Prechool, year two!

Brooklyn had her fist day of her second year of preschool! She loved every second and was so excited to be there. She of course picked her very own outfit (hey, I'm super pleased, it was color coordinated). Benny was all out of whack, he could tell something was up from the beginning. Fortunately he didn't really get the whole concept of being separated from the second love of his life since mama was still front and center :)

Sweet girl has the exact same class she had last year (which is the million dollar jackpot), truly, I cannot speak HIGHLY enough of the staff, kids and parents that make up her preschool. I feel truly blessed. To walk in and see all the familiar faces from last year (for she and I) just paved the way for an easy transition. I have come to adore all the kids and the mama's alike. I just can't wait to see what this year has in store.

And...today was her first day of ballet! She has been talking non-stop about this. She asks me constantly what the "ballet positions" are ie releve, pliet, etc, etc. Being that I was never a ballerina (I dabbled, but never practiced ;) I am excited for her to be able to tell ME here soon.

Here she is sporting her new leotard, tutu, tights and slippers from aunt Erin, and her new purse from Mimi (thank you both so much!)

Letter to my daughter

My precious daughter,

You are four. You are four years old this week, and my heart overflows with love for you a little more every second of every day.

I can't believe you have grown from being my 6.10 oz newborn to my big four year old.

You amaze me. The things you say, do, choose, don't choose, discover every day. You are a unique and incredibly special little lady.

You are no longer completely dependent on mom and dad, quite the contrary. These days you brush your own hair and teeth, you choose your own clothes (and I have come to love seeing your daily ensemble), you buckle yourself into your car seat, you can draw (like truly, you have SO much talent) pictures of ALL kinds of amazing things. I actually took some pictures of some art you had just been doodling and collecting a few weeks back. I am in awe of this gift you have.

You can clear your dishes from the table, you make your bed almost every day.

All of these things are big milestones, they represent your independence; and you love your independence.

You will tell us when you simply need some privacy or alone time. You will excuse yourself to your room and play quietly with all of your treasures (which you squirrel and hide away under your bookshelf and bed so your brother won't find them). I love that you can do that, but there are moments where I feel this pang of loss...gone are the days where you needed me ALL the time.

Thankfully you are still quite the snuggle bug. You often want "uppa" which is what you started saying when you first began talking. You adore having mom and dad all to yourself.

Your great loves and interests aside from drawing right now are ballet, gardening, your scooter, playing with Benny, reading and swimming. You had a blast swimming in grandpa's pool this summer! So fearless too.

My sweet girl...we love you more than life itself. My prayer is that your zest for life and passionate personality is always growing and that your compassion for others and love for the less fortunate continues to be how God uses you...always.

Always,
Mom & Dad

Ahhhh summer, how I love thee

I love summer. I love Fall even more, but I love what summer represents. The reset button, no agenda, schedule, school, just to wake up and decide what our next adventure should be.

Ok, so it's not quite as romantic as that. A lot of days this summer we've scrapped plans altogether due to "moodiness".

BUT, when we have decided to throw caution to the wind and just do what sounds fun, we've had a wonderful time and been pleasantly surprised how great the kids can do.

A few weekends back we decided to do a day trip out to hood river (for those who don't know where that is, it's about and hour and half east of Portland right along the columbia river). Amazing place.

We attempted a hike up the old scenic highway. It's the same place Matt and my half marathon was back in October. We made it a quarter mile and had to turn back. We did a lot of standing around looking at flowers and picking berries on that quarter mile stretch, so we will call it a success! Ben HATES (I mean really, truly, loathes) the backpack carrier or ergo. He would prefer I (and only I) carry him. always. everywhere.

After that we headed to lunch. In a panic frenzy to not share her lemonade with her brother, Brooklyn accidentally knocked Matt's beer all over herself. She was covered from head to toe. Thankfully I packed like three outfits for each kid, so after she got cleaned up and dried off we tried lunch again. Matt said he felt like we had stolen a little part of her innocence that day because a few days after while we were getting dressed to leave the house she announced "I can't wear that outfit because I'll smell like beer", after it was washed and put back in her drawer. Epic parental fail.

After lunch we window shopped for a bit and then headed down to the river to check it out. I am so glad I packed the kids swim gear and sand buckets becuase the water was just shallow enough that both could walk around safely. The were in hog heaven. We hung there the rest of the time until it was time to pack it up and head home. The weather was perfect, the kids were so filled with joy, it was so very...sweet.

We just got home this past Sunday from visiting our dear friends the Montgomery's in their new home town of Seattle. so.much.fun!

Friday night we went to dinner with Nick and Emily, just the four of us. What a treat! The weather was record high's for Seattle. So having dinner out on the deck of Ray's http://www.rays.com/ was beyond beautiful. We sat right on the water, truly had the best seat in the entire place, and enjoyed the entire meal while the sun set. Such an incredible treat.

 The next morning we let the kids play together. Nick and Em have an almost 11 month old (Jake) who is seriously the chillest little guy I've ever met. He just sat back and watched our two monkies go to town. It was pretty darn funny to watch them, these three totally different stages interact.

 Saturday we headed to the zoo (which was walking distance from their house!) Nick and Em stood back and watched us "manage the chaos" the whole time. All the while their faces a cross between awe, horror and holding back bursts of laughter. Major memories made. The joke at the end of the zoo was "ya, I think two kids is plenty...we may even stick with one" :)

Ben's favorite things were the big rocks to climb on, trees throughout the zoo to hide behind, drinking fountains and all the other NON zoo items throughout. So funny :)

Dudes with strollers

Had to post the before and after of thes
This one is when Brooklyn refused to smile becuase she wanted to be in the front of the picture (they were sitting on a lion statue)

front and center = totally ready to smile

 

The kids all went down reaaaaaaly early Saturday night so the boys went to see the new Batman movie and Em and I ordered sushi and just vegged on the couch. Perfect ending to a busy fun day!

Sunday morning we packed up and headed to Pike's Place, the famous fish market. Matt and I have very sweet memories in Seattle from when we were dating. Going to a mariners game, walking around Pike's place having lunch, just endless time (and money-- or so we thought) to do whatever we wanted. Pretty sweet to go visit again with our quiver as full as it is :)

playing with filters



What a great trip! Thanks for the awesome time Monty's!!! Love you guys.

 

napa comes to us

My one and only Aunt Claudia and Uncle Bill were in town last weekend. So good to see you guys! Wish it had been a longer visit and always wish there wasn't as much time in between our times seeing you...but we'll take what we can get!

Friday Claudia and I took the kids to Target for a little shopping spree for miss almost 4 year old Brooklyn. The two of them went and had a blast looking at shoes and clothes while I watched Ben tear target apart aisle by aisle. Sorry Target employees.

Then after getting spoiled rotten at Target we came home and my parents brought yummy BBQ over and we just enjoyed a great evening together at our house.

Playing cars with Uncle Bill

Ben felt inspired while watching the Olympics

Putting on a ballet show for all of us

Brooklyn and Mimi doing ring around the rosie

And this moment was perhaps the sweetest of the whole weekend. All the adults  playing "store" with the kids, as they handed each of them clods of dirt and grass (representing produce of course ;)



It was a great weekend! Thanks for coming you guys- we sure love you!

silly kids

We watched our friend the Oranens' kiddos for them (our Spokane friends) while they were in town for a wedding. We had them all afternoon on Saturday and it could not have gone better. Being that it was 95* out we did a lot of "creative play" inside. This made for some awesome pics. I don't bust my real camera out very often it seems anymore, but it was there and so was the utter adorableness. Here was our evening in pictures.

they did this totally on their own the first time, so I grabbed the camera and started snapping away!

Both their faces kill me

The gang watching "finding nemo". Brooklyn says to Wes "I don't remember the mom's name" Wes replies "that's ok, she'll be dead soon". Ha!!!

Look at those lips and eyes!

Carpet picnic dinner with noodles.

Girls trip (and one baby boy)

Kris and I took the kids to her Sunriver house a while back, I am just NOW getting around to posting about it. Ayayayi.

We had pizza, played at the park, the girls went out and scootered for hours. We even hit up the new sunriver pool (which was terrifyingly stressful). I have learned that the only thing that really worries me as a mother is water. It scares me to DEATH.

Kristin and I alternated going for runs around their beautiful neighborhood in the morning, and the rest of the time we just chilled.

On Friday we crashed at my friend Kelly's house in Bend. I cannot believe I didn't get a single picture of the kids with her son Canon (a little older than Ben). It was so nice to sit and visit, and to watch our children (all 3 very much prayed/longed for) interact and play together.

Looking forward to another trip over to central oregon in a few weeks! Lot's of road trips this summer.

Here is the trip in pictures. Are you shocked I took pics?!?!

Benny bear chasing after the girls

This face melts the deepest part of my heart

Pancakes on the couch with a movie first thing in the morning with friends...doesn't get much better

we were cracking up at this one, we look like a cozy little family

pool

no caption needed



early morning pavement pounding

Woke my tired body up at 5 am (if you know me well, you know this in itself was no easy feat) to hit the ground running. I am happy to report I ran the furthest I have EVER run...in my life. ever. It was not easy, and at times downright miserable, but it was amazing to hobble up to my front door and know it was DONE! 

I decided to run a very hilly loop. Being more of an optimist than a pessimist I thought "the hills will help me". Bwahahaha. That run was hard. I ran all the way down LO to hwy 43 then up McVey, down Southshore and over to Bridgeport village, back up the freeway to my home. So in all there were 5 pretty significant inclines.

I truly don't understand how on race day I'm going to talk my body (and knees more specifically) into running another TEN miles, but I am giving that to God. He knows this is important to me, and He can do it. I believe that. Also, I'm super-duper competitive with myself (and self admittedly a weird-o) so I can't turn back.

I stopped to walk at about mile 14 and 30 seconds into "walking" I heard that voice in my head screaming at me to suck it up and keep going. So I did. This is the point where all grace and stride was gone. I must have been a sight, trot-jog-shuffling up over I5 to get my a$$ home.

But again the point...I did!!!! And I'm feeling mighty accomplished today.

I also feel like I should treat myself to something special. Like a point system or something. You know, for every mile I run I get $5 to spend on new running/barre3 attire. Matt is rolling his eyes at this point, I'm sure of it.

Love you babe. So sad we couldn't run this one together, but you'll be back at it in no time. Thank you for greeting me with a big smile and praise. You are my inspiration.