Playing Catch up- Katie's Birthday (May 12th)

 We threw a Luau birthday party for Katie in May and here are some pix from the festivities!

 Don't the girls look soooo cute dressed up in their leis, grass skirts, sunglasses and flower for their hair?!! I picked those for their favors!

 I made each of the girls their own little cakes to decorate and we let them each blow out their own candles.

 Look how fun the the decorations were!! I had so much fun watching them decorate their little cakes. Katie  (unbeknownst to me) had promised them a water balloon fight so some of them came in their swimsuits (and some did not, thankfully Katie has a bunch of swimsuits to loan out). Thankfully the weather was warm and I had water balloon so we scrapped the games I'd planned and had a water balloon fight!

 Here's our impromtu water balloon fight. I used the prizes I'd bought for the games as a bribe for the girls to pick up all the water balloons from the grass and gather their stuff together to go home! Worked like a charm!

Here's Katie on her birthday, I have traditionally made her pink pancakes for her birthday breakfast! She won't let me forget it! 10 little pink pancakes! She's such a thoughtful, kind, helpful, hardworking girl!

Guess What!!!

 We hiked to Big Sable Lighthouse in Ludington State Park and climbed to the top, great day and great hike and great view!

 Here's the light house from the beach.

 Instead of hiking back through the dunes on the way back we walked the beach! Nice and cool and a blow pop for Soph and Tootsie Pop for Taylor kept everybody running along without any encouragement!

 Up at Crystal Mountain (the resort where we stayed the night, just South of Traverse City) they had these lines to walk on. Katie, Taylor and Soph were a bit obsessed, but they got pretty good.

 The next morning we had breakfast at this restaurant (kids ate free) and Soph really savored every sip of her hot cocoa with whip cream and sprinkles!

 Then we went geocaching to hike off breakfast! Man, give Taylor a gps and promise of treasure and he is a GREAT hiker!

 Katie loved the cinnamon rolls with breakfast!

 Sophie even caught a fish!

 And we saw this frog doing "cobra"( or up-dog position for you yoga fans).

 We also got to swim at the water park!

If you haven't heard by now, we are moving to the Portland, Oregon area (probably South Beaverton to be more specific). Unfortunately, I can't be more specific than that.  Our house is currently on the market and while we have had a multitude of showings and tons of great feedback we have yet to find somebody committed enough to give us an offer. So our future plans remain on hold while we wait for an offer.... every text message has me wondering if it's the real estate agent with a showing time or an offer, every phone call has me wondering if it's the real estate agent with an offer...it's complete torture! Talk about your lack of progression situation! I feel like we're living day to day (which we are), putting off buying school supplies and planning soccer, swimming and gymnastics. It has yet to feel very exciting, but the move was inevitable. GE was moving Craig to Cincinnati so when a recruiter called with a possibility in Portland we jumped at the opportunity. Cincinnati would have been a much easier more predictable way to go, but this is the 3rd house in 6 years that we've (I've) needed to sell so we were ready to try a different employer. Craig is enjoying his new position with Maxim Integrated (no, not Maxim Magazine, although Craig is quite dashing, hee hee! Maxim Integrated is based out of San Jose, CA and manufactures circuits used in cell phones, computers and thermometers to mention a few). He is excited to make his mark and get things in order for the HR side of Maxim. Here are some pix of Craig's recent visit back to MI.