Family Pictures

My mom celebrated a milestone birthday last week and her two requests were to have Jamie and me in the same state and to have some family pictures taken. So, a big shout out and thank you to our friend Tom for coming over on a Saturday morning to make this happen!

Rose Festival City Fair

Memorial Weekend means the start of the Rose Festival here in Portland. We had a nice (not rainy) day Saturday, and since my brother was in town we decided to head downtown to check out the City Fair. Probably the neatest thing we did was go into the butterfly house. It was pretty cool! We also enjoyed a few rides.

Daddy and Max in the butterfly house

The butterflies really liked Max!

Silliness with Uncle Jamie

If it looks like it can be driven Max has to be a part of it.

Daddy's favorite ... the big slide

Check out those smiles!

Alia's favorite ride is always the carousel. She and Daddy were making silly faces every time they went around. Pretty funny :-)

Bussey, Radloff-Snyder and a few Douglas's all together in the same place at the same time!

Vets 4 Vets

Hey family and friends! I just wanted to share this with all of you in case you didn't know about this fabulous organization that I am involved with. Last weekend we went to The Dalles, OR to visit the soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry. Below are a few of the MANY pics from that event. 

Please check out our website or our Facebook page!

www.vets4vetsnw.com

"Vets 4 Vets (V4V) is a volunteer-led non-profit organization consisting of Veteran NBA/NFL Cheerleaders and Dancers.

Founded by Retired Navy Veteran John Curry and former NBA Dancer Wisa Opton in 2011, they wanted to provide veteran professional dancers and cheerleaders, an opportunity to continue their support for the troops. Vets 4 Vets members continually give back to those who fight for their country on a daily basis and to those who have served in our nation's military.
Vets 4 Vets participate in military and veterans events throughout the year and visit VA Medical Centers and Community Living Centers. They sign posters, provide entertainment, and boost morale to military personnel and veterans organizations.

Chatting with a soldier ... probably about basketball

Fun photo shoots!

Van ride on the way there

Group photo

Bradley tank simulator!

Last Day of Pre-K

I am so proud (and a little sad) to announce that Alia is officially a Kindergartner. Her last day of Pre-K was on Thursday. She was lucky enough to have 4 amazing teachers this year. Her two current teachers did an amazing job taking over when the first two left to work full time gigs with the Beaverton School District. She had a wonderful little class of 10 girls and 3 boys and has made lots of friends that she will see again at Oak Hills Elementary next fall. Alia will be in the half day PM Kinder class. 

I love this excited little face with that message on the white board behind her. 

Always the well-mannered little lady

Alia's class (plus one little sister)

Max's Last Day of 3's Preschool

As most of you know, we cheated a bit and snuck Max into a 3's class at preschool this year. His birthday is about 2.5 weeks after the deadline. I knew he was ready though and after meeting with the teachers last spring they agreed to let him give it a go. He did an amazing job! You would never have known that he was the youngest kid in his class. The plan going forward is to do the 4's class next year (in the same room and with the same teachers as this year, but he will go M/W/F instead of T/Th) and then Pre-K the following year. 

Max knows all his letters and most of their sounds, can count up to about 40 with consistency, can identify numbers, knows all of his shapes and can write his name among other things. We are just so proud of our spunky little dude.

Preschool Picnic

We love Mrs. Franklin (he calls her his funny teacher) and Mrs. Kragt

He was so excited to get his end of the year gift from his teachers. 

Preschool Water Day

Yesterday the kids had "water day" at preschool. The weather was absolutely perfect for it. There were 13 kids from Max's class and 12 kids from Alia's class all out splashing, blowing bubbles and enjoying a gorgeous day. I'm in complete denial that the year in almost over. Max has one day left on Tuesday and Alia has a full week finishing up on Thursday. Both kids will have end of the year pot luck picnics.

At the end of the day the kids gathered under a tree for a story and Otter Pops!

Just Keep Swimming!

We have taken quite a break from swim lessons. We had so many other things going on that something just had to fall off of the calendar. However, we are back at it now! The kids are taking lessons this month through our parks and rec department and will take lessons next month at the pool in our neighborhood. As is typical with my kids, the are complete opposites in the water. Max is fearless and is making some really good progress. They are currently both in the same level, but he'll be passing Alia up before long (which she is currently fine with). Alia loves being in the water and swimming with her Puddles Jumper on, but just doesn't have the confidence to do it on her own yet. Max has all the confidence in the world and now we just need to work on some of the coordination. Here is some video of Max from swim class yesterday ...

Half-Marathon

Ok, so I know most of you have already seen these pictures and heard all about this,  but I am so stinking proud that I want to make sure it is documented :-) My absolutely amazing husband ran his first ever half marathon just a little over a week ago on May 3 in Indy. He finished in just over 2 hours! We had a great (but very quick) visit with family while we were there too!

Preschool Program 2014

On Thursday night the kids had their preschool program. Each of the classes sang songs that they have been doing in class. Alia's Spanish class even performed some songs. Afterwards we all enjoyed yummy treats! It was adorable and lots of fun. We were so proud of them both.

(Videos of each performance are at the end of this post!)

The 3-4 year old class - Max is on the left with the white shirt and navy sweater vest.

The Spanish Class - Alia is on the right with the pink dress.

The Pre-K Class