Babies!!!!

And now a break in the heat news to tell you we have new babies at our house.......3 of them to be exact!!! Two are *bi-racial* and the other is full black! We're not sure how many boys and how many girls yet.........because they are GUINEA PIGS!!!!



Sabrina's Guinea pig had 3 adorable babies last night while we were gone! We came home to bundles of fluff!



Interesting tidbits of info here: Did you know that guinea pigs are born with their eyes open, all of their teeth and fluffy, fluffy fur intact??? They can start eating solid food after 4 hours! And interesting note: they are not born with all those crazy cowlicks in their hair......we're pretty sure the mama makes them with all the licking she does after birth!!! Right now they are super cute with smooth coats.

Still Trying To Beat The Heat, Part 2

Feet in the water! A very good thing on a very hot day!

Beautiful waterfall!!!!

Cracks me up how we always have to stand sideways if we have a baby on our back so you can see them!!!

Nothing beats wading in the water!

And wading in the water some more!

I think he was trying to fill his pockets with sand to bring home!

Beach girls!

Hmmmm, purple swim suit, purple shovel, purple bucket....are you starting to see a pattern here?

Wednesday we decided to be smart and head to the beach again in an effort to beat the heat at home.

And since our favorite family lives at the beach, it makes it very nice to spend the day there with them! Thanks Ball family for showing us the beautiful waterfall and hanging at the beach!

When we got done checking out the waterfall, we headed over to the beach. There was some fog that covered up the sun and it was actually a little chilly! It was delightful!!!

On our drive home, we could feel the heat as we headed over the mountains and we arrived home to the 107 degree sauna!

Much cooler today......I think 97 was the latest temp I saw for today.......we're doomed!!!!

Baby, It's Hot Out There!!!

Our view on our way to the top of the world!

Sisters almost on top of the world!
Sam hiked with Miss Savannah on her back! You go Girl!!!

Here we are: The Sweatballs!!!!

Seriously, we were a mess! I promise we brought Isaiah, but he was on Bonnie's back!!

These were brutal!!!!!! Especially with a baby on your back!!!

Here go the kiddos down the super scary stairs!

Bonnie and I going up the killer stairs! Yep, that's Izzy on Bonnie's back. She didn't bring any babies with her and she offered to carry one of ours!!!! Can you believe it???? That's a true friend!!!

The view made all that sweat worth it!!

Cooling off at Klootchy Creek!

Izzy throwing rocks in the river.

Sitting pretty

Looking for something in that water!

At the GIGANTO Sitka tree....check out those roots!!

Isn't it beautiful??? Now if only it had been 30 degrees cooler!!!

Trying to get a cute picture at the cool tree. Look how nicely the Ball children are waiting. Then look at those two goofy girls in the middle! What are you doing, you two???? Stand up straight!!! What? You can't???? Oh bother.....

Well, ok the girls are behaving now but Izzy is done. "I'm outa here!"

We are trying to beat the heat over here and thought we had a great idea for today........turns out it was a fun idea but not so good for keeping cool!

We went with the Ball family to Saddle Mountain to go hiking. Our logic was: it's at the beach, it will be so much cooler! Right? Wrong.

Neither of our families had ever been there. We will definitely go again when it's about 30 degrees cooler! It was gorgeous!!!

Besides the heat, there were approximately 588,997,890 flies landing on us constantly. Some of the time they would actually bite! Not so fun.

After we were all completely drenched with sweat, we drove over to Klootchy Creek ('m sorry, but I just love that name....Klootchy Creek.....so cute) and had lunch. Actually we just about passed out in the car from hunger, so we broke out the sandwiches while we were driving over there. The Ball family ate lunch while we jumped in the water! We were so HOT!!!!

The kids chased crawdads around, threw rocks and just enjoyed the water. I had to drag them away. We will be back Klootchy Creek, just you wait!

Haircut!!!

Tanner *pre-hair cut*, sporting his Richie Rich look.

Does he look concerned???

I think it's all an act!

Soooooo much better!!

With 12 people in our family, it seems like someone always needs a haircut!!! Our boys get their hair cut at home by their Dad. Ever since Levi was about 5 months old, Scott has cut his hair every Saturday night.

Now that there are 4 boys that need their hair cut, Scott has decided to let someone else give it a try. Today was Sam's first attempt. I think she did a great job!

**Tanner's comments during the process: "If she messes up my hair, I'm suing her for $2!!"

After taking a shower: "Mom, there's really no need to use shampoo or conditioner now! There's nothing left!!"

"Mom, feel it back here, it feels like a deer!"

The Party!

Sabrina made a birthday card for Levi with his favorite team on the front! He LOVES the Beavers!!!!

This was his face when he saw his Dad riding out on his new bike!

That's the face of pure joy!

The boys and their bikes!!!

His favorite: Key Lime Pie!

What would a birthday post be without a picture of Isaiah enjoying his dessert!

This was actually before he got his dessert. We had a *little* whipped cream fight......

The whipped cream on his pie was so tempting......I couldn't stand it any longer, I just had to wipe some on Levi's face! It was all downhill from there!!! Whipped cream was flying!

Thomas enjoying the mess!

I love this kid!

Well, that was quite a party!!!! Levi chose some great meals for his birthday! For breakfast we had cinnamon rolls. For lunch, Tanner and I took him to Red Robin. For dinner he wanted grilled salmon with pineapple! YUM!

After dinner we opened gifts. As I handed him the "last" gift, I told him that we saved the best for last. He was pretty excited about that. And then he unwrapped a new pack of boxers! He had that look on his face like, "Please tell me your kidding!!" I looked at Scott and said, "That was so mean, do you have anything better you can give him?" Scott said he would go look and see if he could find anything.

We all sat on the deck and waited. He finally came around the corner riding Levi's new bike!!!! Levi was soooooo excited! He has wanted/needed a new bike for quite awhile and that was the icing on the cake for him!

After we cleaned up from the whipped cream mishap, we actually sat down and enjoyed his Key Lime Pie!

Whew. One more birthday to go and then we are done until the end of January!!!!!! Wa-Hoooo! I'm about birthday-ed out!!

Happy Birthday Levi!!

Two of the most amazing people we've ever met! Levi's birth parents!
We know where Levi got his amazing sense of humor!!!

Big sisters meeting Levi for the first time!

Levi decked out for church! He was so fun to dress up! Check out the howl he's doing! He has always had excellent voice projection!!!!

When you are the little brother of two older sisters, they are bound to make you do all sorts of embarrassing things that years later you may regret!!!! Mr. Bunny Ears.....

Scott had just completed his MBA and we were all there at his graduation!!

There are no words needed for this picture. It's classic Levi.

A boy and his dog. There is really nothing more sweet.

I remember looking out the window and seeing my boys. This was when we lived in Arizona. It was probably January and the Oregon boys were dying in the heat!

Brothers by chance. Buddies by choice.

This is Levi's last year school picture. He is one handsome kid! He's on his way to 7th grade in the fall!!!! Where did the time go?????

Today is Levi's birthday! The past 12 years have flown by!! What a ride it's been!

I was looking through books to find pictures to post and it was so hard to just pick out a few. The camera loves Levi.

I can't believe it was just 12 years ago that we got the phone call that Levi's birth mom was in labor. We had met over the phone and talked a few times and they wanted us there as quickly as we could when she went in to labor.

He was just a few hours old when we met for the first time. It was love at first sight. We spent a few days with his birth parents at the hospital and really got to know them. They are amazing people.

Levi touches people's hearts the instant he meets them. He has an unforgettable laugh that can be heard far and wide. From the time he was a baby and learned to laugh, he has always had a deep, hearty laugh. It fits him now but when he was a baby, people always did a double take to see how that teeny little kid could be doing such a deep belly laugh!

From the time he was born, I always said he had big "paws"! Currently he wears a men's size 11 shoe!!

Levi has a very laid back, easy going personality. The few times he does get worked up about something, I always tell him how hard it is to see him like that because it just doesn't fit who he is.

Happy Birthday Levi. You are growing up to be an amazing young man! We love you!!

Summer Days!

How do you pass the time at your house on these long summer days? I have to say, we're getting mighty creative over in our neck of the woods!

The kid's have decided that the stroller from IKEA is the perfect wagon for pushing Isaiah around the house. They run as fast as they can while he squeals and yells. Around and around the loop they go. They hadn't had any accidents but I didn't want to take any chances so I told them it was too dangerous. They solved that problem.......in comes Isaiah wearing a batting helmet. I couldn't argue with them. I'm pretty sure that will keep his noggin safe!!!

If we get super bored tomorrow, I will have one of the kids record it so you can watch the live action version! It's pretty funny!

Another Funny.....

Savannah and I were talking yesterday about stinky diapers. She needed changed and wasn't being very proactive to come and find me like she usually does. I was telling her that no one likes to smell stinky diapers, so it's a good idea to get them changed right away. She quickly replied that they make her "hose nurt"! She stopped, looked at me and I started cracking up.

"It makes what happen?" I asked her.

She started laughing and said it again, "My hose nurt!"

"You mean your nose hurt?"

Goodness sake, we laughed our heads off.

Little Reader

Sabrina took these great shots of Isaiah while he was reading. He loves books and will pull a few off of the shelf and just sit and look at them. Adorable!