Ready for Winter?

I hope you are all ready, because it is coming!!! I think we are skipping fall this year and heading straight to winter! My kids are sure ready! They are already donning their great winter hats. Connor calls his hat, the "sock hat" and Clara calls her hat, "the hat that is like Connor's". Hilarious! I am busy busy busy getting ready for my sister's baby shower this weekend. (Thank you Amy C. for the game sheets!!! I don't think I thanked you!!!) It should be fun!!! I am making some yummy cupcakes, which I will post the recipes here later... pear cupcakes and orange cupcakes. Holy Freaking Delicious!!!! Well, have a Happy Fall/Winter!!!!!! :)

Ferris Wheel Fun!

Summer, don't end please

I love summer. I love the heat. I love pools and sprinklers. I love vacations. I love my garden because I love homegrown veggies.I love flip flops and shorts. I love tanned skin. I love Popsicles. I love sun shine and green hills. Here are a couple of fun moments from the last few days...

The kids LOVE going into the garden and picking the veggies! Clara has a new love for tomatoes! That's my girl!

Our neighbors went to Disneyworld and brought back some fun things for the kids! It is so sweet that they thought of them!

We made dirt cups (chocolate pudding, oreos, and gummy worms)! Here is the aftermath. Ew.

My Future Photographer again

Connor "found" his camera again. It has been fun! Everything is a photo opp for that kid. Even the tv.

I think this is the only picture I have of the two of them that they are posing nicely for. Only because it is Connor's camera. Sigh...

Self shot! He is totally my son!

Mommy and her bra sticking out. Hot.
Mommy and Clara

She was ticked because she didn't want her picture taken. She wanted to TAKE the picture!

His idea. So cute.

Daddy's weird.

Again, Connor's idea. Love it.

Summer of Fun!

We have been sooo busy, there has been NO time for blogging! Here are a few pics to let you all know I am still alive!

Here are a couple of pics from my 10 year high school reunion. There were SO many I couldn't post them all! What a lot of fun!!!
Me and one of my besties since grade school, Shawna

me and 2 of my besties in high school, Mellisa and Cristy
When did Clara grow up?

Fun at the water park!

(Taken with my cell phone.) We went to a princess party photo shoot! I can WAIT to see the pictures! www.mkcphoto.com

Hopefully these can tide you all (3 of you) over until I get back into blogging!

What? I blog? Since when?

Who has time to blog anymore? Apparently not me. The beginning of June we went to Lincoln City, Oregon for a week with our friends and their kiddos. We had a great time!! We went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory (mmmm ice cream), played in the ocean (kind of... it was really cold!), played in the sand, flew kites, went to the Oregon Aquarium, went to a lighthouse, saw tons of seals, went in the hot tub (that overlooked the ocean, ahhhhh), and ate a ton of great food! We had a blast! The kids were in heaven! There was NOBODY on the beach were we stayed. We had it almost to ourselves! It was awesome! The beach house was wonderful! It had HUGE windows in the living and dining rooms overlooking the ocean, nice deck to sit on and watch the waves, and a nice area upstairs for the kids to play and watch movies at night. It was perfect! The outlet mall was so much fun! Mellisa and I hit that without husbands or kids and enjoyed ourselves immensely! :) The boys got to go golfing twice and I think they had fun too! It is definitely a trip that will have to be duplicated in the future! Nothing beats good friends and good fun!!

Amazing sunset from the deck
the girls "playing" Monopoly

Austin "riding a bike" in Newport

Yaquina Lighthouse

at yaquina bay

Clara and Denver

Me and Mellisa

view from our deck

the 5 kids at Multnomah Falls

even though it was FREEZING Connor still wanted to get in the water

My babies

Ok- yea my scanner apparently sucks, and I had to do it in black and white because when I was trying to scan it- it came out really yellow (Weird) but this is such a stinking cute picture I had to share it. Yeah free 8x10s at Picture People!

Breaking News....

I have discovered who Batman is- I caught him running through my backyard! Keep it on the downlow and don't blow his cover! Hee hee.... He must be HOT because it is 94º out there! Yikes! Well, I guess Batman IS pretty strong....

In Memory of.....

Grandpa,

It is so strange not having you around. You were loved by everyone who met you and will be missed by so many people! I feel like a little piece of me has died along with you. I already miss you so much!

I love you Boompa,

Beth

Barney Bynum 3/25/1922 -5/22/2009

Busy!

BEFORE

AFTER

We have been super busy working in the yard now that it is nice out! We have put in some retaining wall block and leveled out some of the dirt and plated a veggie garden! I am sooo excited for this! Growing up my parents have always had a HUGE garden! And this will be my first! Sure I have always had a tomato plant or two in a pot, but this year I planted SIX tomato plants, corn, green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, bell peppers, chilies, and my friend is giving me a watermelon plant today!!!! And this should also help us save tons of money, since veggies (for some reason) are so dang expensive! We still have some work on the hill above the garden- but I think it will mostly wait until next year! Oh well, a little at a time!

Clara wanted to help Daddy

The kids running throught the sprinklers. Connor had his shirt off-so Clara wanted hers off too! Hee hee!!

A much needed Girls Night last week!

Mommies

Happy Mother's Day!!! I hope you all have a spectacular day!!!! Muah!

Star Wars (retold by someone who hasn't seen it)

Clara's Birthday Extravagaza!

Clara turned 2 on Friday!! We had such a busy busy busy last few days. On Wednesday~ Katie, Jessica, and their kiddos came over to celebrate Clara and Eli's birthdays. Eli (Katie's youngest) turned 2 on the 22nd. And Clara's birthday was the 24th! Two 2 year olds two days apart!

Hee hee...

We were going to go to Mc Donald's and do that whole deal- but we thought it would be so much nicer if they just came over here and we did the whole chicken nugget and fry thing here! It was nice! We didn't have to worry about them at all! Just stick them in the playroom and have mommy time too!! The kids loved it! And so did the mommies!

blowing out candles!

Yoke's did such a great job- half was boy stuff and half was girl stuff!!!

Zoe reading Clara's new books from Eli and Aiden

Connor and Clara enjoying a tea party w/ tea set from Zoe and Hannah

Friday was crazy. I had to clean my house for the family party on Saturday. My parents and sister were staying at our house that night, so I needed to wash sheets, go grocery shopping, clean the upstairs bathroom, all that good stuff. I did take time out and play with the kids a bit. Finally, I set them in front of the tv so they could watch a movie while I went upstairs to remake the beds. Connor comes running upstairs (not even 5 minutes later) yelling, "MOM! This is serious! Clara is drinking the brown milk!" brown milk? What?!? So bolt downstairs to find Clara got into my pantry (not sure how...) and got a JUG (no little bottle, a JUG!) of BBQ sauce. And somehow got the brand new top off (the seal is similar to a milk jug seal). And dumped it on my couch, and my rug. And it went under the couch. Everywhere. Clara was covered. I panicked!! My family was about an hour away, nothing was done, and now I had a HUGE mess to clean up. I started crying (naturally) and called Jessica. Thank goodness her hubby was home because she was able to come and help me. I owe her BIG TIME! I was freaking out! She (silly girl) said, "Hey! Did you take pictures for your blog?" I replied, "no, I just want this cleaned up now!" She scooped up the sauce that was in the rug with a spatula and dust pan (It worked!) and I took the cushions outside and sprayed them with a hose (it worked too!!). I was afraid to rub the BBQ sauce off, for fear of rubbing it INTO the cushion! We got the mess cleaned up while Clara watched from time-out. Thank the Lord for great friends!!!! Thanks Jess!

Then on Saturday, we had ANOTHER party for Clara, which was for the family! We had an AWESOME time! Although, I am partied out for a while!!!! And since this website is pissing me off, I am going to need to post Saturday's pictures at another time. Grrrrr......

Yesterday we had a nice family day. We all got to sleep in (EVERYONE!!) and then we slowly got up and ate french toast (mmmm). We got dressed and went for a walk and went up to the park and played for a while. Then we walked home, and the weather was perfect. Austin and I sucked helium out of one of the balloons and talked all funny for the kids. They thought that was HILARIOUS!! Then Connor "tried" it too!Well, he sucked on a part of the balloon that didn't have a hole and pretend to talk funny. He didn't get it. It was great! We also played catch in the backyard, went to the store and made yummy decked out turkey subs, and right before bed time- the 4 of jammed into mommy and daddy's bed and watched Elmo "Being Green" and learned all about the saving the earth! After the kids went to bed Austin and I played Phase 10 and drank wine. It was a nice relaxing end to the weekend craziness!!!!!

Yard Sale!

The yard sale is over! We are soooo relieved! It was a lot of work, but we did it! And we made $1300 in the process! I am super excited about that! We just got a LOT closer to our goal of $4600!! We are talking about doing another fundraiser that I am really excited about and we are pretty sure most of our friends will want a piece of this one!!! But- I am not saying anything just yet... not until we can get details figured out...

Jess and I were both soooooo exhausted after last weekend (I know I still feel like I need to catch up on some sleep!) but the hard work paid off! Thanks for all of your support everyone!

Happy Easter tomorrow!!!!

P.S. Yeah- it is a crappy scanner... and that bunny kinda freaks me out...

My baby is getting bigger...

Clara turns 2 in 2 weeks!

Last week we bought Clara some Pull-Ups (for when we leave home) and big girl panties (for when we are home!) She loves them. And she loves sitting on the potty. She pretends that she is going, and then says, "All done! Paper please!" And then puts the paper in the toilet (doesn't wipe yet...) flushes the toilet and washes her hands. Then she has to go tell daddy, or Connor that she went potty on the "toe-let". She doesn't actually go for me yet, but at least she has the motions down.

Then the daycare tells me she is starting her transition into the "2's room" and is doing awesome! They even informed me that she goes potty for them! WHAT!?! She won't go for me! Oh well, at least I know she can do it! Her new teacher commented on how large her vocabulary was for her age. Then I thought about it and when Connor was in that class (he was 2 1/2 when he started there) he would barely talk. Clara won't stop talking! I think it is because she is a girl.

So THEN last night... we were in Clara's big girl bed reading (which we have been doing, but she was still sleeping in the crib) and Connor comes in and gets on the bed, crawls in, and pretends to go "night night." So Clara wants to copy her big brother and does the same thing. So she is laying in the big girl bed and has her thumb in her mouth. I quickly shoo Connor out, give her a kiss, and shut the door. And.....she falls right asleep. No problems, no noises, AT ALL! AND when she woke up this morning she stayed in bed until I came and got her!!!! i was expecting her to be pounding on her door at 5:30 this morning! WOW! I am soo proud of her! When I just put her down I asked her which bed she wanted to sleep in. And she chose her big girl bed!!! I was ready for a fight.

I am so proud of her. It seems like she is growing up so much in the last week!!!! It makes me happy to think of the prospect of no more diapers EVER! But then I am sad thinking, no more diapers, ever? Both of my babies are grown? (Well, into a toddler and 5 year old). No more babies? I have such mixed feelings about this! Yes, I am happy that she has reached several milestones this week. And yes, we know- for a fact- that we don't want any more kids (he had a vasectomy after Clara was born.) But I still am sad that I won't have any more babies. Talk about mixed emotions! Geez. Why can't my kids just stay little?

Me and Connor

Connor "all grown up"

Me and Clara

Clara "all grown up"