His Own Set

After YEARS of sitting by and watching Andrew do Legos, Zane is finally old enough (and interested enough) to do his own set. This summer the boys have spent a decent amount of time playing with the sets Andrew already has and several times Zane has rebuilt a set of Andrew's.

The big kids seem thrilled that Zane got Legos. Lucy and Andrew are hovering over top of him watching him complete his set. It is super cute and I am so proud of my big boy.

Presents!

Happy Birthday Zane!

Seven years ago I was very pregnant. I was measuring huge. 44 weeks when I was only a measly 39 weeks pregnant. Let's just say I was uncomfortable and leave it at that. Zane has always been a busy baby. And a strong one. I very clearly remember him kicking so hard at 14 weeks pregnant that it made my tummy jump. Eric even saw it moving, it really wasn't a hallucination of a crazy pregnant lady. In general I had an easy pregnancy with Zane. Very mellow. I was only sick for the typical amount of time. I CRAVED dairy and meat, no surprise when we discovered we were having a boy at all. In fact the ultrasound tech pointed out the gender on the screen and said, "What do we have mom?" Very obviously all boy there.

So at 39 weeks pregnant when they offered to induced me due to large baby size I was thrilled. I never made it to my induction though. The day after my appointment I felt off. No other way to describe it. I was tired, sluggish. I laid down for a nap when Andrew laid down and slept for a few hours. When I woke up I realized I was having contractions. After about an hour they were stronger and closer together and so we dropped Andrew off at Grandma Alice's house and Grandpa Gene's and headed in to the hospital.

We arrived and I was checked out, 5 and a half cm and then oops! Water broke. After a solid hour of trying to get my IV in I finally was admitted to a room. GBS positive but it was 6pm by the time we got the meds started. Got the epidural in the hopes it would slow labor down but no dice. By 8pm I was pushing and at 8:09pm Zane Elliot made his arrival. 9lbs 10 oz. 20.5" long and absolutely perfect.

It is hard to believe that my sweet baby boy is already seven. Time goes so quickly. Happy birthday sweet Zane.

Oh 3...

I have mentioned previously that Gwen has been exceedingly three lately. Tonight she showed it off  in rare form. Gwen has been wanting to play in the pool or run through the sprinkler for several days. The weather is not exactly warm enough to do this though, and I had a very busy day and evening of folding the mountain of laundry I had put off. I told Gwen that if daddy wanted to do it then that was fine but it was a solid maybe, not a yes.

Gwen pretty much hears exactly what she wants to hear though when I say maybe. And to her a maybe always means YES! So when Eric got home and told her no, things turned ugly. Gwen started by sobbing, screaming, crying and demanding. She found a swimsuit. Carried it around for awhile. When that didn't seem to work she disappeared for a few minutes. I thought to myself AHA! it finally sunk in that we weren't giving in. But oh how mistaken I was.

The next thing I know Gwen is stripped down, naked as can, be holding her swimsuit. Begin the sobbing, screaming, crying and demanding all over again. I finally called down to Eric to come up and deal with her. He got some panties back on her. She was distraught. Two minutes later she was back out in the hall naked again. This time Eric put her in bed. A solid hour of sobbing in her room and she did not give up and go to sleep. Only when Lucy went to bed did she finally calm down and go to sleep.

She was such an easy two year old. I knew three was going to be rough, but I really didn't realize it was going to be this much fun. She is tenacious. It is a good character trait. It just needs to be molded first.

NorthWest Trek: A Wednesday Adventure

Grandma Meow had to start school on our normal Thursday adventure day so we opted to move our adventure to Wednesday instead. We headed all the way down to Northwest Trek in Eatonville to see all the animals and enjoy our last adventure of the summer.

Auntie Angie and Rory (Uncle Reece too) live very close to Northwest Trek so it was a very close adventure for them. It was a lot of fun to adventure with them as always.

We found this fun little house that had monitors for the live video feed for several of the exhibits. The kids enjoyed exploring all the activities.

We got to see almost every animal while we were there. The weather was really nice. Warm enough to be comfortable but not hot. This contributed to the animals being active and out where we could see them. The only animals we missed were the big cats. I think we scared them off. We were pretty loud.

The enclosures for each animal's viewing area are very nice. And most of them have these pillars that the kids seemed to think were perfect for climbing and hanging on.

All in all it was a great trip. Miss Gwendalyn has been exceedingly 3 lately so I feel grateful that we managed to only have one massive temper tantrum meltdown. Oh 3. You are so much fun.

My Ballerinas

We signed the girls up for ballet at the gym. And when I say "we" I really mean "me." The session is 3 months long and there will be a recital at the end. I am really excited and so are the girls. As soon as they heard that they were going to do ballet they have been at me constantly to start. It has been a long 2 weeks already and we have one more week to go! Both girls like to dance but Gwen in particular is very sweet and purposeful. It is going to be interesting to see how they do in the class.

The Evergreen State Fair! A Thursday Adventure

A summer is never complete without a trip to the Evergreen State Fair. And since the fair opened today and it was free admission until 1pm... Let's just say it had Thursday adventure written all over it!

Last year Reid was so tiny that he didn't even notice we were at the fair. This year he was thrilled and delighted to see all the animals. He wanted to touch everything and everything was a piggie.

As usual Auntie Angie and Rory came with us on our adventure and we had a great time hanging out with them. Mr. Rory is getting so big!

Zane was very excited to see Rory. I think he wants to be very best friends with him as he is growing up. It is very cute to see them bonding.

Andrew was very happy to pet animals and push the stroller for me most of the day. He is quite the big helper these days.

Still enough of a kid to love the fair!

We only had one mishap the entire day. In the very first barn we were looking at the pigs and all of a sudden I couldn't find Gwen. At all. She was nowhere to be seen and I started getting a little bit panicky.

I went all the way to the front of the barn that we were in and there she was standing with some lady who was patiently waiting for this poor child's mom to show up. She was a little scared and I was a whole lot scared. She didn't get out of the stroller for quite awhile after that. I don't know what she was thinking other than she must have gotten twisted around in the barn and not known where we were. Regardless, that is a panic I hope I NEVER have to feel again.

Some lunch, Alaskan Pig races, an elephant ear (cinnamon and sugar!) and more animals and we called it a day.

All in all it was a great adventure at the fair. Can't wait to do it again next year!

A Tween

Little kid no longer. My Andrew is officially a tween. There have been several hints that we have  arrived at this stage. My first hint was that he started getting interested in music. I know a lot of kids get interested in music much younger than Andrew, but he really doesn't turn toward music in general. Even as a little kid he didn't really dance or bounce around too much when music was on. So for him to have an opinion about something to listen to is definitely different. I am really curious where this is going to take him from an interest standpoint. Currently he is into the Beattles. Can't say too much negative about that choice.

My second clue was when I was gone and I called to see how he and Zane were doing at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I talked to Zane first and it was all as I expected. Then Andrew got on the phone and it was very clear that his voice has lost it's little boy sound. I noticed it again when I came home. He was downstairs and it was very obvious that he was older than anyone else that was talking. Not that it is like puberty deep or anything, just not my baby boy sound anymore.

The last thing that has changed is a complete shift in how he is relating to me and Eric and other older kids. He is starting to identify more with the middle school kids in our youth group than with the kids that are Zane's age. He sees himself as more of a helper than a playmate. It is a fun transition, occasionally frustrating, but mostly really enjoyable. This morning Andrew helped Eric with Zane's soccer team. It was fun to see him in action.

He is such a sweet boy. I am utterly and completely filled with momma pride at what a nice boy he is and how sweet his spirit is toward people. Some girl is going to be super lucky to get him!

Thursday Adventure: Mukilteo Beach

This weeks adventure took us to Mukilteo beach on a scorcher of a day. We invited some friends to come with us too!

Funny thing about Mukilteo beach, it is super barnacly and rocky. So it was a bad thing that I forgot Reid's shoes at home. Fortunately Reid was not terribly interested in going down by the water. He was pretty content with climbing on the logs by where we had set up.

Andrew and Zane were the mighty crab hunters this time around. They found a ton of the little creatures and this time they weren't too scared to pick them up. What a difference 2 years makes!

I think Zane almost got pinched but he was pretty determined to let me take a picture of the crab he had caught.

Auntie Angie and Rory came with us again. It was a hot day for a little guy but a couple of beach umbrellas make all the difference in the world!

Reid has been such a turkey lately. He knows when I want to take a picture of him and he refuses to look at the camera for me. What a goof.

Booker, Remy and Teresa all came to the beach too. Booker seemed to have a lot of fun with the kiddos while they hunted for crab. He had no desire to do the hunting himself but he happily let them use his bucket for storage. He even took one home to show his dad!

Serious hunting 

Super serious

Remy and Rory are only a few days apart. It is so cute to see them together. In my mind they are like twins.

Reid spent a decent amount of time just hanging out with grandma meow. He sure does love her a lot.

Halfway through our day my aunt Kathi, aunt Debbie and her grand kids showed up. It was a fun time playing with them and chatting as well.

Killian

Grace and Chloe