Montana Cousins

Will and Jack flew to Oregon for a visit with Grandparents and a the rest of us here!  We planned a few days of fun while they were here... Day 1: The Wilson Pool - under construction and closed.  So we went to the sellwood pool and had a great time!  Even Aunt Sara went down the slide with the boys but I spent most of my time trying to capture these action photos.  We had a blast - Tyler was asleep 1 block from the pool on our way home.

Spencer turns 13!

After a recent scare and being very sick we are proud to announce that Spencer turned 13 on August 1st!  I have been celebrating the wrong birthday since we adopted him (accidentally celebrating the day he was neutered as his b-day) so this was the first year we got it right!  Happy Birthday Spence!

Swim Class

Tyler is finally old enough to be in a swim class without either Jason or myself in the water with him and I was so excited to cheer from the sidelines! If you follow our blog you know that the very first time we went to a swim class he was the kid in class that cried the whole time.  I then took him alone for one night and he was good after that - no more fear.  This class was the same.  Day 1 - crying kid that wouldn't do the floats with the teacher... We talked about it that night but the next day he was still very timid and afraid at class.  My good friend lives very close to us and has a pool at her apartment complex so Jason, Tyler and I all went and practiced the floats that he was afraid to do.  Jason also practiced dunking him under water and how he should hold his breath.  Day 3: star student and teachers pet!  He did great and he has been following close by Stephanie (his teacher) ever since!

                      Last Day! 

Blackmail

I am sure the day will come when I can put this "naked gardener" photo to good use!

 

Ice Cream Trick

I know I have posted this before but it just doesn't get old.  You can teach your dogs tricks but its the stuff you can't teach them that is the best!

Happy Fathers Day!

Lemon Anyone?

Happy Birthday Penny

Penny turned 6 this year and her white paws and chin are showing her age - we love you Penny!

Dozer Day 2013

Unfortunately Jason could not go to Dozer Day this year so my Mom joined Tyler and I for a day of fun. Last year we stood in line for 45 minutes to have Tyler chicken out and not want to go for a ride but this year we were armed with a secret weapon!  Troy, our very close friend was operating one of the machines so we went straight to his line.  Sure enough Tyler did it and he LOVED it!  Thanks Troy!

Zoo Day

Our friends Pablo and Crystal Meza moved back to Oregon recently and Crystal and I took Tyler the zoo together and enjoyed a nice picnic lunch afterwards.  We had some interesting encounters with the birds at lorakeet landing - they dive- bombed us and we screamed a bit and were scolded by a fellow zoo- goer. We had a lot of laughs people watching too!  We watched a man stand in line for 5 elephant ears and then immediately get back in line for more :) and a woman with a large stroller refused to stop walking when Tyler was in her way saying, "I'm not stopping" as we tried to hurry him out of the way... Funniest for us I'm sure :) 

Miraculous Marcus

Living on a busy street with our dogs we have always known there was a chance one or both of them may someday get hit by a car. It finally happened to Marcus - the situation couldn't have been prevented - a total accident the car wasn't even speeding... And I am pleased to say that despite being run completely over by the front tire of our neighbors Toyota Camry he is just fine! I was sure he was going to have a broken pelvis and internal injuries but neither! He had some bruises and was sore for a couple days. We feel SO LUCKY and have been calling him our miracle dog!

Happy 6th Marcus

Easter 2013

Easter Sunday was the hottest day of the year so far and we enjoyed the day with both families! Great food, great company, egg hunts and sunshine - doesn't get much better.

Puddle Stompers 2013

Tyler and I did puddle stompers again this year with my Mom. Differences: no puddles (a complete shock) and it was more of an informative nature stroll. Tyler quickly decided the pace was far too slow and was saying, "follow me everybody" out ahead of the group. He wanted to run and see the river and the group was walking and looking for bugs under stumps. Still a fun morning.

Tyler in a bigger basket

Tyler has always liked to get inside of baskets. But this morning he couldn't fit in his basket that he usually fits in so now we have a bigger basket.

Tubing

Jason and Tyler made a trip to the mountain with his family recently and as you can see the weather was perfect! They went tubing and Jason put Tyler on a pair of skis for the first time too! He hasn't stopped talking about tubing and always asks us if we"remember doing that"... He also sees Mt. Hood and tells me "that's where Dad and I went tubing - mountain Hood".

Christmas 2012

You gotta hand it to the old elf... that Santa really does know what kids want.  Tyler woke up Christmas morning to a 3' long Mack truck with a BACKHOE on it!  Santa also made him a work bench, custom built in the Sherwood "workshop".  (thanks Dad)  We had to convince Tyler to open the rest of his gifts because he was so excited about the backhoe.  By the end of the presents he had an entire fleet of new construction toys and he was busy all day with them.

The Backhoe

 Marcus and Penny getting their stockings

If you notice the hair clippers on Tyler's stocking - he takes mine and Grandma Peppmeiers all the time and pretends he is a crane. 

Marcus, Caleb, Tyler, Jason, Matt, Penny, Steve, Jen, Mom, Kameryn, Dad and Justyn

Gary with the Grand kids 

 Kami looking very excited about having cocoa with her Mom

Happy Birthday Tyler

Happy 3rd Birthday Tyler!  I had a construction site themed party this year.  I made him a cement truck cake, made dump truck - cement truck and bulldozer garland, coned off our front yard and put caution tape all over our house.  He had a great day, we had a lot of family and friends over to share some food and cake for Tyler's big day.  Thanks everyone for the gifts!

Santa 2012

Tyler really understands Christmas this year, he knows that Santa brings all the good boys and girls toys for Christmas.  Just after Thanksgiving his backhoe toy broke and he has been saying that he will ask Santa for a new backhoe for Christmas. We explained to him that when he sits on Santa's lap that is when he can ask him for what he wants.  We have been practicing so he knew what Santa was going to say, you know, what's your name, have you been a good boy this year and what do you want for Christmas?  When we were getting ready to leave the house to go he started to get scared, he has previously not really enjoyed seeing Santa.  He said he didn't want to go and told us that he didn't want any toys if it meant he had to see Santa.  Here is how we got the picture.