Kathryn's 11th birthday

Kathryn turned 11 last week. I can hardly believe it. I first met this wonderful person when she was almost 2 years old, and Mike and I started dating when she was 5.






It has been quite amazing to watch her grow into a little lady. She had a bowling birthday party this weekend with her friends at the bowling alley and the boys were so excited to have her teach them how to bowl. They adore Kathryn.

I made a yummy layered chocolate and white heart cake with buttercream filling. I was so glad it turned out ok!

Can't wait to see what middle school holds in store for Kathryn this fall!

The boys, Kylie, and I then headed up to Molalla so Mike could sleep in peace this weekend. Sunday was a beautiful day and we did a lot of planting in Grandma and Papa's garden and work around the yard. The boys are really good helpers, especially when Papa is showing them all sorts of new things (like sliding down the clothes hanger pole as though it is a fire pole).

Kylie just chilled in the sun the whole time that we worked. She's such an easy baby!

Grandma and Papa have the greatest next door neighbors, and the boys just adore them. They have the neatest back yard with a HUGE water feature and tons (and I mean TONS) of fish. The boys love feeding them, so we headed over to feed the fish.

They also got to see Wally and Judy's frog....gross. At least Tyler didn't try to bring it home this time!!

My beautiful gift

Our family absolutely adores our next door neighbor, Tom. He's the best. He has become quite a craftsman in his garage next door, so, when I got silverware to go with my china for my anniversary, I asked him to make me a box to hold it.







He made me this AMAZING box. LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I am so grateful to him for all of his hard work. (it took about 4.5 months and 3 tries for him to get it perfect)












Thank you Tom for such a wonderful gift!!!

Barkdust...lots of barkdust...

Thursday was barkdust day! We got 7.5 yards and split it with our neighbor. The guys spent all afternoon spreading barkdust, but it sure looks great!

(That's Mike's dad Dave visiting us from Montana!)

Tom (neighbor) and Mike, hard at work

Then Mike had to drain the pond and clean out all of the leaves.

And refill it, of course.

I planted all of my hanging baskets, and added several more trees and shrubs to the yard.

The end results...

We also visited Grandma and Papa this weekend. Papa had to spread sawdust too, but by then Tyler was a pro so he was a big helper.

Kylie got her first ride on the tractor.

Spring has sprung at the Sommer house....

I love spring. Love, love love! Love the flowers, love the gardening, love the colors.











The kids and I took advantage of the sun this week and got to planting!












My pretty new plant stand on the back deck













We always have fuschia baskets out front and I really like to get the cheap fuschia starts and nurse them into big healthy baskets. I have 4 starts in each basket...can't wait to watch them grow!









And my absolute favorite....my lilacs are blooming!! Even though they have not totally bloomed yet, they still smell great, and these beauties are in my room.
















And we also have a new fish in our house. I used to have one at home and one at work, but, they both jumped out of their tanks overnight so I decided it was God's way of telling me that I shouldn't have any more fish for a while. But I knew the boys would die to have a fish in our house since they are so excited about the fish in our pond, that I decided to surprise them when they got home from preschool today.












Any guesses on the new fish's name: Yep, NEMO.

























The boys have also discovered that they can get rides from daddy on his Harley whenever they look really cute and beg. Zachary on the front, Tyler on the back. Granted, they only go back and forth down the driveway, but, they love it and Zachary always yells to go 'Faster, Daddy, faster!'









And while this is happening, I sit near the phone and brace myself with my thumbs posed over the numbers 9, 1, and 1, because I am sure that this is probably going to be disasterous at some point when one of them falls off. *sigh* But, I am trying to let go of my anxiety and be a cool, hip, Harley mom.

1st camping trip of the year....

Picture Night...

Tonight we were all having fun playing downstairs when Kylie started crawling! (see video below) So we decided to break out the camera and get some pics....











Kylie is getting to be such a big girl. Almost 8 months old!



















And this little man is turning into such a little 'caretaker of the house' when Mike is at work or gone. He takes his 'big brother' responsibilities very seriously.


























And then there's my Zachary. My sensitive, polite, very emotional child. Always concerned about others and trying to brighten their days.
















Tonight he went out on the porch and brought me in these huge leaves that he said we just had to put in a vase because they are so pretty. He did it all by himself. : )

















And this little girl....she is so determined and head-strong. If she wants something, she stops at nothing to get it. And she brightens my world and makes it absolutely perfect.


















This is pretty much what she looks like all of the time. Happy, smiling, laughing....