I'm an auntie again!

My sister-in-law gave birth to her baby girl, Aria on the 17th of July. She is such a precious little baby! Congratulations to Heather and Ryan!

Here are some pictures from that special day! 

Seaside, Multnomah Falls and Crown Point Trip

Ok, so I have a lot of catching up to do. We were non-stop busy all summer and now that I finally have some down time I figure it's time for me to catch up on all the fun things we did! Ready, set, post!!!

At the end of June we went to Seaside for a mini family reunion with Michael's family on his Dad's side. We hung out with his Grandma, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. The weather was perfect and it was fun to meet new family. Caden had a wonderful time playing with his cousins and Emberly had fun making new friends, as long as they gave her candy or some other sweet treat :)

Here are a few pictures from the day!

 

Preschool

I'm not a teacher but I did learn a thing or two about teaching when I was in college...especially since my major at one time was Children's Ministry.  A few months ago I decided to start "preschooling" Caden (and of course, Emberly too!). I figured he's old enough to start learning how to write his ABC's and his name and learn about Oregon and the USA and all that other good stuff. He already knew how to say his ABC's and count from 1-20 but he didn't know anything else. The internet and Pinterest are a huge resource for preschool, and school in general, so I've been doing my research. It's been a little slow going but we've made it through the letter D and have talked about geography and different animals. The format I chose to do looks like this:

1. Talk about the calendar on the dry erase board (day of week, month & date, activities or birthdays in the month) .
2. Talk about the weather for the day (look up the temperature and the kids look outside and tell me what the sky looks like) and draw it out on the board (clouds, sunshine, blue sky, etc.).
3. Sing a few songs (Old McDonald, Wheels on the Bus, etc.).
4. Talk about the letter or theme of the day. If it's a letter day I write out the upper and lowercase letter, and we talk about which words start with that letter and what it sounds like. 
5. Then we practice writing the letters in a book I got him at Dollar Tree and then he practices more on a piece of paper.  
6. He gets star stickers at the end if he was a good listener and followed directions and also if he does a good job writing his letters. 

Muffins, Pancakes and Chips

Yesterday I experimented with two new recipes I found on Pinterest and they both turned out pretty good.

The first one was Bacon, Egg and Cheese "Muffins"
Here's the link to the recipe: http://www.cheeseslave.com/low-carb-bacon-egg-cheese-muffins/ 
I used mozzarella cheese in place of the cheddar because I was out of cheddar and they still turned out fine. I think they would have been better to have the bite of a sharp cheddar though. This recipe calls for coconut flour and I want to add that it doesn't taste like coconut and they're not too sweet. Also, when I make them again I'll leave the salt out of the recipe because they were too salty...you can also use the base recipe and swap out the other ingredients to make different variations (ie. ham/sausage/bacon, veggies, different cheese, herbs, etc.)  

Happy Birthday Em!

It's hard to believe that 2 years ago Michael was rushing me to the hospital because Emberly decided to come early! She was born 1 day before her due date and 3 days before her scheduled arrival. I guess she just had other plans. We celebrated her 2nd birthday on vacation, it was sooo fun! Here are some pictures from her special day. 

Em opening presents

Vacation!

VaCaTiOn!

We went to Sunriver with several of our friends and their families. In total we had 11 adults and 13 kids and a visit from my Mom and Dad too. It was such a fun time and we can't wait to do it again!!! We spent our time at the park, swimming at SHARC, riding bikes, playing games, bbq'ing and hanging out with our friends and family. We also celebrated Emberly's 2nd birthday. It's hard to believe that she was born 2 years ago. Time flies! On top of Em's birthday it was also Father's Day so Michael went golfing with some of the guys. Here are some pictures from our trip. 

Playing at the park...

 

 

Starting New

I decided to start a new blog today since the old one's address was madmike.... first of all, I'm not mad (well not most of the time!) and secondly, I'm not mike. He is my other half but I'm the one that does most of the blogging, so I need a place to call my home.

This blog will be a place to document our family...the birthdays (my kids are getting too big!!!), activities we do, places we travel, foods we enjoy and experiment with, and many other things. Enjoy!

P.S. This picture is old (from last Christmas) but I couldn't find another (nice) picture with all of us together!