Mullin Brothers Exterminator Services

 
For a small fee, a cookie and a hug (in that order), the Mullin brothers, Thomas and Zachary, will eradicate your yard of any and all ginormous snakes. The trick you see is the angry eyebrows on the bear, it scares the snakes away. To keep the snakes away forever, (for the added fee of another cookie), Thomas Mullin will add the super-duper sharp claws to the bear.

Gardening

 
I've decided to try growing a garden....again. The first garden that I planted consisted of three tomato plants, the grand total of our crop was FIVE tomatoes. About three years ago I planted two tomato plants and one cucumber plant, the crop this time was THREE tomatoes and one rotten cucumber. This year I concluded that the first garden failed because of our poor soil, the second garden because the pots were too small, and because I just don't have a green thumb! So I'm trying again. The garden this year consists of one cherry tomato plant, one heirloom tomato plant, a sweet red pepper plant, and a strawberry plant. If we get more than five tomatoes then the garden will be a success!

Cousins!

 

The Fam

While we were in Newberg for Jory's (brother-in-law) graduation, we gathered at The Yamhill Grill for a celebratory lunch in honor of Jory. The combined total of the Evans and Smith clan was 28 people, 14 adults and 14 children ranging in age from 9 years old to 6 months. Needless to say, the restaurant survived our "invasion", nothing was broken and I don't even remember anything being spilled! :)
From L-R
Dr. Jory holding Caden (3 yrs. old) Leanna holding Hailey (15 months old) Mom, Dad holding Riley (6 months old), Emily, Dan, Myself (holding Kelsey 16 months old) Jerry. The front row boys, Zachary (3 years old) Thomas (6 years old) & Xander (almost 6 years old).

The Baker

For Mother's Day Thomas' Kindergarten class put together a recipe book of their favorite food that they make with their Mom. It is hysterical since the recipes were written down in the kids own words. Here is Thomas'
Pumpkin Pie by Thomas
She makes the pie crust dough. she puts in flour, eggs - that's everything she puts in. Then she makes the pie part. 2 eggs- did we put in the vanilla? It has sugar- all dessert has sugar. She buys the pumpkin at the store. Some of it costs 10 cents and some is $5. We have a large metal bowl and she mixes it up. Then it goes into the oven and she cooks it for 10 minutes at 10. Then she takes it out and then she puts the - well my Grandma has whipped cream- we don't. We wait for her to come- we borrow things from my Grandma. I like chocolate syrup on my pie.

Us Girls

My sisters and I, each of us holding our baby girl. From L-R, Leanna & Hailey (15 months) Emily & Riley (6 months) myself and Kelsey (16 months). Such fun!

Happy Birthday Leanna!!!

I'm so glad that my sister Leanna was able to spend an extra week with us after graduation, AND since her birthday is on May 4th, we were able to celebrate that with her too :) There is of course a story behind the wheat-thins on Leanna's plate and the apple juice in her glass. When we were kids our Mom let us pick whatever we wanted for our birthday dinner. One year when Leanna was turning 12? and going through a weird health food faze, she picked wheat-thins and apple juice. Luckily, my Mom took pity on the rest of us and added pizza to the menu. So, being the kind and loving family that we are, we haven't let her forget her menu choice and have wheat-thins and apple juice (along with real food) for her birthday.

Fun Times

The kids loved staying at the hotel while we were in Newberg, OR. for Jory's (brother-in-law) graduation. The hotel had all sorts of neat kid things, an ice dispenser, pool, hot tub, juice dispenser, cartoons, AND they could jump on the bed! What more could a kid want? Kelsey wasn't too sure about the pool, really though I can't blame her, the water was a bit cool, and I had left her swim suit at home so she had to just wear her swim diaper. No wonder she had a grumpy face :)

Dr. Jory Smith

Congratulations Jory! We are all terribly proud of Jory, (my sister Leanna's husband) who graduated this past weekend from George Fox University with his doctorate in psychology. Our guess is that when Jory married into our family he concluded, "these people are crazy!" and that is what spured him on to go back to school. Hey, we do what we can :)