Montana wedding

We headed to the Flathead Valley for another Byrd wedding. This has become a summer event, given the large familiy my husband comes from. I LOVE IT! We welcomed Megan & her daughter Scout to this wonderful family. Brenden is Stephan's cousin & they got married in his parents yard with views of the Flathead River and Glacier National Park. It was a beautiful setting. The kids wore themselves out playing with all of their Montana cousins. We are so fortunate to live in such a beautiful part of the country. Heck just to live in the USA!

Brenden & Megan

Ravenna & Erika showing their cute little buns.

Jumping with daddy in the wading pool.

Feeding Papa fishy crackers. Papa should consider himself lucky, as my kids don't give up their coveted snacks very easily.

Pre-school & Potty

We had a big week of some pretty important milestones at the Byrd household. Hudson had his first week of pre-school. He goes on Tues/Thurs. mornings & seems to be loving it. He talks about his teacher Mrs. Hooper, St. Charles, snack time, and his cousin Caden who also goes there. I was unsure how he would handle the first day & he just gave me a kiss, waved to me & said "bye bye mommy". This was a different Hudson from the week prior. On orientation night we looked over at Hudson to find him crying in his chair while the teacher was going over things. He looked at Stephan and said "no daddy, no mommy, no Mei Mei, only Hudson?" It just broke my heart. So, fast forward to having one week in the bag & things are going smooth. He is such a happy, kind hearted, energetic little sweetie. We are so proud!

Hudson's first day of pre-school

To preoccupied with things to look at the camera

Big girl Elmo panties
first time going on the potty

A little "privacy" please

I am so proud to announce Ravenna is potty trained!!! In the past she has told us she has to go potty, so we put her on there, and nothing happens. We have done this drill a few times a week for the past couple of months. The other day was different. I heard her in there, fussing with her toilet seat. So I asked if she needed to go, she said yes, and on the toilet she went. She asked for "privacy" and I went about doing whatever it is I do. About 5 minutes later she called out "all done mommy, poopoo" with this big grin on her little face. I couldn't believe it. Hudson & I danced around, rewarded her with M&M's, and went to put on her big girl panties. I figured there is no going back now. Here we are almost 1 week down, and only 3 accidents later. Keep in mind we have been back & forth to Montana (5 hour car ride). She has done such a great job. At night she is still wearing diapers, but still no mess. She wakes up about once in the night & calls for me to go potty and that is that! Being this is my first experience potty training (as Hudson already was) it has been a breeze. I wish I could offer some advice to those who will be traveling down this road, but I have none. Ravenna gets all the credit here!

Kung Fu Panda

We decided to take Hudson & Ravenna to their first movie in a theater. Our choice was Kung Fu Panda at the Garland Theater. For those of you not familiar with the Garland, it's an old "art deco" theater not far from our house & they play movies for $2.50 a person. Kids 3 & under are free. We thought this would be a safe investment if it was a bust. I was pretty confident Hudson would be mesmerized, he loves movies! Ravenna I was a little unsure about. She never watches tv or movies, her attention span lasts about 5 minutes.

Hudson LOVED it, and Ravenna lasted the whole movie. She only started saying "all done" with about 15 minutes left....not bad for her. Another first for our kiddos! What fun it is to experience some of the best memories I had as a child now with my kids.

Plese more

I have been a little behind with things, but that is the way my summer goes. I had to put some pictures on the blog of a family weekend we had. The Plese clan, Eric & Tiffany, Danny, Ron & Lala were able to make it up to spend some time at the cabin, but mostly in the water. It was a hot one! We had lots of laughs, good food & drink, as well as plenty of swimming. It was the first time for some of this crew to see our new cabin. We enjoyed having everyone up.

It was a big weekend for Hudson. He imitated everything his cousin Caden did & that included jumping off of the dock, as well as jumping off the walkway to the dock (which is much higher). He has come a long way in these few months we have had him. Ravenna got a little braver as well & floated in her life jacket by herself. Thanks to her Aunty Lala, Tiffany & Mimi, although we pretty much decided she was touching her tippie toes. It's all about little steps though.
We are so lucky to have such a wonderful family & fortunate for the time we get to spend with them.

Oster Time

Cole & Ravenna
The boys swimming in....except for Cameron.
I wonder how many more years we can get away with this?

Tricia & Cameron

Tricia, Ravenna, & I

The sweet taste of summer at Priest Lake, a Huckleberry Mojito!

Tubing, or as Cole calls it "water tubing".

Playing in the tulee weeds.

We were lucky enough to spend some time with my good friend Tricia's family on the tail end of their vacation at our cabin. They rented it for a week & had both sides of their family up. Another fun summer memory. Thanks Trish!

Big Sky Country

Glued to the "tube"

I LOVE watching the Olympics. I find my self in awe of what these athletes can do, they are so inspiring (apparently not enough though). At night I look back on my day and count the hours I logged watching the Olympics & it makes me feel like a slug! I have resided my self to the sport of "tube watching" during these next couple of weeks during the Olympics. I am hoping some of you feel the same way & are living vicariously through these phenomenal athletes....like I am.