Eusterzelischror 2012

Our annual vacation with the awesome Eusterman and Stamschror families was last week.  What once was a 3-kid vacation has now blossomed into a 9-kid vacation (including babies in the tummy!).  We've come a long way since college:)

Daniel, Matthew, Aaron, Elizabeth, Cecilia, Noah, and Maximilian have become great friends, just like their Mommies and Daddies.  Thanks for hosting, Stamschror Family, and thanks for another year of great memories!

 Eusterzelischror 2012: The kids sure have grown up over the years!

 Living in Zillah comes with many benefits: lots of playing outside on large concrete pads, huge dirt fields, shooting (see later), fires, and more!

Traffic got a little heavy on the concrete pad.

Aaron loved being outside in his new Ergo Baby carrier.

Inevitably, all play moves to dirt after a while.

The three amigos 2012: Ellie, Daniel, and Noah. 

Casey has many skills.  One is as a giant horsey ride for nearly all the kids.  What a sport.

Matthew.

Huge rocks.  Kids.  Kids sitting on huge rocks.

However, chairs are usually more comfortable.

The small patch of grass in the back was great for "Ready, Set, Go".  Matthew likes to get a head start.

Casey asked for our help ridding his land of an infestation: Sage Rats.  Don't be fooled, these furry little things are a real menace to fields, and when there are 40+ ravaging your property, you need to take serious action. Here, Chris and Matt help spot targets for Casey.

All kidding aside, they really are a menace to land owners.  So much so you can hire exterminators that specialize in getting rid of them.  You can also get rid of them yourself the old fashioned way.

Sometimes it's hard to wait for your turn to use the .22

"Enemy at 11 o'clock moving SW behind the grass!"  Spotters always help.

Even the ladies had fun trying out the guns.

Cutest picture ever.  The men were so proud.

Daniel had plenty of chances to use his sunglasses in the Eastern Washington sun.

 MS Windows Desktop background submission idea.

"Daniel, please smile for the picture."

"Daniel, I'll give you candy if you smile."

Once Daniel heard we were going to build a fire he went into action.  Needless to say, we had plenty of wood.

 Fire and camp songs!

EUSTERZELISCHROR 2012!

See you in 2013!

St. Alphonsus' Parade of Nations

Daniel's school, St. Alphonsus, holds an annual Parade of Nations (kind of like the Olympic opening ceremony).

Each class is assigned a country to represent, and the week of instruction incorporates the food, arts, and history of that country.  Of course, it all culminates in an all-school concert and parade.  The kids are pretty cute dressed up to represent their respective countries, and the festivities get somewhat involved by the end of the week (which also corresponds to the end of school).  Enjoy!

Now that Auntie Laura is back in Seattle, Daniel was able to have his Godmother drop him off for the start of festivities.

Mommy, Matthew, Aaron, and Auntie Laura wait anxiously for the opening ceremonies.

St. Al's really pulls out all the stops for this.

Little Matthew can't wait to go to school...

The nations enter!!

Daniel's preschool class represented Romania!  Here, Daniel masters the art of looking away from Dad taking pictures.

 And here...

And the face block....

 And the half turn away...

Finally!  An enthusiastic frontal picture.

 The next morning saw all the nations parade around the block waiving flags and chanting their country's name.  The neighbors LOVED it.  There's nothing like hundreds of kids in a giant line, filing past your home and screaming at 8am.

 Mom and Dad spot Daniel in the crowd!

Here, Spain and Greece show their colors.

 

 What a great event.  Great job Daniel!  Romania would be proud.

Happy Birthday, Matthew!

Today Matthew turns two! He's been practicing being two for a little while, but now it's official...his three favorite words are "no," "mine," and "now." He is a spunky kid, who is a wonderful mix of toughness and sweetness. There's nothing better than hearing his sweet little voice (unless it's yelling your name over and over again), and one of our favorite things about him right now is how he acknowledges that he's being shy by straight out saying "shy," and hiding his face. He loves his brothers; he wants to copy everything Daniel does, and stops everything to give Aaron a kiss or gentle touch on the head. He loves to climb, and is quite fearless when it comes to playing on playgrounds. He LOVES ladders, and is quick to point them out to us whenever there's one in sight--whether it's one in a store used to stock shelves, outside a house or building, attached to fire trucks, or even just a picture in a book. He's our best eater so far, eating spicy foods and unusual foods (calamari comes to mind) that Daniel would never touch. His favorite toys are cars and trucks, and he can recognize vehicles going by our house by the sounds they make (bus, airplane, garbage truck, motorcycle, helicopter). We could go on and on and on, but instead, here are some pictures of Matthew celebrating his birthday over the weekend:

Waiting for cake.

So focused on his chip he doesn't see the cake.

Blowing out the candles.

Awesome! This cake has a truck on it! (Thanks, Fr. Jordan!)

Yum!

Dumping the cupcake out of the truck.

Back in.

No fork necessary.

Sharing with another Matthew.

Awesome fire truck!

Roadwork book!

Matthew has lots of friends waiting with anticipation...

Whoa! Another fire truck!

He's getting pretty good at opening those presents...

Trying out the dump truck.

Another truck! Note that things have started to move into the dirt.

Daniel tries out the new sand toys in the dirt.

We are going to need some serious baths tonight.

After all that cake, Matthew is in need of a good teeth-cleaning. Good thing we have a newly graduated dentist in the house...

Happy Birthday, Matthew! We love you!

Joy

Joy.