Busy Week

I know I haven't been very good about updating the blog!!  I'm SO sorry!!!!  It's been SO crazy here though!!  Last week we had Vacation Bible School at our church where we had a total of 300 kids!!!  Then this week Jody and Jessie (Josh's mom and sister) have been in town and we've been going and going and going!!  It is midnight here and it's nice and quiet in my house....time to BLOG!!!  So I was looking at the 149 pictures I took in the last two weeks and WOW!!!  We have had SO much fun!!  Don't worry I'm not posting them all!!

We will start with VBS.  It was such a fun and busy week!!  Our theme this year was PANDAMANIA!!!  Our church building transformed from a normal looking church to the deep jungles of China!!  It was so amazing!!  It was awesome seeing 300 kids sing praises to God and having fun all at the same time!!!

Here are pictures of the decor during VBS.  In the far right, Haylee is in front of her class.  Garrett is in his class in the next picture, and the next two pictures are of my class.....of course the class I taught, NOT the class I was in!!  :)

On Friday after VBS there is a carnival and performance the kids put on to show all the parents what they learned that week!!  It was a beautiful day and the kids had a blast!!  All the kids did such an awesome job were so CUTE!!

 Haylee's face painting!!

Garrett's face painting

Haylee is such a dare devil!!  She was right there with all the other kids!! 

They had a chinese taxi set up for the kids to sit in!! 

Garrett was getting ready for his big singing debut

 Garrett got a little happy with the mic!!  Who can blame him....mom told him to sing LOUD!!

The next day Nana and Auntie Jessie came to visit us for a week!!  Josh has a week off so they came to hang out in Portland (and get baby time!!).

We have gone and gone!!  The day after they got here we went to church and then went to make Papa another mug at the ceramicafe (you can see our first visit here).  After we finished our artwork, we went downtown Portland to the Saturday market!!

Nana bought Garrett this homemade whistle!!  Thanks NANA....our ears are going to love you.....NOT!!!!  Oh well, Garrett loves you!!

Look at this DOG!!  It's bigger than Garrett!!!!

Nana looking at the Gourd bird feeders!!  She came all the way to Oregon to buy a Gourd!!

The next day we went about 60 miles south to an amusement park!!!  I wasn't sure how the kids were going to do, but they LOVED it!!  Garrett went on ALL the rides!!!!  Haylee went on a couple!!  She was tall enough to go on a roller coaster.....but did NOT like it!!!  The entire ride she kept saying, "NO SLIDE!!  Please STOP!!!"  She never cried, but when we got off she said, "Slide TOO SCARY!!"  Maybe next year!!

It was a really good park for small kids!!! 

Garrett on the bumper boats!!

The TOO TOO Scary "Slide"

We saved the log ride for last in case we got soaked!!  Garrett couldn't wait to go on it!!!  I was a little nervous that he would chicken out, but he didn't, even after watching it while in line!!  He couldn't wait!!!  It was a log ride/roller coaster!!  There were several turns and downhill parts with a big slash at the end!!  Garrett LOVED it!!  When we were approaching the first small one I told him that there was a little water fall ahead and afterwards he said "OH YEAH!!!!!"  He wanted to go again after we were done!! 

The second time around was a little different!!  We got to the top and went in this tunnel and the water started letting out!!  We got STUCK!!!  We were way up high and NO ONE was around!!  We started yelling....HELP!!!  Finally someone came and said their computers had malfunctioned!  They turned on their pump and we were ready to go!!  When we got back, they let us stay on and go again!! 

The next day (now Tuesday) was Garrett's birthday party!!  I let Garrett choose a couple of friends to come eat lunch with us and play!!  It was so much fun!!  The kids had a blast!!

A game where all the kids popped balloons!!  There was candy in the balloons!!  Do you see my daughter in the middle!!!

The best part about a birthday party.....PRESENTS!!!

....and cake and ice cream!!

After the party and NAP TIME we went STRAWBERRY picking!!!

 I wonder what she's been eating???

Like Father, Like Daughter!!

HAPPY WEEK!!!  We're planning on going hiking tomorrow so I'll have some more pictures this weekend!!!

Garrett Five Year's Ago

I came across this picture today!!  What a sweet boy!!

Five Years Ago

Five years ago my life changed FOREVER!!  I changed from being a teenager to a young women.  I changed from not having a career to starting my career in nursing.  I changed from being Erica to being MOM!!  My baby turned FIVE yesterday!!!  What a wonderful day!!  I was up making breakfast and looked at the clock it was 6:20 am   (7:20am NM time....aka the same EXACT time Garrett was born) and at that moment Garrett walked down the hall and saw that I decorated downstairs and his gift was on the table.....he said, "HOLY COW!!!"  I had to laugh because that's probably what I was saying about 5 years ago at that exact time!!!!

Garrett's birthday was filled with all kinds of craziness.....exactly how he likes it!!!  Our neighbor is the middle of moving so they are staying with us for a few days, so Leni (who is 6) and Garrett had a sleepover!!  It was the first day of VBS, he had a T-ball party that evening, and this was the start of Josh's finals week!!!  Just like I said.....just the way Garrett likes it..... CHAOS!!!  It was a fun day though!!  

I got up early and made French toast, eggs, and bacon....we put candles in Garrett's French toast and sang Happy Birthday!!!

.....AND open his present!! 

We got him a Spiderman watch....he's been obsessed with this little toy watch he got at a birthday party and I thought it would be a good way for him to learn about time!!

We went on to VBS which was awesome!!!  When Josh came home we ate dinner and then went to this AWESOME kid's place....Out of This World Pizza!!  It's a pizza place....but the kids LOVE playing there so much they don't eat very well....that's why we ate dinner before we went!!!

Isn't it AWESOME!!  The kids had so much fun!!  Little Miss Haylee is such a dare devil!!  She's doing things Garrett won't do!!!  Including this HUGE blow up slide.....that says for 5 years and older I might add.....

That's my GIRL!!!

Garrett had a blast too and he learned that he LOVES the HUGE blue slide (you can actually see the red one a little better but they are the same!)!!  You can see it in the picture above!!  He was SO scared but I made him go on it and then he wouldn't stop!!  He went on it over and over and over again!!!

After they played for a little bit all the kids got trophies!!  

WHAT A GREAT BIRTHDAY!!  

And then all his teammates sang Happy Birthday!!!

I made this cake....the front said GO TIGERS....for his team and then the back said GARRETT!!!  One of the other mom's made the tiger and stuff on top!!  AMAZING!!!!!  

Isn't that AWESOME!!!

The back of the cake!!

GO GARRETT!!!

Happy Birthday little MAN!!  You are such an awesome little boy!!  I hope you had a GREAT birthday!!!