Fowler Farewell

We got an email from some of our close friends from Duke, the Fowlers, letting us know that it was time. They were heading off to China for 2 years. The good news was that they would be stopping in San Francisco for a couple of days...could we get together? OF COURSE! So Wednesday night we headed up to the city and met them and the Thompson's for a mini reunion (It'll be a complete one when Metheny's, Rushton's and West's join us :) ) The kids had a blast as did we! Kate and Scottie spent their first 2 years of life together and here they are again, still loving every moment spent together.

In fact, here they are at the beginning...

I heard Scottie say while we were together, "Mom, Kate's my same age but she's a girl and she's taller than me!" I think she's going to get a lot of that growing up. Good thing her mom knows how to handle it :)

Sad to say goodbye. Kate was ready to jump on the 14 HOUR PLANE RIDE with Scottie and his brothers. Hope it went ok, Doug and Christine! We were thinking about you!!

What a wonderful way to spend a Wednesday Evening! Can't wait to do it again when you are coming home :)

Friendly Moments

I get so excited when I open my email or listen to a message and find that a dear friend is heading into town and can we get together. A week after Joe's birthday we got to see Tyler and Rachael, our good friends from Duke, and meet their new addition Lucy. She and Luke ended up being born with 2 weeks of each other, and you could definitely tell that Luke was a preemie, because that cute girl was ALL SMILES the entire
time she was at our home. We loved it! We are so thrilled that Rachael's parents live relatively close because we know there will always be an excuse to get together :)




Then I got an email from Meliss, my girlfriend going on almost 30 years. Hard to believe!!! She came up with her kiddos to visit and wow did we all have fun. I think Jake loved having a boy to do some sword fighting with and Kate was in heaven with Ashlyn and Sadie giving her makeup tips :) We had so much fun catching up and could have talked for 10 more hours....the time went by too fast!

Everyone PLEASE SAY CHEESE!!!

Is it really that hard to get 5 children to look at you when you are trying to document summer fun?! This was hysterical. I have at LEAST 12 shots of these cuties in our backyard having a picnic after some swimming, trampoline-ing, and swinging! They wanted nothing to do with the camera lense. This was the best I got. At least I've captured it so I won't forget :)

Summer Fun

I KNOW it's been a long time since I've posted anything. This computer is so darn slow, that it makes blogging a bit tedious at times when I try to upload pictures. So, I was procrastinating, hoping that we'd be getting a computer in the near future. Well, our fridge died on us and so the computer will have to wait a bit. Get ready for a few new posts.... I'm catching up on the summer. Might not get it all done tonight!!!!!

Is this not the cutest? We had our friends, the Holt's, over for dinner in the beginning of the summer before they decided to leave us and move to Utah. So sad for us, but thrilled for them to be close to family! Their daughter Ella was the center of everyone's attention--especially my kids! We miss you!

Time For A Little Discovery

After dance class one morning, our good friends the Borges invited us to go to the Children's Discovery Museum with them. It had been a long time since I had been there and I knew the kids would love it.
The fire truck is always a hit

The pizza parlor was a BLAST. The kids stayed here for ever making pizzas, serving them, taking orders, making pizzas again... and even learning how to use a cash register...

my waitress was pretty cute :)

Leah looked really hungry, so they took good care of her!

Then came a little painting discovery

How much do you think that piece could sell for?

Jake LOVES his buddy Noah (aka "Nona")

Kate can't get enough of Elise

I love the water area at the museum-- soooo much fun---just bring an extra pair of clothes!

Alana and Kate pretending to be patients in an ambulance

They don't look too sick to me!

Trying to catch the floating ball was a definite hit.

What a great afternoon! We stayed so long that the food court even closed before we decided it was time to head on home!

Happy for good friends.

What a Game!!!

I think that was the best championship game I have ever seen! I know practically everyone in the world was hoping Butler would pull it off. Normally, I would be cheering for them too... But I have to stand by my team!

I love Coach K. The best part about it was that we got to watch the game with Mike and Carrie and Nicholas. Our kids were spending the night at Grandma's because of my crazy work schedule this week, so as soon as Joe and I pulled into the driveway Monday night, we rushed over to the Thompson's. Nicholas was on his third day of potty training (notice he's not smiling?), but I think during the last few seconds of the game, all of us could have wet our pants!!! I was so impressed with both teams! What a great night! And even better... Joe won his pool at work! Yahoo!

You Can Never Have Too Many Friends...

Kate likes to count how many friends she has. She'll come up with a number and then say, "I have 39 friends Mom! Isn't that great?!" And then she'll begin to name them one by one... well, she was thrilled when some special friends came to visit us not too long ago, because she could add them to her tally :) Friends make you feel loved! There's nothing wrong with that!

One of my best friends, Melissa Walton, was home visiting her family for a few weeks over the holidays. Thankfully, we had a chance to see each other and catch up, even though it wasn't long enough! It was just a tease, really... We did manage a picture of our kids together and I was so grateful she took the time to come see us! Here is Kate, Sadie, Ashlyn, Nate and Jake. We were all having such a good time together, that no one wanted anyone to leave!!! I know how busy it can be when you are visiting from far away. Thanks so much, Meliss! It's hard to believe that we met when we were younger than Kate--but knew there was a special bond there that would last forever! Love you! Looking forward to the summer time :)

Girlfriends are Good for the Soul

Way back when I got a call from my friend Jeri: "Julie! Don't want to bug you, but there are SUPER cheap tickets on Southwest right now and we want to come visit...Let me know what works for you." Yahoo! We were ecstatic! So, as soon as I got my 2010 calendar, it was written in red: "Methenys coming for a visit!" You can never plan 2 months in advance your kids health status. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Gwen caught a cough the day they flew in, and Jake suffered a sad ear infection in the middle of the visit, leaving him looking like a walking zombie.
So, we threw any plans of visiting the museums and the zoo out the window and hunkered down at home. Thankfully, Saturday, there was a break in the torrential rain storm, and we headed out back to play.

Can I even begin to paint the picture of excitement in our house when I explained to Kate that Gwen would be spleeping over 3 nights in a row???

It was almost more than she could handle!

From the moment they arrived, all I heard out of Kate's mouth was, "I'm so sad when Gwennie has to go home. When can she come again?"

Eyes that were not used to the bright sunshine! You'd think we lived in the Northwest or something!

cute

cuter

Making and decorating everybody's favorite--PINK cupcakes and PINK frosting!

I was worried everyone would be bored and sick of each other after being cooped up in our house all weekend. But with good friends it doesn't matter what you do or where you go. I loved the time we had together and Jeri and I got to talk each other's ears off which is always enjoyable! Thank you so much for coming, girls! Can't wait until our next visit. Of course, Joe requests that Ryan and Zach be there too :)

You Just Can't Get Rid of those Blue Devils!

AND WHO WOULD EVER WANT TO!!!!! Thursday we got a phone call from our good friends from business school, Tyler and Rachael Rushton-- they were in town--"We know it's short notice, but do you have plans this weekend?" Joe and I looked at the calendar and to our shock and amazement, we had NOTHING on it! YES! We'd love it! So we quickly called up Mike and Carrie who live 10 minutes away but who also hold the Blue Devils close to their heart and within minutes the whole evening was planned. Tyler, Joe and Mike
Carrie, Me and Rachael

Nicholas, Kate and Jake having A BLAST in our family room

They had so much fun together!

So did we! Thanks for a WONDERFUL evening everyone! Now we have to just get the rest of you out here (Jeri, super excited you'll be here next week).... or at least get the reunion plans going!

Backyard Thrills

I LOVE MY KIDS!

I'm happy to see they love each other :)

This was one of those run-grab-the-camera- moments. We were sitting in our backyard having dinner with December and Joe Lotz, when we heard the giggling behind us. Too cute to pass up.

Nothing good could come of this!

December and Blue-eyed Cassidy

Brothers are the best, aren't they?

How's my hair?