Joelle is 11... be prepared for a lot of pictures :)

Joelle turned 11 last Wednesday (Sept. 22). We had such a fun Day. Lately the kids have wanted money for their birthdays and then they want us to take them shopping that day so they can pick out exactly what they want. I love it that way, so much easier for me. We knew my mom and dad were coming so we went shopping a few days before her birthday. I told her that she couldn't have her presents until her actual birthday so she and Emma came home and wrapped them so she could open them on her birthday. :). It was so cute. The night before her birthday she arranged them all on the dining room table. You have to love her organizational side.

Joelle had asked for breakfast in bed, but it ended up taking too long to make it :). David and I got up early that morning to go to the gym before the kids woke up (David took the day off). We got home and he started cooking. She wanted "french toast, bacon and apple juice). David stood at the stove for over an hour. Talk about dedication. I was busy getting everyone dressed and ready for our exciting day.

Here she is, so excited to open her presents. She kept jumping around saying she couldn't wait (which I thought was so funny since she knew what she was getting).

She bought these earrings because they were Eiffel towers. She has worn them everyday since. She thought her dad was "just going love them" :). (Not to mention she only had six dollars left and these were just $5.98 :)

I don't quite get the whole zuzu pet rage, but she has been wanting one forever and was so happy to make that dream come true.

She bought this barbie at target, and then decided she wanted to go buy Emma one of the less expensive mermaid dolls that are still from the same movie (she got money from grandma that day). So we went to Target the day after her birthday to buy the other barbies. She had seen them when we shopped for her presents. In the space of that 6 days between buying her presents and going the day after her birthday to buy the other barbie, Target had totally revamped their Barbie section (a new barbie movie had come out that week). So the cheaper mermaid barbies were nowhere to be found. I took them to this huge Fred Meyer we have down the street (it is basically a super walmart or super target type store). They didn't have the cheaper barbies either, but they did have this same barbie on sale for $9.99 (which is sad since she paid almost $18 for hers). She was so excited to be able to get Emma the same barbie. I loved that she didn't even realize what a rip off it was for her. She is so sweet.

Here she is with her money and fun bag of goodies from Grandma. What child over the age of 6 doesn't love money?

She had been saying for months that if it was raining she wanted to go to the science museum and if it was sunny she wanted to go to the zoo. In the end she decided she just really wanted to go to the science museum. We bought a year pass and it has been the best money we ever spent. Our kids love it. We have gone 4 or 5 times, but I have never remembered my camera. I had it this time, but didn't remember to take any pictures till the end :). Sheesh! And yet I still ended up with a ton..... I think I was over compensating.

OMSI stands for Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (just in case anyone was wondering).

We get 2 guests in for free anytime, if anyone is interested - Same with the Japanese Gardens :).

When we signed up for our pass they gave us 8 tickets to go see a movie at the IMax theater that is connected to the museum. She really wanted to see the dinosaur movie, but it started to late in the afternoon so we got to see "Deep Sea". (Which just happened to be the one I was hoping to see). It was awesome! I love underwater adventures and in the IMax it was so much better. Mom and Dad and I sat on the very back row with some of the kids so we wouldn't get sick. It worked. David sat closer to the screen with Joelle and Jacob. They can handle that kind of stuff better :).

This Einstein exhibit had been here since June and was leaving Sept.26th. David and I had wanted to see it, but hadn't had a chance. It wasn't really set up for little kiddo's. Mom and Dad took the kids up to their favorite section of the museum and let David and I go through the exhibit. It was so amazing (thank you Mom and Dad - it felt like a little date :). Einstein was amazing. Sadly like most genius people, his personal life was so sad, but what he found and accomplished..... wow. For lack of a better word, Wow! They had all these little places where things were written about him, or had quotes by him, just a bunch of interesting facts. These next four were some of my favorites.

David is such a good sport about posing for fun photos.

See what I mean :).

I am so lucky to be married to such a fun guy. He makes life so happy :).
This is always a fun spot. They have it set up so you can see what it is like to be a weather man on tv. Here you are in front of a green screen...........

.....But on the monitor you are predicting the weather. How fun is that? Mom and I were taking pictures of each other here. It was a very fun mother - daughter activity :) (To see my mom, you have to go to her blog.)

It was so fun to have Mom and Dad here. It made Joelle's birthday so much more fun. I miss my family so much and having them come was so much fun for me. I can't wait till they come again. Sorry about the ugly wall color. We were in the amazing kid play place where all the walls are crazy colors.

This section of the museum is one of the kids favorites. It has so much fun stuff all in one spot. It is more for the younger kids, but my girls still really enjoy it. The only problem is it is hard to get them to leave it.

See what I mean about crazy wall color? :)

This is a big sand pit, stuck right in the middle of the room. Love it!

She was very proud of this tower and made me take a picture. I should have taken a picture of the amazing castle some other kid made next to it. It was so cool, I didn't believe it was done by a kid. Oh, but, we were very proud of her tower to :).

I love that these two get along so well. I really hope the day never comes where they don't (I am preparing myself just in case).

I asked the boys to climb in the cave so I could take a picture. The decided to strike a pose while they were at it. They thought it was so much fun they wanted me to take more.

Jacob's poses were so fun. I was laughing out loud. He loves pictures, but you can never tell because he always looks mad. I don't get it, he is always asking me to take his picture, but he won't smile. Silly kid.

The funny thing is, these pictures are in little caves in this big fun room. It was so dark I could hardly see the boys in this cave, but my flash makes it look like they are in the noon day sun.

Same thing here, Emma was making a scary face with a flashlight, and this is what came out. She is such a cutie.

Katie was such a Grandpa's girl on this trip. She wanted to be with my Mom and Dad constanlty. It was so sad becuase she wasn't awake when they left and she spent the whole day telling me to bring them back. She anxiously awaits their next visit.

Joelle decided she didn't want a cake for her birthday she wanted 2 dozen Krispy Kremes. One regular and one assorted where everyone could choose the donut they wanted. What a treat. they all thought it was super cool. I hope she didn't set a trend, it costs a lot more than a cake :).

I don't even know what Jacob is upset about. I think he just really wanted to eat his donut.

They were trick candles so they just kept lighting. All the kids were helping her blow them out by the end. I wouldn't touch a donut on that plate and I made them eat those ones first, I was sure they were covered in spit.

Joelle thought this was one of her best birthdays ever. I am so greatful for such a sweet little girl. I can not imagin life without her.

Michael, JaNae and the Japanese Gardens

Micheal and JaNae came to visit us over Labor Day weekend. We had a blast. They are so much fun to be with. JaNae is one of the cutest pregnant women I have ever seen. I can't wait to see what a beautiful baby boy they are going to have.
They got in Friday night and we stayed up pretty late talking. Michael is training for a marathon so he got up earlier than the rest of us and went for a 10 mile run (I can't even fathom wanting to do that, not to mention actually doing it :). We decided to go down town and show them where David works and how beautiful down town is.
We thought we would have lunch while we were down there and then work our way to the Japanese Gardens (Micheal said that most of the people who found out he was coming up here told him he had to see the gardens). David and I have been wanting to go to the gardens, but hadn't made it there yet so we were pretty excited.
The whole down town part of the plan kind of backfired. Pioneer square was awesome as usual, but there was some big convention going on that found us surrounded by a bunch of dressed up weirdos. NO KIDDING! They were REALLY dressed up. We couldn't figure out if it was from some kind of Sci-Fi movie or Anime or what, but it was weird. I would have taken pictures, but most of them were kind of scary looking and I didn't want to get in trouble. The kids thought it was great. They thought it had to have something to do with Halloween. It was pretty funny.

The biggest problem was that all these people got out for lunch just when we realized we needed to eat. We tried a couple different places (both of which my kids love ), but they were so full we decided to try somewhere else. We looked and looked and finally found a Subway and a Chipotle next to each other that weren't too busy. Poor Joelle, she was so hungry by this point and she hates Subway. She has never had Chipotle and she isn't the best at trying new things (especially when she is starving). We finally got her to eat a cheese tortilla and then she was okay. It was also cooler downtown than we were expecting and none of us brought jackets. It was not my best planned trip, that's for sure :).
The afternoon to the Gardens was perfect. It was warmer by then and the gardens were stunning. The kids weren't sure how they felt about going to some "boring" gardens until Michael told them that these gardens are where Ninjas live. He told them we wouldn't see any, because as we all know they are experts at hiding :), but that we should look as hard for them as we can. It was great. Ben was so excited to get there after that introduction. The whole time there the kids were telling us what they thought the ninjas used each different section for. What a smart guys Micheal is. He is going to make a great Dad. (He had also had the idea to pack a lunch before heading down town, but did we listen..... no - once again, so smart).


Luckily Michael and David got maps for the garden. It was a little confusing figuring out the gardens. JaNae and I would be musing together about what we thought something meant, and Michael would break in with the map in front of him and tell us what it meant. We just kept laughing because it kept happening. His is almost as handy to have around as David ;).

The kids loved these little dragons at the entrance. You can't really see them because of the shadows, but the kids were determined for me to get their pictures. Katie loved her dragon. She didn't want to get off. I think it was her favorite part of the whole trip. She kept roaring all the way back to the bus. Silly girl.

This is her new picture face. She thinks she's taking a picture of you. What can you do?

This little section is a bunch of gravel raked out in perfect checkerboard squares. It was so, so cool.

This was my favorite spot. What a beautiful waterfall. I begged David to come home and make me one just like it. It wasn't that big, but he refused. I can't figure out why :).

Emma and I saw this spider on the path back down to the bus. She begged me to take a picture. We have a lot of this species around. I think they are cool looking - they just better never come into my house.

All in all it was a great day. I miss Michael and JaNae. It was awesome to have family come visit. It was such a fun weekend. I can't wait to be with family again.