Our Oregon Summer.

My date tonight! Brycen and Cian have decided lately that it's super fun to drive each other crazy. So if they survive a week of (mostly) getting along and trying to be kind, we have promised them a mommy/daddy date. Tonight, I took Brycen out while Daddy took Cian and next week, we will switch. I love having the one-on-one time! And hey, having kids that get along is a nice bonus too. 

His newest, "cheese!"

When we moved to Oregon, within the first 48 hours--Brycen was invited to his first birthday party. It's for the blue shirt girl (above, behind him) that lives across the street. After waiting over 3 weeks, the day finally came! 

It was a cute Harry Potter themed party (for a 6 year old!) and I volunteered to help; her mom kinda has a 6 week old baby among a few others. My task was doing the Chocolate Frog Molds! It was a learning experience that took multiple, I'm talking, multiple trial runs, and a few chemistry lessons later. Crystallization in chocolate? And how to successfully ruin it and rebuilt it....

I'm SO glad they turned out but I am also so glad it's over. Store bought chocolates? Never looked so good.

And our week couldn't be complete without Grandma Day!

I LOVE this action shot of Cian shooting Brycen with water. Brycen loves to get squirted, Cian loves to do the squirting. It's pretty perfect. Cian, like me, hates! to get splashed.

Brycen had a dental check up on his pulled tooth. I'm all up for naptime but 10 minutes before arrival? It nearly killed me.

Both boys have really started to enjoy books, even when not being read to. I find them sitting in their Lazy Boy in their room, all the time with a book. I seriously can not wait for Brycen to learn to read. He hasn't let me teach him but he does start Kindergarten next week! And I dream of him reading to Cian some day.

With a job, come certain perks! Who know, right? Adidas gave Intel employees a nice 50% discount for the month of August. 

Daddy picked up a few things and Brycen picked up a dream to build a shoe this big to climb in, since they wouldn't let him. We saw some kids climbing, which of course, gave us the idea. Brycen begged and was thus pretty good, through the entire shopping trip to have his turn. Despite there not being any "no climbing" signs, we timed it perfectly for the employee to come out and tell us to not to. The next groups after us? Climbed right in and had a great time. Brycen. was. crushed.

After spending 5 years in Indiana and having a lot of "let's go here sometime..." and then not and instead, trying to cram everything in the last month we were there; I decided to change things up. If it's something we want to do, lets do it! In all honesty, I owe most of the developing and pushing of the idea along, to baby #3 (as well as getting our house unpacked!) but we are doing it! Portland's Saturday Market--full of music, food ,and crafts-- and the famous VooDoo Donuts were our latest adventure.

After the 30 minute baking wait time in the direct sun (it...was... hot!) to get into the VooDoo store, we picked out a few treats. And of course, compared them to the one and only in Indiana, Mary Lou's. If you don't take in account for price because Mary Lou's is just awesome and rather unbeatable in that category, VooDoo Donuts did not (surprisingly/ luckily) disappoint!

This kid has it down. He slept through the line and woke up in time to eat.

A bench in the shade was his request. He sweated very patiently in the line.

Maple Bacon Bar?  Not too bad, at all.

Unpaid version of Oregon Life (just kidding...)

Well, we did party all weekend...

After getting registered for kindergarten, that is. I still can't believe it's time.

Intel's party of the year had perfect weather, hidden up in the mountain. The boys loved all the games and activities, they never do care to do much eating. Mommy and Daddy enjoyed the buffet dinner, concessions, and ice cream but wish they could've enjoyed it a bit more. The prizes were a nice touch too. Brycen doesn't want to accept that it happens only once a year, it's still a hot topic 5 days later.

This kid is all boy. Pure love for cars.

As are slides for this one.

Face painting and the FREE bubble gum machine were also a hit. Brycen may or may not have stuffed his pockets full by the end.

Saturday's Neighborhood party was warmer and brilliantly, featured a water slide.

Brycen did nothing else. Eating is always optional for him, until bedtime that is. It's amazing how his appetite returns every day at exactly 9pm.

Cian hardly endured his one time down. The playdough table proved to be much more his thing.

And then came the bump in the road.

I noticed a "pimple" on Brycen's gum while flossing Thursday. I hoped it was a canker sore and kept a very close eye on it, all the while I researched and feared the worst. On Sunday, we texted the above picture to our brother-in-law, who is a dentist 30 minutes away, and he confirmed it

Dental work and I never get along. I lose sleep over the simple mention of it. Especially when it comes to my kids. It started when Brycen was just 12 months old and will probably be something that resurfaces over the next couple years. We try to keep up on things, but his baby teeth continue to give us a run for my heart (and money).

I have to say, having a dentist in the family is such a blessing and to live close to him, is even better (above: The boys were super cute in the waiting room). He got us in Monday, pulled the abscess tooth without tears, and Brycen is even up for going back since he wasn't able to finish his cartoons. Brycen never ceases to amaze me. He is a champ! And, I bet you can guess who our family dentist will be! Our brother-in-law is the first dentist that figured out the crazy amount of numbing I needed to truly be comfortable getting work done. He performed work on me years ago and for the first time ever, I didn't feel the pain or drilling. It was a whole different experience. Dental work will hopefully soon, become less of something I lose sleep over.

We celebrated with Brycen at Chuck E Cheese on the way home. He landed on the 125 tickets and was pretty excited!

Well, the abscess tooth was quite the start to the week. Then came the absolute need to set up insurance so that I can have a doctor for this pregnancy. That has been alot of phone calls and no choice of a doctor later...Apparently, it's baby time here in Oregon. All doctors are booked. I think they bumped a lady for me to be able to get in tomorrow (after a freak out or two when they find out how far along I am and how long it has been since my last appointment...). Getting my medical records sent from Indiana has been a couple more phone calls and headaches later. And while we are onto aches...I have a few. I've never understood the pregnancy "waddle", but I do now! So much pressure and uncomfortableness, it probably doesn't help that I don't know how to slow down much.

Other "aches" I have noticed (most places have theirs):

1. Oregon's 55 mph highway speed limit! I have never considered myself much of a fast driver but my goodness, 55 is painful.

2. Illegals: 1: U-turns. How else am I supposed to drive around a new area? It's only natural. Do you know how much longer it takes to do all left turns (or right) to get back to where I need to go, while not getting more lost in the process? 2: Pumping your own gas. I just feel silly sitting in my car, having someone else do it. I may enjoy it more when winter comes, who knows. And then there is always that question, "do I tip?" I hate that question.... And then Brycen's, "why doesn't he wash our windows too?" (referring to the pumping gas guy) Haha! Love that kid.

3. Gas prices. I used to play this game back in Indiana. I found this awesome app called GasBuddy and watched it like some people watch the stock market. Indiana's gas prices never stayed constant for more than 24 hours. Sometimes they changed morning or mid-day, sometimes as little as a couple cents, sometimes as big as .50! So I kept an eye on them and loved saving money before the big price hike that GasBuddy usually forecasted for me, if I checked it often enough.

Well, Oregon's gas price has not moved the entire time we have been there. So much for my game. It's at $3.99 and refuses to budge so... just for "fun", I check prices in Indiana and then I  find out that they are $3.00!!! And then I get super grumpy.

Oh and then there's this way that they display the gas price here. The big one (cheapest one) is the cash price. Debit/credit is displayed (usually) $.10 more, in a much smaller font. I know it's probably not unique to Oregon, but it can sure drive me crazy...after I figured it out, that is.

SO preschool days at Oaks Park in Portland was a nice distraction this morning.

It's a local amusement park that we visited last summer with family and somehow, Brycen remembered and has asked to go every day since. For two hours, two days a week, they open the park to kids 6 and under to go on all the smaller rides and have story and snack time after.

Pregnancy conveniently made me the, "I'll wait in line while you have fun so when you get off, you can hop right on to the next ride" marker. Brycen thought it was absolutely brilliant! I'm just glad that Daddy was able to come too because Cian could be heard crying from most rides. 

Cian usually started off super excited (which is big for him to even want to try), but then cried and wanted off.

With a couple exceptions, like the car one (above) and carousal that he went on 3 times. 

Brycen wanted to do it all. When it was over, and the rest of the park opened to the public (including all the BIG rides), Brycen begged to stay so he could do them all.

102 year old carousel! 

Cookies and milk to top it off.

And then.... we arrived home to realize that the lawn service had come while we were gone, which meant that our backyard/outdoor only cat most likely escaped (I'm allergic so she lives outside). Our escaped cat then got into a nice fight with the dog across the street, on our front porch that conveniently had me stumble upon a package.

Aren't they beautiful? This is when I KNOW that I have been absolutely terrible at hiding my sleeplessness/worry/aches/and stress :) Thank goodness for a super sweet husband.

P.S Other random thoughts:
1. Blackberries are a vicious weed here. A tasty one...that you just hope are on someone else's property :) But I found it really cool today to see Intel workers walking back from their lunch break, leave the sidewalk, pick a few blackberries right off the nearby bush, pop them in their mouth, and continue on their way.

2. We live right by the Hillsboro Airport so we hear little airplanes and helicopters all day long. It sure reminds me of our first 2 years in Indiana when we lived right by the Purdue airport. The boys love it!

3. My sister got engaged this week!! I'm so excited for her and hope to be there. The wedding happens to be the day after my due date so only time will tell!

4. Our insurance covers circumcision! It's our first one that does and with a family of boys, that is sure exciting! Especially since half of Cian's birth expense was just that.

Something New, Something Good.

2 weeks ago today, our 50 hour drive across the country ended and we arrived in Oregon!

It didn't take me long to fall in love with our rental home. It's beautiful. 

 Usually beautiful and rental don't go together in my book (at least from my experience) but look at this....

"My kitchen" has stainless steel appliances (and gorgeous cabinets and counter tops and sink..)....and a PANTRY! And hardwood floors....ahhh.

 Other things I love: Our MASTER bathroom. Never had one of them before. WITH dual sinks outside the toilet and shower area. Double love. And 4 bedrooms and three bathrooms....And And...weekly lawn service and of course, the "need" to buy these:

 Extra bonus: Not only do the machines clean clothes, they entertain the boys, and then Brycen finds it "fun" to help. Yes please.

I feel very blessed to have found this house back in June. After going back and forth trying to decide to rent again or buy a home (from how many miles away???) with the added timely arrival of the new little guy, I came across this house on the internet one day. It happened to be in one of the neighborhoods that I had been eyeing, had everything we wanted to try, WITH solar panels. Solar is what Bryce spent those 5 years in Indiana studying so we thought that was a pretty awesome touch. The $15/month summer electricity bill wasn't a bad touch either.

I felt really good about it so we looked into it. Bryce's sister in the next town was kind enough to go look at it for us (and take pictures), and we turned in an application. Our application arrived 1 minute before the other 7 applicants. It was a popular one!! It really worked out and having a place to live for the first year (or more), really helped us feel at ease and focus on other parts of the move.

Well, we arrived and immediately loved having a neighborhood park 3 doors down and then found out two days later, on our first Sunday, that we have LDS neighbors across the street! They have 4 kids (7, 5, 2 and newborn age) which nicely match our 5, 2, and soon to be newborn ages. You know all those questions you may have at a new place? Like elementary school, and OB/GYN and dentist and doctor and insurance, to name a few. Yup, our neighbor answered all those, became our emergency contact for Brycen's school, and has filled me in on playdates and grocery stores. We are seriously being cared for. The church is amazing! Let's leave it at that. I have been blessed to have an LDS friend on the same street every place we have lived over the course of 5 years and I LOVE it. We exchange stories, laughter, goodies, and favors and it is wonderful to have that one go-to person. I feel so so so blessed.

She even invited us to a "Frozen" party last night (aka unofficial ward party) and it was a hit with the boys! The other members were super surprised that we had been in the area less than 2 weeks and were already at all the hopping places. Yes, our neighbor is awesome.

Two sisters, in young women's, actually dressed up and performed songs from the movie. For a backyard Frozen party, they were really (really) good!

Brycen may or may not have been the only boy that asked to have his picture taken with them.

So he may just be ready for Disneyland, after all. Who wants to go??

And above all, Bryce is one of seven kids and five of them (and his parents) live here in Oregon! They all showed up to help us move in and we have been able to attend 2 Grandma days! On Mondays, Grandpa and Grandma invite all the grandkids to come spend the day with them. August happens to be an awesome time of the year with all the fresh produce. While at Grandma day, the grandkids jumped on the trampoline, swam in the pool, and then played in the sand box. After which, they walked to the nearby bushes and ate fresh blueberries and blackberries right off the bush! We then got to take all these beauties home:

And are enjoying them with every meal. Blackberries and peaches over Tillamook Vanilla ice cream? Not a bad life, at. all.As well as fresh corn and salads of lettuce, green beans, and cucumbers from Uncle Brant's Garden. So yummy, we are SPOILED!

Another blessing: I'm still pregnant! I kinda worried that with all the stress of moving and actual work of packing and not sleeping, may just bring baby early. 32 weeks and still going strong! All my super kind instagram followers mentioned how small I look. I think the picture is just deceiving, I feel huge and seriously uncomfortable and have NO idea where 8 weeks of baby grow (half his birth weight) is going to go.

As for the boys: they seem to be adjusting remarkably well. The traveling, time change, and excitement has a way of exhausting them and then...there's this thing that I usually find one in bed with me every morning. Not a particular fan of that habit forming, in our full size bed....but they are troopers.

We discovered this fun cart at the local grocery store. It's genius. Our previous grocery car carts were semi truck length and a serious pain to push. This one keeps the kids close so I can break up the pokes and is the same length and breeze to push as the other carts.

 OH and NO sales tax??  You ask me now, I will tell you that Oregon is the complete package (at least our 2 week experience). But, you should probably ask again when the rain starts...

Until then, we have the Intel Party of the year (or so we hear) to attend tonight and our neighborhood party tomorrow (at the park 3 doors down)! We basically party and maybe...one day will unpack...and figure out insurance. And possibly go to the doctor.....since I haven't been since before 27 weeks.