Mid to Late JUNE
Shaylie wearing a 'veil' on her head :)
Playing with friends at the Fairgrounds park:
Tanner (front left), Ella (back left), Chiara (right of Tycen) and Danica (left of Shaylie)
This is classic...Tycen went through a phase of sneaking downstairs before anyone in the house woke up (as early as 5 am, but usually between 6 and 7 am) and would help himself to some cereal. If the box wasn't open, he'd grab some scissors (usually our sharp, large kitchen scissors :/) and do his best to cut his way through the box to the cereal, the end result was pretty hilarious...glad he never cut himself! Anyhow, this is how we'd find him from time to time when he couldn't quite decide on just one or two different kinds of cereal and wanted some of each :P The look on his face is priceless!
We started to lock the cabinets because Tycen (who would usually wake Shaylie up for company and a partner-in-crime) would eat anything he could get his hands on in the morning...cookies, crackers, etc. The worst was when we locked our pantry and the main cabinet where other crackers and snacks are and left the baking/spice cabinet unlocked...we came downstairs to find Tycen and Shaylie eating a bowlful of colored sprinkles by the spoonful...yuk! We then locked that cabinet, too, however it didn't take long for Miss Shaylie to figure out how to unlock the locks (which are not easy to do!). She was so cute and matter-of-factly informed us that she taught herself how to unlock the locks and that "it was so easy"...ha! :)
Luckily, this phase of getting into unhealthy food in the early morning has pretty much passed and we can (mostly) trust them to get cereal or yogurt in the morning if they need some food before we wake up and help them with breakfast :)
BBQ and Smore's at The Cross's house (the kids first Smore's!)
Shaylie started wearing big girl undies at night shortly after transitioning to her big-girl bed! These pictures were taken after she had kept her big girl undies dry three nights in a row! Way to go, Shaylie!! She's officially potty-trained day and night! :D
Kai and Oma came to stay for a night in late June. Kai is learning to read and read us all some books! :)
Visiting Grandpa Jack...had to put both pictures so we could see Kai's silly faces:
We spent a lot of time at the pool at Lakeshore this summer!
More silly faces from Kai... :P
I took the kids to the new Luke Jensen park several times this summer. There is a simple playground, a few really nice baseball fields and an astro-turf soccer field...
Playing pretend baseball, Tycen could do this for hours!
Shaylie's cute french braids:
She's so beautiful...inside and out!
Oh boy, Tyce! I know you'll love seeing this picture when you're a teenager :)
JULY
The Tichaeur family came to visit us in early July! I am so grateful and was so excited to see them, especially since we weren't able to travel to S. Oregon this summer like we usually do. I miss these wonderful people!
Little Z man, he's so adorable!! He looks just like Kolleen when she was little!
Ray Ray and Shay Shay...These two play and fight like sisters :)
Oh boy, the craziness :) They were so excited to play with one another! Wish we could do it much more often!!
This picture cracks me up...it's super blurry but Zaiden's face is priceless, he wants to be a part of all the action, but for a little guy, it can be a little much at times :) As the youngest of 5 children, I can relate, buddy! You'll grow up to be a tough little cookie! ;)
We went to Jamison Square in NW Portland a few times this summer!
On our way there the kids fell asleep...
I usually double check the car seat straps and make sure they're not twisted...oops! Sorry, bud! :(
Pouring water on my hot, swollen ankles... sooooo sweet :)
Lynsey and Samantha stayed in Vancouver for a few weeks this summer and it was so nice to spend some time with them!! Out to dinner at Laurelwood Brewing Company...
Super-T!
Cutie-patooties :) Not sure why Tycen's face was all red...
Lunch after Sunday church:
Let's Play at Lakeshore:
We met the Leigh's at the Sandy Swimming Hole off the Washougal River in Camas:
This is a random picture, but Jay sent this to me and I wanted to include it since we don't have many pictures of Uncle Jay on our blog. He's been in S. Korea for almost 3 years now and is supposed to come home next March, but we'll see...he's been saying that every year :/ We miss you, Uncle Jay!!
Face painting at the Saturday/Sunday market:
Shaylie loves to draw/color and is getting really good at drawing people. It's fun to see how the girl that she always likes to draw has progressed from just a face to having a body with arms and legs, then hands (with very long fingers :) and the latest addition is pigtails. She has also started to draw mermaids :) and apple trees.
Entertaining themselves while mommy tried to get some shopping done at The Container Store (very cool store, btw)
Playing at Klineline park...hard to keep these two out of this nasty water! I probably shouldn't take them to play in the sand at a place where I didn't want them to touch the water, especially when the water was so close and tempting! Oh well, they survived it without contracting any serious illnesses :)
Shaylie loves to swing and can now jump up on the big girl swing and pump her legs to get herself swinging all by herself.
I took the kids to The Children's Museum for the first time in a long time. We had a membership a couple of years ago but after going this summer I realized that this is the ideal age for them to play at The Children's Museum because it is all about imaginary play, which is what they love to do most.
Having fun at the 'Fire in the Park' this summer at Esther Short Park, an event that brings awareness and support to local firefighters.
Tycen's first potato sack race (Shay didn't want to try it):
Suzanne (helping Tyce get in his sack) works with Scott and babysits the kids for us occasionally when we go on a date night. Tycen and Shaylie love Suzanne!
Shaylie's first time doing a water balloon toss (Tyce didn't want to try it):
Fun at Felida park with cousins Gracie and Samantha:
At a concert in the park:
Shaylie wrote her middle name for the first time :)
Oh, Tycey! I have more of these pictures of you than I'm sure you'll appreciate someday... :D
I think this one takes the cake! ...
Riding bikes with daddy at our park:
We love spending time with sweet little Sammie!
AUGUST
We read a lot of books in our family. I love finding Tycen and Shaylie sitting quietly reading books to themselves or to one another, so sweet :)
We went to one evening concert at Esther Short park this summer. Scott had a work meeting at wasn't able to make it, but Aunt Lynsey and Sammie met us there and Grandma Jan was up visiting, too!
'Mom, the sun is in my eyes!'
Tycen caught a grasshopper in our back yard. I love these pictures...
Shaylie was more interested in posing for the pictures than the grasshopper :)
Sydney and her puppies:
Getting gelato after watching a noon concert at Esther Short park:
Shaylie and Tycen collided when dancing/running around and Shaylie got quite the fat lip:
Sleeping beauties...
Typical boy :P
We always find Sydney sleeping on Shaylie's bed before we move her to the kennel in our room:
After one of my belly shots, Shaylie asked if we'd take some pictures of her, too :)
Reading a bedtime story with daddy:
Tyce brought his daily devotional downstairs and was reading it on his own...so cute! We read this 365 daily devotional for kids to Tycen and Shaylie every night before bed.
Tycen and Shaylie went through a phase where they loved listening to music on headphones. It was really cute and made for a good distraction on car rides! :)
Grandma Kathy's birthday dinner at The Spaghetti Factory in Portland:
One of Shaylie's cute drawings of me:
Swimming with Kai at Lakeshore:
Oma and Kai stayed with us again in the end of August. It was so nice of them to come visit us since we couldn't leave town this summer.
Kai and I comparing our basketball bellies ...
Shaylie wrote Tycen's name and only needed help spelling, 'John'... she's such a smarty-pants! :)
I wanted to take a picture of this drawing of Shaylie's because it's one of the first times that she drew something other than people.
Love you, bro! Yes, he's still in S. Korea, just wanted to include another picture of Uncle Jay :)
EARLY SEPTEMBER
We went to a summer celebration at Beaverton Foursquare Church to support our good friends, Steve and Audra who were leading worship ...
Whew! That was a LOT of pictures!! We had a great summer. Even though we weren't able to travel at all, we kept busy and had fun together. It is definitely a summer I will never forget, being pregnant and trying to keep up with my rambunctious almost 4-year old twins! For as much energy as they have, though, I am really proud of them for understanding that mommy couldn't be quite as active as I usually am. They also re-implemented naps (!!) for the last 4-6 weeks of my pregnancy, which I'm so grateful for ... I honestly don't know if I could've made it to full-term had they not wanted to nap.
I tried so hard to embrace every single day I was pregnant, including what at times felt like challenges in doing my best to avoid contractions and anxious thoughts of pre-term delivery. I knew that this would likely be my last pregnancy (unless God has a different plan for us!) and I was so so grateful for each new day I remained pregnant that I never wanted to complain or think negatively about any of the not-so-amazing changes that occur to your body when you're pregnant. I wanted to remember every single baby kick, punch and hiccup -- there is nothing else that compares to feeling a human being (or two) growing inside of you and I'm so thankful that I was able to experience this, twice! Being pregnant truly is an amazing experience and a GIFT from our good Lord!
I feel so blessed that I was never officially on bed rest and made it through the whole summer right along side my family...only by the grace of God. Thank you, Lord!!
