Great way to get the kids out when you are sick. I sat under an umbrella and watched! Ezra and Brock - how cute!
Owen wanted his picture taken with a car... Ezra's car.
Paige... waiting for the fountains to spray her.
Olive - relaxing in the shade.
Olive is still growing - and getting cuter each day.
Owen is getting so much better at swimming - it is great for me!
Brock just hangs out on the steps - I would try to get him in the pool but why hurt a good thing?
Wearing out these boys is a tough job... good thing John is there to do it!
School got out on Thursday - so we went to the beach that night when John got home. I couldn't believe how nice it was - the kids were in the water at 7:30... it was still warm. Here is Olive kickin' it!
John and the kids enjoying the sunset and playing in the sand.
There were still so many people out.
Brock loves to throw sand - ok by me as long as no one else is around.
Paige diggin' the sand! :)
The last week of school we had some special occasions to attend. Paige was a narrator in her class performance of "The Little Red Hen" - a very cute musical. She did a great job reading!
Owen graduated from Miss Laurie's Preschool. Here is the class of 2009!
He was really excited to graduate.
Owen and Miss Laurie
Proud parents
Owen and Bennett - Thanks to Sara for making those cute candy necklaces!!!
So while we were painting all the kids rooms upstairs John was also working on a project downstairs. We were able to complete it just before Olive was born. We started out with this coat closet that backed to our stairs. We figured we weren't making good use of the space and maybe there was more space under the stairs.
Here is a photo of what space we had once we busted through the wall. You can see it's the side of the closet we went through... there was a lot more space then we initially thought.
(This is the wall that has the most space on it for shelves now... who would have thought)
Owen wanted to be in my "after" photos. Now we have a huge storage area that we use for food. I know many people have basements outside of California - but here all we have is our garages that get so hot during the summer nothing keeps.
This is perfect and we LOVE it! Thanks Owen for modeling our new pantry!
John drywalled the entire space, put in lights and outlets, hung shelves and even stained the concrete floor. Wheeew! I'm tired just thinking about it.
Well it's been probably close to 10 years since I've gone this dark. I thought it was time for a change or time to mix things up again - I don't like to get stuck in a rut with my hair. So here we go...
Ok, I just have to say taking a picture of myself is a nightmare - I did this solely for everyone that is far away and can't see me.
Brock's lashes always get to me. I am still amazed at how long and dark they are for this little blond boy. The other day he fell asleep on the way home and I moved him to the couch. As I sat there I just kept staring at his lashes - what I would do for those!!!
This picture doesn't even do them justice - they are so thick, and long. When he closes his eyes - they lay flat on his cheeks.
On Sunday we blessed Olive. It was a great day! We were happy to have so much family and friends there with us. We had 27 kids at our house that day... wow! Here are a few pictures to remember the day. Olive was great - she was really tired by the time we took her picture in her dress - the other kids were no where to be found. I guess that's what happens when you have 4 kids to track down.
She was falling asleep as we tried to get one photo of us and her. Yes, the worlds largest flower in her hair and I loved it! Thanks Jenny - it was beautiful.
Later that day Wendy and Olive fell asleep on the couch together - who would have known they sleep the same way. ;)
My grandma came down - it is always good to see her! This was all the family there from my side - I think there were about 30-40 people from John's side... yikes! What happened to the Sorensen representation?!?!
When we found out we were having another girl we decided to move Paige into the playroom and move the playroom downstairs and combine it with the office. This allowed Paige a bigger room for her bigger bed. Here is what the playroom looked like before we painted it. I wish I would have taken a picture with the mess of toys in it, but I'm sure you can imagine.
One of the owners (at least 3 owners back) had a mural painted in this room. There was great debate over if we should paint over it. I was in favor of painting over it - no offense but it wasn't that good - and it didn't go with Paige's room anyway. Sorry mural... bye... bye!
I think this pink was soooo much better than the last pink. I thought it complimented her bedding and looked great with the stripes on the wall.
I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do but I knew I wanted to do something different on just one wall. Wall paper? no. My friend Lori did stripes with this opalescent glaze - I had seen stripes before (let's face it - almost everyone has stripes) but this was a little different. It was a glaze that went with whatever color you put it over. I was happy.
At first John said that no one would even notice. I was a little afraid that he might be right. Now, I think it is noticeable enough but still subtle.
So last week while I was folding clothes in my living room I looked out my front window to see what looked like brown cloud hovering around my tree. As I walked to my window to get a better look it appeared to be bees. I was so confused as to what was going on. I clearly couldn't go out my front door so I went out the side of my house to get a better look. There were, what looked like 2 basket ball size, colonies of bees that decided to land in my tree.
I immediately called John and told him to come home - then I called Animal Control who then said that since it was on private property we had to call the bee guys. I did that and they explained that it was just some colonies looking for a new home. NOT IN MY TREE! Well it was just temporary - supposedly they don't like trees. Within an hour the first colony left - by the time John came home there was just this one colony.
After waiting a few days... locked up in our house - John decided he was going to get rid of the bees himself.
He didn't have a bee outfit so he made his own... this consisted of a hooded tank wet-suit (he fit into while in HS), a long sleeved shirt, a paint ball shield, jeans, sweats & a trench coat.
After attacking the bees with a water bottle and a hose - he cleaned up and bagged (1/2 of a kitchen trash can full) bees upon bees - almost 30 lbs worth.
There are a couple of good things about this picture (other than the cutie pie in it). The first good thing that it is taken with my new camera! Yes, only 8 weeks after dropping my camera I finally got a new one. I don't have one of those fancy shmancy ones, just a normal point and shoot is all I ask for - they said it was going to cost almost the same amount to fix it as it would be to get a new one... it is here. 
The second good thing is her cute head band. I went over to Wendy's today and we made some bows and flowers for our girls hair. I feel so crafty! I'm no pro but I think she looks pretty cute in it!
