July

Corvallis Knights in the press box!

Philomath Frolic Parade

Jesse has mad cupcake frosting skills!

Sierra's party theme was "Lemonade Stand"

This child is afraid of noises but not going fast :)

Sierra's not afraid of the water but is afraid of the slide

First dental check.  Yep he's four.  Don't judge :)

It's July!  A crazy busy but beautiful month.  Sierra finished up her softball season which made for less hectic evenings.  But Jesse's softball goes into August.  Softball along with golf keep him busy on at least one weeknight and usually one weekend day.  

The kids got used to being together all day again and they have gotten along extremely well this month.  We continue to spend a majority of our days outside.  Sierra has a tree that she climbs up into and hangs random things from the branches and declares it her "tree house".  Jaxon loves to swing and ride his bike.  Both of the kids also spend a lot of time playing with Sugar.  Sugar will be 2 this fall but really has yet to grow out of her puppy stage.  She chews less things up but she digs, still wants to jump and lick, and does not like to stay home.  But she does love the kids and they spend a lot of time keeping each other busy.

Jesse won box tickets to a Corvallis Knights game early in the month and we had a blast!  There was food, some Knights swag, and a fun place to hang out.  The kids had a ball and it was so fun to see!  We left before the game was over because the kids were exhausted (we had done the Frolic Parade that morning).  

Jaxon's been sensitive to noise since he was tiny, so things like parades can really freak him out.  It's not constant noise, it's random loud high pitched noises that make him cry.  I told him once, "It's okay buddy, sounds can't hurt us."  His response was, "Yes they do!  They hurt our ears!"  We've learned to bring earplugs and if he knows we have them then we don't have any trouble.  Sometimes we can end up taking them out after a little bit and he'll do fine.  We went to the movie theater for the first time with him this month and brought the ear plugs because the sound in a theater sometimes bothers my ears.  We started with the plugs in but were able to take them out and he did great.  He was also able to sit through the whole movie without spontaneously combusting.  Yay for Finding Dory!

My baby girl turned seven this month.  Time sure is flying.  She's become much more independent this summer.  I'm hoping that means that 2nd grade will be a breeze.  We had a small family party on her actual birthday and then she had 3 friends from school come over to celebrate at our house the following weekend.  We invited several more girls but summers are busy and only 3 could come.  2 of her friends have sweet older sisters that we invited along as well for a total of 6 girls including Sierra.  It was a nice little party and the girls played outside and enjoyed the sunshine.  Jaxon had a great time following the girls around too.  

We've been trying to break Jaxon of the nap time habit this summer.  He's been taking forever to go to sleep at night and once school starts up I will need to pick Sierra up right in the middle of his normal nap time.  He usually isn't able to make it every day without one but is down to only taking one a couple of times a week.  I admit that I will miss naps.  It was an hour in the middle of the day where I made phone calls, paid bills, and did stuff on the computer like writing this blog (a reason I'm 4 months behind).  

We've enjoyed some pool time this summer.  Sierra is a little fish and while she has loved to swim and be in the water the last several years she would not put her face under.  That has all changed this year.  She's gotten great at holding her breath and she can swim for quite a while underwater.  Jaxon loves the water if it's warm but is like me and doesn't enjoy being cold.  If the water is cold he and I usually don't last long.  Sierra is a little energizer bunny in the water though, and doesn't mind if it's cool.  

I've been putting off taking Jaxon to the dentist because of his aversion to noise.  I've been afraid that he would panic when they tried to put the vacuum in his mouth.  But I finally bit the bullet and made an appointment.  He did awesome.  He was a little bit nervous when she came at him with the vacuum, but I held his hand and he stayed still and handled it just fine.  I was so proud and relieved!  And his teeth were perfect, so there!  ;)

June

Love this silly girl!

"Lavender" is as tame as a chicken can get.

 

June kind of revolves around baseball in our house.  Sierra has two games a week and Jesse has one game per week.  Sierra loves baseball and it's a sport that comes pretty naturally to her.  It's also something that she's practiced since she was little, so it's definitely not a foreign sport to her.  She's got a killer swing and this year has improved on her throwing and catching as well as learning more basics about the game itself.  Jaxon sits through every game counting down the days until he can play too.  Sierra's season only lasts a month but it definitely keeps us busy.  Jesse's games go on throughout the summer which means there is usually at least one night a week that I put the kids to bed on my own.  It makes for an extra long day.

The last few weeks of school are so busy it's a bit ridiculous.  There were field trips all over the place, field days, and any other possible outings that can be packed into June.  I wasn't able to go on all the field trips this year because if the trip falls on a day that my mom works, Jaxon would have to come too.  I was able to go on a trip to the library as well as a trip to a local farm.  The kids absolutely loved the farm trip.  They held baby chicks, full sized chickens, fed sheep, learned about llamas, wool spinning, etc.  It was one of the highlights of Sierra's whole year so I was glad that I was able to be there.

The first couple weeks of summer are always kind of rough.  The kids have to get used to be around each other ALL day long again.  There is generally lots of fighting and we all have to get used to a new routine.  Sierra also has to get used to a slower pace and not constant stimulation.  They kids still wake up at the same time (people keep telling me they will sleep in some day) around 6:30, we eat breakfast around 8, and spend most of the day outside.  We ride bikes, play/plant/eat in the garden, swing, make forts, and sometimes even have lunch outside.  We usually make 2 trips to town a week.  We may go to the library, a park, grocery shopping, or to visit my Grandma.  I love summer break but do have to remind myself that the fighting will resolve itself, and they will act like they love each other once again :)

May

We gave Jaxon his own toolbox in hopes that he would stop stealing his daddies tools and just use the ones we provided him with :)

He had a great time helping Jess rotate the tires!

These two really do love each other..... most of the time......

Sierra's first pony tail without any help.  The girl has so.much.hair.

The grapes are taking over!  It's going to be a bountiful year!

The wild strawberries are ready!

They are so tiny.  I cannot imagine picking enough to make jam.

Sierra's farm field trip

Most of the animals weren't really new to Sierra.  But we've never had baby chicks and she just loved them.

We rescued a baby bunny from Sugar the doggie.  Before we took it to Chintimini Wildlife Center the kids got some loves.

Sierra learned to ride her bike this month.  No biggie, right?  I had no idea how profound of a moment it would be.  After some unsuccessful tries in town on cement, we let Sierra coast down in the tall field grass.  Later, she wobbled around in circles in the garage so we walked her down the driveway to try on the flat gravel road.  She sat on the seat, picked up her feet and peddled away.  I stood there completely unaware of how emotional it was going to make me.  But when she peddled down the road in an unsteady line with her coattails flapping in the wind, I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach.  So as she rode off into the sun I stood there, bent over with my hands resting on my knees, and cried. 

Of all of the moments I've witnessed this far with my kids, I've never had a moment hit me quite the same way.  I've witnessed their births, first steps, words, and Sierra's first day of school.  None of them have brought me to my knees in the same way.  Maybe it's the symbolism of her growing up and heading out into the world without me - unsteady, but excited about what she'll find up the road.  Maybe it's the realization that she is not a baby anymore and the things she's learning now are bigger and scarier than learning to walk and clap and sing.  Someday she'll learn to drive, she'll graduate, and she'll head down the same gravel road in her car to go to college.  I'll watch her drive away and wish she was back to peddling down the hill on her bike.

After she made the loop and came back up the road to me she was grinning from ear to ear and said "Did you see how fast I went mommy?"  And then she saw my face and I watched her smile turn to confusion.  I was trying so hard to contain my tears that I couldn't speak.  Despite the pinched smile I had plastered on my face, the girl knew I was struggling.  When she asked what was wrong all I could squeak was "I'm just so proud."  Which made her beam again.  Because here's the thing, even though I'm scared at the thought of her growing up, and I'm sad at the thought of watching her ride off into the sunset, the pride factor trumps it all.  At the end of my days, I know that that moment in time will be something I will recall with joy.  Parenting is so full of bittersweet moments.  The ones I expect to make me emotional, come and go so fast that there's no time for tears.  And then random moments catch me completely off guard and I bawl my eyes out.

Allergy season is upon us.  Sigh.  Sierra always gets pink eye from her allergies in May.  I end up keeping her home from school once in a while because her poor eyes look so bad.  Even with her Nasacort nose spray and Zyrtec orally, once a day, she still struggles.  I also made an appointment to take Jaxon to the Allergist to see what causes his hives.  He's also been struggling with itchy ears.  His ear canal and drum actually get blisters on one side.  He's never had an ear infection and his Doctor is kind of puzzled.   My dad knows a lot about ears and said this is something he's unfamiliar with as well.  So I've made an appointment with an ENT as well as an Allergist.  Hopefully we can figure it out because the poor guy digs at his ears until he makes them bleed.  It's awful. 

Despite our allergy issues, I don't keep the kids locked inside.  We spend lots of time outside but do make sure that when we come in we wash hands and faces, change clothes, don't leave windows open, and wash Sierra's hair every night when the pollen count is high.  The kids also have air purifiers in their room.  When Sierra was diagnosed with her pollen allergies her Allergist said it's very important than their indoor environment is free from pollen.  Their bodies need to be able to rest and not constantly be in histamine overload.  Poor kiddos with outdoor AND indoor allergies never get the chance to rest.

The end of the school year is near and we've got about 47 field trips coming up.  It's crazy.  I'm not sure why so much gets crammed into the last few weeks of school.  It seems cruel.  At the very end of the month we visited a farm about 30 minutes away.  The kids had a ball.  Luckily my mom took the afternoon off to watch Jaxon so I could go with Sierra.  It was fun and I got some great pictures.  I'm honestly really ready for summer though.  I'm ready for less germs and a lot less rushing around.  Come on, June! I'm ready!

April

Busy building her "bug house"

What bug wouldn't want to live in this paradise? :)

Alsea Falls

Serious marshmallow roasters

Oops

The kids have colds so dress up to the rescue!

We've had some beautiful weather this month!  We've enjoyed campfires in the back yard, walks in the forest, a trip to Alsea falls, and lots of time in the garden prepping for a hopefully abundant year.  Our chickens finally started laying eggs again too!  They have been slacking since November, so it's been nice to have fresh eggs.  Our raspberries look amazing this year.  We've never had a good crop because they are on the edge of the garden and don't get watered well and so we are going to add drip irrigation to hopefully address that issue this year.  I have twice as many strawberry plants this year too, so if the birds will leave them alone we may actually be able to get some in the freezer.  It's also looking like it will be a bumper crop year for our Asian pears and grapes. 

My Sierra could spend every waking minute outside.  She's just like me in that aspect.  She keeps herself busy building bug habitats, forts, helping in the garden, looking for snakes and bugs, and any other possible thing you can do outside.  Jaxon enjoys some time outside but is still at the age of needing constant supervision, so I don't let him go off to do his own thing.  Even right at my side he has managed to drink out of a mud puddle like a dog (he was quite a bit younger when that happened), pick a daffodil and take a bite of the stalk saying "celery", pick up a pile of dog poop explaining that he'd found some cool rocks, and plenty of other things that have me yelling "stop" but never quite in time.  Sigh.

We're getting towards the end of the school year.  Sierra's doing great in reading and math.  The only real homework she has is about 10 to 15 minutes of reading a night and a little worksheet that goes along with the book she's read.  It's always seems really simple to her and yet she always kind of dreads it.  But she loves to have me read chapter books to her.  She's really into a series right now called Animal Ark.  It's about a little girl whose mom and dad are both vets.  It's the same kind of books that I loved when I was little.  She also loves to do math and has me write up addition and subtraction problems that involve borrowing.  They haven't touched much on borrowing yet in school, so we've worked on it at home and she loves doing more complex problems.  She is a child that expects to get things right away though, and if she gets confused she gets very upset and just wants to quit.  We are working on getting past the frustration and realizing that it takes time to learn new things.  While there are some things she has a natural knack for, there are others that take much more practice.  And she thinks that everything should just be natural and easy. 

Jaxon also benefits from her math practice.  She'll write up papers for him with simple problems and have him solve them.  He really does learn from it and she feels pretty awesome when she's taught him something.  We are still working on sounding out simple words with him.  I haven't pushed reading too hard because there are a million other things to work on and lots of time to learn to read.  I'm sure he could be much father along if I pushed it.  But to be honest, he's also busy being a four year old boy.  He likes to make a mess, play with his trucks, and play with his dog.  Pretty soon he will start school and that will occupy many years of his life, so play is pretty important in my book.  While he loves to sit and listen to me read, practice math, and sound out words, I never push it.  Right now I would rather he spend time outside and get the chance to be a little boy (although I wish it didn't involve drinking Giardia water and playing with dog poo). That's just life with a boy I guess :)

March

Disneyland, here we come!

In awe of the Tiki Room show

Jaxon loves rides!  Sierra will only go on rides that don't go fast and don't leave the ground.

Home.  Ahhhhh.

Spring Break day trip to the coast.

Jesse wrote Jaxon's name, so he proceeded to write DADDE

Jaxon got to destroy the castle before we left.

Sierra was beyond thrilled to find a whole sand dollar.  It was the highlight of her whole spring break!

Ready for some serious Easter Egg hunting

Easter bunny and face paint

Sweet lil pup

You know how you plan for a trip for months and months and hope and pray that everyone stays safe and healthy before the trip arrives?  Does that ever really happen for anyone?  It sure didn't happen that way for us.  First off, both of the kids caught really bad colds before we left.  Sierra caught it first and was at least starting to feel better by the time we left but Jaxon was in the deep dark trenches of an ugly virus.  The worst we've had in a while, go figure.  He hardly ever gets coughs but ended up with a horrid one.  And then the night before we were supposed to leave Jesse ended up with severe stomach pain and started vomiting.  With his history of stomach ailments we went to the ER and ended up staying there until 4am.  Apparently he has esophageal and stomach ulcers and stones in his gallbladder.  Before they released him, they told him that he has to eat less fats and cut out high acid foods (no more daily burgers for lunch or adding hot sauces to everything) and has to start taking some hard core antacids.  Hopefully with a diet change and the meds he will be able to avoid having his gallbladder removed.  After giving him his meds, they sent us on our way.  We went home and slept for a few hours (thankfully my parents came and took the kiddos to their house for the night when we headed to the ER) and then got up the next morning to head on our way to Disneyland.  Luckily our flight was out of Eugene and not until 3 pm or I'm not sure we would've been able to make it after being up all night.

The flight went pretty well considering how sick Jaxon was.  He coughed quite a bit and dug at his ears on the landing, but handled it very well.  Getting to our hotel was a process.  It was an hour drive from LAX and we had to find a shuttle service that made it all the way to the hotel.  After paying about $200 for a one way ride for all of us, we were headed on our way.  By the time we got to the hotel we were pretty beat but the ladies at the front desk were wonderful.  They gave the kids little goodie bags, gave us free wifi (it should have been $10 a day!), and included my parents on the free shuttle that just our room was supposed to get.  They also moved us around so that we could have adjoining rooms.  It was super low season, so the hotel was not full at all, but we really appreciated the super customer service (we stayed at the Sheraton Garden Grove).  After checking in we headed to our rooms and went to bed.  Jaxon had a horrid time breathing because he was so sick and coughed and gasped and wheezed all night long.  Jesse and I hardly slept but Sierra did fine.  We got up slowly the next morning and eventually made our way to Disney.

It was almost noon by the time we made it to the park so we had to find lunch right away.  Then we wandered around the park a bit.  We met Jasmin, Genie, and Aladdin, watched a show in the Tiki Room, and did some more wandering.  We were all pretty tired to start with and the kids were done with the park by about 2pm.  Sierra's not really into rides anyway and the fact that you have to wait to ride the rides (wait times were 20 to 30 mins), wait to get signatures, wait for food, wait, wait, wait, was not really impressive to the kids.  Instead of forcing them to stay, we headed back to the hotel.  Sierra enjoyed some time in the pool while I tried to get Jaxon to take a nap, but again, the poor kid couldn't breathe and just hacked for a good 30 minutes straight and so I gave up.  We had dinner at the resort and had planned to go back but the kids were just too pooped.  Jesse and I ended up going back to the park while the kids stayed with my parents and went to bed.  We went on 2 rides and were pooped ourselves and made it back to the hotel by 9:30.  We party pretty hard :)  Sierra slept well but Jaxon had another horrid night.  I think the air conditioning made it even harder for him to breathe and he ended up wheezing the whole night.  I swore he was not getting enough oxygen, but somehow he managed so sleep.

Day 2 we decided to head to California Adventure instead of Disneyland.  And we were very glad we did.  We got to see a 3D preview of the movie Zootopia and it was incredible.  It was in a theater that splashed water on you, blew air in your face, and your seat moved along with the preview.  Plus it was 3D.  It was so fun!  We had to plug Jaxon's ears the whole time because it was very loud, but he really enjoyed it.  We went to CarsLand and rode a few rides but again the kids just didn't make it much past 2.  We went back to the hotel and hung out for a bit had dinner and then Jesse, Dad, Sierra and I headed back to the park while mom stayed behind with Jaxon.  We had an enjoyable evening and didn't get back until about 10.  Mostly Sierra enjoyed shopping at all of the stores.  She had about $70 saved up for the trip and was so thrifty and actually came home with money.  That's my girl!  Jaxon slept a little better the last night as we kept the air conditioning turned down.  But boy are we ready for our own beds!

The final day we had breakfast at the hotel, shopped at Target, and headed back to the airport.  Both of the kids slept most of the way home on the plane.  Unfortunately Jaxon would only sleep if I held him, and by the end of the plane ride my back was in a spasm it hurt so bad.  But he slept until we landed and dug at his ears again but didn't fuss.  Sierra woke up right as we started decent and did have trouble with her ears.  She ended up kind of an emotional mess.  We got our things and got right out to the car (LOVE flying Eugene airport) and discovered our battery was dead because one of the doors didn't get shut all of the way.  Luckily we caught mom and dad before they left and there was an empty parking spot kitty corner to us so they could jump us.  Goodness.  We made it home, ate dinner, and collapsed into our beds.  Jaxon slept all night without any wheezing or snoring or coughing.

We had a great time despite the setbacks but if I had to choose a time to go, I still think I would've waited until Jaxon was at least 8 or so.  That way the waiting wouldn't be quite as hard, they could handle staying up later, and enjoy the parks more.  As it is, most of their fond memories seem to include the hotel :)  It would have been way easier to stay at a hotel closer to home!  But it was a fun experience and the fact that the parks and hotel were free because of the contest I won were obviously amazing, and the whole reason we made the trip.

For the rest of March we actually stayed healthy and made a day trip to the coast for spring break, enjoyed Easter, and spoke fondly of our trip to others.  Jaxon still asks daily when we are going to go back to the big hotel with the S on it.  And Sierra had fun bringing some of her Disney finds to show and tell at school.  But man, there is no place like home.