The Fam + The River + Blackberries

It's evenings like this that make we want summer to never. ever. end. 

Sunday was another hot one, which is just fine by us, and we made the most of it by heading to the river to cool off.  Everyone got in and Matt and Madi even swam across.  We splashed and splashed and then slowly wandered home, picking blackberries all the while. 

It was perfect. Just perfect. 

Madi could stand and eat blackberries for days, and so could the rest of us.  Unfortunately, we needed a giant crane or one of those thing-a-ma-jigs that is used for boosting people up to the power lines - they move up and out in any direction necessary.  We were dreaming of one of those to pick all the perfect ones...

We settled for what we could reach and then headed home for dinner.  

Em refused to look for our selfie...

When we finally let him down, he was ecstatic! We needed a floatie baby tube!

Summer, please don't go away!!!

To Be A Princess...

Unfortunately between getting my hair done, packing necessary rations for a baby, doing Jess' make up, praying both children napped, driving back and forth to the Oregon Gardens, trying to keep a sleep-deprived 11 month old from crying the whole entire time during pictures in 85 degree weather with three layers of clothing on I was unable to snap more than the following pictures on my phone.  =( I actually woke up the morning after the wedding so sad because I didn't take a single picture of just our little family all dressed up, OR of just Matt and I, OR of just our two children together...

*sigh*

Epic fail. 

So you'll have to settle for my word for it when I tell you we ALL spent the entire day trying to look like royalty.  The Princess, however, is the only one I snapped a few pictures of...

I wish I could have captured Madelyn's evening and stuck it in a bottle to pull out and replay over and over.  She truly thought she was a princess for the night! Auntie Katie did her princess hair (and even trimmed it for the first time!) and Nana pulled out some of our baby jewelry and Madi was in HEAVEN!  When we headed out of our den all dressed up the first thing Madi said was, "Mama, I can't wait for Daddy to see me in my pwincess cwose."

At the reception Matt asked Madi if she wanted to dance with him and she replied emphatically, "Yeah, in a CASTLE!!!"

Oh wow. 

Jess gave Madi a special purse which was quite the hit, as you can imagine, and of course our little hoarder was able to fit an impressive amount of things inside there! She had a stick of gum and a sucker for the ceremony, as well as a baby wipe (per my request) to wipe her hands with.  She also had some sunglasses and chap stick among other things...

She did AWESOME for the ceremony and asked several times throughout the day if it was time to walk down the aisle yet.  Seven pulled a wagon with the three youngest boys inside and Madi and Michael walked alongside throwing rose petals (in theory).  However, it took ALL of Seven's might to drag that entirely too heavy wagon down the very soft grass aisle and he kept running over parts of Madi's dress and dragging her to the ground.  She didn't seem to mind - just jumped right up and kept going.  Of course, they all stole the show.  The babies got dumped on family members and the three oldest joined us up front.  Madi enjoyed the contents of her purse and eventually concluded the ceremony with sitting on Nana's lap in the front row.  

Her attire (complete with red princess shoes) couldn't have been any sweeter.  The morning of the wedding Madi came stumbling out of her bedroom (hardly awake) and said, "Momma, is today Jessica's wedding?" She was an incredible trooper until wee hours of the night and even came home with a cloth dinner napkin snuck in her treat bag, along with a rose bud that had clearly been be-headed from somewhere...

 Madi insisted on carrying a bouquet like the bridesmaids and thankfully there was an extra (throwing bouquet) which she quickly claimed for pre-wedding festivities. 

This princess had NO problems getting dirty and tackled the evening just like she does any other night... right alongside of the boys. (Believe it or not the dress came clean - with the exception of the glow stick spot - with a healthy dosing of spray 'n wash!)

Em had a rough time pre-wedding... aka, picture time. He was SO tired and ready for his second nap so he pretty much cried if I wasn't holding him.  He eventually fell asleep on me during pictures and then I handed him off for a kid picture and he actually stayed asleep.  Yup, completely OUT. He was the sweetest little man all dressed up (along with his cousins, including mini-Chris Farley... better known as Crosby). 

Thank you Aunite Jessica and Uncle David for sharing your special day with our princess (and the rest of us).  It truly was a fairy-tale-filled evening.  

Wedding Week: Full Force

This month started out full force! I don't even try and keep track of what day it is, let alone the date. Jess came to town on the 31st, we headed to PDX for some last minute shopping the next night. I grocery shopped at midnight for a camping trip that we left on the next morning and then Em and I woke up bright and early Saturday morning and headed home for a dear friend's bridal shower.  Matt and Madi packed up our camp and headed home later that afternoon.  Josh and Krista came to town yesterday and we bar-b-qued at Mom and Dad's and let the kids "practice" walking down the aisle.

We had planned a trip to bridgeport and it just so happened that it was the same day Pete's was giving away free iced or blended drinks! Say, what?!?! I like to refer to it as the stars aligning for me. 

(Please note how far away Emmitt is. He was determined to walk the whole way, even if he got left in the dust!)

It's Monday. Three full days until the BIG day. That's right; August has arrived and Jess has been in town for almost a week. Everyone else begins to arrive today! Excitement is in the air!

... or stress, I suppose it depends on who we're talking about. 

Today entails: a trip to Costco, food prep for tomorrow, the final dress fitting

Tomorrow: a day with the girls! The beach, pedi's, Olive Garden, no big deal. 

Wednesday: more food prep, a big BBQ at the parent's house with out of town guests.

Thursday: FLOWERS, rehearsal

Friday: Hair appointments, pictures, the big EVENT!

It will all be over before we know it, so we're soaking up every last bit. I can't believe my baby sister is getting MARRIED?!?! I can't wait to see her glowing on her special day! She will be so stunning!

I'm signing out now.... until I fully recuperate.

Just Beachy...

It's not everyday you find yourself at the Oregon Coast with it looking like this!!!

Especially when the forecast says overcast with a high of 63...

It was just our lucky day, I guess.  

We try and make a day trip to the beach at least once every summer, which I suppose is sort of ridiculous since it is only an hour and a half away, but finding ourselves there with blue skies, 70+ degrees and hardly any wind makes me wish we made the trek everyday!  And then I reminded myself what it usually looks like...

But, alas, I am thankful for our beautiful day, and even more so for my beautiful family that I was able to share the day with. It's true about things being SO much more exciting through the eyes of children. We couldn't be more in love with Madelyn's personality. She can make finding a potato bug on the back porch sound like the. most. amazing. thing. ever. So you can only imagine what it's like when you tell her we get to go play at the beach for the day: eyebrows raise, smile ignites, clapping begins, jumping up and down, "Dad, dad! Mom, mom!" As if the other parent didn't already know our plans. Excitement is a boring term when it comes to Madi's reaction, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

As such, we both should have expected that there would be NO sleeping in the car whatsoever, but evidently we were in denial.  The trip there didn't surprise me too much since it was fairly early and the excitement was still fresh.  However, when we pulled away from the majestic horizon at 8:30 (snuggled up in pajamas) I thought for sure she'd be out by the time the ocean was out of sight.  Silly me. She talked the whole. entire. drive. home. So much so that we finally told her that she wasn't allowed to talk to (or look at) her brother again because we at least wanted HIM to sleep! Emmitt finally drifted off and Mads talked to one or both of us the rest of the drive home.  

Regardless, the trip was still perfect. We packed a lunch, brought the dog, opened up a kite (that I had randomly bought on clearance for $1.18 at Target), played in the water, dug in the sand, and relaxed on the beach.  It was epic.

Emmitt, sweet baby Emmitt, is all boy! He has recently shown us what a good fit looks like and has thrown the biggest tantrums over being taken away from either water or dirt.  Seriously. Back arched, feet kicking, arms flailing... you get the picture.  So, as you can imagine, the combination of dirt (sand) and water was better than having free reign over a candy shop to most kids. Pure. Heaven.  He played his little heart out, regardless of how tired he was! And when he did get so tired that he couldn't handle it, he crawled right over to me, climbed up on my chest and fell fast asleep in my arms. Unfortunately, I had no other option than to fall asleep with him.  It was a true bummer napping on the beach with my baby in my arms. Poor me. 

Meanwhile, Matt and Madi kept themselves busy with the kite that flew the whole time we were there (quite possibly the best $1.18 I've ever spent)! Madi finally burried it in the sand and just let it fly above her while she played with her toys. She'd check on it every now and then or readjust the string. 

We topped our trip off with a quick trip to the outlet malls and some chowder from Mo's. It was fabulous, and I'm longing for the beach again already! 

Maybe we'll have to sneak one more trip in this summer...

Fair warning: this post is definitely picture heavy!!!

Standing proudly in front of her buried kite. 

Don't worry, I covered this boy up after the picture and he did NOT get burned.  I, however, got a little crispy...

...until next time, Lincoln City!!!

Our Little Swimmer!

This last spring we started Madi in swim lessons for the first time.  She was just shy of 3 years old and had never taken any sort of class on her own.  We weren't sure how she'd do, but we talked up swim lessons like we were going to Disney Land and hoped for the best!

She was definitely the youngest in the group, although almost the tallest too and she loved the idea of having a "teacha" and getting all geared up (aka: an excuse to pack a bag with her suit and towel and 45 other things...).  It didn't take her long to feel comfortable putting her head under the water and chugging that delicious salty/chlorinated concoction.  When we went on vacation to Sun River in June we could tell swim lessons had paid off because this girl was a water worm! We strapped her life jacket on her and she swam the entire day by herself - insisting on Matt or me following her around wherever she wanted to go! As far as she was concerned, she could swim! 

So... we signed up for a second round of lessons this summer and most weeks I loaded the kids up in the double BOB and made the one mile trek to the pool in the sunshine.  Our community has free lunches for kids during the summer and the "lunch truck" (Madi's words) comes to the park next to the pool from 12-12:45ish.  Most days we would grab a lunch and have a picnic after swim lessons and take our sweet time wandering home.  It was lovely. 

This girl is a WEIRDO. I tried taking her picture and got a series of about 8 pictures that look a lot like this one...

By the last day of lessons, Madelyn was able to float on her back all the way across the pool by herself.  She even swam without help on her second to last lesson, which in turn made her think that she could swim.  Duh.  Subsequently when her teacher took the next student out, Madi decided to jump off the wall and swim all by herself.  

She sunk.

Fast.

The high school lifeguard reached down and picked her up off the bottom of the pool.  Unfortunately, it didn't seem to bother Madi. After all, she can totally swim...

Almost every morning this summer Madi would wake up and ask, "Momma, is it slide day?" She LOVES the water slide and would often sneak in line a third time if no one caught her! She plays innocent really well already...

*sigh*

It's rough being this cute. 

We always ended our excursion with a trip to the park. Madi loves pushing Emmitt (or Mr. Smoochems) in the swing.  

Thankfully, he loves it too!

We looked forward to our Tuesday/Thursday excursions and hope to hit the pool more this winter when the days are long and dreary and we need to get out of the house! But as for now, we'll just keep enjoying the sunshine!!!