Norah's first ballet recital - An Enchanted Fairytale!

Finally, the big day has arrived! After her first year of ballet classes, Norah finally enjoyed her first recital. She was fabulous (yeah, no bias here) and remembered every single one of her moves. We were a very proud family and enjoyed her excitement immensely!

Norah and cousin Hadley, also in her class. They were too cute today!
Great Grandpa and Great Grandma joined us, along with Aunt Eileen, Uncle Charles, Grammie Peggy, Kodiak, the Dave Butler fam, Neil Butler fam -and Katie's sister and niece, Jen and Anna. G-Grandpa had priority seating, so we all enjoyed the benefit of a front row seat. Woohoo, thanks Grandpa!
Exiting the stage after their final bows
G&G brought the girls bouquets - Norah loved hers!
Just because Kodiak looks a little maniacal in this...

Neil, Dannelle, Josie and James came - Josie was great during the entire show! She gradually crawled across our laps till she reached Ryan, then sat with him for the remainder of the performances.

Chatting with Grammie, after the show


A celebratory ice cream cone!

Emerson's first ice cream cone

Every Tuesday we visit Great G&G Robbins - today was so hot, we went out for ice cream. Emerson had his first cone, a very messy experience...

This is before it got REALLY messy.

Three Creeks

Norah calls Three Creeks Grammie's library, because before we moved over here this is a fun place we'd meet to play with Grammie and attend storytime. Now its our library as well - but still Grammie's libary to N. :-)Playing with Thomas and Grammie
Reading in the adult section
How is it possible that I had such a cute little guy???
Norah's new fave place in the library. I had been keeping her away from my home computer, so was really surprised when she sat down and started surfing the net here. But it seems to come naturally, so I've been letting her play at home. She can navigate her way through PBSKids.org without any help from me, so we'll be setting up her FaceBook page next. ;-)

Dress Rehearsal = finally, the real stage!

Norah has been so anxious to perform on the stage - when the day finally arrived for dress rehearsal she could hardly wait to get here! When she first stepped onto the stage, I could see her thoughts running through her head - Whoa, I am going to be out here all by myself for a minute - do I REALLY want to do this? Then - Oh yeah, this is great!!

For their scene the girls dance to Teddy Bear Picnic with their own bears. Norah has a special bear that Grammie Peggy gave her and has him (yes, the boy bear is dressed as a girl) all dressed up in a Cinderella costume that Grandma Carmen gave her from Disneyland.
Katie and I carpooled over with Norah and Hadley - now they just have to wait till Saturday!

Happy Fathers' Day

Ryan's wish for FD was to take a trip down to OMSI. Since we've moved away from NE PDX we haven't been visiting as regularly and Ryan wanted have a fun play day with the kids. So, trying to get a photo with this three is like herding cats! Ryan is just as difficult as the children - and sometimes worse. :-)


Our little chipmunks, playing in a tree trunk
E, throwing his nuts
The water feature is always a fave!


Emerson was fascinated with the eletronic dino - everytime we moved to a different area, he'd try to run back.
Stopping for a picnic lunch

Then into the science area - Emerson takes a ride in a rocket.
Norah the hip scientist
Making fireworks!

A walk around the Esplanade, then we are done for the day~

Tea Party

The Butlers - as in Neil, Dannelle, Josie and James - came over for lunch. Josie sure knows how to entertain!Taking care of business - she is SO Hollywood. I am sure she is brokering a huge movie deal here.
Taking a break for lunch!
When tea parties go wrong...
James, taking it all in.

Happy Birthday to me, again!

Wow, two birthday celebrations in one year - I don't think this has happened since I was in single digits...

We met my family out at Lewsiville Park for a BBQ. This was MUCH warmer than Norah's bday in November. No one left with frostbite!:-) Emerson was in love with this puddle. He'd throw a ball in then go wading in after it.

Norah set the picnic table all by herself. She used a can of soda and filled each cup with about and inch of Dr. Pepper. She may have been drinking out of each of them as well.
Soccer with Uncle Kodiak

Hadley, Norah and little Miss Josie Pie

Why eat at a picnic table when you can sit on a rock with Grammie?

Happy Birthday to meeeeeee

What a great birthday! Ryan and N&E pampered me all day long, including a trip to see Indiana Jones (my fave series of all time, thanks to Uncle David for babysitting) and an ice cream cake. Ahh...what could be better than a great day spent with family? I am lucky!

Norah cut the cake

Gracie, Gracie, Gracie

Norah is constantly asking me to take pictures - most frequently of Gracie and her. I spent the first 3 years of her life obsessively photographing her, now she is on the bandwagon! Here she has put on both their PJs and styled their hair and posed on the couch. :-) Although at times she is as down and dirty as Emerson, she is also quite the girly girl.

Grammie's pool opens

Although it doesn't look like it here, Emerson had quite a good time in the pool. This is his first time since last summer, so it was a whole new experience for him.

Paddling around

Whipple Creek Mudbath - I mean Hike.

A beautiful hike jsut North of Vancouver - but after a really rainy fews weeks, and a trail shared with horses - we were ankle deep in mud!
Spelling is fun, even on a hike!
Yes, Emerson is in one of Norah's coats - I didn't realize how cold it would be. Also, he could use it as a floatation device when he was sucked into the mudpiles.