First Swim of Summer

I feel pretty lucky that my kids are at the age where a slide with a kiddie pool is still thrilling fun! Cora had two of her preschool friends over after the last day of class to cool off and play. They had a great time! Cora has a lot of really sweet friends, and they are always good at including Violet. That makes it even easier to have them over.

Luke was pretty entertained watching them too.

Rainy Day!

We caught a summer storm on Dads and Donuts Day at preschool. Cora was so excited and wanted to get all decked out in her rain gear. I'm not sure it rained more than 5 minutes, but she was prepared!

Haircuts

After about a 15 year break, I have bangs again! At first Cora said my hair just looked messy. Then she got concerned and asked where my bangs went when I had a headband in pulling them back. And now she says she wants bangs too. It's a fun change.

This is a picture of little Lukey's haircut from last weekend too. Poor guy had a 3 day haircut with multiple trims to try to even everything up (now Kevin wants clippers for Father's Day). That's what happens when you try to grab for the scissors every time they get near your head during your haircut-- I wouldn't recommend it! He lost all his long soft golden baby locks and now has the family 'bear hair'. It looks cute spiky and combed to the side too.

And, yes we do store our bed pillows behind the chair... except when guests who might peek in our room come over!

Summer Fun Update

-We went to Liberty Park for the first time this year. It's such a fun place! Kevin met us there on a Friday evening and we had a picnic and played at the playground. Luke and Violet were so tired afterward that they fell asleep in the car on the 8 minute drive from the park to the Brigham Young Park, so only Kevin and Cora went to the bagpipe concert. We're going to try it again this Friday, and bring swimsuits to play in the wading canals at the park. The concert on Friday is Mercy River, so it should be a fun one.

-Last week we went to the aquarium for the last time on our annual pass. We had great timing! We were the first ones in and the only ones there for about 20 minutes. It was nice to let Luke run around and he loving shrieking at each fish he saw. He especially liked the huge river fish. I think it's the first time he's really paid attention to something like that. Cora wanted so badly to touch the rays, but each time snatched her hand away before they got close enough. We saw them feed the penguins, and Violet and Cora liked watching the frogs, lizards, and spiders with a safe panel of glass in between them and the creepy crawlies.

-Thursday was our preschool field trip to Wheeler Farm. The rain threatened the whole time, but luckily didn't actually start until the very end of the tour. Luke liked shrieking at the turkeys, Cora loved the baby goat, and Violet liked the pigs, even if there weren't babies like last year. The wind blew a lot of dirt up, but it was a fun trip and we ended up enjoying our picnic in the car just fine.

-Friday we met up with Heather, James, and Samuel for a picnic lunch and walk at Daybreak. The baby gosling were so cute! (as usual, Luke had fun shrieking at them too :))We had fun catching up, feeding the ducks and geese, and playing at the playground. We also tried out a yummy bakery for the first time... we'll be going back there!

-Friday night the kids were thrilled to have friends over while their parents went to the temple. They all had fun with blocks and outside in the sandbox. At the end they snuggled in with popcorn and Cars. We haven't had that movie on for a long time, and Luke caught the opening race for the first time. He was glued! I think it was his longest tv watching episode yet... all 8 minutes of it.

-Saturday was Fort Herriman days. We ended up missing the rodeo the week before (we've got to do that next year!) but this year was the first time we watched the parade and it was a lot of fun. I think all of the high school sport teams came by, a few floats, and some businesses. The kids loved catching the candy the most. And all of the police motorcycles and firetrucks too. It was nice to go to a parade close to home where we didn't have to get there super early to get a good spot. We sat near a playground with friends and the kids just played until the parade reached us. I wanted to go to the fireworks that night too, but we missed it-- next year!

Kevin's favorite part was watching the tricks this jeep club performed.

-Kevin and Cora got to go to Dads and Donuts night at preschool. They ate yummy donuts, played games, the kids performed a song, and shot rockets off. Hurray for a terrific preschool activity! At the end the dads stayed and talked while the kids played and played and played outside. It sounded like a great night.

-Today was a special day at preschool for Cora too-- they celebrated her unbirthday. We filled out the birthday poster with pictures and facts all about her, and Luke, Violet, and I along with a plateful of lemonade cupcakes joined her for the first part of preschool. It was also water play day at preschool, so the kids were super excited to be in their swimsuits and play water games outside for the second half of the day. Luke was thrilled to see the guinea pigs at preschool-- and you guessed it-- felt free to interrupt the birthday story with his shrieking. Preschool graduation is Thursday!

Cora, clutching her birthday treat bag, after water day, with the leftover pink lemonade cupcakes. She had a great time!

Cora's Talk

Cora gave a talk in Primary today. She did a great job! The topic given to us was "The first principles and ordinances of the gospel make it possible for me to live with God again". Kind of a mouthful! I wrote the talk on Sunday night and found a picture for almost all of the sentences--pictures off of sugardoodle.net-- and she practiced it 2-3 times every day, and made a few changes in the wording for herself. By today she had it all memorized. I printed the pictures on both sides so she could see the picture for her prompt. I want to get a video of her doing her talk, but I thought I'd post the words here now in case anyone else needs some inspiration!

In the Fourth Article of Faith, the Prophet Joseph Smith said there are 4 things I can do to live with Heavenly Father again.

I must have faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus healed the blind man so he could see again. The blind man had faith. I can have faith in Jesus too. I know he loves me.

I must repent when I don’t do what Jesus taught. Then I can try again to always choose the right.

I can be baptized. Jesus was baptized by immersion by John the Baptist. I can be baptized like Jesus. I will promise to keep the commandments. The sacrament will help me remember my promise.

I can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Jesus visited the Nephites in America. Before he left, he gave them the gift of the Holy Ghost. I can have the gift of the Holy Ghost too. The Holy Ghost will help me choose the right and teach me.

I know I can have faith, repent, be baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. If I do all of these things and make good choices, I can live with Heavenly Father again.

I love my family. I want to be with them forever. I will always try to choose the right and follow Jesus.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Summer Fun

It's our last summer before Cora starts school... we're going to take advantage of it! I found this cute free chart here. I printed it out as a 16x20 at Costco ($6). I've been scouting out Groupons that last couple of months and saving them for summer. Cora could have 7 weeks, 10 weeks, or 3 months until school starts, depending on which school and which track she gets into. Good thing kindergarten is only half day... we're going to need that time to play! The girls are so excited to get stars on each one!

Growing growing growing

I just finished this growth chart for my kids. I really like how it turned out! It'll help liven up the wall in Luke's room. (Vinyl from etsy.com, on $5 board from Home Depot and blue spray paint)

Here are all the stats I compiled. All measurements in inches, of course. Cora is always about 55 percentile for height, and Violet is always about 90 percentile for height, so it's interesting to see that they aren't that different in terms of inches. Luke's not that far off from either of them, which just shows how different the boy and girl charts must be, since he's been hovering around the 35th percentile for height.

	Birth	1	2	3	4
Cora	19	29	34.5	37	40
Violet	20	30	35	38.5
Luke	19	30

This week

This week we were FINALLY all settled in from our very busy March/April. Finally! All of the must-do items were off the list and I could start on some fun can-do items. I took the the too-small cupcake liner ball and made these cute flowers to hang in the window instead. (Directions here and here). Super easy and super cheap! I've heard they don't last forever, gravity and all, but for a $5 project, I'm thrilled with how they turned out!
I also finished a sewing project I've been thinking about for the last 4 months. It's actually a Christmas present, so I can't blog about it, but it was fun and easy, and a nice thing to cross off the list. More to come on that in about... 7 months! :)

The girls and I got to see my cousins who recently returned home from their missions in Boston and Kansas. Thanks to the convenience of family emails, we got to read weekly reports on their missionary time. It was fun to hear them speak in church and have another opportunity to talk to Cora and Violet about what missionaries do. How exciting that they (a brother and sister) got to come home on the same day, 45 minutes apart!

The girls are both really into playdates right now... Violet had her first couple and they were a success. It's fun to have the girls close enough in age to be able to play with friends together. Who knows how long that will last?? We also got a few days of nice enough weather to play outside, which was lovely.

Saturday was our big day, we took a big hike! Thanks to a neighbor, I found out about a hike only 10 minutes away from us. I had thought, for whatever reason, we had to go east to get any hiking in, at least a 45 minute drive. This was much closer, and perfect for us... pretty, not steep at all, wide trails. We did a 4 mile hike, and although Violet had a hard time the last 20 minutes (and fell asleep 2 minutes after we got back in the car), we all had a great time. The girls loved seeing the deer, bikers, horses, flowers, birds... and horse poop. Near the end I was pointing out ALL the horse poop piles to get Violet to laugh and distract her from her tired legs. Whatever works! Luke had it pretty comfy in the backpack, but he was eager to stretch his legs and throw rocks when he got the chance to walk. We'll definately be going back! Maybe we'll be able to make the 7 miles loop someday. Then we'll need a while backpack of snacks and pb&j!
Luke slept a record 3 1/2 hours when we got home, while Kevin and I deep-cleaned the garage and the girls rode bikes and played in the sandbox. A fun AND productive day! We had to reward ourselves with Cafe Rio--yum!

Official Wedding Pics

Rearranging

It doesn't seem like we've been in this house all that long, but then, it has been two years-- this week in fact! It was time for a little rearranging.

We bought this bunkbed set and bedding from my parents who won't need them in their new condo when they move. A great deal! The queen bed in the guest room went to the basement, to be brought out when we're done using the crib. We moved the guest room to the corner room and it's now officially Cora's room... she'll just have to move out when guests come :). It'll be nice to have a bed with a smaller footprint and bigger capacity.
We moved the nursery to the middle room.
And we put the bunks together in Violet's room. When we bought them Cora was still pretty terrified of going up and down the ladder. She's fine with that now, and she'll only need to sleep on the top bunk when we have guests, any way.

Bunking up the beds leaves more room for playing!

We spent all last weekend disassembling, assembling, and moving furniture up down and around. I finally got the closets completely switched this week, now I just need to do put up the wall hangings. And figure out what to do with this lost little pink ball. It's one of these and it's so cute, but it doesn't fill up the space like I imagined it would. I'm thinking about adding some hanging tissue paper flowers to go along with it. I was going to paint wood letters to hang above the windows, but the ones I found were either too big or too small. So I'm still brainstorming... any ideas?

Luke Update

Luke is now 16 months old. Here's a little about what he's been up to lately.

-Luke's new fascination is light switches. Thankfully he can't reach them yet! But whenever I'm carrying him and he spies one, he reaches to try to turn it off and on. He's a pretty curious guy... he'll also reach and pull clothes off their hangers in the closet, Pata's glasses out of his pocket, and anyone's phone.

-Lukey loves to give kisses. If he's in the right mood, he'll reach for you face and kiss you over and over. He must also fancy himself a little prince, if you pretend to go to sleep (or really are-- Pata!), he'll come and plant a slobbery one right on your lips to wake you up. But beware, he might bestow a honk on your nose or try to open your eyelids instead.

-We've learned the hard way that all the bathroom, pantry, and closet doors, as well as toilet lids, must be kept shut and garbage cans can't be on the floor. Otherwise you are bound to find cans of diet Dr. Pepper being rolled around the kitchen, garbage in the toilet, and toilet paper shredded all over. Luke still thrills in emptying cupboards and strewing plastic bowls and plates and tupperware around the house. Sometimes I'm glad he's a shortie and can't reach as high!

-Luke is still sucking on his fingers, more often the last week or two when he's been teething. I'm hoping that his fingers will grow long enough that this isn't comfortable and he stops soon!

-Luke has 3 super soft, cute blankies. But he now prefers one of the girls' dolly blankies, much to their chagrin. He also likes his car quilt, but it's too big to drag around most of the time.

-Speaking of cars, Luke loves them! On our last library trip he insisted on taking all the truck and cars books out after I kept putting them back several times. We finally checked out a couple, even though they are ones for older kids. He was interested in a variety of bedtime books until I happened upon some vehicle books my mom gave Violet. Now those are the only books he wants read to him! He loves zooming his little cars are trucks around, and lego and polly pocket cars too.

-Luke loves going outside and feels personally insulted if someone goes outside without him. At least that's what I suspect the loud screams mean. He has fun exploring the front and back yard, running near the street to watch how fast I run to get him, and running down hill at the park. One of the parks nearby has a smaller slide that Luke can manage to climb up the stairs and go down all by himself. It make a nice little circuit for him.

-Luke has 2 more months to go before he can go to nursery. I think he'll have a blast there, and Kevin will be excited to be able to attend classes with less exertion.

-Luke is a mama's boy right now, moreso than I can remember Cora or Violet ever being.

-Luke loves his sisters. They do a great job playing with him (most of the time!). He has a specific shriek just for when he feels they are being unfair. Luckily, he doesn't usually follow it up with a bite now (which he was doing for a few months just a bit ago).

-At his 15 month appointment, Luke weighed 21.05 pounds (7%) and was 30.71 inches tall (35%). He still has chubby cheeks and thighs, even though he's a little guy. Maybe some more of Kevin's tall genes will kick in later?

-Luke can be a little daredevil. He came up with this trick all by himself. He'll do it over and over and over!

Zoo

We had a ball at the zoo on Friday! We got there pretty early, before the crowds, which was so nice. The animals were fun to see, and everyone enjoyed the train ride and carousel. (I enjoyed the members punch pass you can buy to make it cheaper!). We got an annual pass and hope to go every few months in the next year, if anyone wants to meet up with us there! The dinosaur exhibit that is there now is pretty fun too.

Grandpa's Shop

Hundreds and hundreds of toys, repairs, and inventions were created here. Many thanks to my cousin Ashley for taking the pictures.

A few more Oregon trip pics

(Violet's feet)

The Beach!

We were lucky to have a beautifully sunny day at the beach on Saturday. It was warmer than the days before, the sun was shining, and it wasn't windy. That's as much as you can hope for for the Oregon coast in April!

We started off at the Tillamook factory tour, with icecream of course!
We stayed at the beach for a few hours after that. Luke had a ball playing in the sand.... until he saw the ocean and got close enough to see it was indeed water, and then we could barely keep him out! He would run straight into the waves over and over. And get so mad when we catch him before he got very wet. Luckily we put the beach blanket quite a ways from the water, so when Lukey made his mad dashes to the water when he thought we weren't looking, we were able to catch him in time!
We seriously need to do a warm water, warm weather beach vacation for these kids! The girls loved digging in the sand too, collecting shells, and running in the waves.
They were only ready to leave when their wet jeans got so cold they couldn't stand it anymore. Luckily I remembered to bring a change of clothes, and they warmed up on the way home!

Oh, and the big kids did a little sea weed jumping too. We were right by some large clumps of these long seaweed ropes.

We said goodbye to Kurt and Jen after church on Sunday. It was another gorgeous day in Portland, so the rest of us went to a neat park and took a walk too. It was almost too hot-- amazing! We left Monday morning for the long drive back home. It was filled with more potty stops, and a little bit more whining, but for the most part everyone did well and we made it in one piece.... 13 hours later.

The whole trip ended up being 10 days, with a wedding and a funeral, three states, seeing most of the members of both of our extended families, and about 32 hours of driving time total. It was a great trip, but we were all glad to be home and get settled once again!