Magic

Brian felt the baby move for the first time tonight.

That moment.

Just he + I + the little life we created.

Magic.

A Little Bit of Everything

THIS JUST HAPPENED!

My sis + I are in a picture together {without children} for the first time in forever.

This pic was taken on the way out of Disneyland day #2.  

We were tired.

Our feet were sore.

I'm sure we were hungry.

We were feeling tremendously blessed.

It's still my dream that one day we will be next door neighbors.  

I want to take boot camp classes with her, carpool with the turds, 

come over for last-minute dinners, 

take in a concert or game with her + Rus, 

walk into her kitchen and know where everything is...

the list is endless.

In the meantime, I'm happy for fabulous times like these. 

In other notes of randomness--

We have been having so much fun cheering for our local teams with the twins.  

This was last Thursday for the Seahawks game. 

 It ain't easy being a fan of a Seattle team.

Not in the least.

We figure it's better that they learn that lesson while their young.

Last week Brian told us all to get in the car after dinner.  

We were going out for ice cream!

Can I be honest???  (Don't hate me!)

Ice cream isn't really my thing.  

I could go a very long time without the urge to eat it.

BUT the other 3 Swishers, who are NORMAL, love it.

And so sometimes, Brian declares it ice cream night.  

For no reason at all.

And  of course I have some too.

Because I want to be a part of this fun tradition Brian has created for our family.

The kids obviously just hate eating ice cream.  

Tonight after swimming class, the kids wanted both mom + dad to play in the pool for a bit with them.  Even though Brian + I had really long days, 

and the cold YMCA water wasn't something we were extremely excited about, 

we did it.

And we had the very best time.

And after we showered and all put our sweats on, we went out for pizza.

Sometimes simple nights like these make me happier than you can imagine.

My sis sent this pic to me from our trip.   

 The L's still nap, {THANK GOD!}, and so after lunch on these days they were a little sleepy.  

On this day we were waiting in line and sissy asked me to hold her.  

Within 60 seconds she was asleep.  

For about a 30 or 40 minutes I was able to hold my sweet little thing in my arms
just like I used to when she was a baby.  

And even though I was sweaty, and it hurt my back and my biceps were sore for 2 days,
I would do it again every time.
I sure do love my Lila Pearl.

This guy. 

I can't get enough.  

And his eyes--

...I love how in pictures I see my own.

It's weird really, but there is something kinda special about seeing a feature of your own on your child.

I used to kinda hate my puffy eyes in the pictures of me as a child.

But on my boy, I melt for them.  

It makes me love those puffy eyes now.

 And this guy--

I love him so.

Even if he thinks pictures like this are ever so funny.  

The weather guy just said we are having a warming trend in the next few days.  

It might warm up to the mid-50's.

Might.

Ready or not Karla, the next 8-9 months are gonna be rough.

Rough and wet.

Pumpkins

We made our annual patch outing with the cousins this past weekend.  

I'm not quite sure when all the turds became so big. 

 Trent will look me in the eye before I know it, Landon and I are pretty much in the same weight class, the twins can carry their own pumpkins 

and Carleigh's thighs have doubled since I last saw her.

Oh, TIME, you are such a son-of-a-gun.

My world.

Captured in one little posed picture at a pumpkin farm.

Oh yes, we did the hay ride.  

Brian's smile just seems to say, 'I'm living!' right there, doesn't it?!

First year doing the corn maze.  

And man, was I thankful to not have to do it again for another year.

We are the in-laws.  

(Da, da, daaaaaaa.)

And there is not a baby in the bjorn.  So that's interesting, no?!

And this lovely pic was snapped by Lincoln.

In the corn maze.

That I happily don't have to do for another year.  

(Did I already mention that?)

I love the pumpkin patch.

Even if it is our tradition that we always leave pumpkin-less.

That is what grocery store pumpkins are for!

Baseball

Last night we checked another item off of our summer list and

went to a Tacoma Rainiers game. 

 Can I just say...

It was so much fun!!!

We had heard these games were super-family friendly,  

and indeed it was.

Check out Lincoln + Lila running the bases after the game.

And the weather was perfect.  

It was a steamy summer night watching our local AAA team.

Lincoln was very brave.

They had some baseball treats + 2 giant lemonades.  

We went to the bathroom 8 times.  

No lie.

There might have been a snow cone involved as well.

The twins sat through 9 full innings.  

We were so very proud.

We will definitely be seeing more games in the very (near) future.

Summer...so far!

Summer is exhausting.  And ever-so-fun.

Summer is so short here in the NW that we seem to jam-pack everything into a very small amount of time. 

Here are way too manysome pics from my iPhone.  After going through these, I now understand why I feel so spent.  

Summer is...

...portrait-taking...

...collar popping...

...train riding...

...parade watching...

...new bark...

...list making...

...lots of reading...

...new big-kid! bikes...

...tide-pooling...

...jam making...

...crashing...

...car washing...

...playing with dad...

...camping...

...the beach...

...sand castles...

..swimming... 

...fire-booms...

...chalk-painting...

...sunglass wearing...

...celebrating 11 years... 

...table making... 

...friends with cool slides...

...ballerina camp...

...superhero toys...

...cousins...

...knee-healing...

...big boys...

....mmmmmmmm...

...california cousins...

...tubs full of dirt...

...air shows...

...spiderman...

...lipstick...

...hitching a ride..

...bunny whispering...

...birthday-ing...

...dance partying...

I mean, we are just barely into August right?!
Bring it!
I just love summer.