Birthday party Sunday

We spent the afternoon at a friend's 3rd birthday party, it was a swim party and so much fun.  We so need to work on getting an inground pool into our future landscaping plans!  The kids and us had a blast and truthfully none of us wanted to get out of the water. 

Ella and I hanging poolside:


Aaron taking the big plunge:



Jacob coming down the slide...how cool is this pool?!    

Happy Birthday little one!!  Thanks to your parents, for throwing a great party! 

Tomorrow I'm heading to San Francisco for a little getaway.  I leave bright and early, like 6:30am.  Don't know why I'm on here at almost midnight!!  Good night....

Ella's dance class

For the last month Ella has been taking a weekly dance class.  It is a combination class of ballet, tap, and acrobatics.  It has been an interesting experience to say the least!  The dance studio has a kind of cruel and unusual type of punishment in that the 2 year olds have to go into class alone and the Mom's can only look in on the class through slats in the blinds of a rather small window.  Not sure who it's harder on, the kids or the Moms!  In our case though I think it was hardest on Ella, she DID NOT want to go in there alone the first couple classes so I had to go in and hold her hand throughout the lesson.  The 3rd class we tricked her and had Grandma take her and push her into class.  She did really well until she had to come out to change shoes and then got upset going back in.  The last class went much better and she went in alone and participated well...that is until she noticed the small window and me peeking in!  Fortunately that wasn't until the last few minutes of class.  All in all I think it was a good experience for her but I think her dance career will have to wait....she is only 2 afterall!  I'm just so excited to have her involved in her own activity.  It seems there is just so much offerings for Jacob but not a lot for her.  She seemed to really enjoy the acrobatics portion of class so we may look into a gymnastics class for her this fall.  Here's a sampling of the pictures I managed to get through the slats in the blinds. 

Ella's first beauty shop visit

So the time has finally come.  I took the kids to get their haircut yesterday, for Jacob it's no big deal.  But Ella, I just never ever wanted to cut her hair.  But it was time, the tangles made me do it. She's had her bangs cut before, by me, which always resulted in choppy,
uneven pieces but the back has never really been cut before.  She has always had kinda curly, layered perfectly hair in the back.  I so did not want to cut the curls for fear they'd be gone forever so the hairdresser put them in foil for me to keep forever.  She did really well getting it cut, she got to ride a motorcycle and watch Dora.  And when all was said and done, it really doesn't look that different! 

Funny Jacob story

Jacob is obsessed with watching Cartoon Network whenever he is allowed.  I think he likes the commercials more than the shows however.  For instance, they have been having ads for the Bedazzler frequently (remember that thing from the 80's?  Yep, it's back!) 
Well he's been asking me if I want one whenever he sees the commerical on.  He's so thoughtful, isn't he?  Yesterday I was wearing a tank top with a printed on design that also had some little rhinestones mixed in with design.  We're sitting on the couch and he asked me if I Bedazzled it.  I said no, that I bought it this way.  He says, "You need to get the Bedazzler and YOU need to Bedazzle it, it's only 19.95."  OK, this isn't good...this child is a walking commerical. 

Day Trip to Dunsmuir

Aaron and I have been wanting to take a day trip North into Dunsmuir for awhile now and picked Friday to just go for it.  Great timing on our part...though it's been sunny and HOT for what seems like forever now, Friday morning was overcast with chance of isolated thunderstorms.  We decided to go for it anyhow.  Dunsmuir has some interesting areas we wanted to explore; hiking trails, waterfalls, and an inviting looking city pool.  After having lunch at a local pizza parlor in their VERY quaint downtown area, we went in search of the waterfalls.  After circling the town a few times and talking to some local folk, we found our way to Hedge Creek Falls.
It was a short hike through a little rainfall, we almost felt like we were in a rainforest. 

The next plan was to check out Mossbrae Falls, however it entailed walking along the railroad tracks for about a mile.  We didn't feel comfortable doing that with the kids.  We'll have to save that one for another time. 

Afterwards we decided to check out the community pool.  It has always looked so refreshing driving by and I've been wanting to take a dip.  It would have been much better had it been a hot, sunny day and not cloudy and sprinkling, but the kids still had fun. 

We then headed over to the city park and Botanical Gardens to completely wear the kids out before the drive home. Click here for some photos of our day

Trying to escape the heat

Late Wednesday afternoon we headed up to the lake to attempt to escape the heat.  We stopped at KFC for a nutritous dinner to bring with us and we were on our way.  We had lots of fun swimming and jumping off the platform.  We didn't head home until after 8pm and it was STILL 102 degrees! Click here for more photos at the lake

Pool Playgroup

This morning we hosted playgroup at our house with a pool party, both big and small pools. I don't think we've ever had so many little ones in our pool before!  It was a lot of fun and a great way to enjoy the 110 degree temps we have today.  Well actually what we're doing now is the best way to enjoy/deal with the temperature....staying indoors with the A/C cranked! 

Grasshopper Olympics

Saturday Jacob and Ella competed in the Grasshopper Olympics.  It is a city sponsored event which begins with the "Running of the Grasshoppers," which is a parade around a local park with all the olympians in their green shirts.  It is open to 2-5 year olds and is a series of 9 events that they must complete in order to get a sticker for their name tag.  At the end they have a little awards ceremony where they all get a ribbon and a prize.  This year's prize was a frisbee.  At the end we all headed over to the city pool for a picnic and a swim.  Ella was a little shy and slow to get going at this year's Olympics but once she got into it she really wanted those stickers.  Jacob was all about being the best and getting it done the fastest. 

My movie producer hat is now on...

So I have the honor of doing the annual camp DVD again this year.  Yeah, it is an honor...isn't it?  :-)  With 60+ people and 1280 pictures it's quite a challenge!  I think Aaron and I have a good handle on it though and I wanted to share the intro we've come up with so far.  Emerald Forest Invasion Intro

A little art inspired by Rob

Just cause it makes me happy!

Rob's groupie in action again!

Aaron and I just got back from an incredible weekend without kids and I'm having fun going through all the pictures and reliving it all over again!  We spent TWO nights in a row away from the kids, first time ever for me...thanks Mom and Jeff!  We started off with our monthly dinner club with our close friends.  This month we had a game night which was a great idea, hosted by Kim and Kacy.  We played Jenga, Twister, Cranium, and a couple other fun games one of which included drawing our spouses...that one had some interesting results!  Here's a link to some of the pictures....  (Thanks for letting me post these Steph, you got some great ones and I didn't even take out my camera for once!)  July Dinner Club Pictures

Then Aaron and I headed up to Central Point, Oregon to go to guess what....ANOTHER ROB THOMAS CONCERT!!  He was playing up there as part of the annual Britt Festival.  The venue was very relaxing and fun to hang out in...they had a spot where you could bring a blanket and relax and watch the show on the lawn or you could buy reserved seats.  We purchased reserved seats but then headed up in front of the stage for an even closer view.  Best place to be in my opinion....lots more dancing and singing along up there! 

Aaron even snuck around with Rob's security and attempted to get me a special shout out by Rob, I found out later.  But alas, it didn't quite work out.  Still it was a very thoughtful idea...thanks Aaron, I love you and thank you for putting up with my Robsession!  Foruntately for Rob's wife he's only got 2 more shows and then he's taking a break so unfortunately for me it'll be awhile before we get another chance at a show.  It's been a great run while it lasted though!  Here's a link to some of the pictures we took....Rob Thomas in Oregon

Here's a couple links to a little video I took too.... Rob performing Streetcorner Symphony in Oregon

Rob performing Bent in Oregon

Yea Jacob!!!

Jacob moved up to level 4 today in swimming!!  He will now begin to learn freestyle swimming.  That's more than I've ever learned before!  We are so proud of him and he is so excited.  He got to ring the bell and everyone clapped and cheered. 

4th of July

We had a nice and relaxing 4th of July.  We spent the afternoon swimming in our pool,
headed to Grandma's for pizza, met some friends afterwards for ice cream and then watched the fireworks from a prime location.  It was a great day! 

First family shoot

I did my first practice photo shoot last night with some family friends and I think it went pretty good.  I learned some things to watch out for next time, namely the sun and shadows, and it was a great learning experience.  My models were great too.  :-)  One thing I learned is photography is hard work!  It's difficult to think about lighting, posing, what the subjects are doing, focusing, settings, imagining what the final result will look like, trying not to stress out, etc....all while trying to capture an image in a split second!  I do love it though and just need to keep practicing. 

Here are a few of my favorites:



Here is the rest of the album....Family Photo Shoot

Lavender Farms

On Saturday the kids and I went up to the Lavender Farm with a friend and her kids.  It's such a beautiful, peaceful spot.  The kids made it a little less restful this visit, but so fun none-the-less!