Saturday, June 16, 2012

A little bit of everything…

Neglecting our blog has been the least of my worries, but it has been kind of sad not to be able to enjoy some of my favorite hobbies. School and kids consume EVERTHING!!! Juggling school, work, and family has been challenging, but some how we’ve managed it; Aaron has been such a huge help taking over many of the household responsibilities, and has been enjoying the quality time spent with our girls, even if it means holding off on the yard… something he enjoys spending time on. He’s always taking the girls our to new parks and fun hikes… what a good Dad he IS! Just in time for summer though, I can happily report that I finished my first semester and quarters with A’s, finished studying for the DAT (the Dental Admissions Test… the most difficult, broad and seemingly impossible test EVER!!!), and scored in the 93rd percentile. The average applicant who got accepted last year to the dental schools I am applying for scored between 18 and 20, and I scored a 21! It’s not amazing considering it’s scored out of 30, but hey… it’s worth a shot! With applications all sent out… it’s all just a waiting game from here. I’ve got a smaller load of classes through the summer which means I get to spend any and all of my free time with my favorite people who I have grown to miss so so much!!!

Here’s some quick updates in photos:

Papa has been coming on Friday’s for fun play-dates with the girls. It was a HUGE help while preparing for the DAT. (Look at that mess of paper’s and books in the background! So glad that’s cleaned up.)

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Wow… it sure HAS been awhile… here’s a few of EASTER:

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If I can, on the weekends I’ll take my homework to a park so that we can all still hang out as a family… with work and night classes, it’s been hard not seeing them!

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We’ve had some nice sunny days… which means neighborhood swimsuit weather!

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Some days are hard when I go a whole day without seeing my girls, especially when they are so stinkin cute!

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On the flip side though… Aaron is getting a lot of time with his girls… which is very sweet for a mother to watch.

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He’s taken them on some fun hikes, and even to the Hazel Dell Parade!

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We promised the girls if they would leave me alone so that I could prepare for the DAT (5 days actually I spent locked inside a room studying), we would take them to the Enchanted Forest! It’s somewhere I’ve been as a kid, and knew the girls would love it. Unfortunately we ‘thought’ I forgot my camera, and come to find out, it was in the bag all along! Now that is annoying… but here’s a few cell pics. We turned it into a little get away, hotel and everything, to make it a special FAMILY weekend.

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This series of pictures is one of the first ‘free’ days I actually had! We went up to Lake Sacajawea with a friend from work and had a really great time. What a beautiful park!

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Well, that was over 3month’s worth of updates… hope to be  back on here soon!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Lovin’ the sunshine

We’ve had some crazy weather of late… one day it’s snowy, the next it’s blue skies and sunny! The first set of pictures were from the first bits of sun we saw early in March… the girl’s were all too happy!

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These were too funny not to post. Allie will NEVER sit still in her high chair, and somehow she managed to get stuck like this:

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And alas… just this past weekend: two perfect days for spending them completely outside. It was nice to study and read outside. On Friday I think we were out from 11-6 and on Saturday we took the kids to the park and played for 5 hours before running errands! And again tonight… rain… but it was fun while it lasted!

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My kids are way more fun than Homework!

I had been spending a lot of time at school and with no exams the following week, I decided to take a break for the day and spend time with the kiddos. Malia’s request? Build a snowman and go sledding. So we headed to White River sno-park on Mt Hood for a snow-shoeing, sledding adventure.

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It was pretty fun. Allie didn’t enjoy it as much as we did… but next year she’ll be older and it will be even more fun!

Malia’s 4th Bday!

Malia had a little bit of a birthday month (in February) since life has been so busy and crazy. It was so hard to find the time!!! We started the celebrations one weekend with a visit to Red Robin with her friends Hadley and Collin, a week later had the family over for a pizza party and celebration, and finally by her actual b-day, I think we forgot to even mention it!

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(yup… I chopped my hair and LOVE it!)

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FAMILY PARTY

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It was perfect timing… Leah (Malia’s cousin) just happened to be down from Seattle! Nana sent these cute dress-up dresses and the girls had fun playing in them.

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On top of many many fabulous gifts from grandpa, grandma, papa, an nana we were excited to surprise Malia with a new bike!

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*Just for memories sake… Malia wouldn’t wear anything but a dress and leggings around this time. She’d get upset if she had to wear jeans because “they are not cute!”. She’s been very much into how she looks lately, and as a result, we got her a new wardrobe of dresses so that her preschool didn’t judge us for sending her in the same outfit everyday (sometimes slept in) because it was a battle we couldn’t fight every stinkin’ morning!!!*