Olympics

I'm hooked once again. The summer olympics have captured my utmost attention. Suddenly I have become an "expert" in everything swimming and gymnastics. Don't you love that over the course of these few weeks we can become experts in these sports. =) I enjoy Bob Costas interviews, the mini bio videos of each player and the tear-jerker minute maid commercials. It's a great season.

So far I have already hooked my oldest girls on gymnastics and they are also "experts" on technique. In fact, they are now performing their own routines in the backyard. And of course they always stick their landing. =)


Yay for olympics!

If you haven't had a chance to check out Yusra Mardini's bio (From the Refugee Team) it's a good one. It will inspire you. I have been inspired by her story.

It's been a while!

I guess life has been busy huh? I noticed my last blog post was almost 6 months ago. Well a lot has happened in that time. We decided it was time to move to another town, so we quickly got our house ready to sell, sold it, bought a new one close to work, fixed it up (mostly), moved in and now we're getting into a whole new routine in our new town (new dr.s, church, bank, dentist, play groups etc...)


Overall, it has been a good transition. We're enjoying the town and the neighbors, being closer to family and getting reconnected with old friends.
The girls have adjusted well. They talk about their friend in Newberg every once in a while and we do still visit there once a month.

I'm loving this warm weather! That has been such a welcome change anyway! We're getting our garden area plotted out now. First we have to have 2 trees removed and 3 stumps taken out. But then we'll have a nice sunny spot to garden. My plant starts are in the window sill staying warm and growing every day. The girls have been talking a lot about getting chickens. I would sure love to do that, but we might not be ready for them this year. Hopefully by next year we can do that.

Both girls enjoyed a term of indoor soccer and swim lessons. They have been staying busy in our little town. We're trying to find all of the fun activities here and get to know people. So far we've met a few parents who have been in both classes or at library story time etc... Anyway, we're getting connected and it does feel more and more like home now.

Our house has some projects still, but it's definitely livable. We feel so blessed to have the extra indoor space. I am loving being home with the girls. They are at such a fun age right now with play. Olivia enjoys playing dress up and pretend with Charlotte. I can see this will be a fun summer with both of them.
My next goal is to find a great bike trailer to get around town with them. I think they will love it.

So that's us in a nut shell. I'll try to keep up the posts.

Camping in our own town

Have you even vacationed in your own town? Surprisingly, it takes just as much packing effort as it would if we camped in another town. The difference of course is the shorter drive.
Last weekend we took an adventure with some good friends over to Champoeg State Park! It's a really nice campground and once I'm there I forget how close I am to home. We brought the bikes/stroller etc.. Our friends have two little girls the same age as our own girls. We brought dinner and the made breakfast. It was a nice arrangement. In the afternoon we headed down the nice 2 mile path to the historic Butteville store for dessert. The girls didn't quite make the full 2 mile trek, but they did pretty good. Ice cream was a good motivator. What a perfect sunny day for a hike through the trees and it also follows the river too, so you can see the docks and big beautiful river houses.

Nate and I are going to try to go camping again this weekend - just us! I'm really looking forward to it. It's been a while since we've done anything like this. When I went online to reserve our spot (we're car camping), I was again surprised at how many camp grounds were already full! Hasn't school started? Shouldn't everyone be done with vacations right now? Apparently there are more flexible vacationers than I realized. =) Well I do agree with them that September in Oregon is one of the best months to vacation. Looking forward to it!

Is it still summer?

Unlike families with school aged kids, we are still celebrating summer! Today is 96 degrees and a perfect day to be at the splash park. Well that was the original plan until little Miss O got sick. I ended up staying home with her for a low key morning while a good friend took Charlotte to the splash park. So glad that she could still have a good time with friends.
Olivia and I played dolls, ate a snack, went for a walk, met some new neighbors and talked with some familiar neighbors. It was a quiet low key morning for us. She has been sleeping on and off for the past few hours. I'm not sure if it's a bad cold or something more, but we're babying it for now.

This weekend is a gettaway for Nate and I. We're hoping we can still get away! We'll play it by ear if Olivia is still sick by then.

new beds!

I knew it would happen soon, but it still always sneaks up on me. Yesterday at nap time Olivia was crying, but it sounded much closer to the door than normal. Yep, sure enough she had climbed out of her crib bed (or had fallen? not sure). Thinking that this was just a fluke, I put her back in her crib for another try. Well she is a master climber. She demonstrated her skills 4 different times. Gone with the crib now to transition to a big girl bed.
Good thing my parents were here last weekend with their truck. We went on a spontaneous bunk bed search at local garage sales and actually found one for only $20! I was thrilled!
Charlotte is now on a big big bed and Olivia slept in the little bed for the first time last night. She was nervous and kept coming out of her bed to find me, but after a while of laying there with her she calmed down. I think she will love it.

Olivia...18 months going on 3. She wants to be just like Charlotte doing the same things as Charlotte.

Happy Birthday Charlotte ~ 3!

Charlotte is now 3! And she tells me all the time too. She had an ocean themed birthday party for "Charlotte Ocean." And she invited some friends over to celebrate. We had our tent up from our 4th of July camp-out. I wasn't ready to take it down yet, so we turned it into an impromptu aquarium. =) Nate built a sandbox for Char's birthday present and of course she got a new pool - a bigger one than last years. I'm going to attempt at some basic "swim lesson" sessions with her this summer in her new pool. Here are a few pics from the party. Unfortunately Nate had to miss the whole thing do to his side hurting him so badly. He was sure he had appendicitis, but turned out to be a virus that mimics appendicitis.

more sister pics

They were watching the PGE man fix the telephone pole. Such excitement on our street!

Sisters

These two have flipped a switch in the last month or so where they have become friends and play buddies. Last night at bedtime Nate was reading Charlotte a book about friends and he asked her who her friends were. She said, "olivia!" That was so nice to hear. Olivia gets excited when Charlotte wakes up from her nap so she has a buddy to play with too. I'm enjoying this new phase!

Peaches

Jam and frozen peaches to enjoy through the winter. I'm very excited about this!

Fence pictures!!!

We are so overwhelmed with excitement at having this fence built in our backyard. So many people came out to help Nate this last weekend; Uncle John, Marilyn, my parents, Rick, Peter, and a couple of the neighbors next door. It was so encouraging to see it go up so quickly. And what a hot weekend to work outside too! They were all troopers for sticking to it on such a warm day. But we are blessed and so ready to enjoy this summer in the yard. Just today Charlotte ran outside declaring in a loud voice " I'm going to play in the backyard mom because the dogs can't get me!" I just smiled and opened the back door. Huge sigh of relief to not have to worry about their safety in our own yard. I love it!!!!
Here are a few pictures: