Are You a Deep Sleeper?

Kyle & I just heard a "thud" in the kids' room. Spencer had insisted I take down his bed railing before bed tonight. Seeing a possible connection here, anyone? But, there were no sounds of crying, so could he really have fallen out of bed? What else would that sound have been? Kyle went to investigate...yep, sure enough. Spencer was on the floor...and still fast asleep. And you thought you were a deep sleeper!

Update: he is now back in bed, with the railing in place..again.

Kylene Swimming Lessons-Year 2

Kylene just finished up her second session of swim lessons at Turner Pool. Her confidence and comfort level with the water continues to increase. It's fun to see.

Waiting...coldly...for her turn to jump off the diving board.

My camera is not fast enough...post jump!

10 bobs, please.

Car Wash

My kids ended up cleaner (uh, um, I mean wetter) than the van.

Yea for clean garages! And wonderful Sister-in-laws!

A couple of weeks ago I bemoaned the state of my overflowing, disastrous garage to Wendy, my sister-in-law. She had just spent the day organizing hers. (These days, it's harder to get major projects like this done since Kyle is pretty well consumed with his MBA.) So, Wendy, being the awesome sister that she is, said she would come down and spend a day helping me organize my garage. "Are you serious?" was my baffled reply. And this last Saturday, she did! Alva was camping and Sam was at a birthday party, so the rest of the crew came down and spent about five hours working their hearts out for me and my sad garage! Which isn't at all sad anymore, by the way! Her kids kept my kids happily entertained and we worked away as fast as we could in the garage. (With some great help from Kyle, in between writing a paper.) It meant so much to me that Wendy would do this. As crazy as it may sound, cleaning a garage (and getting organized in general) is something I enjoy doing, but it is especially fun when you have someone with a fresh perspective--and great organizing skills--giving suggestions on how to pack or where to put something, and someone to give you the courage to "just give it away!" Thanks, SO MUCH, Wendy! You are a lifesaver!

My "sad" garage before:

My much happier garage now:

And you should see it from the other angles! Where my van used to barely squeeeze in to what was left of bare space in the middle, we can now actually walk around the van while it's parked in the garage. And we don't risk near death trying to get something out of a bin or the filing cabinets. What a concept! So, I know I shouldn't tell any of you this, but if you need a great organizer...you know who to call!

Another Skyler picture I couldn't resist including:

He had his tennis shoes on originally, but brought me his rain boots, sat down in front of me and took off his shoes. It was so darling. He is at such a fun age right now. He is in to everything, climbing on everything, dumping everything out, etc. BUT he gives the best kisses, responds to you, brings you things when you ask him to, smiles at you constantly, and rarely stops giggling. He has such a happy heart and I am so thankful for this sweet little angel in our lives!

Fourth of July Weekend

Spencer got over his "yuckies" just in time for the holiday weekend. He was still tired and weak on Saturday, but survived a trip to Portland to see his Tutu and Grandpa (Kyle's parents), Grandma and Grandpa (my parents), and to go to Uncle Scott's brother's, Mike's, wedding reception (did you follow that?). It was a nice, relaxing day.

Sunday was also relaxing. Church and family time; no meetings!

Monday, July 5th, Kylene started swimming lessons, so we went to that in the morning. After lunch, Uncle Logan & Aunt Shayla came over and we went to Silver Falls for some hiking. We did a hike we hadn't done before and got to see two different water falls and play in the swim area. It was perfect weather and the kids loved the time outside. Skyler did really well in the hiking backpack. We came back to our house afterward and cooked up some of the Ling Cod & Sea Bass the guys had caught at our family reunion; yummy! Then we played a game of "42", a McCune family favorite. Mine & Shayla's best excuse is that these brothers have played it since they were about five years old! And the scores were evidence of that fact.:) It was a wonderful holiday.

Happy birthday, America!

A few snapshots from Silver Falls:


I couldn't resist this one of Skyler walking back to the car after swimming. :) What a chubster!

Gotta love beautiful Oregon.

Guys' Time--Deep Sea Fishing (Reunion #1)

This year, the gentlemen of the family chose Deep Sea Fishing for their "guys' time". They chartered a boat out of Depot Bay and after five hours of fishing, brought home 68 of the Sea Bass and Ling Cod they caught! They had a great time and we all enjoyed a delicious fish dinner that evening.

Here's Kyle "in action". He ended up keeping eight of the 13 he caught.

Success!

Showing off their spoils.

Alva, Glen, Steven, Scott, David, Kyle, Brent, Bryce, Nate and Dad (Lee). Once the cousins are 12 years old, they can join the men on the adventure!

Watching the fish be filleted.

We also got to bring home several meals worth of fish--yummy! It is a fun feeling having a freezer full of fish we caught ourselves. (Well, Kyle and the guys; although us women "helped" by watching all the kids:).) I like the feeling of knowing exactly where it came from, kind of like your own garden produce.

Pump It Up!

Alyson's family arrived two weeks before the official reunion began, so we were able to do a few, fun "pre-reunion" activities. One was going to Pump It Up, basically a giant room full of big blow up toys: a big slide, obstacle course, jousting area, and jump house. Thanks to my dad, we had the whole place to ourselves; I guess 19 grandkids and 8 adults pretty well fills it up anyway! As you can see, my kids had a blast. The Little Tykes toys were perfect for Skyler; he was content (and contained) there much of the time so we could still run around and have some "big kid" fun!

Skyler absolutely loves slides, and this one was no exception. (Blow up bigger to see the sheer joy on his face.)

Spencer is my cautious kid; he was slow to warm up but ended up loving it. I love the initial terror turned into joy and laughter (and probably some relief) that my dad caught in the lower two photos.

Kylene loved it all; in fact, it was hard to keep track of her most of the time because she was going, going, going!

My Buckin' Bronco

This is probably a terrible analogy, but these days I feel like I'm trying desperately to stay on the back of a wild, bucking horse. No matter how hard I try to stop it from bucking, it just won't. Maybe the best solution would be just to fall off?! But how do you "fall off" life?! Okay, did that make any sense? To put it more bluntly, life is a bit overwhelming these days.


Today was spent caring for my sweet Spencer with a fever, diarrhea and vomiting. I'm hoping the fever will break in the night??


Hopefully soon I'll be able to blog about the family reunion and the other fun "schtuff" going on in our lives! Here's hoping!

**Saturday, 7/3 Update: Spencer's fever did break Thursday night, thankfully. He still was throwing up the next day and was extremely mellow, lying down most of the day. But, after a four hour nap in the afternoon, he perked up a little and this morning he was pretty well back to himself. He ate only juice, water, and popsicles for two days, though, so I was very glad when he asked for a banana and cereal this morning.