Six Years Later....

Happy Anniversary to us. We've been happily married for six years. I'd make a joke here but I don't want to be light minded toward the sanctity of marriage. We(Jon, Michelle, and Sadie) got to take a trip with The Maids to Colorado Springs, Colorado and the trip just happened to be our anniversary week. I loved Colorado Springs. We stayed at The Broadmoor hotel. It was our first "five star" accommodations. I was slightly unimpressed with the housekeeping. The room hadn't been dusted for at least a year. The tub had soap scum and razor clipping residue. We also found this awesome bug on the window sill. But overall it was pretty good. I think I'd give it 4 stars. They have a great small water slide attraction and the outdoor swimming pool is like bath water. The day we left to Colorado Jackson Started preschool. His class is the Beaver class and he got to take home "Beverly the Beaver", the class mascot. While we were gone, he and Boomer spent the week with Grandma and Grandpa Evans and had a great time. Jackson seems to enjoy his new preschool. He keeps asking when he can go back to "Valley Christian" (The preschool he attended for 3 months last year.) Unfortunately for him, we're going to be staying at "First Friends" It costs more but I really like the teacher. Boomer told me that he loves it when we leave and wants us to go away forever. He is such a funny little guy. Since he turned three in August, his vocabulary has improved dramatically. He's gone from saying sentences like "Her doesn't want it" to "She doesn't want to eat that Mommy." Ok it's not genius level or anything but he did seem to suddenly grow up. As requested by Boomer, we had a Dora the Explorer Birthday party complete with Swiper the fox cupcakes and a map treasure hunt. It was well attended and fun was had by all. (At least we hope)In the last few weeks Sadie went from army crawling to crawling on her knees. Her two bottom teeth came in and she has started eating solids. She hasn't enjoyed eating baby food but she does enjoy metal, dirt, grass and those little googly eyes. I found one stuck to the roof of her mouth the other day. She got her first cold and dislikes to get her nose wiped. Besides that she is very easy going except in the middle of the night when she yells with her loudest yells, to get mom to come and feed her. Silly little girl. Not much new to report....We had family pictures taken friday so we'll post pictures soon. Life is still good
Michelle

Sadies Six month pictures

We had these pictures taken of Sadie and wanted to Share them with those who haven't seen them. (This one is especially dedicated to Shauna)

Not too Hot

We've been having heat waves here. It was 107 degrees last week. Lucky for us we have A/C. Except for the two days that it stopped working. After several calls we found someone who could come and fix it later that afternoon. Apparently it was the capacitor (or flux capacitor as Jon, I, and Michael J Fox [Marty Mcfly] like to call it.)
Jackson is learning how to write words. He can spell with a lot of help from Mom. He loves to color and has gotten really good at drawing. He has used about a ream of paper in the last month with all of his drawing projects.Boomer has gone from wanting to do everything "by myself" to wanting help with everything.He loves to snuggle on our laps. Dad bought him his own little set of golf clubs, which are very cute and he loves to practice with them at the putting green with Dad. Boomer will be turning 3 at the end of this month. He keeps saying that he wants a Dora Birthday party. I've tried to encourage other themes but he doesn't seem to be dissuaded. As I type this Boomer is in his room with his face plastered to the bottom of the door yelling through the crack "Mom, Dad" He likes to stall at bedtime.Sadie is constantly doing push ups. When she gets tired of doing push ups she lays on her tummy with her arms and legs out. Jon calls it the "skydiver" move. We think she is starting to get teeth but so far she is like the "sad sad snail named Simon Sneeth" who can't eat jam or roasted leg of lamb. However, Sadie did get to sample some peaches last week. Last week we went peach picking and picked 100 pounds of peaches. My sister,my niece and I canned them for about 4 hours. (They did most of the work. But I still got half of the peaches. Great deal for me) I don't think there is a more wonderful place than Oregon in the Summer.Jon is working a lot and trying to golf a lot. He took some golf lessons and to my amusement he purchased "The Medicus" It's a tool to help with your swing. I tried using the thing and every time I swing, it bends at the hinges. (I think it's broken...or maybe I've just got a cruddy swing.) So Jon is subjecting me to the golfing channel now. Someone told me that when I married Jon it would be a life of sports. At the time I thought it was a joke but who's the one laughing now? Actually I'll watch golfing any day over "The Deadliest Catch" Lucky for me they finally had an episode that I really liked. It was the one where everyone was getting bonked in the head and broken fingers, ankles etc. Finally some excitement!!
Michelle (that's me) almost did a mini triathlon this weekend. Do I get credit for thinking about it? It's been a goal of mine for about 6 years now....but I may need to wait until next spring. Here are the reasons for not doing the triathlon:

1)I went to get my mountain bike tuned up and it needed about 400 dollars of work (plus 150 for road tires) I decided not to spend the money now and invest the money in a road bike in the future.

2) Jon had a previous engagement and wasn't able to watch the kids.

3) I'm still nursing Sadie every 3 hours and I was too lazy to pump.

4) The best reason: I'm not in the shape I need to be to drag my chubby little legs 1/4 mile through the water, on to a bike for 12 miles, and then attempt to follow that up by a 5 kilometer run in 100 degree weather.
Life is good.

June events

I celebrated my 35th Birthday with friends and family in June. It was a fun low key event. One of these years I want to have a huge birthday party extravaganza....but for now it's cake and ice cream and playing at the park.


For Father's day I made Jon a cape with the Superman emblem on one side and the vacuum from The Maids on the other. I guess that means he's Super Maid now. He officially blossomed from being an "old maid" into a "super maid" when he sent the maids to start cleaning our house.


For Father's Day Jon finally bought himself the golf clubs that he has been saving for...they were his birthday, christmas, New Years, Valentines, St Patricks Day (I think you get the point here) Fathers Day gift. Horray for Jon!! He might just get into Golf as much as basketball (If that's possible). Maybe if he excels at golf we can get him to wear his super cape to the golf course.

Grandpa roo and Ginny came to visit us the end of May. We went to the beach one day and Mt hood the next. It was great to see them and spend a little more time with my sister and her family. (Even though she only lives about 12 minutes away we are so busy rarely see each other outside of holidays and visitors like my dad)

Sadie is growing so fast and at the moment is rolling on the ground trying to pull the computer plug out of the wall. The boys are growing fast too. In june they both grew 1/4 of an inch. It's amazing that they can grow so much on how little they eat. They love to play with each other and also seem to enjoy being arch rivals at times. As always life is good at the Pippert house.

Welcome

Welcome! First we want to acknowledge and thank Carrie Stoddart for taking the pictures for Sadie's baby announcement. She's an excellent photographer should you need one. You can check out her blog by hitting the link above.

For those of you who haven't visited our site before here's a quick update on the Pippert family: Jackson is 4, loves painting and crafts, loves to sing, dressup in his knight, astronaut and firefighter costumes and has a great memory. To Mom's chagrin he stopped taking naps so we started preschool a few months ago. Drew, who we affectionately call Boomer, is 2.5 and is super outgoing. Boomer learned to dress himself which means he wants to change his clothes about 10 times a day. Mom isn't enjoying all the extra laundry but it has helped with potty training (Horray). Sadie is 4 months old. She is a great baby and cries only when shes tired. She just started laughing and rolling over. She loves Daddy holding her in the evenings and taking long afternoon naps with Mommy. Jon and Michelle are doing well too. Jon owns 3 Maids franchises which are keeping him busy. And Michelle "Owns" 3 kids. (That's what Jackson told me the other day.) So we both are busy. We just got back from Austin, TX on a quick vacation where we got to see Michelle's Brother and his cute family. Life is good and getting better. We hope you are doing well too.

Love, Jon, Michelle, Jackson, Boomer (Drew) and Sadie Pippert

HALLELUJIA

Jackson's favorite song this Easter is "All Creatures of our God and King":

All Creatures of Our God and King

Lift up your voice and with us sing

Thou burning sun with golden beam

Thou silver moon with softer gleam

Alleluia, Alleluia

Oh Praise him Alleluia

We have a lot to praise the Lord for this season:

1) Great Family and Friends

2)Our Health (Jon doesn't have diabetes...he reminds me of that every time he eats sweets)

3)Boomer getting potty trained this week

4)Neighborhood Easter Egg hunt with a visit from the Easter Bunny

5) A successful business

6)Coloring Eggs

7)Sunshine (The little we see here in the Northwest)

8)Jesus Christ's Atonement and Resurrection

We are in awe and can only say HALLELUJIA!

March Madness

Sadie is a great addition to the family. She is such a great sleeper (just like her mom). And she gets very upset if she doesn't get the sleep she needs (just like her mom). She was blessed at church on Sunday, March 1st. She looked beautiful in her dress. It was extra special because I made the dress from my wedding dress. (At least one of us can fit into my wedding dress now).

Jackson started Preschool this week. I never thought we would do preschool, however, Jackson stopped taking naps about 6 months ago and Mom, still wanting to take naps, awoke several times to some very interesting craft projects Jackson had created. When Jackson accidentally locked himself in his room and then went to the bathroom in his closet, Mom realized that Jackson might need more supervision at nap time. We talked about it and Jackson thought he might like it. The first day was a little tough but he seems to enjoy it now. They have snacks, crafts, recess and a Bible time. I wonder if they are accepting applications for adults? Nothing makes me feel like a mom more than sitting outside a preschool in my car with all the other moms waiting to pick up our kids.
Jackson is a really great kid. He is really independent and plays well by himself. He also started playing soccer. He follows the rules exactly and never touches the ball with his hands. Even when he can. He is very obedient. He still loves to dress up. I made the boys capes for Christmas and he's been wearing his cape lately. He also likes wearing his knight costume. He says that he's into dinosaurs so we've been checking out library books about Dinosaurs and are planning a trip to see some fossils soon.

Drew is our little athlete. He's super social and is friends with everyone. He wants to go to soccer, and preschool more than Jackson. He's always asking us "wanna play ball?" He wants us to catch the football and shoot the basketball with him. He wants to wear shorts and his "monster shirt" everyday. He talks really well, wants to do everything himself, and is just learning how to stall at bedtime.Jon is very busy with the Maids. When he bought the Portland franchise in October he had to let his office manager go. Then, with some super spy work from his niece, he found out his field manager needed to be terminated as well. He has been busy finding and training replacement employees. We are looking to the future and keep tellling ourselves that things will be great in about 3 years.

I'm just trying to be a good mom, exercise, and brush my hair everyday. Some days I can actually accomplish all three. I am really enjoying my kids. They are lots of fun to watch grow. It's a little sad to see it happen so fast. I feel very blessed to have such great family and friends. Life is good.