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A few summer pics

I took this pic of Jade on Saturday right before we left to go garage saling. Isn't' she so cute?
The puppy managed to pop holes in our little blow up pool so today I got the sprinkler out instead.
Jade is "Washing her hands" here:)
Coco kept jumping into the water and then back out. It was pretty funny to watch.
Coco has just started "bathing" her paws in her water bowl. I didn't think dogs liked to play with water so much, but Coco seems to love it.
And that's all folks!

Coco playing with me and Jade at the Park

Here is our cute little Coco. We were playing around outside, me kicking the ball and Coco chasing the ball. As soon as I got out the camera she came running after me. That is her "I'm so happy I'm being played with face" lol!
On Tuesday we went to the park with our "Moms in the park" group. Jade got invited to play in the sand with some friends and she LOVED it!
Granted she did get covered in sand...in her hair, clothes, everywhere. But she was SO cute!

So cute! Pretty Princess cookies!

Is it just me, or is this the most adorable cookie cutter set? I want it so bad! And the princess apron and the princess spatula! I may just have to buy it so I can throw Jade a princess birthday party next year!
On second look I think this is a better apron. So cute!

Just for fun!

Hey all, I just had to post this adorable picture of my sister-in-law, Alicia (pictured right) and her friend. Alicia is a missionary in Japan teaching ESL and working with a church there. Every now and then she sends me pictures of her in a Kimono and I just had to post this one since it was so cute!

We love you Alicia!

Potty Training

Last week I worked on potty training but only in the mornings (8-12), this week we potty trained in the morning and took a two hour break and now we are trying this afternoon. No success, but Jade sure likes sitting on the potty AFTER she goes in her pants.

Seattle on Saturday

We went and took Nate to Seattle on Saturday. He didn't really care for any cool city pictures with himself. What thrilled him most was the curb side water fountain. So I took a pic.

"Ah! Were my eyes shut?"

if you blow this pic up you can see the big guy behind Nate is looking at him oddly. Like maybe he may "take him out" and I don't mean on a date.

We aren't really Seahawks fans, but we do live in Washington and baby football caps are super cute...sooo:)

Jade wasn't to sure what to make of the carousel ride.
Half way through she asked to get off and have Daddy hold her. She didn't cry, she just didn't want to stay on.

While Jade had her first carousel ride Nate tried his hand at some arcade games.

We stopped for lunch at Red Robin. Here are the two of them being stinkers.

Jade was very entertained with her big girl cup and putting the straw in and out.

This morning Jade woke up and came to play in my closet while I got ready for church. I heard some clomping and turned around and found this.
I think it's so cute. Playing in Mommies shoes:) hee, hee.

Nate's 20th Birthday

Today was Nate's 20th birthday. He worked half a day and then joined Jade and I for a fabulous lunch at Taco Bell, he then accompanied us on several errands and a visit with a friend.

To celebrate this birthday I made him this cake. I know, I know, it kind of looks like a baby boy baby shower cake or something. But it was pretty last minute with the frosting and I wasn't sure how much food coloring to add. lol. Oh well, it tasted good, there is a chocolate pudding filling:)
Being Nate has only been here for like...two weeks...he has yet to make many friends. But here are a few of his party guests. After our big dinner of pizza and cake and ice-cream we all went to the park to shoot hoops. While playing a couple of young boys invited Nate to go play football with them, so off he went while the little kiddos played around and we parents attempted to shoot baskets.
"Happy Birthday Nate" Hope you had a good day and wishing you a fabulous 20th year!

Jade's new toy

Grandpa and Grandma have been wanting to send Jade a little outside jungle gym she could play on...and yesterday, we found one! Jade LOVES it! She didn't want to get off to come eat dinner, so we decided to bring dinner outside. She would come eat a few bites and then go back to playing on her new toy.
It has a cute little door...
A cute little slide...
A cute little window...
And a place for Coco to keep watch.
Not pictured, but Jade did keep inviting Coco to come inside her little house. They play together so adorably:)

A little park time on Father's Day

We went to the park for a little bit on Father's day. The boys threw the football around a bit and helped Jade play on all the toys.
Nate and Jade heading over to the play ground

Daddy helping Jade down the slide


Nate holding Jade up to do the monkey bars:)

Jade's first trip to the zoo

Here are a few clips from a couple weeks ago when we joined our friends to a trip to the zoo. Enjoy!

Just hangin' out Video

Jade started doing "happy feet" this morning which made me want to take the camera out. The rest is just boring stuff of Jade and I doing pretty much nothing at all:) But she is SO cute! And I love how she kept trying to kiss the camera, I edited out a few of the kisses because I was laughing so hard.

Not much to say, just a little update of sorts

I caught a cold over the weekend it seems. One of those fabulous colds that feels as though your head may explode, and blowing your nose only helps for about one second. lol! I am doing much better today, but I'm still not back to my normal self.

yesterday I bought Jade a potty chair, it's a cool kind with a lid you can open and close. Jade likes that, she likes to open and close the lid and sit down and get off, and sit down and get off, and sit down and...well you get the idea. We had one success this morning with potty training so I'm pretty much feeling like a supermom. Who cares if she had multiple accidents in-between. hee,hee.

Our little dog Coco, or Cocoa, or however we decide to spell it, is doing pretty good. She isn't quite potty trained yet, which is slightly frustrating to me. She does so good during the week, but somehow over the weekend it's like she forgets what I've been working with her on. *sigh* We did just buy her a harness for taking her on walks (she hates her collar and leash) and walking to the mailbox this morning she seemed to have figured out how to follow me while being on the leash. I hope she learns soon, I am looking forward to taking my dog and my daughter on walks this summer!

The past week and then this weekend were really busy for me. I love being busy and having places to go, but I wonder if part of the reason I am sick is to force me to slow down a bit. Here I recently wrote about how great it is not to be busy and then I have been busy and crazy and I need to slow down and spend a whole day at home with Jade and Coco and myself. So as much as I HATE being sick, I'm glad to have an excuse to stay home and just take care of myself and my family.

Having my brother, Nate, here has been great. I'm sure he is bored out of his mind in the evenings but it's just nice having a bit of family around. Jade also adores him and he loves her and plays with her and yes, watches her for us. We have already had him babysit for us twice in the whole week and two days that he has lived with us:) "Thank you, Nate!"

Anyway, I have a quiet house right now with both the puppy and Jade sleeping. I'm working on a few things for work and then I have some shirts to iron and some dishes to do...and that's pretty much all I have planned for myself today. So nice:)

Park day

Today the sun decided to peak out! Jade and I were pretty excited. Our friends came over to fill up water balloons at about 1pm and then we all headed over to the near by park to have a water balloon fight.

Here is me next to my bright, red, Jetta. It's a rental, but I liked it so much I wanted a picture next to it. (I'm working a HS conference this weekend and decided to rent a car for my trip back and forth).
The big kids you can see in the background getting ready for their water balloon fight, the little kids (pictured below) decided to have their own.
Here is Jade all set to attack. lol!
They figured out that the best way to pop the balloons was to throw them on the ground and then step on them. lol!
Jade and me!
It was nice to see the sun today!

lost thoughts

Yesterday, while baking a million cookies during Jade's and the puppy's nap, I had all these deep thoughts regarding Motherhood and wife-hood. They all rolled around in my head for awhile and I found myself organizing them in a way I hoped to later jot down in my journal or on my blog for processing later. However, now that I am able to write down my thoughts...they are gone. Must have drifted away while I slept. *sigh* Here are pics of Jade from this morning. My lovely, little daughter. So big and grown up. It's hard to believe just a little over a month or so ago she wasn't really walking. And now look at her, she is off playing with her "sing-a-long lawn mower" and pulling books from the shelf to "Read" before throwing down and grabbing another.
With company over yesterday I even let out go outside, with her friends, with the sliding door closed (gasp) to play in our fully fenced backyard unattended. She is that big now! Big enough to play in the grass with her bouncy ball without needing me to help her play! Granted, of course she still wants me there all the time, but that's not the point.

I think the best advice I got before having Jade was from a new mom at church who simply said "don't judge motherhood on the first four weeks". She was so right. As fabulous and miraculous and amazingly beautiful as a newborn baby is...I was so tired and so exhausted and so completely lost those first few weeks (and still find myself that way today) I couldn't really enjoy it as much as I would have liked. I felt very helpless and confused so often.
When our bodies and minds are tired I think everything turns into slow motion and, for me, I think I really thought life would never get better and my exhaustion would never end.

But of course it does, of course it did. Life is so great right now with a happy healthy toddler. I complain so often about silly little things that I forget to thank God for the good things. Good things like the fact my daughter eats everything and eats well. That she plays and laughs and loves and hugs and kisses and brings me SO much joy.

The past two days or so I've really felt like I've just been "playing house". I have had the energy and will power to clean my house, cook meals, play with my daughter and hang out with people. All my favorite things!

JB and I were talking the other day about the fact that we should probably be more involved at church and maybe more involved with other things in life. But I don't really want to, like everyone in the world, we are going to get to that horribly, crazy, busy, place in life where you are lucky to eat dinner together and spend quality time together. I'd rather not rush our family into all of that. I'm happy right now and I'd like to just enjoy being a wife and a Mom for awhile. Before I add on "sunday school teacher, soccar mom, homeschool teacher, etc" :)

Pics for my Papa and Nani and my Mom:)

This is a pic of Jade wearing her new outfit that Papa and Nani bought for her:) Jade LOVES it!
We tried to get a shot where all three of us (me, jade and the dog) were all looking at the camera. But it didn't quite work:)
Here is an action shot of Jade in her new capri pants and cute top and sweater...
..and here is her modeling pose:)
This morning marks the first day of Nate's (my brothers) time at EFF. So I had to take pics. First, of my handsome husband and adorable daughter
Second of Nate. He didn't want his pic taken, so he was mad at first.
But then I reminded him of how lucky he is to get to stay with us all summer long and he got SO happy!
hee, hee...it will be a fun summer I'm sure:)

My green little jelly bean

This is my little jellybean, her name is Jade. She is SO cute. She likes to sit in her daddy's office chair and spin around. She could spin forever.
Oh yeah, spinning and sitting in this office chair is just the best!
I just want to squeeze her and tickle her and tell her how cute she is!!! Why am I such a lucky Mom to have such a cute, adorable, fun little daughter?

Life is good:)