Oh how I love those little faces.

On any given day we have extreme laughter, extreme whining, and of course extreme crying. Can you guess which is my favorite? =)

So what have we been up to that I hope to eventually blog about. We are full on enjoying the shit out of summer. Winter was long, spring (which felt winterish) was even longer. Why can’t summer follow suit and be even longer? Instead it is quickly coming to an end, and I’m so very trying to live in the moment and not let the thoughts of cold ruin my summer high. After a really rough stretch when Jeff went back to work and I just couldn’t get my crap together things have really turned around and are really good here. The kids are pretty much awesome, and so incredibly fun (and funny). We took a trip to Hood River to ride Thomas the Train, which I’m sure as can guess was the highlight of Heaten’s month!

We took another trip to Hood River to see my two very best friends from when we were 12. Thanks to my awesomesauce friend Sonja we now have a baby sitter so I’m getting to do more yoga and thanks to my other friend Marci I’ve also started trail riding. I’ve had my mountain bike for seriously like 20 years and never rode it. Maybe one time in Vegas and a handful on the roads here, but never on an actual mountain trail. Turns out I love it and am so sad that I found yoga and biking so late in life. I am also able to run again (whooooo), although my ankle still hurts when I run for too long. I’m hoping the more I run the stronger it will get and eventually not hurt. Thoughts?

My garden is doing awesome and I’m seriously so surprised. I’m having more fun doing the growing than the actual eating. Well, not really, but seriously the zucchini just won’t stop. Once I learned how to sex it up it is just growing and growing and omg, I’m so sick of eating zucchini. The cucumbers are delish, the broccoli was so fresh and yummy. Pea pods yummo. The lettuce was a little too green and soft for my taste. I like a crisp romaine and this was soft butter lettuce, but still yummy. Still waiting on the carrots, potatoes, strawberries, and celery. I’m doing starts for cauliflower and pumpkin now. One thing I will say is I’m such a city girl. I’m not used to eating fresh garden food. The bugs. Oh my, the bugs, spiders, mites, ear wigs (TONS of these little f’ers), ants, flies, and other grossness.

Work. I’ve been really busy and since I’m so busy enjoying our short summer I keep getting behind and then of course I’m stressed, but overall I think I’m doing a fairly good job with the balance. Preschool is my sanity saver and the twinzies seem to really love it. I’m excited for the actual Pre-K Program to start next month, where they will be with the same teacher each day.

We’ve taken a few trips to the river and the kids have had a blast playing in the water and sand. I can’t wait to actually float it, and by the looks of things I won’t get a chance this summer. My Mom came to visit which was the highlight of Shenzie’s month. She couldn’t get enough of Grandma Jan and had a blast having sleepovers with her every night. My Mom fell in love with Bend, lets hope that means we’ll get lots more visits. =) Unfortunately, I only took one photo of Grandma’s visit (yes, I suck).

So I’m hopeful to get some of our Summer Highlights blogged in more detail with photos, but for now its time to pick the Twinzies up from school and enjoy this fabulous summer day.

February
Dog Blood ¤ David Moody ***
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society ¤ Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows *****
Mr. Peanut ¤ AdamRoss *** ½
Run Like a Mother ¤ Dimity McDowell ***** nonfiction
Indulgence in Death ¤ J.D. Robb ***
Cross Fire ¤ James Patterson ** ½

March
Little Bee ¤ Chris Cleave ****
Kapitoil ¤ Teddy Wayne ***** bc
The Invisible Bridge ¤ Julie Orringer **** ½

April
Room ¤ Emma Donoghue *****
The Night Season ¤ Chelsea Cain ****
Desert Places ¤ Blake Crouch *** 1/2
The Forgotten Garden ¤ Kate Morton ****
Vows, Vendettas & a Little Black Dress¤ Kyra Davis *** 1/2

May
Live to Tell ¤ Lisa Gardner ****
Last Night at Chateau Marmont¤ Lauren Weisberger *** 1/2
The Wedding Girl ¤ Madeleine Wickham ***
Live Wire ¤ Harlan Coben ****

June
Moonlight Mile ¤ Dennis Lehane *****
Mucho Mojo ¤ Joe R. Lansdale ****
Fear and Yoga in New Jersey ¤ Debra Galant ***
Your Five Year Old ¤ Louise Bates Ames PH.D& Frances L Ilg M.D ****

A little late getting this up….its been a crazy summer! I read a lot of great books so far this year, 5 stars are bold, but there are a lot of 4.5 and 4 stars worth reading.

The other day while playing with Shenzie in the yard I snagged this beauty.

I realized she is wearing the same shirt as in the photo below (taken June 2010). A year later and even more beautiful if I do say so myself. =)

I loved the set I took last year so much I decided to do a wall display with them.

These are 16×24 mounted prints hanging in my dining room. Oh how I love big smiling faces displayed on big prints. =)