Cake Party

We had friends over for cake on Saturday the 9th. Anna wanted a pony cake, so I made a sand castle cake from Family Fun magazine, colored it pink and stuck miniature My Little Ponies on it. It was a hit.

Birthday

Anna turned 3 on August 7th. It was a fun day. She got lots of princess things and My Little Pony things and a few Barbie things. She's a very y . It was a good day for her.

The Newest Member of our Family

We gained a new family member this weekend. I finally found us a piano fit for our home, or at least our long legs. In all honesty, it's a little beat up and it's definitely seen better days. A lot of them. We've determined that it was born in the year 1900. We'll get it fixed up and hopefully have many happy years together.

Ward Campout 2008

Our ward campout was the 25th of July. We borrowed Rachel and Josh's tent, as usual, and drove out to Kilchis River Park by Tillamook, OR. We got there pretty late and started setting up camp. Rebecca watched from her blanket.


In the morning we enjoyed the ward breakfast and then played at the river. It was very cold - in the 50s - and raining lightly. The kids didn't mind; throwing rocks in the water was just as fun in the rain as in the sun. Some of the heartier ward teens braved the water in spite of the chill. They were very impressive.



Rebecca had a hard night. She fell asleep in my arms but every time I laid her down she snapped awake and cried at me. Eventually I put her in my air bed to sleep with me and Anna, who refused a sleeping bag of her own in favor of kicking me all night. In the warmer air of morning, Becca slept just fine snuggled up under all my blankets.


While Becca napped, we burned the rest of our wood and broke camp. When she woke we headed home.

Pink Dresses

Our little s sure look good in pink!

4th Of July

We had a lovely 4th of July. The weather was perfect--overcast and cool. We went to the parade in Hillsboro with our friends Rachel and Josh and their kids Emma and Gabe. The kids loved waving their flags and did an excellent job collecting candy.


For fireworks we went to a neighborhood close by our house. They did a great display. Unfortunately, the booms were too much for Anna - we were pretty close to the front. She cried herself to sleep on Kip's lap soon after it started. Becca missed it all, too, falling asleep under the nursing blanket taking care of her baby business. The rest of us enjoyed the show.

Kansas, Pt 2

On Friday we all went to Rock River Rapids. It was great. What a fun water park and so very close to Robin's house! The kids were a little nervous at first, but really had a blast once they got used to the water.

Becca showed off her new swimsuit by napping in it in the shade.


William and Anna liked splashing in the water.


The squirty fish was a lot of fun.

Kansas Trip

We had a lovely time on our trip to Kansas last week. It started out rough with us missing our 7am flight. We got to the ticket counter 15 minutes after they cut off check-in (45 minutes before take-off). Yeah, we'd cut it too close. But it's never been a problem before.

We rode the MAX into Portland to read stories at the downtown Library after finally checking in our bags at 10am.

When we finally made it to Kansas, things got a lot better. Robin took us to the Exploration Place. It totally rocked. The kids had a blast and the play areas were really neat. And it was almost completely empty for some reason. Do Kansans not realize what a treasure they have there?

Anna joined Zach and Quinn to play flight simulator. I think Zach made this face because Quinn was crashing the plane.


Zach got really good at pulling bubbles over people.


Becca liked eating the horse's mane. I can tell she's going to be a great horsewoman someday.


William and Lili enjoyed the boat in the little kid area.

Last day of Preschool

William had his last day of Preschool on June 9th. He was sad to leave his class behind. He had a lot of fun at Young Learner's Preschool. I'm glad we put him in school there.

Here he is saying goodbye to Aneesha, Teachers Gloria and Jenny, and Anna. Oh wait, Anna wasn't in his class. She just wanted to be in the picture.

Sisters

Anna adores her little sister to the point of smothering her. They're really cute together. And we just can't get enough PINK in our house.

Lego Birthday Party

We had a lego-themed birthday party for William on Saturday the 31st. All the kids got to build a race-car when they arrived, then they raced them down a ramp Kip built out of a box. When the racing wound down, we all went outside for a lego-hunt. We had hidden the big lego quattros in the yard for the kids to find. Then, we ate lego cake and played until the parents came back for their kids. William had a blast. Thanks to everyone who came!


Birthday Boy


A lego cake.


Cooper's crazy burned hand.


Istook kids, Anna, and Cameron eating cake.


Emma, Adam, Aneesha, and Ian on the swing.

William is 5!

William celebrated his 5th birthday on May 29th. He got his first little legos and instructions to keep them from his lego-eating baby sister. He loved building his Star Wars ship and then tearing it apart to build random ships of his own design. He also loved his cool gifts from his grandparents. It was a great birthday.

Tummy Time

Becca's been getting tummy time every day. We think she's pretty cute about it.

William's preschool went to the farm for a field trip on April 28th. He had a lot of fun.


He enjoyed seeing where cows used to be milked.


He was an excellent duck racer.


He and Cameron were great at tire-climbing.


And he got to help plant some yummy pumpkins seeds with the old-fashioned planter.

Becca's Blessing

Baby Rebecca got blessed in church on the 30th of March. Her Grandma was able to come spend some time with us for the event. It was nice to have her here, even just for the weekend. We thought we'd show her a good time, Oregon-style, so that she would see it was better in Oregon than in those HOT states her other kids live in. To accomplish this, we made sure it rained or hailed the entire time she visited and that the roof of the theater where we saw "Go Dog Go" performed on Saturday afternoon leaked the aforementioned rain onto our heads as we enjoyed the performance.

Becca did some singing for Grandma.

She sure loves her daddy.

Our little diva.

Becca was very upset when she learned Grandma had to go back home.

Happy Easter

The kids were so cute in their Easter clothes, we had to take pictures. We had a lovely day and enjoyed celebrating the resurrection of our Savior.

Easter Eggs

We decided to dye easter eggs this year. The kids had a lot of fun with it, especially with the part where they got to decorate the eggs with car stickers and drive them on their little car bases. Unfortunately, Anna drove the bus off the table and cracked it. It wasn't pretty.

Brush with Greatness

Becca had a brush with greatness last night. She was kissed by David Ogden Stiers, or Charles Emerson Winchester, III, as I think of him.


It happened at my orchestra concert. I didn't play in this session. Rebecca was born two weeks before rehearsals started and, knowing I tend to get sick during the first 2-3 months, I opted out. When I got the program flyer I wanted to cry. David Ogden Stiers was narrating Peter and the Wolf. Oh, that would have been wonderful to play! Of course, there's only one flute part so I wouldn't have been in it, but I still could have been there. And he conducted 2 encore pieces. I would have been in those. What fun it would have been! But it really was better that I chose not to be in this concert. I did end up sick and wouldn't have wanted to try to learn the crazy piccolo part on the Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody while feeling like I wanted to die.

Kip and I showed our support to the orchestra by attending the concert. During the intermission we went down to the stage so I could say hello to my subs, Marc and Adrian. Well, one was my sub, one was covering a third part. When we reached the stage, they were in the wings talking with Mr. Stiers. I hadn't intended to talk to him. What would I say that wouldn't leave me looking like an idiot? "Hey, you were great in MASH"? Everyone knows that. But there he was, so I introduced myself as the regular piccolo player, skipping out on that concert to recover from having a baby. He admired Rebecca (of course - she is adorable) and even gave her a kiss on her cute little head.

I'll admit, I was a little shaken by the experience. It's wasn't that he was a scary person to talk to; he seemed quite nice. But after years of watching MASH reruns, I see him and feel like I know him almost as wells as part of my own family. I see him and think of the years of watching MASH with my siblings late at night and the talks we had during commercials (back when we couldn't skip them), the quiet conversations we shared and how it brought us closer together. He was a part of that, but not really. And there he was in real life as a real person in front of me not aware he connected with all those things I remembered. It was an odd sensation.

The concert was really good and I enjoyed being able to watch it instead of playing in it. I was impressed with how the orchestra sounded. I feel very lucky to be a part of such a great group. And I look forward to starting rehearsals again in April.

Baby Rebecca Smiles

Baby Rebecca has figured out how to smile. I think it's so cute, I had to post some pics for you all to enjoy.

Anna is convinced that Rebecca is her little toy. Wherever Rebecca is, Anna wants to be in her face yelling "Hi Rebecca" with all her might or grabbing her head or arms. William generally leaves her alone, although he tries to help her out whenever she gets upset. "Rebecca," he says, "there's no need to cry. You love us!"


Rebecca smiling for us all.


The Three Killpacks: William, Rebecca and Anna enjoying the blanket Grandma made.

Grammy's Visit

Grammy came to see us the first week of February, 2 weeks after Rebecca was born. We had a good visit, although we didn't do much other than sit around and enjoy the baby and her big brother and sister.


Grammy and Rebecca.


Grammy and all the kiddos.


Grammy, Becca and Will.