:sigh:

Precious, just precious

This one is begging to be enlarged and framed.

Miscellaneous Monday

So I totally had a case of the Mondays...on Monday. Weird, right? ;)
Anyway, I was feeling lazy but didn't want to put the kids in front of the tv all day since it was all sunshiny outside. Besides, Reese wouldn't watch it anyway. Instead, I decided to do a bunch of sensory games for them. Sensory games are great but they usually involve messes so they are great to do outside.
I did a few random ones but fortunately the girls enjoyed them:

• Water in a tub with spoons and bowls (this was for Reese while Bria was napping)
• Water beads in water with spoons, bowls, and plates (for both girls, water beads are so cool!)
• Cornmeal (for Reese)

And then we did random stuff, like put on swim suit bottoms, rain boots, and a shirt and jumped in the puddles. The puddles came from playing with the hose.

If this isn't a cute ensemble, I don't know what is

And then she ate a popsicle

It was a random Monday for sure

Reese loving the cornmeal

 Normally I'm smart and put plastic down before doing the cornmeal game, but I was that lazy. Of course, it required more clean up so really I should've taken the 3 seconds to put a piece of plastic down. Oh well, I needed to sweep anyway.

A bit mischievous

My friends and I are planning a fun little outdoor messy playdate where we all bring stuff for the kids to play with and get messy in the backyard. They won't even know they are learning and doing science stuff, they'll just think they're having fun and their Moms have gone crazy for letting them get so dirty. Or it will backfire and the kids will stand there looking at us like, "Are you kidding? You yell at me every time I make a mess, I'm not falling for this. Nice try."
I'll let you know ;)

Baby Teg

So as I have mentioned, my sister, Jenny, is having a bouncing baby boy in July and we are thrilled to pieces. Our family is full of girls, which we love, but Porter is excited to have a boy cousin :)

We had a baby shower for Jenny a week ago and it was so much fun. I brought Reese down with me while Brian and Bria had a Daddy-Daughter day. 

Reese loves her cousins

I think they like her too ;)

Jenny, Reese, and baby Teg!

It was so fun to see everyone and the shower was a huge success. Reese even said, "Ya-Ya" to my Mom, which is what Bria calls her too. It was super cute.

Wonder where the blue eyes come from?

She loves her Ya-Ya

This week we have something everyday so it'll be good to stay busy. Yesterday we had some sunshine so we spent most the time in our backyard, it was glorious. Pics to come...

It's good to get out

After I had Bria it was very hard for me to feel comfortable leaving without her. So I never did girls night and we rarely did date nights. But this time around since I'm more relaxed and since I have such great friends, I'm better about doing some "me" stuff. And it feels wonderful.

Out to dinner enjoying conversations without little ones interrupting every few seconds :)

The crew

My pretty friends!

Not only do I have great friends, but so does Bria. She wants to see at least one of her friends everyday and is not pleased if we don't have a playdate planned.

Amanda's little boy Bennett. We want them to get married and give us adorable blond haired babies...in like 25 years :)

Careful grandparents, looking at these will make you want to get in the car and drive up here to hug her.

Pure cuteness

Snack time at the park. Seriously, why do kids want to eat ALL DAY LONG!

A little soccer game in the grass

Reese has plenty of kids willing to push her in the swing

Last summer Brian got into hiking and since I was very pregnant I couldn't join in his new hobby. Come to think of it, I bet he was looking for a hobby to get away from cranky me, hmmm. 

Anyway, I've got to join him this year and even though we've only gone on one little hike with the girls, I'm loving it. We are going backpacking in a few weeks with my siblings and their significant others (minus Jenny and Kyle since Jenny has a bun in the oven). I cannot wait. Brian is convinced I'm going to like it so much that I will want to hike Kilimanjaro during his sabbatical in 5 years. Um, yeah, I want tropical beaches!!! Regardless, I'm super excited that we have a healthy hobby and Bria loves talking about going hiking. So this summer will be dedicated to finding lots of fun places to hike as a family, and maybe a few just for Brian and me.

Bria has a crush

Okay, this weather is super depressing. We got spoiled in May with 80 degree days and like the gullible Oregonian that I am, believed that was a sign that we were going to have a kick ace summer. Well, joke is on me because the current 7 day forecast is rainy and in the low 60's.

It's June.

BLERG!!!!!

Anyway, let's move on and talk about how Reese is all sorts of mobile. It may not be the traditional crawl, but this little girl is Army crawling like it's her job. This video was taken last week, and since then she has gotten faster. Don't worry, we have a baby gate to put on the top of the stairs. Although apparently you have to actually install it for it to work. So I have a honey do for Brian when he gets home :)

Brian's co-worker, Bruce, has a little boy that is Bria's age and Bria LOVES him. She talks about Liam and how she is going to marry him. When I get her dressed in the mornings she'll say, "Liam would love this, he would think I was so pretty." Oh boy, we are in serious trouble. 

We went to the Zoo with them last weekend and they had a blast. Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures, but you will have to trust the cuteness.

Riding the tractor together

Reese took her morning nap in the jogging stroller. Love it :)

This past weekend was Jenny's baby shower and I can't wait to share those pictures with you. The decorations were adorable, the food was awesome, everything was perfect and Jenny is ADORABLE. Her little basketball belly just begs to be rubbed, it's all sorts of cute.
Alright so in summation, please send summer to Oregon, Bria is giving Brian a run for his money already, Reese is precious, and Jenny is adorable.

From Brian's phone

I uploaded pictures and videos from Brian's phone. I don't have a fancy phone so I can't do that with mine, but I was super excited to get all his stuff uploaded on our computer so we can save them forever. Here are a few gems I found :)

Bria passed out on a car ride home from visiting family, I love that her right arm is behind her head.

Little Reese at Christmas time

Bria brushing Rapunzel's long, blonde hair

Snuggling with my girl (I love how intense she is when watching a movie)

Seriously, this is the best way to spend a rainy day

She wanted this guy to come home with her so bad 

This is at my friend, Randi's house, it's gorgeous

Amanda and I with our kiddos

And this video is from a couple months ago when Reese first started laughing, I love it!

Preschool time

Bria is slowly getting better. She still resists going to the bathroom, but she is not in pain all day and we are all very grateful for that.

Fun with baking soda and colored vinegar

It fizzes!!! Look at her intensity :)

Good old corn starch and water with some food coloring, Gak never seizes to entertain

I think we have decided on a preschool for Bria and I'm really excited about it. We took Bria to go see it last week and talked with the director. It seems very well structured and lots of learning and playing which I love. It's twice a week for 2 1/2 hours. Every 5 or 6 weeks I go in and help as the teacher aid and bring in snacks. I think it will be fun to see her in there and see how she interacts with the other kids.

My cowgirl

She's got spunk

Reese hit the bottle a little too hard on my jog ;)

Sisters swinging together :)

I'm really hoping for some summer weather soon because those swinging pictures are from a few weeks ago and make me miss the warm weather we had. I wanna go to the park in shorts again! Especially since Bria has gotten over her fear of slides, for now anyway. The girl wants to swing as high as possible, but slides? Oh no, those were terrifying her. But something clicked a few weeks ago and she thinks they are awesome once again: