We Will Not Forget

My flag flies today for those lost on 9/11/01.....for thier families and for those who are fighting for the freedoms I enjoy.........Thank You...... I am proud to call myself an American.

♪♪♪♪...I can see clearly now...the rain is gone...♪♪♪

Yeah...right....the rain isn't gone...we live in Tillamook people!! I was just trying to think of a cute title for this blog!! So...the rain isn't gone but apparently my girls' eyesight was....and me being the awesome mommy I am...had no idea!! Last week I took all the kids to the eye doctor for a check-up...because that's what awesome mommies do. The Dr. said Kiley's eyes were confused...she was having a hard time reading up close and also far away so they were always trying to focus and re-focus. That apparently isn't good...and makes it miserable for a little kid trying to learn...again let me remind you AWESOME mom here!! She was thrilled of course because SHE wanted glasses. She picked out a cute purple pair that suit her nicely...I'm sure in a few weeks she'll think glasses aren't all they seem!!

As for Kamryn....she was nearsighted and I kind of suspected that since she has been squinting alot lately......she ended up needing a pair of glasses as well...the Dr. prescribed her Progressive lenses, because she needs them to see far away but doesn't need them to read. So...they are like bi-focals without the annoying line, that way she doesn't have to constantly take them on and off throughout the day...which would be a nightmare for a little kid. Little did I know the lenses were $385 alone...Yep..that's just for the lenses....I think my heart just skipped a beat!! Thank goodness for good vision insurance...and an AWESOME dad who works so we can have that!! I thought for sure Kammy would pick the pink princess sparkly glasses....but she ended up with a pair just like her Awesome Mommy!! She looks adorable if I do say so!!

Kamryn's baptism

On her 8th birthday Kamryn Elise Abbott was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was a day she had looked forward to for a long time. She was excited to be able to share it with lots of friends and family. What a special day it was for all of us as we watched her take this important step in her life. After her baptism we had a yummy dinner made by her daddy. We went back to Grandma and Grandpa's and enjoyed the sunshine as we ate our BBQ'd pulled pork sandwiches, pistachio pudding, salad, and baked beans.....then to top it off we ate yummy carrot cake. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

Princess Tea Party

On Saturday August 15, 2009 we summoned the princesses to Kamryn's castle for a royal Princess tea party. It turned out to be a wonderful time. We set the tables with my Great Grandma's china and had lots of yummy finger foods. We served Hot Apple Cider instead of tea at the request of Kamryn because she says "Little kids don't like tea." We had PB&J,Tuna, and chicken salad sandwiches, chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate covered pretzels, lemon tarts, deviled eggs, fruit, veggies, goldfish crackers, and of course pink cupcakes. All the girls enjoyed thier princess time and we are looking for an excuse to do it again.

8 years of Kammy

August 16, 2001 Kamryn Elise Abbott joined our family at 8:50pm after 27 hours of labor. She has graced our lives with laughter, joy, and more fun times than we can count. Here is a slideshow dedicated to the 8 years of Kamryn....Enjoy!!

She's growing SO BIG!!

Maddy and I were a little bored the other day.....so we decided to go in the backyard and take pictures......This is what we ended up with!!! My baby girl is growing so fast and I knew it was happening but didn't realize until I saw these pictures. She is BEAUTIFUL!!

BIG HUGE BLOG-O-RAMA

So....apparently I have a whole month of blogging to catch up on. I still don't think this post contains all that we've done in the last month but I'll post that in another blog.....So this is what we did in June after school got out!!

June 13th we ventured to Redmond to visit Mike's sister Jalene. She had a Summer Kick Off BBQ at her house. It was SO nice....actually it was AWESOME to be back in Central Oregon...even if it was just for the day. We had a blast. We played tether ball, we had a slip and slide courtesy of Adam and Toni, the kids got to ride Aunt Jay's horse Shamon, we had a water balloon tossing contest, and last but not least we had a donut eating contest....The food was great as always as was the weather. Thanks to Aunt Jay and Uncle Ralph for providing the great fun and a place to crash for the night!!!

We left Maddy in Redmond to go home with Aunt Michelle and Uncle Jeff for the week. She was THRILLED to spend the week by herself and with Bossy Pants...Aunt Shelly's new puppy!! It was sad to leave her but we knew she would have fun.....

Mike had a day off and decided he wanted to go fishing. He decided we had to go too!! So we packed up the fishing poles and the camp chairs. I was kind of bummed because I didn't have my fishing license yet so I couldn't do anything but sit there and take pictures. We all sat there waiting and waiting and waiting for the fish to bite. Finally when no one else was paying attention...I saw one of the poles move. I ran over to it and wanted to pick it up to reel in the fish but couldn't, so I was screaming for Mike or Nate or Kiley or Kamryn to come over and reel in this fish before it took the pole out to the middle of the lake. Mike made it over first and reeled us in a big and beautiful rainbow trout. It was a fighter and gave Michael quite the workout. Mike and the kids ate it for dinner that night....I'm not a trout eater so I just smiled and enjoyed the day with my family.

Next was Cub Scout Day Camp the week of June 22-26th. I got the opportunity to help out several days that week. I had a lot of fun hanging out with Nate and his buddies from Cub Scouts. The boys did so many different activities and earned many awards. Nate's favorite was the BB guns and the archery...he was really good at it so that made it fun to watch. I was exhausted by the end of the week but am grateful that I had the experience to share with my son.

The weather in Portland was perfect for a trip to the Oregon Zoo...so that's exactly where we headed. We were kind of sad our Kiley and Maddy weren't with us. Kiley had gone to Grants Pass to be with Grandpa Brown and Maddy was on her way to Grants Pass via Klamath Falls. It was just the grown ups and the 2 little kids. We decided to make it a fun couple of days so we stopped at the zoo first and spent the day there. It took us 45 minutes to find a parking spot and daddy almost threw in the towel and came home. The zoo was fun. We saw almost all the animals except the elk and the cougar. We stopped to get snow cones not realizing Kammy had never had one before. She took one bite of the snow cone and said "YUCK...this is disgusting!!" I gladly took over the snow cone and enjoyed every bite. After we walked and walked we were hot and thirsty so we headed for Grandma's pool. What a nice treat to swim and spend time with Grandma and Tony.

I guess I better find time to blog about July's stuff since we are halfway through the month already!!