Party Animals

The girls went to two birthday parties this weekend!  The first one was at Pump It Up for their classmate Shloka.  Here is Lauren (left) and Emily (right) climbing up one of the structures.

 

 Emily going down a slide.

 Lauren going down a slide.

The party group after a wild hour of playing!

Cheering for Shloka after she blew out her candles!

The second birthday party was for cousins Kay and Kali... the girls LOVE their cousins and were so excited to decorate cards for them.  Lauren drew a picture of Kay and Kali on her envelope!

Eating lunch with the birthday girls!

Emily and Lauren enthusiastically clapping and cheering for Kay and Kali.

Let's Play Soccer!

This weekend the girls went to their first soccer class!  Here is Emily (left) and Lauren (right) on the indoor playing field with Dad right before class started.  

Coach Clifford spent 45 minutes directing the players through various games and drills.

One of the games involved setting up cones and then kicking them over. Emily got into a scuffle with the boy in the orange shirt... he tried to slip his cone on top of hers and when she tried to pull his cone off of her cone, he picked up both cones and went running.  Little did he know that Emily would chase him down the field, grab her cone back, and bop him on the head with it!  Of course one should never bop someone on the head, but it's probably safe to say that the little boy won't be messing with Emily anymore.  When Coach Clifford pulled Emily and the little boy aside to reconcile the situation, Lauren went over and stood by Emily with her arm around Emily's shoulders... how sweet of Lauren to offer sisterly support!

Big Girl Beds!

This weekend the girls' twin size beds arrived!  We put the bedding on and the girls insisted on trying them out right away... Lauren on the left and Emily on the right.  The next step will be getting some headboards and wall art!

Westside Gymnastics Academy

Lauren (left) and Emily (right) were SO excited to put on their outfits for gymnastics class!

They were literally jumping with excitement before we even left the house!

Girls practicing their somersault technique.

Lauren jumping on the trampoline.  

Emily jumping on the trampoline.

Mini obstacle course!  Lauren is crossing the plank and Emily is on the rope swing.

Bear walking on the parallel bars.

Lauren bouncing down the long trampoline.

Emily bouncing down the long trampoline.

More bar exercises... Emily on the bar, Lauren towards the right.

Emily riding the zip line.

Lauren riding the zip line.

Children of the Sea

Emily (left) and Lauren (right) started swimming lessons this week at Children of the Sea!

Lauren looking happy to be gliding through the pool with her teacher.

Emily gliding through the pool while Lauren waits at the side for her turn.

Emily picking out a ball... the purple one of course!

Lauren trying out the arm floats.

Floating on a blue mat!

Emily and Lauren's First Camping Trip- Labor Day Weekend 2011

We took the girls on their first camping trip over Labor Day weekend!  We stayed overnight at Champoeg State Park.  Grandma and Grandpa Rufener were kind enough to lend us their great tent trailer!

Lauren peeking out of the expanded tent trailer.

Lauren (left) and Emily (right) insisted on trying out their new sleeping bags right away!

Pre-dinner bubble blowing with Dad.

We had chicken hot dogs and carrots for dinner.

 After dinner the girls went on a bike ride.

 Campfire time!

The girls loved eating toasted marshmallows and smores!  Here is Emily toasting a marshmallow while Lauren eats and observes.

The next morning we had waffles with raspberry syrup for breakfast! Justin also cooked some yummy sausages over the campfire.

So many fun memories!  We will definitely be going camping again next summer!

Uncle Lane's Birthday Celebration

We had a belated birthday celebration at our house for Uncle Lane and the girls were SO excited!  The joy on their faces during the cake ceremony was so much fun to see!

 Blowing out the candles!

Yay!  Uncle Lane's wish will be granted!

Playdate With Gavin!

Last week we met up with one of our favorite friends Gavin and Melissa. They brought chocolate Batman cupcakes... what a treat!

The playground at Ibach Park has a fancy seesaw!

Everyone loves to blow bubbles!

We even went on a short bike ride!  Emily tried to keep up with Gavin and Lauren took a more leisurely ride with Melissa by her side.