I love my daughter...

..... So I make her work... it is always fun... therefore she LOVES to help! She now takes it upon herself to sweep and mop the floor almost every morning, she BEGGED me to clean the toilets (which I hate to do!)yesturday morning, she got into the tub hands and knees to offer some serious elbow grease working on that soap gunk, then she helped me load things up into the attic storage spot...we seriously worked cleaning/organizing the house for about 4 hours straight and she NEVER complained, always asked for what was next and happily worked beside me.
What she does is never perfect and some things take twice the time to do it with her than it would without- but the cleaniness is not my goal- it is the love for "pulling her weight" that I am looking to instill. She now makes her own bed-picks up her own room and her own toys. She ENJOYS cleaning up any spills that occur during the day and always asks to help when I am working. She is learning that she is valuable to the family, that she is capable and this makes her proud of herself.
Some gauk that my house is not always (okay-it NEVER is) spotless. We don't have fancy things. And this is just perfect... it makes it so easy to never "lose it" when something breaks or when spills occur. I can wait for a 3 year old (and even the 11 month old when he spills) to clean it up because I am not in a mad rush to "save" whatever something was spilled on... It keeps the stress level real low and because I am not freaking out it can be made fun to clean it up. All of this to say.... I love my kids.... so I make them work.

Happy Birthday Aaron!

Emmy, Aaron's wife put together this little gathering for Aaron's birthday. The kids had a blast! Such a nice party, relaxing, good food, great company... Emmy- you did it again! Beautiful family.

 Is this place beautiful or what!? This is where the Skok river meets the Hood Canal... those are the Olympic mountains in the background.... and some of you people wonder how anyone could live in this rainy state! =) THIS is how! GORGEOUS!

Here's Aaron (Michael's good friend) and Michael practicing their drives from the front yard out to the river banks.

That was a long one!

This is Elle playing in the natural spring that runs down off the hillside. It is totally drinkable!

Happy Birthday Aaron- thanks for being such a great friend to my husband!