Sunday, May 27, 2018

Growing and Changing

Last week I hinted at a big change for Carrigan.  The big news is that she got GLASSES!  She is super excited about her new look and look so adorable.  Right now the correction she needs is very small so she is supposed to wear them for six months and then we will recheck and see if she needs to continue to wear them.  We will see, but if she inherited my vision then her life with glasses is just getting started.  It is a good thing she looks so darn cute in them.


This was a big week for Elsie too.  This week she hit the 3 month mark.  She has become such a chatter box, she loves to smile and has started to laugh but is a bit stingy with them.  She also loves to chew and will often chew on her thumb, her hand, her clothes, her binkie, or whatever else she can get into her mouth.  We are still trying to decide what color her eyes and her hair are going to be.  She may end up as a blonde or a ginger or somewhere in between.  She is such a people person and especially loves when Merrick and Carrigan pay attention to her.  I can't believe it has been three months already.  She is such a joy and perfectly fills a hole in our family we didn't even know we had.







Sunday, May 20, 2018

Kindergarten Round-Up

This week we had Carrigan's kindergarten round-up.  We got to go down to the school where she got to meet the kindergarten teachers, spend some time in one of the classrooms, read a story, do a craft, and, best of all, take a ride on a school bus.  This is getting really real.  I swear that Carrigan was just Elsie's size and now inexplicably we are headed to kindergarten in just a few months.  When we arrived at the school she was a little nervous but got over it pretty quickly and marched off like a big, brave girl when it was time.

At the end of the afternoon we left with some sunflower seeds to plant and know that when they are grown it is time to go to kindergarten.  We also left with a whole lot of excitement and anticipation for the real thing.  She is so ready.  I am on the fence.


Carrigan also had something else life changing happen this week, but we will keep that under wraps for a week or two.  You will just have to check back.

Sunday, May 13, 2018

Mother's Day/Girls Day/Father's and Son's

Today is Mother's Day and as is tradition (not one that I am particularly found of but that is a discussion for another time) the boys went away this weekend for the Father's and Son's camp out.  Per tradition Jeremy will write a little bit about that trip.  Jeremy here, this year was another fun camp out at Father's and Son's.  We went to the Boy Scout property Camp Meriweather again.  It is one of my favorite places in Oregon.  The forest grows right up to the beach.  It has always amazed me that I can be at a lake in the middle of the picturesque Pacific Northwest forest and then, after a five minute walk down a steep hill, I am at the beach.

In our ward there is a long standing tradition of the older boy playing a game of capture the flag on the beach well into the night.  This year was the first year that I thought Merrick was able to play.  He went down to the beach with his friends and the older boys and I went down a little later to check out the game.  As you can see, or rather cannot see, in the picture below, the boys play capture the flag by the light of the moon and glow sticks.  Merrick's team wore glow sticks around their necks, like large necklaces, and the other team wore the glow sticks around their wrists.  That was the only way the boys could tell who was on which team.  I made Merrick come in at 11pm, and I heard the older boys played until 11:30pm, which is early for them.  I am told they typically play until midnight or later.

The following morning, despite going to bed way past his bed time, Merrick woke me up at 6am so that we could fulfill our annual tradition of sneaking onto the lake.  I was able to convince him that I was tired and needed another 15 minutes of sleep, but he started to hear people gather around the fire and got anxious that we would run out of time before breakfast.  I finally got out of bed and, lucky for us, there was a row boat on the shore and we headed out on the lake.  This tradition is my favorite.  We paddle out to the middle of the lake, stop paddling, and just listen.  We listen to the birds chirping and the small splashes of the rainbow trout that inhabit the lake jumping up to snatch an early morning breakfast of insects that fly to close to the surface of the lake.  Early morning on Lake Chamberlin in Camp Meriwather is one of my most favorite places on earth.

After breakfast, we played on the beach for a little bit before packing up and leaving.  On the way back home we pass through the town of Tillamook and stop at the famous Tillamook cheese factory and creamery.  No Father's and Son's camp out to Camp Meriweather would be complete without getting ice cream at the Tillamook cheese factory.  It was another great outing!




Sarah here, on our end, Carrigan, Elsie, and I had what Carrigan likes to refer to as "Sister Sister Time".  We spent a long time playing dominoes, went shopping (and Carrigan decided it would be fun to try to wear Elsie's newborn size jacket that even she has outgrown), ate fro-yo, watched Beauty and the Beast, hung out, and went to a birthday party.





Now it is Mother's Day and while it should be a day to relax and unwind, we have to play catch up after the fun of the weekend.  That's ok because in addition to some great homemade cards and gifts, my family also gave me a gift card to go get a massage so I will just save the relaxing for a different day.  Happy Mother's Day to all the great Mamas out there!

Sunday, May 6, 2018

Carrigan's 5th Birthday

Carrigan is 5!!!!!  I can hardly believe it, but it is true.  We have spent the whole weekend partying and now I am trying to fight off exhaustion to recap all the fun here.

The party started on Friday, aka Star Wars Day, aka Carrigan's birthday.  In truth, the day started a little rough and we were wondering if Carrigan was sick and we were going to have to cancel all our birthday plans, but thankfully she rebounded quickly.  We were still able to have birthday breakfast and made it to preschool in time for birthday cupcakes.  After preschool, she and I went to lunch at Chic-fil-a.  Back to full disclosure mode, while we had tons of fun a Chic-fil-a, we had to cut the party short because I decided to run both Merrick and Carrigan to the doctor (Merrick had been coughing for three days and while we were at lunch I found out his good friend has pneumonia so I figured we needed to get him checked out and I decided to have Carrigan checked just to be safe).  Turns out they were both fine so we got back on track for the rest of the day.  We met cousins at Nana's house and played for a bit and then went to the park together.  We ended the day with pizza and cupcakes and presents.  Carrigan was beyond spoiled and got pretty much everything she had hoped for (a scooter, Barbies and clothes, light up Sketchers, a splat ball, and getting her ears pierced...more on that in a second).  Everyone went to bed exhausted after a full day.










The next day the fun times kept coming.  We had a picnic in the park birthday party with all Carrigan's friends.  We did sidewalk chalk, bubbles, a parachute, a three-legged race, had a picnic lunch and MORE cupcakes.














After the party and a lot of clean up we went to complete Carrigan's big birthday wish, getting her ears pierced.  We went to a local piercing shop and it was not at all what I expected.  Everything was so clean, and precise and almost surgical in nature, not at all a dark, grungy place like you might expect. I honestly thought she might change her mind at the last minute, but no.  She was so brave!  She sat on my lap on the table while they marked and measured.  One click and zero tears later we were done.  I couldn't believe how quick and easy it all was.




Our last birthday adventure was dinner at Red Robin.  She was really looking forward to her birthday sundae and it did not disappoint.

We packed a lot of celebrating (and food...and sugar...) into the last few days, but she deserved it.  We love our Carrigan girl and our family would not be complete without her!