Our little life

Kelvin is 5 months old!

2012-01-20T17:54:00.000-08:00

Kelvin turned five months old on January 4. He is such a happy baby and is sitting up pretty well now. He loves to play with toys. He also loves to be carried around (which is tiring after a while because he is a big baby!), being thrown around or turned upside down by his daddy, making noises, getting his diaper changed, being naked and watching his big brother Preston. He is changing all the time, as babies always do, and it is so much fun to watch him grow and develop. He weighs 20 pounds and is 27 inches long!

Christmas

2012-01-19T21:00:00.000-08:00

On the Friday before Christmas, we traveled to Springfield to spend Christmas at my mom's house. On the way, we stopped by and saw our dear family friends in Battle Ground, Washington. It was so wonderful to be able to visit for the day! That evening, we headed down to my mom's house. Preston was so excited for Christmas and for Santa to come. He had such a wonderful time opening gifts and playing with each gift before opening another one. We also had a wonderful time seeing my mom, grandma, aunt, brother and sister-in-law. My dad and his wife also came for a little while on Christmas day to visit. Kelvin enjoyed watching everyone (especially Preston). He loved the sound of the paper. Overall, it was a wonderful holiday, although we missed my sister who was unable to travel home from Washington D.C. where she was working on a play. I hope you enjoy a few of our pictures.

Kelvin with our family friend Erin

Kelvin with our family friend Mike

Kelvin with his Great-Grandma

Preston loved decorating a gingerbread house

Preston playing his drums that Santa brought him

The boys on Christmas morning

Kelvin showing everyone how he is starting to sit up

Preston loved playing doctor with his new outfit

Kelvin and me

Kelvin and his grammie

My brother Lucas and his wife Leslie

Kelvin with his grandpa

Kelvin showing off his new shirt that his Aunt Leslie made him

Cute pic

December

2012-01-19T15:33:00.000-08:00

December was another month that seemed to fly by. Here are some random pictures of the boys in early December.

Kelvin is 4 months old!

2011-12-09T12:30:00.000-08:00

Kelvin turned 4 months old on December 4. He weighed 18 lbs. 12 oz and was 26 inches long. It is so much fun to watch him grow. He is trying to grab things in front of him and he is always so smiley!

Seaside trip in October

2011-11-28T21:46:00.000-08:00

In October, we headed to Seaside to enjoy the weekend with all of Carl's dad and his siblings and their families. We had such a wonderful weekend! Here are some pictures of our trip.

Tuckered out on the beach

Uncle Rain with Kelvin

Preston with his Aunt Jade

It was cold out, but a beautiful day

In the large hole that the boys dug

Kelvin with Aunt Brenna

Hanging out with Daddy

Preston playing with cousin Taylor

Taylor and Jet

October fun

2011-11-16T22:11:00.000-08:00

Despite the fact that it is half way through November, I have yet to post pictures from Halloween and our October festivities. Preston had a great time on Halloween. He loved walking around and seeing the other kids. He also loved helping give out candy. For the last few weeks, he periodically looks at me with a sad face and says, "Oh no, Halloween is over."

Our cute little koala and lion

Carving pumpkins

Matching brothers

Pumpkin patch pictures

He loved the giant slide at the pumpkin patch and climbed up the straw mountain and went down it many times

Visits

2011-11-06T21:19:00.000-08:00

My mom and our dear friend Marianne came to visit in early October. We had a great time shopping and visiting. Here are a few cute pictures of the weekend.

Lately...

2011-10-05T18:10:00.000-07:00

Well, our life seems to be so busy these days after having a new baby, moving, and renovating a house all at the same time. We are (and when I say we, I mostly mean Carl since I am busy watching the boys, but sometimes I have a few free minutes to help wipe grout or throw paint on something) working on our bathroom upstairs. We had torn everything but the vanity out and we have been living with only our bathroom downstairs. We are ready to have one upstairs where we have our bedroom and our main living space, including our kitchen. Other than renovations (and Carl golfing) we have been enjoying our two wonderful little boys. Kelvin seems older each day and actually slept through the night last night! I was very excited to get a full night's sleep. He is such an social baby and makes all sorts of cooing sounds to communicate. He also loves to smile, especially when he sees Preston.

My sister also came to visit for a week, which was wonderful. While she was visiting, we drove to Meridian, Idaho to visit my brother, Lucas, and his wife Leslie. Leslie ran a 5K, which we were able to watch. We had such a good visit and are glad we can live closer to them, even though we miss my sister terribly. Anyway, here are a random assortment of pictures over the last few weeks.

Smiley Kelvin

Aunt Mandy and the boys

More smiles

Matching Wheeler boys

Preston playing with the water in our bathroom

Lucas and Leslie look good with a baby, don't they!!

Preston having fun with Uncle Lucas

Aunt Leslie snuggling with Kelvin

The back of the onesie that Lucas, Leslie and Mandy made us before we had Kelvin

Here is the front of the onesie which says Unkie Skunkie Loves me!

After Leslie's race

Preston enjoyed when the new bathtub was out on the deck

Here is the bathroom before when it was ripped up and the old tub was still in

Preston and Carl working on the bathroom

Here is Preston loading his wheelbarrow full of stuff to take to throw in our trailer. He always says "I'm just helping Daddy do projects."

Kelvin is 2 months old!

2011-10-04T17:45:00.000-07:00

Kelvin turned two months old today! He is more alert daily and loves to watch Preston and our dog Dallas. He is a little chunk weighing 15 lbs 4 oz and is 24 inches long! He is 2 lbs more than Preston was at 2 months! He is very smiley, which is so much fun....

Kelvin is 1 month old!

2011-09-08T19:59:00.000-07:00

It's always hard to believe how quick time goes, especially when you have a baby. Kelvin is already one month old. We are still keeping busy with Preston and Kelvin, as well as getting settled in our new house and working on renovation projects, not to mention Carl starting to work in his dad's practice. Anyway, Preston and Kelvin both are doing well. Kelvin is a little chunk and weighed 11 pounds 10 ounces on his one month birthday and was 22 inches long.

Washing the cadi

Kelvin loves watching Preston

my cute boys!

another picture of the Wheeler boys

My mom with Preston and Kelvin

3 weeks old

Eating banana on our new countertops

2 weeks

2 weeks old

Welcome Kelvin Ollyver!

2011-08-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

On August 4, we welcomed Kelvin Ollyver into our lives. I had been having contractions on and off throughout the day and in the evening I decided that it was time to head to the hospital. We got to the hospital at 6pm and little Kelvin arrived at 10:05 pm in a wonderful waterbirth. He weighed 8 pounds 7.2 ounces (almost identical to Preston, who was 8 pounds 7.7 ounces) and he was 20 inches long.

We arrived home the next day at around 3pm and we have been doing well ever since. Preston seems to love his little brother and he wants to know where he is and what he is doing. If Kelvin cries, Preston will run in and tell him that it is okay. He has wanted to read his big brother book Preston is mostly happy to have my mom, his "Grammie," here to play with him.

Just a few hours after Kelvin was born

8 lbs 7.2 oz

Very first family photo (morning after Kelvin was born)

The Wheeler boys

Preston was so excited to wear his big brother shirt to the hospital and Kelvin wore his little brother shirt (Preston told my mom that he had to wear it).

Giving Kelvin a kiss

Preston

2011-07-31T16:16:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent pictures of Preston...

Driving the cadi

Playing at our house in Milton

Golfing

Our trip to Milton in the beginning of July

2011-07-31T13:39:00.000-07:00

On June 30, we traveled to Milton to work on the house one last time before we move. We stayed there for about 10 days working on the upstairs of our new house. During the week we Carl and I laid the unfinished oak flooring, pulled carpet out of Preston's room (the last of the carpet to be replaced upstairs), sealed/enhanced the slate floors in the kitchen, Carl started working on the new banister on the stairs, we laid carpet pad and Carl cut the carpet remnants that I purchased, so they will be ready to be stretched in the bedrooms. I also painted the molding in the bedrooms, and we added beadboard to the baby's room. We did a lot of work, but we are excited that the upstairs is looking good. While we are here in Medford, we are having the floors sanded and stained, as well as, having countertops installed in the kitchen. We are so excited to move back there in a few weeks so we can see our kitchen with countertops and a sink, as well as finished floors! It will be great to have a kitchen as well as to be able to move our furniture (that is all in the basement and garage currently, since we have moved most of our belonging back there already) into the living and dining areas. There will still be plenty of projects to work on when we arrive back (and Carl will be tackling most of these since I will have a new baby to take care of (whom should arrive any day now), as well as Preston. The bathroom upstairs is ripped up, although we have a functioning bathroom downstairs, and the stairs and banister will need to be finished, as well as having to stretch the carpet, and other finishing work like molding, a back splash, trimming out the door and windows in the kitchen, etc. But we look forward to all of the changes we are still to make upstairs and then we will be able to start on the downstairs remodel as well.

Carl is amazing at tackling all of these projects, whether he has done it before or not. He has a great talent and his work always turns out so wonderfully! It is amazing how much he has done on our new house in just a few trips that we have taken back there!

Preston loves to try to help him and plays with tools frequently. For a 2 year old, he knows so many names of tools. He can tell you different names of wrenches, for example, he remembers the difference between an Allen wrench and a socket wrench. Although he used to call it a loud drill, now he refers to it as an impact driver. He "helped" tap the wood into place as we put the wood floors down. He is a great help and wants to do everything like just like his dad. You know he is used to remodeling houses when we can go and fall asleep for a nap and sleep for hours, while we are nailing down wood floors, using the miter saw to cut the end pieces or when Carl is using the impact driver to put screws in the floors so that we don't have any squeaks.

New banister, with rod iron balusters, newel posts and railing that we will stain to match the floors. As you can see the old railing is still on the stairs (for safety) and once we arrive back in Milton, our stair treads will be stained so that Carl can put them on the stairs, and then add the new railing to match the landing.

Working on the balusters

No railing

Stair railing before

In the kitchen looking out

We are having our floors stained and here is the color

In the corner of the living room, looking back to the kitchen

Dining room with a newly painted walls (mirrors used to be on this wall)

Our beautiful unfinished oak floors

Around the fireplace, the wood is turned to highlight it (I think it was a nice design choice that Carl came up with)

A picture of when we first started the wood floors

Our bedroom with freshly painted molding and carpet pad that I put down

Here is a picture of the molding before painting

Here is what our carpet looks like that Carl will lay once we are back in Milton

Preston's room with freshly painted walls and molding (and new carpet pad down). The carpet will be the same as in our room.

Picture of Preston's room with old carpet and non-painted molding

Baby's room

Although hard to see, here is a picture of the baby's room and it has beadboard up. We still have to add the molding (chair rail and base to it). The carpet in this room will be just barely lighter than our and Preston's room

New House Remodel

2011-06-03T21:27:00.000-07:00

We traveled back to Milton-Freewater the week before Memorial Day weekend to work on remodeling our house (mainly on our kitchen). My dad and his wife joined us to help out. Here are the highlights of what we worked on: we replaced the kitchen window, took out the sliding glass door and replaced it with a single french-style door, put in all the cabinetry, painted bedrooms, including ceilings, pulled out carpet in bedrooms, and laid slate tile in the kitchen. Here are pictures of the kitchen.

New cabinets... So exciting!

Preston loves to find things to do in the mist of any remodeling project... like climbing a ladder

Some of the new slate is down!

This part will have the range here and then it will be a bar that we will be able to sit at once the counter tops are in

The slate needs to be cleaned, sealed and grouted but it is down!

Picture from the corner of our living room looking back at the kitchen (and our mess)

Our wall with pantries, fridge, microwave and the new door is on the far right of the picture

Easter

2011-04-29T23:04:00.000-07:00

We had a nice Easter. Preston enjoyed riding his tractor around, finding eggs, eating just a bit of candy the Easter Bunny brought and helping make rolls for our Chicken Marsala dinner. The chicken marsala dinner that I made was tasty. My sister joined us as well. Here are our pictures from the day.

Riding on his tractor

He loves peddling it around our house

Trying to get a smile for a family picture

Preston's favorite food to make... homemade rolls

Hunting for Easter eggs

He didn't appreciate that this one was wet in the bird bath

We left Dallas inside but Preston opened the door and wanted Dallas to come out and help sniff out the eggs

Preston looking for eggs and my sister Mandy

Preston's New Bedding

2011-04-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

Preston has been sleeping in a crib until just recently, when we have moved him to a twin mattress. So far the mattress is just on the floor. We are having a bed make but it is not complete yet. I decided to design and sew his bedding. I made curtains, a duvet cover and a sham. It has planes, trains and trucks on it and I am excited to decorate his new room when we move into our new house!

His curtains

close up of airplanes

Trains

Trucks

Sham

New House ...

2011-04-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

We are moving to Milton-Freewater in August and we are going to buy Carl's Dad's house, since he just purchased a new house. He has been moving out into his new house which is allowing us to remodel a little before we move in. We were back in Milton a few weeks ago for 5 days and we got right to work. We are redoing the kitchen so our first project was to demo the kitchen and open up the wall into the living room. We are very excited to have this open great room with a wonderful view with a new kitchen! Carl worked long and hard to rip down drywall, pull up the existing tile (which was extremely hard to get out!), rewire and to cut hole to put in a venting system for our new down-draft range, and pull out the toilet in the bathroom upstairs. I helped with the drywall, pulled up the carpet (and the staples and tack strips) out of the living room and I started ripping down wallpaper in one of the bedrooms. We also had some help from Carl's friends Matt and Jeff. Thanks guys! And Carl's dad, Doug and brother, Rain, helped pull out some of the tile. Thanks!! Here are just a few sneak peak pictures of some of the work that we did. I realized I do not have any before pictures of the kitchen but I will add more pictures soon. We are planning to head back a few more times so that we will have a kitchen and hardwood floors before we move in, in August.

The living room (with beautiful windows)

Dining area (we are removing the mirrors soon too)

Demo on the wall between kitchen and living room

Picture of the kitchen ripped apart

another empty kitchen picture

A corner view of from the windows looking back into the kitchen.

New baby..

2011-03-14T20:54:00.000-07:00

I am currently 20 weeks pregnant (due August 2) and we found out today that we are having another wonderful little boy! We are so excited!

Picture of me at 19 weeks pregnant

Our new little boy!

Preston turned 2!

2011-02-02T20:32:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from Preston's birthday. Carl's sister Brenna, her husband Jud and their baby Jet came for the weekend. My mom also came down and my aunt and cousins visited earlier in the day. My sister also helped us celebrate. Preston had a great time opening and playing with the gifts and he loved blowing out this candles.

Smiling for the camera

His smile after Carl told him to smile with his eyes!

His new pedal tractor

Preston loves bouncing on the scale. He weighs 29 pounds and is 35 1/2 inches tall.

Preston's cousin Jet (he is 5 1/2 months)

Trying out the tractor

trying out his new scooter and helmet, which he loves!

Time for cake

Now he wanted to cut it to eat

Another scooter picture

New toys are so much fun!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-22T14:02:00.001-08:00

While it's already the end of January, I decided that I would still share some pictures from Christmas. We had a great time with my family at my mom's house. Preston loved opening presents and spend lots of time playing with each one after opening them.

Preston and "Loo" as Preston calls him

My brother Lucas, his wife Leslie and Preston

"Les" and Preston

Watching videos (Lucas liked the sports videos and Preston preferred videos about kitties)

Preston and "Man" as he calls his Aunt Mandy

Lucas and Leslie's puppy Atticus thinking Preston's food look delicious

Preston and G.G.

Preston and Grammie

Pictures from Thanksgiving weekend in Milton

2010-12-22T12:25:00.000-08:00

Well, there are slightly delayed, but here are some pictures of when we spent Thanksgiving weekend in Milton-Freewater with Carl's family. We enjoyed quite a bit of snow and Preston loved reading and playing with his uncle Rain. He walks around our house and constantly says "Rain."

Rain reading to Preston

Preston and his grandma Debbie

Trying on Great-Grandpa Ivan's hats

Preston loves to play the piano when we visit

The snowman Preston and Carl built

All bundled up

Preston and Cousin Jet (he is 4 months old)

More fun in the snow

Halloween

2010-11-12T17:14:00.000-08:00

This year Preston dressed up as a monkey. Whenever he saw his costume, he wanted to put it on. He looked super cute!

Pumpkin patch

2010-11-09T20:52:00.000-08:00

The weekend before Halloween, we went to a pumpkin patch at Seven Oaks Farm. It was a little too close to nap time, so Preston was not very smiley for the pictures, but we had a lot of fun. Preston loved the pumpkins, but most of all he loved the tractors (the big one that we road on, and the little peddle tractors that they have around for kids to sit on). We had a great time!

Riding on the tractor was very interesting

Preston fed the goats

A little tickling for a smile

Preston and his aunt Mandy

Trying to pick up the pumpkins

He LOVES these tractors and did not want to leave them or let any other kids on them!

A Visit

2010-11-06T21:11:00.000-07:00

My dad and his wife Dot came to visit for a few days. After my sister bought a new hot water heater, Preston had a new big box to play with and he enjoyed it for quite a few days!

My dad and Preston

My dad, Preston, Dot

The box was fun to color on, hide in and climb on

Just a cute little picture

Seaside

2010-10-24T21:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Seaside with Carl's family for his dad's birthday. We stayed in a house close to the beach and we had such a good time with everyone. It was great to have all Preston's cousins and Carl's brothers and sisters there. Preston was in heaven when we were on the beach and playing with all his older cousins and Uncle Rain and Aunt Jade. I wish I could have brought some of them home with me to entertain Preston all the time! The weather was beautiful and we can't wait to go again.

On our way back Rain, Doug, Carl, Preston and stopped at Camp 18 for breakfast and we took some pictures too. Here is Rain and Preston on the old fire truck.

Another cute one of Preston and his uncle Rain

Doug, Brenna and baby Jet (who is 12 weeks old)

Carl and Preston

Flying the kite together

Preston is getting older and often does NOT want help doing things, so here he is trying to fly the kite alone

Playing in the sand

Playing with cousins Khol and Keagan

Keagan and Preston

Preston giving cousin Taylor a kiss on the cheek. Taylor is 10 months old

Playing with Taylor

Khol, Taylor, Kelsee and Jet

Taylor and Preston

Cute little Taylor

Cute little Jet

Jet smiling at Keagan

Preston joined in some tummy time for Jet

Kisses for Jet

Jet

Jade and Jet

Preston and Carl playing on the beach

Carl and sister Jade

Brenna and Jet

Carl's new Cadillac

2010-10-20T21:08:00.000-07:00

Last week, Carl bought a '69 Cadillac convertible. It needs work on it's interior and a new top, but it drives nicely. Carl is very excited about his purchase!

Preston driving Daddy in the garage

Oops... this one is on here twice

Cooking time

2010-10-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

Preston loves to mimic the thing that we do. Here he is after he pulled out the oven mitts and put them on, so he could open the oven.

Catching up ... pictures from August and September

2010-10-19T15:32:00.000-07:00

For Labor Day, we took a long weekend and went back to Milton-Freewater. We always have a wonderful visit with Carl's grandparents, dad and siblings and friends. Carl's mom also came down and went to the fair with us. We had a great time watching the horse races and the animals. Preston liked the horses and he also clapped for the tractors when they went by.

Preston listening to Great-Grandpa Ivan reading

Preston and his grandpa Doug

Preston was able to watch the horse races with his friend Ella

Preston with his grandma Debbie

Here are a few of Preston and Carl golfing together in our backyard and of them working in the garage. Preston loves to be just like his daddy.

My mom's birthday was in August and we were able to celebrate with her. Preston loved helping his Grammy blow out the candles on her cake!

Preston and his Grammy

Here are some random pictures of Preston. He says "cheese" now for pictures.

These pictures are of Preston and Dylan (the baby boy that I used to watch a few days a week). These are from August.

Our garden

2010-10-12T21:59:00.000-07:00

This year, Carl built some raised beds for our vegetable/ fruits to grow. Here are some pictures of our garden, which was filled mostly with tomato plants, jalapeños, serano chiles, green peppers, zucchini, and cucumbers. Preston loved picking the tomatoes, whether they were ripe or not.

Ella and Preston

2010-10-12T21:52:00.000-07:00

We were able to visit our friends Kurt and Katie and their daughter Ella, who is just 6 months older than Preston. We had a nice visit and here are a few pictures.

Climbing on Carl was a highlight

Cousins

2010-10-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

In August we went to visit Carl's siblings and our nieces and nephews. We also were able to meet our newest nephew, Jet. Preston had such a wonderful time with Keagan and Kelsee. It was so much fun to see the babies. Jet is just a few weeks old in these pictures and Taylor is 6 months old. Preston is so lucky to have so many wonderful cousins. We can't wait to see them again in just a few weeks!!!

All the cousins: Kelsee, Jet, Keagan, Taylor, Khol and Preston

Another cute picture of everyone

Preston loved all the "big" toys including Keagan's nerf guns

Talking to Keagan

Preston carried this gun around despite the fact that it is as big as he is

Preston with his Uncle Bob

Uncle Bob showing Preston how to load the nerf gun

Our new nephew Jet

Carl's mom Debbie holding Jet

Judd and his new baby Jet

Our niece Taylor

Family reunion

2010-10-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

Well, I am still slow to catch up on my blogging! Anyway, we went to my family reunion at the beginning of August and we had a great time visiting for the afternoon.

Preston and my mom

Carl, Preston and my cousin's dog looking at the chickens. Preston loves chickens and will walk around making chicken sounds

My cousins Beth and Amy (Amy is pregnant!)

Amy and her husband Mitch

Preston playing catch with cousin Ethan

Ethan, Preston and Corey

Riding in the wagon

Playing with squirt guns

2010-09-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from when my brother Lucas and sister-in-law Leslie were visiting this summer.

Sitting by the dogs water dish

Reading with Uncle Lucas

Lucas pushing Preston around in our cooler

A day at the lake

2010-09-17T14:38:00.000-07:00

While my brother and his wife were visiting in August, we made it to a lake to do a little swimming. My sister had the day off, which was fun to hang out with all my siblings.

Preston and my sister Mandy

My Grandma's birthday party

2010-09-17T12:51:00.000-07:00

For my grandma's birthday, we had a party at the 9th Street Venue (that my mom and her sister's have been renovating) in Klamath Falls. We had a great time visiting with family and friends.

Preston with Uncle Lucas

Preston with Cousin Rune

My grandma, my mom and my two aunts

Me, my sister, brother, grandma and cousins

Eating with daddy

Preston had so much fun running with Rune in this large room

Playing in the curtains

Everyone was looking at a book that put together by my grandma's niece for my grandma that tells about our relatives , dating back before the 1800s

Family pictures

My brother and sister-in-law

Hiking

2010-09-13T15:06:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from August when we went on a short hike up Roxy Ann. Preston loves being outdoors!

More pictures

2010-09-10T13:13:00.000-07:00

Preston with his aunt Mandy and her dog Lucy. Preston loves them!

Camping photos

2010-08-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

I am behind on posting summer pictures. We have been busy and I have been taking a graduate level class that has been taking up a lot of my sacred nap times, when it is best to post. Anyway, we went camping in the end of July at Waldo Lake with two other families that my families has been camping with for more than twenty years now! This camping trip was especially interesting because there were an endless number of mosquitoes!! They were out night and day and nothing detoured them other than if we were in our tent or our screened-in tent. We had mosquito sprays, citronella candles... you name it and we tried it. Even the dogs were swelling up from being bitten all day long! I have never seen so many mosquitoes in my life. At night, I would get in the tent to put Preston to bed and I would have to spend the next ten minutes killing at least 20 mosquitoes that has entered even though I had crawled in the tent as quick as I could. And in the morning, we would wake to the buzzing sound of mosquitoes and when I opened my eyes, I could see hundreds (yes hundreds) of them buzzing above our tent, just waiting to bite us. It was in the mid -80s and we tried to go swimming on the lake (if you have not been there, it is beautiful lake), but the mosquitoes were endless. Anyway, we were happy to come back to our house which is mosquito free. We look forward to going back there another year, when the mosquitoes are not so plentiful! Here are the few pictures we took.

Preston was as happy as can be, despite getting bit constantly

Piggy-back ride

My brother Lucas and his wife, Leslie, under some netting to keep the mosquitoes from biting their faces

Family picture

Playing with the water faucet

Preston and his grandparents

2010-08-29T13:17:00.000-07:00

My mom and dad were down to visit and here is a picture of them with Preston.

Preston and Dallas

2010-08-23T20:11:00.000-07:00

Preston loves Dallas and here are a few pictures of Preston sitting on him.

Swimming

2010-08-23T20:06:00.000-07:00

Here is Preston swimming in the wadding pool. He likes the water but is very cautious about it.

Preston

2010-08-12T21:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some cute little pictures when Preston liked that I was chasing him with the camera.

He loves to sit and play his piano and will dance his body around while he plays.

Pictures

2010-08-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

Trying on Daddy's hat

Talking to Dylan

Tasting a zucchini from our garden

Running around at the park when we were in Bend

Checking out the ducks and geese

Playing with Ella when the Wrights came to visit on the 4th of July

Drinking

Hugs

Oops... this one is on twice but didn't want to let me erase it!

June pictures

2010-07-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

Here is a random assortment of pictures from June. Preston turned 17 months old. He was now 33 inches long and weighed 24 lbs. 9 oz. He is saying new words all the time although he still jabbers mostly.

Working in the yard

It's so much fun to garden naked

Preston and his cousin Kelsee at Brenna's shower

Carl's sister Brenna... she is due in two weeks!

Carl's mom Debbie and our niece Taylor

Our niece Kelsee and sister-in-law Aimee

Eating great food at the baby shower

Preston and his Uncle Lucas (Preston and I went to Boise to visit)

Helping brush those teeth

Preston and his grandpa. Before Boise we went to Arizona to visit my dad

In the pool with grandpa

Driving in his boat

Smiles

Preston loves to put on and take off his shades

Working

2010-07-09T12:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Preston "helping" us re-lay our brick walkways at the end of May.

And here is the basket he loves to climb in!

Pictures of Preston... of course!

2010-05-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

Here are an assortment of pictures since I have not been very good at posting lately. Some of these pictures are older since I had them on one of our cameras that I had been looking for the cord to download the pictures. Me and Preston playing with the camera

Kristen and Mandy

Dancing

Kristen and Kalene came to visit the other weekend and we had such a good time seeing them. Thank you for making the trip down!!!

Kristen, Kalene and Preston

Kalene and Preston

Digging in the dirt

My uncle Charley reading to Preston when we visited them in April

Preston and his great-grandmother Annie in April

In Klamath Falls on my aunt Lori's land

Visiting aunt Lori's horses

Family picture from February

Plumbing with Grandpa Tom as he was helping my sister remodel her kitchen in January

Preston wanted to climb in my sister's dryer (January) so we took a picture

Preston

2010-05-08T11:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent pictures of Preston. He is getting so big and is such a little person now. He is a lot of fun!

Helping Daddy drive the truck

Hanging out in the trailer

Playing with rocks in the trailer

Drawing

Drawing is so much fun!

Preston loves to mimic what we do including adjusting the sprinklers with a screwdriver

Playing in the water

Adjusting the sprinklers

Preston and his grandpa when my dad came to visit a few weeks ago

Our house

2010-05-08T11:10:00.001-07:00

Lately, we have been spending weekend after weekend working on re-landscaping our front yard. We added a new patio, replanted all new plants and a crab apple tree, stained our wooden entry and Carl built beautiful new planter boxes that I stained for our windows. He also built a few that we will put in front of our new patio but those are not in the pictures and will come. We reused our patio pathway lights by repainting them. We also painted our house last summer and we just painted our front door recently too. We have found that landscaping is a LOT of work but also fun! Our window planter boxes still need one more day before we add flowers and then I will show you more pictures. Here is the front of our house.

We love sitting out on our new patio in our chairs

Our azaleas have so many colorful flowers now

Here are the planter boxes Carl built. He is so talented at woodworking and enjoys it!

15 months old!

2010-04-22T13:04:00.000-07:00

Time is always flying by and it seems especially fast when you have a little one that is constantly growing and doing new things. Preston is gaining more speed and he has become a good climber, which means he can climb up on our kitchen table. I know he is up there if I hear a little smelling sound (since he like to smell the candle in the middle of the table). He is also talking more daily. He constantly repeats words that we say, although many of them are hard to understand. His new favorite is to point and yell "go" at Dallas. He will also say "go" when he is throwing a ball or about to run. He also says it if he is trying to tackle Carl. As the weather has been nicer, we have been spending a lot of time outside, which Preston loves! We have been landscaping our front yard and we added a patio. When Preston came outside yesterday, he picked up our rubber mallet and proceeded to pound the pavers. He loves to watch and then repeat anything that we are doing. He is growing taller (now 32 inches tall) and he weights about 23 1/2 pounds.

Riding his tricycle

Equally as fun to to tip it over and figure out how the wheels work

Running around the driveway

Easter pictures

2010-04-22T12:30:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while since Easter but here I am posting these pictures now. We were in Milton-Freewater for Easter, where we had a wonderful time visiting family and friends. Preston liked hunting for eggs in Carl's grandparents back yard although once he saw a pile of rocks and a wheelbarrow, he was more interested in putting the rocks inside the wheelbarrow. He loves being outside and discovering all the wonderful things out there...

Eating

Talking to great-grandparents Fran and Ivan

Hanging in the kitchen

Talking

Preston and Daddy

Easter eggs

He liked putting the eggs in his basket

Cute pictures

2010-04-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more recent pictures of Preston.

He is walking around so well and we bought a few new pairs of shoes. These converse sneaks are quite cute on.

Opening the dog door

Cuddling with Aunt Mandy's new dog Henry

Preston and Dylan (who I watch on Thursday and Fridays). Preston thought it would be fun to sit in Dylan's carseat.

Such fun

2010-04-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

Two things that Preston loves most are being outside and "working" with Carl and his tools.

Yes... he is starting to climb and now that he even climbs up on our kitchen table I have to keep a close eye on him! He loves getting up on our bench or other outdoor furniture as well.

"Helping" put new blinds in

Basketball

2010-04-01T14:27:00.000-07:00

Preston loves to be outside playing basketball. It's fun to watch him carry around the basketball that looks giant in his hands as he stands underneath the hoop and looks up as he attempts to throw the ball. Here are some pictures from a few different times we have been out playing.

House pictures

2010-04-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we decided to start re-landscaping our front yard and entrance area. We also finished painting by painting our front door red a while back. Here is an old picture (June 2007) of our front entry.

Here is the front of the house (June 2007)

Here is a new picture of the one side of our entry way. It looks more bare then before, but our new plants will grow and fill the area. We put azaleas below the bay window and in there is also a camellia bush. We have not finished with mulch yet.

Here is the front of the house with a new little tree and some small bushes. We still have plans to add planter window boxes since we removed the old windows and added these when we did our master remodel.

Another view

Cute pics...

2010-03-28T12:01:00.000-07:00

These pictures are not new (from February) but I thought they were so cute and I wanted to post them. Preston and Uncle Rain

Preston and Aunt Mandy

Dancing

2010-03-13T10:58:00.000-08:00

Here is a short clip of Preston dancing a few weeks ago. He loves to dance whenever he hears music.

Beautiful weather...

2010-02-23T20:11:00.000-08:00

The weather has been so wonderful lately and Preston loves being outside. Here are some pictures from last week. There are so many interesting things outside

Watching Dallas jump on the ivy

Just hanging out

Eewww acorns and dirt are NOT very tasty!

Playing in the dirt next to our newly bloomed flowers

Preston and Dylan

2010-02-18T11:08:00.000-08:00

I watch Dylan on Thursdays and Fridays and here is a cute picture I captured of them in our office chair.

Fun in the garage

2010-02-17T15:12:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago it was so nice and we decided to clean the garage, so now that Preston is a pretty good walker, we put some shoes on him and took him out with us. He was in heaven! He always wants to go outside or in the garage if Carl or Dallas is out there. He helped by sweeping. On another day, he came out and helped us as we spruced up our kitchen cabinets with a fresh coat of white paint. Preston loves tools so here is using a screw driver.

Opening a paint can
Helping with house projects

Sweeping

Carl's indoor boomerang

2010-02-14T22:25:00.000-08:00

Carl made a indoor boomerang for himself for Valentine's Day. It provides plenty of entertainment....

Preston and Dylan

2010-02-04T16:15:00.000-08:00

Dylan is a baby that I watch on Thursday and Friday afternoons. He is almost 6 months old and is that baby of the hygienist that works at Carl's office. Preston and I love when he comes over. Here is a cute little video of them.

Talking to a dragon...

2010-01-27T12:38:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of Preston while we were shopping at ToysRus.

Ahh... laughter....

2010-01-21T16:20:00.000-08:00

Preston is laughing at my brother when we were in my mom's van running around during the week after Christmas.

Preston is 1 year old!!!

2010-01-17T20:34:00.000-08:00

On Friday, January 15 Preston turned 1 year old. We can hardly believe that it has been a year since we held this little life in our arms, but what a wonderful year it has been! My dad and his wife Dot had been in town all week helping to remodel my sister's kitchen, so we were able to have lunch with them on Preston's birthday and then my mom came to visit on Friday night, so on Saturday, we had a little family birthday celebration with an alligator cake and some presents. At Christmas, Preston was not interested in opening the gifts,t but on his birthday he went right over and ripped them open on his own. He loved the toys and didn't want anything to do with the outfits that we received (but we love them). Preston was unsure about the frosting on his cupcake for his birthday. He did not smear it on his face, nor did he even want it on his fingers. But he did eat the carrot cupcake once we broke it in half so he did not have to touch the frosting. It's funny how everyone, including little ones have such personalities!

As for Preston, he is changing as always. He now weighs 22 pounds 10 ounces and is 30 3/4 inches long. He is walking more and more, although he still crawls most of the time, which he can do so quickly. He started taking steps right before Thanksgiving, and he is cautious because he does not want to fall. In the last few weeks he has started talking more and more. He will jabber on and constantly ask "what's this?" or "what is that?". He tries to repeat new words and he can say bye, Daddy, Mama, ball, fish, light, Dallas, yeah, hi and yes. He loves tools, our garage, outside, and a new stuffed monkey. He cuddles and rocks this monkey every day. He has learned to give kisses and will often give a nice wet kiss. He is still the happiest baby. He will still let anyone hold him and he has never had much stranger fear. It's been the best year filled with a bundle of joy and we are so excited to enjoy each day of this year as well! There are a lot of pictures here, but we hope you enjoy them.

Opening his first golf clubs

playing with new toys

Opening gifts

Pushing his new tricycle around

Preston and his grandma

Fixing his tricycle with his new hammer

Eating his cake

He wasn't sure about the frosting and didn't really want it on his fingers, but he liked the cake

Our family

Another family picture and it was a nice warm 50 something outside

Preston alligator cupcake cake that I made

another view of the gator cake

Bath time

Preston and his dad

1 year old pictures

Finding his bellybutton

22 lbs 10 oz and 30 3/4 inches long

Aunt Mandy reading to Preston

Playing with our new gate

Grandpa Tom, Preston and Grandma Dot

New tool gear!

Playing with his new Tonka dump truck

Playing with 5 month old Dylan (who I watch on Thursday and Friday afternoons)

Yum... apples

Looks good....

Oh... tastes so good...

After lunch

Pictures of Preston

2010-01-17T20:24:00.000-08:00

Here are some cute random pictures of Preston (11 months old). Helping with the laundry

Kisses from Dallas

Plumbing with Daddy

Helping to load the dishwasher at my grandma's house

He loves to talk on the phone

Fun plumbing!

Another plumbing picture

Helping Grandma with the dishes

Hanging out at Grandma's house

Christmas photos

2010-01-04T21:33:00.001-08:00

Well the past few weeks have been busy. First off, I had a wonderful birthday on December 21 and my dad was able to come the weekend before which was so nice to have him here and to see Preston with his grandpa. On Christmas Eve, we traveled up to Springfield to my mom's house where we spent Christmas with my mom, sister, brother, sister-in-law, aunt and grandma. It was so much fun to watch Preston as he wanted to pull the ornaments off the tree and play with new toys. He wasn't very interested in opening presents, but he did like to play with the toys. Thank you to all for these wonderful gifts! Anyway, sorry it took so long for these pictures. Unfortunately, my SD card decided to go bad so I could only get some of my pictures. But at least I have a few of Preston's 1st Christmas!

So tired

Preston, me and my grandparents

Preston and his great-grandparents

Preston and his aunt Leslie

Preston loved climbing up and down the stairs at my mom's house

Walking with Daddy

Christmas morning

Trying out our new jogging stroller that Carl gave me for Christmas. Now we need another little one to fill it up!

Preston and his daddy opening a gift from Santa

Preston liked the bows

What a wonderful gift!

Playing with some new balls on Christmas

My sister Mandy and Preston

Preston on his new tricycle (it's a little too big for him but he doesn't think so!)

My dad and Preston

Christmas morning breakfast

2009-12-27T23:08:00.000-08:00

We had a delightful Christmas here in Eugene with my mom, sister, brother, sister-in-law, aunt and grandma. Preston loved the Christmas tree, especially pulling the ornaments off and then trying to put them back on. He also enjoyed playing with many new toys (thank you!). Now we just will have to find a place to put all of them! Anyway, here is a video of Preston eating in the morning.

Christmas video of Preston

2009-12-27T22:46:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of Preston opening a present. I will add more videos and pictures soon!

Preston is 11 months old!

2009-12-15T22:50:00.000-08:00

Preston is now 11 months old and the days keep flying by especially during the holiday season! We are enjoying every minute of him growing up. He is as curious as ever as he is into everything! He is babbling more and more and he is starting to say more words. He said "bye-bye Dada" about two weeks ago and he still says mama, mom, daddy and ball. He has also started standing on his own and he took his first steps right before Thanksgiving. He still crawls or scoots almost everywhere but he will take a few (up to 5 steps) toward something. His teeth and jaw are quite strong as he bites/ eats everything including pieces off my leather wallet, any cardboard, paper, and anything else he can find. As he is growing taller, he is starting to pull things off our desk and he tries to climb on anything he can. He loves bath time and crawls and splash around the bathtub. He has also figured out how to throw a ball. He weighed 22 pounds 8 ounces and was 30 3/4 inches long!

22 lbs. 8 oz. and 30 3/4 inches long

He loves sitting in the little rocker

Standing on his own!

Preston is 10 months old!

2009-11-17T14:20:00.000-08:00

Well, Preston is now 10 months old! He seems older and older each day and we are enjoying every minute of it. I love being at home with him. Preston is babbling all of the time. He sounds like he is having conversations with everything. He is more interested in walking now, and although he cannot walk alone, he will find anything he can (like a little wooden chair) to push around the house so he can walk instead of crawl. He is eating more foods and wants to have a spoon to feed himself as well as pick up pieces of food. He loves to play with Dallas and Lucy(my sister's little dog). It's so much fun to watch how a baby sees the world since he finds the littlest things amazing! Preston weighed 21lbs 5 oz. and is 29 inches long. He looks so much longer than he used to!

Hanging out in his rocking chair

Preston loves pushing this little wooden chair around so he can walk around our house

Here's another view

He loves being naked

The scale is becoming more fun as he has learned that he can bounce it up and down

When he was still, we could see he weighed 21 lbs. 5 oz and he is 29 inches long!

Reading his 10 month old sign

That sign is so neat!

Preston is getting so long

Halloween

2009-10-31T21:59:00.000-07:00

We had a great Halloween! We spent our day doing a little cleaning, tiling, napping, watching football and dressing up. Of course we also ate chili and pumpkin pie (a Halloween tradition in my family). Anyway, Preston was a duck and we dressed up as farmers. To make our farm complete, Dallas was our cow and my sister's dog Lucy was a strawberry. For Carl's outfit, I found pinned-striped overalls which Preston also had so we also had fun taking pictures of Preston and Carl in matching outfits! Preston did not get a good afternoon nap so he was a little tired and not as smiley as usual in his costume, but he looks great anyway! They looked so cute and of course Preston adorable in his duck costume! I also added some pumpkin carving picture from Thursday night. Here are our pictures.... Our cute little duck

Preston loves the dishwasher

He also loves sitting on the dishwasher (everyday he climbs up on it and sits and pulls out the silverware)

Carl took the picture as he was falling off and I was about to catch him

He did not love the hood ... but it sure was cute and I personally love the tights too!

Our farm family

Another family pic

Preston and his daddy... they're twins!

This one is precious....

I love this one too!

Just alike...

Just a super cute picture I added.... He loves watching the washing machine

Rice crispy treat pumpkins

Carving pumpkins

Preston liked to roll the pumpkins

A giant ball to roll....

Preston- 9 months old .... a little late

2009-10-31T21:31:00.000-07:00

Finally, I am adding Preston's 9 month old pictures! It's amazing how the days fly by and now Preston is 9 1/2 months old! Preston is cutting two new teeth to make a total of 8 teeth. He is now babbling all the time. We really enjoy listening to him while he jabbers on while talking to everything. He is also pulling up on everything and cruising along. He can clap and he will play with a toy that has buttons and when it lights up he will wave his hands in the air and then clap for himself. He is crawling around every where and it seems like each day he is discovering new things. He loves to open the kitchen cupboards and pull things out of them. He also loves to stand at our glass door or sliding glass door and look outside while banging on the door (especially when Dallas is out there). He is also giving a little "snarling" smile as he grimaces his face up and he loves to give kisses as well. Some other things he has discovered and loves are the toilet, our roman tub faucet, toilet paper, garbage cans, any sort of tool that Carl has, the vacuum, and many others. He loves water and discovered that there is always water in the toilet to splash in.... so much fun! He also pulls on the lever to flush the toilet and then looks to see if the water goes down. Toilets are amazing, right? One of his all time favorite things though are little boys (and girls but he loves little boys). We can be in a restaurant or a store and his eyes will be glued to any little boy he sees. 9 months is a fun age although plenty of work for me! He is 20 lbs 12 ounces and 29 inches long. Taking pictures of him in our glider is getting more and more difficult since Preston is very busy and wants to see everything. He actually fell out of the chair while I took this pictures although he didn't seem to mind much.

Cute smile...

Reading... the sign also makes it hard to take pictures

Preston loves to climb as you can see

Pictures of Preston

2009-10-24T22:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I know I have yet to post Preston's 9 month old pictures... and I will (hopefully tomorrow) and I will give you the update. But until then, here are some cute pictures of Preston when he was 8 months old...

Helping Dad...

Dallas is very interesting

A little smile

Bathtime

He loves to splash

Opening the cupboards .... such fun!