Harry Potter Party and a busy week

Having two major get togethers at our house this week, along with cub scouts, swim lessons, a baseball game and all those other summer activities made for a busy week! Tuesday night we had the other residents over for a pot luck Barbeque- - it was so fun to get to know everyone even better.

Cynthia and her new friend Olivia at the baseball game (another resident's daughter):


Friday night we went to a Yakima Bears baseball game with Central Washington Family Medicine- - again so fun to have fun with the people Jon works with!



(the Hogwarts Crest was hand drawn by Jon - - didn't he do an amazing job!)

Our biggest event this week was our Harry Potter party to celebrate the 6th movie coming out. Most everyone who knows me knows I am a huge Harry Potter fan. At age 2 we even dressed Marcus up as Draco Malfoy for Halloween . . .
Jon and I had so much fun putting on a Harry Potter party in Iowa in 2005, I wanted to do it again. (I thought of many of our Iowa friends who came- specifically the Hibbards, Akers, and Pettits as I planned this party! I miss you guys!)

Marcus dressed up again as Draco Malfoy for the party in November 2005:

My friend Katy Johnson and I had fun putting it together and it turned out awesome!! Since it is the height of summer we did a pool party and had a blast! Most of the kids made a bee line for the pool and spent most of the time there, taking a few breaks to come in and sample our Harry Potter treats and do some fun crafts and the scavenger hunt.

Katy getting things ready . . . our crafts were broom pencils (made out of rafia taped on the end of pencils), and pretzel stick wands (pretzel rods dipped in almond bark with all different kinds of sprinkles for the kids to put on), and coloring pages for the little ones.


My friends Heather and Stephanie by one of the craft tables-


The kids loved swimming and playing pool "Quidditch"! We made the pool into the "Quidditch Pitch" with hoops on the sides and had the kids ride on "brooms" to play (noodles). We had two "Chasers" who tried to throw a ball through the hoops with "Keepers" defending the hoops, and a couple of "Beaters" hitting a ball into the pool with little bats from outside the pool (they also had to fetch the "Quaffle" when it went through a hoop). Then of course, we had a "seeker" who searched for a dime on the bottom of the pool (though this was so easy- after awhile they just ended up playing without the seeker. So much fun!


Along the fence in the back was Diagon Alley (we made posters of the different shops)- - here are a few:







Inside I had several sufaces decorated to be different classrooms. "Herbology" was the veggie tray. We also had potions featuring a copy of the half blood prince's potion book, and Dumbledor's office featuring the pensieve (both very important things from the 6th book).



And of course . . . the food! Besides the veggie tray, we made Pumpkin Pasties (like mini pumpkin pies), cockroach clusters (chocolate pretzels and raisins), Hedwig and Sorting Hat cupcakes, Butterbeer (cream soda and some butterscotch syrup), and pumpkin juice.

We had Bertie Bott's every flavor beans (we made the packages filled with normal gormet jelly beans ourselves- the ones you can buy are WAY to expensive) as our party favor, and gave out "crystal balls" (bouncy balls with glitter), stickers and such as prizes for finishing the scavenger hunt. The kids, ranging from babies to age 12 had an absolute blast! I think the adults had fun too . . . I know I did, despite the amount of work and time it took to put it on.

Happy Independence Day!

We went to Spokane for the weekend and had a blast! We spent Friday the 3rd at the lake with my parents (and their boat), and Saturday the 4th with Jon's family - - his brother Brian, his wife Tara and their kids were in town for a visit!

Fun at the Lake (the Schwendiman's cabin is the happenin place!)
What fun grandparents!

Jon and the kids:


Jon doing some fun stunts with the kids on the Hot Dog - - he wore himself out skiing and much more! I love the lake- it's such an escape and hard to even remember about the stressful things about life.


4th of July with the Wilsons and Leonhardts!



We took the kids to see the Liberty Lake family parade,


And had a great time with a family Barbeque and watching fireworks from the Wilson's balcony!
Jon and Brian taking care of the grilling . . .


Sunday with Grandma and Grandpa:


(quick note- - I look a lot more pregnant than this picture shows. Straight on my bump is really hard to see because I am growing straight out. Believe me when I say I look unmistakenly pregnant now!)

Busy, Busy Summer

As you can probably tell - - things have been so nuts and busy that I haven't had time to blog much this summer! I am amazed at how much we have done in the last month- and the summer is flying by! Daily routine? What is that? Now that the kids are home from school, my world centers around their needs and other summer activities . . . I do have to say that it is a lot of FUN stuff, though - - a couple of trips to Spokane, LOTS and LOTS of swimming in our pool with friends (including doing water aerobics once or twice a week), seeing a few movies including UP and Night at the Museum 2, and Star Trek, hosting get togethers in our amazing backyard, swimming lessons, trips to the library (especially for their super fun summer story time program), cub scouts (including day camp) and more. Great news is that we are all fairly happy and healthy- and I am feeling pretty good (although I AM starting to feel more awkward, I get hot easy, and my feet are sore!). Jon is doing great (thank heavens!)- so much better - - with all aspects of his responsibilities at work and more. The kids are having a fun summer, despite some bickering here and there, and Cynthia's night waking (she went through a several week phase where she was waking up with nightmares several times a night. Does anyone have any good tips for helping a child with this?). Anyway, I am going to do my best to catch up since I have a few moments today, and we are actually in town. To start- here are a few pictures from fun stuff in June . . .

Right as school got out we went to Spokane for Jon to take his step 3 boards. I hope he did well! He studied hard- - and boy I am glad he is done with that for now. The kids and I did some fun things - -

Roasting marshmallows in Grandma and Grandpa Wilson's backyard

Riverfront Park with my Mom:
(the gondola over the falls was a treat- I haven't done that since I was a kid!)





Union Gap Old Town days was another fun saturday activity (along with cub scout training . . . joy!)


I have also been down to Sunnyside a couple of times and had some of my Sunnyside friends up to visit . . . here are just a few pictures. We have also spent a lot of time with friends over or seeing friends here in Yakima!





Jon's parents came for a little visit for Father's Day (and to drop off some great Garage Sale Items they picked up for us- - a stroller and high chair).


Cub Scout Day camp was another huge thing for me as a leader, though it was fun!



Jon and Marcus enjoyed the Father's and son's Campout the last weekend in June, Jon and I also went to the CWFM (residency program) graduation, and best of all, my mom came to visit (what a fun grandma!

"My Daddy!"

The other day Jon was helping Lillian with something and I came over and kissed him. We felt these little hands trying to pry us apart and she said "MY DADDY!!". We laughed and Jon said "So only YOU can kiss me, Lillian?" She very innocently and simply said- "YA". What is it with little girls and their daddies? So cute.