1st's

 September has been sprinkled with a few firsts in our house.

1st of all was Ella's 1st day of preschool. She has been waiting to be old enough to go to school since some of her friends started going to preschool last year. I love her enthusiasm and just hope she continues with it for the next 17+ years!!!

1st day of school picture by the front door.
(Borrowed this idea from some friends. I love the tradition and growth it allows you to see)

Aubrey and Ella at school.

Ella putting her school supplies into her pouch.

Ella so excited after she put her backpack in her cubby!

This past weekend in Sunday school, we reached another 1st. Our first fish. Ella's Sunday school teachers took the extra step to help the kids get the idea of Jonah and the whale. These teachers are super dedicated and you always know the weekends they are working because Ella comes home with actual books and other visuals to help with learning/remembering the stories. 

Ella with her new fish.

Ella's fish Dorothy.
(Sorry G-G and Grandma Kerner. Elmo has a fish named Dorothy!)

We did end up with a slight problem...Aubrey's class did not get fish =( She is just at the age where she understands a lot and most of the time we can reason with her, but the idea of not having a fish in her room was not one of those times. Since we had to head to the fish store for fish food and a fish bowl, we bought a second betta fish. 

Aubrey with her new fish!
That smile makes it worth the extra $2.99 for a fish, plus the extra bowl ;-)

Aubrey's new fish: Nemo/Dory/Baracuda/Dorothy
I believe Dorothy is the name that has now stuck. 

I'm still a bit in shock that September is over (practically) and Ella will be 5 years old next Friday! She already has plans for what mommy will bring to her school for her birthday. In between now and her birthday we are heading to Idaho to visit with Neal's Grandma and Grandpa Kerner. I'm crossing my fingers that I remember to pack the camera AND then remember to take it out of the bag to capture a few pictures of our visit. 

Hope everyone had a few special 1st's this month too!!!

{{..So long summer..}}

Well fall is officially upon us. The girls are having a terribly hard time parting with their sun dresses and flip flops ;-) Today, as a part of an internal rebellion I'm sure, Ella wore her polka dot sun dress with an adidas track suit and flip flops!

I realized that I forgot to include our last camping adventures on the ol' blog, so here are a few pictures better late than never!

We headed to South Beach State Park south of Newport at the end of August with our friends the Stampers and Grandma Marian and Poppa. For the Oregon coast, we had nice(ish) weather. There were times each day that the wind stopped long enough and the clouds parted that we were able to take the coats off and even get a little pink from the sun =]

Postcard worthy picture! 

View from the top of the sand dune at the end of the boardwalk. We enjoyed lunch with this view.

Best of friends. They actually asked to have their picture taken together =)

Kerner family at the beach

Running down the dunes. Great way to insure a wonderful nap that afternoon.

Aubrey, my sand baby. (It may be hard to see the sand caked on her face, hair, clothes...)

Stamper family

The reason for the sand baby. She would randomly stop and decide this was the perfect spot for a flip!

One morning we headed into Newport to hang out along the pier with our endpoint being Mo's for lunch --YUM!!!

At first, Aubrey wasn't so sure what to think of the EXTREMELY NOISY sea lions.

Aubrey, Nathan, Ella and Aiden

I sure love them!!!

Able to steal Ella away from all her adventures for a quick picture with Mommy

Definition of "too cute!"

We had quite the crew heading down the sidewalks. Fortunately we got there early so we could take up as much room as we wanted!

We were able to get an up-close and personal viewing of all the sea lions.  They are definitely interesting creatures.

So long summer! It felt like a brief encounter this year but fun-filled nonetheless =]

Home sweet Home

 So here it is....our new house! Its crazy that we moved in a month ago. August has gone by in a blink.

 The details:
5 bedroom/2.5 bath
2800 sqft
AC
central vac
cute little neighborhood with no thru streets
more closet/storage space than we know what to do with ;-)

And trees to climb in!!! The girls are having so much fun climbing trees in the front yard, playing in the backyard, picking strawberries out of the planter boxes in the backyard.

It still feels like most days the girls don't even know where to play. After having very little room dedicated from them and their toys, they sprawl out everywhere! And Ella is very generous with our extra bedrooms, she will invite anyone/everyone over for a sleep over because we have 2 extra rooms ;-)

Come on over---we have lots of room for guests now!

Part 2

Apparently blogger only has the capacity for you to load a certain number of pictures to each blog before it starts to freeze up. I will just continue on with the pictures that go along with the stories of the 1st post.

 

Aubrey trying to walk with her flippers on.

Ella ready to dive in.

Ella rescued some sort of bug or something. Boy is she proud!

Kerner girls posing at the swimming hole.

Aubrey loves to drive the boat.

Poppa stayed the night with us and helped get things moved into our new house the 1st weekend.

Finally enjoying playing in the fountains

=)

Feeding the ducks with our friends the Gateley's

Aubrey with water is like a moth to flame.
Playing in Hood River.

Daddy had to make an emergency rescue of the kite. Winds in Hood River can get strong. Fortunately the handle  got caught on the rocking island making the rescue successful!

The real way we are able to enjoy some adult time while camping with 4 kids!!!
Kidding 
=)

P.S. I have to share two more crazy Aubrey stories. (That kid never leaves me short on material!)

As I was busy packing up our old house, the girls were upstairs playing to trying to stay out of my way. Suddenly I see Ella walk into the living room carrying a cereal bowl. "Aubrey peed in the bowl!"
She what?!?!?! Apparently she saw the empty bowl, got a great idea, placed in on the floor right outside the bathroom and proceeded to pee in it. This has left me with far more questions than answers....

Moving day. We were just getting ready to dig into some serious loading and unloading. Our friend Gina was going to take both girls to her house so that we could work uninterrupted. Suddenly Gina is yelling for me. Aubrey had climbed herself to the top of the 5 shelves in hall closet. She sat perched like a cat at the top. I asked her "How did you get up there?" Her innocent reply, "It was an accident. Look, I can touch the ceiling!" I often find myself accidentally 6 feet up in a closet.....

Where do I even begin?!?!?!

This past month has been a complete whirlwind. 1 month ago today we moved into our new house. Promptly following unpacking all the boxes we left for camping at Hills Creek with the Kerner clan. Came home long enough to do laundry. Neal and I squeezed in a quick happy hour dinner to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary. Once again we packed up, headed camping in the gorge at Memaloose State Park. Laundry and cleaning again. Now as I sit here blogging, I'm making a mental list of all the things I need to get done tomorrow before we leave for our last camping trip of the year at the beach. PHEW!!!


So now for all the details in between. I'll mostly let the pictures tell the story. I apologize in advance for the random jumping around that is most likely to happen when trying to squeeze one busy month of photos into a single blog post.

Aubrey and Ella on the 1st day of swim lessons

Aubrey learning to kick

Free time at the end of the lesson!

Ella can now swim with her face in the water using her arms and legs!

Ella is a very quick learner!!

Today its officially ours!! 7/21/2011

Aubrey got a new rocking horse from Uncle Ryan and Auntie Allie for her new room.

Our new house has a perfect climbing tree out front =)

Nothing beats an early morning cup of hot chocolate by the lake.
(The girls felt a little left out as we were sipping our coffee ;-))

Aubrey is a camping animal. There isn't an aspect of camping this girl doesn't love.

Well, I guess I should clarify that caption. We did find 2 things she didn't like while camping. 1st of all, Aubrey loved riding on the "big ski" behind the boat. If you look closely in the picture, she is rocking herself back and forth faster that the boat is taking her. Apparently on one of her rides, she decided for whatever reason to let go---not hold onto the big ski--- while G-Daddy was still driving the boat. Centrifugal force took over and Aubrey was no longer on the big ski, but in the middle of the lake. Of course G-Daddy immediately turned around and Uncle Ryan dove in to rescue Aubrey from the lake. Although she was scared, she was doing great keeping herself upright in her life jacket. Afterwards, she reprimanded G-Daddy as if he was the reason she fell off "Don't knock me off the ski G-Daddy."

Example 2. G-Daddy has hidden in his attic for many years these Crest (yes like the toothpaste) pedal cars. These cars get hauled down to Hills Creek each year. A stick is found to be used as the "pusher" stick as the kids can't make them go. Since these are fully-functioning cars, the steering wheel works and is actually required to be used in order to keep the car on the road. Can anyone guess where this story is going???

Aubrey was game to try this out. She had seen Quin doing it and he is a maniac at it! G-Daddy gives Aubrey a little push and off she goes in between about 4 adults (we are all standing around watching). "Turn Aubrey" is yelled as she heads off the road...... Next thing we know, she has driven UNDER Uncle Ryan's truck and is stopped by running head-first into the mounted hitch of his truck!!! She ended up with a little cut on her lip, but overall fine. G-Daddy on the other hand felt HORRIBLE!! 

We are trying to coach Aubrey to tell G-Daddy "I forgive you G-Daddy." Instead, she looks him square in the eye and says "That's NOT VERY NICE G-Daddy. Don't push me into Uncle Ryan's truck!"

Having a blast on the big ski.

Ella had tons of fun camping with her cousins!

Blue-eyed marshmellow-faced girls! 

----to be continued----