Welcome, piggies!

It was finally time to go get the new batch of pigs! We made some major changes this year, buidling an uber-pen that should work year-to-year. 

The girls were excited to paint the gate.

I made them wear old clothes, put their hair up, and wear gloves, but they really didn't make much of a mess. A bit of black paint on the concrete, but mostly it went where it was supposed to go. Whew!

We have to teach the little piggies to drink, so here they are filling up the temporary water buckets.

They both fell asleep in the pickup on the way home that evening. What a day!

As we began to unload the pigs, Smokey was on -the-spot to manage things.

He kept a very keen eye on them!

They seem to be adjusting very well to their new surroundings. We have a motion-detecting spinkler and motion-detecting light near their pen, to help ward off any curious coyotes who think they want free pork. But it won't be long before these guys are big enough to fend for themselves and the threat is lessened.

Bring on the bacon!

Outing to Enchanted Forest

We carved out some time from our always-terribly-busy weekends to tkae a family break and have a picnic lunch and visit to the Enchanted Forest.

We picnicked at Willamette Valley Vineyards. The girls thought it was fun to pull the cooler up the hill.

Amazing view. Daddy and Mommy reminesced about our first anniversary, where we visited here and had a picnic.

Awful quality of shots, but it's nice to document that we actually did this stuff.

They ran around all the little vignettes with great joy.

Little Ol' Woman Who Lived in a Shoe

Happened to get one kid coming back from a slide while the other was about to go.

This was sort of ironic...Daddy was originally supposed to be at Woodburn racing on this weekend, but the transmission wasn't cooperating, so we were doing other things. As it turned out, he did still get a chance to "go racing"...in a form of electric car!

He took each kiddo around. They loved it!

(My hideous photography skills, coupled with a stupid camera, are killing me here...)

Selfie Sisters

We took in a local semi-pro baseball game last weekend. In a particularly slow moment, someone found mommy's tinted lipgloss in my purse. And here's what happened next...

"Mommy, can we use your phone camera like a mirror, so we can see what we look like?"

The Actual Birthday

The night before, she opened presents from the family.

She got a cake-pop maker, so we knew the next day would require putting that right to use!

Birthday morning.....wakey-wakey!

Bearcat (ever the sensitive guy), helps in the process.

We started the day with a trail ride!

The other boys were pretty good, waiting in the pasture and watching us leave. (Never know if it's gonna be a rodeo, so we were cautious.)

Definitely the highlight of the day!!

Can take some doing to get a decent shot, however. Most of them come out like this one. heehee

Making of the cake pops.

She likes to use the hand-beaters.

We discovered a way to load it quickly.

Nicely browned little balls of sweetness, ready to frost.

Fun!

Which is sweeter, the kid or the cake?

Afterwards we went to her choice of place for lunch -- Subway. She ate the whole thing!

What a fun day!!

Birthday Party

Let her not complain that she didn't get a birthday party....we did it. She really wanted a horse-themed party. So that's how we rolled.

The cakes were not worked out until the morning of the party, but we eventually settled on two horses and a stack of hay bales. (Thank you, Pinterest, for the inspiration. Not much of our final deliverables are really pin-worthy in their looks. But I've come to the conclusion that if your stuff for a kids' party really looks as good as some of that stuff did online, then you weren't planning with the kids in mind. Because what they want is just plan ol' fun, not stuff that looks totally realistic or all matchy-matchy with pretty pastels....but I digress.)

Back to the party.

The weather held out, fortunately, so we could do things outside. We played Drop the Clothespin, Pin the Tail on Jake, and Guess How Many Horse Treats are in the Jar. Of course, we have no pics of that stuff, because we were in the process of having fun, not doing a photojournalism project.

But we did get some shots of the Pinata! Here, our friend Liam takes a well-aimed swing, after everyone had a chance with the blind-fold and we realized that uber-strong pinata was going to last all night if we didn't take other measures.

Contact!

Note in this picture: Liam is still taking a great swing, just as the candy has already begun to drop and the children are scrambling to pick it up. Chris is in the background trying to have him stop swinging.

Chris' quip: "Poor pinata. It's lost its sole."

Har!

The highlight of the party was the photo op on Shorty! Each child got to sit on him and have their picture taken. He was a trouper, of course. And so was Quigly, who stood tied to a post nearby like a quiet buddy in the background. After the stint on Shorty, everyone flocked over to Quigly and gave him some loves. He was in heaven with that!

Miri's Graduation

What a week it was! For Aleaha there were ears to pierce and contests at school, plus treats to bring for last day of school brunch (mini-blueberry muffins and sausages on a stick in the crockpot - yum!). But it wasn't just all about Aleaha......oh no! Miss Miri graduated from Pre-K!!!

Mommy couldn't keep it together very well, as it just seems so emotional to think about leaving this wonderful center after almost 8 years. Miri will still be there over the summertime, but this was definitely a special ceremony.

Each child was given a rose to present to their moms. (Sniff!!)

She was generally on good behavior, although she did ask when they were going to be able to skip the ceremony and head over to the "SeeYaLaterAlligator Cupcake Cake" and fruit buffet bar that was set up along the side of the room.

She received a diploma as her official documentation of release. (Goofy Eye Phase is already starting...)

BearCat knew it was a special day for her and he was sure to give her extra attention that night.

Field Day

Aleaha begged us all year long to volunteer for things at her school. There was generally very little notice, but for Field Day (second-to-the-last day of school), we were able to sign all the forms, get the required background check done, and set aside the time to help.

Daddy helped with a foam noodle toss (sorry, no pics), and Mommy helped with the Watermelon Seed Spitting Contest. 

Ya, if you were thinking "Eeeeeeew!", you'd be right! There was a bit of saliva going on, but probably the grossest was the picking up of already-spit seeds in order to give it another go. We chaperones really tried to catch these charges and not let them do that, but some were awful quick!

Pretty good form. Of course, the main point was to eat watermelon.