Grandpa Meulman

On September 28, 2009 Brian's Grandpa Meulman passed away. He was such a soft spoken, kind man. I am so glad that my kids were able to know him and spend time with him. He was also a man that was full of humor. One joke of Grandpa's that I will never forget is, "How do you catch a Polar Bear? Put some peas around an ice hole and when he goes to take a pea you kick him in the ice hole." This was the best joke and everyone would laugh no matter how many times we had heard it because of the way Grandpa told it. The boys miss Grandpa but they know that he lived a good life and that he is in a better place. Plus we get to visit him often right across the street. (advantages of living across from the cemetery)

First Day of Kindergarten!

Well I am finally caught up. This is our latest happening. My little man started Kindergarten this year. Ethan was SOOOOOO ready for school to start. We started counting down the days in mid July and everyday he would wake up and ask "How many more days Mom?" He is so smart and loves to learn. The first day of school was super exciting for him but kind of sad for me. This was the way our first day went. We got up early (6:30am if you know us you know that this is EARLY!). Ethan couldn't hardly contain his excitment. I made him cinnamon rolls for breakfast since it is one of his favorites. He ate, got dressed and was ready to go by 7:30. So we took some pictures out in the yard. He was great and "ham"ed it up. So then it was off to school for his first day. We got to school and I was so excited to get him there and take some more pictures of him in front of the school but this is the conversation that we had as we arrived and were getting out of the car.


Ethan: Mom I don't need your help going to school. I can do it myself.


Me: No I am going to take you into the school and make sure you know where you are going. Just a minute Ethan I need to grab my camera.


E: Why are you grabbing the camera we already took pictures at home?


M: Because I wanted a picture of you in front of the school.


Ethan: I am not taking anymore pictures so you can just leave the camera in the car.


M: Okay (as I was throwing a mommy fit).



I guess I was told by a 5 year old. Well it didn't end here. We went into the school and the kids are suppose to go into the gym put their bags in a line, then play with toys until it is time to go to class. So I took him into the gym he put his bag in the line and he was off. I walked over by him and asked him if I could have a hug goodbye. Well he politely gave me a "You can leave already" arm around the shoulder. I almost wanted to cry but I was happy at the same time that I knew he was going to love Kindergarten. And let me tell you he does.

Being the super big brother with Cooper

Giving me the DOUBLE thumbs up.

This was the bus bringing him home from school on his first day.

Photography Fun!

Since I got my new camera last summer photography has really sparked my interest. I have always like it but just never thought that I had a good enough camera (I know lame excuse). But now I have no excuses. So I have started playing more with it and adventuring out. As you saw before I did some senior pictures. Well I tried my hand at some family photos for some friends. It was a lot of fun. I was happy that they liked the way they turned out. So here are a few to share.

I also have wanted to get some pictures of lightning but we have had very few storms. So one night I thought I had my chance. We were getting an AWESOME storm and lightning was everywhere. But sure enough what usually happens when there is lightning and no rain. Yep you guessed right FIRE! So fires trumped AWESOME lightning pictures that night but I was able to get a couple from my yard. Really no scenery in them because I kind of live in a hole but I got some. So these will just have to feed my addiction to lightning pictures for now.

This one was kind of wierd with the street light shining in it.

All I can say about this one is HOLY BOLT OF LIGHTNING!

A day in Seattle!

In August the boys and I got to take Grandma B (my mom) to Seattle to the Dr. so we decided that we were going to make a fun day out of it. The boys had so much fun seeing lots of new things. We got to enjoy walking down on the docks at Lake Union and seeing some NICE boats. Ethan said that we should buy one. Well considering that they cost more than 10 times my house we probably won't be doing that anytime in the near future. Sorry bud! Then we got to go to the zoo. Of course this is the only place I took my camera out. They boys had a lot of fun and really enjoyed seeing all the animals.

The tiger was by far their favorite animal to see. They were so excited when it came out and sat out for a while and they could watch it.
The boys were amazed how tall the giraffe was. It was too funny just watching them stare in awe.

Cooper was totally mesmerized by the gorillas. He thought they were fun to watch.

Ethan and Cody enjoying a day at the Woodland Park Zoo!

Water Bugs!

Every year my kids can't wait until they get to take swim lessons. They have so much fun and absolutely love the water. This year Ethan was in level 2, Cody was in level 1 and Cooper was in IPAP (parent/child class). Ethan's teacher was Jessica McDonnell and he absolutely loves her. She was so good with the kids. He became a better swimmer and his favorite thing to do in class was to bob in the water.

Ethan with his teacher Jessica

Learning to dive-another one of his favorite things to do

Learning how to do an "I" float

Like I said Cody was in the level 1 class. He actually passed this class last year but since he was still so young compared to the others in the class I put him in it again. Plus I didn't want him and Ethan in the same class. He is my son with no fear whatsoever. He thinks that he is invincible and can do whatever even when it comes to water. He was so funny in swim lessons because you could tell that he was just freezing to death but he didn't want to ever get out. His favorite thing was to jump off the diving board. He was so mad when he found out that he wasn't able to jump off the board when we would go to the pool just for regular swimming.

Cody with his teacher Katelyn McDonnel-she is the older sister to Ethan's teacher

Enjoying the water during his class

Getting ready to jump off the blocks

This was Cooper's first year in swim lessons. He didn't really know what to think. He was one of the younger kids in his class. In his class they spend sometime in the really shallow water where the kids can touch and then we spent some time in the deeper water teaching them how to float and go under. Cooper wasn't to fond of being in the deep water. He didn't like not having control or being able to touch. One of his favorite things to do was picking up the toys in the shallow end. He really enjoyed being where he could touch and do what he wanted.

Cooper doing what he enjoyed most, picking up the "groceries"

Not to often will you see a picture of me on here but I did it.

This is the only picture that I have with Cooper and his teacher Erin Boland. She was about to hand (I told her to throw him) off the diving board to me.

Bowman Reunion!

I need to do some major updating to cover what our family has been up to. I promise that we do more than I post about (we aren't really that boring). So here it goes for the marathon update. To start off with at the beginning of August we were able to go to a Bowman family Reunion in Cle Elum, Washington. This was with all the extended Bowman family (i.e. grandparents, great aunts and uncles, 2nd cousins, aunts and uncles, cousins...pretty much everyone I know that is somehow related). It was so much fun to get together with all of the family especially since I hadn't seen some of them for quite a few years. The boys had so much fun and were so excited about all their new "friends" that they made while we were there.

This is my cousin Jason's son. We have always thought that it was so funny how much him and Ethan look alike even when they were little. So now we make sure we get a picture of them everytime we are together.

The camp that we stayed at had a huge "farmers" slip-n-slide. Pretty much a manmade hill with a tarp put over and sprinklers at the top keeping it wet. The kids had so much fun on it.

No this is not my kid but I would have to admit that he is pretty darn cute. This is my cousin Lynette's little boy Jake. He was the funniest little boy that I have ever met. Him and Cooper are only a couple weeks apart in age but he is so much bigger and WAY smarter. He would say anything you wanted him too. I loved it.

The kids were able to ride horses while we were there. They had so much fun. Even Cooper thought it was a lot of fun.

I am so glad that we were able to go and catch up with all of our family. While there we also got to celebrate Grandpa's 80th birthday. He is such an awesome Grandpa and we love him dearly.