The Big 3-2

My birthday was a few weeks ago.  And I'm not saying this to be modest, but I really did not care one bit.  As always now for special occasions, I want some time to myself to do something that is relaxing.  I also want to spend time outside with my family.  That's pretty much it.  So Saturday, we went to Sauvie Island and met the Thaynes.  It was beautiful; I wanted to stay there for a few days.

My actual birthday was a Monday, which is a busy day with work, school, school, and soccer practice.  I worked most of the day, and attempted to read for a few minutes in my room as a present to myself.  Only lasted about 10 minutes.  Nick came home, quickly made some German Pancakes, then my parents took Briz to her soccer practice, while Nick and I went shopping.  Nick was very frustrated with me because there wasn't anything in particular I wanted so I didn't make the shopping very successful.  I think its just as fun to look as it is to buy!  I ended up buying a big kitchen pot, some cutting boards, some wrapping paper, and a small bluetooth speaker.  I keep trying to convince Nick to let me put my saved money towards travel :)

Soccer Begins, Summer Ends

Briz had her first soccer game on Saturday.  We have been working on being aggressive.  She tends to get nervous and will just run around and near the ball rather than going to kick it.  She had done awesome in practice and was trying really hard to kick it a lot, but the game came, and it was quite frustrating to watch her.  And I am totally one of those moms.  I had lectured Nick before the game that we needed to only say positive things and give her praise because she is really hard on herself, and I wanted it to be a positive experience.  I couldn't take my own advice.  I wasn't yelling mean things, but just a lot of, "Go get the ball Briz!"  "Be aggressive!"  Things like that.  

She ended up scoring a goal, so all was good in her mind. I was proud of her, and loved watching her celebrate; she acted like she won the Olympic Gold Medal.  Totally Brandy Chastain style, minus the shirt up over her head.  But a lot of fist pumps and jumping in the air.

After soccer, we headed to Sauvie Island to meet the Thaynes.  I hadn't gone this summer and wanted to really badly.  It was so fun!  There were tons of sailboats in the background floating down the river, and it made me want to go sailing.   I could stay on Sauvie Island for days, picking produce, going to the beach, and bike riding.  

Return to Dance

I love Brizzy' s dance class so much.  It is so my style.  Cheap and easy going.  I took her to her first dance class this year and was freaking out about some of the giants that are in there with her.  It's 1st and 2nd graders.  Who knew 2nd graders were so huge?  I didn't like it because it made me feel like Brizzy is that much older.  I love watching her focus and dance.  It's very sweet.  And I love it that she thinks she's a professional dancer.

Playdates and such

Dubs continues to be awesome and crazy all at the same time.  She refuses to hold still.  Refuses.  But she is so happy and she sleeps like a champ.  

This picture is from when she slept in until 10:30 a.m.  She frequently does that.  If only I knew so that I could plan my schedule accordingly.

We have started to do more playdates.  She sucks at sharing big time, so we are continuing to work on that.  Look at her eyeing her buddy's bottle in this picture.  She can't take her eyes off of it.

She is also starting to play with kids a little bit older.  Cate is probably her best big kid friend.  Cate is 2, and loves to help take care of Wembley.  And Wembley will follow Cate anywhere.  These two are going to get into some serious trouble.  The other day we found Cate feeding Wembley hot tamales, and then she led her into a bunch of thorns.  Hahaha.  Little trouble makers.

We met another big 2 year old friend at the temple for story time at the Visitors Center.  These two loved just wandering around the temple grounds and exploring.  Wembley really really wanted to go swimming in the fountains though.  I don't blame her.  It was a warm day and it looked like it could be fun.

Her favorite thing is to walk around.  Nonstop walking and climbing.  So I end up doing a lot of chasing.  

We went to the doctor for her 15 month appointment, which she hated.  She loved the nurse and doctor until they tried to touch her, and then she turned red and screamed.  I felt only a little bad, but mostly thought it was funny how dramatic she was.  After about 2 seconds of having her shots, and then me holding her.  She was perfectly fine.  She waddled out of the doctors office smiling and saying hi to everyone.  We are so happy she's growing.  She's in the 80th percentile for height, 50th for weight, and 50th for head size.  She can finally wear some 18 month clothes, which I'm ecstatic about because I have a ton of summer 18 month clothes.  

Friends and Money

Brizzy was desperate to have a last play date before school started.  She has had sort of a crush on her friend Chase since last year.  She gets all nervous and smiley when we mention his name.  And last year she revealed that she had thought about kissing him.  But apparently, the kissing thoughts are gone, and she's back to being his friend.  He came over for a playdate, and these little business people wanted to make money, so they set up the lemonade stand.  Briz was slightly disappointed that she didn't make as much money as last year.

Briz has been much more aware of money lately, and as a parent its a bit of pain.  We have a chore chart for her on the fride, and she puts an x for every day that she finishes a chore.  At the end of the week she adds up her x's and that's how much cents she gets.  It's worked great for the last year, but she just recently has started to understand the value of a dollar, and keeps explaining that she will never be able to save money for stuff when she makes 15 cents a week.   She earned money to pay for half a bike recently, but that was saved for over a year, and most of it was contributions from grandparents.  So she has a valid point.  We recently decided to give her a raise and she can earn 2 cents for every chore.  Its hard trying to decide how to incentivize without spoiling and enabling.  I'm sure we will continue to tweak it.  I want her to understand that there are rewards for hard work, and I also want her to understand money management.  But inflation is gonna kill me as a parent.  I just read somewhere that the average price for a tooth from the tooth fairy is $4!!!!! WHAT?!  

Cabin Time

We headed up to the cabin a few days after Hollands birthday.  I was still feeling pretty sick, so it was a little stressful for me getting ready.  But Nick did most of it. He was a champ and pretty much got ready all by himself.  

For almost two days it was just our family.  I thought it might be kind of boring but I loved it.  It was so quiet and relaxing and fun.  Normally there are a lot of people up at the cabin which is a different kind of fun.  

There have been a lot of fires in Oregon so the air was foggy and smokey.  But there was more of a beach then there has been in years.  And the water was really not too cold.  It wasn't extremely hot when we got there, but it was warm enough for Wembley to go shirtless.

We hung out on the beach, threw rocks, did some exploring and some swimming.

I loved just being with my girls with no distractions.

Wembley is slowly but surely warming up to Brizzy.  For a while she basically refused to touch her or be touched, but she has been handling Brizzy's mauling slightly better.  I love watching them bond.

Briz loves her little sister a lot, and even though she tries to be her mom sometimes, she wants them to be best friends and play all the time.  

Nick basically forced Brizzy to wakeboard.  Sometimes its the hardest thing when you disagree as a parent, but you just have to keep your mouth shut (something I'm not good at!)  I wanted Briz to try, but it wasn't that warm outside, the water was cold and choppy, and Briz was scared.  Eventually we figured it out, and I was able to get in the water with Briz as she got up.  For being scared and cold, she did great.  She got up twice and lasted a good 10 seconds.  

I kept thinking, "She's not old enough to do this right?"  But then I remember lots of kids I know that are skiing at 6.  And she did snowboard this winter.

I also went on a tube ride with Wembley.  I thought she would hate it, but she seemed to like it.  She just sat there with her eyes closed the whole time.  And I just laughed at her.

We went on boat rides in the evening cause its really pleasant and the water is calm.  Nick let Wembley and Briz drive the boat.  We also went fishing off the back of the boat.

Wembley LOVED driving the boat.  She thought she was so big and she would sit there and dance.

Briz was very focused when driving the boat (no surprise).

When we got back we did a little skinny dipping, and when I say we, I mean Briz.  She can be such a tough kid at times, I love it.  Love this skinny little body and the girl that it belongs to.

The Downs joined us after a couple of days.  It was a big bummer because it was bad weather, rainy, windy, and not warm at all!  We still got in some boating.  Trevor and Nick were determined to wakeboard.  We also went on a hike to the top of Odell Butte and it was beautiful.

As always, waving hi.

Nick with Briz and her bff, Blair.

Our attempt at a group selfie.  It was so fun to be there with friends, especially ones that can go with the flow and laugh with us.