Reese

Age: 2 years and some change (28 months to be exact)

Hair color: Blonde but starting to get some light brown coming through

Likes: Grapes, milk, getting out of bed, waking up early, making people laugh, screaming, coloring, painting, going out and about, frozen peas, and cuddling

Dislikes: Being told what to do, waking up from naps (she is sooooo grumpy), eating one bite at a time,  being told no, and sleeping in

Favorites: Frozen (the movie), Curious George, Tinkerbell

Other random facts about our youngest:

She prefers to read books at night as opposed to having them read to her. Also, bedtime is very playful with her, she doesn't get all sleepy when she climbs into bed. She gets this new energy and acts completely crazy and hyper and it is frustrating trying to get her to calm down. Then when it's time for me to go she grabs my face and smashes it down on her pillow and says, "Sleep hewe." And it's so freaking cute that I lay there for a few minutes. I'm a sucker.

 Reese is the first one to volunteer to go anywhere, she LOVES going places and is usually pretty good when we are out. The first thing her and Bria do when they get in the car is get tic tacs, they are OBSESSED. I guess it could be worse, at least they have good breath right?

She has a serious case of ezcema or something similar on her face. I keep prescription strength cortizone ointment on it at least twice a day if not more. If I slack at all then it flares up with a vengeance. 

She is definitely a 2 year old. She has tantrums, screams a lot and can be so ornery I want to pull my hair out. But honestly? She might be the sweetest most hilarious little girl there is.

 She is always thinking of crazy things to do to make us laugh. This also makes it super hard to discipline her because she rarely takes anything seriously.

 Life is complete with this little one. She is absolutely precious and we adore her so much. Love my Reese's to pieces!!

All things rainbow

Bria decided what she wants her theme to be for her birthday party...RAINBOWS. Girl is obsessed with them right now and I think it's due to Rainbow Dash, which is a pony from My Little Ponies. So it's going to be a rainbow/rainbow dash themed party. She couldn't be more excited and I'm thrilled to finally have a theme, location, and invites done. Whew. We are having it at this indoor play place so it will be perfect for all the kids to run around and get some energy out while having a blast. 

I have been horrible about taking pictures lately, even with my phone. But it's kind of a good thing because I can easily get caught up in just taking pictures and instagramming them and then I realize I have been stuck behind my phone the whole time and ignoring my children and responsibilities. I'm totally just making up an excuse but it sounds legit right?

This week we've had some sunshine and it feels fabulous. Seriously loving it and we have been getting outside everyday. Bria and I have gone for bike rides together and I really enjoy that. Brian's goal for this summer is to get her riding without training wheels. Our sweet girl is so cautious so we are going to load up the safety gear to ensure her she will not in fact die if she falls. The world will continue and she WILL live. I'll let you know how that pans out.

I think that's about it for us these days, pretty standard stuff. I'm hoping to do some updates on the girls soon, just want to remember what they were doing and what they were like at these ages. I always love looking back at them.

For now here are some from when Weston came over to play. I took him and Reese on a walk and they were too cute. Here they are pretending to be frogs...

And one from Bria, she fell asleep on the way home from Salem. I snapped a picture and woke her up :)

Must.Get.Organized

I'm driving myself crazy and I blame pinterest. I always enjoy getting organized and finding ways to rearrange things for maximum efficiency, however, with pinterest I am constantly looking at new ways to do it. So in my head I have 50 projects going on at once yet I'm not doing any of them because I have no idea where to start and then I'm frustrated that my house is still not organized and also why am I always so tired?!?! 

Also, I need to put exercise on the front burner since it's been kicked to the back for awhile now. Overall I'm just annoyed at myself and I need to shape it up! I think a vacation is the answer...always.

 Clearly we are enjoying our days with Penny though. And also love when Uncle Lance comes to visit, Reese adores her Uncle.

 She pretty much had to be beside him most the night.

Bria's attitude has gotten a little better. I'm trying to be more patient and compassionate, which is literally a constant in my life. Making sure I give each girl undivided attention does wonders for their attitudes.
Reese is at a pretty fun age, even though the tantrums and screaming aren't fun, she is hilarious and always looking for a way to make people laugh. Definitely like her Dad.

In other news, Brian and I are going to the coast for 2 nights with some of our friends. We are looking forward to some much needed time together sans kids. We have been slacking on date nights and I can tell I'm dying for some one on one time with my hubby.
Also, I'm trying to plan Bria's fifth birthday. WHAT?! How is this possible?! 5.
It seems so, grown up. She will be in kindergarten next year and I'm excited for her but also nervous. Nervous because it's the start of her going to school and having to deal with the drama of public school politics and playdates and friends being drama and all that stuff. Just hoping and praying she is confident in herself.
So, birthday ideas are welcome. I would love to hear ways to make it special for her so please comment and help!!!

A hiking we will go

A few weeks ago we took the girls and went for a family hike. Oregon has some great hiking and we plan to take full advantage of it, especially while the girls are still so excited about hiking :)

Our littlest hiker

 Reese gets MVP for our hiking day. She was awesome, she ran nearly the whole time and was in heaven. Brian was all giddy thinking of future hikes with her.

 Bria had a blast taking in the scenery and hiking just like Dad does.

A cool little "castle" along the trail

 Reese almost hiked the whole way but towards the end wanted a break. I found out that night why she called it quits, a large red owie on the back of her ankle. The shoes she wore were kind of high and she had ankle socks on so I think it just rubbed. Still super impressed with her gung ho attitude!

 Love our family hikes :)

Working girl

I watch Penny Jo 3 days a week and my first official day was Monday. The girls and I were so excited to have her with us and a majority of the day was spent making her smile and hearing her coo.

She could totally pass as one of my babies :)

 Juggling 3 kids is definitely challenging at times, mainly nap/ quiet time. But overall it's gone really well.

 I think because it's just during the day I am able to stay calm and not get too stressed or overwhelmed. Also, she is the sweetest little thing and I LOVE cuddling her. Seriously, she is precious.

Ruffle butts are just too much

Bria has been super helpful and I appreciate it so much. Especially since Bria has recently developed a very large attitude with me lately and her and I are butting heads...it's nice to have her be helpful.

So far I'm loving my job and I look forward to our days with Penny :)

Yeah, so Bria has been challenging lately. I'm feeling super defeated and I have no idea how to deal with it. She doesn't care when I discipline her and it makes my blood boil. She doesn't listen to me anymore and it takes everything I have not to yell a majority of the day. Also, she is being super rude. She doesn't answer people when they ask her questions and when I try and talk to her about it she gets all...attitudy. Ugh. What is troubling is that she is not even 5 yet...so teenage years should be fun : /

I will just try to handle it as best I can and enjoy her when she is sweet :)

And a random adorable picture of my youngest who decided to plop on a lily pad and color.

New Years and stuff

The Jensen girls got to come stay with us for a few days after Christmas and it was fabulous. I LOVE having them stay with us. I love that my girls get to play with them and spend time with them and I equally enjoy my time getting to know all the happenings in their lives.

I did mention to them that Porter is of course welcome too, but he gets a little overwhelmed with Bria haha. Can't blame him, she is crazy and I get overwhelmed with her too ;)

The girls read bedtime stories to Bria, slept in her room (which she was thrilled about!), played any game she wanted them to play, helped feed both girls and get them ready for the day, clean and organize (you can see why I didn't want to send them home) and just be awesome. We tried to make it fun for them too, I took them to see Frozen with Bria and then we went to Out of this World Pizza. Lance and Kayla came one night they were here and I loved having my house full of family. Best feeling ever.
It was eventually time for us to drive them home and we reluctantly did, although I'm sure they were looking forward to sleeping in and not being woken up by Bria at 7 am. :)

Our next fun event was New Year's Eve at the Inukai's. We're making it a tradition for us and the Buell's to go there and ring in the East coast New Year together. During the day though, we headed up to the Mountain with the Buell's for some sledding!

 Only, we didn't get to sled. Apparently there is no sledding on the hills around the parking lot of Timberline lodge. So that sucked. However, our kids were troopers and were just happy to be in the snow, even if it was mostly ice and it was freezing.

Love my Amanda!!!

 It was so icy that we just slid down on our butts and it worked perfectly. The kids ate the snow, attempted to make snowmans and just generally had a good time.

 Reese did start to melt down half way through and we couldn't figure out what was wrong. It was crazy. She was screaming and crying and we couldn't get her to be happy, then she peed out her snow suit and she felt better. Brian walked her down to the car and put a movie on for her and turned the heat on full blast while she sat in her carseat pantless. Fortunately the Buell's brought extra clothes so we put some cool Ninja Turtle jammies on her and we had a little tailgator :)

 We headed home and took naps so we were ready to party and ring in the New Year!

Randi and me with our wine

Sweet Charleigh

Weston loves it, Reese...not so much

All our kiddos!!

Party hats!

 They had a gymnastics bar that they had gotten the girls for Christmas and it was a huge hit.

 Amanda, Randi, and myself had fun taking random selfies and indulging in some delicious wine and girl talk.

Love my friends dearly!

 Then I took a picture of the hostesses and was scared at how ghostlike my husband looked in the background...

Scary photo bomber behind the cute couple!!

Whew. I think I am about caught up, the last thing I wanted to update about was my first day of work :) I will post about that a little bit later. For now I will give you a little preview of how adorable my new job is:

Penny Jo