Way Back When-sday

Way Back When-sday

Some of my blogger friends do a "Way Back When-sday" post on Wednesdays. I think this will be a great way for people to get to know our family just a little bit better.

Dateline: 2002

We got the girls all dressed up for a summer tea party with Grammy Jo. We went to this cute little tea house in Sherwood. The girls got to dress up in pretty hats, purses and boas.

Precious!

Kaela (7) , Jalen & Courtney (9) & Allie (11)

Please pray for Stellan

Praying for Stellan today!

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him"
(1 John 5:14-15).

Please join our family and pray for this little guy who is in surgery this morning for a heart condition. This family is truly remarkable and an inspiration to everyone.

Click the photo below to read Stellan's story and to read about the updates.

We will be checking their blog often today to see how this precious baby is doing.
Thankfully, we serve a faithful Lord.

Prom 2009

Prom 2009

What a fun and busy weekend! Prom was Saturday for Matthew and Allie. Stacy came over and did hair and makeup for Allie. She looked absolutely STUNNING! Thanks Auntie Stacy for all of your hard work!

Allie and Auntie Stacy

Allie and Alex looked so great together in hot pink. They went to dinner and prom with 2 other couples. Larissa and Gunner, and Kelsey and Devon. The kids gathered at Dawson Creek for pictures while waiting for the limo to arrive.

After pictures, the kids were off to dinner at the Vintage Room at The Reserve Golf Course. They had a wonderful time!

Alex and Alex

Prom Kisses!

Prom Group in front of the Limo

Matthew looked so handsome in his tuxedo and lime green vest and tie. What a HOTTIE!

Bill and Matthew went to pick up Carlie and take a few pictures at her house and then to Papa Ray and Laverna's for some more pictures.

Papa Ray, Matthew, Grandma Lavera & Carlie

Matthew & Aunt Cherie

Matthew and Carlie went to the Chart House for dinner. Stacy, Bill and I had appetizers downstairs while the kids were upstairs having dinner. We had just as much fun as the kids did..! Here are couple of pictures from Matthew & Carlie's dinner.

THANK YOU!

Seriously!!...

Why are those 2 words so hard to say?

• I say thank you to the stranger who holds the door open for me at the grocery store
• I say thank you to the stranger that hands me my coffee in the morning
• I say thank you to the stranger who graciously lets me slide in front of him in traffic
• I say thank you to my husband for all of the wonderful things that he does for our family
• I say thank you to my sister for being my best friend
  

Why?? is it so hard to get a simple "Thank You" out of a teenager's mouth?

I'm having a bad day with the teenagers.....Sigh**

Happy 5th Birthday Joey!

Our puppy is 5 years old today!

Joey is 5 years old today. We feel so blessed to have such a sweet dog as a member of our family! From the moment that I saw him, I was in love and knew that he had to come home with us.

As tradition serves, we will take Joey to the puppy park and then to McDonald's for a plain cheeseburger. Corny? Yeah, maybe just a little. :o)

Here are some pictures of the birthday boy Joey!

Getting ready for Easter

Easter Bunny Cupcakes!

Bill and I made the most adorable cupcakes today for Easter! I found the recipe from Betty Crocker and to be honest, I kind of felt like her today. Ha ha...

Click here for the recipe

OMG!...They are MULTIPLYING!!!

Taylor's new puppy

Introducing "Oakley"
(AKA...my Grand-Puppy)

Taylor and Alana brought over their new puppy last night. He is a 4 week old Cocker Spaniel named Oakley. What a sweetheart!!! Oakley is still with his Mama for another couple of weeks, but I know that Taylor will bring Oakley over all the time to play. Did I mention how cute he is?

Allie and Oakley

Family Photo Shoot

A present for my Mom's birthday.....

Our 6 kids

We got together with Stacy, Kelle and all of the kids on Sunday to have a little family shoot. Our goal was to put together some pictures of our kids for my Mom's birthday.
These are Nana's Grand-Babies.

Taylor, Allie, Matthew, Jalen, Courtney, Kaela and my nephew Tyler

Funny Kids.....Such a great picture!!

**Stay tuned for pictures of my Mom's birthday celebration at the Chart House. **

Happy 14th Birthday Kae-bella

Kaela is 14 ~

After we left Grandma and Glenn, we drove into Seattle and went to the Space Needle for Brunch with Kaela for her birthday. She had never been there before, and she LOVED it! We made it around 2 full circles in the spinning restaurant! Kaela had a really good French Toast with Devonshire Cream, Bill had stuffed chicken, and I had Dungenous Crab Eggs Benedict. AMAZING! We were so stuffed when we left, but Ohhhh so happy!



For dessert we ordered the Lunar Orbiter dessert for Kaela. What a sight! It was a very memorable birthday for her. And for us too!

Happy Birthday Kaela! We love you very much!!
Can't wait to celebrate your 15th birthday at the Space Needle again!

Visit with Grandma

Trip to Washington to visit Grandma Schroeder

We had the nicest trip up to Maple Valley, Washington last weekend to visit Grandma Schroeder and her new fiance, Glenn.
We really like Glenn and welcome him into our family with open arms.

We went up on Thursday and stayed until Saturday. We went to Snoqualmie Falls and they were BEAUTIFUL. We would love to go back up there when the weather is nicer and have a picnic!

St. Patrick's Day 2009

Irish Eyes are Smiling

We had a very nice St. Patrick's Day. Of course, what would St. Patrick's Day be without Bill's famous sweater?? Bill's Dad brought this sweater back for him directly from Ireland. This sweater is so Bill....ha ha, What you do think??

Every year I make an Irish dinner for our family. This year I did a corned beef and cabbage dinner in the crock pot. Wow, was it delicious! I used apple juice, orange juice, and cloves and it gave it the perfect flavor!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

Out to dinner with Alex and Alex

Portland City Grill....Dining in Style!

We took Allie and Alex out to dinner for Allie's birthday on Friday night. We had such a nice time! Wonderful food, INCREDIBLE view. You can click here to learn more about this wonderful restaurant!

Here is a picture of the dessert that they brought for Allie! So AMAZING!!

It is so fun that our kids are old enough now that we can take them out fine dining and they REALLY appreciate it and get it.

March Family Birthday Party

Taking care of 3 birthdays at 1 time!

Well, in case you couldn't already tell, March is a busy birthday month for us. Matthew, Allie and Kaela's birthdays are all in March. We like to do a big family party for the 3 kids all at one time. Otherwise, it's just too hard to get everyone's schedule to work. We had the party last night and it was great! What a great turn-out! We had almost 30 people in our house for dinner! Our house is a 2 story house and not huge by any means, so it was a little bit cramped but we managed. I ordered a nice rigatoni and stuffed tortellini from our favorite restaurant "Nonna Emilia's", then we had a Caesar Salad and some foccacia bread. The food was a big hit! It was really nice to have all sides of the family together.

The kids received some fabulous gifts and are so blessed to have such
wonderful family and friends.

The cake...It just had to be the Costco cake with the cheesecake filling. So so good!

Here are some more pictures from the party ~ Enjoy!

Thanks for coming over everyone! Our next big birthday celebration will be in July when we celebrate the birthdays of our other 3 kids....Taylor, Jalen & Courtney!

The State Dance Competition is next weekend, so be watching for pictures of that event.

Happy 17th Birthday Matthew

Matt is 17 ~

Matthew turned 17th on March 9th. I made his favorite dinner...TACOS! We had a nice family dinner and had a little cake for him. And now for the great news!

We bought Matthew a new car! It's a 1993 saturn. Now all he needs is to get his license. Yeah...But now he has MAJOR motivation sitting in the drive way. He should be able to take the driving text over Spring Break next week.
Cross your fingers for him.



We love you Matthew! Happy Birthday Honey!

Happy 18th Birthday Allie!

Our baby is 18!

Happy Birthday to our sweet sweet girl ~
We love you so much honey!

NEXT STOP.....The State Dance Competition!

Allie had a dance competition at Liberty High School last weekend where they took 2nd place with their state dance routine. The state competition will be on Friday and Saturday, March 20th and 21st.

Watch for Allie's solo in the middle of the first song!

Good Luck Ladies!

Congratulations! First Place Westview Wildthings!

First Place at the Forest Grove Competition on Saturday!!
STATE...HERE WE COME!

Jalen and I went to Allie's dance competition on Saturday at Forest Grove High School.
It was a really good competition and the girls took 1st place.
This routine is such an amazing thing to watch.
It truly brings tears to your eyes.
I can't wait to post the video of the entire state dance routine here on our blog.
You will truly be moved by the emotion and passion of these girls.
Their theme is "BE THE CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD"

Allie and Ellie - Senior Captains

Jalen & Allie - Sisters for life! - Thanks for coming my sweetheart Jay ~
It means more to me and Allie than you will EVER know!

Alex and Alex....
She is an AMAZING coach to Alex and has brought this team to new heights!
We are so lucky to have her in our lives! Thanks Coach Alex....for everything!