Busy Weekends Ahead!

This weekend (Friday specifically) is Trista's birthday. Also Stacy (Darren's sister) is coming to town for the weekend. Friday night the plans aren't set, but Saturday there will be a BBQ with some fun activities to follow! We are so glad that Stacy is coming to celebrate with us. Over the weekend I reviewed with Darren just how busy our weekends for the next 2 and a half months are we have 2 weddings, 1 reception, 4 birthdays (including me and Braeden), A Kolb Family Reunion, A wine tasting day trip, a bachelorette party, hopefully a camping trip and much, much more....it will be so much fun! Poor Darren is working two jobs right now and his weekends are his only free time! At this point he is doing well with it and hopes to continue to work this crazy, hectic schedule for several months. I still have yet to post pictures from my week off with the boys, but I will- maybe tonight! Brooklynd went in for his 18 month check up the Friday before last and he is happy and healthy, I haven't compared his stats with Braeden's yet but it is interesting to see how similar their growth is. I hope everyone is having a fantastic week and enjoying the sunshine! It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood! Take care...tata for now!

Days Home with my boys!!

This week I've had the best time of my life with my babies. I LOVE staying home with them! I seriously called Darren on Monday (my first day home with them) and told him I wanted to be a stay at home mom. I can dream, can't I? It was nice to be able to enjoy them, to not feel rushed all the time and to interact with them almost 100 percent instead of trying to balance getting things done and interacting with them. They were angels 95% of the week :-) We went to a couple of schools in our area and to a park a couple of times during the week. We lost a few things along the way, we lost a cup the first day, a blanket the second and my cell phone the fourth. Luckily the cell phone was returned and I have awesome friends helping me out! Thank you to you all! The boys had a play date with their friend baby Grant (Frant as Braeden calls him) on Thursday and we also ate lunch at the park that day as well as another day! It was the best! I certainly enjoyed it and hope they did as much as I did! This weekend we have a birthday BBQ to attend for Karen...she's turning 29!! WOOHOO! Happy early birthday Carrot! We aren't sure yet who will be watching the boys as it's an adult only BBQ, but we'll figure it out! We hope everyone has a spectacular weekend!

Don't worry I took probably upward of 300 photos over the week home, you know I LOVE pictures. I will post those very soon for you to see!

Photo Editing..LOVE IT!

So I have known about Picasa (a photo editing/storage download from Google), but had yet to use it and let me tell you, I finally downloaded yesterday and I LOVE IT! It does so many awesome things and also organizes your pictures in an easy to use format. I have also been playing with a software called photo impression that came on another CD.

Here are a few examples of what it can do.

The first two are Brooklynd and the last 3 are Braeden. If you can't see them click on them and the image will enlarge.

Rain, rain go away!

It has been raining SO much today and I will be thankful come Saturday when our sunshine is back. The boys love to play outside and them being cooped up is not fun at all for them. We are also thinking of doing a garage sale this weekend (as it's our- mom, Trist and my only available weekend, but we'll see). School is picking up now and I have an 8 page rough draft due in one my classes and a quiz in the other both by Sunday. I do like how my classes are laid out this time though, so the online courses are still working best! I am taking Research Writing and Public Speaking. I recorded my first speech last Sunday and disliked every minute of it, but overall it didn't turn out too bad. Thankfully my family and a friend were very cooperative and came to listen, as I am sure it wasn't all together too exciting for them...Never the less I thoroughly appreciate it! I am still awaiting my grade and hope it reflects my thoughts on it. Darren started a new job last Friday his first through the union...yipee! He has decided to work 2 jobs and was working 7am to 3pm and then 4pm to 9pm but as of today he swapped shifts for jobs so is now working nights for the union shop (sheetmetal) and days with the driving. He works 8am to 3pm and 4pm to 11:30pm - it isn't too bad yet, he is enjoying both jobs. We are looking forward to the weekend start so we all can spend time together. I will be staying home Friday and all of next week due to lack of daycare but am excited for the opportunity to spend ample time with my babies. We hope you are all well.

Take care...
Trina

Weekend Pics!

Brooklynd on our quick road trip to Kingsley Reservoir - near Hood River, Saturday!

Braeden smiling because he got his hair "tut" (cut) - I love how he talks
Smiling again with Brooklynd's sunglasses on and a tootsie roll.

Red...White...& Blue!

I've realized that 4th of July never works out the way we plan, but it always works out and we have good time! Yesterday was no exception. We started off our day by going to breakfast with my Gram Lorenz who turned 89...YIPEE! It was a fun time and afterwards I took Braeden & Darren took Brooklynd and we went shopping...WOOHOO! Brooklynd and Darren played at home and napped together :-) It was a beautiful day and a whopping 90 degrees I believe! Just about noon Braeden & I arrived home and after their lunch and Braedens nap, the boys and I headed outside to play a bit, it was so much fun and I snapped some shots of them playing in their new playhouse while Darren got to do a quick virtual flight on the computer. We had decided to head down to Meldrum Bar Park where we typically do to watch some fireworks about 6:30ish...we waited for Brooklynd to finish his nap, as per our usual we were running a bit late, but we got news from Trista that they were closing Meldrum Bar for the night and sending everybody home because some one got injured last year apparently....so as we were headed there we got the phone call, so instead we went to Oaks Park, but later settled just above Oaks Park at Sellwood Park. We played with the boys, ate and hung out with our family and some friends. When it got dark my dad & Darren set off some standard fireworks for the boys and some other people in the park let off some bigger (probably illegal) ones, which I love, however Braeden was terified, he didn't talk for the rest of the evening so you know he was really scared! He sat on Jason, Trista and my moms lap until the big fireworks began and he moved to mine, where we snuggled until it was over. He was so nervous he was sweating and so hot! Brooklynd loved the fireworks, and was cracking me up. Whenever he gets sleepy he gets so silly he is always happy but does silly things! He was so adorable, he kept laying himself down in the playpen and then standing back up....he was so exhausted by the time the fireworks were over and he fell asleep on the way home. I am sure Braeden will like the fireworks by next year and Brooklynd may be terrified, but all in all it was a fun evening.

Brooklynd drinking Braeden's water

Brooklynd mowing our patio!

Braeden riding his bike

Braeden peeking out of the window of their playhouse!

Braeden working with tools

Braeden attempting to put Brooklynds shoes on!!

Sweet & Silly Boys!

Here are a couple of recent pics, some random ones and a few of the boys when they were playing with hats they found in our bedroom...I just adore these baby boys!

Where did Braeden go?
(Apparently he had an itch!) Brooklynds trying to see the hat while it's on!

My little poser :-) Taking it off....again! Braeden liked the hats very much My sweet baby This was the first one I snapped when I walked in the room :-) It was a second too late as Brooklynd was already taking the hat off! Braeden makes his toys watch him eat! He placed them all around his plate himself! Brooklynd cracking up!

Happy Early 4th of July!!

Hello there! Tomorrow is the 4th of July and we are very much looking forward to a day off with the boys together. Darren is still working nights and we are becoming more accustomed to the schedule. Last weekend we were so busy all weekend I feel like we barely saw each other at all. I will be thankful when he changes jobs. My classes thus far are going really well. Both instructorw lay out in great detail what they are looking for and it is easy to follow, so I am not yet feeling overwhelmed. Tomorrow is my Gram Lorenz's birthday! So we will be taking the boys to visit her or going to breakfast, depending on how she's feeling and then tomorrow night we will head to Meldrum Bar Park for a fireworks show. We have always liked this one & it's close to home too! Sunday was my mom's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! We BBQ'd and had dinner at Trista's, Darren worked a little bit Sunday night so we missed desert, but luckily I got to spend some time that morning with my mom.