These are the Father's Day cards Bayley made that I never sent out... 

KISS KISS

Hayden is very cultured, not sure from where... When you ask for a kiss he's right there. With one for BOTH cheeks. Could this kid get any cuter? I'll keep you posted!

Stop and Smell the Roses

Not all roses smell like a rose. In fact, some have very little perfume. The things you discover when you take Hayden to the Rose Garden. He makes a sniffing sound, wrinkles up his nose and says "ma". Hmmm. In combination with his actions this means "smell". "Ma" can mean so many things...milk, blanket, Mom...

The boys even found some mud to play in. It is amazing, they seek out filth like a homing beacon. I tried to get them interested - the smells, the colors, counting. The only thing that interested them was wedding crashing. Thankfully, we avoided that debaucle.

Strong Willed Child

Willful? My boys are just developing their own style. That is what I tell myself on the good days. The rest of the time I think I should seriously rethink my no spanking rule.

THREE SPORTS...

Jeff took a crack at the multi-sport camp with Bayley on Thursday. This time was soccer. He participated more, whether from Daddy's prompting or love of the sport I don't know. We still left early. Which was just fine. We had a long drive to Eugene.

TWO GRADUATIONS...

Fresh from a nap the boys arrived in Eugene ready to take on the town. After checking in to the hotel and learning we had the room directly above Gram-mo and Pop-Pop we headed over to the University. We had to get there early. Twenty seats together is hard to come by. Soon enough they were screaching and squirming in their seats. No matter, here comes Uncle Dan.

Graduation ceremonies intriigued them for about thirty seconds. Then the squirming started up again. Cameras,pens and paper, bouncy rhymes held them off until Dan;s speach. Well, kinds. Some guy asked me to leave twice. Jeff was just sitting calmly, so I figured it was okay. The boys were bothering me, but aside from the jerk behind me I guessed we were in the clear.

Then the terd started poking my arm. No, not the kids. The addlebrained old man behind me. What was I to do? My brother is giving a speech, my kids are both on my lap. Decking the goy was a logistical impossibilty. I said we weren't leaving and waited for Dan's speech to end.

As soon as it was over I picked up my kiddos and boogied on out of there. We went on a leaf scavenger hunt and found five different colors of roses.

Nighttime with the wild boys of Oregon did not go any smoother. All tehy ate for dinner was cake, so we made sure they got some nutrition and picked up some french fries. Is it any wonder it was midnight and they were wired? Jeff's allergies were acting up from the cotton wood trees, so he was exhausted. I just watched them run for a while. When they finally did pass out I thought I might too.

BOOM!

Hayden fell off the bed and onto the floor every single time I nodded off. Not slept, mind you. Just nodded off. Once he got under my leg somehow. He's a sleeping Houdini. Why not just make him a bed on the floor you ask? He's and Oregon Wild Boy, floors are for running, not sleeping.

Dragging ourselves through the next day we opted to try and get them tired by running around Alton Baker Park. It was great. There were a four kinds of geese, ducks, pigeons, crows. The boys were in scatter the birds heaven.

Christina's graduation that afternoon went much better. It was outside. Christina's aunt made goody bags for the kids. There was cookies, lots of cookies. There was also a major downpour. the boys huddled with Daddy under a tree next to the security guys. Bayley is a sucker for a badge.

I Don't Want To

I signed Bayley up for a multi-sport camp designed for 3 & 4 year-olds so he could make some friends and learn which sports are for him. But he's not interested.

He gets excited to go. But once we are there and the other kids start to show up, he's done.

Last week was basketball. We got there early, Grandma Bobbie in tow so there was somone to play with him and someone to keep Hayden out of trouble. We played at the park until we noticed the teachers dragging balls over to where the hoops had been lowered to child level.

Bayley was excited, running over and picking out a basketball. Shooting at the hoop, which was so low he could dunk. Then the other kids arrived and all he wanted to do was sit on the bench. He sat and watched until the teacher huddled them up to learn how to dribble and I shoved him into the fray.

He did great, except he refused to dribble. When the kids broke off to practice their "spider hands" Bayley sat with me on the bench. The next step was bounce passing. He does this all the time on the sidewalk at home, but not here. Then there came dribbling and shooting. The kids were supposed to shoot at all the baskets in turn. Again, not for Bayley.

So we left early. I made him say goodbye to the teacher, but was starting to feel odd making him sit there and watch the other kids when it was so obvious it made him uncomfortable.

This week Daddy gets a crack at it. We'll see if he does any better motivating Bayley to participate.

It's Raining...Buterflies?

On the Jackons Bottom hike Bayley chased a butterfly. The zoo just opened up a new butterfly exhibit, winged wonders. Coincidence? I don't think so.

I enlisted Grandma Bobbie as a second pair of eyes and arms and off we went. We had a random hike around the zoo and finally arrived at the butterflies. Such a fun echibit, but not the best for Hayden who couldn't resist trying to touch the butterflies.

While we were inside the dome it started to sprinkle. I rescued the stroller and thought we'd wait it out, but then it kept raining so I thought we'd best head back. We ducked into indoor exhibits we usually skip - the elephant museum, polar bears, swamp, cove. But we made it out without getting drenched.

As soon as we were home Bayley used the "my pants are soaking wet" excuse to strip down to his skivies. A better reason that usual.

Note to self - check the weather report before heading to the zoo!

Bayley learning to golf - just carry the ball where you need it to be.