Going Away Party #2

This past weekend we headed to Grandpa and Grandma Gillette's house for another going away party. We wanted the opportunity to see family and friends one more time before heading up to the Pacific Northwest.  All we had to do was mention the idea and Kelley took over and planned the rest!!

Check out those cheeks!

 Auntie M and Haleigh

 Annaliese, Reed, Claire, and Hannah

 Auntie Penny had the special touch...Haleigh appears to be quite comfortable!

 Tracy, Momma Joan, and Grandma Kelley

Debbie and Grandma Didi

It was so fun to see so many people together! There was a good combination of "We are sad to see you leave" combined with "You are going to have so much fun" and "this is such a great adventure!" that Kyle and I feel ready to do this! Plus, Grandma Kelley, Auntie Penny and their group of crazy friends promised to rent a motorhome and come visit! 

4 Months!

Where does the time go? How is it that my little peanut is already 4 months old? I am totally in love with this little girl! And so is her big sister (thank goodness!)

Sleeping: Haleigh goes to bed somewhere between 8 and 9 pm and sleeps through the night, waking between 6:30 and 7:00am. She usually stays awake for about an hour and a half and then goes down for a nap which lasts 1 1/2-2 hrs. The rest of the day is unpredictable, depending on what we have planned for the day and what kind of a mood Annaliese is in:) But in general, I would say we get 2 or 3 more naps in, ranging in length from 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hrs. She has started sleeping on her side, and one day last week I found her flat on her belly with her arms straight out! 

Eating: This girl can eat! She is an efficient nurser, and also takes a bottle without difficulty. Some days it feels like all she does is eat! Nursing definitely goes better when we are at home with minimal distractions, but I am still able to take her places and feed her under the nursing cover. 

Clothes: 3 month onesies are beginning to get a little tight; 3-6 mon stuff fits just right. Except for shoes. She wore an adorable pair of jellies (thank you Melissa!) to church this past Sunday and she received lots of compliments on how cute they were, but her toes kept falling out because her feet aren't quite big enough yet!

Favorite activities: Sucking her thumb, grabbing mom's hair, listening to music, watching Annaliese, riding in the car, the striped soft burp cloth, bathtime, laying on the changing table, Sophie the Giraffe.

Dislikes: the first 20 minutes of a run in the stroller, tummy time, sudden loud noises, being ignored

Going Away Party

Going away parties are rather bittersweet. While it is fun to have all of the people we care about and are friends with come together, there is also the sad realization that some of these people we may not see ever again. I knew the time to say good-bye to people would come, but it seems like we talked about this move to Washington for so long, that it is a bit surreal that that time is here. But it is!

Today was our last Sunday at Harvest Church. This morning we realized how important it is to be at a church where we know people and are known by people; a place where we could be involved; a place where Annaliese loved going to Sunday School. I asked her what her favorite thing about going to church was and after thinking about it for a moment, looked at me and said, "My friends." So precious!

And yesterday was my last day at work. (I'll be honest, I'm pretty excited about that!)

Last weekend we invited friends and family to get together at the pet resort to give us a chance to see people before we head into this new adventure. And honestly, it was so fun to see so many people there!

Third annual Gillette-Feffer-Prentice Camping trip

The original plan had been to camp somewhere near Monterey. But I procrastinated and never made us reservations; then we decided that we were going to move this summer. So instead of camping, we had a sleepover at the Prentice house!

We started off the day with a hike; Annaliese, Josephine, and Holden rode in backpacks with the dads; Ashlie and I carried Elea and Haleigh in frontpacks. We hiked the Johnson Ranch trail in SLO and the oldest girls were even able to hike a bit themselves! It was pretty cute because Annaliese would yell out "hi Mommy" and Josephine would then do the same. Then you would hear them talking and then it was "My mommy is Ashlie." followed by "My mommy's name is Kari" or something similar! (Sorry...I guess we didn't take any pictures of the hike!)

 Annaliese, Haleigh, Josephine, Elea, Holden

After hiking, we headed back to Russ and Jenn's house to regroup, clean up a bit, catch up on the World Cup and eat some lunch. We then packed everyone up and headed to the beach in Avila. Unfortunately, it was very windy and not much fun. Needless to say, we didn't stay there for too long.

 Annaliese loved the water!

 Holden

the Feffer Family

We returned to Russ and Jenn's where we stayed for the remainder of our time together. Jenn prepared a delicious dinner that we enjoyed outside on the patio. There was an adult table and a kids table...pretty cute! After putting the kiddos to bed, we started a fire, enjoyed tasty cocktails, some beer (El Fin de Monde) and smores (after all, we were supposed to be camping!) It was so nice to be able to stay up late, talking and reminiscing, while the kids slept! At least most of the kids:) Haleigh was up with us for quite awhile. And as soon as she went to bed, Elea woke up:)

Sunday morning it was quite evident that we had skipped naps the day before! Everyone was a bit tired, but overall the kids still played well together. We enjoyed a breakfast of bacon and eggs, followed by more playtime outside. We left just after 10:30 to prepare for the rest of the days events.

 Haleigh...keeping an eye on the World Cup scores...and staying out of our way while breakfast was being prepared:)

Russ has this jeep that the kids loved! It runs on a battery, has a real radio, and the kids were able to drive it because it didn't go super fast on the grass! They did need a little guidance with the steering and the occasional reminder to watch where they were going...

While I was sad that we wouldn't actually be able to camp this year, this was a good substitute! It was much cleaner, doing dishes was easier, and the sleeping arrangements were quite comfortable! 

Half Marathon Training in progress

Kelsey asked me if I would be interested in running the Bellingham Half Marathon at the end of September. I said yes, eager for something to motivate me to get out the door and running on a regular basis. I underestimated how much work it is to get two little munchkins out the door for a run!

I have a fabulous running stroller that I absolutely love (thank you Grandma Kelley!) but convincing Annaliese that sitting in the stroller for any amount of time usually requires a bit of bargaining. I found a great 4 mile trail nearby that starts and ends at a park with a great playground...she also likes to go to the beach. I don't take the girls to the beach often because it is not in the least bit relaxing and Annaliese loves the water but doesn't understand the power of the ocean... but she's been asking to go so I decided to try it after our run through Pismo Beach last week. 

 I told Annaliese I wanted to take her picture and she looked at me and said "wait" and then ran a little ways away, stopped, turned around, and said "Cheese me now. Cheese." 

And then came running back towards the water!

On this particular day, after our run, I put the stroller away and carried Haleigh in the Ergo so that I would have both hands available for Annaliese and wouldn't get the stroller all sandy. I was very impressed with how well Annaliese did!

Today, after our run, I gave Annaliese the choice of playing on the slide at the park for a few minutes or coming home and having a picnic lunch outside on the grass. She picked the picnic. Of course, once we were in the car on the way home, she screamed the entire way about wanting to slide:) But once we were home and had lunch ready, she loved it!

(I might add that as far as actually training for this half marathon, I have yet to run more than 4 miles and only average 1, maybe 2 runs per week. I'm counting on the 'I push two kids in a double stroller' to provide some extra benefit!)