Oregon 2014

So sorry, but this post is going to be picture overload. But be thankful, if I had Chris's phone, there would've been more. In all fairness, this trip was to Oregon. Seriously one of the most stunning places in the country in my opinion. It was my first time, and most definitely will not be my last. 

So let's start our journey.

Our destination: Olivia Beach, Lincoln City, Oregon. Da Beach House.

Our drive started out looking like this:

Then we encountered this:

We played a lot of games, crafts, and movies.

Five hours later and we made to Ontario, OR. Just over the border from Idaho. Happy-I'm-Out-Of-The-Car-Kiddos.

The next day I was doing a lot of this:

The teenager comes out in me when I think of the drive along the Colombia River. I can't. I can't even.

We made it!

We also headed up to Portland for a couple nights on the way home. We hit up food trucks and VooDoo Donuts of course, but the rain really came down on our Portland Parade. The children's museum was awesome. But other than that, we needed to plan a little more when it comes to bringing our kids to Portland. I would love to go back and walk the farmer's markets and food trucks for hours without kids in tow. 

So we ended up checking out early and headed to Boise. On the way to to Oregon we had passed a water park just outside of Boise, in Meridian. So we beat the rain and headed for the sunshine. Roaring Springs was a blast!

I know I say it a lot about our family trips, but this one will go down in the books. A few things we will do or won't do again when it come to the Oregon Coast. 

• We will definitely stay in Lincoln City again. It was central, clean, and most important, not too crowded. We went at the end of July. The weather was great, a little cool, but not much rain at all. And we basically had the beach to ourselves for three of the four days.
• We will stay more than four nights. This place easily deserves a week vacation.
• You only need to drive to Astoria once. We will not do that again. We should've learned from our last trip on the Pacific Coast Highway from LA to San Fran. IT IS MUCH LONGER AND WINDIER THAN YOU THINK. Which is all fine and dandy and beautiful, but not so great to spend half the day in your car with three littles when your vacation is only five days long.
• The drive. Will we drive again? I don't know. Most likely yes, because we might not have a one year old ever again. And we saved some dough! So we will see.

GO VISIT OREGON!

Life Update

I forgot to post this like two weeks ago. I admit I have been horrible at posting pictures lately (thanks for the kick in the butt Rachel) so here are a few to show what's going on around here. 

 Millie is still doing dance every Tuesday. 

 This one loves every single thing that enters her mouth. 

 Yummy.

 Even more yummy.

 Oh, we snuck away to Disneyland in December. 

 I just love/hate this one because it shows how big our big girl is getting.

 Uh, hello loves of my life.

 And more yummy. Are you full yet? Didn't think so.

Jack started basketball and is in love.

You are caught up. That quick. 

Oh alright, I guess I could also tell you about the past few months too. Lots of it has been spent inside this house for me. Trying to get the bambino on some sort of schedule so Chris and I can someday, anyday soon or far, go one a date lasting longer than two hours. Seriously, this girl has set a fear in her grandparents. Not cool, Laney. Also the air quality is so horrible I haven't wanted to take the girls out in it. Like everyone else, we spent the last few weeks of the year with the nasal yucks. And once Laney kicked it, we did not want it to come back. And Mills can get little asthma flare ups, so we have been confined.

Chris and I have also been tackling some projects around the house. Millie's room has been painted and is super cute. I just need to take pictures. But first we need to get her bed back in her room. Why is her bed not in her room you ask? Let's circle back to the bambino who likes to yell for help every two hours at night. SOMEBODY! ANYBODY! MILLIE! I KNOW YOU ARE ACROSS THE HALL! HEEEEELP! So yeah, Millie has been in J's room for two months. They love it though, so we are in no hurry to put her back in.

We also built some built-ins in the office. More storage, yay! I will have pictures of that posted soon. It reminded me of how I like the idea of painting and then you quickly get reminded of how bad it stinks to paint all those angles. No more painting furniture for awhile. 

A final quick round up of the family…the kids are in school and their activities, but we are thinking of starting them on an instrument or music class?…we still watch tv, but good tv is hard to find sometimes!…. I am room mom for the whole first grade, yow-za….speaking of school, Jack continues to excel with a 4.0 and is on a fourth grade reading level….Millie is doing well in preschool, but that left hand is really throwing us for a loop when it comes to writing and drawing……Spike is still alive…..Chris and I workout in our room every few days doing crunches and push-ups. The burn does NOT mean its working. #weknowweareindenial…. and Laney just continues to be yummy. Have I said that already?

Pretends

Today I spent 90% of my day not me. I got to be "friend" or "pretends mom" or a rock star on The Voice named Sandy. I could be vacuuming, but we were actually "pretends vacuuming a hotel room, okay mom?" I was folding laundry. "Pretends this laundry is our friends' and they were looking for it…"

It does not matter the day, Millie transforms this house into whatever place she is at in her mind. And how lucky am I that I get to go these places with her every day!

Six years ago I decided to stop working for the obvious two reasons. One, childcare is insanely expensive and we were living on a small income as it was. And two, I always knew it was in me to stay home. We lived on less than half of what we do today. And if we had that income today with three kids we would not be living in this house. We'd still be living in the 267. We would not travel as much. And most definitely I would still not be working. We would try to make it work as best we could. We would because there is no way I want to miss hanging out with these hooligans everyday playing black ops on a mission for club crackers. I can work when they don't like me anymore. And that is going to happen sooner than later. 

Now, I know some people have to work to make ends meet. I get that. It's just, for me, if there is a way to make it work and I get to stay home with my kids during these short, short years, I am going to take it. Not because we do crafts every day and laugh and hug each other. That does not happen. I will leave that to the creative, never tired, always happy mothers out there pinning their ten fun things to do with pipe cleaners. Ain't nobody got time for that. I have time to yell at them for farting too close too me. I yell at them for not eating. I yell at them for not listening. I yell at them again for farting too close to me.

But after the air clears there are moments that absolutely blow my mind. Moments that make me laugh so hard because my four year old just called her brother a "glorious, ridiculous fart smeller." Moments where I hear Jack ask Millie,"If you please play school I will play whatever you want." And she says,"Sure, Jack!" And then they play for hours. That's when I feel like I am doing something right.
I thought that by me staying home I could teach them so much. Go on so many adventures. And that in the end, it would be best for them. But I have learned that it doesn't matter. My kids could go to daycare and we would still see first smiles, first steps, first days of school. They would still love me just as much. What I figured out real quick is, me staying home has not been for their benefit, but for my own. And that is worth every paycheck I have not cashed in six years.

Laney May

Look at her. Just look at her. She may just be the greatest reason to ever want to have another child. We always thought we'd have four. Then three started sounding so good. 

You know how people always say, "You'll know when you're done having kids." Well, this little one has baffled me. We had pretty much decided that three was great. A great number. We will still be able to travel. Not feel like we will have to be here, take this kid there. Not lose one in the crowd. Not have to find a babysitter for this one while we go do this with that one. Yeah, that is what we thought. Then this game changer came along. And we all know what happened to thought, don't we?

When you pop one of these out and the thought of never having one like this again comes along, it is a thought you just don't like having in your mind. Who knows, three may be it for us. That is why I am holding on to every moment. Seems like everyone around you is so quick to say how "in for it you are,""Now you're out numbered,""You are going to have your hands full." But there is this part of me that thinks sometimes people have it backwards. 

Instead of feeling a rush to go nurse, or do dishes or dare I say blog, I feel like this past couple of weeks has been a reason to take a step back and focus on our family. We have had such a great past two weeks together. No hurry to fold laundry or go swimming or meet up with friends. (Even though I love and miss them) It has been good. 

(And side note: For me, I felt outnumbered after number two came along, so hopefully we won't be pulling our hair out anytime soon.)

And since I am on this baby high, I might as well let you know ten things about our little Laney Loo:

1. She is a great eater.

2. She is a great sleeper (knock on a big, fat redwood tree).

3. She has no control over it and no idea she is doing it, but she smiles for days. Smiliest baby I have ever seen.

4. She is our loudest baby. She eats loud, cries loud, poops loud.

5. She looks more like a Shupe everyday. By Shupe, I mean daddy.

6. She is a very physical baby. She moved and kicked, especially with her left leg, in the belly and does the same out.

7. She has the best hair ever. Both Jack and Millie had dark hair when they were born, which was great, but she has this soft, blond, peach fuzz that you just want to constantly stroke your cheek across.

8. She has crazy toes. They are like fingers that she keeps separated. And her little toe is totally skeewompus.

9. She has a spot on her belly that is most likely going to turn into a hemangioma. Don't google it. Just click here and thank me later.

10. She is cute and yummy and super snuggly. Like, loves to snuggle. Pray for me the days go by slow.

Special Surprise Vacation...Revealed!!

If you haven't heard or guessed, it was a Disney Cruise!!!

And forgive me now for picture overload. We actually only had the camera with us a few of the days because we were too busy having fun!

And be not mistaken, we did board the ship in our swim gear. That is my tip numero one for you. You may look a little white trash getting on the boat in your swimmies, but when you don't have your room until the afternoon and have kids, you need to head to the pool.

This cruise was out of Florida. The five day to Key West, Nassau, Bahamas, and Disney's private Castaway Cay. There were definite ups and downs with the cruise, but nothing that was a deal breaker that wouldn't make me take another one, because we will! The rooms are the largest of any ship I have been on. We went to the show every night and they were impressive. The kids clubs, awesome. Dinners, tastiest I've had on a cruise. Check in and out was the easiest thing EVER. The service was top notch. Now to the downers. The breakfast buffet was nothing to be desired and super cramped. The pools could use some updating. On our sea day they were jam packed. And they didn't have endless snacks. And mama needs her snacks. On other ships you could mosey somewhere and find a cookie or pizza (the did have pizza actually), but on this ship it seemed like everything but the bars and lounges  shut down at night. I guess there is room service.

And lucky for us there was a rocket launching over at Kennedy so we got a once in a lifetime, front row seat, to the launching of it. And it was insane! We saw it launch. Moments later heard the rumble. And moments after that actually felt the power of the take off. It rocked! 

The rest of these photos are just a couple of my faves. Jack endlessly water sliding. My favorite Indonesian, Arsa. A sweet shot of jumping on the bed. Kisses on the deck. Making flubber (one of Jack's favorite activities on the ship). Pirate night. Millie stealing the camera (and the show) and walking around with a winch at bingo taking random shots. Standing like flamingos. Jack learning to swim under water.

I know this looked like a blast. And it was. But nothing brings you back to the reality of traveling with a five year old and a two year old when Jack tells Millie she is a sassy britches in the airport and her screaming at the top of her lungs," I AM NOT A SAAAASSSY BITCHES!"