I Will Catch Up! :)

I feel like I just can not keep up on all of the blogging that needs to be done for the summer! We have had a VERY BUSY Summer with something going on every day... and I go back to work on Monday! YIKES! I can not believe it. I do not feel ready to go back! Summer has gone by so quickly and I wish I had another month, or 3 ;), to have more fun. I have 2 weeks of beach photos to post (we just got back last night, and then had a trip to the coast 2 weeks prior. There is no Internet at the beach house). I will get all of those up and running soon. They were both great trips!
Lately my evenings, when Bryan is home, have been spent walking. I am getting ready for the Portland to Coast walk. It is a walk from Portland to Seaside with a group of 12 ladies. We have 2 vans of 6 and we all take turns walking to make it to the coast. Our team starts on Friday morning at 6:30 AM (we have to check in at 5:30 AM...ugg! This means that 3:30 or 4 the alarm clock will go off! yawn!) and will finish around 10:00/11:00 AM on Saturday! We will walk all night. For those of you who are not familiar, it is like Hood to Coast...but starting in Portland and not running but walking. Both events take place on the same days, at the same times, and on the same course. Bry is running Hood to Coast...so he has been training too! He has run it in years past. This is my first time with the walk. It will be fun and a challenge. The only thing I am a little nervous about is my 11:00 PM leg in the middle of the mountains. It will be very DARK! O-well....I guess I will walk faster to get it over with! :) I am looking forward to it! It will be a new experience and I am with a great group of friends so we WILL have fun no matter what! :)
I will catch up as time allows....but for now....wish me luck! :)

Hot Sun = Water Fun

It has been in the Upper 90's this past week so we decided to head to water fountains/spray park in Wilsonville! It is a really cool area because all of the rock, walls, fountains, and waterfalls are so natural looking. Our neighbors joined us for the fun day of splashing, running, and playing! The last time I was there was when I was pregnant with Peyton. Now she is old enough to join in on the fun.

I played around with black and white photos and like how some of them turned out. I feel like you can see the movement of the water better in the black and white pics.

Maddie was the hard one to take pictures of this time around. She was movin' so fast that most pictures of her were a blur. Peyton, on the other hand, would stay in one spot for a while and fill up her bucket and watering can and play and pour in one area. Hence why I have so many pictures of her this time around. She loves the water!
Friends

Blueberry Pickin'

Every summer we go out and pick blueberries to stock up for the winter! you just can't beat blueberry muffins, blueberry pancakes, and frozen blueberries that have been picked fresh! The secretary at my school has blueberry plants that we pick from each time. This year she had decided not to do anything with the fields that the berries are in and did not open up to the public for picking like she usually does. She was going to be out of town and said we could come and pick as many as we wanted for FREE!!! YIPPEE!! Can't beat that price. We were warned that the fields had tall grass and blackberry bushes that may snag us so to watch out. Well...we just made sure we wore long pants and our boots and picked to our hearts content. It was a much better experience then last year ( Last year...Maddie got cut up by berry bushes and Peyton was so cranky that Bry and the girls sat in the car and I picked alone). Here are some pictures from our outing! Lots of Berries! Yummy!
4 Gallon size bags full! These will last us a little while!

A New Library Member

Maddie signed up for her first library card! She is able to write her first and last name pretty well and small enough to fit on her card! She is one proud cookie and couldn't wait to check out some books! :)

It is Fall Mommy!

I had bought Peyton a couple of cute Carter outfits for the Fall. They are a size too big and have long sleeves and long pants. Peyton is continually asking to wear them because she sees them hanging in her closet. My reply to her is..."you can wear them in the Fall. It is too hot out right now and they do not quite fit you yet." She continues to ask every time she sees them in her closet and just can not wait to wear them. My answer is always the same.
One night Maddie wanted Peyton to take a shower with her and Maddie said she would help Peyton get clean. So I said, "OK", thinking I would help if needed. Maddie accidentally used a little too much soap on Peyton and Peyton fell pretty hard and hit her little back and head. I got her out of the shower, wrapped her in a towel, and took her to her room with tears running down her face and a sad little trembling lip. Poor baby. We go into her closet to get her PJ's and Peyton points to her new outfit.

With tears running down her little cheeks she says in a soft little voice,

"Mommy me did fall. Now me can wear that?"

Ooooo...my sweet little baby! I just about cried!

Maddie and I explained to her the season of Fall.

Tooth #3...Gone!

Madison lost yet another tooth! Tooth #3 is now in the hands of the tooth fairy! The tooth was taken to the beach with us and put under her pillow there. The tooth fairy was able to find her at the the beach and leave that gold dollar coin.

A Butterfly Life Cycle

For Madison's Birthday her Uncle Eric, Aunt Heather, and Cousin Emma sent her the neatest gift! A little science project to raise butterflies from the stage of caterpillars to butterflies. I have done this lesson with my kindergarten class for the last 11 years and it is a favorite part of my school year. Maddie had not had this experience in her kindergarten class so I was so excited to share this with her and Peyton.

We just ordered the caterpillars through the mail and they come as little caterpillars.

Then the changes begin!

Here are the pictures of the life cycle of our butterflies!

Caterpillar...big.... we had to leave them in the container so this is the best picture I could get.Chrysalis
Empty Chrysalis

Butterflies have hatched!

So neat!

We gave them sugar water and flowers from our butterfly bush to eat. We let them go in our back yard after observing them for one day.

Maddie with 3 of the butterflies out of the 5 that hatchedSo fun to hold a butterfly and see it close up!A butterfly on a butterfly bush flower.

Thank you so much for the WONDERFUL birthday gift and learning experience Eric, Heather, and Emma! Maddie loved it!! We may have to order more next Summer and do it all again!