Yay for the beach!!

Spring Break took us to Seaside, OR. We arrived friday night and Saturday it poured....all day....it was almost 2 inches of rain that day. We stayed nice and cozy in the cutest little beach house, played games watched movies, read books, and ventured out to take a ride on the carousal. Sunday we woke up to the sun shining through the clouds. The clouds burned off and it was a beautiful day, a complete contrast from the day before. We were able to take a couple bike rides and go down to the beach. The kids were very excited about FINALLY getting to wiggle their toes in the sand so for the first several minutes Wyatt kept running around, throwing his hands up in the air yelling, "yay for the beach!!!"

My family loves seafood and that includes razor clams. My dad grew up in Astoria and I spent many vacations playing on the beach and learning the skill of digging for razor clams with my dad and grandpa. Craig has caught the "clam bug" and enjoys it as much as I do, I think. We each dug 15 (our limit) on Monday before heading home. We dug several more in previous days as well. We are getting ready to sit down to some homemade clam chowder right now. And fried clams are on this weeks menu, too!

Will turns 6....

Wow, there's something really special about your firstborns birthday. Craig and I were just talking about how only 6 years ago we were just embarking on this parenting adventure. 6 years doesn't sound very long, but we have learned and changed so much! And so has Will. We are so proud of the big six year old he is. He is a huge helper and loves his sibling so much. He had a super fun day. Gramme and Grandpa took him out to breakfast and then shopping at Wal-Mart. We brought Dad lunch at shcool, had Will's conference and then went to Toys-R-Us for some more birthday shopping. We finished the evening with dinner and sundae's at Red Robin. I can't believe we have a 6 year old!

Our New Adventure

This past weekend I got a bike. I haven't had one since my sisters hand-me-down 10 speed back in jr high. It is awesome. We went to Walmart on Sunday and bought helmets for Anna and myself and we were ready to go! We've been on two family bike rides so far. We were given this trailer for Anna and Wyatt to ride in and Craig pulled it while Will and I rode behind. We hope to get lots of bike rides in this spring and summer. After convincing Wyatt that him riding his mini bike with training wheels wasn't going to cut it for the kind of riding we had in mind, he and Anna settled back and enjoyed the ride.

Fishin' Buddies

The boys went fishing with Craig right after church this sunday on the Alsea River. The water was high, and they didn't catch anything. But it was a beautiful day and they had fun. They especially enjoy playing alongside the river, building bridges and climbing trees. They always drive up the road and visit the fish hatchery and get to feed the fish. That is a highlight as well.

Helpers

I have reached a milestone in motherhood. The stage where you start to see your kids as help, rather than work. I know that sounds bad, but hey, kids ARE work. (And I know they always will be in some ways....and I am grateful I get to do the work of mommy forever!) But it is so encouraging when you actually see your kids getting to that stage. Like the first baby smiles at 6 weeks or so. Doesn't that just give you so much encouragement as a mom to keep doing what you're doing? That's how I'm feeling about this "helper" thing. Will is there. Wyatt is coming along. And Anna is still 100% work :) But, thankfully she has her older brothers who are becoming such big helpers. And thankfully God didn't give me triplets :)

Craig and Will are working on putting new hardware on our kitchen cabinets. (It looks so nice, the sideways picture doesn't do it justice. By the way I rotated it twice and saved it on my computer and it is still sideways, I have no idea and so I'm posting it sideways!) Will was using the power dill and having a blast helping Dad. So cute to see them working together. Little helper.