Church With Grammy

Today Haley & I met Grammy, Papa and Aunt Kate at St. Andrews.

Grammy was in charge of making cards for the Deacon's so I came to help & Haley showed up to be cute...which she succeeded in doing! :)

We all ate a nice turkey sandwich lunch and then headed in to get to work!

Haley was sleepy from all her cuteness so she took a nap while the ladies made cards and Papa did some outside weeding. Grammy said we managed to make over 100 cards!

It was a lot of fun working with Aunt Kate & Grammy! After church we came home and relaxed at the house for the rest of the day. Haley is SO close to crawling it is crazy!

She really can move around now.

She will army crawl to go get something if she really wants it! She can not stay still for even a second. I am so excited for this next stage!

A New Haley First

Today was another hot day - Haley really has not been digging the heat too much :( We went out and ran a few errands and when we got back Haley was hot and cranky so we set her in the bath to cool off a little and clean up. Well that bath was a little counter productive since she made a yucky in the tub. That was a first I could have lived without! After a scrub down and a shower Haley was ready to play again. She had her first chicken dinner with all the fixings - grilled little chunks of chicken, pieces of roll and cut of green beans. She seemed to like it but she made quite a mess! Still having a few computer issues but I will have more photos up tomorrow!

Haley's First Trip To The Zoo!

Today Haley & I accompanied Alex and her schoolmates on a field trip to the zoo. I had four girls in my group. Hannah...

Alex & Jessica...

And Marina.

I had a nice time walking Haley around and listening to the girls giggle and chat. It was so hot! But it was fun to hang out with my two beautiful girls!

We walked around a little and then sat on the big lawn at the zoo for lunch picnic style. After lunch Haley was POOPED. All the people, heat & excitement was too much for the little princess. Luckily the stroller seat goes all the way down so she could nap in luxury :)

Although most of the animals were not out - a combination of ongoing zoo construction and the heat - I did get a photo of the polar bears...

and a cool one in Stellar Cove of two sea lions.

Even though we were all really hot we had a great time. I am really glad I got to share today with Alex & her friends!

Uh Oh...

Computer problems :( My genius husband has to fix the 'puter so I can post photos. I will update tomorrow afternoon after Super Roy (also known as Super Dad & Super Bu) fixes the issue! :) Lots of love!

2 For The Price Of 1

So as promised I will give you double the photos today! I have a couple of really cute ones from yesterday when Makenna & Annie came by to visit. All three of these girls love their food - they ate some puffs and yogurt bites picnic style on the floor. All you could hear was gentle murmurs and crunching. Too cute. After lunch Annie & Makenna "sang" an amazing duet call "MMMaaaaaahhhhhh" It was quite the show! I have to include this photo of Makenna & Henry. Henry had quite the visit with us - so many people, babies & dogs! Henry heaven!

Today Crystal & Alex came back from their hike (22 miles!) They were tired & sore but they said they had a great time! This afternoon was Haley's nine month check up. Dr. Nelson said Haley was doing very well & seem right on track developmentally. Haley had to get a blood draw which was no fun! :( She was very upset but got over it pretty quickly with the help of a new squirt toy to chew on :) After her appointment she went over to Grammy's and spent the afternoon. She is so close to crawling! She gets onto all fours but just does not quite get going. I know it is going to happen any day now!

The World We Live In

Today I want to take a moment to reflect on where this world is going. Everyday I hear something that someone has done to someone else - each time a little bit worse than the last. The world seems to be slipping through our hands. The evil is starting to overtake the good, the greed overtakes the generosity, the hate overtakes the love. Every time someone says what a Saint I am for taking these kids it makes me feel good, but it also makes me wonder how the world has changed so much that taking care of these children becomes some sort of saintly task rather than just the right thing to do. It makes me sad that people do not seem to care about one another. That most people would rather run you over than look at you twice. It saddens me that their are so many scammers out there that it is almost impossible for people who actually need help to find anyone to give them a hand. I just hope that people will start opening their eyes and will realize that if we all do not start helping instead of hurting this world is not going to be worth living in. I am thankful to be surrounded my a great group of wonderful people, and for that I am thankful. I love my friend's & family and would not be able to be the person I am & aspire to be without them. Today I found out more news about the horrors in this world. I pray for all that are effected by the evil that men do. I hope that the love I put out into this world will inspire others to look beyond themselves and do more to make this world a better place. Thank you for the chance to vent - I will be back to Egbert happenings tomorrow (and EXTRA photos too!). All my love!

Memorial Day

It was really nice having Alex & Dad home an extra day this weekend. Today we just took it easy and enjoyed the weather. Alex played a bit with the girl. She even took Haley on a walk to visit Grandma & Grandpa Egbert! They sure have fun together!

Shoe also brought Bentley over today. The dogs had a great time together! Bentley & Tank gained up on Henry (not too successfully). It was cute watching them all have fun together!

When Henry walked over to look out the door both of his "little shadows" followed him to see what he was up to. Henry is always so careful when he plays with the smaller dogs :)

Before Henry left he really wanted to check out Tank's new dragon stuffed animal. He really had fun playing with it for a whole forty five seconds! :)

All in all a nice relaxing day - not a bad way to spend Memorial Day 2009!

Picnic Time!

This afternoon we  filled the ball pit with water (some warm from the bathtub) and Haley played around in it.  

Hayden finally could not take it anymore and put his jean shorts on and got in with her.  It was pretty cute! 

 After Hayden wanted to get in the big pool.  It was pretty cool but he had fun & pushed Haley around in her inflatable boat. 

 Then we started setting up for the BBQ we planned because Grandpa Egbert really wanted to BBQ. We invited the usual suspects; Grandma, Grandpa, Grammy, Papa, Jeff, Shoe, Hayden, Kristine, Howie & Makenna all came over and had barbecue picnic style.  

We sat around eating, talking and watching Makenna & Haley play.  It was a great time!  Haley wore her Grandpa's Sweetheart shirt :) 

 Even though Haley would not stop chewing on her sweatshirt I could not resist taking a partial family photo!

Alex and Haley - Haley is making her "grumpy man" face 

I got a lot of entertainment with shooting Henry with a water gun and watching him jump around snapping trying to catch the water stream in his mouth - crazy dog!

Multnomah County Fair

Today we took Haley, Alex, & Grandma to the Multnomah County Fair (Shoe & Hayden met us there too!) Shoe took this photo of us (although I am not sure why she did not tell me I looked like a tard...)The three older kids got ride bracelets and spent the day riding the rides and hanging out. The adults & Haley took off and explored the fair :) Haley helped Mom & Auntie Shoe feed the animals in the petting zoo! Haley liked looking at the ducks :)Dad milked a "cow" (at Mom's insistence) Before we left Grandma took Haley on the carousel. Haley seemed to love it. Every once in a while Haley would go past and get a glimpse of Roy & I and she would get excited and start smiling - it was so cute! Roy and I played a ball toss game and won three medium prizes (because we rock) - there was one for Grandma, one for Haley & one for Mom :)

A Day Full Of Surprises

So Mom was organizing some clothes while Haley took her late morning nap when who should come knocking on the door but Grandpa Egbert. Just as he came in Haley woke up from her nap so she was able to see her Grandpa. Grandpa was feeling really good today and apparently was having a rush of Haley loved so he asked if he could take her home for a while. I agreed and packed up some of Haley's stuff while I gave him an earful of instructions :) It was a nice surprise to suddenly have a few free hours to myself I was not expecting & Haley got to spend time with Grandma & Grandpa Egbert to boot! Later when we went to pick Haley up Grandpa surprised us again when he pulled up his sleeve to reveal...seriously I almost dropped dead! It took Grandma a bit to believe it was real but I assured her it was. I told you - full of surprises today! :) I guess you can not deny that girl has stolen her Grandpa's heart! After Roy got the smelling salts and revived me ;) we went home and met Chloe & Annie for a backyard picnic. We had a great time eating yogurt, gerber puffs & cheese sticks! Annie & Chloe played on the slide. They were having so much fun even Tank wanted to join in! Haley enjoyed just watching all the action...and trying to eat her feet :) Haley sure loves being around the other kids! Once the air started to chill we headed inside and played in the ball pit. All three girls loved it! They barely fit but they made do :) While we were playing inside Aunt Kate stopped by with some delicious soup! She is so sweet to us! I can not wait to cook it up! Haley was pooped from her exciting day so she went to bed. Roy & I took turns reading Chloe & Annie books until their Mom came to pick them up. All in all a great day - full of surprises!