Sprinkler fun in April?

 It just keeps getting better as the weather gets warmer. It got so hot one weekend that we HAD to have a BBQ with our friends and bust out the sprinkler.

 All the kids were thrilled to death...the PNW can be brutal during childhood when you feel trapped inside.

 So even just a day or two of this gloriousness helps rejuvenate the energy and soul.

These days our little Reese has given me a glimpse of teenager-hood. Her desire to dress up, wear my shoes, wear makeup and roll her eyes at me is, um, interesting?

Attitude

Fortunately she still loves to cuddle and be a goof ball so there is hope yet.

Bria hit a big milestone, she completed her first chapter book! Her motivation? I would buy her Mal's spell book.
You see, she is very into Disney's The Descendants and the main character is Mal...who is Malificents daughter. Bria saw the spell book at Target and I said if she read the chapter book first, I would buy her the spell book.
She was ecstatic and went right to reading.
And reading and reading...when I went in at 10 pm that night she was still up and reading!!!! Not only that, but she started bawling when I told her it was time to put the book down and go to bed. Finally she gave in, but in the morning when I went to wake her up she was already awake and reading her book.
Girl was hooked.

At bedtime she went right to reading and came out an hour later with the biggest smile on her face. She had finished!!!
So proud of her and her determination.
Next day we went out and got her beloved spell book. Which she instantly found the love spell in and we had to make them (cookies) for Parker (her crush at school). This girl is persistent to say the least and will not take no for an answer. Very hard to parent but I feel this quality will do well in life.

So that's us in a nutshell: Reese has attitude and Bria read her first chapter book...exciting times!

A hiking we will go

We got out on our first hike of the season. It was short but very sweet and the girls absolutely loved it. Brian and I both got even more excited for this summer when we do lots of camping and hiking hopefully. 

We did the Wildwood trail which takes you up to Pittock Mansion, the view is spectacular up there. 

Looking out over this beautiful city

We had a picnic and the kids played and played and could've kept playing but it was time to head back down and get going.

Tree climbing is Bria's new favorite hobby

Both girls did awesome and besides Reese asking if we would hold her a few times, they didn't complain at all. They did want to stop and eat pretty often but we were fine with that.

Lance and Kayla came up a few weekends ago and we always love having them up. Once again we had some amazing weather so we spent our whole Saturday outside.
Bria is wanting a Bitty Baby and decided to have a lemonade sale...our neighbors were so sweet and many purchased cups of her delicious lemonade.

 Ames was thrilled to be "free" and outside, he would just walk around talking and smiling. I nearly had a heart attack because I didn't want him falling down our driveway onto the pavement, but Lance reassured me to calm the heck down ha! God knew I would be a wreck if I had a boy so he gave me girls. But I sure love my nephews and enjoy them, as long as I don't have to witness any scary falls!

Football (watch out kids, uncle Lance is throwing!)

Lemonade anyone?

Um, part 2 I guess?

Yikes, I've been preoccupied and completely spaced putting up Easter Part 2. 

Let's see if I can remember that long ago ;)

Sunday after church with Grammy we went to the annual Esater egg hunt at the Tegners (Esater is purposely spelled wrong, the first year their banner was spelled that way and now it's the running joke). 

Zoey was thrilled with all the festivities and fun going on at her house

Jaidyn and Cassidy ready for the egg hunt

Some of the guys hanging back

Tegners

I love Zoey snatching an egg, ha!

Jaime and her girls

My two little sisters!

Yaya and Papa

My mom and her girls

Grandpa Armstrong with his youngest granddaughter

Family pic

My Mom and her four kids

Reese was telling Jaidyn and Kailey a very interesting story apparently

Love her little face

My Dad and his 6 kids, Lance is so lucky to have 5 sisters!! 

After the egg hunt the kids went and played in Jax's room and found this game to be hilarious...

They would hide in the drawers and shut themselves in...I would've been claustrophobic but they loved it 

The four older girls

Ready to hunt for some eggs

The brunch was amazing...not only is Jenny a fabulous cook, but Jaime, Anna, my Mom...they went all out. I'm not sure how the cooking/baking bug missed me but it did. I mean, I know my way around the kitchen and I have my go to meals that I'm proud of, but it's a small list and overall it's just not my thing. I wish it was, but it's not. Fortunately my family usually understands and I'm the one to bring fruit or veggies :)
Easter was definitely fun and the girls enjoyed so much family time, as did I!

Easter Part 1

Since Brian was gone Spring Break (the week before Easter weekend) the girls and I headed down on Thursday to Albany to start our Easter festivities early. 

They love Papa and Yaya's sandbox

This is hands down my new favorite outfit on her

Slightly obsessed with rompers as you can see

 Thursday we had a big plan: Papa and Yaya would have all the grandkids over for a big sleepover and the siblings and their spouses (minus Brian) would go out, yay!

Well...strep throat made it's appearance at both the Tegner and Jensen's houses (Zoey, Jaidyn, and Kailey). So we changed plans up a little and just ended up being the sisters...which is always fun too!

I'm so tall! Also...I have heels but that's just a technicality

We went for dinner and drinks and talked all night long. It was just what I needed and felt so good.

In the hot tub with Jax :)

Ames tackling Zoey

Sweet girl

 Saturday, Brian joined us and we headed to Grammy's house. The girls got spoiled by Aunt Heather with a new kitchen cooking set and they loved it.

Showing Tracy how the kindle works

 We gave the girls their Easter baskets that night since we had church early in the morning.

"Hold on Mom"

I love that MJ is in this pic too haha!

Matching PJ's!

 Clearly we had a blast all evening and the girls took awhile to wind down and go to sleep...which meant waking them up for church was fun...not.
But we eventually go them out of bed and all dressed up for church.

Grammy with her son and granddaughters

They are getting so old

The girls loved the Easter egg hunt after the service (even though it was inside, darn rain!). And they both got way too much candy, so I helped them "get rid" of it ;)