Dare Devil

I looked over the other day and Ben had climbed out of his chair and was on the table! Looks like someone might be taking after his sister after all!

Golden Gardens

We ventured down to Golden Gardens today and it was so great. It was the closet to a real beach that I've been to in WA.
Had to get a shot of Lauren- she picked out this outfit. I was happy it was made up of girl clothes but the Christmas sweater was an interesting addition!

Kevin, Lauren, & I enjoyed the sand...Ben not so much.

Tonight Lauren asked me if we could get her a sand box so she can play in the sand all the time.

This is what Ben did the whole time- just sat on the blanket and dumped out cheddar bunnies, then tried to feed them to us all. I think I still have sand in my teeth:)

I think we may have found our new favorite spot- Lauren wants to go back and bring Hadley!

Just the 3 of us

Lauren, Ben, & I headed to Farrell McWhirter Park today for a little picnic and animal watching. It was really fun just hanging out the 3 of us, which we rarely do. The kids were much more well behaved, I think they liked having me all to themselves!

New Tats?

We were doing projects this morning and Lauren decided each shoulder needed a sticker.
She was so serious about it too.

Emma's Visit... oh and Doug & Marie came too:)

It was so great to finally get to know Miss Emma. She is one of the most perfect babies we've ever met. Always happy and ready for fun- a lot like her mom and dad!
Lauren adored her and wanted to be her "mom" most of the time. Here she is trying to get Emma to cuddle with her.

A lot of group shot attempts...not a single one was successful!

I like this one though, Hadley's face is cute.

Hadley's off to better things.

The rest of the crew just hanging while we wrangled the kids:)

Isn't she just the cutest?! Lauren gave her a bath both nights and Emma's never been so clean!

Auntie Meg & Uncle Ry brought over donuts Sunday morning- a huge hit!

Can't wait for our next visit guys, we love you and already miss you tons!

Redhook

When Doug & Marie & Emma were here we all went to Redhook for lunch and the tour.
We all had a lot of fun but the kids enjoyed it more than I expected.

Ben thought the glasses were so cool...until he broke one- oops! And Lauren is about ready to be a tour guide herself. We drove by a big water tank the other day and she said, "Look, that is a beer tank".

Ben wishing it wasn't empty!

I love you just the way you are

I went shopping yesterday to try to find Lauren some clothes for the fall. I was looking for things that I thought she'd consider cool and that weren't too girly. I knew she'd LOVE this Paul Frank hoodie since she's been asking for one for months. But these shorts- wow! They were the jackpot of all jackpots! They were marked down to $1.00 at TJ Maxx and they have made my little girl so happy. I think it was the best $1.00 I've ever spent.
This is a big big deal for me. I feel like I've gotten over a hurdle. I am surrending and going to let her dress how she wants. I was reading an article by Jenny McCarthy the other day who I typically think is a bit of a nut job but she said something that really got my attention. They asked her what her greatest achievement in life is so far and she said, "Loving my son unconditionally". I thought to myself, "Am I doing that or am I trying to change my kid?" So Lauren can thank Jenny McCarthy for her new shorts!

Now if Ben continues to want to wear pink hats we might have a whole new hurdle to get over:) Having kids teaches you a lot of life lessons!

Stooge 1 & Stooge 2

Not the most flattering pics of our little darlings but cute in a stoogish sort of way:) Auntie Megan always calls them stooges and they lived up to it this evening I'd say!
Loving having their very own ice creams!

the stooges

Lauren had to take a little break to breast feed. It's hard work being a mom.

Then we have our cute little Benny Boo enjoying some corn on the cob. I'm sure he'll catch up to the girls craziness soon to complete our Three Stooges theme but for now we'll enjoy his sweetness!

Great Day

Today was a great day! The doorbell rang and these were delivered- YUM! Thank you John & Aimee- can't wait for another occasion to throw a shower for you so we can get more of these:) Notice one is missing. Kevin and I had to eat one immediately!
This little guy is finally back to his old goofy self and having fun again!

This crazy lady slept for 3 hours on the floor at the base of our stairs while we went about our day all around her!

My calendar arrived and I am feeling semi organized! I wanted to just fill it out for September but Kevin wouldn't let me. He said I should do 1/2 August, 1/2 September but I said no way, only one month at a time.

I made my very first pie from scratch and it was a hit!

And I don't have pictures of the last two but:

• Kevin got home from his business trip which is always fabulous AND the best news of all.........
• THE SUBARU SOLD!!!!! Yahoo!

Today was a great day:)

Skater Girl

Lauren has been asking us to take her to the skate park so she can skate with the big boys ever since she got her scooter in May. We keep telling her she is not old enough, they will crush her, she will fall, etc. We finally gave in last night and took her down there. She of course had to wear Ben's shirt to the park.
We had told her she was going to have to watch the boys and that she could only skate on the flat part, not the slopes (I'm sure there is a cooler name for them but I don't know the lingo!). Of course she just started going right over like she was ready to join. It amazed me that she really sees no difference between these teen boys and herself! Finally we read the skate park rules on the sign and when she heard that it said, "Little kids are not allowed to skate at the same time as big kids" she said, "Okay mom, then lets just wait until they go to bed, then I can skate."

Just watching in awe!

Looks like Ben thinks they are pretty cool too. Me with the 2 skater kids? Not what I pictured!

Luckily there is also a playground there that helped distract her.

Then Ben wanted to ride! He picked up the helmet and put it on first- safety first Benny!

"Riding" in the bark!

This park also has a great trail that goes all through the wetlands. Lauren had a lot of fun riding on it. She is a trooper- she fell a handful of times and just jumped right back on. I have a feeling she'll be going on the "slopes" sooner than I think and I'm just going to have to be proud of her instead of fight it I think... a skill I am working on:)

What a fun and busy Sunday we had! You probably noticed Ben is wearing the same outfit in the last 3 posts, that is because we did all 3 of these things on the same day! We all slept good last night.

Beer Delivery

Yesterday Lauren & Ben had so much fun playing with the left over beer from the shower. They loaded it and unloaded it in Lauren's trike many times.
Lauren was manager and Ben was the stock boy.

Off to go make some deliveries. It was hilarious, she would stop, set a bottle down, and then drive on.

Ben had to pretend to drink one of course.

Off to another stop! Kevin & I were so entertained by this, it went on for quite awhile and they were both so serious about it. Maybe they'll be business partners someday!

Blueberry Picking

Yesterday we headed out to Carnation for some blueberry picking.
It was a beautiful day and just fun to get outside!

This was right next to where we picked, we thought it was random. Must be where they take the Eddie Bauer photo shoots???

Ben was the worst picker ever! He just kept emptying our box, but he wasn't even eating them, he was just throwing them and got quite mad if we didn't let him.

We didn't stay too long or get to many, we got exactly 1 lb, which was just $2 so at least it was a cheap little adventure!