Days 7, 8, 9 (July 27, 28, 29)

Tuesday (July 27th)

Today was Emily's last day here because she had to go back home for work.  We went swimming with Lilli and had a great time.  A calm afternoon at Wende Lady's house followed by dinner and our baseball game, during which Snoh entertained himself yet again by being the photographer.

Don't know if Lilli looks happy here, but she LOVES the water

Suntanning like Emily

Just had to add this one, because I have many pictures like this.  Either upside down or sideways

Sisters playing ball together.  May have been the first time, since we're 4 years apart.

**After getting my new phone and trying to erase all information from my old phone I found a text message I sent to my mom about Snoh from July 27th.  This is what it said, "Quote of the day: I don't know if I can beat this guy.  He looks tough.  He's brown like me!"  Also on this day, Snoh got dressed entirely on his own and asked me if his socks were on the right feet.  A child after my own heart!

Wednesday (July 28th)

Today we all headed to Steve's house (my dad).  Snoh got to play Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii and jump on the trampoline before we went to lunch, where he of course ordered a cheeseburger with ketchup only.  When we got back to Steve's he rode on a scooter and even took a few crashes, one of which caused a bleeding scratch on his knee.  Each time, though, he did get right back up and straight back to the scooter.  Even though he told me that he didn't like sidewalk chalk, he drew Hannah and Matt with it.  He even took a few basketball shots before it was time to get home to meet Lilli's mom.  Then we went to Wende Lady's house for dinner and yet another baseball game!

Enjoying a quiet morning at home

Hannah drawn by Snoh

Matt drawn by Snoh, notice his white baseball hat

Enjoying a scooter ride

Thursday (July 29)
The morning started with Marcel and Snoh getting haircuts.  Marcel combed out Snoh's hair while I cut his.  We gave Snoh the choice of who was going to cut it and thankfully for me, he chose Marcel.  He did pretty good while the guard was on the clippers, but once it wasn't things turned south.  He couldn't sit still, he cried like I've never seen him cry and kept saying "you're hurting me, you're hurting me."  It did eventually get finished and then after much convincing he got into the shower with Marcel to get the hair off so he didn't itch.  We all went into Boise and had lunch at Panda Express, because Hannah and Matt don't have it in Kansas.  Snoh's fortune was about not taking shortcuts in life and he loved it because he talks about shortcuts everytime we're in the car.  But once we got in the car to leave and he asked Hannah if she was taking a shortcut to the store and she said yes he would say, "but my page said no shortcuts."  So after that we took a "long way shortcut" because that didn't break the fortune!  We went to Hobby Lobby and got decorations for Hannah and Matt's wedding (August 5, 2011), which was very fun. Then we went to Other Mothers & Kidz Again and Wende Lady bought Snoh some more "clothes for kindergarten" even though most of them will probably get worn while he's still here.  Just Snoh and I went to our baseball game and he did great staying in his seat in the dugout the whole game.  The game didn't go very well for us but we still ended up in 3rd place and Snoh got to stay up super late as we went to Red Robin with some of our team afterwards.  We got some ice cream for his reward for letting Marcel cut his hair.

Look Mom.  I got my hair cut!

Days 4, 5 & 6 (July 24, 25, 26)

Saturday

It was a VERY busy day.  We started the morning with breakfast at Wende Lady's house so we'd have energy to spend the day at the waterpark.  The waterpark was a big hit.  I had been a bit nervous because at the one in Washington, he seemed very fearful of big rides.  That was not evident here.  He went on everything he was tall enough for.  He didn't want to leave even though we got to go to the "radio" afterwards (he was talking about the rodeo).  As we were heading to the car he said, "I don't want to leave, you told me that we were staying here all day and they aren't closing yet."  He really enjoyed his first rodeo except that we got there an hour early to get decent seats in general admission so there weren't any cowboys yet which we had told him he'd see.  We also told him there would be a rodeo clown but he didn't show up until right before bull-riding at the end, so he asked over and over when he was coming.  He enjoyed being the photographer and even took a picture of himself!  Cotton candy and nachos kept him well behaved.

The black face and a white body provided us a chuckle

The same ride that he got to the top of last year to be told he was too short.

Fun at the rodeo
Nothing like good old cotton candy

Snoh may have a future in photography

a wonderful self-portrait

Snoh waited for the clown the entire time

This was how I found him when I got out of bed Saturday morning.  I have since seen crazier positions, but I still like this picture

Sunday

Snoh was very upset about having to go to church, but as soon as he got there he practically ran into his classroom and was then very excited about telling me what he learned: God made the fish and the birds on the 5th day.  He's excited to go back next Sunday to learn about the 6th day!  Lunch at Wende Lady's was entertaining for the rest of us as Snoh requested ketchup to be put on his corn on the cob.  We then went to the pool and was finally able to use his new snorkel set.  Hannah and Matt were even able to throw him into the water, which he loved.  Then he stayed at home with brother so that all the girls could go with Matt and Hannah for their engagement pictures.

Brothers enjoying awesone snorkel sets from Wende Lady

Snoh had already gotten me down at this point and as you can tell, Emily wasn't far behind

Oreo

Monday

Wende Lady picked us up at 9:45am to meet Hannah, Emily and Katey (Hannah's 3rd bridesmaid) for wedding dress shopping.  We went to one store to find it closed.  We went to another store to find a rude associate.  We went to another store and found THE dress.  She looked stunning and is going to make a very gorgeous bride, which we knew before buying the dress.  When I told Snoh what we were doing (getting Hannah a princess dress) he said, "Wait, I have a super duper idea.  We need to get a dress for Matt too.  Not just Hannah."  I told him that the boys wear tuxedos and he said, "He doesn't need a princess dress, just a boy dress!"  So adorable :)  He did great through all of that and then we even made it to the mall for bridesmaid dress shopping.  At the 2nd store, we lucked out!  3 dresses in the right sizes and only $35 each.  Perfect!!! Wedding is not until August 5, 2011, but now the planning is in full swing.  He also got the bonus again today on Wende Lady's money game.  He also spent a lot of time playing boxing on the Wii and winning everytime.

NOT the bridesmaid dress, but we liked these too, but they were more than $100 more than the dresses we ended up with

After getting the bonus again

Boxing

Day 3 (July 23)

We have had yet another busy day.  He started this morning by writing a letter to his mom and it is already in the mailbox with the red flag up.  We made it to the lunch for park and Snoh was pleased with his pizza pocket, peaches that he chose to share with Lilli, and apple cherry juice.  Today there was even a lot of kids that he played with.  He was very proud of himself for always following the rules even when his friends were pushing, climbing where it wasn't safe and eating their food on the toys (my rule is that we have to eat all our lunch on the grass!)  We played in the backyard for a few minutes but he was more interested in Lilli's book about sign language.  Hours later he is still telling us all of the signs he learned. 

His letter to mom--he's working on making his letters the right size with dotted paper.  He did great doing it until we got to an "A" and an "E" because he knows how to do the big versions, but we needed little ones and he just wasn't having it!  Don't mind his dirty mouth, we wrote our letter right after breakfast :)

"Hi Mom I'm having fun.  I'm excited for clothes to wear to kingergarten. I eat lunch at the park.  I can not wait for you to come to brothers house. Love Snoh"
He also demanded that the to in the last sentence was wrong.  He wanted to write it like this: 2

Today was the first day Lilli didn't entirely sleep through lunch so she even got to eat some of her baby food.

While playing in the backyard, we found a worm.  It can barely be seen in the picture.  At first he was very afraid of it and even hid behind me so it couldn't get him but after a minute he was so excited to be touching it and loved watching it move in different directions when he touched the different ends.

We went shopping with Wende Lady to get Snoh a new snorkel that fits and ended up with some great clearance finds on "clothes for kindergarten".  At Wende Lady's house before another baseball game, Snoh found his favorite toy at her house: a slot machine.  Every time he has played, he always asks if he is going to get the bonus and today he finally did.  The video is from the bonus.  He thoroughly enjoyed it and is great at remembering which buttons to push in what order.  I took the video with my phone and can still hear the music when I watch it there, but it seems that the audio didn't go through.

We had pizza for dinner at Wende's (I don't know a 5 year old to complain about having pizza for lunch AND dinner) on the patio which was also a big hit.  We are meeting brother at the baseball game for more fun!

Day 2 (July 22)

We had a very busy day.  The pictures don't show it because I didn't use my camera much, but believe me we were busy.  We went to the park again for lunch, to get gas, to TRY to get a free smoothie sample at McDonalds, to the bank, used some of his field trip money to buy swimming googles, swam with Lilli (baby) and Emily at Wende Lady's pool, rested, ate dinner, and went to another one of the baseball games.  Whirlwind day.  I should totally be sleeping like he is so I can keep up with him tomorrow.

Snoh is pretty fond of the baby and LOVES to be my big helper
I'm going to try for a better picture in the days to come because here it doesn't look like they play together

Waiting in the front yard for Wende Lady to pick us up for the game

waiting for Wende--taken by Snoh

Taken by Snoh at the baseball game.  The other team didn't show up but we still all took a few swings for practice and I gave Snoh my camera for entertainment.  There are probably better ones, but I'm not going to go through all 285 of them tonight for this post!

How come things are always funny to a baby until you take out a camera?  She was thoroughly enjoying this game and does have a pretty good giggle the first time in the video.  She has been sleeping even less than her normal self since Snoh has been here.  She has to be a part of everything he's doing.

Day 1 (July 21)

Snoh made the trip back to Idaho with us and is so excited to be staying "at brother's house for a month." I think I have some pictures from the drive here but they will have to wait!

Free lunch at the park!  So excited for a burrito, chocolate milk and a place to run

a GREAT project for a 5 year old when I get 5 copies of the Sunday Paper :)
He did his whole name, every other letter in Marcel, all the numbers, the food and colored in the hearts.
I'm the top heart because I'm the oldest, then brother, and then Snoh

We had to make Rice Krispy treats for Marcel to take to school.  Snoh was excited all day long to be my helper.  He stirred everything until there was too much cereal and it got too hard and was great at putting the bowl in the microwave and pushing the 4 and the 5 and the blue button (to start!)

trying to make them flat
**I HIGHLY recommend using Fruity Pebbles, so much better than a regular rice krispy!

And he even offered to help do the dishes.  It had been soaking while we made batch #2, so he was able to get the entire thing cleaned well enough that I didn't have to re-wash it.

Family Reunion

We've been back about 2 days now from the big family reunion.  We drove to Puyallup, WA on Friday and as soon as we got there we were asked by Snoh if it was time "to go to brother's house."  He spent the entire weekend asking what day of the week it was because on Monday we got to go "to brother's house for a long long day."  We spent the weekend with the family and even spent Sunday afternoon at Wild Waves, which was a big hit with the many children we had with us. 

Since pictures always tell the story better than my words, here they are!

Brothers enjoying Horton Hears A Who, the night Snoh was up later than all the adults
(I can't figure out the new image uploader, but this should actually be at the end of the pictures with us all in green shirts)

Lunch time at the kids table

Brothers enjoying the slides

Snoh and his cousin Marcus, who I played a lot of games with

MB + MB

3 very excited kids to be "drinking soda" and plotting their next plan

Cousin Maya, who pretended to be shy to not play with me the whole day.
Eventually she couldn't keep up the act any longer and we were best buds again.

Marcel and Aunt Nichole

Snoh in brothers shoes and on the wrong feet

We got to Wild Waves before the car that had our tickets, so Snoh was "driving" until it was time to go in

First ride of the day, "Octopus" and the smile you get when you tell a 5 year old to "say cheese"

Getting ready for the frog ride

Snoh and mom on the ferris wheel, which MaryBeth discovered makes her stomach turn when a 5 year old starts rocking the chair at the top because he needs to make a bathroom stop

Overall, we had a great vacation and are loving having Snoh with us.  Pictures to come soon, because I won't be able to do a recap post because an one month visit would make for too long of a post.

Day -1 and 0 (July 19 & 20)

After the family reunion, we took Snoh with us and made a stop in Forest Grove to visit old friends.  10 minutes into the drive, Snoh started asking if we were there yet.  After a failed attempt of finding the ABCs on signs and cars (we only got through B), he chose to watch a movie.

Garfield is a very funny movie, so I'm told

We even got to stay at a hotel.  Marcel took a nap in the 45 minutes we had before having to meet Kelly for dinner

Free wi-fi at the hotel meant Snoh played a computer game while Marcel slept.
He has had funny hand/finger signs in just about every picture we've taken

I told Marcel that my dinner with Kelly was a "girls only dinner" and had been telling Snoh that he and brother were going to go on a special dinner.  After playing with brother in a fountain at our favorite park in Hillsboro, Snoh insisted that he just wanted a jelly sandwich, so they stopped at WinCo for the supplies.  However, once Marcel picked up Sonic for himself Snoh wanted that.  Here he is with a little of his sandwich and some of brothers milkshake.