Life As I Know It

Wordless Wednesday...Kind Of

2012-02-15T10:54:00.000-08:00

The quietest play date ever...for like five seconds.

Say What Preston?!

2012-02-14T21:29:00.000-08:00

"Don't tell Daddy I was a bad boy. Tell him I was a good boy. And next time I'll be a really good boy."

After a HORRIBLE trip to the mall with him.

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Me: "See this picture?"

Preston: "Yeah."

Me: "You were in Mommy's tummy in this picture."

Preston: "Oh! I was wondering where I was!"

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"Daddy it wasn't a race! I just wanted to get upstairs first!"

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"Mommy, Daddy turned off the light and I was peeing and I started peeing off the toilet!"

This one just leaves me wondering if both of them pee in the dark a lot! Just sayin'!

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Preston: "I deleted a game."

Brad: "On my iPad?"

Preston: "Mmhmm."

Brad: "Why?"

Preston: "I kept playing it and playing it and I didn't like it. I beated the first level but I couldn't beat the second level. So I deleted it."

At this point you can tell Brad is not thrilled...

Preston: "But Daddy you didn't like it too!"

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Preston had just gotten off the phone with my Mom who'd called thank him for the Valentine's Day card and candy and when he handed me the phone back my Mom had already hung up after saying good-bye to him.

Me: "Was that Grandma?"

Preston: "Yeah. She wanted to talk to me only looks like."

PJ Day

2012-02-08T21:29:00.000-08:00

Preston's preschool had pajama day recently. Preston was so stinkin' excited about it! I'd told him a few weeks in advance when I found out about it and he kept asking when it was!

Finally the day rolled around and he got to wear his jammies and slippers to school.

When we arrived at school everyone was in their pjs, including his teachers. It was kind of awesome.

As a little surprise when I arrived to pick Preston up after school all of them were sleeping on their mats! It was so cute how serious they took it!

Now Preston just anxiously awaits the next pajama day!

Tagged!

2012-02-06T22:05:00.000-08:00

I don't normally do these, but maybe it's time to take a break from normal!

I've been tagged! By my friend Mandy!

The Rules...
1. You must post the rules (and link up who tagged you)
2. Post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you've tagged.
4. Tag however many people you want
5. Let them know you've tagged them!

Where to begin...

My Eleven Facts
1. I am afraid of the dark. Like actually afraid of the dark. I keep a light on in my living room and kitchen every night. And a light outside my bedroom as well. I don't know when it started, I've been afraid of the dark for as long as I can remember.

2. I'm not a huge coffee person. Never have been. Don't get me wrong I like it. As long as it's prissed out. Like a latte. Or a Frappuccino. And true story, I kind of like coffee as an accessory. In the Fall holding a vanilla latte makes it feel just so much more Fall. Feel free to laugh now.

3. Brad put a motion censored light switch thing in our play room. So every time you walk in there the light automatically turns on. And after like three minutes of no movement it shuts off. I didn't know how I'd feel about it at first but now I love it. The only problem is that sometimes I walk into a room and after a few seconds of irritation that the light didn't click on I realize that this room actually requires me to flip the switch. Imagine that.

4. You can tell that state of my life by walking into mine and Brad's closet. It is the first room in my house that I take care of always. So if my closet is a mess it's a good bet that I'm also feeling like my life is a mess. And if my closet is completely put together and clean it's a good bet that I'm feeling very in control of my life.

5. I am obsessed with pictures. I put them everywhere. I also make sure that we get family photos and Preston's photos done every single year. It just makes me happy to look around and see all the people I love and the moments we've all shared. It's like a perfect little memory in a frame.

6. I LOVE to watch movies over and over again. Drives my husband crazy. But it is not abnormal for me to watch a movie and then love it so much that I watch it again the next day. And then a few days after that. I've seen some of my favorites way too many times to count! I've been doing it since I was little apparently, my Dad always tells me how when The Little Mermaid came out I used to play it and then get up rewind it and play it all over again. Which is how he knows all the songs! Ha!

7. As of July we will have been living in this house for six years. When I think about that I am shocked! SIX years! That seems like such a long time. But really it seems like it has flown by so fast!

8. My favorite color is pink and has been for as long as I can remember.

9. I like to write lists. Sometimes it's a little bit ridiculous. But at any given time if you look in my notebook there are probably three or four lists going. At least.

10. I hate cooking. Which is kind of ironic because I love eating. I would never cook again if I didn't have to. In fact if I could hire just one person to do something for me I would hire someone to cook. I'll do the cleaning and the shopping and the laundry as long as someone else will cook.

11. We live in the school district that I went to school in. BUT based on where we live Preston would go to my rival high school. I'm struggling with that. In fact I told Brad we're going to have to move before Preston goes to high school.

The questions Mandy gave me
1. How many kids do you want?
...I want at least three. Maybe four. It all depends. Originally I only wanted two, but Brad convinced me otherwise. He wants a big family, in fact I think he'd go for more than four but I shut that down. He comes from a small family and hates it. And I come from a very big family and we both love it. You could say I've converted him! :)

2. What is your favorite place to vacation?
...I haven't been to very many places. But I love the Oregon Coast (funny because I used to hate it when I was little) and California. And Seattle. I love big cities because there are so many things to do and see, lots of entertainment.

3. What time do you go to bed every night?
...Way too late! I always start out saying I'm going to be in bed at 10pm, but usually end up going to sleep at more like 11:30pm to midnight.

4. What is your favorite book?
...I don't think I really have one. Sad, huh? I love to read. Love it. But I like to read so many different things.

5. Where do you live?
...In the Pacific Northwest! In Washington, more specifically.

6. What show could you watch over and over again?
...Grey's Anatomy! And I do. I don't even know how many times I have seen the first few seasons!

7. What is your favorite holiday and why?
...That's a hard one. I love holidays! Probably Christmas. I love the build up. The shopping. And making lists. And traditions. And excitement. And Christmas Eve at my Aunts house. Preston's excitement about Santa. And know that he's older I love Christmas morning and how excited he is about all of it.

8. What is your favorite brand of clothing?
...Hollister! I wear a lot of their stuff. It's kind of ridiculous!

9. What is your favorite quote?
...I like too many quotes to pick just one! And with all of the time I've been spending on Pinterest lately I have so many more favorite quotes!

10. Where do you want to retire?
...Somewhere warm! With my family!

11. Who will you be cheering for in the Super Bowl?
...I realize this is a little late, but the Giants of course! I didn't actually have a preference so I was cheering for the Giants for Miss Mandy!!

My Eleven Questions for the People I'm Tagging
1. What are you favorite names? Boy and girl.
2. What is your favorite movie?
3. If you could go anywhere where would you go?
4. What is the last movie you watched?
5. If you were given $10,000 what would you do and why?
6. When you were little what did you want to be when you grew up?
7. Are you a spender or a saver?
8. What is your go to outfit?
9. If your house was on fire what would you grab?
10. What is your most vivid childhood memory?
11. Last photo you took?

I'm Tagging
Kelly
Courtney
Kait
Mandy
Amber
Jolene
Holly

Have fun!

Wordless Wednesday...Kind Of

2012-02-01T11:06:00.000-08:00

Dinner and drinks with friends, a much needed night out!

Say What Preston?!

2012-01-23T22:23:00.000-08:00

"Mommy, I want you to know I was NOT happy with his behavior!"

Preston about Mason when Mason dumped several glasses full of bath water on the floor.

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"I will have failed this mission."

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Me: (Trying to leave my parents house with Preston.) "It's time to go home."

Preston: "No. I live here!"

Me: "Mommy would be very sad if you didn't live with me anymore."

Preston: "Then make a new one of me."

Me: "Make a new one? How?"

Preston: "With tools and stuff."

Me: "I can't your one of a kind."

Preston: I'm one of a kind?"

Me: "Yep."

Preston: "Just go find a little boy on the street and name him Preston James."

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"Mommy I will never forget your name. Okay?"

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"Mama is there anything for me?"

While getting the mail.

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"Spider Man is on the job!"

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Walking isn't very fast. That's why I started to run!"

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"When I'm old enough to have a BB gun and I see a raccoon outside I will open the door and shoot it with a BB gun. When I'm old enough."

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"Which one is Grandpa"

During the opening scene of the football game in The Blind Side.

Boogers And Blood

2012-01-12T20:50:00.000-08:00

Preston woke up early in our bed recently and asked for some orange juice. I was exhausted and hoping for some more sleep so I headed upstairs to grab him some orange juice with the intention of getting it to him before he woke up all the way so that then he'd lay back down and fall back asleep. Hey, it works sometimes. What? My bedroom is dark and sometimes I can convince him that it's not quite morning time yet. That's not wrong, sleep is good for you!

Anyways...

As I'm heading back into the room Preston says to me "boogers keep coming out of my nose!" and he is very distressed by it. I don't think much of it until I get closer. And then I realize his face looks a little funny but I can't tell why. It's pretty dark in there remember.

I turn on the lamp on my nightstand and almost have a heart attack. In fact if Preston hadn't said anything about his "boogers" I probably would have had a heart attack. But because he'd mentioned the boogers coming out of his nose I was able to put it together and realize that Preston was in the middle of a bloody nose rather than having been attacked while we were sleeping. That would be a good thing. Even if it did take me a minute to realize. What? I was really tired!

And I mean really, what does this picture scream...bloody nose or a serial killer broke into the house last night?

The blood got all over his face because he thought his nose was just running so he kept wiping it with his jammies sleeve. Just in case you were wondering that also meant that the blood got all over his pillow, my pillow, the sheets, and the comforter. Awesome.

But the good news is nobody died as a result of someone breaking into our house to kill us. It was just a bloody nose!

Mason's Second Birthday Party

2012-01-08T22:30:00.000-08:00

My nephew, Mason, turned two recently which means he also had a second birthday!

Mase is more than a little bit obsessed with Mickey Mouse so that was the theme of his party.

He got it started pretty fast after pizza with presents!

I'll have you know that his favorite Auntie's present almost put a stop to the entire opening of presents, he loved it that much! After he opened up the trains that I had gotten him he refused to open anymore presents for a while! He just kept saying trains trains. Choo choo! Score!

When it was time for cake, Mason was less than thrilled. Everyone started singing and my sister brought the cake out with the candles all lit up for him and he gave all of us a mean look and said no repeatedly. And I believe he even told her to go away! Such a sweet boy!

Mason clearly decided to start two off being a little terrible!

After cake, Mason proceeded to insist that almost every single one of his presents got set up to be played with! And because Preston is such an amazing cousin, he of course helped Mason test out his new toys! Until they were both exhausted!

Happy Birthday Mason! Auntie Kim, Uncle Brad, and Mr Preston all love you very much!

Our Mischevious Elf

2011-12-30T22:29:00.000-08:00

This year our family was joined by a new member at Christmas time. Brad's Aunt Dru adopted Preston an Elf on The Shelf!

Preston was so excited! After reading the story that comes with the elf we realized that our elf needed a name. So Preston got right down to it. And named our elf Elf.

Elf the Elf.

Preston was more than just a little bit excited to get up every morning and look for Elf. Some mornings Elf was pretty obvious in where he was hiding and others it was more of a challenge.

And some mornings it was obvious that Elf had gotten a little bit bored the night before so he's caused a little bit of mischief. Preston was the most excited when he found Elf on these mornings.

Like the morning that Elf got into the flour and made some ~~snow~~ flour angels.

Or when he toilet papered our tree the night before Christmas Eve as a good-bye.

But Elf was helpful sometimes too. There was the morning that we woke up and Elf had wrapped some of Preston's presents and put them under the tree.

On Christmas Eve Preston said his good-byes to Elf and we read the story and when we woke up Christmas morning Elf had already gone back to the North Pole.

He is definitely going to be missed around here.

Thank you Aunt Dru for bringing Elf the Elf into our lives! He definitely made the days leading up to Christmas a lot more fun!!!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-28T23:41:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas Eve. Not just because of the excitement and build up for Christmas. But because it is one of my favorite get togethers with my family. Which in all reality is probably not fair to say because I look forward to all of the big family get togethers. But still I love Christmas Eve. Maybe because there is also a gift exchange and the game part of the gift exchange is just fun. Probably better than the actual getting of the gifts in fact.

Anyways.

I love Christmas Eve. And Christmas Eve this year did not disappoint.

My Aunt Sheli and Uncle Trav always put on our Christmas Eve party. There's food. Drinks. My Aunt Sheli always makes the BEST drinks for her parties! And most importantly family, duh!

We do a kid gift exchange. On Thanksgiving all of the kids draw names and then exchange gifts on Christmas Eve!

For the adult exchange we each bring a gift and stick them in the pile in the middle of the room and draw numbers. Thus begins sneaking, plotting, partnerships, and stealing! It is so much fun!

Of course it wouldn't be a family get together without us trying to get a family picture. This is one of all of the kids. And by kids I mean the grandkids. There are a lot of us. And it is actually impossible to get a perfect photo of each one of us. But look we are all there...almost, we're just missing two of my cousins!

When we finally drag ourselves home after wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, Preston gets to pick a present from under our tree to open!

He was pretty excited about the one he opened this year. Can you tell?

Then after reading T'Was The Night Before Christmas and The Elf On The Shelf I tuck Preston into bed.

And me and Brad (and this year my cousin Sarah) start wrapping all of the Christmas gifts we put off until the night before Christmas. Because I'm a procrastinator like that.

It all gets done just in time for us to go to bed before Santa comes!

Happy SECOND Birthday Mason!!

2011-12-26T21:51:00.000-08:00

My favorite nephew, Mason, turned two the day after Christmas!!

His party isn't until two weeks later, but a birthday boy still needs a cake (even if it looks horrible!) and candles!!

Happy Birthday Maso!! Auntie Kim loves you sooooooo much!!

Santa Visit

2011-12-23T21:25:00.000-08:00

This was the first year that Preston was actually a willing participant in visiting Santa. He was excited even.

Armed with the list that we had made we headed to the mall to have lunch and head down to meet Santa.

And be robbed. They charged me almost $25 for Preston to get his photo taken with Santa! And that was only for a 5x7! Then they gave me some spiel about how we would also be able to download a digital copy on their website. And when I went to check that out thinking, score maybe this wasn't so bad. I realized they wanted to charge me even more for that! Yeah, no.

Whew, now that I got that off my chest.

Preston waited fairly patiently in line for his turn and when it was his turn he hopped right up on Santa's lap and opened his list up and started telling Santa about it.

It was sooooo cute!

I obviously took pictures of Preston and Santa discussing his list because it was so adorable!

Then Preston smiled real big for the main event.

And after good-byes were said to Santa we were on our way. There was Christmas shopping to be done. And a frame at home waiting for the photo of Preston and Santa to make it complete!

Teamwork

2011-12-14T18:23:00.000-08:00

While at Chuck E Cheese with some friends, Mason desperately wanted to go up in the tunnels with the big boys. But poor kid Auntie Kim just wasn't willing to take him up there.

So Preston and Zack took matters into their own hands and pulled and lifted Mason up over each climb up!

This is no small feat! As evidenced my Preston telling me, "It's teamwork! Mason's heavy though!"

I did end up there though when Mason refused to come down and was screaming every time Preston tried to drag him to the slide.

Seriously though how cute is this? I love that Preston wanted to play with Mason so bad that he figured out a way to get him up there with him! And that he knew that Mason really wanted to go up there and made it happen! That's my baby!

Tree Decorating

2011-12-08T23:47:00.000-08:00

Brad was working crazy hours and a person can only sit with a bare Christmas tree in their living room for so long. Especially with a four year old who is begging to decorate it.

So me, Preston, and Iron Man decided one night while Brad was working to get started.

We sent Brad photos along the way so that he got to feel included. Although I'm sure he was relieved that he didn't have to help. While I'm the one who's crazy about which tree we get, Brad is the one who's crazy about how it's decorated. So we saved him from stressing out about where the lights were and where the ornaments should go. And how close the red ones should be to the silver ones and whether everything was just too close together.

Preston was finally old enough this year to really enjoy not only decorating it but seeing all of the ornaments that mean something. His special ornaments. Our special family ornaments. He wanted to know about all of them!

Preston thought it all looked great when we were done!

Somehow I didn't end up taking a picture of it when it was all said and done! But I can assure you it looked very Christmas-y!

Tree Hunting

2011-12-05T13:18:00.000-08:00

What would Christmas be without a tree?

Not Christmas! Just in case you were looking for an answer there!

So we headed out for our tree!

Our tradition is to hunt down our tree at one of the local tree farms. This year those stands that go up in parking lots everywhere were pretty tempting. So much easier. And my parents weren't coming with us this year as they were putting up a fake tree because my Grandma was coming in from California to celebrate Christmas with us and real trees bother her allergies. But tradition is tradition so we headed out with Marrissa tagging along to find our tree!

It was slim pickings this year! I am a picky tree person. I want it tall. And bushy but not too bushy. And filled out. In short I want a perfect tree. Which is hard to find when they haven't been groomed!

Preston loved tree hunting! He was having so much fun walking up and down the rows of trees. And telling us, "They're all so beautiful!"

At one point I voiced the thought that maybe we should head to another tree farm and look since I was having a hard time finding what I wanted and Preston got concerned that we were going to leave and yelled, "NO! We have to get a Christmas tree!!"

A little more searching and we found it! Our tree! We just had to cut it down.

Preston was pretty excited about this part, he was thrilled about using the saw. And even more thrilled when Brad let him help.

All that was left was to take it home and put it up and decorate!

Disney On Ice

2011-12-03T23:11:00.000-08:00

Disney On Ice came to our area so we had to take Preston!

My Grandpa used to take us when we were little and it's still one of my favorite memories with him. I even still have one of the souveneirs that he bought me way back when. It was always even more special because the company would donate ice cream and as a result we would get to meet the cast! It was always so awesome! Me and my sister and my cousin would get to meet Mickey and Minnie and the princesses.

As a result whenever Disney On Ice comes to town I want to go! The last time we took Preston he was only like four months old and was not interested in it at all. But this year I knew he'd love it. Especially when I heard it was Toy Story 3!

My family decided to tag along too, so me and my Mom headed down to buy all of us tickets! With there being 10 of us all together we took up two rows with five seats in each.

My Mom is a sucker for those little souvenir stands. And I got a text from her on our way in that she'd already bought Preston and Mason some light up spinning Buzz Lightyear. Which was awesome because those things cost a pretty penny and I was already dreading having to pick one up for Preston. Problem solved! Score! Preston of course loved it, Buzz is his favorite Toy Story character and this one was pretty awesome.

Preston was pretty enthralled with the show once it got started.

He kept asking when Buzz was going to come out. And when he did it was pretty cool. Preston loves Buzz as a super hero so it was very fitting that Buzz came out fighting Zurg.

Followed up by some memories from the first Toy Story with the little aliens and the claw.

Both Preston and Mason seemed to absolutely LOVE the entire performance! The couldn't look away!

I loved the scenes with Barbie. And Barbie and Ken. Took me back to being little. Barbie was probably my favorite toy! Me and my sister used to set up entire cities in our playroom with all of our Barbie stuff. I'm sure the guys loved the parts with Barbie too, although I'm fairly certain it was for different reasons! Ha!

Can you tell Preston was loving the whole thing? This is what I got when I asked him to take a picture with me.

Somehow Preston and Mason both ended up with a second toy. My Mom can't help but be sucked into those tables full of toys and gifts. At intermission she came back with a toy Buzz Lightyear gun for each of the boys. Yes they are spoiled by their grandparents, why do you ask?

This was my attempt at getting a photo of the boys with my parents when the show ended. It was not happening. Mason was ready for a nap and Preston just wanted to play.

Fortunately he'd settled down enough by the time we got home to pose with his new toys. You can't hear it from the photo but that gun is incredibly obnoxious. Which in Preston's eyes only makes it even better! The fact that the gun survived the car ride home is nothing short of a miracle.

I hope that Preston looks back on these toys one day and remembers how much fun he had at Disney On Ice when he was little! The same way I look back at mine.

Breaking Dawn

2011-12-03T21:40:00.001-08:00

Another Twilight movies midnight release! Don't act surprised, this was not my first midnight release. There was New Moon. And then Eclipse. And now Breaking Dawn Part One.

I didn't see the first actual Twilight movie at the midnight release because I hadn't read the books and wasn't all that into it then. BUT I did see it opening weekend, but only because we went out to celebrate Brad's birthday and he got to pick the movie and the poor guy thought it was your typical vampire movie. Let's just say he was not thrilled when we left the theater. Honestly neither was I until I read the books months later!

Me and Nicole met early and made a night of it grabbing a drink and appetizers before heading across the street to the theater!

We got a little bit distracted on the way up to the movie by a cardboard cutout of Edward, Bella, and Jacob. This has happened once before with a different cutout at a different midnight opening. I don't want to talk about it! Ha!

Our friend Holly had gotten there earlier than me and Nicole and saved us seats because she is awesome! And they were good seats! Like right in front of the bar seats. Meaning not only was no one in front of us and we could put our feet up on the bar, but also that when we had to go to the bathroom or grab more snacks we just had to hop over the bar instead of trying to sneak past everyone.

The movie was awesome! Probably one of my favorite ones yet! I love that they split it into two this time, it meant that they got to cover soooo much more!

I even loved it so much that I went and saw it again with my parents and brother and sisters on Saturday!

Now I just have to wait a whole 'nother year for the last one!

Wordless Wednesday...Kind Of

2011-11-29T12:53:00.001-08:00

Preston and Madison hanging out!

Happy Birthday Brad!

2011-11-26T22:52:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to Brad!! Brad turned 28!!

We were already getting together to celebrate Thanksgiving with his side of the family so we brought some cupcakes to add in some birthday celebration for him!

Since he was turning 28 I insisted that he had to have that many candles on his cupcake. I'm sure it was some sort of fire hazard, and that my MIL was really hoping that the house didn't burn down again as a result of something to do with her son! Ha!

Brad's birthday gift from me and Preston is his boys trip to San Francisco for a Monday Night Football game!

Happy Birthday Brad!! We love you and appreciate all that you do for us!!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T12:52:00.000-08:00

I love holidays! Love them! I love that everyone gets together to celebrate and that the season really is all about family and being together!

We did Thanksgiving at my parents house this year. And it was a full house with everyone there!

Preston of course had a blast! He loves getting together with all of his cousins and he spent the entire party playing with Trey, Alyse, and Mason. I didn't see a whole lot of him!

Since there are so many of us everyone pretty much ate everywhere. There was the table in the dinning room, a card table off the dining room, some people ate on the couch and there was the table in the kitchen!

Preston refused to eat any of it. No surprise there, my picky eater.

Here's a conversation I had with Preston at one point on Thanksgiving...

Preston: "Mommy I need to tell you a secret. You can't tell anyone."

Me: "Okay, what?"

Preston: (Whispering in my ear) "I don't like any of their food."

That's my sweet boy! Ha!

We had a great time on Thanksgiving! Preston was worn out by the end of it and winding down. Lucky for Grandpa and Grandma who were going to be watching him that night! Mason was so exhausted that he climbed up on my lap with his bottle and was out in minutes.

Me and the girls weren't going to be getting any rest because we were heading out for some Black Friday shopping!

Wordless Wednesday...Kind Of

2011-11-23T14:48:00.000-08:00

Train rides at the mall!

Wordless Wednesday...Kind Of

2011-11-23T13:34:00.000-08:00

My little snack helper!

Five Years Ago...

2011-11-21T21:50:00.000-08:00

Five years ago today I found out I was pregnant with Preston.

Life had been crazy and busy and I hadn't even realized that I was "late" until I realized it. I remember sitting on mine and Brad's bed in our room counting out the weeks in my planner. And then counting them out again. And again. Continually coming to the same number. Six. Six weeks since my last period.

Finally after a mental freak out, I got up and headed into the kitchen where Brad was.

I still remember walking in there like it was yesterday. Telling him I needed to tell him something. And then just standing there.

It took me a few minutes and he probably thought I was losing my mind. Until finally I was able to say, "I'm late."

And then I started balling.

That would be the first of many times that I would just randomly start crying over the next few days, oh who are we kidding let's be honest it was the first time over the next few months. I was a complete mess of hormones.

I decided that having Brad with me wasn't enough. I kept crying and he had no idea what to do. He got it but he didn't. Plus he was still taking it all in just like I was. So I called my best friend at the time and told her I needed her and she rushed over.

Honestly as awesome as it was that Brad was there for me that night I don't know what I would have done without Jenaye. I was a mess of emotions and she seemed to get it the way that only girlfriends do. She seemed to get that when I was crying it wasn't because I needed her to fix why I was crying but rather that I was crying because I was just incredibly emotional and needed to cry. She was just a completely calming presence that night for both me and Brad.

She came with me and we ran down to Fred Meyer to buy a pregnancy test. And she asked where they were when we couldn't find them. Who knew they were in the pharmacy department?

Then they both waited outside the bathroom door while I took the test that would change our lives forever.

Only that one really didn't.

I peed on the stick and the results were so faint that we were confused about what the damn thing was trying to tell us.

So Jenaye came with me again when we ran down to Walgreens (there was no way I was going back to Fred Meyer, if that makes any sense) to buy another pregnancy test. This time we bought a multi-pack just in case. I'm not sure what we were thinking buying just one at Fred Meyer.

We got back to the house and this time I really did take the test that would change our lives.

Only it wasn't that simple.

The lines came up faint again. So faint that none of us were really sure what they meant.

Positive? Negative?

I ended up calling the 800 number on the instructions to get a clear answer. Thinking about it now it was the silliest question, but we didn't know if very faint lines counted as lines or not.

In case you are wondering they do. Any sort of lines that make a plus sign, faint or dark, count as a positive.

A positive. As in yes, we were going to have a baby.

So the three of us sat on mine and Brad's bed alternating between silence, laughter, and me crying here and there just for good mix. Explaining what I was feeling at that moment is nearly impossible. I was terrified. Shocked. Awestruck.

Even as strange as it feels to type that the three of us sat there realizing how everything was about to change, I look back on it now and wouldn't change a single thing. Because that was how it was, the three of us. Me, the father of my child, and my best friend.

All of us processing what this surprise meant.

Because that is exactly what Preston was...a surprise.

The best surprise that ever happened to me.

Five years ago tonight a positive pregnancy test changed mine and Brad's lives forever. And in the very best way.

Say What Preston?!

2011-11-20T20:19:00.000-08:00

Preston: "Mommy do you love me the mostest?"

Me: "Yes."

Preston: "Well than you have to give me the mostest candy. Or cars."

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"Mama come here I want to kiss you! (Gives me a kiss) Is that how you marry persons?"

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Let me set the scene, I was trying to convince Preston that my vitamins don't taste good so that I don't have to worry about him trying to get into them.

Me: "Grown up vitamins don't taste very good."

Preston: "They don't."

Me: "Nope. Not like yours. Yours taste good don't they?"

Preston: "Yep. I will share mine with you."

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Preston: "I like that thing over your butt."

Me: "Ummm my skirt?"

Preston: "Yep. I like your skirt."

Me: "Thanks."

Preston: "Your welcome."

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"Daddy you have a problem. I'm thirsty and you need to get me water to drink!"

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Preston: "Your Mason."

Me: "Fine. Your Auntie Jessie."

Preston: "No. Your Mason."

Me: "Fine. Your Auntie Jessie."

Preston: "Why do you keep saying that? Babies can't talk!"

Wordless Wednesday...Kind Of

2011-11-16T19:02:00.000-08:00

The boys at Auntie Rissa's volleyball game!

Volunteer Day

2011-11-16T12:53:00.000-08:00

I love helping out in Preston's class. Love it. The fact that the parents are required to help out is one of the reasons that I chose this preschool. It helped ease my nerves a little bit about sending my baby off to be a big boy to know that what was happening at school wasn't secretive. And in fact was the exact opposite in that parents are fully invited to come in and be a part of whats happening.

I love watching Preston interact with all of the other kids. And seeing who his friends are. And what his favorite toys are at school on my volunteer days. Don't get me wrong I ask him about his day when I pick him up from preschool but the summary I get doesn't always tell me a whole lot about what he learned or how the day went. But when I'm there I get to see it all firsthand.

His day starts out with morning circle time and then heads right into free learning time. They have a couple of different activities going on and he gets to move around to the different things he wants to do. There is an art project, a table to practice writing your name, typically a letter of the week project, and all of the free play areas.

Preston isn't as into arts and crafts as some of the other kids so I've both seen and been told that getting him over to those projects takes some creativity! He is however very into the play area with the knights and castles. He loves those knights! And a couple of the other boys in the class are right there with him in that department.

And on Tuesdays Preston has his show and tell day. Some weeks we bring something that starts with the letter that week and other weeks Preston has his mind set on something and he brings that instead. This week Preston brought his Iron Man car!

After free time the kids all head to the second circle time of the day. During that circle time the two snack helpers are excused to help set up snack for that day. I got to help out on one of Preston's snack helper days and it was so cute to watch him very seriously set out the cups and napkins for all of his classmates!

Then it's time for snack. I have to say that snack time at preschool is definitely helping Preston out in the eating department. Granted they are just snacks and not full meals but still he is trying new foods! Like for example raisins are now one of his favorite snacks. And he is now willing to eat graham crackers! He's such a picky eater I'll take any willingness to eat snacks that aren't candy and chips I can get!

After snack they head outside. Or up to the gym depending on how cold it is. Preston loves either of these. And I'm glad that no matter what the weather he gets a chance to race around and get some of his energy out!

On Tuesdays they follow up "recess" time with a project back in his classroom. And on Thursdays they head into the chapel for some time learning songs and the stories of the Bible.

There is one final circle time to end the day and preschool is over.

I can't say enough how much me and Preston are both loving his preschool! I love his teachers and the effort that they put in with him! And he loves them too! I love helping out and getting a chance to see first hand what his days there are like! I love the different things they do for the families. I was so incredibly nervous about preschool and it's nice to be able to breathe a giant sigh of relief that we are both enjoying this experience so much!

A Photoshoot With Preston And Mason

2011-11-15T18:43:00.000-08:00

My sister and I have been talking about getting Preston and Mason's photos done practically since Mason was born. We've loved the idea of having some cousin photos of the two of them. Official photos where both of them are looking and paying attention and smiling!

We finally did it!

We took them in to a local studio that we'd gotten a group deal through. I was so excited and the boys were pumped up. And completely full of energy!

But they looked absolutely adorable!!

It was hard to get them both to smile and sit still and pay attention to what was going on (shocking right, I mean what are they four and almost two? Seriously! Ha!) but we got more than just a few really cute shots of them!

I am so overwhelmed with photos right now and which ones to put up and how to rearrange them and what to put where in what sizes. But I am so glad that we finally got some real pictures to the boys together!

Thoughts On Thursday...Preschool

2011-11-10T20:50:00.000-08:00

Preston has been loving preschool. Like really loving it. He had a little bit of a hard time on the first day and one more day the following week but since then it's been great! We were using a reward system the first couple of weeks but now Preston just knows whats expected of him at school and we haven't had to reward him and he hasn't had any more outbursts at school!

I know that just typing that makes me smile! And breathe a sigh of relief!

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I had my first day volunteering. It was so much fun. I loved watching Preston in class. It was like seeing a whole different side of him. The big boy side! It was so much fun watching him interact with the other kids in his class. And to see how much concentration he put into the projects that did and learning all that his teachers were teaching him! Just watching him participate was exciting!

Plus I got to take pictures of Preston at school!

But holy crap was I exhausted by the time the day was over! Gave me a whole new level of respect for preschool teachers!

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Preston's class does show and tell too. Preston's day is Tuesday. He can bring anything that he wants (well almost anything, I refuse to let him bring swords or Nerf guns or anything that seems a little less than appropriate for a preschool show and tell). But we are encouraged to encourage our child to bring something that relates back to the letter they are focusing on that week or the Bible story or the theme of the week. Some weeks were on top of it and other weeks he just grabs something that he really wants to bring and we call it good!

The first week he brought his "fastest race car" even though it didn't fit in with anything. But it is Preston's most prized possession. It's his absolute favorite hot wheels car and it's green which is what makes it so fast!

My volunteer day just happened to be on the first day of show and tell so I had the luxury of getting to watch Preston's first show and tell. It went a little something like this, "This is my super fast race car. It's green. I love it. And Mommy says I don't have to share it because it's special!" Hilarious. And a little embarrassing! And totally true. I'm a horrible mother who doesn't make her son share his "fastest race car". I mean it's super fast, you can't share that kind of speed!

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One of Preston's rewards for being good at preschool was going mini golfing. Brad was working late that night so my brother tagged along with us. Preston was so excited! We've only taken him mini golfing once before but he had so much fun and had been asking to go back so using it as a reward for being good at preschool seemed like a brilliant idea.

We rode the go carts first. Me and Preston totally kicked my brother's ass, except that we totally didn't. But in my defense we were in a double and he was in a single so his was faster.

Then we went in and played some air hockey and some of the arcade games.

Matt couldn't stay for mini golf so me and Preston were on our own for that one. But we had a bunch of fun!!

I hate to say it a little bit but Preston was better at it than me. Like really better than me. I even lost my ball for a while in the bushes. Preston on the other hand didn't lose his ball even once. He also got a hole in one. I'm trying not to be bitter about that one. Ha!

On top of having fun celebrating Preston being good in preschool, I realized that mini golf needs to be a good at preschool for several months kind of reward rather than a good at preschool a couple of times kind of reward. I came to this conclusion after we spent $50 riding go carts, playing video games, and mini golfing. BUT I think that this reward was the one that got through to Preston the most about what was expected of him at preschool so I'm thinking that it was a very well spent $50!

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Preston also had his first preschool field trip.

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I had Mason with me on Tuesday when I dropped Preston off for school so I was a little bit nervous about how he was going to do about going to school when he knew that he could be playing with Mason. Drop off took a little bit longer and I had to promise him that Mason would be with me when I picked him back up.

I then spent the rest of the time stressing out that because he knew that Mason was with me he would act out in hopes that he would get to leave school to hang out with his cousin.

It all went great though. All that stressing for nothing.

And it was worth it to see how excited Preston and Mason were to see each other when we picked Preston up from preschool. They even did little happy dances. Completely adorable!

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Today Preston even had his first preschool play date! One of the little boys in his class invited us over to play! Preston and Cio had a blast playing together! And it was exciting for me to see that Preston is really making friends in his class and to get to watch the two boys play together! Plus I got the chance to get to know one of the other preschool Moms while the boys were playing.

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So far we are both really enjoying preschool!!

Wordless Wednesday...Kind Of

2011-11-09T14:23:00.001-08:00

The tubes at Chuck E Cheese!

The End Of Fall

2011-11-07T12:53:00.000-08:00

Before Fall was over for our area we spent a weekend outside doing some yard work. Trying to get all of the toys packed up and put away. The lawn mowed. And the leaves raked. And by we I mean that me, Brad, and Preston kind of helped out but mostly I paid my brother and his friend to come over and do it.

Brad had a crazy month work wise. And I do mean crazy. As in he worked two months worth of hours in just one month! It was insane. He was working six days a week. And during the weekdays we didn't see him at all for the most part. He was up and out the door before we even woke up (which actually isn't abnormal) and then he didn't get home until after Preston and I had gone to bed. That one is crazy since I'm not an early to bed kind of girl. He was working around the clock! So I figured the poor guy had earned a break from all that yard work and my brother was happy to take some of that overtime off of our hands! Ha!

Preston had a lot of fun playing outside and helping out. Plus he loves playing with Uncle Matt and Jake!

And he loved playing in all of the leaves! He wasn't much of a help in that department since he was more interested in running through them. Or throwing them. Or just all around ruining the pile.

Or starting rake fights. Poor Jake!

When all of our leaves were gone we called it a day.

But the fun in the leaves didn't end there. We headed over to Gigi's the next day to hang out and eat and Preston somehow ended up in her backyard playing in her giant pile of leaves!

Looks like we can cross playing in the leaves off of our to do list for Fall!

Preston's Preschool Fall Party

2011-11-02T19:26:00.000-07:00

Instead of a Halloween party, Preston's preschool class had a Fall party. He didn't have preschool on Halloween but his preschool still wanted to give the kids a chance to dress up. He was technically supposed to dress up as the character from his favorite storybook but I was not on board with the idea of having to buy two different costumes to use two days in a row. So instead Preston wore his Iron Man costume from Halloween and we brought his Iron Man book. Which worked out just find since with Iron Man being Preston's favorite superhero it's pretty safe to say that his Iron Man book is one of his favorites.

The kids got to wear their costumes all day in class. And then in the last half hour of class the parents were invited to attend their Fall party!

It was pretty cute.

They sang us some songs and then each of them got to stand up on this little bridge and tell us who they were and show us their favorite book. It was so adorable. Preston was a little bit nervous and did his part pretty quickly so I didn't get the best picture of him standing on the bridge saying who he was but you could tell that he was having a lot of fun.

I seriously love watching Preston interact with his preschool class!

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T23:00:00.000-07:00

Preston was Iron Man this year for Halloween. We have officially without a doubt left the years of me deciding what he is going to be for Halloween and entered the years where he has an opinion. Ahem, not just an opinion the opinion. I'd somehow tricked myself into hoping that last year and Spider Man was just a fluke, but it wasn't. Preston is too old to want to be something cute and would rather be something bad ass for Halloween.

Although I think he might have been the cutest Iron Man that I've ever laid eyes on. But he was very bad ass as well. Cute and bad ass, he can pull them both off!

I asked him throughout the day if he wanted to wear his costume but he was very insistent that he did not. You only wear your Halloween costume trick or treating don'tchya know!

So he waited. Very patiently surprisingly enough.

We headed over to my parents' house for dinner and then some trick or treating. We were going with my favorite nephew!!

Preston was so hyped up for trick or treating that getting him to sit down and eat dinner was nearly impossible! I somehow managed to get him to eat a few bites.

Then it was time for the main event!!!

Let me introduce you to Iron Man Preston. And Mason the Monkey.

It was time to hit the streets and fill up our loot buckets!!

Preston was really into trick or treating this year. Like really into it. He was running from house to house. Poor Mase could barely keep up with him!

After an hour of trick or treating Preston was done. He called it a night and hopped into the wagon to ride back to Grandpa and Grandma's house. We'd lost Mase about fifteen minutes earlier so Preston had the wagon all to himself.

Preston performed his last trick or treat at my parents' house. We were hoping to trick whoever opened the door into not realizing it was Preston so me and Brad hid by the garage and Preston headed up to the door on his own. That didn't go so well when Preston knocked, opened the door, and yelled trick or treat up the stairs. For some reason that completely gave him away. I can't imagine why?

The night ended with Preston going to bed much later than he normally does. And after a lot more fight than usual. I'm sure that all the candy we let him have was to blame for both. But Halloween only comes once a year!

Some of my favorite quotes of the night...

Mason: "Put it in the basket" After a few houses, he used this one instead of trick or treat. Followed immediately by, "Tank you!"

Preston: "I'm all done. But you can do it so I can get much more candy."

Preston: "Just one more house and I'm going to say give me lots of candy!" We went ahead and made my that last my house my parents, in hopes of avoiding offending someone! Ha!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Halloween!! I know we did!

Pumpin Carving

2011-10-31T18:58:00.000-07:00

Preston was actually pretty into pumpkin carving this year.

Even cleaning out the guts. This is the first year he's been interested in that at all. He cleaned most of the pumpkin out all by himself. Me and Brad did a little scraping of the sides but Preston scooped it all out on his own. He even got mad at me at one point because he thought I was going to scoop some of it out and he wanted to do it!

Once the pumpkin was all emptied out, it was time to carve it. But first we had to decide what kind of face to give our pumpkin.

Preston had an idea and used his own face to demonstrate it for us.

Since we had decided on a mad face it was time to get down to carving our pumpkin into a jack'o'lantern. Preston of course insisted that he had to help with the carving as well.

So what do you think? Does it look just as mad as Preston did? I know that he had a much cuter mad face!

And my little pumpkin with his pumpkin.

Next stop...Halloween!

A Day At The Patch

2011-10-31T17:16:00.000-07:00

We spent Saturday this weekend up at a local farm picking out a pumpkin, playing in some bounce houses, finding our way out of a hay maze, riding ponies, and getting lost in a corn maze!

We'd been planning to go for the last few weekends but it was raining or we were exhausted or I made the mistake of thinking it wouldn't be a big deal to order a quad shot latte. It was and I spent the rest of the day in bed sick!

But we finally got up there this weekend! And just in time.

We headed up there with my parents and three of my siblings. Jessie didn't come but we picked up Mason so he could head up there with us for some fun!

Of course Preston insisted that we go into the kids area to play right after we got there. So we grabbed some wristbands and headed in. Preston loves bounce houses and they also had some blow up houses too. One of which was a kids version of a haunted house. Very exciting!

Once we'd gotten our fill of the bounce house and the blow up houses, we headed into the hay maze to see if we could find our way out! The boys seemed to think this was fun!

I had to drag them out of the kid area so that we could grab some pumpkins. The pickings were slim which wasn't all that surprising so close to Halloween. But Preston was still able to find the perfect pumpkin. Too bad I wasn't able to get the perfect picture of him with it. Mason on the other hand just enjoyed kicking the little ones around.

After grabbing our pumpkin we paid a visit to the ponies. Two years ago Preston loved riding the ponies and last year he wouldn't go near them but this year he decided to give them another chance. Mason was all for the idea as well. So we waited our turn and climbed right on. Preston knew he wanted to ride and was good to go from the moment he climbed on. Mason on the other hand got a little nervous sitting in the saddle waiting for the ponies to start. But once it got going Mason loved it too.

We had to drag both of them off of the ponies when their turns were over.

It was time to make our way through the corn maze! It was huge. And somehow we didn't get a map. I didn't even know they were handing them out until we started passing people with maps.

No worries, we made it out alive anyways! We may have made our own path a time or two but we did it! And without a map! Ha!

The boys convinced us to go back into the kid area one more time. This time Mase came through the haunted house with me and Preston. He was a little bit frightened. Preston not so much.

We grabbed lunch on the way home. It wasn't exactly on the way but it was good!

We all ended the night by going to see Puss In Boots! It was awesome! Preston absolutely loved it!

Family night at the movies to end family day at the pumpkin patch.

Preston's FOUR Year Photos

2011-10-30T21:38:00.000-07:00

We had Preston's four year photos and our family photos done recently by a friend of mine. We usually get them done in the Summer since that's when Preston turns four but this year I wanted Fall colors so we held off a little bit! He's four all year so I figure that works too!

Here are my favorites!

I love all of the Fall colors! And the ones of Preston just being Preston. I think that might be my favorite part of getting his pictures done every year, capturing him being who he is at the moment!

Now if only I wasn't having such a hard time deciding which ones to put up!

Say What Preston?!

2011-10-29T19:35:00.000-07:00

Preston: (Playing with his toys) "Mama wanna watch the fight?"

Me: "Sure."

Preston: "Okay."

A minute or so goes by.

Me: "Ummm when is this fight going to start?"

Preston: "Hang on it's uploading."

While it would have just been funny because he told me it was uploading it was even funnier because we weren't playing on the iPad. Preston said the fight was uploading because he was still setting it up! I almost died at the hilariousness! Can you tell we are a tech family?

Backyard Visitor

2011-10-28T19:09:00.000-07:00

The last two nights we have had a visitor on our back deck. I'm sure he or she has been visiting for longer than the last two nights, because we have been going through cat food like crazy, but we first noticed their visit two nights ago.

I had just put Preston to bed when I was picking up the kitchen and noticed it. I will admit to being a complete and utter city girl at this point. I was so excited I raced down to grab Preston so he could see the raccoon too. And then we both stood in front of the door watching for a few minutes before I pounded on the door to scare it off.

Brad grew up on a farm and therefore does not think that raccoons are fascinating and insists that if they show up (they did once before years ago) we are supposed to scare them off because they are dangerous to our cats. And I KNEW when I told him about our visitor he was going to ask me if I scared it off so I had to be able to say I did. And yes he did ask, it was the first thing he said to me when I told him about the raccoon.

Then the thing came back again last night! Only this time even earlier than it did the night before! So this time Preston was already up. And my little sister was here. Which means I was not the only city girl in the house. Shannon was so excited she army crawled across the floor to the door to take it's picture!

Not that she needed to.

It was much braver last night than it was the first night. And actually didn't appear to be afraid of us all that much. We pounded on the door. I cracked a window a teeny tiny bit and yelled at it. It just kept coming back.

So we kept taking pictures and watching it. The pictures don't even do it justice. The thing was huge!

Preston appointed himself raccoon watchman and stationed himself on the kitchen counter and watched out the kitchen window for the raccoon. He notified us of everything it was doing. When it was leaving. When it was coming back. And once we scared it off whether or not he thought he saw it's shadow in the yard. Poor kid, he's going to be a city kid who gets all excited about things like this just like his Mommy!

Now Preston keeps asking when it's coming back. He insisted that he couldn't go to bed last night because it might come back and has asked all day if it is coming back tonight.

So now we're waiting to see what it's going to do. And trying to figure out what to do if it does keep coming back. I'm tired of buying cat food so often and Brad is worried about our cats with the raccoon. Tonight though Brad is home so he'll get to see our little visitor if it comes back and I'm sure my raised on a farm husband will have some sort of a plan.

So now we wait.

Scared!

2011-10-22T09:55:00.000-07:00

A theme park not to far from us turns into a huge haunted park in October, so we had to go!

We got together with some friends and made the drive out there. Don't you know being scared is way better with friends!

I may or may not have brought an extra pair of pants and underwear! It was supposed to be that scary. My little sister convinced me that people were seriously peeing their pants and I wanted to be prepared just in case.

We got there just as it was opening and hopped in line for one of the attractions! A train ride with zombies!

I don't do zombies! At all! I can't even watch zombie movies. Yet for some reason I was standing in line for a ride all about zombies.

Luckily it was a long line so I had plenty of time to prepare myself. Or take a bunch of pictures. Same thing right?

We may have even run into a creeper who was willing to share his hat with me!

Finally after waiting for like an hour it was our turn to climb on the train and go for a ride.

Luckily the train was less about the scaring and more about the laughing. It was hilarious! Which definitely worked for me as a non lover of zombies! Although the people behind us were a little bit frightening! Ha!

We hopped off of the train and into another line right next to it. This time we were getting ready to walk through what was essentially a haunted house.

We got lucky and the line ran right next to a candy store! Score!

Once again we entertained ourselves in line by taking photos. What, you don't do that?

We had the crap scared out of us more than once but survived! Afterward we headed through a maze where me and Nicole were practically abandoned and left to fend for ourselves!

Then we made our way over to the longest line of the night. Riding the roller coaster backwards! We had to wait an hour and a half for this one!

By this point we were all getting a little bit tired and a lot bit cold and hungry, so there was not a whole lot of camera time in this line.

Finally we made it to the front and it was our turn to ride!

I can't even explain what it feels like to ride a roller coaster backwards and in the dark! You know how when you go up the hill leading to the huge drop typically you are pushed back into your seat? Yeah, imagine the opposite of that. As we were going up the hill we were looking down the hill and having to push ourselves back into our seats because we were leaning forward. The same thing happened when we hit the drop off. Instead of being pushed into our seats we were pushed out of them! I love roller coasters so this was awesome!

After this one though we were all ready to get going. It was cold! And we were starving! So off we went to find some food before calling it a night!

While everything might not have been pee your pants scary and the lines were a little long it was still a really fun night out with friends!

Wordless Wednesday...Kind Of

2011-10-19T17:54:00.002-07:00

Hanging out at Grandpa's football game!

Say What Preston?!

2011-10-19T16:36:00.000-07:00

"Hey Madison's Mom"

He was attempting to get Aunt Jen's attention and apparently she didn't respond quick enough. We got such a kick out of him referring to her as Madison's Mom!

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"Today is not the day to die."

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"I think Madison's over the Iron Man mask....yeah she's over it."

Madison did NOT love his Iron Man mask.

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"When I say it's time, it's time."

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"Mama, Mason has serious fire power!"

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"I'm on the phone, be quiet."

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"Here's your Mama toys."

I don't know about you but I don't consider cleaning supplies toys.

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"Little boys hafta fart!"

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"I guess this is your home now Auntie Jessie."

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"I will follow you wherever you go."

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"A certain big grown up is going to go nigh-night soon!"

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"I will fight you."

Preston's First Field Trip

2011-10-13T17:53:00.000-07:00

Preston and his preschool class had their first field trip! They went up to a local farm to explore the orchards and pick out a pumpkin!

He was pretty excited about it!

When we got up there the kids all loaded up into the tractor ride so that they could take a little ride to see the apple and peach orchards.

They even got to pick out their very own apple. Not that Preston was willing to eat it but he was very excited to get to pick one off of the tree.

From there the class went in to learn about making apple cider.

And then they learned about coring apples and making apple butter.

None of which Preston was willing to try. My insanely picky eater. He wouldn't even try the apple cider! I did though and it was good!

Check out Preston's first class picture!

Then we headed over to pick a pumpkin. The patch was pretty picked over, so Preston had limited options. But he found a little one that he loved. And I promised him that we would go back up to pick out bigger pumpkins.

I was exhausted after his field trip, but he was still ready to go so after we left the farm we headed over to Chuck E Cheese to meet some friends for lunch!

Let's Go To The Zoo

2011-09-26T18:06:00.000-07:00

Before we left Seattle and headed back towards home we hit up the zoo! We even convinced Jen and Madison to come with us!

Since we only had a couple of hours we didn't see all of the zoo, just some of our favorite spots.

Starting with the giraffes. Madison really loved the giraffes!

Then we headed towards the lions. For the first time like ever, one of the lions was actually doing something! She was chasing her ball around and knocked it into the water and she was pissed. Preston was totally loving watching the whole thing!

We walked through a few more exhibits, grabbed some lunch, and then headed towards the tropical rain forest!

Where we spent some time watching the jaguar sleep.

Or rather Madison did.

Preston spent some time watching the waterfall.

Then he convinced Madison to watch with him for a little bit.

We opted to skip the monkeys because Preston does not love the monkeys. Instead we headed towards the snow leopard and the bird room. I love the snow leopard and it always seems to be out so you can see it! Plus Preston's favorite lovies are his snow leopards.

We never go to the zoo without visiting the bird room. It is probably Preston's favorite part of the Seattle Zoo. Once you get in there you can buy a stick with bird food attached to it and feed the birds. Preston loves this. In fact even Brad loved this and at one point I had to ask him to please give Preston his stick back! Ha!

The bird room did not disappoint and Preston got to feed the birds and had a couple of them land on his stick to eat off of it. He was thrilled. He takes the whole thing very seriously!

We left the bird room and make a quick stop in the gift shop. Preston picked out a stuffed bat, which was actually really surprising because he is totally afraid of bats! But out of all of the things they had that was what he wanted.

Bat in hand we headed towards the paring lot. To say our good-byes to Jen and Madison and start the long drive home exhausted for a fun weekend away with family!

Madison Turns ONE!

2011-09-26T17:53:00.000-07:00

Miss Madison recently turned one, which means that we took a trip over to Seattle to celebrate with her!

We arrived Friday night and spent Saturday setting up and getting ready for her party that afternoon!

Then it was time for her party to start!

The party theme was owls and her birthday cake matched it perfectly and was absolutely adorable!

Even with the the bounce house and the doll house, the kids got the biggest kick out of the gravel walkway and spent a lot of time playing and digging in it.

After some playing and snacking it was time for cake! We brought all of the cake and cupcakes out side and set them up while the birthday girl got ready for her big moment!

Madison was a little bit timid about digging right into her cake but she seemed to enjoy it!

Preston was very excited about watching Madison eat her cake. Or at least smiled for the camera when I offered him another cupcake!

The party started winding down and we those of us that were staying kicked back to relax, take a few photos, and just enjoy that it was a beautiful day in Seattle.

When everyone had recovered from the party and Madison had regained some of her energy we headed inside so she could open all of her gifts!

I think it would be very safe to say that everyone went to bed exhausted that night! And that Madison had a fabulous first birthday party!

The Fair!

2011-09-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

The fair came to town and we obviously had to go!

Preston was very excited! It was almost like he hasn't been to the fair in forever, except you know we've been to a couple of them this year. Maybe that's why he was so excited, he knew he was going to have fun!

We planned ahead and I picked up presale fair tickets for me and Brad as well as a ride bracelet for Preston and a bonus book of tickets so that me and Brad could ride some of the rides with Preston.

Marrissa and her friend ended up coming down with us the night we went. I wouldn't go as far as saying they went to the fair with us since we pretty much just rode there and back together. I called to check in with her a couple of times, but otherwise her and her friend did their thing and we did ours. The joys of having a teenage sister, she's too cool for me now! Ha!

We started with the slide. Which somehow is basically Preston's new favorite ride at the fair. This was Brad's first time with us at the fair and his first time seeing how much Preston loves the slides.

Preston did the obstacle course next.

Then we were off to find the bathrooms and dinner! I love fair food. Or at least usually I do. This year for some reason I couldn't figure out what I wanted and ended up wandering around only to just end up having a burger and fries. Now I feel like I missed out!

Preston on the other hand didn't miss out. While we were eating we hopped in line for the jumping trampoline bungee thing. Yes that is it's official name.

This is Preston's third year doing this and he loves it. It's so worth the wait in line, which this year was at least half an hour. That alone has to be a testament to how awesome it is, that Preston is willing to wait that long for a turn on it. And he gets his patience from me which means he has a teeny tiny little bit more than none.

It did not disappoint.

Brad and Preston did a roller coaster next. Funny enough we ran into my Uncle and my cousins in line so Brad and Preston got to ride the roller coaster with them! Preston had heard talk of my cousin playing one of the games and I knew it was over then. He'd been begging to play one of the games since we got there and I'd been saying no he had a bracelet and could do anything that the bracelet covered but only what the bracelet covered. Well after he heard that Brayden had won he had to play. So we did. And lost. Just like I knew we would, I swear those games are rigged! Luckily Preston had fun and got it out of his system.

We headed over to the adult section and Preston was drooling over all of the grown up rides but poor kid he's just got a couple of years before he'll be tall enough to really enjoy that side of the fair. But we found a few that he was tall enough for. Thank goodness since my little adrenaline junkie wanted to ride them so bad!

The first I didn't think he was going to be tall enough for but when we checked he was so we hopped in line. You sat in a little car and it drove in circles rocking and going up and down over little hills incredibly fast and then it switched and you drove backwards doing the exact same thing. Preston loved it!

We made our way over to the house of mirrors, for some reason Preston loves that one. Me not so much but I sucked it up and went through with him. Mostly because I have seen way too many horror movies and there was no freaking way I was sending Preston in there by himself!

Next to the house of mirrors was the ride that we'd ridden over and over at John's Pizzeria in California and when Preston saw it he was determined to ride it. I was a little nervous because at one of the fairs we went to this summer he wasn't tall enough, but low and behold he was! We rode this one as a family. And Preston loved it just as much here as he did in California!

Somehow Preston conned us into a light saber on the way back over to the kid section. He loved it! And it helped perk him up since it was pretty much bedtime and he was starting to get a little tired.

We rode a few more rides over in the kid section before getting ready to go. We wanted to make sure Preston really made his bracelet worth it. And that he was good and tired!

And he was tired! Preston fell asleep before we even got to my parents house to drop Marrissa and her friend off! We stayed way later than we'd planned but the fair only comes once a year!

Little Miss Lily

2011-09-17T22:49:00.000-07:00

Brad's cousin Lenee recently had a baby and we went to visit her in the hospital. Let's just say the arrival of Lily Ann and getting to snuggle her did not help my baby fever!

Preston's First Day Of Preschool

2011-09-15T20:34:00.000-07:00

Preston's first day of preschool was today!

I was a little bit nervous, a little bit sad, and a little bit excited.

Preston just seemed excited.

We obviously took the "first day of school" photos.

Then we headed to school.

We were a little early, so we waited outside the classroom with some of Preston's classmates.

Until they opened the door and Preston raced right in. We put his stuff into his cubby and headed into the actual classroom area. I had to ask him for a hug and a kiss before I sent him over to circle time, he was that ready for preschool. After I said good-bye I watched him for a minute and he was totally fine, he didn't even look back once!

I on the other hand was not fine. I made it two stoplights before the tears arrived. How was it possible that my baby was already in preschool?! And that after all of the stressing I did about this whole preschool thing I was the one crying not him? So I headed home. Which might not have been the best idea. After four years of staying home with Preston coming home, even for just a couple of hours, without him was just weird. Luckily my sister-in-law called so I spent the rest of the time Preston was in preschool distracted.

When I got back to the preschool to pick Preston up I discovered that he had put on a good front at the beginning of the day but he wasn't completely prepared for the idea of preschool either. The teachers told me that he'd done great for the majority of the day but then the excitement of preschool had worn off and been replaced by the fact that he didn't feel like being there and didn't feel like listening to people he didn't know. Which means that while preschool had started out on a high note for Preston it had not ended on one. I talked to the teacher about what we could do to work on encouraging him to stay involved and continue to listen and follow directions even when he didn't want to. We talked about using a reward system and just really explaining to Preston what was and wasn't allowed at preschool and that he had to follow instruction and do what the rest of his class was doing. His teacher did tell me it was the first day of school so kids don't know what to expect and that was probably part of what had happened.

All that to say that I walked away from preschool at the end of the day even more stressed out than I had at the beginning of the day.

We had plans to meet our friends Kelly, Zack, and Ryan at the park for a picnic lunch so we headed there all the while talking about what was and wasn't allowed in preschool. And what Preston had learned and done during his first day.

When we got to the park Kelly helped me to laugh about the situation and listened to me whine about it sucked that this had happened and that I didn't want to have the naughty kid. And just overall made me feel better about the entire situation. Plus Preston got to get his wiggles out playing with Zack and Ryan.

Thus is how Preston's first day of preschool ended with me realizing that I have an amazing support system of family and friends. I also realized that in focusing so much on the part of preschool that I was most worried about (drop off) I'd done Preston a little bit of a disservice in leaving him not completely prepared for what to expect from the rest of the day at preschool and unprepared for what would be expected of him. It could have gone better and it could have gone worse, which I guess is really not so bad when you look at the big picture.

Luckily we get to do the whole thing all over again and again and again, so I know we'll get it just right!

Preschool Orientation Day

2011-09-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

After obsessing and searching last Spring, we are finally ready for Preston to start preschool. No seriously I was freaking out about the whole thing. I looked at five different preschools before I felt like we'd found the right place for Preston. I worried about snack time and bathroom location and how well Preston interacted with the people that we did meet when we were "interviewing" the different preschools. I worried about how close to the road they were and did they have their play area fenced and how many adults to how many students. What did play time look like. What the curriculum looked like. How far from our house were they. Could I get there easily in the snow. Mostly I just stressed about all of it. And making the right decision.

I'm sure most of my stress about finding the "right" preschool came from the fact that I do not leave Preston with anyone. Seriously. He is four years old and literally has only stayed with me, Brad, my parents, or my sisters. That's it. So the idea of suddenly trusting someone who isn't family is absolutely terrifying to me. I know I know, I'm a crazy person.

So the search for what preschool Preston would be going to helped take my mind off of the fact that Preston would actually be going to preschool. And even after we picked a preschool I still stressed whether or not we'd picked the right one. Or if the whole thing was just a bad idea. Can't I just keep him home with me forever? This whole growing up thing is not going to work for me. Thank you very much.

This leads us to Orientation Day at preschool.

The parents were invited, and in fact required to stay the whole time. We got to meet his teachers and explore the classroom. I think it helped settle Preston's nerves a little bit because he got to meet the kids that were going to be in his class. And it helped settle my nerves to see that he was doing just fine. And to talk to other parents who were just as stressed about the whole thing as I was. Well maybe not just as stressed, but pretty close.

Preston had a great time. He loved some of the toys in the classroom, particularly the pirates and the knights. It was such a relief to see that Preston was actually enjoying his classroom.

They did do a little trial run during the last twenty minutes or so and had the kids sit down for circle time while they took us parents to a different room to talk about what to expect during the upcoming year and answer any questions we might have.

When I heard they were going to pull us out of the room the panic set in. I had no idea what to expect from Preston. I wasn't sure he was going to sit down and participate if I was leaving the room and because I hadn't known that was going to happen I hadn't attempted to talk to him about it happening. In fact I'd done just the opposite and told him that I would be there the whole time. He did absolutely fine. He gave me a hug and a kiss and I told him I'd be back and that he was going to have circle time with his class and I was going to have circle time with the other parents. He got a little bit nervous when one of the other kids had a hard time but I told him he was fine and I'd be back and he settled right in.

Now that orientation is over we just have to make it through the first day!

Lake Days

2011-09-09T19:49:00.000-07:00

When we got a blast of warm weather this month we did what anyone who wasn't quite ready for summer to end does, we went to the lake with friends!

The boys were so excited to get down to the beach to play!

We brought lunch so that we could stay and hang out for a while and stay and hang out for a while we did!

Preston and Zack did some digging in the sand. They built towers and mountains and lakes and rivers. It was all very serious business.

We all got in the water and enjoyed that even though summer was coming to an end it wasn't over yet and the ninety degree temperatures proved that.

Then we climbed back into the car and headed towards home. The boys enjoyed their dirt bike movie and us Mamas enjoyed getting to chat all the way home. Thanks for driving and letting us ride with you Kelly!

I am seriously going to miss summer and am so glad that we got to get ready to send it out with a day at the lake.

Doing Some Riding

2011-09-02T20:16:00.000-07:00

Preston got a bike from us for his birthday and he's been putting it to good use! He loves riding his bike. And I'm loving that we live in a culdesac where he can ride pretty safely.

We headed out to play while Mason was here and I didn't realize that Preston's bike was not only going to be fun for Preston but also for Mason.

Preston rode around and Mason chased him. Both of them having a blast. It was hilarious to watch the two of them play.

You'd think the two of them would have been tired after all that riding and running. Not so much.

I can't wait until Mason is old enough to have a bike of his own and they can ride together!

History Repeating Itself

2011-09-02T17:35:00.000-07:00

Who knew that when Brad bought my cousins Nintendo 64 off of him years ago it would really get some use later on by our son and nephew.

I get such a kick out of the fact that Preston and Mason are playing on the same video game system that me and Jessie used to play on with our cousin. The same games even. Talk about history repeating itself.

The Whole Family Goes For Photos

2011-09-01T21:33:00.000-07:00

My Grandpa had a birthday coming up and asked for pictures of all of his kids and their families as his gift. So my Mom hired a photographer and we headed out to the park ready to go.

She took a ton of pictures and here are some of my favorites! Beware there are A LOT of them!

There you have it. All of us in photos for the first time ever. And seriously how cute are the ones of Preston and Mason? They totally stole the show!

Blast From The Past

2011-08-31T20:34:00.000-07:00

Preston and Brad have gotten pretty into a show that Brad used to watch when he was little called Thundercats. Brad was pretty excited when he realized that Preston was into it when they caught an episode together and even more excited when Preston told him he wanted to watch more! So I wasn't all that surprised when Preston built the "Sword of Omens" out of some of his trio blocks. I was a little surprised when he walked around with his new sword saying, "Sword of Omens give me sight beyond sight". A line that Lioness uses when he gets ready to use his sword.

My little Thundercat!

Wordless Wednesday...Kind Of

2011-08-31T10:08:00.000-07:00

Preston thought he was so hilarious. And for some reason I think this picture is just hilarious. And no the pop can wasn't open. Maybe that's why it's so funny?

Day Passes

2011-08-30T22:19:00.000-07:00

We bought a Groupon for our downtown area and it was getting ready to expire so we headed down to use it! My Mom had bought one too so her, Marrissa, and Shannon were coming with us. Then at the last minute Brad and my brother ended up not having to work that day so we bought a couple of extra day passes and off we went.

After getting our wristbands, we started with the Spider! Preston was all for it and very excited to ride. I've always loved rides like this so I was pretty excited. We split into our groups and hopped in line.

Let me tell you riding a ride like this with your child is so much different than riding it with someone else. I spent the whole time stressing out. Was Preston scared? Was he having fun? Or here's a big one...WHY THE F DON'T THEY HAVE SEAT BELTS TO MAKE SURE NO ONE FALLS OUT WHEN THE DAMN THING STARTS SPINNING?! Oh yes, I was freaking out that the ride wasn't safe enough. When the heck did I become that person, the one freaking out instead of the one who just enjoys the thrill?

Luckily for me Preston had no desire to go on the Spider again. When I asked him if he had fun he told me yes, but that he did not want to go on that one again. Problem solved.

After the Spider Preston did the much safer Pirate Ship Bounce House. We tried to con Marrissa into going on with him and she was all set to go and then was told that she was too tall. Boo! Preston had fun though!

After the bounce house it was time to do the roller coaster! Which Preston did love! And it's a good thing too because I love roller coasters!

We attempted to do the Strawberries after the roller coaster, but I made the mistake of climbing on with Brad and my brother, who had decided that the whole point of riding the Strawberries was to make it spin as fast as possible and make me want to throw up. After a minute or two of that I had to tell them to stop. Not stop a little but stop all the way. Plus Preston had started to look a little green too! It wasn't all just me. But they did say they won't ride that one with me again. Jerks! Ha!

It was after lunch time by this point so we made our way up to the food court to grab some food. Along the way my Mom bought Preston a balloon sword that he was completely in love with. It was a good thing he had the sword too since it was the only thing he ate lunch with when he refused to sit at the same table as the rest of us because he didn't like the smell of all of our food. Oh yes, that's my child.

Along the way back from lunch we ran into the train and Preston insisted that we had to ride it. So we hopped right on and took a tour of downtown. Very exciting. I think it was really only so exciting because we were riding the train and Preston loves the train.

Since we still had the rest of the day left on our passes we hopped off the train and headed back to the rides.

Preston got to do bumper cars for the first time, he's finally tall enough! He loved it! And we totally kicked butt!

Plus Preston made a friend on the bumper cars and the little boy raced over after the bumper cars to ask Preston if he wanted to do the bumper boats with him! Preston said sure and the two raced up to the boats. Since both boys had day passes and no one else was waiting for a ride they got to just keep on bumping (ha!) until they didn't want to ride anymore!

Or rather until I told Preston that we had to get going if we were going to catch the Imax.

Somehow though while we were grabbing everyone for the movie, Preston got sucked into riding the Strawberries with Brad, Matt, Shannon, and Marrissa. And by sucked in I mean he saw them in line and raced over and begged to ride with them. I was a little worried about Preston riding with them, so I might have given Brad a little lecture about watching to make sure he didn't look like he was going to throw up at any point. I was told that Preston did just fine and that he handled all of the spinning up until the very end when Brad realized that he was looking a little sick and when he asked Preston if he wanted to slow down he nodded yes. I on the other hand sat this one out and felt nauseous just watching them spin from the sidelines. Stupid Strawberries!

We raced into the Imax, grabbed some popcorn, and settled in to watch Roar: Lions of the Kalahari. It was good. And in true documentary style did not have the happy ending I was hoping for. That's why I usually avoid shows like this. Shows like this and Bambi, that movie was horrible!

To recover from the sadness of the lions we played some mini golf. It was Preston's first time playing mini golf and he was pretty excited about the whole thing. And actually did pretty well with the whole thing. We had to work on it a little bit but he had it down by the time we left. I'm not sure if this is in his favor or not to explain how good he was, but he was better than me!

We still had some time before all of the rides closed so we hurried to do the bumper cars, the pretend your on a roller coaster when you're really only in a big tube that moves, the real roller coaster, and finished with the Strawberries. At least me and Preston finished with the Strawberries (this time I didn't feel sick, but that was probably because I controlled how fast we were spinning) while Brad and my brother rode the Spider one last time.

On the way to the car we passed by the carousel and since it was also included in the day pass me and Preston hopped on for a ride to end the day.

Or at least that was the plan until Preston decided that it was a better idea to end the day running through the fountain before heading to the car!

We were exhausted by the time we reached the car but it was worth it!

Condo Party

2011-08-29T09:04:00.000-07:00

We had Preston third fourth birthday party up at my Grandpa's condo. Yes, his third birthday PARTY. Lucky kid.

Although this party wasn't just about him. Every year our entire family meets up at the condo sometime during the summer to celebrate all of the summer birthdays and hang out.

It's a fun day filled with food and drinking and swimming and food. Did I mention that there is food? It's something I look forward to every year.

Preston was pretty excited about it too. Especially when it sank in for him that this meant he got to stretch his birthday out just a little longer. And more presents, Preston seems to have a thing for presents. Imagine that.

After lunch and then presents, we went swimming. Not in the lake, because I now have that thing about lakes (which sounds weird to even type, if that even makes sense), but in the pool. Everyone ended up down there swimming and just generally enjoying themselves.

Hanging out with all of my family like that makes me feel like I'm a kid again. And I'm so glad that Preston gets to experience the same thing growing up.

Backyards And Cousins

2011-08-26T22:45:00.000-07:00

What good is having a backyard if you can't enjoy it with your cousin in the summer? So that's exactly what we did, headed outside right after both Preston and Mason woke up to enjoy the backyard, the sunshine, and just hanging out with each other!

The boys got started with our little splash pad. I'm seriously shocked at what a hit this thing has been this summer. Both boys totally loved playing with it.

Of course we didn't stop there. Next the boys decided they wanted to play with the rocket ship. This one has been a hit for us since Preston got it for his birthday last year. And this year Mason loved it too. Once we got through all of the fighting and figured out that we were going to have to take turns. Then we were good to go.

But the fun didn't stop there. Preston insisted that we pull out the slip n slide. Not to slip or slide on. Preston likes to fill it up with water and then use it as a little river with all of his outside boats. Mason was on board with this idea. Get it? On board. Ha, I'm hilarious!

Somehow the boys moved on from the slip n slide to the water table. Which meant figuring out how to settle both boys in nicely where they each had enough space to play without getting on each others nerves for being in each others space. But we worked it out so that they were both having a good time.

When the water table got boring, Preston decided that it was a good idea to play in the mud. Well to create the mud. He is loving the dirt that we have at the bottom of our deck stairs and loving it so much that we're probably going to leave an area of dirt for him to keep making mud in.

And then it was hours later and time to go inside for lunch and Mason's nap. But me and Preston headed right back out with a baby monitor after Mason fell asleep. Then we all headed back out to play when Mason woke up.

It was a fabulous day in the backyard with the sun and my two favorite boys having fun. Because that it what having a backyard and a cousin to play in it with is all about.

Play Date

2011-08-25T22:03:00.000-07:00

We've been trying to take advantage of Summer and what's left of it. Which has meant a lot of outside playing. And water playing! So we invited our friends Kelly, Zack, and Ryan over to play!

For some reason Preston and Zack are both loving the little splash pad. Of all the water toys we have and the pool, Preston insists that we have to pull this one out to play with.

After Zack got stung by a bee, poor kid, the boys headed inside to play where it was safe. But they still wanted to play in the water so after walking into them playing in the bathroom sink and soaking the bathroom floor, I offered them the option of the bathtub. And they very excitedly took me up on that offer. Even better they were already dressed to go swimming.

They did end up climbing out of the bath when it was lunch time. And then doing some more playing inside and outside.

But before the play date could end we had to have some ice cream! The boys both chose Iron Man popsicles and look at how cute they looked eating them! Can you tell they're friends?

Thanks for playing with us guys!

The Lake With Friends

2011-08-25T21:15:00.000-07:00

We headed up to the lake for a day with friends. I'd been wanting to get back up here since we'd checked it out last year with my Mom and we were finally doing it. We left early that morning figuring that since the beach we were heading to was over an hour away we had to make it worth it by staying all day.

It was a fantastic day to go to the lake too. Sunny and hot!

We brought lunch with us so we could just hang out and enjoy the day.

The beach was gorgeous. Perfect for digging. And playing. And racing around.

Not that we only spent time on the beach. We got in the water too. Preston enjoyed it more than me. I'm seriously just not feeling lakes lately. And this one was bad. There were things floating all over the place and it was gross. Oh to be little again and not even notice. Preston loved the lake. I loved that I brought things to float on so I could enjoy it with him!

There was even a floating dock. Preston thought this was awesome. Although he refused to actually jump off of it into the water. But he did make friends on it. There were two other kids playing at the lake and Preston and Zeke took turns pushing them into the water. All four of them thoroughly enjoying the game.

Their new friends even had some tadpoles that they had collected earlier and brought them over so the boys could check them out. Preston LOVED this!

Of course the tadpoles were only entertaining for so long and then our boys were off to play with their new friends. Preston and his new friend, Kylie, even held hands at one point. He thought she was just the coolest person ever. He talked about her even after we left the lake and kept asking me to remind him what her name was. Made me a little bit sad that she was just his beach friend that he'd probably not get to play with ever again.

The beach wore all of the kids out and Preston did something he never does, he took a nap on the way home!

Oh how I'm going to miss summer.

Four Year Doctor Visit

2011-08-24T09:59:00.000-07:00

Preston had his four year well check, now that he's a big four year old he needs to get his stats!

We had some time before our pediatrician came in so we played some matching games with an Oreo game they had in our room. Preston loved it! It definitely helped us pass the time!

We had the typical well child check up. Nothing interesting this year.

Preston weighed in at a whopping 39.5 pounds putting him in the 76%. He was 42.5 inches tall! That puts him in the 88% for height! My tall little boy!! How did he get so big?!

This appointment came with shots. We weren't' planning on doing them but then our pediatrician pointed out that if we held off Preston would be getting like six of them at his next appointment! That's crazy! So we got three of them today and he'll get three of them next year. He hasn't so thrilled about that. But he handled it like a champ. Not a single tear. I told him that he was getting his super hero shots and that seemed to help convince him that the whole thing wasn't completely horrible. In case you are wondering Preston now has a little bit of Batman, Spider Man, and Iron Man floating around inside of him!

Just in case I needed another reminder that Preston is getting older, for the first time he got his shots in his arm instead of his leg.

Say What Preston?!

2011-08-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

Some catch up on some of the things Preston's been saying that make me laugh lately.

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Preston: "Mommy, in the car when you said iPod to Auntie Jessie and you need to say iPad. But you said iPod.

Me: "Oh. I did?"

Preston: "Yes. You said iPod and you need to learn to say iPad."

Nothing like getting a technology lesson FROM your (then) three year old. I then had to explain that I did in fact mean iPod because an iPod is a smaller iPad. So there is also nothing like giving a technology lesson TO your (then) three year old.

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"I don't know why they parked by OUR grass!"

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Preston: "You're my Mommy."

Me: "I am."

Preston: "I'm going to keep you forever."

Me: (Laughing) You are?

Preston: "Yes. You're my Mommy and not anyone else's. And I'm going to keep you."

Looks like we're going to work on that one since we don't plan on him being an only child forever!

-------------

"You better not be lying!"

Think he's heard that phrase before? Ha!

---------------

"Okay, I will work on that."

He'd gotten in trouble and I was telling him that he shouldn't have done what he did.

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"It went in the wrong pipe! The breathing pipe!"

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"My butt hurts. Cause I farted two farts and now it hurts."

Suck a boy!

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Preston: "Do I have it?"

Me: "Yes."

Preston: "Oh, I like it."

Me: "How do you know you like it if you don't even remember that you have it? What else do you have?"

Preston: "I have a lot of stuff. I don't remember it all."

We saw a commercial for a toy and Preston told me he wanted it and I told him he already had it! Obviously it's time to clean out the play room!

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"It is rude to step on other people's grass."

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Preston: "Why when you get shotted you die?"

Me: "Who told you that?"

Preston: "Nobody did. I just knowed it!"

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I just love listening to the things he has to say!

Come On Over And Play

2011-08-18T21:14:00.000-07:00

Time to get outside and enjoy the sun. And it was a perfect match up too. Zack, Kelly, and Ryan came over to join us and I had Mason for the day, so we all had a pair! Sweet!

We obviously played outside since it was HOT out!

The plan was for the big boys to go swimming in the pool. But then Mason and Ryan wanted to go play in the pool too. Only problem was that me and Kelly didn't want to get in the pool just yet. So I pulled out the little kid splash pad to distract the little boys. We'd had one the Summer that Preston turned one and then when he ruined it we bought a new one the following year. And then when that one broke I bought another new one. And it never came out of the box. But it was time to break that baby out.

Even though we opened it up for the little boys, the big boys decided to bail on the pool and instead play in the splash pad with the little boys. The splash pad is NOT huge but they all made it work. And loved it.

Ryan had a good time just hanging out. Literally, he loved hanging on the back of the chair.

Then it was time for them to take a ride. So they all piled into Preston's truck and took off.

And then Mason really did take off when Jessie got off work and came to pick him up. Poor Ryan was stuck with the big boys. And those big boys are exhausting so he took a little nap.

Not that Preston and Zack seemed to mind they just went right on playing. Because they are big boys and have way too much energy.

Summer and friends, it doesn't get much better!

Lake Fun

2011-08-17T09:29:00.000-07:00

With summer weather in full swing, we took advantage and headed up to the lake to play with friends!

I had Mason for the day which worked out perfect because we met up with my friend Courtney and she has two boys and her youngest and Mason are not even a month apart.

It wasn't supposed to be really hot out the day we went but we figured there was sand to dig in and the boys could splash in the water if they wanted too. And it ended up being hot out! It was nice! The boys played with squirt guns, dug in the sand, swam in the water. I think it would be safe to say that fun was had by all.

Mason kept me on my toes while we were there. He did NOT want to wear his life jacket but he wanted to play in the water, which worked out to Preston's advantage because Mason's life jacket is Spider-Man so when Mason refused it Preston "traded" him and wore it instead. But Mason didn't seem to get that if he didn't have his life jacket on he couldn't keep trying to head out to swim with the big boys. So I did a lot of chasing to keep him where he could touch. Not that he really cared, I would walk out with him and he just kept wanting to go deeper and deeper. He loves the water and didn't care whether he could touch or not!

We tried to get a picture of Preston and Zeke and this was the best I could get, but I think it's so cute! And hilarious!

We left exhausted! And excited that we'd made it back up to this lake again this summer. The last time I was here Preston was only two and the beach and the water were so much nicer this year! We will definitely be going back!

Waterfall In The Rocks

2011-08-13T20:36:00.000-07:00

Time for some outside play for two little cousins.

Preston was building a waterfall in the rocks for his cars. He was very proud of it. And fully entertained.

Madison headed over to check things out. So Preston taught her a little bit about the rock waterfall and how it all worked.

He was even willing to share his cars with her. Such a sweet big cousin.

So Madison got to work on helping maintain the waterfall.

Fun was had by both these two little cousins in the rocks playing with the water!

Cousins

2011-08-13T19:45:00.000-07:00

Before Jen and Madison headed home I tried to get a photo of Preston and Madison. This is what I ended up with.

Maybe in a couple years I get that perfect one I was trying for?

For now though I kind of love the hilarious-ness of these!

Rolling Somersaults

2011-08-11T20:27:00.000-07:00

Preston doing some rolling somersaults with an exercise ball at Gigi's house. I can't decide if it looks fun or just plain painful.

Oh to be little again.

A Visit To Coulee

2011-08-11T13:45:00.000-07:00

While Jen and Madison were in town we headed to Coulee for the day to grab some nachos and burritos at Big Wally's. Totally kidding we actually went to visit Brad's Grandpa and Grandma, the food was just a side perk. Did I forget to mention that Brad didn't come? He was at work. But Preston hadn't seen Jim and Joanne in a while and me and Jen had been trying to figure out a time to head their way so it seemed like perfect timing while she was in town and we could ride up and back together.

While Jen went to visit her other Grandma me and Preston hung out at the park on Banks Lake. It didn't seem all that hot when we first got there, but holy crap it got hot fast! And we were only there for an hour. Preston cooled off in the lake while I watched him from the shore. This funny thing has happened to me as I've gotten older, I do not like lakes as much as I used to. I used to be such a lake person and now give me a pool any day of the week! So Preston swam and I watched. And seriously considered getting in a couple of times until I reminded myself that then I would have to spend the rest of the day wet from being in the lake. No thank you.

When Preston got sick of the lake we moved over to the playground to play. We did the slide. Played in the rocks. Climbed over the bridge. And walked the ledges around the play area.

Until it got too hot to be on the playground. At which point we moved back to the lake so Preston could cool off. And throw rocks.

When Jen and Madison picked us up we grabbed some lunch and made our way out to Jim and Joannes to visit.

Preston loves the farm. He gets excited every time we tell him we are heading out to visit Grandma and Grandpa P. Preston had a lot of fun playing with Grandpa P!

When Madison woke up she played with them Grandpa P too.

I'm pretty sure we wore Grandpa out! I know he helped wear Preston and Madison out!

Backyard Swimming

2011-08-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

We had a backyard pool party while Jen and Madison were in town visiting.

We finally got around to the pool part of it while Madison was sleeping, so we brought the baby monitor out and climbed into the pool to enjoy the sunshine.

Preston did some jumping.

And some swimming.

And him and Aunt Jen played some squirt gun games.

All before Madison woke up.

Once she woke up she came outside to have some fun in the pool!

Look how cute she looked in Preston's old life jacket.

She did NOT love the life jacket. Not one bit. It was a little bit chilly outside for her and the water was not warm enough. So after a few minutes Madison was over the whole idea of swimming. It was much warmer just to play in the sunshine.

Especially when Brad decided it was a good time to add water to the pool! Brrrr!

So we turned our pool party into a BBQ!

Jump Preston Jump

2011-08-08T20:11:00.000-07:00

We went swimming at a pool near our house and Preston decided that jumping in was one of his favorite things. He did it over and over again. He'd jump and then climb back out and do it all over again. He jumped in the shallow end. He jumped in the deep end. He jumped whether I was in the pool or outside of it. He just kept jumping. It was so exciting!

He also plugged his nose when he jumped, which made it not only exciting but absolutely adorable!

Preston's FOURTH Birthday

2011-08-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

What good is turning four if you don't get to have a party?

Preston's second fourth birthday party was at our house. Didn't get your invite? Don't worry, you are officially invited to the recap. I'll even show you the invite because it was pretty fabulous!

I love birthday parties. LOVE them! This year Preston requested not just one superhero as the theme but three. Those lucky three were Spider Man, Batman, and Iron Man. Of course that meant that I had to figure out a way to incorporate all three of them into his party. Iron Man was supposed to make his grand entrance with the pinata but apparently they don't make Iron Man pinatas anymore. Seriously, can't Iron Man get a little love? So he wasn't as involved in the party as originally planned.

Anyways...

The part of the party that kept me up until one am the ~~night before~~ morning of. The party bags! I was so excited about these. Spider Man was in charge of this department. They included silly string (Spidey String), a Spider Man blow out thingy, Spider Man fruit snacks, and homemade super hero masks with the kids names on them! I was so excited about these bags! I think they might have been the best party bags yet, and that's saying a lot since at Preston's second birthday we gave away goldfish (it was a Finding Nemo theme).

I can't take any credit for the cake since all I did was pick it but it was pretty fabulous looking!

I can however take credit for this adorable little boy!

Did you notice the Batman shirt? That was where Batman came into the party! I ordered it off of Etsy and am in love with it. Preston thought it was pretty awesome as well!

Speaking of Preston, he was so freaking excited about his birthday party! I may have mentioned before that he is a little bit of a birthday diva so he was bouncing off the walls by the time it was time to celebrate! He couldn't wait to have all of his friends over and get the party started!

Somehow I don't have a single photo of the food table. But there was food. And a banner above it. I order a banner every year for Preston's party based on the theme. Somehow this year though I ordered one and wrote "Happy THIRD Birthday Preston" on it. THIRD! For his FOURTH birthday! And I even double checked it. Since I didn't have time to reorder it with the right age, I put stickers over the word third turning it into the word fourth. So that looked awesome. But I was told that it almost had a little bit of a 3D effect to it, so it wasn't absolutely horrible.

We borrowed my MIL's bounce house and set it up out back for the kids to play in. As well as putting the ladder up on the pool so they could do swimming. And then there was the swing set and backyard toys!

I think the pool might have been the biggest hit! All of the kids were so excited to do some swimming!

Madison was pretty excited about the party too!

Finally we dragged the kids out of the pool and away from all of the toys for the ~~Iron Man~~ Spider Man pinata! Luckily the kids didn't seem to care whether it was Iron Man or Spider Man as long as they got to hit it and candy fell out!

After the pinata and giving all of the kids a proper sugar high, we moved on to presents! Preston was very excited about this one! I was dreading it a little bit because he really does not need any more toys! But his excitement was contagious! He'd gotten his present from me and Brad the night before, we got him a green bike with a horn (that I already regret a little) and an Iron Man helmet, so Iron Man did get a little bit more representation at the party.

We did some BBQing and playing and swimming when Preston was done opening presents.

And finally it was time for cake! Another one of Preston's favorite parts of birthday parties is the birthday song and blowing out the candles on his cake!

Who am I kidding Preston loves everything about his birthday parties!

Thank you to all those friends and family members who celebrated with us! It means so much to us to have you give up a Saturday to celebrate Preston's birthday with us! I know that we had a fabulous time and I hope you did too!!

Summer Fun

2011-08-04T21:34:00.000-07:00

We got together with friends today! For the first time in a month! It was soooo good to start getting back to some sort of regular version of my life!

This morning we met Nicole, Boone, and Remy at the craft store to grab some stuff for Preston's birthday party this weekend. I had an idea for something I wanted to do in the kids' party bags and Nicole offered to help me out and since I have absolutely no creativity at all I jumped on that offer!

From the fabric store we headed to the movies to put our summer kids movie tickets to use. They were playing Kung Fu Panda 2! Preston hadn't seen the first one but I figured he'd enjoy it because he is very into fighting and the movie is all about fighting. But seriously we had our hands full! I had Mason for the day and between trying to carry our movie snacks and Mason and keep track of Preston plus going into four different theaters trying to find enough seats together in a good spot my arms felt the burn!

BUT the kids loved the movie! It was pretty cute. Preston and Boone were pretty into it. And even Mason was too. It was Mason's first movie and I was pretty nervous about how it was going to go. He doesn't usually watch TV and he's only eighteen months, so I was preparing myself for the worst. But he totally seemed to love it. He only got up once and it was only because he heard Preston and he wanted to see where he was.

After the movie everyone came back to our house. We let the Preston and Boone climb in the pool to swim in their life jackets while Nicole and I sat on the deck and got started on part of Preston's party bag favors.

It was HOT! Which of course meant that me and Nicole had to climb in the pool with Mason and Remy to cool of with the big boys too!

I finished the day off working on Preston' party stuff with my sister. And enjoying the fabulous weather! I am now completely exhausted and have a FULL day ahead of me tomorrow trying to get everything ready for Preston's party on Saturday. It's going to be so much fun!!

I'm thinking there will definitely be more pool parties and hanging out in the backyard relaxing happening this summer!

HUGE thank you to Nicole and my sister for all their help with Preston's party bags! You guys are awesome, I literally couldn't have done it without you!!

I'm Home Again

2011-08-02T22:18:00.000-07:00

We made it home. And survived three and a half weeks of vacation and many many many hours in the car! Hurray!

I have lots to catch up on from our trip and honestly from before our trip. Gasp, I am not on top of the blog. I know I know it's shocking. I am always on top of the blog. Ha!

To celebrate being back I have decided to give a list of things that I missed while I was away. And to double your pleasure double your fun I've decided to make it part of Project Finding Joy!

81. My toothbrush. It has a timer on it. And tells me with a smiley face when I've been brushing my teeth long enough. After using that for the last five plus years (don't worry I've switched the heads, that would have been gross!) I didn't realize that I had no idea how long I was supposed to brush my teeth without it. But Brad said it wasn't fair that I always take it with me and make him use a crappier toothbrush and he put his foot down about me taking it this time. He said he was going to take it to work with him if I didn't promise not to take it. Yes, we love our toothbrush that much.

82. My BED! And the blankets and the covers and the pillows and the pillowtop-ness of it.

83. Being able to pull clothes out of a closet and dresser instead of a suitcase. Not that I've done a whole lot to make that happen since we've been home. Everything is still in suitcases. Or more accurately on the floor next to the suitcase. That's progress right?

84. The back-up camera in my car. I forgot how much you CAN'T see behind your car without one!

85. My car in general. My Mom has a mini-van and it just doesn't have the same ability to go as my car. Plus my Mom has had five kids and all of their friends in that car, where I've only had Preston in mine so it's a lot ummmm less trashed. Ha!

86. My DVR. Which I'm going to keep on missing because we cancelled it. That crying you'll hear when all the shows start back up in September will be me. We're trying to watch less TV around here and it already pains me!

87. Couponing. I was still reading all of the blogs while I was gone and hated missing all of the really good deals.

88. My friends! Hello friends I missed you!!

89. Consistent internet.

90. And of course my husband!

I'm also feeling pretty grateful that my laptop decided not to die until we got home. That would have been absolutely horrible while I was gone. It's pretty horrible now that I'm home but at least at home we have back up computers and Brad is here to pull all of my stuff off of it before I take it down to Best Buy to take advantage of that warranty we bought. Although it would be nice if the dang thing would start charging again.

Now I just have to wait for our new and faster internet to finish being hooked up tomorrow and then I can get started on catching the blog up on our trip and everything else!

Coming Home!

2011-07-31T22:15:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning, we headed home. It was a LONG drive. An all day kind of long drive. Made even longer by the fact that we made a stop at the outlets for what was only supposed to be like twenty minutes and we somehow ended up staying for a few hours.

The boys did amazingly well for how long they were stuck in their car seats. And we really didn't make any extra pit stops other than for bathroom breaks and food. We did grab dinner at a McDonald's with a play area so that Preston and Mason could race around. Well everyone else grabbed dinner there, which worked out perfectly for me and Preston because it gave him more time to play while they ate. We grabbed Carl's Jr on the way out and ate in the car.

By the time we got home it was Sunday, very early Sunday. We were exhausted and Preston was so tired that he didn't even wake up or realize that he was seeing Brad for the first time in three plus weeks.