the house. 


Happy 10th birthday to our first grandson, Wyatt Earl Martin, and happy 30th to our third child, Cherise Joelle!