Playing catch up

I've been such a terrible blogger lately - but I'm hoping to get a little caught up and then do some steadier posting!  So, here are some of the things we've been up to the last couple months:

We found the pool on the left at a yard sale this summer for $5!  Hands down, the best $5 we spent all summer.  We spent a lot of time in the backyard with the older 4 cooling off in this little pool and learning some great swimming skills!  Phoenix had a much harder time keeping his head above the water in that pool so we set out to find him something smaller and somewhat durable, so we found the little turtle pool  (actually I think it's a sandbox) at another yard sale for another $5!  He had so much fun in this - we have video of him running and jumping into it! He loved having it all to himself. The last picture on the right is our back patio.  This house has a covered patio that runs almost the full length of the house!  I had a lot of fun setting up a little living space out here with some extra furniture we weren't using inside.  We found the little outdoor fireplace on Craigslist for $15 too! What this city lacks in decent thrift stores, it makes up for in yard sales!  My goodness, there's a lot of yard sales around here!

We ate at Costco more times than I care to admit.

                                                                      because of that fun pool we found, we spent a lot
                                                                      of time wearing goggles...a lot.

                                                                              We went on a church camp out to Boardman, OR. 
                                                                        We played in the Columbia River, rode scooters,
                                                                     and played chess with a wise G'pa from our church
                                                                     with a gift for teaching! 

I found a few projects to work on - like this one - which still needs some tweaking - but is a nice alternative to a plastic water or iced coffee mug! 

We played (oh so carefully) with friends down at the Columbia river.  Swimming, digging in the dirt and looking for fish to catch!  We found a sweet spot by the boat launch..trust me, it's safer than it sounds. 

We celebrated Titus turning 4 and Phoenix turning 2!  Phoenix also really enjoyed the discovery of worms...or did he enjoy it?  I can't tell for sure from this picture.

We found an orchard in Yakima and picked blueberries, apples and pears and promptly ate all three (55lbs worth) within a week and a half of getting them home! 

Hewitt and I spent some time at Swedish hospital in Seattle doing some diagnostic testing for his epilepsy.  He did an admirable job of hanging out in bed for 36 hours...especially for a 6 year old!

We rejoiced (okay, *I*, rejoiced) in all the non homeschooled kids going back to school so we could play at our favorite park again without running the risk of losing a member of our family in the mob of children that play there in the summer.  These 5 look thrilled to pose for me don't they?

Having (real) espresso with a former student in Seattle.  (Love you and miss you Leslie)

Painted Hewitt and Titus' room and we're slowly working on finishing the details.  One of the fun projects I did was recovering this lampshade in yellow yarn!  I really love how it turned out and love the yellow with the color of the walls!

A gracious friend shared a huge bounty of basil with us and the night before going into the hospital Hayden and I put up all this pesto in the freezer!  Yay for a stock of pesto.  I used it in a pasta dish 2 nights ago and the boys said it was "THE BEST PASTA I'VE EVER MADE."  They also didn't eat their lunches that day because the broccoli cheddar soup I made was NOT the best soup I had ever made and they were particularly hungrier than usual.  But, we'll go with "THE BEST PASTA" anyway.  Every mom loves to hear those kinds of compliments on dinner!

And, here we are, the last pic of "just" the 7 of us before Hayden and I headed into the hospital to meet the new little one!

And many hours later - we have some proud big brothers.

A beautiful thing happened when the boys got to the hospital to meet him.  He had been pretty fussy since birth - about 2 hours.  He just couldn't get settled for some reason.  As soon as they came in and started making all the noise that 5 boys make, Kingston settled right down.  He knew.  It was familiar.  I loved it!  It was such a sweet moment and a story I suspect I will be telling for years to come!