A taste

I want to write all about our Easter weekend in great detail but quite frankly I'm pretty beat and looking forward to eating candy and being lazy on the couch with my hubby.
But, I will at least post some adorable pictures because let's face it, that's the only reason you probably even check the blog. ;) And here is a quick recap of the weekend.

Friday night-Lance and Kayla come up, we go on a date night with them :)
Saturday-Tegner's house for an Easter party with my side of the family
Saturday evening-Grammy's for dinner and then Brian and I went out with our dear old friends, Tiff and Eric
Sunday-Church

A few pics to tie you over until I find energy to post the rest:

I am in love with their Easter dresses, you can bet they will be wearing those again!

Backyard

On Sunday it didn't rain and the sun was kind of showing through so I got the girls dressed in bright colors, to prove to myself that Spring really is here.

Those adorable boots were $6 at Kohl's!!! Such a steal.

Yay for warmer weather (upper 50's!)

 This week is Spring Break in Oregon but since we don't have grade school aged kids it's just another normal week for us. No vacations planned, just the usual shenanigans.
The girls and I spent the whole morning outside on Monday because it was absolutely perfect weather.

The obligatory cheese face

Playing in their house, notice the "artwork" on the walls

Bria got this fun little chalk set for her birthday so we whipped it out.

I think I had more fun than the girls haha!

It came with tattoos you put on the ground and then color in, I was loving it

"What can I get you Mam?"

I am currently going through a little nesting phase. I want to decorate/redecorate every room in our house. I think part of it is that we are signing another year long lease on this house so I know we are going to be here for a long time and I want to make it feel more like home. The challenge with renting is that it doesn't ever completely feel like your own, at least in my opinion. There are so many little and even some big projects that I would love to do to this house if it was our own. The kitchen for starters. It's all white. With some white and then a little white. Also, there is some white.
Do you get my drift?
I would love to put dark hard wood floors in and some granite counters. I wouldn't mind leaving the cabinets white because I do like the feel of bright white, just not all over. Plus, all white in a kitchen with 2 kids? Yeah, it's nearly impossible to keep clean.
And painting. Oh how I would love to paint our rooms and bathrooms. Nothing crazy, just calming, neutral colors. I think paint makes such a huge difference and just completes a room. So the past 2 years (we have been in this house for 2 years!!) our rooms have felt unfinished to me.
Brian of course thinks I'm crazy and doesn't get it. He would be happy with blackout curtains in our room and that's it (I joke he is a vampire because he literally wants it pitch black when he's sleeping, while I prefer to wake up with the sun shining in).
How long do we plan on being in this house? Do we want to buy again?
First, we want to stay in this house as long as possible. The owner is on a special work assignment and we have no idea how much longer it will last (well, I guess we know another year at least).
Second, we do want to buy again, but the market in Portland is crazy expensive. Nothing like California, but it's up there. So we are waiting until we can start saving for a down payment and save for a house we really like, not just settling. We are hoping the next house we purchase will be our long-term home so we want it to be in a good area and all that stuff...which means it's even more expensive.
I would LOVE if the owner of our current house decided to sell it to us, then I could do all the projects I dream about and pin on pinterest. But Brian isn't sold on this house. He likes it but wants a bigger garage for all his manly projects.
Anyway, all that to basically say I've been trying to brainstorm creative ways to decorate without painting. It's challenging to say the least!

Did you know?

Incredibly random facts about us:

•  Reese loves to twirl hair. Normally she does it right before we put her down to sleep, I think it soothes her. She will twirl my hair around and around until I put her down. Recently she started twirling her own hair since it's getting longer and I think it's pretty dang cute.
• My favorite article of clothing is jeans. I love me a good pair of jeans, they are my comfort and go-to in my closet. 

 

• Most people assume every man wants a son, Brian differs from that norm. He adores his girls and has never been bummed about not having a boy, he prefers spoiling his little princesses.
• Bria asks more question than any child I have ever met. All day long she is asking questions, and they are good questions...which means they are usually hard to answer. Most require lots and lots of answers and subsequent questions from her. I'm proud of her for being curious but I am completely exhausted answering her all day!

• A lot of people ask where in the heck we got two blond haired girls from...both Brian and I had very light hair as little kids.
• I love being surprised, I love knowing someone has been planning something and keeping it a secret.
• Brian does not like surprises, I learned this after I threw Brian a 30th surprise party 7 years ago. 
• Bria is a very imaginative child, her favorite thing to do is imaginary play...same as me when I was a child. I'm thinking we should get her into theatre because she is incredibly dramatic.

• Reese seems to be a book worm but also loves being outside, it will be interesting to see her little personality develop. 
• My girls and I are cereal fanatics, dare I tell you that we eat it for dinner at least once a week?

Trot trot to Boston

Aunt Heather found a cute place called Once Upon a Horse that was offering a little class for kids to learn about horses, feed them, brush them, and ride them.

We knew Bria would be excited to see horses since her favorite princesses (Merida and Rapunzel) ride horses.

All of us had the thought that she might be a little timid and scared though, since they are big animals. But she proved us all wrong. 

She was absolutely thrilled and did not want to get off the horse.

Testing out the waters on a fake horse

A pretty sweet horse swing

Reese giving it a go

 The lady who ran it, Suzy, was an absolute sweetheart. She was so good with the kids. First they got to brush the horse and Bria jumped right in. The horses name was Blue and he was so incredibly calm, such a good horse.

Bria and Blue

Brushing the horse

 Then they got to put on their riding helmets and I about died. They all looked too cute.

 In my head I started thinking, "Why are we getting her interested in horses? That is like the most expensive hobby ever!"

But look how cute!

Walking out to saddle up

In heaven!

Blue gave her cuddles and she loved it

Each child got 2 turns on the horse and Bria could've rode all day long, despite the frigid temperature inside the barn.

Reese was tired of it being about her sister, so Aunt Heather showed her all the ducks which she loved

 Once everyone got a turn riding Blue, they got to feed her carrots as a thank you. This was the only part that Bria was a little timid about, but once she did it she realized it didn't hurt. I think she thought he might bite her or something.

Feeding old Blue

It was an incredible day, one that we all thoroughly enjoyed.
Let's hope Bria will be content with lessons and not actually wanting her own horse.

We didn't start the fire...

...it was always burning since the world was turning.

You are welcome for getting that song stuck in your head.

Yesterday was field trip day at school and it was to the fire station we went! We carpool all the kiddos over and I was lucky enough to be teacher helper :) We got all the kids ready and headed out to the cars.

Bria has made such a sweet friend at school named Ella. So of course we wanted her in our car. I got them buckled in, started the car, and was waiting for my turn to pull out when I heard Bria sweetly say, "Can I hold your hand Ella?" and I turned around to see this:

 I mean, right?! So sweet.
They were inseparable during the whole field trip and didn't stop holding hands.
I was impressed by how well Bria paid attention to the firefighters, guess she likes a man in uniform like her Mom does ;)

Bria and Ella watching in awe

He told them to stomp on his steal toed boot, Bria didn't hesitate

More stomping

 The kids had a good time and I learned the difference between a Fire truck and a Fire Engine. Basically a fire truck is for reaching high places and the engine has the water and hoses. You may have already known that, I did not and now I feel much smarter.
The firefighters were all incredibly sweet, it was a fun field trip.

They all sang cheese for a good 30 seconds while we took pictures!

Can I get a hell yes for friends?!

We adore our friends, really we do :) I'm not who is more excited when friends come over, me or Bria.

Erin and the kids drove up for the day on Wednesday and we did a little Easter egg hunt inside for them. After they found all the eggs they spent the next half hour hiding them over and over. Once they were egg hunted out they threw on their raincoats and stomped outside in the mud. They made mud pie in Bria's little house and lots of other mud things.   

Lucy and Reese played indoors where it was warmer

 Erin and I got to catch up on each other's lives and talked about how big the kids are getting. Also, how kids increase your anxiety by ten fold.

All this Easter egg hunting is getting Bria and Reese very prepared for the big day. So when Easter finally comes they will either by professionals at it or tired of searching for eggs. I'm thinking the former :)

Just two thanks :)

We started doing a Holcomb family movie night once a week. It's usually on Friday, but if Brian and I do a date night or we all go to a friends' house then we move it. We get in our pj's and the girls get a fun little snack/treat and we lay out a blanket and get pillows. The girls look forward to it so much. 

Peter Pan movie night

 Reese will usually sit there for about half hour which is impressive. It's nice and relaxing and perfect family time for us.

 We have been having typical Oregon weather, it's pouring one minute and the next it's sunny. We quickly run outside when the sun is shining and soak it all up. When we see the gray skies we go back in...although yesterday Bria stayed out in her coat and rainboots and played in the backyard. I wonder what age we don't like playing in the rain anymore? Maybe I'm alone in that.

During Reese's nap Bria watches the iPad and I watch tv, such a perfect compromise ;)

Bria has started to become a lot more independent and most the time it's awesome. Just little things like getting her own drink of water, snacks, getting in the car by herself, getting dressed, cleaning up her toys (and putting them in the right spot!), and helping her sister. It makes such a huge difference for me when she is so helpful. The good thing is that she still asks permission most the time. She will ask if she can have a snack before going and raiding the cupboard which I appreciate. Then she'll go get the stool and find what she wants to eat then puts it all away. Yay for independence!
Reese also wants to be independent but a 1.5 year old is a little more frustrating. She has started throwing massive fits. Massive. Not very cool. She is cementing the fact that we are done having kids!
She is just in that hard phase where she knows what she wants but can't communicate it very well. She can say some things but not enough to convey her point to us and then she just flips out. I read this article about how to deal with them and it was saying make them feel like you understand. Think about how you want others to treat you when you are frustrated and no one is understanding you, time out or yelling would not make you feel better.
I thought, "Holy cow, I feel horrible, I should be more understanding!"
Yeah, I tried that and it did NOT help. Seriously, I tried to tell her I understood and that I also wanted to eat cookies all the time but that's not okay. And then I just felt silly because she was screaming so loudly and snot was dripping out her nose and I was almost positive she couldn't even hear me over her screaming. Maybe when she is older that advice will help, but right now it's not doing a whole lot. Plus I think it frustrates me more. I think staying calm and patient just makes my blood boil even more so when she doesn't calm down then I get all annoyed, like, "Hey, I just exhibited an immense amount of patience and you can't even stop screaming?! That is not fair." I sound incredibly mature don't I? If you're a Mom I trust you have been there.
Of course, moments like today at nap time when I read to her and then she fell asleep while I rocked her make me want to gobble up her cuteness. They also make her tantrums manageable...also bubble baths and an awesome hubby make her tantrums manageable too.