January: We rang in 2016 in our new house, just the two of us as we were getting over a stomach flu and were on the mend. We had friends over to our house to watch the Ducks play in a bowl game on January 2nd and unfortunately blow a huge lead and lose. The next day on January 3rd we got several inches of snow at our house and went sledding with friends. We watched the Seahawks over perform in the play offs to eventually lose. We converted Olivia’s crib to a toddler bed by taking off of the rail. Olivia continued to do gymnastics with parent participation and loved it. My parents came up and went to Brandon’s school’s Grandparents day with him, which was special for Brandon. Brandon began doing swim lessons and had a blast. The last day in January we went with good friends up to Government Camp to go sledding and had a blast. It was the kids first time really experiencing a lot of snow and sledding.
February: Brandon and I made some fun dinosaur homemade Valentine’s Day cards for his teachers. We discovered Elephant and Piggy books and had a blast reading them. We had a fun super bowl party at our house and our house ended up being filled with kids! Valentine’s Day was on a Sunday so it was celebrated the Friday before at school. We went to Brandon’s school Valentine’s Day brunch and I got some cute pictures of the kids in their Valentine’s Day gear before school. I also got to go to Olivia’s Valentine’s Day exchange at her school. Brandon continued to have fun at swim lessons. Cupid came on Valentine’s Day and left he kids some fun loot. Sean made me a yummy steak Valentine’s Day dinner. I went out to the Oregon coast for a day for work and we celebrated Valentine’s Day dinner a few days later kidless while my mom watched the kids at Urban Fondue. I got super sick with strep throat that turned into a severe throat infection and missed a week of work and had to have a CAT scan of my throat. It was unfortunately a bad way to end the month and little did I know that my illness would plague me for months to come.
March: We welcomed baby Jasper, my sister Rachel’s first baby, on March 1st. This was a great way to start off the month! We wore green a lot this month to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. The weather improved and we went to the park a few times. We went to Safari Sam’s and got our hair cut. I continued to recuperate from my illness, including noticing that my right shoulder and arm had lost a lot of range of motion. We had a fun family trip to Lincoln City in the middle of March for three nights and met up with my parents and Pumpkin for the day. We also went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium the first time which the kids loved. We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day by dressing up for school that day. Brandon continued to take swim lessons and had fun doing so. Olivia continued her gymnastics. We celebrated an early Easter this year with Grammy and Papa and then my mom and sister Tory came up for breakfast. We also had a lot of fun going to Olivia's school's Easter egg hunt.
April: Little League T-ball started the first week of April and Brandon had fun going to games and practice. Olivia continued to have fun doing gymnastics and getting ready for her Mini Olympics performance in June. We took the kids to the Tulip Festival and while it was crowded, it was a fun day. I planted a bunch of various plants, flowers, and vegetables all throughout our backyard and in our new cedar planter. I took the kids to the zoo on a very warm day in April where we got to wear shorts and a tee-shirt. It was so warm the kids enjoyed playing in the sprinklers in our backyard afterward. We borrowed our neighbor’s rototiller and built a garden bed in our backyard. We added mulch throughout under our tree area. It took over 50 bags! I planted several roses and other plants around the front and side of our house. We enjoyed more sunny weather and went to the park and ate outside. My niece Sofia (my sister in law's Dawn's baby) was born at the end of the month.
May: We went down to Corvallis and celebrated my 35th birthday early. It was beautiful weather and the kids had a blast riding scooters and playing with Pumpkin. Brandon's school had a very cute Mother's day dinner that I got to go. We enjoyed more good weather and went to the zoo after school. We met Sean up for dinner at Old Market Pub and celebrated my birthday early with the family in the warm sunshine outside. We celebrated Brandon's best friend Logan's 6th birthday at Safari Sam's and had a blast. Sean made me a yummy breakfast omelet for Mother's day and I got to go out and have a pedicure, have a drink, and go shopping with Brooke. On my birthday, my roses began to bloom and I got two cases of flowers from Sean and from Brandon. I got to go to California for 4 days and see my newest nephew Jasper and my two sisters. We had a blast in California with nice weather, wine tasting, and BBQing outside. Brandon continued to have T-ball games and practice and had a lot of fun. We enjoyed tons of nice weather and continued going to the park often. At the end of the month for Memorial Day weekend we went up to Seattle to see Dawn's family and her new house and her newest addition Sofia. We had a blast hanging out with the cousins and going swimming and enjoying their fire pit. We also saw my Uncle Carl on our way back home and saw some of Lake Washington.
June: We all watched Brandon graduate from preschool. Such a proud moment and so cute in his cap and gown. We watched my flowers in my garden continue to grow and found a few raspberries growing. Brandon continued to enjoy t-ball and it drew to an end in the middle of the month. We continued to enjoy hot, dry, and nice weather. We set up our backyard for hot weather with our pool. We enjoyed our new fire pit on our backyard patio. We did some naked neon pool night swimming even. We got our the slip n slide and had a blast with that. The strawberries began to bloom. We had Olivia's mini Olympics and Grammy and Papa came to that. Olivia had a blast performing to the crowd. I took a Friday off for Father's day weekend in June and we went to the Strawberry festival and then headed down to Eugene for the weekend. We went to a fun nearby farm and then went wine tasting with Grammy while the boys went fishing for Father's day. Brandon had a fun crazy clothes day at school. At the end of the month we celebrated Olivia's third birthday early and had a bunch of her friends over for a fun outdoor pool party. Olivia had a fun My Little Pony themed birthday party and I have to admit I went a little crazy on Pinterest planning it. We went to Brandon's good friend Gavin's birthday party the next day and had a blast. Brandon continued to have fun field trips throughout most of June with his most favorite being the Build a Bear Field trip that his class went on.
July: The first weekend of July during the long holiday weekend we headed down to Corvallis for a quick trip to see my parents and Pumpkin. We enjoyed warm weather and went to the park and went swimming at the outdoor Otter Beach pool that the kids love. Brandon had been taking swim lessons so it was nice to see how he improved. I went running in the trial and took my favorite running companion, Pumpkin. We had a fun 4th of July celebration at our house with close friends and some yummy pulled pork. We had a lot of really nice firecrackers. Olivia got to start dance class at school now that she was 3. We had a fun day celebrating Olivia's real birthday which was on a Wednesday. Some of the highlights of Olivia's presents this year was a Princess bike, several My Little Pony sets, and an Elsa and Anna set. Brandon continued to get to go on fun field trips. Brandon lost his first tooth on July 8th and got to see his good friend Andrew that he has been friends with since he was 2 from Rocking Horse. We headed off to Sun River for a fun and sun filled week and had a blast as always swimming at the SHARC pool, hot tubing at our house, bike riding, exploring the village, and hiking. One of our highlights of the trip was hiking up to Lava Cast Forest. We got back and then the next weekend we headed to Lincoln City to celebrate our 10 year anniversary for two nights. My parents graciously watched the kids and we got to go shopping, go out to eat, and did an awesome hike up the Cascade Head at Hart's Cove. On our actual anniversary we celebrated by going out to frozen yogurt with the kids and doing a happy hour at Ancestry brewing. We ended the month by going to Olivia's good friend Addie's 3rd birthday party at Wilsonville Memorial Park and visiting Sean's Grandma who was about to have surgery.
August: After X-rays, an MRI, and a visit to the neurologist it was determined that I had a nerve injury to due to my severe throat infection to my right shoulder/neck area and had to have physical therapy. I started physical therapy that month going twice a week. My mom and I snuck off to the Street of Dreams in West Linn. Brandon got to go on more fun field trips with his school. Sean's sisters' family came to visit us and we had a blast playing outside with the cousins. We loved getting to see more of baby Sofia. We headed to Enchanted Forest for a fun day and went on a Thursday so there were less crowds and ran into the Mowery family. We went to the kids' first minor league baseball game and saw the Hillsboro Hops play on a very hot 100 degree day with my Dad and my Uncle Carl. We headed to Lincoln City for 3 nights and stayed at a beach house with Sean's parents. The kids had a blast playing on the beach and searching for special rocks. We ended the trip with a fun hike to Drift Creek Falls which ended up being a 3 mile hike for the kids.
September: Labor day weekend we headed to Memaloose State Park for camping with the Mowery family for two nights. The kids loved being so close to one another and being able to sleep near each other. The weather was sunny but a bit chilly at night. We had fun going to a nearby Apple orchard and Tory and Tom came and visited us at our campsite. We did a quick trip down to Corvallis before school started to see CiCi and Baba and enjoyed a hike to Peavy Aborteum. We also enjoyed playing at the park. Then Brandon started kindergarten and Olivia started Jr. Kindergarten. I had to have toe surgery shortly after and had to be off my feet for several weeks. Olivia started gymnastics (the 3 year old class at Westside Gymnastics without parents) and Brandon started Tigard Southside soccer. Brandon lost his two front teeth and became known as the "toothless wonder." We cheered on the Oregon Ducks football team and had several fire pits out in our backyard. The end of September we went to the kids' friend Piper's birthday party.
October: The kids had fun drawing a card for Sean's Grandma's birthday and making a cake. We went to numerous soccer practices at Alberta Rider. Brandon got to meet baby Jasper for the first time. Olivia continued to do gymnastics. I went with Olivia's class to the Lee Family Farm Pumpkin patch and also went to Brandon's kindergarten field trip to Baggenstos Family farm. Olivia's school had their school pictures taken and we got Olivia a big girl bed and set. After a wet and rainy October, we were able to sneak off to Lee Family farms with the Mowery family one somewhat dry weekend while Sean and his Dad were building shelving in our garage. Brooke and I took the girls to Disney on Ice and they had a blast. I voted, which was very important this year. We had a very fun Halloween party and carved pumpkins and decorated cookies. We celebrated Halloween on a Monday and went Trick-or-Treating with the Mowery family and had a blast in our new neighborhood. Olivia went as Rapunzel and Brandon as Kylo Wren from the new Star Wars movie. I got to go to both kids' classroom Halloween Parties and had a blast.
November: Olivia started swim lessons for the first time ever by herself and loved it. We had a fun family photo shoot with Brandon's old teacher from Horizon Tiffany in Aurora. The kids did great and we got some awesome photos. I took off Veteran's day and spent the day with the kids going out to breakfast and then going to OMSI and doing a fun play date with the Mowery family. We really liked the space exhibit at OMSI. The tooth fairy came and left Brandon an awesome note and a Mega Charezard pokemon for doing such an awesome job quitting sucking his thumb. Olivia and Brandon continued doing swim lessons and enjoying them. We watched in awe as our favorite Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump and I literally felt sick to my stomach for days after the election from being so upset. We went down to Corvallis for Thanksgiving and had a blast spending time with everyone. Olivia got to try a fun tap/jazz/tumble class. At the end of the month we geared up for Christmas and got all of our Christmas decorations out.
December: Brandon turned 6 on a Friday and we celebrated by going out to dinner at Red Robin and by Brandon getting to open up his birthday presents. Some of the highlights of his presents this year were Pokemon cards, Pokemon bed set, a Pokemon piggy bank, and a Star Wars lego set. Brandon had his birthday party at Safari Sam's the next day on December 3rd. We went to see Santa at Sleighbells in Sherwood and then went and cut our Christmas tree at a local Christmas tree farm right near our house. It snowed for the first time on December 5th and then again on December 8th and school got cancelled. We made gingerbread cookies and decorated them. We went to baby Luke's 1st birthday party and then two of Brandon's good friends' birthdays John and Andrew. Olivia and I had a fun time going to downtown Macy's Santaland and seeing Santa. It snowed again on December 14th and 15th and school was cancelled for the rest of the week. We headed to Sun River for a fun trip for four nights on December 16th. Sean celebrated his birthday in Sun River and we had a blast inner tubing and hot tubing and eating good food. We went down to Corvallis for a quick visit to see my parents before Christmas afterwards and then hosted Christmas with Sean's family at our house. It was really fun having Christmas in our new house. The kids had an awesome Christmas. I finally finished my physical therapy treatment for my nerve injury. We had a low key New Year's Eve surrounded by good friends and family.
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