Family Reunion

The 1st weekend in August we went to the Absher Family Reunion in Roseburg, OR. (The reunion is with my Grandpa's siblings and all my mom's cousins, plus her cousin's kids, etc. There are 4 generations now!!) The reunion started Friday night, everyone met for dinner at a Pizza place, and we took up an entire back room.
I didn't take too many pictures, but her are the few I took. (and they're all of my cousins) Samantha, Karly, and Abby (the 3 youngest of my cousins)
more cousins... Clint, Meredith, Paula, Megan, Brett, and Scott
Had to take a picture of my boys who were all dressed alike :)
Aren't they cute :)
And (a blurry) one of me and Ava. It was a fun night of visiting and catching up with everyone.

Charlie St Cloud

Well, another book/movie done. The 4 of us recently read and saw Charlie St Cloud, but first enjoyed a yummy dinner at Red Robin! I'm gonna start a little rating system, and this one I give a 3*** (out of 5). It was pretty good. I didn't leave thinking it was a GREAT movie, but definitely didn't think it was horrible either. The book was (like usual) better then the movie just because it provides so much more detail.
Next up... Eat, Pray, Love.

Swim Lessons/Cousins

I took a couple more pictures at swim lessons the last week of July before the Family Reunion. Here is Ava doing a front torpedo, kicking with nice straight legs! She has really improved this summer, and is much more comfortable in the water.
Cristian is really taking off too. He can swim crawl stroke and back stroke down and back the length of the pool. His breast stroke is getting pretty good too, and he's just starting to learn butterfly. Looks like we might be putting him on the swim team next summer!!
Ava learning her crawl stroke arms
I also happened to be watching my cousin's kids Clair and Marcus that day. They got to go swimming for a bit too after the lesson was over. Here's Marcus swimming with one of the neighbor boys.
And Clair having fun!!
The kids in the hot tub
We made a stop at McDonalds on the way home and enjoyed a picnic in the front yard :)

Kaylee's Birthday Party

The kids had a lot of fun at Kaylee's pool party (my kids have spent a lot of time in their pool this summer w/ swim lessons and a couple of playdates :)
Ava enjoying a little snack
Cristian lovin' the water
Some of the girls
Ava playing with Kaylee's older cousin, Bradley.
Cristian jumping in
C playing with Bradley too
All of the kids
Cristian and Kaylee (I have a picture of the two of them like this every year since their 3rd birthdays!)
Showing us that they're "7" :)

Pictures of the Kids

We had a great time at our Family Reunion in Roseburg, OR. (more pictures to come soon!!) The main festivities were held on Saturday at one of the most picturesque barn/farm houses I've ever seen. (the theme of the reunion was "Country Cousins") I had fun taking some pictures of Ava and the boys (although they are not as willing as her to be photographed for any length of time :) AVA 1, black and white
Ava 2
Ava 3
Ava 4
Cristian 1
I much prefer pictures of Cristian that are not "staged" and truly just capture his joy for life!
Carter 1
Best I could get of him against the red barn, Carter 2

**Like I said, more reunion pictures to follow :)

Princess Room

Our big project for the summer was re-doing the kids' bedrooms. Gone is the nursery now, and we've moved Ava into her own room once again and the boys are now sharing. Over the weekend, we gave Ava's room a mini-make over. My dad made this beautiful castle headboard for her bed, which is by far the highlight of the room for Ava. She just loves it and her new Princess room. Here is a 360 degree view of her room...
We moved her doll house and princess vanity into her room, and hung up new wall decor. My mom found that cute wall hanging with her name on it, and the colors matched so perfectly.
A close up of the head board
New bedding, with matching sheets and lamp shade
Her nightstand with the canvas artwork she made at preschool last year
Window seat with some of her favorite "friends" on it... stuffed toys from Disneyland, her webkinz, a couple of dolls, and Nippers the Husky dog :)
Her little rocking chair with some more Minnie Mouses on it, and her spoon collection hung on the wall.
Her book case, organized with all her fancy nancy books and a fancy nancy doll.
My mom found that cute A plaque to hang on her door, and the clock too.
The Princess and her frog
She was pretty pleased with how her new room turned out :)
A special room for our special princess
Most of you already know... we redid the boys room too. We finally got the red stripe painted towards the top of the wall, next up will be the navy blue stripe on top of that. Once it's completely finished, I'll do a 360 picture post of their room too :)

Dinner with Cousins

Friday night we went to my cousin Kyle's house for a BBQ. Ava and Clair enjoyed playing in the sprinkler together.
Cami and Carter enjoyed playing with each other... they both really enjoy climbing!
Cami helping Ava guard the goal during the cousin's soccer game
Joel and Kyle were on a team and played against Marcus, Clair, Cristian, and Ava.
Cami after eating her dessert :)
Upside down Cami... this girl is fearless... she'll probably make a good gymnast like her mommy!