HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BIG SISTER BECKY

I suck cause I'm not wear I can post any good pictures of you or us together that being said.

All the wonderful things about Becky.

You set the bar so high with Mom and Dad as the perfect child, thy didnt expect us to reach your loftiness.

You never made this little kid feel left out.

You didn't pommel me for eating your and D's pizza that time and I know you must have wanted to.

The things you do with your kids makes me want to do cooler thing with my kids.

Vegas. You live in one of the coolest places in the world and if not for you I don't think I would have ever gone there.

Having the ability to get Jeff's perspective as a first child from an other first child has helped on more than one occasion and I completely appreciate that.

Your kids. I love them all with all my heart and am so happy that they are part of my family. I am just so lucky to get to watch them grow even if it is from a far.

You never treated me badly for making stupid life choices. It was more like a "Its your life whatever." and that was just what I needed.

Thanks for taking care of us for mom when we were little. I know it wasn't easy watching all us stinky little monsters. Especially me with my no underwear wearing, boy friend lap sitting, stupid made up song singing and of course the bologna spazzing

AND

Thank you for being my one true north. For as weird as I can be I know you new what I meant that day and I mean it still. You are a wonderful example and a wonderful person and I am lucky to have you as a sister and a friend.

Ambers Last Car Ride

For those of you that may not understand why I would post such a thing this is my outlet and I'm not going to be sleeping tonight anyway!

Today was the day we were going to be going on our summer vacation and we were getting ready the same way we always do.......I should have known that something was wrong when I wasn't fighting with Jeff every time something made us a little later but anyway. We got up and every thing was fine, Amber was her normal self drinking gallons of water and all that. Then just as we had the kids in the car a Jeff went to put the girls in so we could go that's when I heard him yell. "Amber.....Amber........ Amber get over here......... Amber where are you................

LEANNA LEANNA COME QUICK LEANNA"
She was hardly breathing and her tongue was hanging out. We rushed her to the emergency clinic and they did a good job at getting her stable, but while she was there they found a lot of other problems with her internally. So we took her to the big clinic in Portland.
The whole way to Portland I was in the slow lane driving no faster than 55. I just knew that that was going to be our last car ride together and I was so happy that she was on the seat right next to me. When we got there they did an ultrasound and more tests and still nothing good. I now had to make that hard decision that every pet owner dreads.
At the Dove Lewis animal hospital they have a wonderful room with a nice couch and a soft rug where we were able to say good bye to our sweet sweet Amber.
Jeff isn't ever what you would call a cryer but losing Amber was hard on him to. She was such a big part of out live together both past and present. She was our first pet together and one of Jackson and Ainsley's best friends.
My wonderful sister Jenny helped me by reminding me that she was fine this morning and we would never have to see her old and suffering like the dogs we had growing up.

And There She Goes.

I was in Hillsboro yesterday to have lunch with my Mom, Grandma and Jenny when Mom let us know that a crew had started demolishing our elementary school. So I drove past to get a look and take some pictures.





.













Today I went to the zoo with Amy's family today and went home through Hillsboro. Thay have almost all of the wing in the pictures gone now and the covered area is gone now too.

What Leanna Means

*(So fun and funny Jenny!)
What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow.
You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily.
Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is.

You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.
You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.
At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.
You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.
You have the classic "Type A" personality.

You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people.
You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts.
You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

What A Crazy Weekend

I'm not a Senior in High School or a Senior Citizen

Just somewhere in the middle.

Jenny has some kids here in Salem that she is doing senior pictures for next weekend so she came down to look for locations on Friday and used me as a stand in, test subject, model whatever.
I myself did not have what you would call good senior pictures so I was more than happy to lay my baby on the ground and yell at my big kids, threw my smile to stop running in to the street and get my I'm not a senior pictures taken.

Jeff says these look like the senior pictures of some girl that got knocked up in her senior year. I don't know whether to be flattered or offended.
Jennifer Lynn Photography
http://www.jenniferlynnphotography.blogspot.com/

The Kids Had Some Fun Too.

Jenny's baby Ashlynn

My big boy Jackson

My little princes Ainsley

and my sweet angel Emery

See it wasn't all Mommy and Aunt Jenny yelling at the kids. They did some funny stuff too.

The Saturday morning Dance Party

It's funny the thing you'll do to not have to get out of bed on a Saturday morning.

We cleaned the garage

For the first time since we moved in to our house a year and a half ago we have too cars in our fore car garage .

It took all day Saturday and only two trips to the dump. ( One was recycling.) But we are now on our way to looking a lot less like the slobs that all our neighbors have grown to love.

Returned to the wild
After five months of waiting the taddypoles have gone back to the wild.

We took them right back to the spot that we had caught them at in February.

I cried
Sunday for the first time I left Ainsley in the Nursery at church. I have always known that this day was way over do but I'm such a wimp that I haven't been able to just let her cry. So I left her with Tiena and Ainsley cried, screamed, kicked and hit that wonderful women for almost the whole two hour's.
I can't even express how much I appreciate her for that and how hard it was.

Good Advice

I got the best advice from a mom that probably doesn't even know that I'm reading her blog. My friend Michael's Wife has a blog and I check it out every now and then.
He is in the military and currently overseas and his wife, (my new hero) She is here with their four year old boy and their twins that are less than a year old..
I'm happy the days that my new baby lets me shower. I can't imagine two of them and Jackson at four, with no Jeff to help me every night after work. She is amazing.
So, she was blogging the other day about how she had just gotten their little boy an electric toothbrush and how great it was that he was loving to brush now and his teeth were so clean.
I thought that this was a wonderful idea and went to get some for my kids. Aside from the constant wanting to brush now it is wonderfull. My kids' teeth are shiny shiny shiny.
Jackson's are still that weird color, but that has nothing to do with brushing.

American Pie