Owen, Sara &
Andrew Hoelter

The Wings gathered in Union this past weekend to celebrate Auntie Karen’s graduation! She’s pretty amazing and we are proud of HER. We had all been looking forward to having a party and gathering all of the cousins together, because none of us were quite sure exactly what it looks like to have seven grandchildren all in the same place.

The SEPTAVERENT (with grandparents)

Pretty adorable… from the left: Alex, Sara, Ben, Drew, Owen, Henry and Lily.

My kids were really excited to meet their newest cousin Lily, whom Sara insists is called “lOOly, like Looly poops” (Hula hoops, I’m guessing), and sleep in the bunkhouse. We had beautiful weather, particularly the early mornings–crystalline blue sky, bright sun, and the Grande Ronde Valley spring at it’s finest with green hills and fields. Luckily, no one missed these beautiful hours, as it’s pretty much impossible to convince the kids that it’s still nighttime when the sun comes blazing over the hills just before 0600.

Hugs before breakfast

There was a hike with Uncle Adam and Auntie Jen to collect rocks in a completely legal and permitted manner.

Catherine Creek, near the summit

There was a Bird-a-thon at Ladd Marsh with several bird-related activities

Making birdhouses

Ladd Marsh with Mt. Fanny

There were lots of stories, naps and snacks. Nobody takes pictures of naps, but with 5 nappers, the strategic coordination of napping locations and shushing of the non-napping was epic.

Stories

There was an amazing amount of food, including a REALLY good Prime Rib, courtesy of Adam.

Meat!

And here’s a picture of the whole clan at our Eastern Oregon Luau!

The crowd

My little sweetheart was waking up with out-of-control bedhead, compete with little mini-dreds, so it was time for a haircut. I only have time to negotiate hair combing with one child in the mornings.

Sweet baby curls before haircut

This nicely co-incided with a visit from Grandma Judy, so (using my giant and very sharp Don’t-touch-mom’s-scissors scissors) Drew was sheared.

Post-shearing

He kind of likes having his hair played with, so he didn’t mind sitting in the chair until his little ear got in the way of the big bad scissors and he ended up with a tiny nick.

There was a little pile of curls on the counter when we finished, now safely in an envelope.

I feel like we’ve been passing a lot of milestones in the last few months. Now Drew is a walking, jabbering, mimicking almost 14 month old. I don’t really miss the days of having a newborn (though he was an exceedingly sweet newborn) and I know from watching him with Owen and Sara that things only get more fun from here. I’m just saying that when he insists on being in my arms and no one else will do–I might sniff his baby smell and kiss his baby hair and try to remember exactly what it feels like.

A good day for our Big Boy…

Finish Line!

He ran in Awesome 3000, a K-12 cross country-style fun run. A big deal for Salem with 3,200 kids registered this year! It was a SEA of orange T-shirts and skinny legs. I find it really amazing that all of those kids found their way back to the correct parents. Kinder and 1st graders run a 1500m course, and the older kids run 3K. Owen finished in 8:20, and seemed to have a good time. His buddy is finishing just in front of him.

Clearly, very cool boys

Then, we had a soccer game. (No pics–just imagine little boys in shinguards kind of actually playing soccer!)

Then,  it was time for Owen’s first piano recital. He’s been taking lessons for about 3 months.

Grandma Judy sent a new shirt and I ironed his pants. He, being the “youngest” student, played his pieces first. He didn’t make any mistakes and didn’t lose his composure when he had a small issue with a very large piano.

After the recital, Owen and his buddy (with some help from Sara) played a duet that they have been learning.

"Whistling"

I’m working on a snippet of video that Peter took of Owen’s favorite song “Big Ben”! Sort of reminds me of the 5th grade band playing Good King Wenceslaus at the Holiday Concert… Hopefully will post it soon.

We do have 2 OTHER children, remember. They are cute too, and we do take pictures of them. More on that later !