Christmas Card 2009

NEW MOON

ok, my mom and i went to the movie NEW MOON!

it was sooooo good. And here are some reasons why....

#1 Taylor Lautner with his shirt off

#2 Edward is gone...we are Team Jacob

#3 We saw it on a school night

#4 Everyone was there

#5 Junk food!

#6 And again Taylor Launter with his shirt off

Let the bartering begin!

Wolverine protecting her candy from her brothers and dad!

Michael, Owen and Max hanging with Franky!

More fun!

This his 3rd costume!

This is one gang you do not want to mess with! Serious candy hunters!

Max is tired in this one...."My tummy hurts"...Halloween is the best! We almost had a crisis on our hand when we found out late that Mikey's football game got bumped from noon to 6 PM. Cammy was like "he is not going! It is Halloween!" Mikey, being the level headed kid he is, compromised and said he would play to halftime and the jet to trick or treat with his cousins, which has become a family tradition. We were stomping on Wilsonville 20-0, so it was not a big deal that we were not there...we won the game too. So all was saved and Halloween was a blast. The kid got home from Coach Bitz's haunted house and did the traditions bartering of the candy. It was a great time and everyone had a great Halloween! Good times!

Halloween!

We had a great Halloween! Harrison wore a different costume everyday last week. He has enough energy for all of us! On Friday I sprayed all the boys purple and pink hair. They were really top dog at school!

Mike has been a pink flamingo for the past two years. This year he added pink underarmer and pink pants. He really has confidence. He wore this at school on Friday. The entire 5th grade loved it! I am always stopped in the halls and asked,"Are you Mikey's mom?" I think I am a little famous.

Brothers.

i love having All brothers
...somtimes!!

strange!

I am always amazed at the strange things little boys come up with to pass the time. One afternoon in August I came down stairs to find all three boys dressed up in costumes and wrestling with each other. The best part was they then took it out front and ran all around the neighborhood as a skeleton, bee and pink flamingo. We got a few funny looks that day from the neighbor kids!

2009 Football Season has begun!

Sherwood 5/6 Victory Song over St. Helens
We start them young here in Sherwood, OR on football. All levels of the youth football program run the same offense as the high school varsity football team....even the victory Bowmen fight song is sung with the ending of all helmets raised after eac...h win. Little Michael Smith is number 53 in this video. He had so much fun! He ran the ball well and played solid defense. We had a shut out going till 2 minutes to go in the 4th. We won 31-6. It was fun seeing the kids get the win after months of hard practice. It should be a fun season!

Harrison the lizard catcher!

This sums up my summer. Lizards, dirty kids and sunshine! I am so sad it is coming to an end. Soccer started for Max this week. He is going into 1st grade this year but has been asked to play on a on a 3rd grade team. You can only imagine what Big Mike has to say about that. Mike starts football August 10th and Julia will begin Volleyball on the 17th. My summer is OVER! I think the boys have had maybe two or three showers this summer. We have been swimming in a lake or the river almost every day so they have a unique smell at the moment. Good thing they clean up easy. I think one of the best memories was Harrison skurfing behind the boat with Jeff. He loved it! Max loved it also! We have had a beautiful Oregon summer!

Beat the heat!

Well, this has been a heat wave of a week! In the hundreds most of the week and boy was it miserable...to escape the heat we went to Pacific City for the night this past Monday.....what a great, short trip!....of course we were with Gretchen and Jeff and their kids. We go to the coast and it was cooool 75 degrees and sunny. Gretchy hooked us up with sweet hike to start things off....the kids loved it! That is the great thing about our kids, they love the outdoors and attack hikes with such excitement. Julia, Michael and La took off with Uncle Jeff and ran the first 2 miles to the coast...I was left to stroll with Gretch, Cammy, Ruby, Harrison, Max and Jackson. What a great start to the trip! It was very cool underneath the shade of the Oregon coast forest.

Max even found a snake!


When we finally got to the bluff, the scenery of the cliffs and ocean were breathtaking...we had been here about 15 years earlier (this exact place)...no kids were involved then....and the beauty was still there...truly stuck in time.

After the 4 plus mile hike we went straight to check into our campsite....then it was off to dunes! Our kids love this place so much...they never seem to tire of climbing this huge dune and finding the hole of a fort they call their own....Hobbitville. It is there play imagination and pretend they are hidden from the world...these guys really know how to have fun! On one of the sides of the dune there are about 4 foot drops where the kids show off their skills in catching some air. Even Harrison got into the act...these kids are fearless!

After reclaiming the fort and jumping they then headed straight to the ocean to cool off. The weather had to be the best weather that I can ever remember for Oregon...hot, but not to hot and no wind...a rarity, if you are from Oregon...you know what I mean...you can lose some serious skin from being sand blasted if you show up on the wrong day at the Oregon coast...Now back to the water games...the kids love playing chicken with the waves...running to and fro trying to steer clear of the little waves as they came in and out....Uncle Jeff help Max and Jelly find some cool starfish….they felt pretty cool as everyone that past wanted to take their pictures. (for those people that are worried about all living things, these starfish were not harmed and were set free within the hour..).
While all of this was happening Cammy and Gretch lounged on the beach like two house cats...some things never change! They were happy though and that is all the matters in this world....right?

Then at night we fired up the pit to roast some good'ol marshmallows and hotdogs..You are never too old for a s'more!
Thanks to the Grubbe's we sleep like kings....all in all we had a blast!...and many memories were had...as we traveled home that next day within 10 minutes of heading inland the temperature rose to 110! Crazy heat!...I do not know how you guys in AZ handle this type heat all of time.
Until next time Cape Kiwanda! We love you!

Flying High Again!

Ok, Ok...this is my first blog entry of my life and am I nervous…(Cammy has done all the entries to date..Thanks Cammy!)..well, here goes nothing....

What is up with kids and their constant need for flying through the air! Always higher, always faster....I can attest that when I was a kid there was never a tree that I did not climb or a latter that was not conquered. Mix that with water below and that makes for a great, fun time! I remember jumping off barges, bridges, fire trucks that were on bridges (that is a long, but good story) and having a rope swing that would launch you 30 feet into the air before you let go and plummet into the Willamette river....of course there were no adults around for these amazing feats of courage (or stupidity)….these memories though have come flooding back to me as I have watched my own kids push their limits for the need to go higher, and higher to find or feel that feeling of flying through the air. It all started in the pool at Black Butte where I would throw them over and over again as little kids in the air and they would splash into the water and then they would beg for more. Then it was onto the ski boat tower where they would climb to the top rung and jump off, over and over and over, always smiling and laughing. Even Harrison gets into the mix...scary to think he is only four and has no fear of jumping 10 feet into the Willamette.

I am glad to say that they have a good sense about them and I do not see them jumping off any bridges anytime soon, like some other clowns I know (one being myself).....knock on wood! But when there are no boats to be climbed, good old Uncle Jeff will have to do...This past week while at Black Butte (we disappear there during the summers for weeks at a time) we found a perfect spot at Suttle Lake that had an old tree that had fallen out into the water and was perfect launching pad to jump into the water. Then Uncle Jeff got into the mix and kids where flying everywhere!…Thanks Uncle Jeffy for the great time!

Here is Team Smith and Team Dean hanging out at Suttle Lake.

This is trouble waiting to happen!

Little Michael is flying! (with a little help)

Michael and the rest must have done this jump a hundred times this day.....

It never got old to them....

Of course Jeff had to show off his skills....no rope swings though!

Jelly had the best flight of the day!

Max got up too! He was so heavy Jeff almost fell off the log trying to get him up....

Beautiful!