"Arnie, where are you? Arnie, where are you?" Josh says this quite a few times a day. It's so cute!

Here's where we found Arnie one beautiful afternoon...
Dead asleep in a box!

Arwen had her dance recital on Saturday! She danced beautifully and had LOTS of fun!

This is her tap costume.
And here's her ballet costume.
What a beautiful little girl I have!

I just had to post this...it cracked me up! I took the kids to Costco this morning to get diapers. I told the kids they could have hot dog for lunch if they behaved themselves. (yeah...I should really stop saying that, because, honestly, do they ever really behave themselves??) Anyways, Noah started screaming at Arwen on the way there and I asked him to stop. He didn't. So, I told him he didn't get a hot dog at Costco...and I was really going to go through with it and give him leftovers when we got home. He screamed harder. In between wails, he said, "If I don't eat food, I won't be healthy." "Yup, you're right," I said. Then he yelled, "Without food, I will die." "True," I said. Then he said, "Jesus will destroy you if you are naughty, Mom." Well...during scripture time and FHE we have discussed how Jesus loves EVERYBODY...even the naughty guys, but that sometimes He will destroy the naughty guys so that they don't hurt the good guys. I guess I got placed in the "naughty guy" category today! Can you imagine if we had this conversation in public..."I will die without food, Mom! Jesus will destroy you!" Holy Cow. Yeah...he got a hot dog.

"Too many kids in this tub. Too many elbows to scrub. I just washed a behind I'm sure wasn't mine. Too many kids in this tub." Shel Silverstein got it pretty much right!

And I thought giving three of them a bath was too much for my little bath to handle!

Do you ever wonder "what in the world was my kid thinking??" I'm sure we all do!! Aaron and I had one of those moments last night. I still giggle to myself when I think about it. We went into the girls' room to give Larkin her pacifier AGAIN and glanced over at Arwen. This is what we saw:

The "thing" she has on her eyes is a pony tail holder. We have about 6 of them in lots of colors. Anyways, when Ar was little, she dubbed these hair accessories "oompa loompas," I think because they look like the little pom poms that the old school oompa loompas have on their shoes. When Ar woke up this morning we asked her what she had the "oompa loompa" on for. She explained that she originally went to bed with the little pom poms on her ears...so as to block out the sound of her little brothers. I guess they got shifted to her eyes in all her crazy tossing and turning! Silly girl! Oh...I almost forgot...Arwen lost her THIRD tooth last night. It was her crazy little dog tooth on the bottom! She scored a SILVER DOLLAR from the tooth fairy!!

We had the best long weekend ever. Bethany called me last Tuesday saying that her family was coming up to Portland for the weekend because Matthew had a job interview up here in Hillsboro! We were so EXCITED...first of all, because we got to spend time with family and second, at the thought that maybe they will be living up here ten minutes away from us! We are keeping our fingers crossed and saying our prayers!! We did lots of fun things and had a blast hanging out. The kids of course, loved playing with their cousins. Joshua and Dallin even got along better.

We went on a little hike one day to an old stone house in the middle of Washington Park. The kids had fun hiking down to it.
There were lots of huge trees to hide behind and climb.
Pretty neat looking old house. I loved all the moss covering it.
Silly girl in a little window!
The funniest part ever was when I convinced Noah to lick a slug. If you live in Oregon and have not licked a banana slug yet, it's an experience not to be missed. After you lick it, your tongue feels very numb...it really isn't...it's just covered in the slug slime and feels all weird. Anyways, I licked it and Noah was the only one brave enough to do it too. He was so upset afterwards. He DID NOT like the feeling of a numb tongue. He cried about it for the next 45 minutes...even after Aaron cleaned most of the slime off. It was pretty funny!

Larkin is almost 6 months old!! Time has flown...well, during the daytime anyway. Night times...that's a whole other story! Sweet little Larkily can roll over now! Yippy!! She has followed in the same fashion as all my others...she rolled from her back to her stomach first...undoubtedly because I hardly ever give my babies tummy time!!

I think this is the cutest picture ever of my chunky little thing...eyes closed and all!!

Two Friday's ago was one of our absolute favorite traditions here in Portland...the Rose Festival fireworks! We usually go and make a long evening of it.

First, we stopped by Hot Dog On A Stick for dinner. This is Noah's SECOND corn dog...I know! Who could have known that the only reason Noah didn't used to eat was that he was lactose intolerant!! Now he eats like crazy...as long as it's not my disgusting cooking!!
Say Cheese!!
Joshua is officially two. He insists on walking wherever we go now...no more stroller :( When I tell him to keep up with the family, he crosses his arms, turns his back to me, and makes this "huumph" sound. Naughty little thing!
Five is such a great age...well in comparison to two and three! Arwen is so fun to be around and is such a good girl! Too bad I can't send the two and three year olds off to kindergarten and keep the sweet one home with me ;)
It wouldn't be the Rose Festival without doing the pull-up challenge. Sadly, no T-shirts were won this year! It was fun trying though. The fireworks were amazing as usual! Poor Noah was scared to death. I don't think I have heard him scream louder in my whole life. He was terrified. Aaron finally got him under control by covering his ears so it wasn't so loud. Noah leaned over and whispered into Aaron's ear, "I thought I was brave, but I'm not, I'm not."

"Joshua had a birthday, shout Hurray!! We want to sing to him today. One year older and wiser too, Happy Birthday, to Joshua!!"

Don't worry, we had NO FOOD in our house after we got home from our vacation, but Super Mom was able to put together a grand party!! Thanks for ice cream cakes at Dairy Queen!
This is for you Bethany...A YIPPY from Joshua. He was so excited for the present Arwen picked out for him.
Lately, Joshua has been seen to be carrying around a tiny little pretend sandwich from Arwen's pretty little ponies set. He calls it his ,"Luch."...like lunch...without the "n" sound!! He also loves to play with all of her pretend food. So Arwen picked him out a lunch box with a carton of milk, a knife, peanut butter, jam and a sandwich. We got a YIPPY when he saw the sandwich and he yelled, "Luch!!" He carries it everywhere with him. He came in to my room this morning before anyone was awake and whispered to me about his "luch." So cute! Happy 2nd Birthday, Josh!!

We went down to visit Grandma and Grandpa Nielsen and all the aunts and uncles and cousins for Memorial Day. We had so much fun!! The first day there, the boys let Bethany, Heidi, Whitney, and I go out for a girls day. We went shopping and had pedicures...my favorite! Meghan met us there for pedicures. It was so fun seeing her! After that, we came home, made brownies and played lots of Guitar Hero...so fun!!
Aaron took Matthew, Grandpa and all the cousins out for some geocahiing fun.
Here is one of Noah's treasures he found in one of the caches.
Here are Arwen and Evan...best friends forever!!
What a great shot...everyone happy and smiling!!
Here's Uncle Matthew holding Joshua.

We had lots of swimming fun at Grandma's...even though it was too chilly to swim most days. Good thing kids haven't learned about being cold yet!

Good old Josh...throwing trash in the pool. When the pool boy came later in the week to clean the pool, I saw him dig lots of junk out of the pool...apple cores, cars, spoons, bowls...
I love this face that Joshua makes!
Look at those wrinkly fingers!!
Here's more...
And still more! How long were you kids in the pool??
Arwen had so much fun swimming and jumping off the diving board all on her own. It won't be long before we will take off her floaties and she will be a real swimmer!!
What a fun time!!

Gotta love bath time at Grandma's...we're so efficient that we throw ALL the kids in the tub at once!

I just asked Josh why he was crying in this picture. He pointed at Dallin...his cousin that is his age and said, "No, Dallin. Hit." Ha!! It was so fun to watch the two of them try and bully each other...sadly, poor little Joshy always lost!! I can't wait until the two of them are a little older and are the best of buddies like Arwen and Evan.
What a cute little naked!

We all went for a hike at Black Diamond one morning. It was lots of fun. The kids had fun being dare devils and climbing EVERYTHING!!

Cute little Larkin in one of the boy's hats. She was so excited to be there that she fell asleep in her front pack.
Here's silly Josh about ready to come down a big steep hill...
...and this is how he got down...sliding on his bum!!Princess Arwen on top of a mountain that she climbed by herself.

The boys had a fun time playing in a cave they found.
Look, we found a Noe in a square in a rock.
And then we found a Shosh!
Here's Arwen with Aunt Whitney, cousin Austin and Uncle Joshua on top of the mountain!
Noah had a great time collecting different colored dirt and storing it in his front pocket.
All the kids climbed up this really steep side of a wall to go and hang out in the caves up top. Good old Aunt Bethany had to go up and save them!

We got a picture of all of the cousins! Yea!!! They are sure a cute bunch!
From left to right we have Madelyn, Joshua, Jack...above Josh, Evan, Arwen...holding Larkin, Noah, Austin, and Dallen.

It wouldn't be a trip down to Grandma and Grandpa's without playing with Grandma's chickens. They are still young yet, but Noah really liked them. (Bethany...yet another reason I remembered of why I prefer to stay in the study....you can't hear the Rooster every morning!!)

Noah was really excited about how brave he was to hold the chickens.
What a silly Chicken Head!
Arwen had to get in on the fun too...she stopped helping the pool boy clean out the pool so she could play with the chickens too.

Our last night in Brentwood, we went to Berkley to eat at our favorite Thai place. Uncle Joshua stayed home and tended the kids! We got to where the Thai place was...and it was out of business. Oh how sad! We found another place to eat and then went and had ice cream at our favorite ice cream shop...Fenton's! yummy!!! It was a great night!
This is what we found when we got home...little Josh asleep on big Josh! The kids said that Uncle Joshua was a great babysitter...and TRUST ME, they tell me if I get one that is not!! Arwen and Noah were asleep up in their bed when we went and checked on them. Thanks Uncle Joshua! You are the greatest!!