Gwendolyn’s Dance Recital

       Gwen finished out her dance year with a recital in the last week of June. She was so excited! She got ot pick out her own tutu and create her own dance while being part of the group dance as well. The pictures are pretty lousy since there was no flash allowed and my camera doesn’t handle it well. We have video that I’ll add whenever J gets around to compressing it :) It was pretty cute, as soon as she came out to dance she stared hard into the audience and waved at us. Then she picked her nose!

Ethan at intermission, before Gwen’s performance. He was pretending to be Ben10, something he’s really into right now.

Giving Ms. Martha her flowers.

Gwen had never gotten flowers before and was thrilled by two bouquets just for her!

Gwen told us that she’s done with dance and would like to do gymnastics now. I’m glad she got to work with such an awesome and gentle dance teacher and have this experience!

Father's Day

This year I wanted to do something special for Jason because he's such a great father. Its hard to do things for him because he 1) manages the money so he can SEE what I've bought or reserved and 2) he always tells us not to spend any money on him.

So this time I used the credit card (and told him not to look) and made some plans.

Friday I dropped the kids off at my parents house and they watched them for two nights. All we can say is bless and thank you. What a special treat to sleep in and do things without having to buckle/unbuckle and load/unload 3 kids. Friday night we went out to a local restaurant, then to a bookstore, then ice cream, then home. Fun :)

Saturday, I didn't tell J what we were doing, but that he had to pack an overnight bag. We went and saw a movie (Iron Man 2... not too bad and its not my type of movie at all!). Then we ate at 5 Guys Burgers & Fries (yum). Kicked around Pike Place Market for an hour or two, drank the best vanilla latte I've EVER had, then got to the real surprise part.

We drove to the Silver Cloud Stadium Hotel, which was right across the street from Safeco Field. We got a room overlooking the left field gate. Check out the view from our window.


I had gotten us tickets to that nights game. It was so awesome to walk out of your hotel room door just a few minutes before game time and not worry about parking, crowds, or any of that. After the game was over (they won!), it took us 5 minutes from seat to comfy hotel bed. And then we were able to people watch for a long time too, which was pretty fun!

The next morning we loitered around reading and relaxing, then headed up to Northgate to kill some time before our Father's Day event with my family. Around 2 we met at Becki's house and visited and had some food, then headed down to the Ballard Locks and fish ladder. I haven't been there since my early teens. Looked exactly the same, but it was really neat to see boats passing in the locks and all the fish swimming around the ladder. The weather was dreary, but it was so nice to spend time with my siblings and parents and my own kids and husband doing something outside our normal stuff (which is great, but different stuff is great too!).

Jason ended up staying home on Monday and took the kids to see Toy Story 3. What a busy and eventful this Father's Day ended up being, but we all had so much fun.

Cub Scout

Ethan just joined a local Tiger Cub den and is loving Scouting! He hasn't done much yet, but just the rough and tumble play time is enough for him :) On Thursday there was a picnic and raingutter regatta. Ethan's boat that he and Jason built did very well and he really enjoyed himself!

Here's a pic of him right before we left in his little outfit. He loves his uniform, and although I do not love sewing on these frustrating patches, I have to admit he looks so cute when its all put together. Note the angry sister in the window. She wanted to be in the picture but I told her it was just for Ethan. I guess she got in that picture anyhow! Cracked me up.

Camping at Flowing Lake

We’ve started what I hope will be a yearly tradition of having a camping trip with my immediate family. Last year we stayed at the yurts at River Meadow Park in Arlington. I filled out a survey card and ended up winning a free night at any of the parks! So this year we decided to stay at the cabins at Flowing Lake in Snohomish. Its kinda weird to camp so close to your own home, but it definitely has its perks. Definitely.

There were 4 cabins and we rented all of them. At first J and I thought we’d want the one with the deck, but once we got there, we saw that Cabin 2 was better suited for the kids. Lots of flat pavement for them to ride their bikes on!

Ethan being a wonderful watchman over his little sister. And her not appreciating it too much.

A really neat Eagle Scout project at the lake. Free lifejackets that you can rent. You just fill out a little form, use the jacket, then return when you’re done.

   

We found this little bubbling spot on the edge of the lake and I was convinced it was a spring of some kind. Later I found out it was a pipe with water run off. Totally not as exciting.

Our wonderful puppy-dog Toby, who behaved very well and had a blast swimming.

Elsa showing me her flower

 

And throwing a fit not 5 minutes later. The life of a 2 year old is fraught with such mood swings!

Making dinner the first night. My Mom brought all the fixings for marinated kebabs and everyone got to make their own.

 

Becki brought a magazine that had pictures of conception-birth and she read to all the kids. They really enjoyed it.

The early morning crew hiding out under the shelters. This would end up the only non-rainy day of the trip!

  

Michael and Jenni provided breakfast the first day. It was great!

Heading out to fish

The kids ended up with the most luck of anyone. They both caught a couple fish.

 

I love Ethan’s face.

My one and only and bestest bro.

Michelle and Peter provided us with lunch, but we all forgot to bring a knife. Somehow, she conquered this watermelon with a plastic knife! Go Shelly!

Gwen showing off her bike skills. Earlier in the day she had a scary incident where she panicked and went down a hill with no brakes and crashed. I have to say it was kinda funny after the fear wore off. She actually looked a lot like this picture. She just freaked out and wouldn’t put her feet on the pedals and use the brakes. Luckily, she got right back on and tried again :)

 

We went fishing again and Gwen caught this tiny fish. Much smaller than her other catches, which had not scared her at all. This tiny little fish did though!

 

Elsa, very tired, very dirty, ready for bed.

I ended up catching a catfish, but again, because none of us brought a knife, we couldn’t gut it and eat it! Bummer. But it really cracked us up because Ethan kept insisting that there were catfish in the lake and we were like, “No, not here. We’ve never heard that” and yet I ended up catching one!

All and all we had a wonderful time! Its so nice to get to spend devoted time with your siblings. We are so blessed to have a family that really enjoys spending time together.

Spokane

Over Memorial Day weekend we travelled to Spokane to visit Jason’s side of the family. The drive went ok. There was construction on I-90 so we decided to take Hwy 2 which was a mistake. We made 3x as many potty stops because you’re constantly passing things and the kids knew that we could stop. When you’re in the middle of no mans land on I-90, there is no place to stop and so it just doesn’t come up as much.

Our DVD player (i.e. laptop) setup also failed, which left us with NOTHING! Now I’m sure some in the older generation are all, “I remember when we used to drive 10 hours each way without a DVD player, or iPods, or video games and we LIKED it.”. This is true and very possible. I have memories of those trips myself! But my kids are used to the DVD player and so are we :) Luckily, after running around town in Spokane we were able to make it work for the drive back.

I have no pictures from the trip, but we did a lot! We saw Shrek in 3-D, had lots of visiting time, and Jason and I even got to go out to dinner without the kids with a friend of his. Good times.

Gwen’s Graduation

Gwen graduated from pre-K and it was so touching and bittersweet. Mostly because Ms. Patty and Ms. Paula have been teaching my kids for 3 years total and we love them so much. They’ve become a part of our lives. Now we’ll see them in another couple years when Elsa starts up, but it will be weird not to be running over to Calvary a few times a week and seeing them.

Graduation was held at Jennings Park, as usual. Kids had a blast playing around.

Ethan and Elsa eating the good food! There was an incident of Ethan playing with a balloon tied to Ms. Paula’s present and it flying away. He was utterly humiliated about it, though everyone kept trying to make him feel ok. It literally took me over an hour just to get him to get back out in public and even then he just kind of hid in the background. Poor guy, hard lesson to learn!

Ms. Abigail and Ms. Paula giving out her diploma

 

Ethan and his best friend Laura.

    

Despite the oddness of not having a preschool or pre-k to attend, I am VERY much looking forward to not dashing out of the house early in the morning and being able to school both the kids at home on my schedule!

Changes

As you can see I've switched things around. I was feeling so blah about the layout that I've had for ages now! Not sure I like the new look, so it may continue to change. Honestly, I'm not sure how many readers I still have as I update so infrequently, but I will continue to do what I can because it feels good to write and it provides me with a journal of what we do over the years. Jason and I have referred back to the blog many times to remember details of various events (and settle bets on who was right!).

I have a LOT to update on and I've committed myself to doing that this week. I also want to post a poll about baby names!

Not sleeping

Last Tuesday Elsa and Gwen were in their room taking a nap when a neighbors horn went off for about 20 seconds. My kids are real sensitive to things that sound like alarms and this sounded like an alarm and it terrified them both! Gwen recovered quickly, but Elsa hasn’t. Since that incident nearly a week ago, she has not been able to sleep in her room at all.

We’ve tried so many things I can’t even recount them. The only thing we haven’t tried so far is moving her crib into a different room. It feels like this is not so much about fear any more and a lot about “if I hold out long enough I can sleep with Mommy and Daddy!”. Yet she displays some other behaviors that lead me to think that at the very least she does not like her room at all now (she won’t play in there for instance, even if we all are in there).

For the first few nights we eventually would give in and put her in our bed where she’d fall asleep almost immediately. Then we’d put her back in her bed and she’d sleep through the night. The last 4 or so nights though, she will wake up every hour. As you might imagine, this is extremely exhausting and frustrating.  This also applies for naps so its something we’re struggling with all day long and the wee little bit of free time I got every day has been eaten up.

I hate going to bed frustrated and upset, waking up every hour frustrated and upset, and starting my day frustrated and upset! There is no one to blame… its just something to get through. But its still very draining.

I’m having a hard time staying positive. It feels like I’m crying every day.  We seem to just be in a real tough streak and that little black raincloud just hangs over our heads wherever we go, making things as complicated and stressful as possible. I feel so worn down. Usually pregnancy is a time when I feel pretty good. As detailed on this blog, I usually have at least one semi-major home improvement job I tackle during pregnancy and I like to get things in order. I don’t know that’s going to happen this time. Seems hard enough just staying on top of day to day tasks, let alone any big projects.

Anyway, enough whining. Off to make some order out of chaos.

Elsa turns 2

Our little blond surprise! Our stubborn, funny, talkative, and charming baby girl. She has kept us hopping since day one and will probably continue to do so as the years roll by. Happy birthday my Elly-Belly!

Newborn

6 months

1 Year

2 Years

Updates, part 2

My garden has been doing ok. I went on a little buying binge and changed my plan around, but I’m happy with how its come out. Somehow I ended up with 9 tomato plants! Holy moly, all my local peeps, you may be getting bags of tomatoes from me later this year. We had like 2 days of very strong winds, complete with rough crosswinds, and it demolished some of my tomatoes, despite my efforts to protect them. I had to replace all the special ones I ordered online which was a major bummer for me. I just pray that everything else goes fine. Gardening is supposed to be fun, not stressful! I’m going to try to get a new picture up soon. Here’s what I have though:

• 9 tomatoes (Purple Cherokee, Gardeners Choice Cherry, Black Krim, Black Cherry, Brandywine, Goliath, Manitoba, Patio, Roma)
• 1 Brussels sprout (Thanks Aunt Margaret!)
• 2 squares of beets
• 3 basil plants
• 2 parsley
• 1 thyme
• 2 rainbow Swiss chard
• 2 chive
• 2+ zucchini
• 2 sugar snap pea plants
• mint/lemon thyme
• 1 butternut squash (thanks again to Aunt Margaret!)
  

I finally completed a year long project of obtaining a new seat for our Suburban. We have bucket seats in our first row and we needed a bench to comfortably seat 4 kids plus guests. Gray leather bench seats that fit our Suburban are much harder to find than you might think! But I bought one, sight unseen, from a junkyard in Bellingham and I think it will be great. My Dad is going to pick it up on Monday (he is up there for work all the time) so hopefully by Wednesday I can have it in! It’ll be nice to have the full space utilized in the car.

Yesterday we went with G’s pre-k class to a local fire station. What fun!

Ethan, such a good helper, pushing Elsa for me.

Gwen

Elsa in her fire hat

Fireman giving the kids a talk

Inside the ambulance

Gwen driving

Ethan in the captains chair

Elsa liked the back seat

Sisters

Talking about the Jaws of Life

Showing off their newly remodeled kitchen. I love how Elly immediately found the one item of food out in that whole building.

The closest thing they had to a fire dog

Later in the day, I was about to Elly in the tub and noticed how much gunk there was in her hair. Its very fine and straight and resists most attempts at controlling it. So I decided I was going to cut in some bangs. Now I’m bad at cutting hair. Last time I tried it was on Ethan when he wasn’t even a year! And it was bad. But I just got an urge to do something so I did.

Before

After

Now, I don’t think I did too bad considering that it was basically snip here, snip there, between keeping her distracted and happy. Since its dried, it looks a little football helmet-ish on the front, and honestly, she doesn’t even look like my little baby any more! She looks older. But its really nice not to have to constantly battle with the hair.

As for me, well, I haven't been doing so well. For about 3 weeks I've felt like a walking ball of stress and tension. Crying at the drop of the hat, zero energy, just blah blah blah through and through. I posted on Facebook how I feel like a little black raincloud settled over my head for a couple weeks and it still lingers. Everything seems difficult and hard and frustrating. Hoping that things improve soon. There is so much to do and not much time to do it.