Father's Day

This year Father's Day was totally low key as Justin was able to work some overtime (woo hoo!) We did make his favorite meal (taco salad), give gifts (cards from the kids and matching hats from his favorite fire clothing brand) and enjoyed some hanging out time with my Dad and Kristi, who happened to be in town. The most eventful part of the day was trying to get all 3 of my all go trio to sit for a picture. Here's how it went down.

maybe we'll have better luck next year! lol

"My Do It"

"My Do It"...this is a term heard all. dang. day. long. This is Jaxon's ever so polite way of requesting that he be allowed to Do the task at hand. This day it was making his own peanut butter and jelly sandwich. At any point in the day he will ask to make his own food, pour his juice, brush his teeth or help with bathing himself. And while I appreciate his new sense of independence, it's just another reminder that he is no longer my baby boy. :(

*and for the record he is really one of the most polite 2 year olds I've ever met.

A visit with Uncle Stan

A few weeks ago my Uncle Stan invited us out to visit his new house. The kids had a great time roaming around his property and checking out all of the cool new "toys"...we will definitely invite ourselves back soon.

Jaxon was IN LOVE with this motorcycle. He loved making the noise, playing with the handles...all of it. Since this visit all he talks about are Motorcycles.

And well...Camren just looked to dang cute on the back getting her first hike! (hands and grandparents have been cropped out of the photo for effect)

There were also a few "humongous" tractors for Jax to crawl all over.

Checking out the handles and buttons to see if he could figure out how to make it go!

Back yard Phase 1!

For those of you who've been to our home-you'll remember that we have a large backyard...huge by some standards (especially when you talk pricing to re-landscape). And for the past year or so Justin has been making plans on how to best use our space. The bar was his first mini project, and next was the garden. But little projects just weren't satisfying...enter the cement trucks. After saving for a few months (and having a wonderful FFD connection...gotta love the connections!) and getting a great deal on contracted work, we were able to do the first big pour of our project! Eventually we will have a sidewalk loop around the yard and a shed (man cave as Justin calls it) in the back corner and on Jaxon's wish list--a new play structure...but for now here's the progress! (yay...progress!!!)

before the crew started pouring

Jaxon overseeing the cement truck

Jax lending the crew a helping hand (we figured if we put him to work it would cut down on our overhead! lol)

the finished job...I know it's cement but it really is pretty.

and just a reminder of where we started...dirt, rocks and too many trees!

Red Chair Alert--8 months old!

At 8 months old, this girl is growing like a weed! Gone are the days of worrying about her growth percentiles--we just reached the 60th% for height and weight!! At 18 1/2 lbs and almost 28inches long, her GI confirmed that we have a healthy girl. Today is the first day that Camren will be off all medication since she was about 6 weeks old. Her reflux seems to be controlled (thanks in part to her major growth spurts that let her anatomy catch up) and for the past 3 weeks she has been doing well on half doses. Our GI is pretty confident that she will do well on the med wean. Our last hurdle is to continue holding off on all milk and soy products for the next 3 months. Sometime in September we will begin testing her system with milk- straight up whole milk. I'm a little anxious about this so it's a good thing I have 3 months to get used to the idea of putting something we've deemed toxic to her system in her bottle!

What else has month 8 brought us?? HAIR! ;-) Miss Camren's hair is showing up more and more by the day. And with the right encouragement there is a curl or two that will appear! All of these new hairs make dressing and accessorizing so much more fun...her bow collection is growing!

I am also proud to announce that her top left tooth has officially joined Team Chompers and the top right should be arriving any dang day now. (this momma is tired of teething children, thank-you-very-much)

Little's continues to push the limits and seems bound and determined to show Justin and I that even though we thought we knew what we were doing this time around...we don't. lol. She is officially crawling. Pulling up on anything that will stand still long enough (and tries on things that won't-like the dogs). Is cruising around the furniture and ottoman. Will use toys to help her climb up higher. Loves to jump-on. the. Couch!! And is using walking toys to help her WALK places (crawling is old news now I guess?) I am trying to mentally prepare myself for her first steps which, according to popular belief, will more than likely happen by summer's end. Yay shoe shopping! Little's is also in the midst of a fierce Mama's Girl streak, which sounds a lot more endearing than it really is. But she loves to laugh, loves to be tickled and gives The Best 2 handed, open-mouthed, slobbery kisses I've ever had. LOVE this girl...

Memorial Day '11

This year for Memorial day it was decided that we would head to Aptos (just south of Santa Cruz) and try the high life--renting a beach house instead of camping! (woo hoo! Real beds!) We found a cozy little house that would accommodate 6 adults, 3 kiddos and 2 dogs- which is no easy feat. The house was just a little downhill walk to the beach and we had great ocean views from the balcony! The weather didn't cooperate as much as we would have liked it to...but the weekend was filled with good food and good company. I can't wait until next year to see what kind of trouble the cousins will find!

the whole gang

Aptos is close to the Aquarium-yay!-and so we took Jax and Camren back to see the "big fish" as Jax likes to say!

It was Gramz first time at the Aquarium and Jax had a great time showing her around!

It was so much fun to have all 3 cousins in the house just hanging out!

The 3 musketeers at breakfast!

let's do work!

Alright...just wanted you to know that it's time for me to do some bloggin' work. I have a lot of material so prepare to have your inboxes bombarded!

And speaking of inboxes...there are 10 of you who get this neat little blog emailed to you instantly upon publishing. And (with out a better way to say this) some of you are avid readers...some may not be so much anymore. And well...This blog is kind of a big deal (haha). Ok so what I'm getting to is this...if you are still enjoying the emailed blogs and would like to continue getting them please respond to this emailed post (or any of them really) and let me know that you still want the automatic updating. If you want to give up your spot--or just don't read anymore and don't reply...I'll send you the link to the actual blog so that you can check updates at your leisure. So with that said...start your engines...first 10 to respond get a spot! ;-)

that sounds so cut throat!