1st day of 2nd grade

Eva was so nervous about 2nd grade. She had heard all sorts of things about the 2nd grade teacher (ie: she gives a lot of homework, she's really strict etc.) and I told her not to believe everything she hears. Then she was nervous about seeing her friends and just being in 2nd grade. On the way to school yesterday I told her I was always nervous and excited too, but after a little bit it all went back to normal and was lots of fun. She said, "I'm in 2nd grade now, it's not going to be normal." I said, "it's you're new normal." and then Eva paused and said, "A new normal, ok, I like that."

When I picked her up from school yesterday she said, "I LOVE 2nd grade, I NEVER want to LEAVE!!!"
"I LOVE my new teacher, she is SO funny, she tells us about ALL her different personalities, like when she's Mrs. Picky or Mrs. Grumpy, it's SO funny!" "And she didn't feel like doing math today SO WE DIDN'T! It was SO awesome!!"

Pretty sure 2nd grade will be an awesome year for her.
Here are a bunch of pictures of the same thing:

The "2" is for 2nd grade...not a peace sign.

New teacher, Mrs. Free.

Elle starts preschool in a couple weeks...I'm sure she'll have her fill of pics for her last year of preschool.

Labor Day Weekend 2011

There was shopping (fun for mom).
And there was playing at the beach (fun for everyone else).
There was also really great food at Eleanor's Undertow, our favorite place in Lincoln City.
(All photos are by Jeremy, he's getting good!)

Making a sand rock.

Sisterly love...possibly a forced hug.

I love this picture:



Caution, extreme thighness:

He screamed in horror after he touched the water...it was absolutely freezing, my toes went numb after a few seconds, I have no idea how the girls could stand being in it.

We all had a really great time, it was a long day but, a great way to end summer.

This just in, JJ is a giant baby

What do you mean you already knew that?
I haven't put up his 4 month old stats...most of which I can't even remember but I do remember this folks:
He weighed in at 20lbs and 6oz! That's right...that's about what Elle weighed...when SHE WAS 1!
My chiropractor probably secretly loves JJ for being so huge...or not so secretly.

AND the other day we were at Jeremy's work picnic (fun was had by all) and JJ got scared by a loud noise and started crying...as I was going to pick him up I was looking in his mouth and thought...
"Is that a...tooth?!?"
The answer was yes, yes, my little baby has a tooth...a tooth that went completely unnoticed by me. On top of that, the other one was on the brink of coming in too! Update: Monday morning said tooth has broken through.
I swear my son is growing up too fast...I wish he'd slow it down a little, I feel like I'm being cheated out of having a baby boy finally...he's getting too big too fast! :(

Last night we were all bored...when Sunday starts early it makes for a long day...you can only take so many Sunday walks to take up time...anyway, JJ was watching me eat and drink and giving me weird looks. So we decided to give him some rice cereal. Like I said, Sunday makes for a looooong day.
Here are those pictures of his first solids.
Yes...I'm going to do a JJ voice and say what I think he's thinking.

"Hey now...what's going on in that bowl there?"



"Ewwweird"

"Hey sisters, check this out...there's stuff in my mouth!"

"I don't know mom...do I like it?"

"I should probably have another bite."

"Oh mom. That was pretty good...so good I pulled my bib off!"

"Cereal coma."

"I'm trying to eat here dad...enough with the flash."

"All right, I'm over it...is it just me or is this stuff starting to taste like paste?"



JJ entertained us with all his funny faces...who knows if we'll give him more cereal...maybe in a few weeks...or next Sunday when we're all bored again. :)

County Fair 2011

We had a great time at the fair this year. The girls got bracelets to go on as many rides as they wanted and I'm so glad we pre-bought them...the fair prices went up A TON this year.
They had a blast together and it was nice and relaxing. I actually got to use the special nursing area they have for mothers this year and it was so nice not to have to worry about where to go to nurse him!

Eva saw this pirate ride and was so excited for her and Elle to go on it...little did she realize that it was a scary ride. I couldn't wait to see their faces when they came out of it, am I a horrible mother?:

HA! We headed back of to the kid area after that.

And of course fat baby; he slept so well and after he ate he enjoyed all the sites to see.

Overall it was a great fair day.

It's the end of an Era

We got our bearded dragons after Eva turned 4, shortly after she had her first seizures. They have become a part of our family and have really comforted her when she was going through a rough time with her health.

They were good pets but since we've grown a new person...there's even less space. So I convinced everyone in the family that it was time to let another family enjoy our wonderful pets and that we would get pets again...after we bought a house...so I have plenty of time to be pet free (yes!)

Saying goodbye.

Zak & Weezy, you were the best pets exactly when we needed you and for as long as we needed you.
I know the family you are with now is so excited to have you and we know they will take such good care of you! Thanks for putting smiles on the girls' face.

A day warm enough for a car wash!

Our car sits underneath the world most annoying tree, not only does it never get trimmed (can these paid lawn people not see these giant branches?) it secretes some sort of sticky junk (not sap) all over our car.
So our car is constantly sticky and dirt sticks to it even more than regular.
It was actually warm enough to wash the car this summer (our summer here has been more like fall) so we had the girls get their swimsuits on and put them to work!
I don't have any proof of that BUT I got plenty of pictures of them having fun with the hose afterwards.

And of course it's never complete without a nice dance pose from Elle.

And the grand finale...they made their own sprinkler.

drive-in

I was going to have one long post with all the things that I haven't written about....but it feels like I'm accomplishing more writing more little posts.

Anyway, about a thousand years ago in the beginning of the summer Jeremy took the girls to the drive-in. It was a double showing (as they always are)  of Cars2 and Green Lantern.
The girls had never been to a drive-in so they had no idea what to expect...neither did Jeremy.
We got the van ready by ditching a few chairs and replacing them with lots of blankets.
The girls picked out candy from Safeway and I popped a few bags of popcorn for them to take too.

Yes that is marker all over the back of the seats...and no, no one will ever buy this car from us...unless they too have a budding artist on their hands.

The first movie doesn't even start till 9:40pm! Jeremy said they both did really well and halfway through Cars 2 Elle said, "Daddy is it ok if I close my eyes?" I thought that was so sweet. But Eva stayed awake the whole time, Even for Green Lantern! Jeremy said that Elle woke up after Cars 2 was over and both girls watched the Green Lantern! They came home around 1am and I was expecting to drag the girls out of the car and launch them into their beds, but they both walked right in, wide awake acting like it was 1 in the afternoon!
Luckily they both went straight to bed and fell asleep quickly. Jeremy said it was really fun for all of them and he would definitely do it again.