Hjelm Family Reunion 2012

Okay okay...I know. My blog is waaaaaay behind. Like exactly a year behind. But I'll catch up!! I swear!!

Last summer my dad and uncle hosted their family's big reunion out at Deception Pass and Cornet Bay. It was a blast! It was pretty outdoorsy, which is so not my cup of tea, but the sleeping quarters were manageable and we had showers and stuff, so I survived. Barely, but I did. Have I mentioned I'm not very outdoorsy?

Most importantly the kids had so much fun playing with their cousins. They got to play games, run in the grass, do crafts, hike, and do almost anything else they could think of. It was a great time to catch up with family and see some of my cousins and aunts and uncles that I hadn't seen in a while.

 

Jake had so much fun! Tons of attention plus lots of space makes for a happy baby!

 Cole and Madelynn couldn't last too long without some sort of electronic!

 The kids discovered the fun of Twister!

 Jake sort of hoarded the ping pong paddles. Sorry everyone!

 This big bouncy ball thing was a hit...until it became a weapon. Then it was taken away.

 Cole and Bryce wanted to be like Uncle Ron and stack dominoes!

 He had them all up there for a second!

 Hiking in Washington is gorgeous!!

 Cole liked hiking. For a second. He is his mother's child.

 Rix loved hiking. And in the bag? A dead bird. Something about a scavenger hunt and someone saying he couldn't find a dead bird. But he did. So gross.

 The scene from the top of the hike. Really beautiful!

 Roman and Bryce before family pictures.

 Nana and Papa with their grandkids!

 A big group family picture!

 Jake LOVES Papa

 We spent a lot of times playing games

 We visited the beach - my kids love playing in the sand!

 Bryce digging in the sand

Like I said...loves Papa

 I convinced the boys that the roundish, oval, white rocks were dinosaur eggs. Even Rix believed me. It was pretty funny :) They thought I was some dinosaur expert!

 Bryce climbed out on the driftwood!

 Aunt Denise was so crafty and had the kids decorate "Mr Potato Head" cupcakes

Jake Turns ONE!!!

I made the mistake of adding black gel frosting...it was a mess!

Jake shared his birthday with cousin Jonah. Notice the amount of candles on each cake!

Getting a taste before the candles are blown out

We decided to take his shirt off BEFORE he dove in to the blue frosting!

SO. CUTE.

This might be my favorite picture ever. He is SO happy right now!

All clean!!

I love the look on his face here.

Jake's Favorites:
Yogurt
His brothers
Nana and Papa
Aunt Carissa
Blankie
Binky
Sippy
Being Tickled

Rix Takes the Lead!!

Rix's class did a play for 2nd grade. It was basically a story about a king who was looking for a successor, and so he called all the young men in the kingdom to come and prove their worth by each tending and caring for a plant. At the end of the time, they were to bring the plant back, and whoever had the best plant would be able to take care of the kingdom the best and be king. Well, Rix's character was so upset because he watered and took care of his plant, but it never grew, and at the end all the other young men's plants were gorgeous. But it was a trick! The king hadn't planted seeds in the pots, and so the other young men had cheated, and Rix's character was the only honest one.

Great story, right?

The best part was how amazing Rix was. I saw him come home once with his script (and he had a LOT to memorize) but in true Pearson fashion (for our house at least) the script was forgotten and we never practiced at home. So when the day of the play came I was so nervous! But, like always, Rix was a champ and had memorized his lines on his own. He didn't mess up once! It was amazing. And Rix's BFF Ethan was the king, so they got to be in lots of scenes together.

Maybe someday Rix will be a famous movie star and buy me a nice house......maybe.

Rix's cousin Olivia was in the play too...I'm thinking the microphone was maybe too high for her?? :)

Rix and Ethan after the play

Bryce Joins the Toothless Club

Okay. I LOVE this picture. See how happy he is? He lost his first tooth right after his 6th birthday, and he waited so long to lose a tooth!

Look what I found!!!

 The boys came home from the school carnival with lots of crap. By crap I mean little toys and trinkets, cheap stuff, and candy. I'm a huge believer in "out of sight, out of mind" and stuck their bags of stuff in a cabinet I don't use often.

Well...lucky for me, Jake loves to get into cabinets. Usually I let him, because it gives me some peace while trying to make dinner. But he found this huge sucker that was unwrapped (I'm guessing one of the boys had already started eating it earlier, and then it got put away) and you could not pry that sucker away from him! He was bound and determined to eat the whole thing! Don't worry...I didn't let him!

 

I may be biased, but he is the CUTEST thing I've ever seen!!!

Our Schedules Get CRAZY busy!

 We put Bryce and Rix in T-ball and Coach Pitch this year. I have to say that I have a love/hate relationship with sports. It was so hard to coordinate practices with games and dinners, etc. Their practices were on different days from each other, but games overlapped, which meant Bryan and I had to split up or Carissa would take Bryce with her because Jack was on his team. But I love it too! I love watching them improve and work together with their teammates and be so excited when they hit well or have a good play or WIN! Oh, and did I mention that it's freezing still this time of year? And raining most of the time too?

If you can enlarge this picture then do! Bryce's face in classic! Look at the effort!

His face here too is awesome. He is trying so hard! I love it!

Rix is so awesome at entertaining Jake. He would lay on the ground and let Jake wrestle with him. Cole was always off playing in the trees with the other younger kids.

Bryce loved being catcher because there was always something to do. Sometimes out in the field, when there were like 25 kids on the field, he would stand there and do nothing the whole time. So being catcher was exciting!

Rix LOVED coach pitch. He had great coaches and their team did amazing.

See his face? My kids have the best "batting" faces!

Rix also loves being catcher, but he usually played one of the bases. At this level there is more action on field, so he didn't care where he went.

Trophies are the only reason to play, right?

While I was at Bryce's last game, Bryan took the other boys to Rix's team party. My friend Becky helped watch Jake, who was learning to walk.

Seriously. How cute is he?