Our week in review

The other weekend we went out to the East side of Portland to help celebrate October birthdays for some of our friends. This group of friends we met through Linus, who we know through the cheer world (seriously, cheerleading is a huge group of people and you meet all kinds of awesome people) and he coached us when we did the Blazer stunt team. Anyway, we always have a good time with this group and enjoy letting loose.

Taking selfies is not a good idea when you are in a poorly lit restaurant

Ian and Angelina...love them! We usually spend the whole night goofing around with them

Beth and Anita being goofs

Shots! 

We ate at the restaurant then went upstairs to their bar area which was really neat. Hung out there for awhile then dropped them off downtown Portland and we went home to our comfy bed :) 

We are still going strong with Pumpkin Patches, first trip for Bria was with her preschool, then we went as a family with the Buell's to another one, and last week we went for a play date with Amanda and the boys and Amanda's friend, Juelia, who just moved here from California. She has a 6 month old daughter who is scrumptious. Juelia was so incredibly sweet. She has been on my mind a lot lately, she lost her husband 5 months ago and I just can't stop thinking about her and praying for her. I want to take her in my arms and wrap her up, just hoping that I can be of comfort and help to her in some way. She really is such a nice person.

On a brighter note, we got some cute pictures of the kiddos...and when I say WE I mean Amanda. She rocks.

Oh hello cuteness! This is going in their wedding video, no pressure you two cuties!

Look at our cuties!

My piggy :)

Yesterday (trying to catch up) Brian and I each had some good one on one time with the girls. In the morning he took Reese to Costco (where his self esteem got quite the boost, he said he got hit on a LOT :) and I took Bria shopping. 

Claire's has the best glasses!

She LOVED the long white gloves

Mustache glasses=awesome

Love it

Clearly her and I had fun. She is so good and I really enjoy taking her places, she's just at an easy stage for outings and I'm grateful for that. Of course, when you put Reese in the mix then the whole sibling thing throws off the balance and they both act out and then I want to pull my hair out. So yeah, this one on one time is awesome.

After our fun morning I went to get pedicures with Tiffanie and Randi, Tiff turned 30!

Me, Tiff, and Randi

We had fun catching up on our lives and chatting about our girls (Tiff just had her second girl in September!). Amanda was missed greatly, she had to work and then headed to a wedding. 

Today we are going to yet another pumpkin patch, wahoo!! So if you are tired of pumpkin pictures...maybe don't check the blog ;)

It's here!

Pumpkin patches, pumpkin latte's, pumpkin beer, I do love this time of year.
Saturday we went to our first pumpkin patch of the season. It was sunny and actually kind of hot, which is crazy considering the day before was rainy, miserable, and cold. But that is Oregon for ya.
The kids got to feed donkeys, go down slides, play in some kind of grain, and just have a ball. Oddly enough we didn't get any pumpkins, but it's still a little early in the season for that, I like to wait to reduce the chance of a moldy pumpkin by Halloween.

Pool of grain and corn kernels, they were in heaven...I was kind of grossed out

Feeding the donkeys

Duck races, Reese wanted to spend the whole time here

Love these kiddos! Reese too, she didn't want to sit on the haystack for pictures though (she is SUCH a 2 year old!)

Love Weston's face in this!

 The following are the pictures Amanda took, it is obvious she is a way more talented photographer. Seriously, she's got the eye for good pics!

Family picture!

Silly kids (it is so much easier to get a silly picture than a normal, smiling one)

Framer

Love

I'm over my cold for the most part, but I still feel blah and I'm not sure why. I'm still exercising so I feel like I should be on top of the world but I'm having a hard time getting energy and feeling motivated these days. Hoping it passes soon because my girls are bored since I haven't been coming up with different games. Maybe a vacation would help ;)

I fought the cold

but the cold one.
Less than a month into Fall and I already got sick, blerg.
I still managed to get our house decked out for Halloween though, I do love this time of year. Bria asks every 10 minutes if it's time to go trick or treating, so it's going to be a long October for her. Fortunately preschool should help keep her busy and lots of pumpkin patches.
I am going to go cuddle on the couch and wait for Brian to get home so he can tag me out and I can hopefully kick this cold to the curb.
I leave you with pictures from our morning with the Buell boys, we had a great time going for a walk, doing some Halloween and Fall crafts, and reading.

A little updating

I feel like there are a few things I wanted to write an update on, nothing major, just little things. So here goes:

• Potty training: Reese regressed for a few days, about 2 weeks after she was potty trained. We went back to rewarding her and getting really excited and it worked perfectly, problem solved. She wears pull-ups at night but just underwear at naps. 
• Bootcamp: My last day was today, I did not lose any weight (literally I'm exactly the same) but I lost 4% body fat in just 6 weeks! I'm super excited about that, my instructor used the word remarkable...just sayin' ;) I'm glad I lost some body fat and gained muscle, I've been discouraged with my lack of weight loss and the fact that my clothes seem to fit the same. So at least there is one thing about my body that is changing, I just can't tell.
• Preschool: Bria LOVES preschool. She loves her teacher, loves her friends, loves it. 
• Hikes: Hiking season is over. I love that Brian hikes, it's a great hobby, but I'm glad his hiking trips are done for awhile. 

And now for super random pictures:

 It is too early to have to turn the fire on, but it's cold. At least it's cozy :)

Library with friends!

 I love the contrast between my girls and Randi's, too funny.

 Behind the library is a gorgeous pond with tons of ducks and a large trail. The girls had so much fun running around, and the ducks weren't as scared as they normally are.

 Back at home after nap time/quiet time...

 This girl has got style and flare, love her.

Yard work and girls night out

Once a week we have a lawn maintenance crew come and they mow/edge/trim/blow leaves and generally clean up the place. It's what sold Brian on renting this house because it's included and he doesn't like having to mow every week.

However, we still enjoy the occasional clean up around the yard and we had some trees and bushes that were getting too big for our liking, plus they were touching the house and I like to avoid spiders as much as possible. Also, I pretend they aren't in our house, that helps.

Reese needed some Daddy cuddles after her nap

Bria was in heaven. She absolutely loves working and helping Brian, she feels like such a big girl and it's really sweet to listen to her. Brian said it was way more fun with her helping. I had to snap a picture and then she wanted more, and more and more...she may or may not get her obsession with cameras from me.

Sure love this girls personality and spunk :)

This week has been a horrible introduction to fall, it is cold and rainy and miserable. I'm not okay with this, it's depressing and hard to be motivated to do anything. We went to the library with Randi and her girls one day and that was about it. I didn't even go to Target like I normally would when I'm bored because, well, honestly, I knew I would spend money. The 10 day forecast looks miserable so I need to dig deep and find some energy to do fun rainy day activities!
Thursday night we did do a fun little girls night out. Brian went to hike Mount St. Helens Thursday so that night his Mom came up and we went to Old Spaghetti Factory with Heather and Tracy. Bria was ecstatic that we were doing a girls night out and was being hilariously adorable. We also did a belated birthday celebration for Reese since Grammy couldn't come up for her party. She loved it.

Blowing out her candle

Cheers!

 Next time we might do pedicures :)