Our First day in Ashland

We made it! To my surprise, the kids did much better than I thought they would driving for 5 hours in the car. Ashland is just as beautiful as I remember, and the people are even nicer than I remember. The cottage we are staying at is a bit small for the 5 of us, but we are making it work. As much as we like Ashland, we are looking forward to going to Brookings on Tuesday and having a little more space. :)
On our first day we ate dinner at a local restaurant, then took a walk around the park. We listened to some live music and the Chris and I had a great time seeing all the beautiful sites. The kids were pretty exhausted since they didn't have a nap, so we tried to get them in bed early, but they didn't end up going to sleep until after 9pm... silly kids!

I just love Daisy, she is sooooo funny. Every summer she loves to go swimming with the girls in the pool. Last year Maddie discovered that if she throws a toy for Daisy and then grabs her tail, Daisy will pull her around the pool and give her a ride in her little tube. Too funny!

Taking baby steps towards potty training

I really thought that Ava would be the first of the twins to be potty trained... boy was I wrong! Maddie potty trained at the very young age of two, just two weeks past her 2nd birthday. Lucy has been potty trained for months now, but Ava just doesn't seem to get the whole concept. She knows that she is supposed to "go" in the potty, and she doesn't resist trying to much, it's just that I don't think she knows how to let it go. (sorry if this is TMI, but this is a blog about kids!) Now, I have some exciting news. Hold your breath!....... She went last night, and again TODAY! Wow... I know, I know, I could be getting excited over nothing. But this is a step in the right direction and I am thrilled! Ava was pretty excited about it too. After she went pee in the potty last night she shouted, "I'm not a baby anymore, I'm a big girl!" She couldn't have been more pleased with herself and neither could her mommy and papa!

Horses!

We made a morning out of visiting our favorite baby sitter's horse and her filly yesterday. Kristin was so sweet to meet us out there to let us love on her 2 month old filly. She is the sweetest horse ever, I just love her! Maddie was in awe of them both, but the twins didn't seem to care to much. :) At one point China (the mama horse) came over and sniffed Ava on her head. It was so cute! Ava didn't know what to think of this big horse sniffing her and checking her out! I can't wait to see them both again! Unfortunately Kristin and her boyfriend are moving to Santa Barbara in the fall to go to school for a few years. I hope we will still be able to see her when she comes home to visit. :)

Trip to the county fair

Madeline had a field trip to the county fair a few days ago, and I volunteered to be one of the drivers. We had a great time seeing all the animals and plants, especially the horses. I don't know who wants one more, me or Madeline! LOL It is so nice to be able to have the time do things like this with our kids. I think Maddie was really glad I was able to go too. :) I better soak up all of her love now before she doesn't want me to hang out with her and her friends anymore! LOL

Finally done?

Here are some pics of the before, during and after of our very long koi pond project! We actually had it finished in December, but we had a leak and we couldn't find it. We ended up draining the pond and sealing all the rocks with a black foam waterfall sealer, and wala! The leak is gone. :) The net takes away from the beauty of it a bit, but it is needed for the girls safety. We have about 26 koi fish swimming around in there and will be adding more after our trip to Oregon. These pictures don't really do much for the pond, it is just sooooo beautiful! And do you want to know what the best part is? We did it all by ourself! Chris sure is good with rock work!!!

I'm Done!

Yay, I had my last class last night!!! It feels really good to be done with this semester. I will have a few weeks off now before I start my summer class, and then the second half of my anatomy and physiology class starts in August. I was going to take microbiology over the summer, but it just doesn't fit into our plans very well, so I will be taking it in the spring. After that, I get to apply to nursing school!
I have to admit, I woke up this morning not knowing what to do! LOL For the last 6 months, every morning I wake up, drink a cup of coffee and study. I'm sure that feeling won't last long... my house is has become a disaster zone, so I am looking forward to giving it a good scrubbing!
I have a few entries to update on my blog, but it will have to wait since I need to go get the kid ready for school. Be back soon! :)

So cute!

The kids are being little hams in a posed picture at the park. You can see that Ava is not really feeling the love from her sister!! :)
Ava falls asleep in some of the strangest spots. At nap the other day I found her sleeping in this chair, then the next morning I found her sleeping under her bed. Today I found her sleeping a tiny doll crib! LOL I don't even know how she fit into it, but she must have been comfy!

We got the old slip and slide out the other day when it was like 90 some odd degrees. Maddie and Lucy LOVE it, Ava, not so much. But that's okay... she still loves to be outside. :)

Beautiful Bailey!

At only 4 1/2 months old, Bailey is nearing 40 pounds! Wow!! I am officially a Doberman fan after getting to know the breed. Bailey's loyalty, affection, and sense of being a protector are incredible! She is so smart too. She can sit, stay, drop, shake (not always), watch, and she knows the word kennel.

Really?

I know I have said this before, but raising kids has got to be the most challenging thing I have ever done. The day to day challenges they put before me is just exhausting! I took the girls, and the three dogs, on a walk to the river today. Lucy and Ava did fine, Daisy and Bailey did fine, Piper was a pain and I have decided that from now on she will stay at home. (I had to pull her along almost the whole time). Then in the background is Madeline... whining almost every step of the way. She complains that she doesn't get to do anything "fun" with us, then we go do something that she was really excited to do and she complains!?!? I don't get it? We walked sloooowwww the whole time, yet she just wasn't happy.
Ughhh... then I made lunch for the girls. Maddie used to be a GREAT eater. Now she is one of the pickiest eaters ever! She is always complaining that she doesn't like something in her meal for one reason or another. And just today, I found out the she throws her sandwich away at school nearly every day! Why do I even go through the trouble of making her a healthy lunch? I am perplexed as to what I should do now... Do I give in and not make her a sandwich? If I gave her her choice she would have chips, chocolate, fruit snacks and nasty cafeteria school pizza. Well, I can tell you that that is not happening. I do balance her lunch out. A sandwich, fruit, chips, and a treat of some sort. I have enough on my plate every morning getting the kids out the door to worry about her throwing her lunch away! No wonder she is so hungry when she comes home from school every day. Oh the joys of figuring out what to do......

Fun at the park?

I haven't figured out why I keep coming back to these Easter egg hunts in the park every year! They are so chaotic and I am not even sure the kids have fun with all the people all around. I did get some cute pictures, so I suppose that counts for something. Later this afternoon we will be dying Easter eggs. I wish Chris could be home for all the fun activities, but unfortunately he has to work.... we miss you sweetie!!!

What a great big sister!

A few days away... with no kids!

It was great to have 2 whole days away with just Chris.... The first day we went to Bodega Bay and just lazed around. The next day we went to San Fransisco and saw the submarine near pier 39, the Japanese Tea Garden, Coit tower, and we ate delicious clam chowder. It was nice to have some time to reconnect and remember why we got married almost 8 years ago.

Maddie's art work from open house!

Open House!

It was Maddie's open house tonight at her first grade classroom. She was super excited to for us to see all her art work and projects that she has been working on all semester. She was also excited to see her teacher that went out on maternity leave. We had a great time, until the end.

I felt kind of bad for Madeline, because this night was supposed to be all about her. Chris was home today, so we made it a family evening. The girls had fun too, until Ava wanted to go outside while Chris was talking to the teacher. He held her hand and Ava pulled so hard that she ended up falling to the floor. I still don't know what she did, but she cried (well screamed actually) for like 5 minutes when we decided that we should leave. While Chris took Ava outside, I tried to stay in the classroom with Maddie. At this point I see Chris and he says, "we have to go". So I gather up Maddie, say our goodbyes and head out the door. Ava is still screaming and Lucy had a pee accident. She proceeds to take off her wet pants and underwear showing her bottom to many people...... So here we are, all 5 us, walking down the crowded hallways with 2 screaming toddlers in tow. Oh.my.gosh.... Ava continued to scream for a few hours and we were just getting ready to take her to urgent care we the more calm side of me thought to just try and giver her a bath and get her to bed. Well, it might have worked, but I don't know. She is still crying off and on guarding her wrist.

In fact, I hear her crying now...... BBL