Vacation: Day 2

Day two pictures are much less entertaining!  We decompressed after finally being done with appointments by roaming the big city as a family.  The only pictures we took were in front of the beloved 1st Starbucks!

I like that Madi is craning her neck to people watch in this picture.  There was this crazy lady dancing to drums while some big crazy hippy whispered strange things in her ear.  I can't really blame her for being a looky-lucy... in fact, I think I know where she gets it from!

Here she is with her Mama in the same spot... someday she'll appreciate it a little more! =)

It didn't rain on us and we didn't get mugged!  It was a great night! =)  Mostly because we ended it with another delicious slice of cheesecake!  Mmmm... I can almost taste it now!

Vacation: Day 1

This waiting room is getting old, so I'm updating our blog.  I realized when I went through our pictures that we've done a terrible job of documenting our week!  

Oh well... 

Here is to day one...

After Matt's doctor's appointments, we checked into our hotel, the Camlin, and headed back to Renton and picked up Madi from her Uncle Josh and Auntie Krista's house.  J & H gave us a gift card to Cheesecake Factory so we walked the wopping two blocks from our hotel and had a fun family date! 

*Please excuse the horrible picture - I'm still grateful to the stranger that took it! =)*

Madi has been a great trooper!  She loves to snuggle her baby doll in her stroller and "people watch" (just like Mommy and Daddy =). 

It was a fun first day!  We shared a delicious dinner, which I selected, and then an even more delicious dessert, which Matt selected!  We took the slice of cheesecake back to our hotel (white chocolate raspberry - sorry to make you jealous! =) and ate it in the dark while Madi slept!  It was so AMAZING that we decided we should make it a "tradition" and we ate another piece the next night... in the dark! =)  It was great, until Thursday night came around and Matt had to stop eating that morning at 9 and we felt (especially me) oh-so-deprived to not have our traditional "cheescake-in-the-dark" treat!  Very spoiled... I know!

That pretty much entailed the first day!  We loved having a little "vacation" in the midst of this craziness!

The Beginning of the End...

To my faithful bloggees (that would be fancy for "blog-followers")(assuming I have some =):

We are headed up to Seattle, and we hope to come back without Arnold (Matt's tumor's nickname... long story). We like to think of it as a "vacation". (Okay, so I like to think of it more as a vacation than Matt does.) We appreciate all of your prayers! I'm not sure that I will be blogging much, if at all, but I have set up a caring bridge website so that we can keep people updated quickly and efficiently. You're welcome to check it out at www.caringbridge.org/visit/mattolson or head to the caring bridge website and type in mattolson (all one word).

We're hoping to be back before July (mostly because Stayton is THE place to celebrate the 4th of July... =), but it will all be in God's timing, NOT ours!

Thank you for your prayers! God is good!

Family Dinner...

The Lambert Family has started a new tradition.

And for those that know us well, you know we absolutely LOVE tradition!

Our new tradition congregated around one of the coolest picnic tables in the world this week. Okay, so it might just be THE coolest picnic table in the world...

Yes, folks, it's an octagon (and it seats 16).

And yes, it was handcrafted by my brother-himself.

It is my sister-in-law's new birthday present and he made it in about 2 days flat. Let's just say that when he gets an idea it rarely leaves him until the idea is completed. I think it's definitely a good quality (although some could argue that it could be annoying).

Anyway, back to the tradition. Every Sunday afternoon we are coming together to have a "family dinner".

This week we enjoyed the sun (finally) and some A-mazing homemade ceviche!

We were hoping the Mexican neighbors would be out blasting their salsa music, but we didn't luck out.

We finished off our meal with some key lime cake (mmmm).

As well as some melted ice cream...

Some of you may have noticed Madi's cousin in the background and assumed that she is probably just copying what she sees.

Oh, you're wrong! She definitely started the plate licking, and her older cousin definitely copied her!

Matt and I pray regularly that her strong personality is used to glorify God and that someday Madi will proudly stand up for her faith...

because this little girl has got a mind of her own!

And her older cousin is quite the follower (adorable, nonetheless!)

For right now, I think she's got them both right where she wants them.

With, or without her clothes on!

=)

Just Another Day...

Rest in Me, My child. Give your mind a break from planning and trying to anticipate what will happen. Pray continually, asking My Spirit to take charge of the details of this day. Remember that you are on a journey with Me. When you try to peer into the future and plan for every possibility, you ignore your constant Companion who sustains you moment by moment. As you gaze anxiously into the distance, you don't even feel the strong grip of My hand holding yours. How foolish you are, My Child!

Remembrance of Me is a daily discipline. Never lose sight of My Presence with you. This will keep you resting in Me all day, every day.

Today was our last day of school. Matt's last day of work (he got laid off for those who don't know... thank you budget cuts). It's always a bittersweet time, but when we have NO idea what our plan is for the fall it feels a little more "bitter" than "sweet". This was our daily devotional that Matt read to me before bed tonight. They always seem to be so appropriate, especially during this time in our lives! Thanks for all your prayers! I'll leave you with a sweet picture of our baby girl - this is how she feels about life! =)

I wait quietly before God, for my hope is in Him!

Psalms 62:5

Always be joyful. Keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

I Thessolonians 5:16-18

Pink Toes...

I'm finding it sort of hard to want to blog about anything, so I dug through our pictures that we've taken recently and couldn't resist sharing these!

Madelyn had her toes painted for the first time... and her response was priceless.

Why is Daddy blowing on my feet?

Her cousin Seven was here, so he helped her blow on them so that they would dry fast! As you can see from the pictures, Madi's favorite thing to do was hold the finger nail polish. I think she was more excited about carting the little bottle around for the next hour than she was about her cute little toes!

Now Seven's doing it to?!?!

... and of course she had to check out the finished product! She has been so cute in her little sandals and every time we ask her where her toes are she stops and stares down at her feet! =) ... just one of her many new tricks! She's so much fun!!!

One Fun Summer...

As most of you know, it hasn't exactly been sunny here in the Willamette Valley, regardless of the fact that it is now June. So the moments that it's not raining, we have been trying to take FULL advantage of...

I watched the boys for a few hours on Tuesday and this is how we started off our morning.

Aunties can do that if they want to...

I learned later that the boys don't usually get to have the whipped topping and sprinkles on their "cold chocolate milk", which made it an even BETTER treat! =)

It's a good thing I made the boys wait until we got to the park to drink their treats because I'm pretty sure they had them down in under twenty seconds.

Michael was on the slide before I could catch this face!

One of the highlights was definitely climbing up the red slide. Madi started it, of course, and then the boys had to join in as well!

One thing is for sure... this girl plans on having ONE FUN SUMMER!!!

She LOVED being at the park, and she pretty much just ran around like she owned it.

I was with Michael for like two seconds and I turned around and she was half-way up here...

Yes, that would be the top of the BIG slides!

Who needs Mommy to have fun at the park?!?

My favorite 4 year old (who sometimes tries to tell you he's 5...don't believe him, at least not until after July 8th)

And of course, the best attempt at a group shot!

Now if only the sun would come out for REAL!!!