Introducing the Class of 2027 :)

A few of my friends who I graduated high school with and I all had babies right around the same time. So, we all decided that we should get together and let our babies meet! It was so much fun and just a great time. Here they all are . . .

From left: Wyatt (May 6th), Samantha (April 21st), Brock (April 23rd), and Addyson (May 31st).


And here we all are: Sarah and Addyson, Kolby (Rachell's oldest), Caden, me and Brock, Stephanie and Samantha, Tara and Wyatt, and Rachell and Garrett. So much fun! It was great seeing you girls and we should definitely do this once a month - to watch these babies grow together!

Brothers.

Do I have to say anything else?



Brock on the left, Caden on the right. They do look alike, but Brock is definitely growing into his own look, too :)

Brock, sweet Brock.

Brock has been such a different experience than Caden, but also so much the same. Brock is a little bit cuddlier and a little bit chubbier. But, they're both so active and impatient. The active comes from Nigel, definitely. I hate to say it, but I think the impatient might be from me :( They both would rather do most anything except for eat and they both only will ask for it when it's absolutely necessary. I was really hoping for a baby that loved to nurse, but not this time :) And they both are mostly happy when they're standing up and have something to do. Now, while I'm referring to Caden as he was when he was a baby, as I read this back to myself, I realized that most of that is also true now :) Two crazy boys. I have two crazy boys. I might die young, because the stories I hear of Nigel when he was a young boy are enough to give me a heart attack. And if my boys are at all like he was, well, I think you should start praying for me now :)

Brock's sweet mohawk. Lately, it won't stand up anymore. It's getting too long. I'm pretty sad about this :( I love his mohawk!

Happy Birthday, Nigel!

Nigel turned the big 2-9 on August 12th, and so we had a BBQ for him the following Sunday. We did it here! Yay! Our first BBQ at this house. It worked out great. Nigel's parents and little sister Marly, his older sister Angie and her kids, Honesty, Trillium, and Thor, my parents, Hans, Erika, Jude, and Jesse and Lully came to our fun BBQ! Nigel's roommate Chris made an appearance before everyone else as he was getting off duty, but couldn't stay - we missed you Chris and Marci! It was a beautiful day and we had so much fun! Thank you everyone for coming out and making Nigel's birthday special! I love you Nigel. Even though you're getting old and going bald :) Your still the man I've always dreamt of and the man I love more than anyone else on this earth :) You rock, old man, you seriously rock!

Our first family picture, seriously. We've been pretty bad about pictures since Brock was born, but I didn't realize it was this bad :)


The cousins. So stinking cute!

Jude, so cute. This is me, trying to show off the fabulous haircut he let me give him :) He sat perfectly still and let me cut him a big-boy haircut! He looks so handsome. Who couldn't love those big blue eyes of his? And, let me tell you, these kids of ours love their Uncle Hans. He's always fun to be around, but he never smiles for the camera :)

Brock and his nanny, his smile melts my heart :)

Camping at beautiful Timothy Lake

It's been so long since we've been camping, so several months ago, my mom and I decided that we were just going to do it! This was before Brock was born and before my mom crashed on her bike and broke her elbow. So, the time came and we went for it. Actually, we moved the date back a month and a half from our original plan, but that was absolutely necessary due to the above circumstances. Anyway - we picked Timothy Lake, and it was beautiful. The weather was great and we had a blast! Thanks mom and dad for camping with us, I don't think I would have had as good of an experience if you two weren't there with us!

Timothy Lake with a view of Mt. Hood - Oregon is an amazingly beautiful place to live, I tell ya! By the way, the little speck on the left in the lake is Nigel :)


Swimming! Although slightly cold water and windy conditions made it not ideal for swimming, you couldn't keep Nigel and Caden out if you tried. They are water lovers. It was so much fun!

Relaxing and enjoying our time. Brock and I mostly just watched, but that was fine by me. A little too cold for my bones in that water. I did get all the way in once, but just the one time :) And my dad really knows how to enjoy himself on vacation - sleeping! He never would have been sleeping when we were younger. He'd be the one getting us all to go on some new adventure or hike. I guess you've paid your dues, huh, Dad?

Trying to catch something, anything :) The boys desperately tried to catch a fish, but no luck. So, Nigel eventually dove deep and caught us some crawdads. They're little, but tasty. And Caden had so much fun watching them in the little bucket! There were even 2 little girls that came over to check them out, and later, when Caden saw them riding their bikes around the campground, he called one of them, "my girl". Aww, I'm glad that it didn't mean anything, but it made me realize that my time being his girl is very short so I better take advantage! And yes, he is wearing my sunglasses :)

Beach Trip!

While Gigi was here, we decided to head to the beach for the day. I love, love, love the Oregon Coast. It's always beautiful, and we got a beautiful day, though pretty windy. We started the day by loading everyone up into Erika and Kyle's van. It was Erika and Jude, Nanny and Gigi, me, Caden and Brock. So, 4 adults and 3 carseats! Thank goodness for a big, roomy van :)

We first drove to Astoria where we bravely climbed the Astor Column. It's huge, 164 steps to the top up a spiral staircase. Yikes. It's a little dizzying, especially when you're packing a baby on the front, or carrying them on your hip (Erika!). But, we made it to the top, legs burning and it was a great view of Astoria and the mouth of the Columbia River.

Next, we headed down Highway 101 to Cannon Beach. While we were there, we played in the sand and had a great time. Although, poor Jude, wanted absolutely nothing to do with the entire day. He's just not really into traveling right now. He's only been walking for a couple months, so all he wants to do is go, go, go. And he, for whatever reason, HATED the beach. He didn't want to touch the sand or play with the sand toys. Hopefully next year, he'll love it :) Regardless, we all had a great time, except maybe Erika, who had to bear the brunt of Jude's unhappiness.

We ended the day at the Helvetia Tavern in Hillsboro for a famous cheeseburger and fries. What a day. It was a great day, filled with fun, and a record breaking 6 poopy diapers by Brock! Wowzer. I almost ran out of diapers that day. Yikes.

Here's Astoria and the Astor Column. Gigi stayed down at the bottom, you can see her in the bottom right picture. She's on the left of the little concrete plaque thing.


Car ride - Caden chatted us silly, Brock thought he was on a roller coaster, and Jude, well, he did really good. He started saying, "I did it" and had us all cracking up when he couldn't stop himself from saying it over and over and over! Regardless of your dislike of car trips, Jude, I still think you're the best nephew I could have ever asked for :)

Cannon Beach, beautiful Cannon Beach. What else is there to say?

Ahh, my sweet Caden :)

So we were at the beach and I was eating lunch, and my sweet Caden walked up to me with these two cute flowers (weeds, but he picked them, so they're the most beautiful I've ever seen) and said, "Here mommy. I love you." Ahh, it melts my heart (even if Nanny told him to do it, which I still think she did) and I hope that he loves me like that in 13 years, when he's 16 and wanting his independence. Because Caden, I'll always love you with my whole heart, no matter what. You're my special Caden and I love you so much :)



Look at him. Seriously. He's the cutest 3 year old I've ever seen :)

I'm not sure when he started this, but now, he only smiles with his bottom teeth, unless he's really laughing. It's cute and funny :) He cracks me up!

Hanging out on the hammock. Caden, you're always going to be my baby boy. I can't think of you as anything else :)

Gigi comes to visit!

My grandma lives in Arizona, but we know we get to see her every year because she doesn't like to be there in the summer. So, she starts her summers off in Montana, then comes here to Portland, and then ends her summer in Silverton with her sisters. So, Brock got to meet Gigi, and I think he likes her :) She came up with the name Gigi, for all of her great grandchildren (she has 6 now!!) to call her. It's easy, and kids love to have a name for everyone. Until next time, Gigi, we love you and we'll miss you!


Aww, he is so happy sitting with Gigi!

Gigi, with all of her Oregon great grandchildren. Erika had to sit with Jude, otherwise the picture never would have been taken!

Brock (and Caden) love to BUMBO!

Thanks to my friend Stephanie, we have a Bumbo seat. When Caden was a baby, I don't even remember these seats. But, now, they're all the craze :) So, when Stephanie asked if we wanted hers after her babies were done in it, I thought, sure, I'll give in to the latest and greatest. I didn't really understand the draw of the seat or why it was so popular. Until I brought it home, set my teeny tiny little 3 month old in it, and saw the joy on his face because he could sit! He loves it. Most of the time, if he won't swing or bounce, he'll Bumbo! It sure is nice to have all of these options, as my mom likes to point out. When we were babies, we just had to lay on the floor, that's all they had for us :) We are spoiled, mom, we really are. Although, sometimes, I think all of this "stuff" makes life almost harder.



Look at that smile :) He's only that happy every once in a while, I'm so happy that I caught it on camera.

Getting the two of them to look at the camera together is SO impossible half the time. Oh well, it's still cute!

Of course, everything that Brock does, Caden wants to do. And pretty soon, I'll be saying everything that Caden does, Brock wants to do :) Ahh, brothers!

Happy 4th of July! Yes, I'm serious.

Yeah, yeah, I'm a little late, I know. But, I couldn't not put up a couple of pictures from our 4th. We headed out to Cascade Locks with my parents, Erika, Kyle and Jude, Hans, and some family friends. We love it out there and they always do a really great show. Unfortunately, I wasn't taking many pictures, I was too busy playing! But, there are a few!

Look at that sweet baby :)


This is a little baby tent that Erika brought - we thought Brock might want to nap in it. He didn't nap, but he LOVED it! He smiled at it, talked to it, and just had a great time in it!

Just too cute for words!

Enjoying the show!

Ok, ok, I get the hint.

After the truck-pool, I realized that maybe my boys were hankering for a real swim. We found a real pool and went swimming! Well, Nigel and Caden went swimming. Brock and I hung out on the side, because, honestly, I'm not quite ready for bathing suits and Brock wasn't quite ready for the craziness that was at this pool. There was a slide and a lazy river and fountains and sprinklers galore! Not to mention that it was PACKED!!!! Nigel's mom, sister and our neices and nephew came along for the fun - I didn't get very many good pictures of all of them, though. It was a lot of fun watching Caden have such a blast!

By the way, the smiles that Nigel and Caden are sharing for you are called "REALLY big smiles". It's just what they do.


And this is what Brock does :)

And then he wakes up like this! :) Gosh, he's got some expression, eh?

You might be a redneck if . . .

Your husband and your son make a swimming pool in the bed of the pickup truck :) HAHAHA!!! That's exactly what happened at our house! They loved it, I was slightly embarassed! Just to top it all off, they added some bubbles. So, when I came out and said, "Wow, Nigel. Could you be any more classy?" He said, "Only if you started her up and drove us around the block!" Not gonna happen.