Sleeping can be challenging

The other night I was dead asleep and heard a thud. It was the kind of noise most wouldn't wake up to except a Mom. 3 seconds later came the cries of my youngest and I went in to find her on the floor. Poor girl had fallen out of bed. I laid with her until she fell back asleep and it wasn't until the morning I saw the poor girls' battle scars. A nice bump and bruise on her head and a busted up lip. 

 Poor girl! She handled it pretty well though, she is my tough cookie for sure. She is also our cuddler and wants to sleep in our bed every night. 95% of the time I walk her back to her bed, Brian and I love our girls but we enjoy our bed being just ours. One night she came in and had to go to the bathroom and after I took her she apparently couldn't get back to sleep so came in with us. I was too tired to take her back so I just let her stay.
Have any of you seen the sleep positions of kids?

This is the letter H

This is Reese's favorite letter apparently

One of my favorite times to watch my girls sleep is in the car. It means that 1. SILENT CAR RIDE!!! and 2. They are cute and asleep

Passed out after a swimming pool party

All of a sudden our girls are taking turns each night coming into our room to sleep with us. They usually do so well to sleep all night long in their own beds, but I'm thinking with this heat they aren't sleeping as soundly. 

I recently decided to pick a few battles with my girls. I mentioned how I was basically at my wits end with their fighting, so that is one battle I'm picking. Any fighting or screaming of any kind results in both girls in their bedrooms, no questions asked. The challenge is to be consistent but I'm up for the challenge because I cannot handle their fighting anymore. The second battle I have decided to pick is food. I'm tired of basically making two different meals, one for me and one for the rest of my family. So they eat what I make or they don't eat. 

Honestly, I feel at peace with these decisions. I think I'm constantly feeling guilty about things as a Mom, I question if I'm being too harsh or not letting them just be little kids. However, it's also my job to teach them respect and responsibility. Now that I have allowed myself these battles I realize it's more than fair to expect them to be kind to each other and to eat what I make. Whew, let's hope there are some positive changes around here!

Brave

 Last Thursday I was at my wits end, Brian had gotten home late the night before from his business trip but went in early and worked late. I couldn't take it anymore so I took all 3 girls swimming by myself. I'm crazy, and it could've gone terribly wrong but I had to get out of our hot house and keep the girls entertained so they would stop fighting.
Fortunately it all went well and in my favor. The girls played happily in the water and we all cooled down a bit. I felt pretty brave (ie crazy) taking 3 kiddos swimming by myself but we were desperate.

Although it's been challenging with my littles lately, we've also had spurts of fun and laughter. One afternoon we picked peas from her little garden and then just goofed off in the backyard. It felt good to have fun with them :)

They do love each other, praise the Lord!

My oldest, so sweet

Sillyness

Heavenly

I pray I'm doing right by them. I want to raise girls who are kind, loving, generous, and confident. And these days it feels like I'm failing in every single category.
I've never been one with a lot of patience, it's just not wired in me. So being a Mom has been a true test of patience and I've had more now than I ever thought I would. That being said, it still doesn't feel like enough, ya know? I try not to compare but sometimes I feel like everyone around me is more patient and I wonder how they do it. Darn social media, always making me feel incompetent!
I'm just trying to focus on the happy times and doing MY best, controlling what I can and accepting what I can't. That's a hard lesson...

So it's hot, really hot

We've already had some upper 90's days here and next week it's suppose to reach 100. Gulp. We don't have AC (the only bad thing about our new house) and it's a full time job trying to keep the house cool. But, I do love me some summer sunshine so I'm no complaining...too much.

This is a candybar that was in our pantry....that's how hot it's been in our house

Hot weather calls for margaritas!

Heather and her mini me

 We've done a lot of swimming so far this summer, all our friends either have a neighborhood pool or their own and are more than willing to share with us. My fishy girls are incredibly grateful, as am I.

Penny got her hair did by Bria

 Speaking of swimming, Bria's swim classes end next week. She has done a great job and made some improvements. I talked with her instructor and the main things she needs to work on are her arm strokes and being comfortable without her goggles. So no goggles for lessons next week. She did mention how comfortable she is under water.
Bria's tap lessons are going well and she is loving it. I'm looking forward to her last class where they put on a little show :)

Reese has been a challenging two year old. For the most part she is such a happy go lucky girl with a hilarious personality. But then she throws these impressive tantrums over the smallest things. It is absolutely exhausting, she does it all day long and nothing I do seems to help. At a certain point I feel like screaming and kicking right along with her. Also, her and Bria are going through some sibling fighting right now and I'm on the edge of losing it altogether. Bria whines, Reese teases, Bria cries, Reese laughs, repeat all day long. I don't mean to be all doom and gloom but sheesh, these girls are going to send me to the looney bin! Add that to the fact Brian traveled this week and I was a hot mess.
I think I need to send one of them to a grandparents house for a couple days, isn't that what you do when your kids are acting out? I think it sounds like a great solution :)

We lived it up

It was a good thing the girls slept in on Friday the 4th because we had a packed day and it would be another late night. First we enjoyed Krispy Kreme as a family because we love us some donuts. Then we headed to Lark's (Penny's mama and also good friends of the Buell's) neighborhood for a parade.

The kiddos (Cooper, Bennett, Weston, Bria, and Reese)

I'm in love with their tops

WEston sharing his candy with an elated Bria

Tough Penny :)

 After the parade we hung out at Lark's all afternoon and into the evening. There was a BBQ in the cul-de-sac and the kids played and played and played.

Amanda, Lark, myself, and sweet Penny

We sure love this baby girl

Summer fun!

Fireworks started going off early

At 7 pm us adults were exhausted and the kids were melting down, but we pushed on...and at 10 pm the fireworks started. But the kids were just not into it so about 10 minutes later we ended up heading home. Once again, our cuties slept in, Reese didn't get up until almost 10 am!! So wonderful.

I would say our 4th was very successful and the girls were in absolute heaven playing with their friends all day long.

God Bless America!

 July 3rd we went to the Hops game, it's Hillsboro's baseball team, Brian got tickets through work and we were really excited about taking the girls.

 Before the game the girls got to run around and play a little, we were nervous that 9 innings was going to be waaay too long for them, but we had to make it the whole game because there was to be a fabulous firework show afterwards.

Taking it all in

Brian and I enjoyed some refreshing beverages, Baseball and Beer go together so well

 We were smart and brought the girls their ear protectors. They are notorious for hating loud sounds and this was the perfect solution. Bria wore hers nearly the entire time...

A picture with Barley!

The girls did pretty well, around the 4th inning we started taking turns walking them around and letting them run free. The Buell's also had tickets so we met up with them for awhile.

Love my Amanda!!

 Bria also saw her preschool friend, Ella, and was ecstatic! They were so sweet with each other.

Finally the game ended (we won!) and the fireworks started!! The girls were in AWE. Seriously, Reese did not move the entire time and Bria was ecstatic, ooohing and ahhhing over all of them. It was soooo worth it to make it through the whole game and ultimately have them up 3 1/2 hours past their bedtime. It was quite the spectacular show I must say. And much to our amazement, the girls slept until 9 am!!! What a great way to start the 4th... 

Good ole' summer BBQ

One of my all time favorite summer activities is just BBQing with friends. I love impromptu BBQ's, they just make me happy. A couple days after we got back from the beach that is exactly what we did at the Buell's.

They see me rollin'...

My cautious Bria was so nervous about going fast. Then when she tried to drive up on the sidewalk again she started freaking out because she was driving up on the neighbors grass. All of us adults were laughing and then she screamed so serious that she looked possessed. I was not happy with her little outburst so she had a time out. On the drive home she said to me, "Mom, I didn't like when you were all laughing at me, it hurt my feelings. That's why I screamed, because you weren't listening to me."
I felt horrible. I can so related to that feeling and it's a horrible one. I apologized profusely and let her know I won't do that again. But man, I felt just awful.

That was at the very end of the night though, so lots of fun was had before that :)
The next day Erin and the kids drove up and we all went swimming at the Buell's neighborhood pool. Roxie and Gracie came too and the kids had a blast. It was a scorching 97 degrees that day so we needed to cool off in the pool!

It's HOT!

Bria and little Lucy

Camera shy

Gracie...and some old guy haha!

The kids always enjoying taking a dip in the pool and it's a little challenging to get them out. Fortunately Bria is taking lessons and they are outdoors so 3 days a week she gets to take a dip.
Bria's soccer ended and while she liked it a lot, she isn't sure she wants to do it again. I might have her do a team one in the fall just to be sure.
Tap is going fabulously and it's her favorite class by far, I'm looking forward to the last day when they do a little recital!
And of course swimming is great. She is doing pretty well, focusing on keeping her legs and arms straight while doing her strokes. But she has better form than I do already and can swim pretty far on her own.
Reese wants to do all things her sister does so I'm hopeful this fall I can get her in some classes to try and find her passion. :) She is currently having a rough time and throwing massive fits about everything, anything, and nothing. It's challenging to say the least. Really hoping this phase passes and we all survive it...

To the beach we go

The weekend of June 27th we had planned a big camping trip with our friends and their families, we were looking forward to camping with the girls and using the tent trailer my siblings and us share. However, true to Oregon the weather was not holding it's end of the bargain so at the last minute we changed and headed to the coast and stayed in a huge house. I think we made the right call.

The house had plenty of room for everyone and we stayed nice and dry. My cousin, Brett, and his wife Jen live in Newport so we got to meet up with them and their sweet kids which I loved. We showed them around the house and then got to hang out for awhile as the kids ran around.

So overall it was a fabulous time, however, little Reese had croup which put a damper on the fun for her. Saturday was her worst day by far, she was super lethargic and just slept most the day. Fortunately that night she slept for a long time and woke up Sunday feeling a little better and even played a little bit. It was good to see her up and playing.

Reese loved Ian and cuddled with him when Brian or myself were not available

 Although the weather wasn't perfect, Bria would not stop asking to go down to the beach on Friday when we got there. So when there was a break in the rain we headed down:

This picture of Bria cracks me up

 I'm glad we did because it was a lot of fun. There were tons of tide pools so we got to see different sea creatures.

Matt, Brian, and Linus (Reese was perched on Brian's shoulders most the weekend)

The kids chasing the water

In beach heaven

Saturday we took the kids to the museum to look around and Bria really enjoyed it. We spent a good 20 minutes in the theater room watching a movie about birds. I could not believe she was so into it, she didn't want to leave. We also walked around Depoe Bay and had lunch at Moe's, cuz you can't go to the coast and not eat at Moe's, I think it's the law or something.

A gang of kids :)

Reese's perch

 Ian and Angelina's little girl is also 5, Bella. Her and Bria had a great time playing together and were so fun to watch.

That evening was hot tub time for the mommies and it was fabulous, nothing like being in a hot tub with a beautiful view of the ocean.

And Sunday we wrapped it up with another trip down to the beach and then to Moe's on the way out of town. The weather was awesome that day, warm and sunny!

Bria and a starfish!

The Yaquina lighthouse

Bella giving Reese some love

We headed home, exhausted from all the fun and looking forward to the next family trip we do.