Seeing Seattle

My sister Larissa has spent the last 7 years or so living far away. First in Milwaukee, and now in Seattle. I get to see her when she comes here for holidays and other things, but I have never been to her house. I decided a few months ago that I really wanted to go, and that I would surprise her for her birthday.

Surprise!

So, Sadie and I took off to spend almost a week up there. We went to some fun spots in Seattle, like Pike Place Market...

The Space Needle...

And a ferry ride over to Kingston for a fun day trip.

(It was a little windy)

My niece Olivia was afraid to get her pants wet in the freezing water, so she pulled them all the way up and had a great new look going.

We ate some delicious crepes. Yum!

Sadie was pretty clingy for the whole trip, but she did like to play with her cousins. Olivia got to teach her how to accessorize!

We had so much fun! Thanks for letting us crash your place Lar! Hopefully next time we come to visit you'll be much closer!

Zak stayed home with the boys for the week. Luckily we have great friends who were willing to help out so Zak could get some work in. He ran a pretty tight ship, making sure homework and chores were done everyday. And they got to have fun watching movies, eating out, and going to the wildlife museum.

A little late...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The little things...

Sometimes simple things make them so happy. And that makes me so happy.

I sure love these kids!

It's done

I finally got around to painting Sadie's room. I decided to do the stripes, and just figured I would have to spend a few days working on it. It could have been done within a few days if we didn't have everyday life happening as well, but because we did have other things going on, we had to extend the life of this project to about 2 1/2 weeks. I am so glad it is finally done and I can get back to my normal routine. And I can let Sadie back into her room!

Here it is on about day 5. After 2 colors and all the measuring, leveling, marking and taping.

The finished room. I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Lessons learned:
1. Don't wait until your baby learns how to crawl to start painting her room. It makes it a little harder to work while she is awake!
2. Never use Ace brand painter's tape again. It left nice blue residue. Really made me smile.
3. Don't let your 3 year old play with your straight edge if you want it to stay straight.

I'm starting to think...

...that this girl is going to be trouble!

I went to get her when she woke up from her nap yesterday, and this is what I found. She is pulling herself up already. Yesterday she only got to her knees. Today, she pulled herself to standing. Can't someone tell her she is not supposed to grow up too fast!

...that "stuffed" animals are kind of cool.

We finally went to the Wildlife Museum. I had heard about it a lot and thought it sounded a little weird to go look at a bunch of taxidermied animals, but we decided to go check it out. We had fun. The kids loved it!

...that I am still not cut out to raise boys!

Ethan was so excited about this frog he caught, and he couldn't understand why I wasn't more excited, and why I wouldn't want to hold it. Sorry boys. I'll wrestle, camp, play superheros and build forts, but I draw the line at slimy creatures. (Especially this little frog that looked half dead.)

Guess who's crawling

I hope we're ready for this. This little girl is on the move already.

We're Here

Ethan started 1st grade last week. So far he is loving it! We are really excited about his teacher and about all the fun things he will do this year. He is already seeming so grown up!


While Ethan is in school, poor Colby is without his best buddy. He had a lot of fun for about two days having all the toys to himself. Then he started to miss Ethan and get really bored without him. Here is what happened earlier this week:

"Mom, can I play with this basket?"

"Mom, come find me."

"Mom, come find Sadie."

I don't think she liked the game as much as he did.

Why did we have to come home?

We had such a fun trip to California this summer, it was really hard to come back! We went to Oceanside. It was so beautiful there and the beach house was awesome (Thanks Dix and Kaleen!). We spent a whole week playing on the beach, but I don't think it was enough.

Ethan and Colby. Best buds. Checking out the ocean.

Lots of playing in the sand...

Is there a better place to nap?

Zak and Ethan digging for sand crabs. They found some HUGE ones!

Playing with bubbles in "our" backyard.

Sadie had a great time too.

Whenever they weren't playing on the beach, they were playing with cousins in the house. So much fun.

Too bad all good things have to come to an end...

Small things tag

Tag: make a list of 6 small things that make you happy.

1. Larissa. (Thanks for the tag, by the way). I'm sure glad you started blogging because you're writing always makes me laugh. It reminds me of when you used to write me really funny letters from college, and then later some awesome e-mails (usually about your lack of received e-mails).

2. Fans. We just replaced the broken fan in our bedroom, and it is so nice to have a working fan again. Zak and I both have a hard time sleeping without a fan on.

3. Colby's laugh. I like Ethan's and Sadie's too, but there is just something about Colby's cute little giggle that always gets me laughing too.

4. Rasberries. They're my favorite. Eating fresh rasberries reminds me of being a kid in North Ogden and eating them right off the bush.

5. Children's books. Sometimes I think I am more excited to read the books from the library than the kids are.

6. Zak with the kids. They love when they get time with Dad, and he is so good with them. Ethan loves to talk to him about "guy stuff". Colby will never stop wrestling him. And Sadie smiles so big whenever she sees him.

Summer fun

Sadie Bug

Colbers

E

I think they're having fun.

My baby girl (and yes, she looks exactly like her brothers!)