Is it time for school already?

I just finished a really long post, clicked post and everything went blank, i'm starting from scratch...so you are getting the condensed verion.

Wow, it's been a long time since i've posted anything. Summer has just flown by. Since I last posted we have been able to do some fun things. We took a trip to the zoo and enchanted forest. Picked lots of berries, swimming, etc, We played a mean game of rook with our friends the Parmenters and finally went up to Spokane for the Harvey Family reunion. We stayed at this great campground called Bear paw campground. Each family had there own little cabin. It was perfect, we were right by the river and had a pool, tennis course, volleyball, horseshoes, Koob, basketball...it was just the perfect place for a family reunion. After the reunion Brent flew home, Jacob went home with his cousins to Yakima, we kept our cousin Alysee, and we hung out in Spokane for 4 days. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins and I had a great time hanging out with the girls. On our way to Yakima to pick up Jacob we stopped at one of the greatest waterparks in Moses lake. (of course No pictures to document this) I was so thanksful that my SIL Blayre came along to help with the four kiddos. We had a fabulous time. If you are ever near Moses Lake it's an amazing waterpark. It's just in the middle of nowhere. I was really proud of Malia, she was brave enough to go off the high dive. Of course there was an ice cream bribe involved. That night we stayed in Yakima. While we were there my SIL took these pics of the kids.






Overall it was a great trip. The week after we got home Brent left for his annual's "All brothers hike." (that's another post in itself) While he was gone I kept myself busy doing some redecorating. And as requested here's some pics.

The after pic: I found this great bed at a garage sale. It was a steal! I painted the nightstands, replaced the curtains and painted the walls "pebble grey." I love how it turned out. Claire's room, my SIL took these pictures of Claire. Did some digital scrapbooking magic to them and had them sent to Costco for me to pick up. Thanks Sara. She did all the work and i get to enjoy them. Just how I like it. :)

Our big project was putting in these new french doors. Before the space was a large dining room/living room area. We hardly ever used the dining room, it was just wasted space. So we decided to turn it into our office.

I did a lot of new vinyl projects. This is one that I think turned out well. It's so fun to be able to change my decor with the vinyl.

We are all ready for school to start. Still another week and a half. I'll have three in school this year, i'm so looking forward to that!

Summer fun

Summer is flying by, I can't believe it's almost August. We've been keeping busy. I'm horrible about remembering to take pictures, but here's a few i've gotten. We went to the beach a few weeks ago with some people from church. It was overcast, but not windy, that's all you can ask for at the Oregon coast.
At the beach we were at there is a huge sand dune that people like to climb up and then run down. It's pretty step (and high). I had to capture Malia doing what she does best, being dramatic. She literally crawled up the hill because it was "too hard" (insert really whiney voice) to walk. Of course she was thrilled once she reached the top. I love this picture. The kids chilling on the trampoline with their cousins. Malia was so sad for these guys to head back to California.

For the 4th of July we had a barbeque and had some friends over. It was a great night. The weather was perfect and we had great food. I had to get a picture of our friend Marty using his blowtorch to light the kids' fireworks. (So Marty-like)

Luckily our friends brought a few exciting fireworks (aka: illegal) so we had a little more variety to our fireworks display.

The rest of our summer has been filled with swimming lessons, tennis lessons, bike rides, and trips to the park. Nothing too exciting. We are looking forward to a fun family reunion in Washington in August. The kids and I are staying an extra week while Brent will return to work.

Sunriver!

We just returned from our annual trip to Sunriver. I think it was one of our best trips. The weather was perfect! The week flew by and I was left wishing we could stay just a few more days.
While we where their we celebrated Coles 5th birthday. What could be better than spending your birthday surrounded by family...and having a bakugan cake. This is my attempt at a bakugan cake, Cole loved it.

Cole got a new remote control monster truck, it's super fast. So fast that Cole can't really control it, so Brent has to drive it...hhmmm???..was that present really for Cole??

Cole is my mellow boy. Rarely does he have temper tantrums. He's completely happy playing playing by himself. He loves cars and legos. He is so affectionate and is always the first to give me hugs and kisses if he see's that i'm sad. I love that about him. He's also our daredevil and bets are on the table that he will be the first kid in the family with a broken bone. He also loves cheese. I know that's a random fact, but I say that because for his birthday he asked for a block of cheese. There were MANY things on his list and the block of cheese didn't make it to the gift table. A few days after his party he said sadly, "mommy you didn't get me my cheese." So sad, maybe for Christmas.
Back to our trip:

We spent time at the park playing baseball

Going for bike rides

swimming...lots of swimming!

Claire is our water baby and threw a fit everytime we told her it was time

to leave the pool. And wow, can she throw a tantrum!

Family hike to Benham falls. Malia was unseperable from her cousins. I think I saw her once or twice this whole trip.

It was a fabulous trip, already looking forward to next year!

tball and softball

Well we made it through softball season. This is the first time that i've had two kids in a sport at a time, i've always had a "one at a time" rule. I have a whole new respect for my mom, who had 6 kids involved in multiple different sports. And i'm just beginning. This was Malia's first year playing. I was impressed with how much she improved. She didn't have a super passionate coach (saying that nicely) but I think she had fun anyway. Jacob loved tball, it was fun to see how much better he was this year compared to last. You could tell he was one of the older kids. He loves everything about baseball and had a great year. Next year I may have 3 playing, Yikes!

The other day Jacob had a friend over to play. After they had been playing for awhile the boys asks "Hey Jacob, do you have a playstation?" Jacob, having no idea what a playstation is, replies, "yeah, my ROOM is my playstation." I had a good laugh over that!

Much ado about nothing

Today was just one of those days again. We decided it was time to take away Claire's pacifier. She usually spends half of her day whining for me to find her paci. Last night/morning she woke up at 5:30 demanding her paci. I stumbled into her room and looked EVERYWHERE, under her mattress, her pillow, pulled the bed out from the wall and looked there..I never did find it. I had to go downstairs and search for one. Not something I wanted to be doing at 5:30am. That's when I decided it was time to banish the paci....forever! So you may want to stay away from the Ditto household for a few days, as there will be a lot of whining, screaming and crying going on. (and not just Claire) I was also frustrated with the boys today. Cole who is my mellow one, threw a tantrum at a friends house and tried to hit me. Then at Malia's softball game tonight they decided to pull their pants down and try to get pee on each other. Luckily I didn't witness this...and I hope they managed to be far away from people. But I was SOOO mad. I'm sure in 20 years i'll laugh at their 4 and 6 year old antics. But today it was not funny. I sent them to bed without dinner. I think most of my frustration is just me feeling blah...I haven't exercised in over a week, because I pulled something in my foot during the marathon and it was hurting pretty bad. But it's slowly been getting better, So tonight I went to the gym and had a good workout. It's amazing what a good workout can do for a grouchy mom!
The one highlight of the day was a discover the boys made in the back yard. Malia built a birdhouse at school last year. It's sitting on our table in the backyard. Today the boys lifted up the opening in the side of the birdhouse and a bird flew out, it had built a nest inside and there are 6 little red and white eggs inside. It was pretty cool and Jacob declared today "The best day of his whole life" ( until he was banished to his room without dinner)

Marathon weekend

Well my big day has come and gone and I'm still alive. Friday night the kids and I headed over to Depoe Bay where we were renting a house with 5 other runners and their families. It was a great house with 8 rooms, so there was plenty of room for everyone. Brent came over after work. Saturday morning came early, we had to be out of the house by 6:15. We were all a little anxious. This pic is taken right before we left:
Natalie and I started the race doing about a 10 minute mile. We stayed together until about mile 15 before we split up. I felt really good until about mile 19, then I could feel myself losing steam. But I kept running. About mile 22 I was getting really tired and started to run/walk. My goal was to finish in 5 hours and I finished in 5 hours 12 minutes. The last mile I was so tired that I was feeling super emotional, I had a hard time not crying as I crossed the finish line. Here's a link to my "finish line" pictures. (hopefully the link works) Overall it was such a rewarding experience. I'm so glad I did it, and might even consider doing another one...gotta beat that 5 hour mark!
http://aep.exposuremanager.com/g/nm09_55&gallery_page=&gallery_all=&view=1&photo_page=3
This is a pic of what happens when you decide to wear a different sports bra on race day, then the one you'd been wearing while training. As my friend Linae said "Deena, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!" Lesson learned.
After the race we went to get Burgers and Milkshakes. For once I felt like I could chow and not feel guilty! That afternoon we went to the beach for a while, but being Oregon, it was cold and windy. So here I am trying to comfort two little girls who were ready to go home.

Malia and Jacob didn't seem to mind the cold!

It was such a fun weekend, spent with great friends. Thanks to everyone who called and emailed to wish me luck, and to my mom and Dad and Sister Kelly for coming to the coast to cheer me on. It meant a lot to me!