A gift for Caitlin

This blog post is brought to you by my friend Caitlin...kind of. I am writing it but it is per her request. Her birthday is today and she requested this as her gift. Thankfully, blog posts are comfortably in my budget for gifts. :) So here is a random update, per her request. (I blogged about how cool Caitlin is once HERE) 

{1} I cannot believe how quickly summer is going to be ending. These are the things we have on the docket in the next three weeks: lots of playdates, including a new spray park in Oregon City with friends, a few trips to the Play Boutique to use up our Groupon, a girls day at Oaks Park with friends, and more. We're going to the beach for three nights on Everett's birthday weekend (yippee), next week Everett is getting tubes in his ears (minor surgery), Emersyn is having her 5th birthday and then a big party two days later. We're doing a dance party at the park, complete with a DJ (Uncle David) and lots of rainbow themed fun. The day after Emersyn's party we have a wedding to attend that evening and then our church picnic. Labor Day will hopefully involve fun with friends (yes Rachelle?) Emersyn starts school the first week of September and then we have a super fun concert on the 6th (Sara Bareilles and One Republic, woot woot) and then our favorite little Sophia is turning 3 and having a Doc McStuffin's party. Do you care about all those details? Probably not...but it's therapeutic for me to write it all out. :)

{2} Last weekend we went to Albany to visit Brett's grandparents along with Brett's sister and parents. Albany is about 90 minutes from our house and the kids love going there to visit. The kids were playing outside their great grandma's retirement home and having a blast. We also had our dog with us, adding to the chaos. We all headed out of the retirement home and I looked and realized that we were missing a certain toddler!!!!! We turn around and see Everett peering into the door, watching his family abandon him! I was both horrified and amused. He was so darling, watching us leave. And this wasn't even the window of Brett's grandma's apartment. I suspect that he looked in those windows and didn't see us so he went to investigate. Losing Everett is pretty much my worst nightmare at this point in life. He's at such a busy wandering age and it's hard when I'm with Brett because we both fall into this, "I thought you had him!" pattern. Granted, we've never actually lost him, but after yesterday now we have to say we came close! Thankful he was safe and sound. We only actually lost track of him for a few minutes but I shudder to think of what can happen in even just a few seconds with a crazy toddler on the loose!

(We don't let him wander around with his binky normally, FYI. We had a long day and he missed his nap time so we were extending him a little grace later in the afternoon.)

{3} Sadly, I am no longer employed by my friend to watch her kiddos. I started watching Tanner when he was 6 months old one day a week and it gradually grew into three days a week, and I started watching his baby sister this summer too! His mom quit her job and is now staying home with her babies and I'm very happy for her, but very sad for us! Emersyn was very attached to the kids and had really taken to looking after a baby. And I thought that I would maybe be kinda relieved to just have my kiddos to myself now all the time but I'm not! Yes, I love having my own kids but watching these other two was just like an extension of my own family. It's hard to explain. I didn't set out to be a *daycare provider* per say, but on the days I watched these two kiddos, it was like I got paid to be a mom which is always nice, right? It's normally a job that doesn't pay in a monetary sense at all! I'm crossing my fingers that their mama gets a job again down the road sometime but if she doesn't, that's okay too. Everyone deserves the chance to stay home with their kiddos at some point. Lord knows it was my dream for a LONG time! And still is, I'm very very thankful. But I love being *busy* and this new season of being footloose and fancy free with just my own kiddos will be interesting! 

{4} I'm obsessed with the library. Books and movies make me so happy!! Our library has this "hot new releases" shelf with new movies (like the same as the ones at Redbox!!!) and cd's and it's like a thrill to go check the shelf and try to score a fun movie to watch during the week. Best of all, it's free.

{5} Nerd alert: all of the sudden I am into the Star Trek movies. I'm ashamed to say it but the two movies that have come out in the last few years are really good!! We rented one on a whim a few weeks ago because we'd heard it was really good and were skeptical but decided to check it out. We loved it!!! We loved it so much in fact, that we decided to go watch the newest one at the THEATER which is super crazy for us. We had a nerdy date night and I loved it! I pretty much love any date night though.

{6} The summer has not been a season of healthy living in the Jensen household. Yes, we love our summer produce but also have indulged in other items that summer seems to bring...like burgers and ice cream. Gotta get back on track SOON!

Okay, this wasn't as exciting as I'd hoped it would be for Caitlin but I did my best. I REALLLLLLY am hoping that with Emersyn being at school and my newly unemployed status (with the exception of real estate, still doing that and going strong!), blogging can become a bigger part of my life. I look back on old blogs occasionally and they make me happy, they really do. I want Everett to have some of those memories recorded too, like his big sister.

Happy birthday Caitlin.....I hope we can get together and celebrate SOON! xoxo