Super September

September is all about getting into the new routine. I dread school starting at first because I hate giving up the relaxed, easy-going pace of summer. But, once they get back to school I love having my days to myself and being able to get the house clean and have it stay clean (for at least as long as the school day!).

This month we:

Took the boat out on the Friday of Labor Day weekend and took a two hour cruise (an hour each way) from Newberg (where we always put the boat in) to the Oregon City Falls (where you have to either turn around or go through the locks) and back;



celebrated my birthday on Sunday with a barbecue at my parent's and a beautiful cake made by my middle daughter (and future chef) Kelsey;



went to the beach with my girls, my nieces and my mom on the first day of school. Here only the freshman go on the first day and we don't have any of those this year (yay!). We went to the mall, spent time on the beach and ate at Gallucci's (of course);



had another barbecue and birthday party for Kelsey who turned 18 (!) and her only request was that someone other than her make her cake. Shelby did the honors! ;



found out that we are going to have a new grandbaby in May 2011! ;

celebrated our great-nephew's first birthday (well, Kelly and Chloey were the only ones who got to go). Shelby ended up getting sick that morning and then Kelsey had a meeting after work that ran way longer than it was supposed to so the three of us ended up staying home;

other than that, the month was spent going to the doctor, dentist and orthodontist and just getting back into the routine of school.

Our Crazy August

August is always a pretty crazy, busy month, trying to fit in camping, getting ready for school and trying to enjoy the last bits of carefree days.

We started off the month with a surprise party for my hubby. Last year he turned 50 while he was deployed to Iraq so that pretty much blew. So, I planned a party with the theme "we're gonna party like it's 2009", rolling back the calendar and having a "do-over" for his birthday. It was pretty funny all the stories I came up with for everything from two trips to Costco for the food (which I hid at my parent's house), to the reason for going to the park (where we had the party). He was completely surprised and it was awesome!




We had our annual block party with all the neighbors and got caught up with everyone;


Kelly and I celebrated our 27th Anniversary with a kayak trip to Smith Lake in Portland. It was a really fun day even though the lake was full of some kind of weed that made paddling challenging!



We went camping at Foster with my whole family and it was especially great having a boat this year. We spent many hours on the lake and I kayaked every day too. We even stayed an extra day this year and got home just as the 100 degree weather hit;

My mom and sister on the tube

Kelly and I and the girls spent a day at the beach shopping at the mall, eating at Galucci's and watching kiteboarders;




we had a birthday party for my dad who turned 72;

went shopping at the mall in Clackamas and met Kelly at Chipolte for dinner;

spent 2 hours (!) in line registering the girls for school;

I took my three of my girls (17, 15, 15) and my sister's three girls (16, 15, 1) to Salem for what turned out to be all day and we had a really fun time;

and again, we spent lots of days out on the boat.

And, that's August!