Seattle

The girls and I had another fun trip to Seattle. Just like the last road trip, Adie and Eliza were great travelers. Tris and Scott had a tent set up for them to sleep in and they loved it. Ashlynn didn't love going to bed there, or staying asleep, or me leaving her sight. Oh well, I didn't expect her to. It's crazy how bad she fights it when we're away. As soon as we get home she goes back to going to bed great, and since our Ashland trip she is sleeping all night FINALLY. The nights don't get to me when we're away though, I know it's going to be like that and it's worth it. Especially when it's a trip like this and we just relax and get caught up for a couple of days. I love my time with Tristan and Katie (and you too Scott).

Eva and Eli have a sweet sibling bond...

One hi-lite for Adie and Eliza was a walk to the donut shop

Eva dominating the top seat...

Eva dominating the Cheeze-itsThe girls loved just running and riding the scooter up and down the sidewalk. It made it kind of hard for all three of us to sit and talk - we had to take turns chasing the little ones, who were chasing the big kids.

Right now Eli doesn't seem to mind, but soon enough I'm sure he's going to be wishing there were some more boys in this crew.

Eva dominating the chocolate covered granola bar. I actually got her to snuggle with me for about 10 minutes, or maybe it was 5 - but still it was sweet

Can't wait for our next get together, it won't be long!

Love Birds

I can't wait to show these pictures to them when they're 10 and all awkward

senior photo shoot

This week

Ashland

The girls and I had a great trip to Ashland last week. We got to know sweet Opal. It's always hard for me to focus on other kids because I'm busy taking care of ours. But this week I was watching Opal while Annie was at work so I got to know her little personality better. She's a very sweet, happy little baby.

We went to Science Works, the girls all loved it.

that first picture of Adie was suppose to be here

Vinny's class had an evening program that we got to watch. They each told a story about family. Vinny was so cute and funny I got tears watching him. His class was cracking up as he was telling the story of my dad putting on his chaps he got for Christmas when he was 4, with out anything on underneath.

The negative part of the trip was my poison oak. Here I am trying an oatmeal paste to soothe it. I really can't complain though, Ian had a nasty case himself while we were there. I took a picture of ours together but couldn't put it on here, it grossed me out too much.

The girls played hard with Ila from the time they woke up until the time they went to bed. Annie and I were impressed with all of them. That's a long time for us to be away from home, and a long time for us to be in their space. They got along great, amazing how much easier travel gets with each year. Too bad Ashlynn isn't quite at that easy travel stage yet. She was great during the day, and in the car. I only wish I could be as happy as her on 3-4 hours of interrupted sleep. Annie was nice one night during our three hour stretch of her being awake and played with her for a bit while I snoozed on the couch.

We celebrated Carrie's birthday at Northwest Pizza, and then back to her house for cake, ice-cream, and a dance party.

Our little church mice, they couldn't quite hang during the dance off...

Hula Girls

The latest outfit craze at our house, Katie always knows just what the girls will enjoy!

Gymnastics

This picture is a good one to describe how gymnastics is going. Adie loves it and is great about following along with the teacher and could care less about me. Eliza likes it once she gets going. She pouts during stretching saying she's scared. I'm not sure exactly how to handle it. This is their first time doing a class like this, and maybe she is scared. Part of me thinks she's just doing it to get attention, but then I see her trying not to cry and it kills me - luckily the teachers are really sweet and good with cheering her up. After she gets warmed up and gets put into their small groups she has a blast and does great. We also haven't been consistent enough for her to get use to it, and we're missing this week again. So hopefully when we actually go two weeks in a row she'll feel better about it. She loves talking about it and wants to go, and says she has fun once it's over. It's been really interesting for me to watch them - Adie hugs her and puts her arm around her making sure she's ok when she's sad, even though she really just wants to doing what everyone else is doing. When they are both having fun though, they definitely stick together (they have two friends in the class too). They hold hands when it's time to run laps, and hold hands in line going from station to station, and I saw them hugging sitting on the floor waiting for their turn on the rings last week. I'm going to be a mess when they start school and go to separate classes (which I want for the exact reason I see going on here, I don't want one missing out because they are busy taking care of the other). Anyway, they're cute out there, they have awesome outfits, and they are definitely athletes!