Torin is most definitely well fed!

Torin is easily our biggest (almost) 2-month-old!  We've come to a few conclusions about chubby babies:

Chubby babies are happy babies!

Chubby babies are also good sleepers!  He has been sleeping really well at night, at times sleeping 6 straight hours!

Chubby babies are difficult to not want to kiss on the cheeks!

Let's go for a walk

It was a beautiful night so we figured we'd bring the entire crew for a walk.  Everyone wanted to be touching the stroller and helping push baby Torin.  Torin loves being outside and looking around.

Robin Hood Festival

Sherwood holds an annual Robin Hood Festival, which we have gone to in past years.  This year, we decided to go to a different place in the parade, closer to the front.  It was a pretty classic small-town parade, with fire trucks

and Star Wars characters ... wearing Robin Hood hats (the kids were pretty excited about this!).

Being at the front of the parade meant we got lots and lots of candy!  Kate became quite adept at sending others out into the street for her pink candy.  She even had the family sitting next to us giving her their pink candy!

  

At the festival, we played a few little games and watched a magician and sword fighting shows.  Liam liked the "fightin' guys!"

At the parade, a girl from a martial arts school brought a board for Jacob to break.  He was pretty excited when he broke it.  He wound up breaking the pieces again and again into even smaller boards!

  

At the festival, Liam got to have a turn breaking a board too.  I bet he could've broken it with his hand, too!

The best part, of course, was the food.  Actually, the entire reason we go to the festival is for the Sweet Apple Pie Fries, which are about the yummiest things I have ever had!  Wow!

40+ pounds of berries

We have had a great season for berry picking this year!  Over the past few weeks, we've picked over 40 pounds of berries, including blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and marionberries.  Earlier this summer, we picked 15 or so pounds of strawberries.  Honestly, we probably would've picked more if our little picker helpers were more agreeable (and helpful!). 

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Summer days at the park

We have had a beautiful Oregon summer and have taken full advantage.  With our current family situation, we haven't been able to do as many hikes or short trips as we have done in previous years, so instead, we've spent lots of time at parks playing.  We have had lots of lunches and dinners at the parks.

We have enjoyed playing games like basketball, tennis, and cornhole and

playing on the slides and tire swing at Memorial Park

Torin has also love his sibling time at the parks.

We have also spent time at Atfalati Park playing basketball and tennis and playing on the playground equipment.  And running away from dogs!

We love our Portland summers!

The bedtime "norm"

Occasionally when we have a babysitter, Jacob decides he is really sad and misses mom and dad.  One time, when Ashlyn was babysitting, she came up with a solution, effectively putting a 'shrine' of Jacob's favorite things next to him.  Here's an example of one shrine we saw.

For a long time, Liam has had trouble staying in his bed to go to sleep at night.  Most nights, he falls asleep in the crib.  This solution will eventually not work since the crib is now Torin's (or will be once all the summer vacations are over!)  Finally, we threatened and had to follow through with taking away his bed.  He ended up sleeping on the floor.  It worked for a day or two.

Claire sleeps in odd postions.  She almost always has her head covered up and/or wrapped tightly in blankets.  Often, she is right against the edge of the bed.  One Sunday morning, I woke her up for church, and she had a great big line across her forehead where she'd had her head resting against the edge of the bunk bed's guardrail!  Who knows how she sleeps this way, but it is definitely how she's slept ever since she was small and would stuff herself face first into the corner bumpers of the crib!

Bedtime is still a challenge, especially with Kate and Liam, and has been for months.  We are hoping they'll grow out of it soon since our main form of 'punishment' (having to go to sleep in Torin's crib) will not be an option soon!

Already 3 years old!

These 2 turned 3 today!!!  It is hard to believe that they are already 3.

To celebrate, we started the day with a birthday breakfast.  Kate and Liam opened their first birthday presents: new booster seats, which meant that they got to join us at the table!

Afterwards, we went to Seaside.  Before we went to play on the beach, we went to Norma's for some lunch.  We got a chilled crab cocktail (like a shirmp cocktail) for the kids, and Jacob had calamari.  He loves trying new things, for sure!  Kate and Liam, because it was their birthday, got a free dessert, which they shared with the group.

One elderly couple sitting next to us was very gracious as they left and thanked us for coming into the restaurant with our family and complimented the kids on how well mannered they were.  It is nice to be able to go to sit-down restaurant with this crew.

Liam was cute waiting on the bright red bench to be seated at Norma's.

After Norma's, we trekked down to the beach with all of our people and beach stuff.

We set up camp and got to playing in the sand.

The kids and Jared all started on a big sand castle.  Eventually, Claire lost interest and started digging a hole, and the other kids all joined.  She got all the way down to the water level and was as deep as her arm is long!  Nearby, Jared finished the sand castle on his own.

It was the first trip to the beach for little Torin.  As is his norm, he was pretty relaxed throughout the trip, just hanging out in tent.  We propped him up a little so he could see out.

Kate and Liam wanted to go into the water, so Jared took them down into the frigid water.  They ran in and out of the water over and over, alternating chasing and being chased by the waves, and Kate and Liam ended up going in above their bellies.  Poor Liam ended up with a pretty good rash from the sand.

 

It's a lot of work to bring all of these people to the coast, but it's worth it!

 

That night, Kate and Liam blew out the candles on their birthday cake.

Liam apparently wasn't impressed that the candles were still lit after his first attempt!

We opened presents after dinner.  Jacob and Claire contributed a half dozen home-made presents to the pile!

Kate got an Elsa dress which she was SOOO excited about!

We love these 3-year-olds!