there's a squirrel on the patio

Kind of hard to see him in the bottom picture...but there was a squirrel on our back patio and there was no one around to see him, so I took a couple pictures of him. so cute...wish I had had some nuts or seeds for him.

Gymnastics

About a month ago I signed up for Groupon.com. It's a cool site that sends you daily deals targeted to where you live and what your likes/dislikes are, etc. A couple days in to it, I got a deal for gymnastics--6 weeks for $29 at VEGA (Vancouver Elite Gymnastics Academy). My friend, Amanda (Stevens) Hadley is a coach there and I was really excited when I figured out that she would be coaching Ashleigh. (oh ya, the groupon was for Ashleigh, not me! lol.) Ash was SO excited to get back in to gymnastics again! She goes every Tuesday for 1 hr.

Last Saturday they had a "Parade of Planets" event. The classes are called--Earth, Mars, Sun, Jupiter, etc... All the kids in these classes came to this event. They did a warm up and then the kids could take their parents around and demonstrate the elements that they have been working on. It was really cute to see her show off, even tho I see her do these things every week, it was nice to be on the floor with her and give her my undivided attention and praise. After, all the kids got a little certificate and ribbon. Ashleigh was so proud of herself and so was I.

(Ash is in the red/white leotard with her back to us. )

Ashleigh--age 8 (2011)

Man, how she's changed! :-)

Ashleigh--age 4 1/2 (2007)

Memorial day

It was SO nice to have a 3 day weekend with Nick. I love that he actually gets holidays off again! Saturday was spent getting our house completely cleaned inside and out. Then that night we had the Hadley family over for dinner. I made a pasta dish and Amanda brought a salad and we had ice cream for dessert. We had a great time visiting and letting the kids play. They all got along really well, which was nice! It was a fun and relaxing evening.

Sunday was a lazy day for us. Movies and playing with the kids. Then we went on a family bike ride to the park and played with the kids on the play ground.

On Monday we headed out to the cemeteries to put flowers on the graves. We went to Christian's first, then to my Great Grandparents Webb, and finally to my Great Grandparents Eraut. We also drove past my Great Gma Eraut's old house. I loved that house...it has so much charm and is a perfect Portland house. There was a lady on the porch so I had to sneak the picture...that's why it's crooked. The kids were both really good at each stop and they helped a ton with cleaning off the headstones and putting out the flowers on each one.

Christian's
Before we cleaned it

After

Webb Great Grandparents
-Before-

After

Eraut Great Grandparents
-Before-
(theirs was already pretty clean)

After

Great Gma Eraut's old house

A few things...

The problems with not posting in a while...I forget what I've posted about already.

At the risk of repeating myself, here is some pictures that I may or may not have already shown you.

We decided to have Nick cut Preston's hair at home. Preston prefers it buzzed and so do we.

Before

During

After. :-) so cute!

Thanks to Groupon.com, we signed Ash up for 6 weeks of Gymnastics at VEGA (Vancouver Elite Gymnastics Academy) for only $29! :-) She LOVES it and I love being able to watch her. And, my old friend, Amanda, is her coach which is great too!

I'd been promising Preston since we moved here that we would take a ride on Max. Last Sunday with Nick home we all went on Max. We rode from Jantzen beach area down to Pioneer Courthouse Square. We got out and walked around a bit. There's always something happening in Portland. First we saw a couple of people with "Amazing Race" cards and a few minutes later we saw some people running up to them. It looked like it could be an audition for the show or something. I went up and asked them what was going on. They actually did a fund raiser at their kids' school and this was one of the prizes...so it was parents doing a mock game of The Amazing Race. It looked pretty cool.

Sitting on the fountain area at Pioneer Square

And of course, can't be in Portland long before seeing some Cops. lol....Why can't people just stay out of trouble! ;-)


That Same night when we got home, we got the kids to bed and then Nick and I started to watch some of our DVR'd shows. I glanced out our back door and saw a raccoon on our back patio. They are SO cute!! There ended up being 2 of them and we watched them for quite a while. They were eating the slugs in our yard...a lot of them...We haven't seen the Racoons since, thankfully.

Healthy dinners

I've been eating a lot healthier lately and here are a couple meals I've made.

This one is from Bob Harper (trainer on The Biggest Loser) It's roasted corn on the cob, then I cut the corn off the cob, diced up a tomato, added salt, pepper, onion powder and a bit of Olive Oil. I also added Balsamic vinegar (which I wouldn't add again). You're supposed to add fresh basil too, but I didn't have any. It was really good!


This one is a recipe I stole from a fellow blogger... On the left is just cut up Cauliflower. On the right is baked chicken, then topped with diced tomatoes and goat cheese. I cooked the chicken on the stove top in a little olive oil spray. then I topped it with the tomatoes and goat cheese and put it in the oven at 350 for 10 min..or until the chicken is completely cooked thru. It was SO yummy!!! This one also calls for fresh basil, but I didn't have any...still good. :-)
Do you have any healthy recipe's you want to share with me? :-)

To the Ocean we go

The last time we were at the ocean, Preston was a teeny baby and Ash was almost 4 years old. Now, Preston's almost 5 and Ash is 8 and neither of them remembered seeing the ocean so we took a family road trip last weekend. We went to Tillamook first then headed up to Seaside to play on the beach and go to the aquarium, etc. It was a fun day but VERY cold...looking forward to going back in another month or so when its a bit warmer there. (beware: graphic picture at the end....)

The kids in the back all ready to go

The only "good" picture of the scenery on the way

It was rainy and cold but that wasn't going to stop us!

I let the kids pretend to drive in the parking lot (car was turned off)

Waiting for our food at Tillamook. YUM!

Love the smiley fries and Ashleigh's smile matches

The factory

Enjoying our ice cream

Preston wanted to know how to milk a cow...

My cute boy! :-)

After we got our squeaky cheese and some fudge we took off up the coast to Seaside. Preston kept asking where the "beach" was and didn't agree with me that the ocean is where the beach is...that it could have more than 1 name for it. It was a funny convo... The rain mostly stopped when we got to Seaside, but we still got a little wet from the spray off the ocean.

Daddy and Preston...bundled up, but not enough...it was COLD!!!

At the Aquarium seeing the sea lions (video of the Sea Lions feeding time at the end)

This octopus is 70 years old now!

Ash holding a hermit crab. We loved the hands on parts where we could touch each sea animal

and finally...the "beach"! :-) yay!!!

Nick got more coats for the kids...Ash had a shirt, 2 sweaters, and Nick's hoodie on. Preston had a shirt, a sweatshirt and his coat. it was still cold!!!

Nick was on a mission to find Ash a full Sand Dollar. He rolled up his pants and waded in to the ocean to find the one's not eaten by seagulls.

We didn't realize until later that he forgot to bring an extra pair of shoes...dang...cold wet feet the rest of the day! lame!!! But, he found the whole sand dollar! :-) What a great dad!!!

the kids LOVED playing in the sand

someone dug this huge hole...thankfully there's a lot of sand around it so you see the hole easily and no one fell in...

Preston decided it looked like a toilet and he pee'd in it. Sorry for the graphic pic! What a cute little tush. lol...