Cannon Beach

Kevin had a conference in Cannon Beach so the kids and I tagged along again:) We all had so much fun! Lauren & Ben are getting really good at sharing a bed in a hotel now, no more pack and play!

Love these two to pieces!

When Kevin got out of his meetings he joined us for some fun in the sand. We all had so much fun!

The hotel has all sorts of sand toys for kids to use, it was so nice not to have to bring our own!

Ben is really scared of the waves. Kevin kept trying to take him in (on his shoulders!) but he was still too scared.

Lauren & I had tons of fun chasing each other all over the beach.

We did a little kite flying.

It was kind of hard since there was no wind:)

Yay for dad! He managed to help them fly the kites a little!

Cuddling up by the bonfire on the beach. Lauren asked if we could stay at Cannon Beach forever. I told her sure. We are moving tomorrow. Come visit anytime:)

Impromptu Zoo Trip!

It was so beautiful on Saturday we decided to head to the zoo. We met Ryan, Meg, & Hads as well as Bob, B-Z, Maddie, & Allie. I did a terrible job at taking pics but got a few. I love how gentle Lauren & Maddie look in this picture. Such naturals:)

Ben got brave and petted a goat.

Lauren wanted Ben to sit on her lap, looks comfy huh?

This cracked me up, they both fell asleep in the car with their arms up!

Soccer then the zoo tires a girl out!

Cute girl

I am still sort of in shock of how girly she is these days!

Such a good dad

We were hanging out tonight and Ben was cuddling with his babies. Suddenly he lifted up his shirt and started to feed his baby! Kevin & I were dying we were laughing so hard. Ben has never seen anyone breast feed a real baby, he has only seen Lauren do it! Oh man...who knew our 4 year old daughter would teach our 2 year old son to breast feed?!

He was so serious about it too.

His baby wasn't cooperating...

Oh good, baby finally got it!

I will be saving these pictures to use for his first date, senior memories, wedding, etc!

First Ballet Class

Posing before we left for class, she was really excited!

in action!

She was anxious to show me what she learned afterwards. She did such a good job listening to her teacher and following along, I was really proud of her! Never in a million years did I think my little girl who dressed like a boy for a whole year would be decked out in all pink in a ballet class! A tear almost ran down my cheek while I was watching...I'm serious. Love her either way but it is pretty sweet to see your little girl doing ballet!

Our little reader

Lauren seems to think she needs to wear glasses to read since most of the grown ups she knows do. She is probably doing so much damage to her eyes wearing everyone else's glasses, but she looks so cute. We should probably get her a fake pair.

Happy Birthday Mackenzie (just a few weeks late!)

We missed Mackenzie's birthday a few weeks back so we celebrated it this weekend. Lucky for Mackenzie, Lauren & Ben were willing to help her with her presents:)

She held up her new outfit when she opened it to show her dad. It was really cute!

Ben quickly took her penguin bowling set from her. He's been eyeing in the closet for the last month and was so excited to finally get his hands on it!

Mackenzie was more entertained by the paper so she didn't mind that her toys were being stolen.

It is so cute that they can all play together now!

Soccer

Lauren & Hadley started soccer on Saturday at the Y. They didn't end up on the same team (though there is a girl on Hadley's team named Lauren so we think that was supposed to be our Lauren, oh well...)

Lauren loved her first practice and now thinks of herself as a soccer star:)

Hads wasn't so sure of it all but she'll warm up in no time! (I love Megan's super cute baby belly in the background of this one!)

This boy however was the real soccer star. He was running all over the place kicking the ball like crazy. We might have to lie about his age and get him on a team!

Two cutest girls on the field!

Miss Lauren

Lauren was really into playing teacher tonight and she was reading to Ben & I. Funny thing is, she was reading a recipe book on mixed drinks:)

She was really acting like a teacher, taking time to show us the pages, then she'd pause and ask us a question!

She's a natural!

I was dying here- she said, "I'm sorry class, Miss Lauren can't see without her glasses so I need to go get them real quick" then came back with her sunglasses on! I love the little sneak peak of Ben on the side, listening so well.

She disciplined Ben during the story for not being a good listener then told us all that if we were quiet we'd get to go to recess soon!

Looks like we might have another teacher in family...though currently she is planning on being a "sugar plum fairy" when she grows up, whatever that is!

Crazies!

Ben and Lauren were stalling big time tonight at bedtime. They managed to stay up an hour past their bedtime, but seriously- could you say no to that face?! This boy melts me with his smile, and I think he kind of knows it:)

They were playing Halloween. Not exactly sure what their costumes were. Lauren said she was some sort of ghost...she's gonna hate this picture when she is older, so not flattering of her!

Whatever they are, they are the cutest things I've ever seen!

I love my little crazies.

First Real Day of Preschool

Monday was the first official day of preschool (parents were allowed to stay last Friday). Here the kids are lining up out front to go into class with their teacher Mrs. Boughton (who happens to be Gretchen's mom (my former job share partner) who is pretty fabulous!).

Lauren & Braelyn- they both picked out their own outfits, can you tell? Miss Lauren has quite a funny little sense of style, but as long as she feel beautiful, who really cares- right? Plus she had a dress on and was decked out in pink so I couldn't complain:)

Such big kids!

First Day of Preschool in the 4's class!

Lauren was feeling pretty proud and grown up this morning! She was SO excited when she woke up this morning, it was like Christmas morning! If only we could guarantee she is always this excited about school:)

Happy Girl in her new school dress custom made for her by her Oma! Pretty lucky girl to have a custom made dress.

Showing us what class she's in- the 4's!

We had a mini crisis this morning, Lauren had been planning on wearing this dress with her "fancy" party shoes. I thought simply planning the outfit the night before was good enough but I guess a good mom would have set everything out because 5 minutes before it was time to leave we realized one of the shoes was missing. Kevin & I ran around like crazy people and turned this house upside down, but that darn shoe is still MIA. So we settled on the pink jellies. Looks like someone may be in need of a back up pair of party shoes!

He's getting good at riding the razor!

Ben is really into riding the razor lately. He had a blast at Oma & Opa's because they have flat sidewalks to ride on.

Lauren had fun hanging out on top of Opa's car. She & Ben are probably the only 2 people on the planet that could get away with sitting on his car- the man takes VERY good care of his cars. It's for sale actually, so if anyone wants an immaculate Dodge truck let us know! We'll hook you up.

oh how I wished we lived somewhere flat- next house, no hill!