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.

Senior Photos

I have really wanted to start doing photography but have kind of been procrastinating it. I really enjoy taking pictures and playing around with the editing of them. I love taking photos of my kids so I thought why not branch out a little bit and start doing a little bit more for other people. I did a senior photo session a last week and I had so much fun. It was so much fun to work with Mallory and she is such a beautiful girl and SO photogenic. We had a blast. So I just thought that I would share a few of the pics from our session.

Lack of POSTING!

CAUTION: LONG POST AHEAD!

Okay I am so sorry for the lack of updates about our doings. It has been crazy and I have kind of put blogging on the back burner. So I am going to do a MEGA post and catch you up to date on the Black family. What we have done in the last 2 months. Hmmmmm...

Memorial Day Weekend the boys went and spent the night with Grandpa and Grandma B. They got to roast marshmallows and then they helped raise flags in the Quincy cemetary on Memorial Day.

Onto the next event. We have been working in our yard this year trying to make some changes to the front yard. Well we made a major change. We cut down a GINORMOUS walnut tree that we figured had to be at least 50 years old. It was ruining our roof because it was sitting on top of the house and we couldn't park in our driveway because the birds in the tree would drop BOMBS on our car. So we decided that instead of paying someone to trim it we would let some woodworkers have the tree as long as the cut it down for free. Agreement made and this is the stump being removed by my dad and Brian. Oh and the hole is still in our front yard to this day. OOPS!

Now onto my latest addiction. In May I started looking at our budget and wanted to start saving money on my groceries. I was already a sale shopper but I knew that I could be doing more. So I started clipping coupons and have become a crazy coupon shopper. I know what you are thinking "Ugh I hate getting stuck behind those crazy people in line that have 50 thousand coupons and complain when the cashier overcharges them for something." Well I have become one of those people. I am sorry if you ever get stuck behind me but let me tell you I am saving MOOLAH and I LOVE it. I probably spend on average 8-12 hours a week on clipping and organizing and shopping. It has become my own little part time job that is "making" our family money and also building up my food supply. So here are a few pictures of my shopping successes.

This first trip cost me around $35. I thought I was doing awesome. WOOHOO! That was until I went on this next trip and I spent $8.45. Oh and I saved $285. Let me tell you it is SOOOOO much FUN!!!!


What next??? Father's day. We had a great day with daddy and grandpa. I was so excited for Father's day this year because I had found a super cute idea for a gift for both Brian and his dad. So this is what we created for Father's day.


This one worked out great because there are 7 grandkids on the Black side. So each kid had a letter. And then the 3 boys posed for their dad. I didn't do anything great with the dad one because I put it in a split frame so each picture was individual but when Brian got it he said that he wanted a smaller version to put in his locker at work so I made this one and put them together. It was quite fun and I was glad I found the idea in time for Father's Day.


We are getting closer to up to date. Yippee! Over 4th of July weekend we went boating with some friends. We had a great time and the boys absolutely love the boat and the water. Also during the weekend we got to enjoy the fireworks out at Soap Lake. We had a great time and are very appreciative of the service men and women that allow of the freedoms that we enjoy in this wonderful country.

Cody enjoying the tube with Uncle Isaac

Cooper with Uncle Todd

Ethan & Cody taking a swim Ethan with Uncle Isaac

Playing with my camera while watching fireworks

Alright now to the finish. This last weekend Brian, Ethan, Cody and I had the opportunity to be in the wedding of our good friends Todd & Rachel. (Todd is in the above picture with Cooper) Brian and Todd have been best friends since high school. It was so much fun to enjoy this special day with this great couple. We had such a fun time and hope they did too. They are such a cute couple and have a great love for each other. So here are some pictures from the day.

Enjoying a dance together at the reception

The wedding party
My two handsome Ringbearers

The beautiful Bride and Groom

Well I am all caught up now and hope to stay up with it at least for a while.

A new member of the family!

I know what all of you are thinking...I didn't know that she was expecting. HA HA Well don't worry I am not and we didn't have a baby. We just added a member to our family through Preschool. His name is Flat Stanley. I am sure that some of you have had Flat Stanley added to your family at one time or another. For those of you who don't know Flat Stanley I will explain. First of all he is a character from a book that Ethan's preschool class read. It is about a little boy that gets squashed and now is flat. But it is kind of nice having him flat because it is easier to take him places and also he can go everywhere (i.e. under doors, through vents, etc.). Flat Stanley even gets sent in the mail to visit some family far away. So this became a family project from school. Ethan made a Flat Stanley cutout at school and brought it home for us to take on some adventures-or send on some adventures. And this we did. It has been a lot of fun and Ethan is so proud of his Flat Stanley pictures. Let me tell you Stanley has become quite the US traveler. Within a span of 2 weeks he saw both coastlines-the east and the west. Here are a few of the places Stanley has been.

Stanley started his adventure by going to Pike's Place Market in Seattle with Auntie Crystal & Uncle Isaac.


Then he headed back to Kennewick and spent a day at work with Officer Merkl. It was on this day that they arrested some bad guys. Flat Stanley is a busy boy.

Then he took a trip in the mail to visit Caleb -Uncle Isaac's brother. Ethan has loved Caleb ever since Crystal & Isaac wedding and so he insisted that Flat Stanley go visit Caleb in Boston. This is the view from Caleb's office in downtown Boston.

This is from a park in Boston called the Boston Common. It is one of the oldest parks in the US.

After he returned from Boston he got right in the car and made the trip with us to Seaside, OR. These were a few of the stops along the way. This one is from the wind tower farm up on the Clockum hill that we can see from George. We went and had an up close and personal tour. Look Stanley is as big as the tower. HA HA

Then we stopped at Snoqualmie Falls. This was the first time that any of us had been there. Sorry the picture is a little blurry.

We finally got the ocean and this is Stanley helping Ethan build a sand castle.

Taking a little dip in the ocean with cousin Caytlan.
And this was the last one from our trip. This was at the Oregon Zoo. Stanley was up close and personal with a starfish.

He has enjoyed many adventures and I am sure that Ethan is going to send him on many more. If you want a fun project for your kids go check out the book Flat Stanley from your library and make one to send around. The kids love it and love to see where he has been.

Another funny about it is that kids are doing it everywhere. In fact one day my mom and I were out walking while we were at the beach. We were out on the sand and we found a baby seal that was stranded. We were just standing there watching it and along came a couple of ladies that were going out to go clamming. They wanted to get a picture with the seal. Before the took the picture one of the ladies pulled a Flat Stanley out of her pocket. It was quite hilarious. She thought it was odd that I knew what it was. She said that it was her granddaughter's project from school. Too funny. Flat Stanley is traveling the world.

Kicks and Giggles!

It is that time of year. Ethan is in soccer this year and he is just loving it. I wasn't going to let him play yet but when everyone in his preschool was involved with either t-ball or soccer I gave in. And soccer it was just because I have a friend that is a coach and I could easily get him on the team. It has turned out better than I thought. He loves it and is also loving that his 2 best friends are also on his team. It is too much fun watching him "play." He isn't very aggressive towards the ball which really surprises me because he is so competitive. Brian and I get a kick out of watching him and love the fact that he is having so much fun playing soccer. He is so proud to tell everyone that he plays soccer and is on the blue Ephrata Wind team. Good job Ethan we are so proud of you.

Ethan giving us the double thumbs up!

Five Years Old!

Happy Birthday Ethan! Last week we celebrated Ethan's 5th birthday. I am going through withdrawls of actually having a 5 year old and that he is going to be in school next year. It is kind of scary for me and I can't believe it is already here. Ethan decided that he wanted to have a Star Wars Lego birthday party. It was lots of fun with friends and family. He gets to celebrate with Brian every year since their birthdays are a year apart. He had so much fun and was so excited about the cake (even though it didn't turn out how I would have liked it too-a little pink for my liking).

Ethan Allan Black -Born April 8, 2004

You weighed 10 lbs. 10 oz. and were 21 1/2 inches long

You were the best baby ever. I could take you anywhere and everywhere and never heard a peep out of you. You were "giant size" but I didn't know any different. You were such a happy baby and could bring smiles to the faces of everyone around you.

You love to sing, you love to dance and rock out to any type of music. Your favorite song is "Pocket Full of Sunshine." You love to play outside with your brothers, ride your bike, go to the park, and play in your power wheels racecar. Your favorite TV show is Transformers Animated. Your favorite movie is Underdog. You love to play with legos and build new things. You like to build things with your Daddy and go to work with Grandpa B. Your favorite food is spaghetti with garlic bread and your favorite dessert is plain vanilla ice cream. You love to read, play sports, play video games. You love being a big brother and teaching you little brothers new things. Your favorite color is Orange. You love to wrestle and box with daddy and Cody. You love to laugh and have the most contagious giggle ever. Ethan we love you and hope you keep that contagious smile and giggle forever.

Mud Bud!

After reading the previous post you think I am a bad animal owner but I hope that you don't think that I am a terrible mom after you get done with this one. Today Brian was having a work on the car day. He had changed the tires on it, was working on the brakes, and decided to wash it. So I was outside helping him wash it while the kids played. Well we got done washing and drying it and I was finishing cleaning out the inside of it. Brian said that he was going to run to the store real fast and to keep an eye on Cooper who was all muddy and playing in the puddle at this point. I didn't think that a little water or mud was going to hurt him. Nothing that a little laundry soap couldn't fix right? Nope. I came around the corner of the car and luckily had my camera right there in the car and this is what I found.

Yep you are seeing that right. He was drinking water that we had just washed the car with. YUM! I didn't let it go on long, just long enough to get a picture. Brian's comment to this picture was, "You know you can give him something to drink once in a while."

This was the end product of the drinking session. Nothing like soapy water mixed with mud and snot. What a great combination huh? Once again I only let him stay like this long enough to capture it, then we headed straight for the bathtub. It was at this time that Ethan gave him the nickname MUD BUD -(if you have seen "Snow Buddies" you know what I am talking about). I thought that it was fitting for the occasion. My little Mud Bud.