Mill Creek with friends

School's Out!!  Doesn't that mean that the warm weather should be here now??  Not in the Northwest!  But a little cool weather doesn't stop us from having fun!  We wanted to make sure that we had fun with friends even during the summer, so we planned a playdate with two of G's friends, Logan and Jaiden, and we headed to a different creek!

The boys explored the water--even though it was cold!

Then they played on the bridge--even though it was cold.

Then they played in the tall grass, yep, even though it was cold!

Actually, they were looking for snakes.  Our family calls this creek "Snake Creek" when we had heard some friends of ours describe all the snakes they found in the grass.

Unfortunately, no snakes were captured today.  Maybe next time they'll have better luck.

Our other boys had fun too.  D gave me a pretty flower "For your hair, Mommy".  Sweetheart.

J was trying to figure out the net,

and then decided to play on a bench nearby.

I'm pretty sure we were all ready to leave when it was time to go.  Our friends, the Simpers, showed up after we had been there for a bit, so we got a fun parting shot of all the boys!

Good days!!

Our family's first movie in a theater!!

Toy Story III was out in the theaters. 

We heard it was really good.  We wondered if all our boys could handle sitting through a movie in a theater...well, a theater outside of our home.  The Big Guy Lowe and I wondered if we could handle sitting through a movie in a theater outside of our home.  We decided it was time to try!

Everyone was very excited!!  Our two younger boys really weren't sure what to expect!  They were in for a treat!

You thought I was just talking about the movie, didn't you?  Nope.  Right after this picture was taken, The Big Guy Lowe headed to concessions and loaded up on popcorn, soda, and multiple candies!  Holy cow!  That never happened when I was a kid!!

We chose our seats and got ready for the movie to begin!!

The next few pictures were taken with my camera phone mid-movie.  I'm not sure how great they'll turn out here, but they were priceless to see.  If you look closely, you'll be albe to see how The Big Guy Lowe has his arm around D.

This photo captured all the boys enthralled by the movie!

Overall, everyone did GREAT!!  G loved the movie, D was a bit nervous in the "tense" portions of the movie but did okay when his daddy put his arm around him, and J ate more than I can possibly describe!  I know he watched a lot of the movie, but I think it was more of an eating-fest for him!

Happy Day!

Love all the boys and the man in my life!

Last day of 1st grade

I can't even express how excited I am for school to be out and for Summer to begin!

Today is the last of school and G will officially, or semi-officially, be a 2nd grader (at least that is what he's been telling us for the last few weeks!)

The two younger boys and I were waiting at the school to pick him up!

When they finally came out we were so happy to congratulate G on such a wonderful year!  I was also able to thank his wonderful teacher, Mrs. Rose.  She was perfect for him!

One of Gavin's good friends came over for a picture too!!  Yea Logan!!

And we couldn't leave without G telling his busdriver, Jennifer, thank you for all her work!  She even had some candy for him to have and share with his brothers.  We've been lucky enough to have Jennifer as our busdriver for the past two years.  Hopefully we'll get her again next year!

At the last minute I realized that all the teachers had gathered at the exit of the school to wave good-bye to all the departing students.  I quickly grabbed my camera without causing too much of a traffic delay--hence through the windshield.

As we drove down the road to our home, I couldn't help but get a few tears in my eyes.  What a wonderful year G's 1st grade has been.  He has learned so much and done so well.  I think we have all earned a truly wondeful summer!  YAHOO!!

Trying to stage a shot...and the results

As a mom of three boys, I love getting photos of them playing together or doing fun things at the same time.  It's amazing the amount of satisfaction and love I feel when I see them loving each other.  It truly is one of the blessings of being a parent to more than one child.

This past weekend we found ourselves in a home improvement store.  While the Big Guy Lowe was seriously looking over stains for our fence, the boys and I wandered around.  When we found the riding lawnmowers all the boys ran to get on them.  Thinking that this would be a fun photo op, I asked them all to look over at me. 

This is what happened.

The two younger boys had no desire to perform.  Imagine that--they just wanted to play!!  Our oldest son was doing his best to help them look over, but it just wasn't going to happen.

You can imagine I was laughing pretty hard though when the last picture was taken.

I *love* being the mother of boys!!

New playground equipment

We love living near our schools. 

Recently, our playground grew some new equipment.  Or at least, that how it seemed to the younger boys.

Somehow, the right number of climbing towers appeared for our boys, and they figured them out in the order they grew in our family too!  Such clever guys!

Have I mentioned how much I love our boys?  :)

Manual Labor

For some reason we decided our fence needed to be re-stained.  It obviously hadn't received any TLC since it had been put up and we decided it was about time it had some.

I had no idea how dirty of a job powerspraying a fence was.

The Big Guy Lowe loved it!  Take a look...

Nice legs!

I'm generally such a petite, delicate flower.  I just don't know what happened.

But that was one clean fence when I was through!

For the love of a sport

Have you picked up that The Big Guy Lowe is a HUGE Lacrosse fan?  He's an amazing athlete and loves the sport completely.  While he learned to play when his family was living out East, he played in College on the West Coast and has coached different teams when the opportunity has presented itself.

As parents, both The Big Guy Lowe and I have agreed that we won't ever push our boys to play specific sports; if they have an interst in something, we'll support it, but we won't push.

That being said, I know The Big Guy Lowe would absolutely *LOVE* to have his boys play Lacrosse. 

So he takes the opportunity to introduce the sport while their young...just in case they might show an interest that we could support.  :)

Our two youngest were interested today, and The Big Guy Lowe was very supportive of their interest.

Did you know when you dig a ball, you need to use both hands on your stick?  J knows.

Success!!

The Big Guy Lowe might say that there's nothing more beautiful than a boy and his Lacrosse Stick.  That is, until he met The Lowe Girl.  ;)

Big D was showing all sorts of interest too!

What cute boys natural athletes we have.

And what a great coach!