July

Nick wasn't feeling well so I took the kids to church. After service I took the kids to check out their classes. They were both nervous about going so Ash skipped her class and hung out with me while I watched Preston in his class. We only stayed a few minutes because we had a birthday party to go to, but Preston seemed to like it and Ash said she would try out her class the next time we went. 

Ashleigh and I got an invitation to Jenna's babyshower! Jenna's sister, Aubrey is married to Nick's cousin Michael, so we are sort of related. :-) Aubrey and Michael have a son, Landon, who is 2 and they are expecting baby #2, a girl, in August. Jenna is married to Brett and they are pregnant with baby #1, also a girl, and also due in August. It's fun trying to explain to Ashleigh that Landon and Aubrey's next baby are her cousins (2nd cousins), but that she will NOT be technically related to Jenna's baby at all. Haha. 

Left - Aubrey - due the beginning of Aug. Right - Jenna - due the end of August

The 4 girls in this picture, plus another lady at the baby shower are all 5 expecting girls, and all 5 are due in August! woah. 

Handmade by one of the guests - S.V. for Sharlotte Victoria (I hope I spelled that right)

My little girl and I

After the shower we went next door to visit for a bit longer. 

Brett, Jenna, and Aubrey's son Landon

We love these 2 couples so much!!! I can't wait to meet their daughters.

Aubrey and Michael

 It's a rare thing to see, but Preston is actually napping! 

 He woke up when Nick got home from work and excitedly showed him his new school book that he'll be doing along with www.abcmouse.com this fall. 

Ashleigh finished her art classes and has been doing her own art at home for us. These are a couple of her pictures.

 The kids and I went to Korbin's 3rd birthday party (Korbin is my friend Vanessa's son). It was a carnival theme that Vanessa put on at a beautiful playground/park in Ridgefield. Its was so fun and the kids loved it!! It was great to see Vanessa's dad again (it's been 5 years since we saw him last) and it was great to meet Elizabeth's new husband (V's mom), Jim. He's such a nice guy. It was a great party!

When we got home, Nick was working on waxing his car. He let the kids help and then Preston decided to wash his bicycle too. It was so cute!!  Like father like son!  

 We found out we have a plum tree and 2 apple trees in our yard. Who knew!?!

But when Nick went out to check out the fruit, he got attacked by something...a really big and hungry mosquito? It got him 5 times! Boy was he itchy! poor guy. 

About a week later we all went out and picked a bunch of plums and for the first time ever, I made Jam. I don't actually like Jam, or Jelly, so I'm hoping that Nick and Ash eat it all. Lol. It was easier than I thought it would be, but time consuming. Ash helped me a lot. She was my little Sous chef! :-)

Nick's been playing on his work's softball team. It's so fun to watch them play and the kids, especially, love being outside running around. The last 2 games of the season I was the "team mom" and made all the players, and a few of the spectators, cookies. It was a great season and I can't wait for next year! 

Bridget came with Ashleigh to Nick's last softball game and the girls brought their guitars to play. I taught them how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I love these girls and I love their relationship!

It's been nearly 2 years so I decided it was time to take the kids (and me) to the dentist for a cleaning. Ashleigh did great, as usual, but her teeth didn't look great so she had to go back the next week for a filling.

This was Preston's first visit to the dentist. He loved getting pictures taken of his teeth and he was a perfect patient. He kept his mouth open really wide and was extremely obedient and good. He has a few cavity spots too, but the teeth they are on will most likely fall out with in the next 6-8 months (baby teeth) so the dentist didn't feel it was necessary to fix them with fillings.

Both kids got lectured on proper oral health and they were instructed to brush 2x/day and to floss 1x/day and to use Act mouthwash before bed. We've been really diligent since this appointment to make sure the kids are doing things the way they are supposed to.

There's this huge tree at the Red Playground that the kids like to go to. While Ash was playing at Bridgets house I took Preston to the playground. All he wanted to do was sit in this tree and then pretend that he was sleeping in it. 

Later that day he was sitting on the table and I told him to get off...he slid down and hurt his back on the table. Poor kid. It was all better about an hour later, but it sure hurt him at first. 

I tried to prepare Ashleigh for what getting a cavity filling is like, but I just made her really nervous!!! Thankfully the dentist and dental assistant were really comforting and empathetic and they walked her through every single step of what they were going to do. Ashleigh did great! She said it was really easy and it didn't hurt at all! I was so proud of her!

After, I took the kids to get a Jamba Juice. This is my parents old store and we haven't been here in over 6 years! It felt and smelled exactly the same and I was flooded with thousands of old memories. I was surprised, but Preston LOVED his Jamba. I sure wish we could still get free ones like we used to, but spending $4 for a small Jamba just isn't worth it! I'll make them at home from now on.

 My little sous chef was helping me make dinner one night (Cobb Salads). She was making the bacon. The griddle started to slip and she grabbed it. OUCH! She burned 3 of her fingers, but her middle finger was the worst. Poor girl, it took over 2 weeks for it to heal completely.

Ashleigh and I love doing each other's hair. Here's one of the styles I did. It was really cute!! 

My honey and me. :-) 

June

The kids and I stumbled upon this beach in June. It's on the Oregon side near the airport. It's sandy and beautiful and my favorite part is that the airplanes fly right over head. It's my little piece of heaven! Our first time there was so entertaining - these people were wearing these Rainier Beer Bottle costumes and they would wander all around the beach. They looked like Chickens wandering around and then all of the sudden they would freeze, huddle together, and hold perfectly still. It was hilarious!!

 We found a perfect spot on the beach with no one around us. The kids played and played. They loved it!!!  We ended up going back 3 more times that week and another 3 times the following week.

 I took the kids to the "red playground" near Clark College. The last time Ash was at this park was when she was about 2 years old. Preston had never been there. They loved it. It's really big and has a lot of different things to play on.

We've started going to a new church and Ash drew this while we were in service. She's so cute!

After church we went bowling. We signed up for free kids bowling during the summer which is great because we only have to pay for the shoe rentals. We've been a few times so far this summer, but we definitely need to go more! 

 At the end of June my friend Jaime and I took our kids to the ocean! She had never been to Tillamook so we headed there first, then up to Seaside for the day to go clamming and crabbing. We had planned on going to Astoria too, but we ended up just driving through it because it was so late and the kids were already asleep in the cars. We didn't get home until around 1am. It was such a fun fun fun day!!! The weather was perfect, the ocean water was actually warm! We got 1 crab that we had to throw back because it was a female, and we got 1 good clam, 1 big clam that broke when we dug it up, and 1 baby clam. Jaime was determined to get her 15 clam limit, but we couldn't find anymore so we gave up.