Summertime visits

We were able to start our summer vacation with lots of visits from our family. Our days were definitely busy but we enjoyed the visits.

Aubrey, Andrea and Courtney playing games <3>

Kolby pointing out that Ainsley is doing something naughty.

But then Kolby put himself in timeout. We have no idea why, but he went to the wall, stood there and just screamed! Ainsley wasn't too sure what to think about this situation.

Auntie Penny and Zoey then came to visit for 2 days.We went to Out of this World pizza for dinner and playing on Monday then on Tuesday we headed to the Childrens Museum.

Ainsley, Ella, Zoey and Aubrey after our afternoon at the Children's Museum

Dinosaurs were the special exhibit!

The girls were able to paint their own faces before putting on a show of their own.

Grandma and Grandpa Kerner from Idaho rounded out our visiting family for that week. (Yes, all of these visits took place in the course of 1 week! Phew, it was busy but we enjoyed getting to see our family we don't see often enough.)

Everyone's eyes may not be on the camera but at least they are all smiling!

Grandma Kerner jumped right in on the fun. She played Elefun with Aubrey, climbed into the play tent with Ainsley and read books with all the girls.

Ainsley really is perfecting the cuteness!

G-daddy and Ainsley reading her favorite book, Dr. Seuss' A,B,C. Ainsley L.O.V.E.S. reading books these days! Its actually very hard to get much of anything else done while she is awake because she is constantly bringing you a book and saying "Up...peeezzz"

Grandpa stole as much snuggle time as he could with each of the girls. He would read to Ainsley then Aubrey and Ella would read to him =)

All smiles!

We enjoyed seeing each and every one of you. Come back again and visit anytime!!

Happy Fathers Day!!

Yep, its a few weeks late... that seems to be the way things get done around here lately!

Thanks to Pinterest we found a cute way to say how much we love you Neal! These little girls think their daddy is the best daddy in the whole world. And I think you do a wonderful job too =) You live in a world of pink and princesses and love every minute of all this girlyness.

For the second year, I printed off these little questionnaires and had each of the girls answer the questions and I put exactly what they said.

Ella's answers are in purple, Aubrey's answers are in fushia
My daddy's name is:Neal, Neal
He is 34, 30 years old
7, "this" tall and weighs 80, 14 pounds
His favorite food is chocolate chip pancakes, blueberry pancakes
My daddy is really good at swimming, loving me and once upon a times for me
My favorite thing(s) to do with my dad is snuggle, go to swimming lessons with him
I am just like my dad because I have blue eyes, am his daughter
What I love most about my daddy is he is my daddy, when we makes breakfast for me
It makes my Dad happy when I listen, listen

We love you so much!!

"I have graduated"

Pomp is in the air. Anyone who asks Ella if school is out will get this response, "Yeah, I graduated on June 12th." People have been very kind and often ask if she is off to college next ;-) Ella's kindergarten class did a cute little end of the year ceremony where they sang some songs and got a little completion certificate.

1st and last day of kindergarten

Aubrey loves a good reason to strike a pose!

Ainsley enjoying a good bagel while strolling to school

"Our future is so bright we need sunglasses"

Ella's kindergarten class

Ella getting her completion certificate

Mrs. Reed and Ella

Quin, Ella and Natalie (neighbor and friend from school)

Ella and her best friend Zachary

Ella really continued her love for learning this year. At Costco just the other day she spotted a "get ready for 1st grade workbook" and thought she must get it. She stayed upstairs an hour after rest time was over working on her book! Her excitement led to a bit of frustration, she wanted to jump right into the middle of the book thus skipping those essential building block steps ;-)

Bring on summer vacation!!

Insta-life May

Ainsley thought she would give the ol' window one more try before giving into the idea that doors are the easier way!

Happy 1st Birthday Ainsley Rae!!

Girl Scout camp! Ella and Neal headed to camp while Aubrey and Ainsley got to hang out with Mommy.

During our special time, we went out to dinner at Chevy's. They give the kids a ball of tortilla dough to play with while dinner is coming. Aubrey found an interesting way to use her dough ;-)

Ainsley got a swing for the front yard and couldn't be happier!!

Thanks to these 3 beautiful girls I get to celebrate Mothers day!

Aubrey loved taking the the view from our beach house.

Burying half of Ella's body was the best way I could get her to sit still for a picture ;-) Just kidding!!

Shopping with little girls means lots of accessories....new sunglasses and headbands, check!

Vacation means hot-tubbing at 9AM!

Love how Instragram helps fill in the pieces in between all the big moments I capture with the regular camera.

Toes in the sand

A few weeks ago we escaped to the beach for a nice little mini vacation. We went to the same beach house we had rented when Aubrey was a baby...its so nice because its literally a 3 minute walk down one flight of stairs to the beach. For the Oregon coast we had a fair amount of sunny weather and even during the raindrops, we just sat inside and stared at the ocean in front of a nice warm fireplace. As much as I love camping, this is definitely my preferred method of beach vacationing with children. My girls are unphased by the cold Pacific ocean thus come back from the beach almost every time soaking wet. Thanks to the washing machine we could let them splash until they were frozen ;-)

Sitting on the deck....definitely a relaxing view!

Hanging out in the hot tub

Ainsley taking in the view ;-)

Ainsley flying a kite for the first time

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We were privileged to get front row balcony seats to a private dance show one evening. Ella was busy being the director so I didn't get her moves captured. Aiden was doing the "puppy dance", Nathan showed us the "fireman dance" and Aubrey was our resident ballerina.

Perfect end to a great day!

The raindrops had nothing on the moments like this....

Ainsley loved walking and playing in the sand

Aubrey and Aiden sharing a chair, a snack and the view. Aiden kept telling me, "Look, there is the ocean!"

Ella with her beach treasures. She is our beach beauty!

The deck saw many many hours of dancing. (Thanks for the dresses Uncle Jason and Auntie Sarah! We love them!)

Ella has a very artistic soul. She pulled out her chalk board and was taking in the view.

The kids loved running from the surf. Ready, wait for it, run... NOW!

Wow, even though I had just edited these pictures I had no idea how many I really had. Whoops! Fortunately these are some pretty cute faces so I bet it wasn't too much torture ;-)