Running and Lunch

Brizzy had her jog-a-thon at school.  She was petrified to ask people for money, but was excited about collecting it.    When it came time to run, it was a hot day outside, but she was all business.  She hardly stopped running for 20 minutes and ended up doing 20 laps (2 miles).  Its so fun to see her enjoy running.  And so fun to be able to be a part of her school stuff. I feel really blessed to have such a flexible work schedule so I can do stuff like that with her.

Here she is with her BFF Blair.  Love these cute girls.

So tired after, I tried to make some shade for her.

We have been working on having more consistent chores.  She has one chore that lasts all week and then she draws a "special job" on Saturday.  Something that usually requires help from mom and dad.  Well this Saturday her special job was to make us lunch but she wanted to do it on her own.

She has been a little pill since Kindergarten has started but she has sweet moments.  

I love when she tries to be helpful and grown up.  You can see how proud she is of herself.

Baby love

I am a little obsessed with my baby girl.  I'm not afraid to admit it.  I can't stop staring at her and giving her kisses, that is, when she isn't puking.  She loves to give open mouth druely kisses with her tongue.  They're the best.  And sometimes I forget that not everyone appreciates them.  I constantly have baby barf all over me, and pumping is a very annoying chore.  But its so worth it to have this little girl with me.  

We are still figuring out her tummy issues and when she poops we like to throw a party.  Sometimes she cries so loud it makes me sick to my stomach.  But I sometimes will think about what it was like to hold Holland after she died.  I remember just holding her and wanting her to come back to life.  It was very obvious that she was dead because she looked very different, but even still, I just wished I could freeze a moment of her looking at me, or snorting or crying.  Anything.  So when I have hard, frustrating moments with Wembley, I try to remember that, and remember how one day I would give anything to hear her baby scream (scream is probably more accurate than cry really :) ).  I love my feisty, pukey baby girl.  

Clean Bandit

I have a really cool friend Megan that loves music perhaps more than I do.  She is always up for stuff and loves going to concerts.  She took me to see Little Daylight and Clean Bandit at the Doug Fir Lounge last week.  I think its safe to say that it was the most random group of people that I have ever seen at a concert.  My favorite was watching drunk 60 year old men hitting on a 20 something year old dude that was there on a date.  Megan - thanks for taking me out on the town.  You make me feel like I'm still in my twenties :)

PapaNona

We only moved 2.5 miles away but we are about 10 minutes closer to my parents house and we have been seeing more of them.  It has been so fun to see them a lot.  My Mom watches the girls every Thursday afternoon for a few hours while I work and Papa of course is always trying to get his grandkid fix.  Our neighbors know them pretty well, and I've even had a few people in my ward who had told me how impressed they are with my Dad.  He changes diapers, cleans up puke, all of it.  My girls have some awesome grandparents.

Reno

Our good friends the Nelsons came and visited us from Reno.  It was a lot of kids, but a lot of fun.  I hadn't seen their twin babies since they were newborns, and now they're pretty much toddlers.  And Briz was in heaven having Jaron here.  

We went to the zoo one afternoon and discovered the lorikeets.  They were crazy.  One jumped on my back and I was trying to not freak out.

We also visited the crocodiles.  Right before I took this picture, I was reading about how crocodiles hunted their food.  They would slowly creep up to the edge of the water, and turn their mouth horizontal to trap food and then snap sideways quickly.  Right after Jaron and Briz put their faces up to the glass, this crocodile slowly turned around, swam towards the edge and got himself in hunting position.  I was freaking out!  It was really creepy looking.  Briz and Jaron thought it was cool.  

We fit three carseats all next to each other.  We felt pretty proud of ourselves.

I think Julia and I just need to live with each other and collaboratively take care of the kids together.  It was so fun having her around.  When they left I was so sad that my house felt so quiet :(  Move back, and bring your boat with you :)

Late Summer

We have had a gorgeous year with our weather.  I was slightly bitter about it because I was incapacitated for most of it.  But the last month has been so fun, and I have loved it.  We took advantage the day before my birthday and went to Dougan falls with some friends, a swimming hole with some waterfalls.

Swimming holes aren't extremely easy with babies, but we make it work.

                                       

I love getting to sit in the back on the rare occasion and watch these two interact.  Briz is so finally to have someone back here with her to bug!  She is my little helper, always putting Wembley's binky in for me and trying to console her.  Briz also likes to pile stuff up on the carseat and when she's really tired, take a nap.  I often hear Briz complaining that Wembley is kicking her head when she's trying to nap.

And as always, I get to witness the attitude.

On another lovely evening, we went and played tennis.  Wembley was being camera shy.

Brizzy is improving in her tennis game.  Even though she cries when she doesn't hit it over and we have to tell her a million times its okay when she doesn't feel like she's "done her best," its fun to watch her get better and want to be a part of our games.

Football

Brizzy started her first season of soccer this year.  She continually told me before the season started that soccer is her least favorite sport so I wasn't expecting much, but she started out pretty strong.  2 goals in the first game.  It's gone a little bit downhill from there.  She had some negative experiences with a very large female kindergartner that tackled her a few times, and she has since gotten sort of scared.  Nick and I have to work really hard on keeping our mouths shut and trying to cheer positive things.  She is already so competitive and so hard on herself that we try not to make it too much worse.

We have a bit of a loud cheering section already with Papa and Nona coming to most games. She is a lucky girl to have them so close.

Wembley is a big fan of the games and spends a lot of the time drooling to show her enthusiasm.