a 40th luau birthday



Kyle and I thoroughly enjoying a night out together.  I took a lot of pictures on my phone so the quality is terrible, but I didn't want to pass up the chance to document our fun night!

My sweet friend, Sheri.  We enjoyed several lava flows ~ a festive, yummy drink!  I had a prime spot on the comfy family room couch and was able to sit and chat with lots of folks.  It's so rare that we have a fun night out with friends, and I treasured every moment of it. 

Kathy put together this fun montage on the dining room wall.  I helped her start it one afternoon, and it was so fun to look at lots of old photos of Dan.  A super cute idea and a fun conversation piece for the party.

Oh Shannon...we had so much fun!  I don't think it's often that Shannon really lets loose and it was a blast getting to kick off our heels and party!  She did a wonderful job as bartender for the evening, she kept the lava flows coming...and I think measuring might have gotten a little subjective as the night went on.  I had so much fun with you, friend!



Kyle and Zack with the birthday boy himself!
Happy Birthday Old Man!

Rachel and I ~ love you sweet friend!

There are so many things that I love about this picture!  Kathy and Shannon look blissful, Kyle is just being weird and then Rachel is jumping for joy in the background.  I think this was getting towards the end of the evening and everyone was feeling very happy!

Nothing like partying with your pastor...I love Fitz and his wife, Laurel, and it was great to have an opportunity to socialize with them.  I think I asked for a silly picture and this is what they came up with!

the ladies
me, Kathy, Shannon, Sheri, Amy and Jina

It really was a super fun evening, getting to celebrate a great guy!
Happy 4oth Dan!!!

boating fun ~ i LOVE summer!

One of the best parts of summer is heading out on the boat and enjoying the beautiful weather!

We have had a magnificent summer and have actually gotten out on the boat several times (not always an easy feat in between our crazy schedules and unpredictable weather)

We headed out to the river one evening to meet up with the Pikes ~ it's such an easy launch for us but I still prefer the safety and calmness of the lake.

Carter and Nana enjoying the beautiful sunshine!

happy kiddos

We packed a picnic dinner and enjoyed some time on the beach.  The kids were able to swim, we went tubing and jet skiing...the perfect way to spend an evening!

Shannon and Emery

So much fun to spend these special time with dear friends

The kids did a lot of swimming ~ it was fun for them to run up the beach, jump in and and then swim down with the current and to the waiting dads.

The 4th of July was unusually warm, so we decided to take advantage and headed up to the lake with some friends.  Unfortunately, it was super windy, so we packed up our stuff from the beach, loaded into the boat and went in search of a calmer spot.  Luckily we overheard someone talking about an inlet that was mostly protected from the wind, so after a bit of tubing, we searched it out.  It was perfect!  We were able to eat, swim and play for the better part of the day.  The boat felt a bit small with 10 people on board, but overall the day was a ton of fun!

Carter, Ben, Grace and Kennedy enjoying their time together in the front of the boat

Carter had been begging to drive......

and he was all business!

Another night out on the river ~ we're so lucky to live in such a beautiful area, surrounded by great rivers and lakes!

This is what summer should look like!

School's Out!!! Annual End of Year Dinner

We carried on our tradition to celebrate the end of school/start of summer with the Zeamers.  I was really looking forward to our dinner with dear friends and to the start of summer.  I had been burned out with the to-do's of the school year ~ I was most definitely ready for a break from homework, sports practice, ballet, etc.  Kathy and Dan are such generous hosts, and our evening together did not disappoint.  Unfortunately, I had to work that evening, so we weren't able to stay too late but we all had a great time!

Kathy set a fun and festive table for the kids, while the adults got to enjoy some good conversation and a delicious dinner in the dining room.

a great group of kids!

I really love Kathy's children...they are all so very sweet and have such wonderful and different character traits.  They are a joy to be around.

"Have a Whale of a Summer!"

Dan BBQed and we enjoyed a lovely meal together.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't so summer-ish, but like good Pacific Northwesterners we rallied and enjoyed a fire and s'mores outside after dinner.

My kids think Kathy is the best cook ever.  With her delicious birthday cookies and amazing cakes and then s'mores!  She's amazing, I tell you!

Kyle and I enjoying some fancier s'mores ~ caramel, peanut butter and Butterfinger were flavors we tried.  DELICIOUS!

I'm not a huge fan of camp fires because I don't love the after affects of smelling like smoke.  Usually I'm a better sport, but knowing that I had to work all night left me less inclined than normal.  Thankfully Kathy lent me her coat and I moved around the fire the best I could to avoid the smoke!

Love Andrew's expression as he lost another marshmallow to the fire

Roasting marshmallows is serious business!

Thank you, dear friends, for a fun and festive night and a delicious meal.  We treasure our time together and are so thankful for your friendship!

Cinco de Mayo

My goal was to be caught up on our blog before summer officially started...I'm getting there, slowly, but I am making progress.  At least I've moved into May!

One of our regularly scheduled small group gatherings happened to fall on Cinco de Mayo, so we decided a little party was in order.  The weather cooperated and we had such a fun evening; delicious food, yummy margaritas, laughing children (14 of them!) and wonderful friends to share great conversations.  It was a fantastic way to spend an afternoon!

The ladies

(Rachel arrived a little late so we missed her in this one)

I am so very grateful for this group of women who I am lucky enough to call friends.  They offer such support and love...and they are really fun. 

The guys manned the troops out front while the ladies were able to catch up properly.  I love that Kyle has really connected with these men in our group.  They often get together on their own and are a great support for one another.

It was so warm that the sprinkler was pulled out and the kids ran around and squealed with delight!

These boys are so cute!

We are lucky to have four first grade boys in our group and they get along really well.  I am also so thankful for these relationships that Carter is starting to develop ~ a great group of 14 special kids!

birthdays, birthdays and more birthdays!

Between Valentine's Day, birthdays of friends and Kyle's birthday, February is a special month full of celebrations.  

I love birthdays and I love the chance to celebrate in a special way.

First up was Estella's 7th birthday party

It was a tea party theme and there were a lot of little girls at the party.  We watch Estella in the mornings before school and it was very sweet of her to include Kennedy in her celebration.

Since it was a girls only party, our family went back over that night and enjoyed pizza and a movie so that Carter (and a couple neighbor boys) could help her celebrate, too.

Happy Birthday, Estella!

Next up was Jeff's birthday ~ they had gone up to the mountain that Sunday but rushed home in order to watch the Super Bowl.  Since Jeff and Kyle's birthdays are just a few days apart, we had the Borrevik's over for pizza, football and birthday cake.  It was a fun way to celebrate the guys.

Happy birthday, old man!

Estella's actual birthday happens to be the 6th, as well, so it worked out to have a special birthday breakfast for her and Kyle.  Cinnamon rolls and fruit!

Unfortunately, Costco doesn't always carry Cinnabon (who knew?!?), so we had to make do with QFC cinnamon rolls.  Had I been more on top of things, I would have attempted to make my own.  

Maybe next year.

Kyle's birthday was a little anti-climatic this year and I kind of felt bad about it.  Not only was it on a Wednesday, smack dab in the middle of the week, but Kennedy had ballet that evening and there just wasn't a lot of time to do much.

I got him a new driver, which he was trilled about and we did get Thai food for dinner but otherwise it was just another day.  We had a nice celebration with his parents on Sunday, so that kind of made up for it.  

Happy birthday, Kyle, I love you!

Kaitlin is 5!

Kaitlin also shares Kyle's birthday, but her party was the weekend after.

We celebrated with a beautiful, whimsical tea party at her house. 

Kennedy was very excited to dress up and play with her friends.

It was such a great party, each and every detail was perfect, and I enjoyed the time with my friends, too.

A Zeamer birthday wouldn't be complete without Kathy's darling (and delicious!) sugar cookies!

The table was so lovely, such a fun and fancy party for the girls

Painting nails...

and getting fancy!

Kathy had necklaces, bracelets, rings, ear rings, crowns and boas for the girls ~ such fun!

Birthday guests all fancied up ~

Audrey, Gracie, Grace, Claire, Hannah

Grace, Kaitlin, Kennedy and Claire

Beautiful birthday girl and her very talented mama

I always love to see what Kathy will come up with for the kids' parties.  She is so very gifted and creative and everything always looks wonderful!

Kaitlin was so happy!!!

lots and lots of treats ~ Katie definitely has a sweet tooth!

the princess enjoying a spot of tea (strawberry hot chocolate)

make a wish!

We had to light the candles twice and have Kaitlin blow them out again because Kathy's camera stopped working.  It was so funny to see Kaitlin a little confused at first, but then excited that she got to do it twice!

me and my best girl!

a little bit of life ~ January edition

I am so glad that I'm not the only one who has been slacking a bit in the blog department.  I've noticed several friends taking longer breaks in between entries, too.  I think the relief of finishing up all of those holiday posts combined with the less exciting month of January left me with little energy to find anything worthy to document.  But, after looking back over the pictures that I took this month, there were several notable events that I'll get to and also lots of little things that would be fun to include in a "picture dump" type post.

So here it goes, a little of what we did in January...

We started the New Year off with a little snow.  I stress the word little...I think we had a slight dusting, but it was enough to excite Carter and Kennedy who rushed outside and rode around on their new bikes.

Oh how she loves her tacky fancy bike!

We enjoyed an extra week with Nana who didn't have to start school until the 2nd week of January.  We always love our time together.

There has been no shortage of tea parties around our house this month.  Between Kennedy's fancy, porcelain set and her new, everyday plastic princess set, we seem to have multiple parties a day.

On a side note ~ Kennedy was such an angel during Nana's stay.  As I've said before, Miss K isn't always the easiest child to parent - she is strong willed and somewhat defiant - but the entire time that my mom was here over the holidays, Kennedy was a dream.  Polite, sweet, funny, kind - all of her positive personality traits in abundance.  It was so wonderful!  She seemed so much happier and was such a joy to be around.  There were no tantrums or sassy back talking...a little slice of heaven for 12 days! 

I would love to be able to write that this amazingly good behavior has lasted, and it has to some extent (I think we've turned a little corner and things are much better on a day to day basis), but this little chunk of time was to be treasured!

an afternoon at home calls for a little silliness

"Dear Tooth Fairy, May I please keep my tooth?  Love, Carter"

Carter's loosing teeth frequently and his smile is starting to resemble that of an NHL player.

This was the first tooth that was lost at school and it came home in a cute little plastic tooth carrier.

Unfortunately, Kyle was out of town and the tooth fairy didn't have any cash in her wallet.  Thankfully I have sweet friends who live close and could spot the tooth fairy a little loan :)  Crisis diverted!

Our small group has taken a little break over January, but the ladies and girls managed to plan a fun outing one Sunday afternoon.  We met for frozen yogurt at Menchie's and then headed to VEGA to watch a gymnastics competition.  One of our youth from church was competing and the girls had fun seeing her do her routines.

Someone discovered Mommy's make-up

I've been working hard to clean out closets and drawers throughout the house ~ a fun little challenge to rid our house of forty bags of stuff in forty days.  (I'm over half way there and it feels great!)  Anyways, one afternoon I decided to tackle the master bathroom and Kennedy was eager to help.  I have a cosmetic bag full of make up samples and products that I don't use on a regular basis.  Kennedy had a ball ~ a little blush, some pink sparkly eye shadow and a little lip gloss made her feel very fancy!

A play date with Gracie was a change of pace for us - less princess and more super heroes

I love that about Kennedy...she isn't so girly that she turns up her nose at typical boy activities.  She's a great mix of girly girl, bug catcher, dare devil and wrestler.

A princess tea party

A play date with Kaitlin and Kennedy always includes princess dresses!

After church and lots of errands, Kennedy and I had a nice little lunch out.  As much as I missed Carter and Kyle when they were up skiing every Sunday, it was fun to have special time with my girl.

a trip to Menchies

this picture makes me smile

Kennedy is licking her bowl clean and Carter is photo bombing the picture