Cocia Erin

 I had to post this picture because... really, Kellen is such an easy baby! My children would have never just fallen asleep while playing.

This summer, I've had the opportunity to watch my nephews, Brayden and Kellen.  I absolutely love having them over.  I've gotta get a bigger vehicle though because we are confined to our house unless we wanna walk the 1.7 miles to the local sprayground.  Yep... I've walked it once while pulling three kids in the wagon and holding the fourth ones hand and we all made it home safe after stopping for icecream.  If you are wondering why we've only been there once so far... it's cause there's only been one day warm enough to really play in water.  Oh how I love the PNW.

Moving Up Ceremony

 She did it. Caitlyn completed her first year of preschool.  The year went by super fast and it's amazing how much she has learned... and grown... seriously, they measured her on the first and last day of school and she grew two inches.

 These pictures were taken by my photographer friend, Jaime. She's also the mom of the only other girl in the class, Audrey.

One last picture of Caitlyn with Miss Julie.

Next year, Caitlyn gets to wear the cute cap and gown.

We are so proud of her!

Handsome Haircut

Lately everyone has commented on how Ashley and Ashton are basically twins because of their curly hair. Well, Ashley went and buzzed off all his curls for the summer so...

 guess who else got his curls buzzed?!?!

 Thats' right... my little man!

 His mohawk of curls just killed me.

 uh oh... he must have finished his popsicle.

 seriously... I love love love his curly hair.

The end result.

We moved from popsicles to dum dums.

Since this day we have began growing his curls back out.

Love him... and his curls!

Caitlyn Horiuchi?!?

Watch out, Grant Horiuchi... and all of my other photography friends...

Cause, Caitlyn Leigh has taken an interest in photography

 ...and CLEARLY... she's good.

 She has practically mastered the self timer function on my camera.

She knows just how to make her subjects smile.

We spend many minutes a day posing and listening to the beeps. 

Did I say minutes... I meant hours a day.

Love her!

ugh...

that's how I'm feeling right now.  I want to have time to post more... I'll try to post something soon.  Really I just wanted to do a short post cause I swear I've gained a few pounds just looking at that stupid picture of my lemon bread. 
... to be continued.

Our Latest Goings On

 I've been making A LOT of bread.

The above pic is a batch of my lemon bread.

 We've attended a pirate themed birthday party.

 We've enjoyed the sunshine at the Brown's Point Lighthouse Park.

 We've celebrated May Day by picking flowers from our yard, tying them together with pretty ribbon and delivering them to our neighbors.

 We've gotten Ashton to finally look at the camera and smile for a picture... in the mean time... Caitlyn has clearly gotten tired of having to pose with him.

Ashton and I got to go on a Mommy and Sons date with the Light of Christ Kids group at church.  We had a blast and I enjoyed meeting lots of new moms. 

A few other random things:

We've cut back the blackberry bushes that were growing up and over our back fence and onto our deck.  We've made home made blizzards with a blizzard making machine, left over Easter candy, and left over ice cream from Ashton's birthday.  We've recouped after cutting back the blackberry bushes that were growing up and over our back fence and onto our deck.  I've made two huge batches of split pea soup with my left over Easter ham.  I've potted almost all my pots (I'm still waiting for some purple perilla and lucifer to come out to finish).  We've had at least a hundred discussions about expanding our family... and I think that's it. 

 

On a side note: all of the above listed things are just a few of the fun things we've been up.  I don't want anyone to be confused about the other 'everyday things' that also go on in our lives.

For example:

Caitlyn cries when she wakes up (75% percent of the time).  I mop my kitchen floor almost daily.  Ashton's begun to throw temper tantrums. (He usually spits and then picks up whatever is near and throws it as hard and as far as he can).  It usually takes me 3 days to complete the laundry and by the time I'm finished, it's time to start over again.  We wrestle with bed time routines and where everyone is supposed to sleep.  I've broken out like a teenager.  We've tried saving money, but let's be real... I'm no good at it, which has made for some extremely exciting discussions at the end of the day.  Ashton bites... hard, which has left Caitlyn so bruised I'm surprised her preschool hasn't called CPS.  I oversleep.  We try hard to eat dinner as a family which usually ends with an entire meal and at least one glass of milk on the ground.  And last but not least, if a disaster were to strike, my family will be able to live off the food that's jammed in all the cracks of the back seat of my car and in the cushions of my couch. 

♥ 

These are the goings on of our lives. 

He is Risen.

We never miss out on a family photo op.

(Thanks Ksavera for taking this for us.)

 Easter Sunday was PERFECT.  I don't use that word often... and especially not with two little ones running around... but it really was.  The morning started with service at our new church, which was so much fun, and made me so happy.  Then afterwards, mine and Ashley's family all gathered in our home for Easter dinner. 

Easter has always been a special holiday for my family. My mom would prepare a huge and totally delicious ham and entire feast to compliment it... and well, I took over the holiday a few years ago.  So now I am the one preparing a ham and luckily everyone I invite brings a side dish making the occasion super easy and enjoyable and also allows a little extra time to set my table... which if I don't say so myself looked amazing!

We also had a fun Easter egg hunt for the little ones.

(It stopped raining for a few minutes so we could hunt).

Johnny rode his bike over and my kids couldn't get enough of it... Ashton drug my Uncle John out in the rain numerous times just to have him sit on it.

The day really was perfect!

Ashee Turns Two!

At first we were thinking of having a dinosaur themed party since Ashton's kinda into them... but then all of a sudden I remembered how much he likes 'momo' (or Elmo) so we went with him instead. 

 He is slowly outgrowing the tricycle handed down from Cait,

so he got a new bike for his special day...

which he loved.

 He was showered with presents at his party. 

All of the children helped him open which was totally fun to watch.

 He loved his Elmo cake and licked the figurines clean of frosting.

 After presents and cake were finished,

all the kids went outside to ride bikes around the turn around.

 I love love love this picture...I'm sure he won't some day... but to me it's PERFECT.

Thank God for older sisters.

 After everyone left and naps were taken, we rode our bikes to a nearby Starbucks.

 ... and enjoyed one of my new favorite treats...

birthday cake pops!

 On our way home, I stopped to shoot a picture of what looks like...

a hint of springtime.

Which is hopefully coming soon to Washington. 

 Then we got home and I was dying to try to get a family photo.  So I set up the handy self timer on my camera and shot about twenty pictures... most of them turned out like this...

(for those who don't know- this IS Caitlyn's and Ashton's smiley face)

 ... and one turned out like this.

Happy birthday, Ashton James Douglas Riggs!

I hope all your dreams come true!

Sweet son of ours.

You're 2!

you're too much fun

too lovable

too kissable

too stinkin' handsome

too huggable

too perfect for words

and I can't believe that you're two!

Your special day was celebrated with all your favorite people.

You are so loved!

♥

A Few of My Favorite Things

• watching my Nephew, Kellen
• asparagus
• my new phone
• my ten day vacay
• the fact that I napped EVERY SINGLE one of those days with my children
• my kitchenaid mixer
• oatmeal cookies
• the movie Tangled
• watching Caitlyn and Ashton ride bikes together
• Ashton's new haircut
• our new shower head
• my fleece sheets (I just put them back on)
• morning conversation over a nice cup of joe
• listening to Caitlyn sing her favorite song 'I love me mom, she's me best friend'
• words with friends (seriously... I'm addicted)
• reading
• our new church
• of course there's a ton more but this will do for now.

Stay tuned for an update on my little ones. I LOVE them!

Movies and More

We've really been enjoying the calm of our lives right now.

Ashton and Ash looked so cute cuddled on the floor...

I had to snap a shot.

On the same movie night I snapped a pic of the girls too.

You should've seen the pic right before this...

She was doing her 'Cocia Ksavera Smile'.

I love the self timer on my camera.

 We've had a tiny bit of sunshine these past few days,

which has geared us outdoors and inspired a few backyard projects.

The man and little man in my life really know how to level some blocks.

It was pretty sweet watching the two of them work. 

Everything Daddy did

Ashton had to try too.

 Same goes for Caitlyn. 

Any and everything she does he wants in on. 

Which is especially good cause Caitlyn tells him a few times a day that she is the 'line leader' (something she has learned at school and totally loves). 

Lucky for her, he'll follow her around for hours.

 Thanks to my friend Cody and her chickens, my family has experienced some fresh eggs.  Amazingly tastier than store bought and they have even been served as 'breakfast for dinner' at our house.

My kids think I am the best for bringing these 'Easter Eggs' early and for letting them eat them for dinner.

Well... this was my 300th post... and to be honest, I thought I would have thought of a fancier way to blog about it.  But this is my life... fancy or not... I love it!

Winter Pictures

Since I'm so incredibly ready for Spring... I thought that maybe if I recapped the Winter season in pictures...  just maybe the rain would dry up, the clouds would melt away, and maybe... just maybe... the sun would come out to shine. 

So here's my attempt to put the Winter behind us.

During the Winter....

We enjoyed a little bit of late snow...

Watched a few good football games...

... and a few 'not so good' ones too ;)

We had play dates with cousins

We've played musical beds...

which usually ends up with the kids snuggling eachother in our bed.

We hung out with Ung-King Jon!

I attempted to shoot with a 50mm lens...

Clearly... or... unclearly- I need more practice.

We wrapped up another session of swim lessons...

We witnessed a wonderful baptism...

... and became God Parents.

Ash and I played in a Wii Winter Olympics with my team at work

(This was such a fun night... I'm considering throwing a similar party)

We continued our game of musical beds

(another unclear pic... this one shot by Ashley though)

Caitlyn got a library card and has borrowed and returnd many books and even one movie.

We goofed off...

... and giggled.

I practiced again with my lens... this time while my children were bathing.

We played another round of musical beds...

and celebrated my mom's birthday. 

*A few other things that we did that weren't photographed, but I still feel need mentioning on the blog include:

-multiple playdates & mommy dates

-Ashton caught a pretty strong tummy bug

-I read a ton of really good books

-We visited with out of town guests

-I've been doing jury duty

-We began attending our new church

-We've had some good days and bad

(the bad ones usually came after a night of playing musical beds)

-My tulips and hyacinths began to grow...

I am SO ready for SPRING!