Cowgirl Up!

Megan was invited to Natalie's 5th Birthday Party at a horse barn.  I got her a new shirt and a cute sparkly horse camo hat to go with.  She had the rest and quite the little country girl attitude.  We didn't have to ask twice to take pictures of her before we left, she was however pretty sick if the pictures after we were at the party for awhile.  When we got to the party, she was given a cowgirl hat and bandana to add to her look and then it was horse time!  She is very comfortable on a horse from all of her practice with Aunt Kathy taking her to a nearby barn.  She was right at the front of the line and probably got to ride 4x more than all of the other kids just because she didn't let an opportunity to jump on pass her by!  There were five horses of all different sizes and I think she got to ride four of them.  After that it was present time, I'm not sure if Natalie got to open one of her presents with all of the elbowing going on by her fans, but hopefully she had fun anyway!  Happy Birthday Natalie and thank you for inviting Megan!

Megan's Birthday Wish List

Megan's birthday is just around the corner believe it or not.  Here are a few things our soon-to-be FIVE year old would like.  I'll update this list as I hear from her!  If you want dibs on something, let me know and I'll take it off the list!  Thank you!

• Anything "Tangled", a cd soundtrack for her to sing along to would be great
• "The Parent Trap" original movie
• "Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken" movie
• Skechers Twinkle Toes shoes size 11-12
• CD player/radio with a microphone for her to sing along
• Our Generation Doll - (Doesn't have to be this exact one)
• Our Generation Salon Chair
• Disney Princess Fairy Tale Songs (she just saw a commercial for this and freaked out!)

National Guard Company Family Picnic

Josh had drill this weekend but this time we got to join him on Sunday for his company's family picnic.  It was at Aldersgate Retreat Center in Turner, OR.  It was a beautiful, hot day but thankfully there were also a lot of trees that kept us shaded when need be.  It was still pretty warm in the shade though.  It was very well planned and they had a lot of activities for the kids at different times throughout the day.  Megan got to jump on a hydroulic jumpy thing (for lack of a better name), run in a sack race, have a waterballoon toss which then turned into a fight and slide down a 125 ft. water slide in the forest.  Mister got to crawl and walk all over, eat watermelon, get filthy dirty and in the end, have a sucker. It gave us a lot of opportunities to practice with our new toy!

Megan's Last First Day of Preschool

Megan misses the birthday cut off to start kindergarten this year.  While most people agree that she would be ready to start, we are also just fine with her waiting another year.  I was thinking the other day about how much taller she is going to be than the other kids but that's okay.  She'll be a great rebounder!  She is going to preschool two full days a week and will be working on pre-kindergarten material.  Her teacher tells us that she will be reading before she's through this year and will be having a little bit of homework too! 

Here are some pictures of her first days of school:

This is Megan in 2/10 when she first started going to school.

 Megan at the beginning of the school year in 9/10.

 And here is our little girl growing up so fast in 9/11.

Practicing With Our New Camera

We were lucky enough to be handed down a Canon Rebel camera.  It's been something we've always talked about wanting but never thought we'd have.  It's been really fun trying to learn about it and practice.  If the kids were sick of getting their pictures taken then, they seriously are now!  So now it's all about aperture, light, shutter speed, motion and getting it all in balance.  Sometimes......

Mom's 60th Birthday

Mom turned 60 this year!  Tami held a family dinner on the actual day and then on the following Saturday we had a small family gathering at her house as well.  Thanks Tami for all of your party planning and Happy Birthday Mom!

Mister enjoying his cupcake.

Family friends, Dave and Kaci

Grandma and Megan

Connor enjoying his cupcake

Birthday guests

It was also the Ducks' first game day so we had some eagerly awaiting fans!

Grandma Terri with Henry

Thank you everyone who came to make mom feel special!