Sept 2 thru Sept 8 Journal

 Our week started with a trip to Eugene to visit family! Claire loved the swings! Cam, KJ, and Landon played with cousins until we dragged them to the car - we love our Eugene trips.

 GG gave Claire a new nightgown to replace her Cinderella one that was a 12 month size nightgown - but we wouldn't give it up because she loved it and looked so cute in it. Now we have a 24 month size Belle nightgown and it fits perfectly.

We lay on Mom and Dad's bed before bedtime and read. Right now we are reading Winnie the Pooh and while the kids didn't think they'd like it....they are mesmerized by it. It makes my mommy heart sing to cuddle up with my babies in a big bed and enjoy reading together. Sometime we watch a show too - one of our new favorites is Magic for Humans. We swear this guy is a real life wizard and we are so sad there is only one season on Netflix.

I took the kids to Pump it Up to celebrate our Not back to school day! We met GG for lunch at Red Robin after. Claire didn't really enjoy Pump it up - maybe when she is older. the other kiddos had a blast and found new ways to go down the slide. (KJ is wearing a cast because she was trying to balance on a soccer ball, fell, and landed hand first. She has a buckle fracture and has to wear the splint for 3 weeks)

 This is Claire's new favorite bed mate - Pooh. The kids found him at the G-dub and brought him home. She is in love and carries him around the house. She falls asleep right next to him and just adores it.

We went to Oaks Park for Homeschool Day with some of our HGC families - they do a discounted rate for the day and we had so much fun!!! I have lived here my entire life and have never been - this will definitely be put on our list of must-do every year. The kids and I played the day away and rode ride after ride. Cameron used his own money to buy him and his bro/sis a icee. He is so kind. I might have snagged a couple swigs...it was so hot that day! They were all asleep within minutes of driving home - a classic tell-tale of a crazy fun day.

 My mom found these shelves on facebook marketplace. I wasn't too interested at first, but now that they're here I can't imagine the room without them. We had to put all our seats in the van down and they barely fit! It has been so fun to decorate and organize my own house. I am feeling very blessed and happy.

Soccer season is still happening and we are having a lot of fun. Claire is beloved by both teams of boys and they welcome her onto their bench anytime she wishes. The big boys even give her the time of day and some of them make it a point to get down on her level and say hello in a cute high voice.

Both boys are currently undefeated (only one tie - WAHOOO).

KJ is really liking her hip hop class. She won't really show us her moves at home so I am very much looking forward to seeing the showcase at the end so we can see what she has been up to!

Aug 26 thru Sept 1 Journal

We had a busy week of soccer, math class, music class, and dance class! It was the last week for us before we started "homeschool". I'm trying a new schedule this year to hopefully give Halsy and I the best of both worlds. Mon & Fri (free days) Tu & Wed (school days & activity days) Thu (HGC day and rest). We will see if this alleviates my stress and keeps the kids on track better all at the same time!!

 

 We live much closer to Katelyn now and she came for a visit and took Claire on a date!

I really love coaching my boys in soccer. This year I am assistant coaching both teams so it is a lot less involved and it is supremely lovely, especially with the amount and age of my kids. I get to just show up and love on the boys, encourage and help Travis or Darrin run through what they want to do. Claire likes it too - she toddles around the field, sits on balls, eats goldfish (fishies), and charms everyone. KJ really doesn't enjoy coming and she has started staying home. We got an Alexa so she could call me and I can call her - it makes me feel better about leaving her here alone for a couple hours. I am excited to be a head coach for Landon's team as they get older - they are a great group of kiddos. I'll happily stay assistant coach for Cameron's team. Darrin knows way more than I do and I am always learning new rules about the game from him and the boys even :) Landon loves to come to Cameron's practices and play with the big boys.

We have gotten to hanging pictures in the kids rooms! Katey Jane is so excited because she has been begging us to do it since we moved in! Their rooms look and feel like home now and everyone is excited to sleep tonight in their rooms.

Goodbye Allergies!!

We are SOOOOO EXCITED to announce that Claire's allergies have disappeared!! She has outgrown them ALL!!

WAHOOO!! - No more avoiding dairy, eggs, peanut butter, strawberries, or sunflower seeds!!

She was tested this month because she was not having reactions when she would accidentally ingest her allergies. They had to do a back prick test (not her favorite) and the poor nurse was on Claire's bad list for the rest of the appointment. Anytime the nurse entered to check on us, Claire would immediately cry and climb up my lap. the doctor was so amazed and super happy for us. He said we should feed her all of the "off limits" foods that we had been avoiding so they wouldn't return and we wasted no time! Ice cream, pizza, bagels and cream cheese, PB & J sandwiches, PB cookies, goldfish (fishies), Reeses PB Cups, Cows milk in her bottle, and so much more!! She has been enjoying her new foods and asks for Pizza often (a good choice I think).

It is so nice to not have to buy a separate list of foods, make a separate dinner, etc!! Now I just make food and we all eat it - it is a small slice of heaven.

Here she is enjoying one of her new favorite snacks - Fishies

Landon turns 6!!

Landon - our number three!! We are so in love with Landon. This little boy makes our home happy, crazy, hilarious, and sweet. One look from those puppy dog blue eyes and we are smitten. Happy Birthday Little Man

He Loves to:

Wrestle with his brother - or anyone unlucky enough to get caught ;)
Laugh
Read Books
Play with cars/motorcycles
Play games
Dream of owning a motorcycle
Avoid cleaning at all costs
Go swimming
Help me with Claire
Bother his big brother and get beat up in the process
Eat nutella, bacon, go-gurts, slushees, and spaghetti
Go hiking
Jump on the trampoline
Ride bikes
Play soccer
Sleep in the car whenever possible

He hates to:
Do anything that has to do with cleaning
Do too many things in one day
Be near dogs or any large animal
Go to bed
Be woken up
Have his turn skipped

Claire is 18 months old!!

We went to the doctor today and Claire has grown two inches and gained 2 lbs - its no wonder she has been sleeping and eating like a teenage boy lately! She is in the 100th percentile for her head, 97th for her height, and 60th for her weight. She dazzled all the nurses and Dr. Sniffen with her big blue eyes and babbling. She

Claire is the word queen and she loves her some shoes!! She is blurting new words almost every day! She is 18 months old now and we are still obsessed. She is a super sleeper; wakes up at 9:30 and takes a 3 hour nap.

She can now say:

Mama, Mom, Dad, KJ, Landon, Cam, GG, Gramps, Nana, more, another one, yes, no, nonie, barbie,
dog, stuck, paci/binky, elmo, Pooh (whinnie the pooh is her favorite movie), uh oh, owie, bum bum, pee pee, more, up, shoes, thank you, and more come out every day.

She knows her body parts and points to everyone around the room when asked. She loves to read and play with her big brothers and sister. She will always join in singing twinkle twinkle little star and she will always listen to us singing. She is getting good at following directions when we need something or want her to listen. She loves to be outside and go for walks. She is a good little eater too and we all love to watch her do just about anything. She is still allergic to milk, eggs, PB, strawberries, and sunflower seeds, but we have an appointment to get her tested again because I think she is starting to outgrow a couple of them. *fingers crossed*

8/24/18 Post Edit: She has added bite, puppy dog, and mine to the list of words.

August 10 - Aug 20, 2018 Journal

We found a house to rent!! I started looking when the prices came back into our range and houses started popping up on Zillow again. It is a crazy market - there were 6 people looking at the house and two people turned in applications before I got to the office 3 hours after the showing!! Luckily I knew the receptionist and she shoved my app to the top of the pile.
  We were supposed to move in on the 10th, but when I picked up the keys and looked at the house the friday before.....the entire house smelled like dogs. When they cleaned the carpets it released the smell and it was BAD. Also the cleaning lady didn't do a very good job - she left dust everywhere and things looked/felt gross. I called the property manager and let them know - they talked with the owners and decided that they would replace the carpets for us. The only bad part is that we had to back up our move date 1 week and keep living out of suitcases/sleeping with our beds on the floor another week.
  We survived though and we are all moved in. Its a crazy mess during unpacking but it is getting better each day. Halsy got what Finn had at the family vacation and has been out of commission going on day 4. Poor guy - I couldn't even be mad at him when he couldn't help with moving because I knew he felt so rotten.

I'll post pictures soon.

Aug 1 thru Aug 10, 2018 Journal

We have had a great August! We started the month with a trip to Sunriver with my family. We all stayed together in a big house and did day trip activities. We ate yummy food, played lots of games, and watched some good movies. The kids lived in the hot tub and on their bikes.

 We visited the lava fields, the volcano, and the lava caves!! It was an awesome day!

 We celebrated Jesop's (4) Birthday while we were there! 

 On the last day we stopped at Hobby Lobby and then ate lunch at Round Table. We all got so stuffed the the kids fell asleep almost instantly!

The last two days we floated the little deschutes. We have no pictures because none of us wanted our phones to float the river too...well sink in the river. We rented tubes the first day and it ended up a disaster. Jerry and I were stuck in double tubes without a double and we had to paddle most of the time! Th second day we did better. We got a raft for the kiddos, cooler, and extra adults and everyone else was on kayaks and paddle boards. We had so much fun!! It was super hot and the river felt glorious.

It was a great week - only a few minor fights or head butts. Just a couple slivers, bike pedals and poor Finny B got sick.