Friday, July 31, 2015

Hanging out at the zoo, and Ruby turns 3 1/2!

It has been quite a week. Reid learned how to climb on the dining room chairs (and table). I take him down and say "no" every time, because I don't want him to fall off and get hurt. And I also don't want kids that climb on the table. :) We went to the zoo twice, which was really fun. We had a huge rain storm on one day, and then a few days later it was super hot. Weird weather for sure. And we keep getting lots of blackberries, and I made it to EMERALD!! in my Beachbody business. I'm so excited! That's only a step up from Coach, but it's a start! Ruby is the next step, and then Diamond. It's going super well, and I am really loving it.
Reid has been talking so much! I just read him "Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear?" at bedtime tonight, and he tried repeating all of the animal sounds after me. He's quite verbose. Here is a list of most of the words he knows, at least the ones I can think of right now: Mama, Dada, uh-oh, "urse" (nurse), "ma" (more), ta-da, cuckoo, "bk" (book), "nanana" (banana), "bup" (up), "goggy" (doggy), "ah-key" (blanket) and a ton more. And he's learning more all the time. He always tries to copy what we say.
 He's always so curious about things and likes to know how they work. :)
 This was at the zoo. I love it that Ruby does not care what people think about her. If a noise is too loud, she just covers her ears. :) She does it quite a lot, especially for the blender or vacuum.
 He loved the penguins! We were supposed to meet our friend at the zoo, but she could not find a single parking spot. We got there early, so we did. It gets crazy there!
 Ruby with the elephant at the new elephant land.
 We love to see the elephants!
 He's been loving to push the stroller around.
 Ruby made me a "cake" and then took this picture. :)
 Our friends from Aumsville came over on Saturday for lunch. This is baby Addison (I was at her birth). :) She's almost 5 months old now and getting big! And so cute.
 Ruby and Aiden are best buddies. They were watching for squirrels with their "binoculars."
 No need for personal space. :)
 Reid had fun playing in the pile of stuffed animals. Apparently Ruby and Aiden got them all out, and Aiden was asking Ruby what their names were, and she was just making them up, and then he would crack up. I love 3-year-olds.
 After nap on Saturday we met our friends the Bowens at the zoo. Here are a bunch of the kids! Penny, Milo, Elouise, Tilly (a friend of theirs) and Ruby. Reid was in the stroller.
 We ate a picnic dinner there, and got an elephant ear to split.
 She loved the fish. And then Reid started freaking out, so we almost had to leave, but I nursed him and he calmed down.
 So we went to visit this huge snake!
 I'm so glad there was glass there. I think it could have eaten her whole.
 The cheetah! It looked really soft.
 The lions were all napping on their rock.
 Back at home. Ruby was playing baby, and would cry until I gave her a paci.
She loves trying on my shoes and doing make-up. She kept insisting that these ones fit. 
 On Sunday our church shut down the street after the service and had a fun festival! The kids loved it.
 He's so cuddly after his naps.
 I am feeling amazing! I'm down almost 5 pounds and gaining all kinds of muscle. All it takes is a little hard work. :)
 We ate some ice cream to celebrate Ruby's 1/2 birthday. She loved it.
 Reid likes to ride around in this thing. :)
 On Tuesday I took the kids down to Patty's house, and then I went and picked blackberries for a while. And then I went to Starbucks to get a little bit of work done. It was so nice. And Ruby played dress-up the whole time.
 This cutie loves to climb in the laundry basket.
 We walked to the park on Wednesday, and I found all of these wild flowers growing down our street. So beautiful! I sent Andy this picture, and he said, "Who died?" Hahaha
 We had fun at the park!
 On Thursday it was super hot, so I took the kids to a splash pad in Hillsboro. It was a lot of fun.
 Ruby loved running around!
 We've been showing the kids Planet Earth, and they love it! So do I!

Monday, July 27, 2015

Parks!

We've been going to the park a lot trying to enjoy the summer. It has been a lot of fun. It's so nice to get out of the house, I try to do it every day or at least every other day. The kids do well when we are busy going out and about.
Ruby has been taking less naps lately. But when she doesn't nap, then she likes to go to bed a little earlier. I'm okay with that. :) She definitely still gets a rest time in our bedroom though while Reid naps. That way I still get a little break. She says the best/funniest things all of the time. She gets especially talkative in the evenings. She and I are memorizing Psalm 23 together, and we have half of it down! She's better at memorizing than I am. A few days ago we watched Singing in the Rain, and when they would dance, so would she! It was so cute.
Reid has learned to climb on the kitchen chairs... which scares me a little bit. I'm afraid he will fall off. But he gets up there and is really proud of himself. He has been talking up a storm, and he even tried to say "Ruby" today finally. He has been sleeping a little better this week, but still not great. And he still wakes up at least once during his nap and wants me to hold him for a little bit and then he'll go back to sleep. And he only likes it when I rock him when he's sleepy. Poor Andy tries to do it but he screams until I come in.
 Snuggles!
 These guys love to play in their room.
 Eating his apple slice.
 Mud!!
 There was an air show at the Hillsboro airport about 15 minutes away last weekend. So we drove over that way to catch the end of it. The Blue Angels were amazing! Ruby covered her ears for most of it. She doesn't like loud noises.
 They really love each other. And being on the couch together.
Ruby made me a birthday cake! She loves play dough. 
It was pretty hot the other day, so Andy got out the slip n slide. 
I loved her reaction of getting sprayed. :) 
After I water the plants, he always gets the pitcher and tries to water them too. 
 She picked out her outfit, and we had ice cream for National Ice Cream Day.
 Story time with Daddy. Reid just kept climbing up on top of Ruby.
 Little Mommy shopper.
 Ruby's selfie.
 She loves being outside!
 Tony got a drone from work, and we met him at a school to fly it. It was pretty crazy.
 Reid loved it! (So did Andy.)
Ruby and I played at the playground. 
 Sliding with Uncle Tony.
 The controls.
Reid had fun crawling around. And then we saw a dog and he kept saying "doggy doggy" and trying to walk to it. He really loves doggies. 
 Super Ruby climbed right up the climbing wall, all the way to the top!
 Ruby and her bun. We're still trying to get rid of the lice.
 We went on a walk, and stopped a lot to look at all kinds of things. And then we picked blackberries.
 Playing "fireworks."
 Ruby and all of her fireworks. Pretty cute.
 On Wednesday we went down to Stayton to visit Stacey and her kids. It was fun. And then Rachel drove by and saw our car so she stopped by too. :) Then we all went to the park for the free lunch. It was nice to catch up with them.
 He really loves exploring around the back yard.
 Go Huskers!
 They made mud, and then got really dirty.
 More chilling on the couch.
 He's such a climber!
I have gotten pretty thin from working out, so I had to get some new shorts. :) My other ones were literally falling off.
 Dress-up. She's been loving my shoes and make-up lately.
 Reid in his chariot.
 This is at Terra Linda school, down the street from us.
 Andy and Ruby had some races. Andy won the first time...
And then Ruby won the second time!

Family photos

For the week of August 18-24 Boy, with buying a house and moving and starting the kids' online school and starting my doula mentorship a...