Edwin James Baertlein

Sunday, April 9, 2017 we drove down to Portland to witness the blessing of Edwin.  

It was a lovely spring morning and the drive was peaceful.

We arrived in Portland an hour before Max and Rebecca's church started.  We got off the freeway and realized we missed the exit.  Right then Max was driving home for early morning church meetings and saw us on the side of the road.  So we followed him back to his home.  

Edwin in his blessing outfit.  

This is what happens when you have girl cousins.  LOL  Grace's flower headband on Edwin.  

Arriving to Church on time and seeing the family sitting together in the sacrament meeting made my heart happy.  Uncle Austin and Uncle Daniel where missed.  

After the opening song and prayer,  Uncle Max took Edwin to the front of the chapel and gave him a name and a blessing.  Grandpa Roemhildt, Grandpa Don, Uncle James, Max and a few of Max's close friends all participated.  

Everett was having a hard time sitting still since he had been in his carseat all morning.  I took him out of the chapel before they blessed Edwin so that he wasn't disrupting the blessing.  

Everett and I wonder outside the church building admiring the springtime blossoms, long grass yard and the sound of lovely song birds singing praising unto their creator.  

After Edwin's blessing was over, James came outside to stay with Everett while I participated in the sacrament.  I love how James is so selfless and caring.  He shows me his love everyday by kindly serving me and our family.  

After Sacrament meeting was over, Everett went to Nursery with Miles and Gwenevere went to Primary with Charles.  Grace decided she didn't want to go to Primary so James took her outside to play while I attended Sunday school.  

After Church The Baertlein Family took pictures and then we all went back to their home for dinner and visiting.  

Gwenevere my model

Edwin and family.    

Playing with Cousins

not the best picture.  But seeing these three men in the kitchen getting things ready for dinner just shows you how great they really are.  

Edwin was the favorite.  Everyone wanted to be with him.  

Yummy Dinner.  

To: Miles  Happy Birthday

 We also celebrated Miles 3rd birthday.  

James' namesake 

Playing with Grandpa Roemhildt aka Dumpa

Did I mention Edwin was the favorite.  

I'm so glad these three have each other.  

Girl Scout Day Camp

Gwenevere and Grace's first time attending Girl Scout Day Camp.  

Thank you to all those who bought GS cookies.

There was fair house making, insect searching, s'mores, hiking, and paper flower folding

The TROOP

Ready for a fun filled day.

Reagan and Gwenevere's fairy house

Grace's fairy house

Grace's paper flower craft

While searching for insects Gwenevere spotted this long toed salamander.  Their camp leader was so surprised.  This is a rare animal and hasn't been seen at the camp for the last three years.  Leave it to Gwenevere to spot a rare animal.  

s'mores making

Gwenevere hiking

Saturday with my boys

We had planned to trip to Oregon coast for this weekend but as the time got closer both James and I didn't feel right about going.  We where bummed to have missed out on Cousin Miles' birthday celebration but knew we'd see him on Sunday for Edwin's blessing.  

So instead...

Saturday morning James drove up to Seattle to shop at a large shoe sample sale that happens once a year.  

The girls had a Girls Scout day camp that they hadn't planned on going to but since we where staying home I took them to camp and they had a blast.

James was back home from the shoe sale with 2 new pairs of hiking boots by 10 am.  He brought back donuts and Everett, James and I enjoyed a relaxing morning of board games and donuts.  

Hoot owl hoot.  We lost.  

ticket to ride JR.  

 After some fun games James and Everett took a nap while I vacuumed out the cars.  And then it was time for our date.  YIPPEE.

I had heard of a Japanese Anime movie on NPR called Your Name.  Since we've recently became an anime movie watching family I thought this would be a fun date.

we arrived an hour early to get our tickets and then we walked over to the guitar store to try out some base guitars.  

then it was movie time.

When the movie was over we picked up the girls from our friends house.  We shared stories about our day and then went to be early to prepare for our next adventure.

Cats and Robbers

Everett:  "Who wants to play Cats and Robbers?"

Mama:  "How do you play?"

Everett:  "Some people be robbers and some people be cats,  if the robbers gets close to the cat the Cat scratched the Robbers bum."

hahahhaha I think I'll pass.  But it doesn't get any better than cats and robbers.

Last week in March and Conference weekend

Monday was our last day of boy school.  I was planning on teaching through May but after the new year Everett started acting out more.  I figured it was just a stage and we tried to push through it.  But I kept feeling a prompting to slow down.  With lots of prayers and promptings I'm starting to get the courage to slow down.  We took Everett out of Sunbeams and announced ending boy school early.  The changes have help a LOT.  But it was a bittersweet moment watching boy school come to an end early.  

Play store

  I have to give a shout out to Gwenevere. She has been the BEST assistant for boy school. She's been a great peer role model helping kids share and take turns. also modeling proper wording for requesting and sharing toys.

Gwenevere the great mentor

When one door closes another door opens.  With the ending boy school early I'll have more time to dedicate to Gwen and Ben days.  Monday was our last day learning about plants.  It's fun to watch these two learn and grow.  They encourage each other and keep each other motivated to learn.

 A few months ago I signed James up for a Daddy Daughter dance to help support the local elementary.  James raced home from work to take his girls out for a spin around the dance floor.  

Grace got a new skirt for the dance

gwenevere wanted her hair in braids for the dance

pretty girl

Everett wanted to go too

While the girls where off dancing Everett and I played angry birds and went to Jack in the Box for dinner.  It was a win win kind of night.  


It's not very warm yet, but that hasn't stopped my kids from playing outside barefoot.  I'm so grateful we live in an awesome neighborhood with lots of fun neighbors to play with.

Friday was sunny!  James and I worked in the garden and watched the kids play outside all day.  It was perfect.

While playing on Friday I noticed Grace was missing I found her alone at the end of our back yard sitting in the grass feeding her bunny.  The day had several sweet moments like this one.

Everett loved slowly chasing the chickens around the yard.  He didn't want to scare them just chase them.  

wagon rides to spread rabbit dropping over the garden

Oh how I love this man

 Saturday we listened to general conference, cleaned the inside of the house and had a family date night to REI.

Sunday we watched the morning session of general conference and then went to our neighbors house to watch the afternoon session and eat lunch.  It was wonderful.

We then came home and planned on going for a family bike ride but the kids where having so much fun playing together we just let them play.  James accomplished some work he'd been wanting to finished and I made dinner and took pictures.

Our black sexlink baby chicks are getting bigger.  I love Gwenevere's freckles 

this girl and her animals.