Aquasox!

The local library offered free tickets to the Aquasox this year. Since I love baseball and I love the Aquasox it was an easy sell for me to grab the tickets for our family.

Unknown to me it was mascot night which is always a lot of fun. The kids had a great time seeing all the different local team and business mascots and cheerfully gave them all high fives. My alma mater's mascot Sammy Seagull even made an appearance!

The one I was worried about was Reid. He is so busy and so squirmy and such a picky eater that I thought for sure he was going to be a train wreck. He was crazy busy and squirmy for the first 2 innings but after that he seemed to calm down a bit. He was still busy climbing quite often but he also spent a lot of time in Eric's lap happily watching the game.

 The boys were both thrilled with the game. They are finally old enough to really enjoy it and understand what they are watching. The game was a come from behind win (it started an utter and complete blowout for the opposing team) and it was super exciting. Lots of cheering, clapping and foot stomping on those aluminum bleachers.

We broke the game up when they had a kid giveaway and scored these awesome masks and some frisbees. All in all the game was a success and I am so glad we braved it with all the kids.

Loving My Girls

I love these little ladies so much. I am so in awe of the fact that I have been chosen to be their mother. It is so much fun to see the wonderful little people they are becoming. I am so excited for the next few years and watching them find and engage in their own interests and activities. There is nothing but adventure and possibility waiting for Lucy and Gwen. I am going to wait and wonder and pray for the lives that are ahead of them.

Summer

S'mores

Tent sleeping

Pool swimming

Game playing

Bike riding

Baseball watching

Soccer practicing

BBQ eating

Fruit stand buying

Thursday adventuring

Seriously loving this life.

Aquarun 2012

The kids and I have been very excited to race this season. The boys got a taste of racing during the Issaquah triathlon and now every time I have an event they ask if there is a kid one too.

Due to the fact that I was racing the 10k run and I am slower than molasses in winter, I did not get to see the start of the kids race.

The kids run was a cross country course that stayed by the high school. Lots of parents were running with their kids but my two were happy to tackle it on their own.

I missed Andrew crossing the finish line but as I was entering the stadium to finish my race I got to see Zane crossing the finish line for his race.

The rest of the kids are such great tag-alongs for all these events and Eric is amazing to put up with it all!

Next year maybe even Lucy will get in on the racing action! I know she has wanted to for the last few races but she is still a bit too unpredictable. I want to be positive that she will do it before I pay to register her!

Andrew completed the course in 6:39 which was 4/31 in his division of 9 and under! Zane finished 8:38 26/31 in the same division!

New Specs for Two

Several weeks ago I took the boys in for annual eye exams. Andrew's eyesight was fine last year but this spring he started fussing that he couldn't read clocks that he had been able to read previously and I got suspicious. So this year when they told me he needed a slight correction and would only need his glasses for school and distance viewing I was not surprised. Andrew is not excited to need glasses. In fact there were a lot of tears involved after the appointment and then again today after we picked them up. However, he did admit that he can see distances much clearer with them on. So I will have to be content with that.

Zane of course still needs glasses. His eyesight is so bad that he will never be without some type of correction. But he did get new frames and I am so relieved that we now have backup glasses to use if he really breaks his glasses this year. There were several weeks of taped and glued frames this year. I was tense the entire time. A little bit of buffer will be a great thing for all of us.

Adventure Thursday! Aquarium

The kids and I embarked on another Thursday adventure, this time to the Seattle Aquarium with Grandma Meow and Auntie Angie and Rory in tow.

 

The kids really enjoyed the tide pool and spent a long time touching all of the different sea creatures.

Reid in particular loved the tide pools. He splashed and splashed for probably 30 minutes. He really could have cared less about touching the creatures. He just wanted to play in the water. Gwen on the other hand took a LONG time to warm up to touching the creatures. She seemed freaked out entirely but eventually we convinced her to touch a few.

I tried desperately to get a picture of all the kids together. SIGH. Reid was in a whirlwind type of mood today and it was almost impossible to get a photo of him at all.

It has been such fun having Angie and Rory come and meet us for our adventures. They are a great addition to our fun.

He loves his Auntie Sam the very, very best.

Zane's Decision

Our church has been doing a prayer focus for 40 days and our family has been participating. This week we began praying and our focus on Tuesday was "I pray today that many would come to a saving knowledge of Jesus this year. So as I was talking with the kids about what a saving knowledge of Jesus was and how it was more than head knowledge, it requires a heart change too. Zane asked if you could pray about that anytime. I answered yes. And then he asked if he could pray about that right now. I said absolutely. 


Then Zane prayed an absolutely wonderful heartfelt prayer about how he wanted Jesus to be the boss in his life and his best friend forever. 


It was absolutely wonderful and I am so excited to see what God has in store for my Zane.

Reid Isaiah- 15 Months

Finally got Reid in for his 15 month checkup. He is doing great and is even more of a string bean than I thought!

Height: 32.25" (75%)
Weight: 24 lbs. (37%)

I talked to the doctor about his lack of talking and she still feels he is within the acceptable range of talking. Other than his picky appetite he was doing great. His busyness is definitely reflected in his weight but he is not too far off his normal curve.

Reid is doing great. And I couldn't be more pleased!

VBS Insanity

I have been a horrid blogger lately. We have been busy doing two weeks worth of VBS and it has taken a lot out of me. So the result of over tired, VBS busy me is no blogging. Sorry! I fully anticipate being back in the regular swing of things here shortly.

This Time for Real

Months and months ago I thought Gwen was ready to potty train. She was able to hold her bladder and liked to pee on the potty. However, this only extended to the times she was interested in going. Playtime, mealtime, anytime she was preoccupied there was an accident. So we shelved the potty training for a few months. Right before we left for Cannon Beach Gwen decided to get serious about potty training. I went to Cannon Beach with her in pull-ups full time and decided to see if it was just a passing fad or if she was really ready. Well, I am happy to say that she is definitely potty trained. One more kiddo out of diapers! So happy!!!

Just Call Him 'BLADE'

One of Andrew's presents for his birthday from the family was a pocket knife. Originally we were intending to take him to the store and have him pick out the knife of his choice. After a very long trip to the store and a few tears we discovered that they did not have the knife that Andrew wanted. He fell in love with a Swiss Army Knife with about a million functions and they did not have one at the store. We ended up ordering one online and it arrived today.

Andrew's favorite function? Toothpick, saw, scissors, toothpick.

Apparently we didn't need to buy him a knife at all!

Summer is Finally Here!

We took the kids to Lundeen Beach to play in the water. It is a beautiful day and since Eric was home it was a good time to go.

Reid thought that the water was a wee bit scary. So he spent most of his time digging in the sand. Note to self: Keep Reid entertained with a stick and a giant beach of sand. He will be content for a solid hour.

Eric went out in the water with the kiddos. They had a wonderful time and splashed around until they had blue lips. Gwen in particular was super excited to be playing at the beach. Of course she is also the one I worry about the most since she has not had swimming lessons and wants to go deep with the other kids.

It was fun watching the kiddos all play. I can't wait for the rest of the summer. I see more trips in our future!

A Thursday Adventure

This summer I am trying to get out and go on adventures with the kiddos. Just because there are a lot of them doesn't mean that I can't take them out and have some fun. I just may take a helper or two with me to be extra eyes for me. Today we invited Grandma Meow and Auntie Angie and Rory to join us at the Woodland Park Zoo.

We took a few minutes to play on the statues outside the gorilla exhibits. It was such a beautiful day out! So nice after all the nasty weather we had last week. Reid was a wild man at the zoo. He walked most of the day. He crashed almost immediately when we got in the car at 3:00. He wants to keep up with the big kids so much!

Andrew kept pretending to punch this gorilla. He is such a boy sometimes!

Rory was a great little buddy. It was so much fun to get the cousins together. I hope they are great friends. All my crew are really thrilled with him. I think we would happily add him to our immediate family if we could.

My adventuring crew. 

Such a great bunch of travel companions!

A Family Party

We decided to have a small family party since Andrew wanted a sleep over for his kid party.

It was so nice to have all the family over and celebrate Andrew turning 9. Andrew got a lot of Legos, some gift cards and some clothing.

Andrew requested a particular chocolate cake that I make. He and Eric eat it with applesauce. I have always thought it was strange but almost every family member on Eric's side that was there ate it that way. Apparently it is a family type thing.

Mr. Monkey Man

Reid Isaiah is growing like an absolute weed. I don't know his stats but I am assuming that he has grown since he is climbing everything these days just like a spider monkey. He is still very, very busy but I think that he is starting to get it when we say no.Reid has recently begun to be VERY interested in books. He will happily sit and read for a long time. He even will look through books on his own. And he does not rip books which is a huge relief. He would have demolished most of our books by now if he liked to rip pages.

 Reid is still nursing a couple of times a day but mostly it is for comfort rather than food. His dairy allergy is still pretty severe although if he actually drinks milk (from abandoned Gwen cups) he will just have nasty diapers for a few days rather than projectile vomit. So we are making progress. I feel pretty confident that he will be able to eat dairy at some point in time in the future. Reid still is fairly nonverbal. He mostly grunts and points or tries to get what he wants himself. His vocabulary consists of Mama, Dada and No. He will shake his head no and nod yes. That is it. I am trying not to be too concerned. He is just a sweet little joy and a great addition to our family.