Soon.....I promise!!

OK, so I know its been weeks since I last posted! We got our camera in the mail yesterday!! Its really been a bummer not having our camera, cell phones are great but really not the same. The good news though is that we got an even better camera as the replacement!! When we got back from Hawaii with our not so waterproof waterproof camera, I sent the manufacturer an email. Since we had just bought the camera they said to send it back and they would send us a replacement. Well a couple of weeks ago Jered got a phone call from the manufacturer. They said that unfortunately they didn't have our exact camera in stock and their shipment from Japan had been delayed and they weren't sure when it would get here. BUT they had the newer model of our same camera (which happens to be about $200 more than what we paid for our original camera). Would it be ok? Haha!! Jered told him that yes, he thought that would be fine. The guy said, "Well Mr McGrath the other thing is that we don't have this model in blue like your original camera. Would it be ok if you chose between orange or red?" I mean seriously! They sent us a kick-ass camera that costs WAY more than what we paid for ours and they're worried about the color! Jered said he guessed we'd be ok with orange :) We'll be taking all sorts of pictures and video, I'm so glad it got here before our Honeyman camping.

Now on to Ashlyn.....she is graduating from the Ducklings and moving on to the Twig room as of July 1. She has been visiting a lot lately and is really enjoying herself. She gets to play on a bigger playground, "that's MY playground Mommy!" she always says when we pull into the parking lot. Lately though she's been telling me she's going to stay a Duck, I tell her "Honey you'll always be a Duck!!" She's very sure of herself too. "No Mommy, I'm not a Twig, I'm a Duck!" She also refuses to believe her best friend, Natty Bo (Nathaniel) is not going to be a Twig. If they haven't seen each other in a couple of days they run up to each other and give big hugs!! Every day we hear about Natty Bo. Natty Bo did this, Natty Bo did that. I've been trying to remind her that Natty Bo is going to be an Acorn and not a Twig but that she'll see him on the playground. She always tells me, "No Mommy, Natty Bo's not an Acorn. Natty Bo's a Duck!" When I tell her soon he'll be an Acorn she tells me, "No Mommy, Natty Bo's gonna be a Twig!" Its gonna be hard for her to be away from Natty Bo.

This girl has a memory like a trap door! She still remembers us dropping off the coffee pot at Goodwill. We drove by there the other day and we hadn't been that way in a while but she said, "Mommy that's where we left the tea pot for other people who need it." One of her new favorites is Home Depot. Jered has taken her a couple of times with him to HD and now when we drive by every morning she tells me, "That's Home Depot! Me and Daddy go to Home Depot!" Yesterday morning she told me, "I love Home Depot and Daddy loves Home Depot too!" She still loves to see the boats when we go over Marquam bridge and now she nows that the river is called the Will-am-it River! She also knows where everyone lives. She knows Gma and Papa Mac live in Canada. Papa and Gma G live in Woodburn and Gma K lives in Woodburn too. She knows everyone that lives in Monroe too. Its so cute to hear her list them all off. Grammy and Grandpa and Uncle Keith and Macy and Bailey and Melody and Kourtney and Ashley and now baby Paisley and Gpa Terry and Gma Tracey. I'm telling you she doesn't forget anything! We were driving down to Woodburn on Sat for dinner and she wanted to know if we were going to see Aunt Kari and baby Grace. When I said no, she said "oh they live in Washington?"

A couple of nights ago she had to have a timeout after dinner. She yelled at Jered so she had to sit on the timeout chair. She is SO stubborn! She sat in that chair for probably 15 minutes before she would say "I'm sorry". There was a definite power struggle going on between one tiny little girl and two grown adults (who totally wanted to cave by the way)! But the adults won (yay for us!!) and she finally said I'm sorry and then got lots of hugs from both of us. The next morning she saw the chair and she said, "Ashlyn got a timeout" I asked her why and she told me "because I yelled at Daddy, but then I said I'm sorry"! Ha! If only it had been as easy as that sounds!

She loves camping! We did our annual Kacalek camping trip Father's Day weekend at Breitenbush and she had so much fun!! Her and cousin Nolan played and played and played! They were so cute and they played so well together. It had been a year since we'd seen them last, sad I know, a whole year, but the kids played together like they were the best of friends. We've been telling her that we're going camping this weekend too and she wanted to know if Nolan was coming too :)

This weekend is our annual Ballard family camp trip, so no Nolan but there will be lots of other cousins for her to see and play with. She's super excited to see Bailey and Macy! She told me this morning, "Macy will play with me at camping Mama? and Bailey too?" We are leaving after work on Thurs afternoon, driving to Florence and staying till Tues. I can't wait! I'm ready for a good relaxing time. Is there anything better than sitting round the campfire, drinking a glass of wine/beer/whatever and eating a smore?

She is growing up so fast! But not so fast that she wants to pee on the potty. We are struggling with the potty. She wants nothing to do with it! Mommy on the other hand, really wants her to be potty trained. Oh well, I'm letting it go for now (or at least I'm trying to let it go). When she's interested, she's interested.

So lots of pictures to come after our camping trip!! Happy 4th of July and a great big Happy Birthday to Papa Mac!!