quick visit to grandma's house

beautiful flowers on the way to "walk 'a' park" as diedre still says (she can say "to" but she started saying walk "a" park when she was littler). other diedre-isms are to call "Grandpa", "Poppa" and my mom's dog "Odie" she calls "Willy."



she said "i dancing!"

enjoying or rather, enjoying avoiding the sprinkler

my little lionness running!

gabe's 2nd birthday party

the mellengers have pictures from the party...these are mine from before my batteries died...argh:

chillin' with the adults. ezekiel was sick so i brought his own toys and kept him away from the kids.

getting in on the conversation

oooh, i love this lambie rug! so soft!

big smiles even for a sickie baby :(

happy 8 months, little dude!

here he is, like the salmon men before him, showing off how tough he is. You know what i'm talking about Grandpa Salmon!

family fotos





the super silly side of the salmons



brushing together

i look disheveled because i just spent the evening with 40 preschoolers!!!

a little bit of random cuteness

looking thoughtful

pardon me?

daddy like oversized food...it was a really tasty cookie!

"i'm gonna get you!" ezekiel has really mastered crawling just before hitting the 8 months old mark.


note his signature "zeke the squeak" noise!


i was doing vbs for 5 nights in a row and derek watched the kids. it was great for all of us. it was a western theme, so here, diedre is trying on the cowboy hat i wore each night.

Grandma Jen's Birthday Celebration

Derek is saying "How are these "extra large" chairs? and who would have arms this short anyway??"

ezekiel's loving the fresh air

Grandma and Poppy out for a stroll. we decided to have a birthday celebration at White Rock beach with cake back at the Mellenger's after. it was a nice, slightly overcast day. miles was running around everywhere, so fast i didn't get a decent picture. Diedre was really not herself. she was drooling, lethargic and not very talkative...later, i discovered a tooth. she is getting her 2-year molars.

me and my lil' buddy

Princess Diedre and uncle Andrew

me & Diedre and the bear at White Rock beach

all together with Grandpa

doing puzzles together

Grandma and Poppy again

excited baby Zeke

a kiss for daddy

early morning with daddy

derek was impressed with diedre's colourful fingers

swimming lessons

our family had so much fun going to swim lessons. Ezekiel was a "Starfish" (ages 6months to 18months) and Diedre was a "Duck" (18months to just under 3years).

well, the kids absolutely love the water. we were able to get in on a last minute class that did 3 classes one week, and four the next (rather than one per week for seven weeks). it was a little tiring for ol' mom 'n dad, but all around, great, cool, and tired the kids out!

ezekiel is a super splasher. its hard to hold him because he splashes so much, but i handled him mostly and derek took on diedre. diedre was bold and adventurous and thankfully listened very well to instruction and actually learned a few things! derek did awesome with her and got her blowing bubbles, going under water and having a great time.







here are their mid-lesson report cards:

Where are we going? Grandma's House!

ezekiel can handle his bevy now. he loves chewing on these cups and drinking a little water too!

some of my kids great smiling genes caught on film...or jpg...(what is the proper term for that?) anyway, ezekiel is too cute for words in this one!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma! we went to visit on her birthday, with a party planned for this coming Sunday. Diedre loves that duck she's holding onto there. she calls it her friend and is really nice to it whenever she goes over to Grandma's house.
Diedre also loves "birthdays" and will sing Happy Birthday for days, telling me to sing "Happy Birthday, Ezekiel." "Happy Birthday, Mommy."

celebrating Monet's birthday

"Daddy's not a princess, he's a prince!"

birthday girl and karley

eugh...lots of mosquitoes at their house...ouch!

tuckered right out. ezekiel's getting so chunky!

having good clean fun at church

Dancing!





when diedre gets dressed (like a princess) she first tests her outfit to see how well the skirt operates while twirling. if it whirls out, its good to go.