Sunday, July 16, 2017

Life in June

I got tangled up in arm knitting


This boy loves to empty the drawers and then sit in it or use it as a stool. I found him one day hanging off that top drawer with his feet in the bottom one,



No guilt or shame for this one.


My fantastic Marde Dos came to visit the day after sister weekend and Husband planned a wonderful trip to Whidbey Island to see Fort Casey



It was such a clear day and so beautiful, but a little chilly still because of the wind.



It's hard to get the scale of the guns and heights in pictures but my kids were giving me heart attacks. Not nearly enough guard rails for kids their size.





We also went and checked out the lighthouse nearby.


I love that I have an entire new state of beautiful places to explore.


 There were also lots of deer around that I still find delightful.



My friends spoiled me for my birthday and my friend Constance made me the most amazing mini strawberry bundt cake with cupcakes for the kids.


Lezlie Hansen dropped off chocolates and flowers.


We also hiked around Farrell Mcwhorter park. The city of Redmond runs a little farm in the middle of it.





We also grabbed some Pho and boba.


Peonies blooming in my front yard may have edged out calla lillies as my favorite flower.


J had a gymnastics meet and did so great.



Her friends Parker and Sydney also take class with her.


Their amazing kindergarten teacher came to cheer them on. I love that woman so much!


This was from mother's day, but I had to snap a picture of it before letting it go.


After my mil left, Katie and Jesse came to visit! I love all the company! We visited Pike Place and rode the monorail.


We went to the Seattle temple and at fancy sushi after. Like the restaurant was on stilts on Bellevue lake. It was really good sushi too.


Jessie and I went for a little hike so that I could show her how big the leaves grow here.



She looked up and said, "Tree stars!" like the Land Before Time. Now I totally see it.


M3 decided to climb up the back of the stool onto to counter to eat some chips. In 5 seconds flat while I was making a lunch on the opposite counter. That baby!



M had his last day of preschool. We loved Miss Michelle and Miss Trish.



These two have a special bond and she just wanted a picture with him.


The Quillens were in town and came by for a quick hello. That became and even quicker goodbye when it appeared Korrali bit through her lip after falling off a chair. We're trying to convince them to move to Washington.



 M went on Priesthood commemoration campout. He refused to leave this popcorn alone and had to open it early.


I built a retaining wall for the alpaca den. It was a total beast to level.


They made these cute popcorn things for their Pop in primary.


Sometimes your sister puts you in dress up hats and leis


He can reach things on top of the table now and it's making my life much harder.



He also likes to crawl while in this tent and move it impressive distances away from the playroom.


I gave M a haircut and did a mohawk. His response to seeing it, "Now cut it off."


This was a very impressive home depot run with two young boys.


But with the help of Annika Riddle and Rachel Trulock, I finished the final wall.


I finished crocheting a little cardigan for a pregnant friend.


And I made a pillow cover with arm knitting. You use your arms instead of needles and the course on creative bug is well worth the $5.


J had her last day of school. She had a great year and has grown so much! She is excited for first grade but says she will miss the fun things from kindergarten like choice time. Her beloved Mrs. Haaland said how J had become one of those special students that sink into your heart, ones that never get forgotten. We feel the same way about her teacher.



This boy's request for summer was to have a water balloon party. I made it a water party with a 100 foot slip and slide.



Lil Sis helped me with the water blob. The trouble was that my hose didn't reach far enough to put the blob where we wanted it. It's essentially a water bed full of food coloring and glitter, a tarp with the sides melted together. Well Lil Sis was convinced we could just roll the bajillion pound thing to the right spot. Well the rolling put too much pressure on the seam and it start to spring leaks. Then the blob started rolling down the hill, veering the wrong direction. I tried to get it to change course but the momentum of a hundred gallons of water took out my ankles and it was the most comically part of my week. I wish we had a video of the hulking, leaking mass traveling down the hill like a 50's horror movie. It found spot to land way beyond the mark with lots of leaks, but Lil Sis did the best triage she could, even brought a hot iron out. It sort of worked. 


The kids had much more fun on the slip and slide. You know, 20 minutes before the end of the party when the sun finally came out and delivered the 75 degrees we were promised.




We hiked Redmond watershed preserve with the Riddles. Their family has the perfect compliment of ages for us to have a stellar time. You will be seeing many adventures with this crew.





J wanted to work on art so I did some brush lettering practice and we did a watercolor class on creative bug together. She is illustrating my work and I think her additions looked great.


Here was my watercolor explorations.


M wanted to paint to and asked for a brush. I brought out one of my good ones but he declines. "No, I want to use one of the transwoocent ones." He meant one of my waterbrushes, but where did the kid learn translucent and use it correctly?


One of my first friends up here and go to babysitter to trade with, Anna Krey, moved :( We through a little potluck going away party at the park.



M climbed to the top of this and was yelling something at me. I was ignoring him so he convinced a stranger to walk over to the ramada and "tell my mom to come take a picture of me. She's in the orange shirt." Glad to know my neon rash guard is useful identification. The guy couldn't help but meet the demands of my little 4 year old tyrant and did as instructed. I was laughing so hard I had to oblige.


Happy 1st Bday M3!

Poor 3rd child. I was a little beat after sister weekend so you didn't get a grand party. But the Duncombs came over and Lil Sis's family to celebrate and you got to cake smash a large corner of Costco cake M insisted on getting. 









But I did make you a custom onesie because I love you and I was helping Vicki make one for her son. AND I took pictures of you with my fancy camera and did a little photo shoot. That totally counts. 




You still weren't walking at the beginning of June but now you are walking like a cowboy everywhere. You always smile with that tongue out, probably because you are teething often. Just those bottom teeth for so long, even then they took almost 8 months to come through, then BOOM! Grumpy, feverish, and three new teeth in three days. You are the sweetest little guy and weigh about 25 pounds so it's getting harder and harder to babywear you on adventures. You have had three haircuts already when your siblings barely had any hair at this point. Your brown eyes get so many comments because they are so dark on such a fair face. And probably because you will meet people's eyes. You love people. No stranger danger, no crying when I drop you off at kids care. You love your sister and she likes to jump in your crib to entertain you most mornings. You even say Ay-yah when you are referring to her. Sometimes you yell Mam repeatedly to summon me. But mostly you babble in fun phrases that very clearly have tone and meaning. 

We love you to the moon and back darling!

Sister Weekend


For my birthday present and our official celebration of the 1 year anniversary of my 30th bday (Nothing like being 24hrs postpartum to ruin a birthday celebration), Lil Sis flew out Big Sis for an epic sister weekend.

Once upon a time Lil Sis found a show in Korean on her Netflix queue. It was pandora's box because it introduced us to the amazing, cheesy romantic wonderful that is Kdrama. Anyways, all of us have watched enough to have collected a series of common Kdrama tropes, such as the korean spas and karaoke box.

We ate at this delicious Korean restaurant and sat on the tradition side on the floor with low tables. The food was seriously delicious.



Then we hit up karaoke where everything was in Korean but they gave us an English version printout of what all the keys on the remote meant and made do.




It was amazing with a disco ball and tamborines


I bought this rice punch from the cooler out from.



Yep, totally gross.


Then we went to the Korean spa and it.was.amazing. They have all these fancy heated rooms with scientifically questionable properties. Like in one the walls were lined with charcoal, another pink Himalayan salt, another jade stones. One room had a bunch of heated sand under this fabric and it felt so good to walk on. You wear these robes remind me of the kind you can order in the weekly coupon packet that comes in the newpaper. And showercaps, just like the Kdramas. It was seriously SO cool, even if it looks totally sketch in this picture.


The next day were were going to go to Victoria but then balked at the $200 ferry ride. Instead we opted to go on a kayak tour near Lopez Island. But we sort of got side tracked in Anacortes at the waterfront festival. No regrets! We ate at a fun little cafe.


Took awesome pictures at the waterfront


I'm always a sucker for a farmers market and this one was perfect.


We decided Lopez Island was out but still wanted to explore a bit more so we road an itty bitty ferry to Guemes and walked the beach.


We looked at these interesting sticks and tried to figure out what they said. Then we walked on the other side of them and clearly saw the YMCA.


 We also stopped by the lululemon outlet on the way home and life felt complete. Big Sis also colored my hair and did a fantastic job.


The first day was also incredible because my sisters helped me build the alpaca den! They are fantastic and I love having besties that get me so well and can knock the crap out of home projects. It was such an amazing weekend and we've decided it is going to be a mandatory get together at least once a year.

 

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