Turning 5 - Part 2

Turning 5 - Part 2: A couple days after her birthday we had the whole Riemer clan over for a traditional German breakfast. Complete with a birthday fruit tart afterward.

As usual, Josie entertained the group in her bedroom with one of her frequent "shows." This girl likes to perform and be in the spotlight.. not sure where she got that one :)

No Riemer celebration would be complete without a showering of gifts. Josie couldn't figure out where she should start.

In case you hadn't noticed, she decided this was to be her birthday shirt. It has a long puppy dog that wraps around the entire shirt. She picked it out especially because it looks like Liz and Ed's dog, Nudel.

One of the many very thoughtful gifts of the day. Josie helped choose and sew this quilt with Liz when she was up visiting last time. Liz finished it up and gave it to her as a gift. Along with a photo frame mosaic and a hand-painted penny "duck" that she also made on her last visit up north.

Oma also gave a very creative and fun gift. A box filled with surprises. The box held these sketches (hand-drawn by Oma) and they were clues telling Josie all the things they would do together when she came and spent a special weekend alone (no parents or little brother) with Oma and Opa. (in case you can't make out the drawings: arriving at Oma and Opa's house with Yo-yo rushing out to meet her, going to the movie theater, feeding carrots to the horses and roasting marshmellows)

And the entire group looking over her loot.

Thanks, Riemers for making birthday celebration #2 a big hit!!

Turning 5- Part 1

Our sweet little girl turned 5 on September 29th. I really can't believe how quickly the past 5 years have gone. I can vividly remember that sleepy little baby. She slept so much we thought something was wrong with her - see photo below. Well, it didn't take long for her to wake up and live. She lives life to the fullest and does almost everything with vigor. She rarely sits still (unless watching a video) and has the 10 times the energy I do. She continues to be very creative and LOVES doing anything involving coloring, painting, cutting or gluing. We have more art projects than space to store them. She loves her brother and her parents (most of the time) loves to dance, play soccer and climb and swing from the monkey bars. She has found a newly rekindled love for her baby dolls and has tea parties often with her dolls and stuffed animals. I have heard that the 5's are a good year and I'm thinking they are right. We are having way more good days than bad lately.

As usual, Josie's birthday stretched over a few days. She had her actual birthday on a Thursday and was able to celebrate with her new classmates. Teacher Barb(who is 62 years old!!! wow) had a special circle time to celebrate Josie and a small gift. Josie and I made popcorn balls and stuffed them in Hello Kitty bags along with a stamp to hand out to each classmate at the end of the day.








Josie requested Indian food for her birthday dinner and after dinner we stopped by Baskin Robbins for her once yearly treat of a clown faced ice cream cone. She even shared some with her little brother :)

A couple days later Grandma and Papa came for a visit and Josie loved having tea parties with Papa!

Even Benjamin wanted to play "tea party"

Grandma was here too but I don't have any photos of her. She was busy helping me organize and de-clutter my life and closets. THANK YOU!!! Closets still organized, by the way :)

Doin' the Puyallup

On probably the last really hot day of the year we trekked down south to take in all the sights, sounds and smells of the yearly Puyallup Fair. It did not dissappoint. Thankfully we had free entrance tickets and parking but once inside it made Disneyland seem like a good deal. It felt like the doubled their prices from last year!
Aside from that, it was really pretty fun.
Benjamin was too young to go on most of the rides. He had to watch as Josie went on ride after ride. He was a good sport though and didn't complain much.
Josie and Marty waiting in line for the ferris wheel.

Josie on the cars

They were part of a little drama/acting class

I did lie about his age and say he was two and took him on the monster slide. He loved it. Finally near the end, there was a little ride that Benjamin could officially go on. He stood in line like a big boy.

And wanted to play with all of the controls on the fire truck.

And one last photo of Josie on the cars with her new little friend.

School

Both kids started school in September. Benjamin started the week before Josie which didn't go over too well with our big girl. She couldn't not understand why her little brother got to start first!! But he didn't complain. He LOVED his first day and continues to love his once a week Co-op preschool.
Who had their first day of preschool today? "I did!!"

No surprise here. His favorite activity was the water table. He spent 75% of his time here.

And the rest of the time climbing.

The following week Josie FINALLY got to go. She had been ready since mid August!!
She had a great first day but was not much for photos. This one was taken before class started.

Once it was officially school time she had NO time for my photo taking and would duck out of the way.

Both kids are loving their school this year. They both have great teachers and their other students and parents are really great, too.

Mt Bachelor

One of the days we were in Bend we decided to take a trip up to the top of Mt. Bachelor. It was breathtaking. This was the first MT I had ever skied and I hiked to the top of the South Sister many years back but I had never been on top of Mt. Bachelor in the summer. There was just a bit of snow at the top to play in and the views from that elevation were beautiful.
5 of the 9 of us had never been on a chair lift before... the 4 kids and Elli. It went smoothly, thankfully. Marty took Benjamin and even felt confident enough holding him and taking a photo at the same time. I was in the chair behind him holding my breath, of course.

Elli at the top

The kids, Elli and Marty

The Draper-Kunz Clan

The girls having fun as usual

Benjamin so desperately wanted to walk by himself on the snow but every time he tried he fell face first. Holding hands, even if he didn't like it, was the only option.

Happy girls again

Swiss Misses (OK, German and Swiss Misses to be exact)

The chairlift departure

Busy Busy Benjamin. Always wanting to get his hands into something.

One last dinner with Mom and Dad (and Kevin, Angie and Avery, not pictured)

The final photo taken by our budding photographer... Josie

Vacation

We had such a great vacation. It seems a million miles away now since it has taken me over a month to post photos from our trip to Portland and Bend. Here is the whole gang down in my parents condo in Bend, OR. (Thanks again Mom and Dad for letting us use the condo. As always, it was such a treat!) But before we got to Bend, we made a one night stop over in Portland. We went to our favorite water/wading pool/fountain park- Jamison park. It has this really cool fountain that spills over these stepping blocks and fills a bigger wading pool below. It was perfect for a warm, end of August day. Josie even brought a nice beach ball to throw around and share with new friends.

The combination of water and climbing could not have been better for our little water and newly climbing up everything little boy.

The Deschutes River is COLD. Very cold. Many people bring rafts or floaties and float down the river. It sounds very fun but with small kids that just isn't an option for us. No worries. We just took turns and walked up river a ways and then floated down on our backs. Markus, Jen, Marty, Elli and I all took turns. Everyone else there thought we were crazy but it was really fun.

Photo below: Markus floating, Marty debating the plunge.

They even got the girls to go in... well not really in as their feet barely were touching the frigid water.

The pool at the condo offered a much better water option for the those wanting a bit more warmth.

The girls were fish and spent HOURS in the pool.

Ellie, Benjamin and Elli. It was confusing having two Ellie's. Big Elli and small Ellie never really sounded right but we figured it out.

Taking a break with Dad... hand down the pants nearly always these days :)

Mia

The three blondies watching a German DVD

Eating breakfast out on the deck over looking the Deschutes River

We were even able to get away on a date night thanks to my parents and Elli. It was the first time I've ever just "ordered one of everything" off of the happy hour menu. YUMMMM!!

Markus and Jen digging in.

Up next... our trip to Mt. Bachelor