Thursday, July 22, 2010
Sittin' On The Dock Of The Lake
Big boys away at Camp Nana. Quiet night on the lake with the littles, my man and my sis. Warm water, warm evening. The pictures speak for themselves.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Camp Nana
My mom had asked that she get to spend some time with the boys while we were visiting Washington, without the annoying presence of their parents. :) So while we were up in Everett staying with the Browns and Shevitz so Adam could be closer to work, my mom took the boys away for some quality time. Papa was included in the fun, but since he had to work through most of it (my mom is mostly off work during the summer), it was my mom who planned and executed all the adventures. And the boys had such a great time with Nana doing all her very cool activities that we started calling the time the boys had at my parents' house "Camp Nana."
First up was Luke's turn. Because Luke is younger, he can't, and doesn't want to, do some of the bigger boy stuff, so we thought he'd have more fun just having some one-on-one time with Nana and Papa. Plus, that would give the bigger boys a chance to do some bigger boy stuff when it was their turn. For the second half of the time we were watching Max and Hannah, Luke went down to Issaquah to stay for a couple of nights.
Luke and my mom mostly played and relaxed at the house. Even though the kids are only at their house about a week out of the year, my mom makes her home incredibly kid-friendly. There are "Nana's house" toys and books. The backyard is perfect for exploring. There is a sandbox and plenty of tiny dinosaur and lizard figurines to play with in the sand, and you know Luke loves those. And because it got nice and hot while he was visiting, my mom filled an inflatable boat with water so Luke could cool off.
The first night he was there, Luke had a hard time sleeping; he was a little afraid. The picture with my mom and Luke sleeping was taken by my dad in the morning. Nana ended up falling asleep on the hard floor next to him after getting up to comfort him numerous times. She has no blankets, only Luke's sheet, and Luke's leg is on her arm, but he finally slept...until 11:30am the next day when my mom had to wake him up because he was still sawing logs!
They did get out once and saw Toy Story 3, which had "two scary parts" according to Luke, but other than that he really liked it. He loved the quiet pace of life at Nana and Papa's. And of course he loved being doted on all by himself. And my parents had a great time too. It's always so fun to have the kids one at a time, you can really see their unique and special little (or big!) personalities really shine when they are solo.
The next week the big boys got a turn too. Nana picked them up from Everett and off they went to Camp Nana! She bought them clip boards and sketching pencils and they went out to capture nature through art. Then they came in to watercolor their masterpieces. My dad's garden is stocked full of beautiful flowers, so they had plenty of subjects to choose from. They also found a paper airplane book in my mom's car and spent most of the three days they were with her building various styles of paper airplanes and flying them down the driveway and off the balcony. Zach made some arrows and came up with a rubber band launch technique.
Nana took them to see both Despicable Me and How To Tame Your Dragon at the theater. All three liked How To Tame Your Dragon the best, but still said they loved Despicable Me. It was a tough choice, but it's hard for evil villains to compete with ferocious dragons.
They spent hours in my parents' hot tub, invented games in the tree house, played with every single toy my mom has in her arsenal, went digging for fossils in the fossil beds down the street from the house, explored the beautiful backyard; basically they had more fun than they could have at any regular old camp because with all the fun at Camp Nana comes with a lot of love and thoughtfulness poured in. Thank goodness they have a grandmother like their Nana! What lucky boys they are.
First up was Luke's turn. Because Luke is younger, he can't, and doesn't want to, do some of the bigger boy stuff, so we thought he'd have more fun just having some one-on-one time with Nana and Papa. Plus, that would give the bigger boys a chance to do some bigger boy stuff when it was their turn. For the second half of the time we were watching Max and Hannah, Luke went down to Issaquah to stay for a couple of nights.
Luke and my mom mostly played and relaxed at the house. Even though the kids are only at their house about a week out of the year, my mom makes her home incredibly kid-friendly. There are "Nana's house" toys and books. The backyard is perfect for exploring. There is a sandbox and plenty of tiny dinosaur and lizard figurines to play with in the sand, and you know Luke loves those. And because it got nice and hot while he was visiting, my mom filled an inflatable boat with water so Luke could cool off.
The first night he was there, Luke had a hard time sleeping; he was a little afraid. The picture with my mom and Luke sleeping was taken by my dad in the morning. Nana ended up falling asleep on the hard floor next to him after getting up to comfort him numerous times. She has no blankets, only Luke's sheet, and Luke's leg is on her arm, but he finally slept...until 11:30am the next day when my mom had to wake him up because he was still sawing logs!
They did get out once and saw Toy Story 3, which had "two scary parts" according to Luke, but other than that he really liked it. He loved the quiet pace of life at Nana and Papa's. And of course he loved being doted on all by himself. And my parents had a great time too. It's always so fun to have the kids one at a time, you can really see their unique and special little (or big!) personalities really shine when they are solo.
The next week the big boys got a turn too. Nana picked them up from Everett and off they went to Camp Nana! She bought them clip boards and sketching pencils and they went out to capture nature through art. Then they came in to watercolor their masterpieces. My dad's garden is stocked full of beautiful flowers, so they had plenty of subjects to choose from. They also found a paper airplane book in my mom's car and spent most of the three days they were with her building various styles of paper airplanes and flying them down the driveway and off the balcony. Zach made some arrows and came up with a rubber band launch technique. Nana took them to see both Despicable Me and How To Tame Your Dragon at the theater. All three liked How To Tame Your Dragon the best, but still said they loved Despicable Me. It was a tough choice, but it's hard for evil villains to compete with ferocious dragons.
They spent hours in my parents' hot tub, invented games in the tree house, played with every single toy my mom has in her arsenal, went digging for fossils in the fossil beds down the street from the house, explored the beautiful backyard; basically they had more fun than they could have at any regular old camp because with all the fun at Camp Nana comes with a lot of love and thoughtfulness poured in. Thank goodness they have a grandmother like their Nana! What lucky boys they are.
Monday, July 19, 2010
With The Greatest Of Ease...Well, "Ease" May Not Be Exactly The Word I'd Use
On Saturday, Adam, my sister, Leah, and I drove ourselves over the I-9o bridge and into the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle to SANCA. That's the School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts. While I do have visions of running away with the circus on particularly bad days with the boys, this was not the reason we were there that afternoon. After signing up for one two-hour session of trapeze lessons a few months back on a whim when my sister saw a half-price coupon online, the day had arrived to screw our courage to the sticking point and become students of the flying trapeze. That's the logistical reason I was there.
However, there is more. I'm not all that big on being high above the ground, nor do I feel very comfortable flinging my body into empty space off of high places. But I am big on overcoming things that make me afraid--in safe and controlled environments. I refuse to let my fears keep me from enjoying my life to the fullest. So I guess that is the real reason I found myself outside SANCA's "School of Flight" pavilion Saturday afternoon.
I am so glad I decided to show up. Wow! What an experience!
Our first step was to do the regular old step-off the platform and swing. Oh, I was freaked out! You can always tell when I am nervous about something because I become very quiet, and if you know me much at all, I'm not a quiet kind of girl. But when I am afraid I kind of have to go inside and do some inner talk, "You are going to be fine, you can do this, people do this all the time," stuff like that. Although the "people do this all the time" argument didn't really do much for me this time because my rational side kept saying to that calming inner voice, "No, they don't. People do not trapeze all the time."
We did some stretching and had some instruction by a member of the "flight team." Basically you clip into the safety line, climb the longest ladder in the world, get attached to more safety lines, lean out into space while a woman that you are sure weighs 20 pounds less than you anchors you to the platform, grab onto a bar that you are sure weighs 20 pounds more than you and is doing its best to pull you off the platform long before you are ready, listen to someone shout out "HUP!" and that means it's time to propel yourself into space. When you hear "hup!" again you are supposed to let go and fall towards the earth hoping the net, that was fine before you went up the ladder but suddenly looks very weak and way too small, catches you.
And guess what...I did it! It was kind of like jumping into water that is too cold. You know how it feels like you can't breathe for a minute? That was it exactly. I actually did my little hop off the platform when I heard the first "hup," much to my surprise, and then my exhale sucked back into my body instead of going out. It wasn't until after the first swing back that I remembered I still had to breathe out and it wasn't until the other end of that swing that I remembered I was supposed to point my toes and have some kind of form instead of letting my legs flail around as I soared through the air. And yes, the caller had to say the second "hup" twice because I couldn't get my hands to relinquish their tight, desperate-to-stay-alive grip on the bar the first time she said it.
But I did it and it was so fun!!! I felt all electric and completely incredible. Throughout the post the pictures are all jumbled so I'd have some of all of us, just remember, Adam is in the light blue shirt (and looks like a man), I'm in the teal t-shirt and my sis in the black tank.
Next we were taught a stunt creatively called the "knee hang back flip" because you hang by your knees then you do a back flip and drop to the net. Clever name, no? So you jump off the platform, swing down, pull your knees up and onto the bar (like you used to do in elementary school on the playground bars before you did a penny drop), force yourself to let go and dangle upside down by the trapeze bar. Part of the knee hang is this long reach toward another trapeze on the other end of the net. Then you put your hands back on, pull your legs back through, hang by your hands, then kick your legs forward, back and forward, that motion, plus the movement of the trapeze, gives you the momentum you need to do a back flip down to the net. EEEEEEE! Fortunately they are calling the movements the whole time so you don't really have to think about anything.
I didn't know if I could do it. It felt like so much to do and I could barely breathe the first time and couldn't even let go, how was I supposed to do it all? But I forced myself to listen intensely to what the caller was saying. That gave me the focus I needed to just go and do it. And I did. I completely surprised myself! It was so incredible. I loved the feeling of flying through the air! Such freedom! We did that trick twice. The second time I even ended up on my feet after my initial drop to the net.
The last trick was a catch. Say what?! Yep, we had to use that reach I mentioned that was in the middle of the knee hang to grab onto one of the teachers who was swinging from the other trapeze, then release the bar from your knees and go flying off holding onto the catcher's hands. I was so scared I wasn't going to remember to let go with my knees! In the group of 10 that started out, only 7 of us were able to try the catch, the other three hadn't been able to get the movements or timing on the "knee hang back flip" right. Of the 7 that did it, only 3 actually got the catch.
Mostly the problem was the timing. It had to be perfectly on to get the catch right. For example, Adam's catch was just a little late so their hands weren't in the right place for the grab. By the time the catcher called "no catch," Adam had already let go of his knees, so down to the net he went. You are on belay the whole time, so he didn't get hurt at all in his slow fall, but he was pretty disappointed because we only got the one try. But my sis and I were two of the three that did catch, we got our catches right on.
It was amazing. Swinging through the air on the end of that pendulum was the most exhilarating feeling. I'd do it again, and again, and again! Not that my fear of heights is totally alleviated by this one event, but I felt so confident by the end, and by doing things like this I think I chip away at the fear I have little by little. So if one day, after a rough day with the boys, I am nowhere to be found, you may have to worry that I really have run off with the circus!
However, there is more. I'm not all that big on being high above the ground, nor do I feel very comfortable flinging my body into empty space off of high places. But I am big on overcoming things that make me afraid--in safe and controlled environments. I refuse to let my fears keep me from enjoying my life to the fullest. So I guess that is the real reason I found myself outside SANCA's "School of Flight" pavilion Saturday afternoon.
I am so glad I decided to show up. Wow! What an experience!Our first step was to do the regular old step-off the platform and swing. Oh, I was freaked out! You can always tell when I am nervous about something because I become very quiet, and if you know me much at all, I'm not a quiet kind of girl. But when I am afraid I kind of have to go inside and do some inner talk, "You are going to be fine, you can do this, people do this all the time," stuff like that. Although the "people do this all the time" argument didn't really do much for me this time because my rational side kept saying to that calming inner voice, "No, they don't. People do not trapeze all the time."
We did some stretching and had some instruction by a member of the "flight team." Basically you clip into the safety line, climb the longest ladder in the world, get attached to more safety lines, lean out into space while a woman that you are sure weighs 20 pounds less than you anchors you to the platform, grab onto a bar that you are sure weighs 20 pounds more than you and is doing its best to pull you off the platform long before you are ready, listen to someone shout out "HUP!" and that means it's time to propel yourself into space. When you hear "hup!" again you are supposed to let go and fall towards the earth hoping the net, that was fine before you went up the ladder but suddenly looks very weak and way too small, catches you.
And guess what...I did it! It was kind of like jumping into water that is too cold. You know how it feels like you can't breathe for a minute? That was it exactly. I actually did my little hop off the platform when I heard the first "hup," much to my surprise, and then my exhale sucked back into my body instead of going out. It wasn't until after the first swing back that I remembered I still had to breathe out and it wasn't until the other end of that swing that I remembered I was supposed to point my toes and have some kind of form instead of letting my legs flail around as I soared through the air. And yes, the caller had to say the second "hup" twice because I couldn't get my hands to relinquish their tight, desperate-to-stay-alive grip on the bar the first time she said it.
But I did it and it was so fun!!! I felt all electric and completely incredible. Throughout the post the pictures are all jumbled so I'd have some of all of us, just remember, Adam is in the light blue shirt (and looks like a man), I'm in the teal t-shirt and my sis in the black tank.
Next we were taught a stunt creatively called the "knee hang back flip" because you hang by your knees then you do a back flip and drop to the net. Clever name, no? So you jump off the platform, swing down, pull your knees up and onto the bar (like you used to do in elementary school on the playground bars before you did a penny drop), force yourself to let go and dangle upside down by the trapeze bar. Part of the knee hang is this long reach toward another trapeze on the other end of the net. Then you put your hands back on, pull your legs back through, hang by your hands, then kick your legs forward, back and forward, that motion, plus the movement of the trapeze, gives you the momentum you need to do a back flip down to the net. EEEEEEE! Fortunately they are calling the movements the whole time so you don't really have to think about anything.I didn't know if I could do it. It felt like so much to do and I could barely breathe the first time and couldn't even let go, how was I supposed to do it all? But I forced myself to listen intensely to what the caller was saying. That gave me the focus I needed to just go and do it. And I did. I completely surprised myself! It was so incredible. I loved the feeling of flying through the air! Such freedom! We did that trick twice. The second time I even ended up on my feet after my initial drop to the net.
The last trick was a catch. Say what?! Yep, we had to use that reach I mentioned that was in the middle of the knee hang to grab onto one of the teachers who was swinging from the other trapeze, then release the bar from your knees and go flying off holding onto the catcher's hands. I was so scared I wasn't going to remember to let go with my knees! In the group of 10 that started out, only 7 of us were able to try the catch, the other three hadn't been able to get the movements or timing on the "knee hang back flip" right. Of the 7 that did it, only 3 actually got the catch.Mostly the problem was the timing. It had to be perfectly on to get the catch right. For example, Adam's catch was just a little late so their hands weren't in the right place for the grab. By the time the catcher called "no catch," Adam had already let go of his knees, so down to the net he went. You are on belay the whole time, so he didn't get hurt at all in his slow fall, but he was pretty disappointed because we only got the one try. But my sis and I were two of the three that did catch, we got our catches right on.
It was amazing. Swinging through the air on the end of that pendulum was the most exhilarating feeling. I'd do it again, and again, and again! Not that my fear of heights is totally alleviated by this one event, but I felt so confident by the end, and by doing things like this I think I chip away at the fear I have little by little. So if one day, after a rough day with the boys, I am nowhere to be found, you may have to worry that I really have run off with the circus!
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Some Things You Should Know About Tommy: Month Nine
OK. So we are nine months into our lives with Tommy now and I think that is absolutely crazy. Part of me feels like it's been so much longer but the other part goes, "What?" Do you realize that means it's just a little over three months until HALLOWEEN? Wasn't it JUST Halloween? And my little big baby is getting so much bigger...it's breaking my heart! But I'm loving every minute of it!
1. Tommy is days away from crawling forward. He can crawl backwards, well, it's more of a belly-slither backwards, which makes him particularly annoyed. And he can get himself from his tummy up to sitting on his bum when he's on a surface with any kind of friction (i.e. not on hardwood or linoleum). I am hoping we can make it through our trip before he really gets moving because nothing is baby-proofed out here...hmmm, not much is at home yet either...yipes!
2. Tommy is a loud child. I know this was also from last month, but he is REALLY loud now. He likes to butt into conversations with loud shrieks and shouts. He babbles frequently, and if you are talking and he's babbling, he just gets louder so he can make sure you understand that he's trying to tell you something. His newest sound is kind of a throat hiss, like a cat, or a French accent. It's pretty funny.
3. When Tommy sees anyone eating anything he is instantly desperate to have it. He balls his little hands into fists, and pulls his arms into his body really fast making a kind of loud, forceful shout-grunt which means, "Gimme that! I want some!"
4. Tommy is busy busy busy. He is grabby and curious and into everything. He wiggles this way and that to get to what he wants; it's like a psycho inch worm, moving himself around through a process of reaching, laying flat, pushing up and spinning to slowly make his way across a room. If something is within his body length, he's got to touch it, taste it, poke himself in the eye with it. Today, for example, twice he had Luke's little plastic animals in his mouth and once he had the tip of a suction Nerf dart. Awesome. Crawling is going to be a bit insane.
5. Tommy is fine with other people, unless he sees me. Then it's over. If I need to get something done, I need to be out of Tommy's line of sight and sometimes even beyond his hearing. But if he's tired and hungry all bets are off. It's mommy or wahhhhh!
6. Tommy still nurses as much as he did before he started solids even though he eats three solid food meals a day now. He still loves my homemade purees the most (they are just more flavorful, I think), and prefers table foods over jarred store-bought purees. So we usually try to feed him off our plates and that makes him happy. Even though he still has no teeth, as long as the bites are small he does pretty well. He also prefers vegetables to fruits. Go figure.
7. On the subject of nursing, Tommy is highly distracted when he nurses. I have to find a quiet, low-light room where a fan or white noise maker is running in order to feed him without him popping or pulling off every few seconds to look wildly around at the fun being had in his vicinity and interject loud exclamations of "Ah!" and "Da!" The challenge is that the quiet room also makes him sleepy, so it's hard to nurse him when he isn't ready for bedtime or a nap. So I am frequently sore after his non-sleep nursings. Fun!
8. Tommy just fills my heart. I take joy in the moments I have with him and miss him when I'm away from him. The kid has me weak in the knees with ooey gooey love.
9. Tommy is so easy going. When he cries it's because something is really bothering him or he really needs something (usually that would be mom). For example, when his cousin was smashing him with her love, he just kind of grunted and looked at us with pleading "help me" eyes. When something bumps him he makes a little sound like, "I don't mean to alarm anyone, but I was just bumped and it was a little unpleasant, so if it's not too much trouble could you make sure it doesn't happen again please?" It's just so sweet.
10. Tommy did his first sign the other day. We've been working on the sign for "more" with him and Adam got him going on it just a couple of days ago. He's not doing it all the time yet and sometimes looks at us with this perturbed look like, "You know what I want, so just give it to me." But he did it, repeatedly, for one meal. Yay!
Love you every second, my nine-month Tommy! And that goes for all the Tommys before and the Tommys to come!
1. Tommy is days away from crawling forward. He can crawl backwards, well, it's more of a belly-slither backwards, which makes him particularly annoyed. And he can get himself from his tummy up to sitting on his bum when he's on a surface with any kind of friction (i.e. not on hardwood or linoleum). I am hoping we can make it through our trip before he really gets moving because nothing is baby-proofed out here...hmmm, not much is at home yet either...yipes!
2. Tommy is a loud child. I know this was also from last month, but he is REALLY loud now. He likes to butt into conversations with loud shrieks and shouts. He babbles frequently, and if you are talking and he's babbling, he just gets louder so he can make sure you understand that he's trying to tell you something. His newest sound is kind of a throat hiss, like a cat, or a French accent. It's pretty funny.
3. When Tommy sees anyone eating anything he is instantly desperate to have it. He balls his little hands into fists, and pulls his arms into his body really fast making a kind of loud, forceful shout-grunt which means, "Gimme that! I want some!"
4. Tommy is busy busy busy. He is grabby and curious and into everything. He wiggles this way and that to get to what he wants; it's like a psycho inch worm, moving himself around through a process of reaching, laying flat, pushing up and spinning to slowly make his way across a room. If something is within his body length, he's got to touch it, taste it, poke himself in the eye with it. Today, for example, twice he had Luke's little plastic animals in his mouth and once he had the tip of a suction Nerf dart. Awesome. Crawling is going to be a bit insane.
5. Tommy is fine with other people, unless he sees me. Then it's over. If I need to get something done, I need to be out of Tommy's line of sight and sometimes even beyond his hearing. But if he's tired and hungry all bets are off. It's mommy or wahhhhh!
6. Tommy still nurses as much as he did before he started solids even though he eats three solid food meals a day now. He still loves my homemade purees the most (they are just more flavorful, I think), and prefers table foods over jarred store-bought purees. So we usually try to feed him off our plates and that makes him happy. Even though he still has no teeth, as long as the bites are small he does pretty well. He also prefers vegetables to fruits. Go figure.
7. On the subject of nursing, Tommy is highly distracted when he nurses. I have to find a quiet, low-light room where a fan or white noise maker is running in order to feed him without him popping or pulling off every few seconds to look wildly around at the fun being had in his vicinity and interject loud exclamations of "Ah!" and "Da!" The challenge is that the quiet room also makes him sleepy, so it's hard to nurse him when he isn't ready for bedtime or a nap. So I am frequently sore after his non-sleep nursings. Fun!
8. Tommy just fills my heart. I take joy in the moments I have with him and miss him when I'm away from him. The kid has me weak in the knees with ooey gooey love.
9. Tommy is so easy going. When he cries it's because something is really bothering him or he really needs something (usually that would be mom). For example, when his cousin was smashing him with her love, he just kind of grunted and looked at us with pleading "help me" eyes. When something bumps him he makes a little sound like, "I don't mean to alarm anyone, but I was just bumped and it was a little unpleasant, so if it's not too much trouble could you make sure it doesn't happen again please?" It's just so sweet.
10. Tommy did his first sign the other day. We've been working on the sign for "more" with him and Adam got him going on it just a couple of days ago. He's not doing it all the time yet and sometimes looks at us with this perturbed look like, "You know what I want, so just give it to me." But he did it, repeatedly, for one meal. Yay!
Love you every second, my nine-month Tommy! And that goes for all the Tommys before and the Tommys to come!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Treasured Family And Cherished Friends
The cabin is my slice of earthly heaven and I love spending time amongst the trees and green of Washington, but the real reason we make our yearly summer pilgrimage here is to be with family and friends as much as we can. We had a long weekend with Adam's family and next week we are off to the coast with mine. The boys are having some wonderful kids-only visits with their grandparents on both sides and their Aunt Sara too. We've spent a lot of time with the Browns and Shevitz, our closest friends from our time living here. It's a crazy schedule of running here and running there, making sure we do this and that, and every summer the whole set up of where we stay and what we do is so different. Last year it was hard to get to seeing friends with all that we had planned with our families, but this year we had extended time up in Everett, since Adam had to be close to work, so we've gotten a lot of time with our friends up here, but less time with family. It's crammed and busy, but wonderful and I miss it all so much when we go home.
This summer we made sure to plan a visit with our cousins, the Deputy family. The last time we were able to get together, Mandi's kids were almost the same ages as mine are now, minus her youngest, who was not yet born and I only had Zach and Ben. Mandi and Adam are cousins through her mother and his father, who are siblings. We drove down to their lovely new home in the countryside of Bonney Lake for a Sunday visit. And we thought we had remodel stories to tell! Their building stories trumped ours in the first two minutes. We were going to kind of play how long we stayed by how the little kids were doing. Luke and Tommy were awesome and everyone was having such a fabulous time we ended up staying all day and into the early evening.
What a wonderful family they are. Adam and I enjoyed the easy conversation and relaxed atmosphere we felt being with Mandi and Greg. Their kids are amazing, from Colleen (16-- pretty awesome name, right?), who is such a beautiful young woman inside and out, to Cameron (14) who gave us a glimpse at what is ahead for us in our boys' early teen years, to Keegan (11), who entertained our big boys the whole afternoon, to Atalie (9) who charmed Luke and kept him smiling, to Griffin (5) who could have slipped in with our five and we wouldn't have even noticed, he would have fit so perfectly! We sure love them and this visit was truly a gift for us.
We were also able to meet up with a few of our friends from our old Everett ward. Originally we were going to get together at the cabin, but the weather wasn't supposed to be all that warm, so we decided a park would be better. But when we woke up the morning of our playdate it was raining, so Beth kindly volunteered her house to let the kids and mommies pour en masse: me with my five; Beth and her three kids; Kedra with her two kids, Olivia and Nolan, with one on the way next month; Emily N. and her son Jack with one on the way in the winter; Emily S. and her kids Abi, Elyssa, Ammon, and Easton; and Sarah and her daughters Rachel and Jayden. It was a packed house! But the visit was worth the craziness. I just love these ladies and miss being in the same ward as them. We laughed the hours away and the visit was all too quick. The kids thought it ended too quickly as well. They were pretty bummed when it was time to break the party up. 
The next great visit was with our neighbors from the neighborhood we lived in before we moved to Colorado. It was the first house we owned and we lucked into some amazing neighbors with 2 incredible sons of their own. In an earlier post I mentioned that our friend Ian came up to play at the cabin one day, well, when we dropped Ian off that afternoon, we decided one visit wasn't enough, and the Parkers invited us over for dinner the following week. Luke and I ended up missing the dinner because Luke got a high fever the night before (that lasted three days, he's now on antibiotics for strep throat), but Adam took the other boys. The Parker's backyard is like a little boy heaven. There are tree forts, a trampoline, rope swings, pellet guns to shoot and woods to explore. They did an outdoor weenie and marshmallow roast for dinner. It was a night of perfection.
Evan was still at camp, so, sadly, we didn't get to see him this visit. Jay and Dar are a couple of the kindest of people I've met in my life, and I sure missed being able to visit with them. Fortunately Dar and I had had a chance to talk for a bit when she dropped Ian off at the cabin the previous week. I love listening to their stories of where they've been with their boys and where they are now. They are incredible parents and have raised fine boys, so I like to learn all I can from them!
Last night I was able to get together with the women of my first ever playgroup when Zach was an itty bitty newborn. We all delivered within 3 months of each other at Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland, Washington. And we all attended the baby forum the hospital offered for free during your child's first three months of life. So we've been friends for over 9 years now. Wow! Time flies! These women are an ingrained part of my treasured memories from my early days of motherhood, and even though we don't all keep in regular contact, their friendship is priceless to me because of our history and how they have helped me to be the mother I am.
Sometimes not everyone can make it, like last night we were missing Nyree and Lindzie (they weren't just missing, they were missed!), but we try to get at least one gathering together every year since we stopped meeting as a playgroup back when our kids all started preschool and some of us moved here and there. Whenever we meet up it is one big gabfest as we share stories and commiserate and celebrate. Ladies, I love you! (In the picture: Me, Tamara, Becky, Staci, Ashley, Trisha, Pam and Kristina)
This summer we made sure to plan a visit with our cousins, the Deputy family. The last time we were able to get together, Mandi's kids were almost the same ages as mine are now, minus her youngest, who was not yet born and I only had Zach and Ben. Mandi and Adam are cousins through her mother and his father, who are siblings. We drove down to their lovely new home in the countryside of Bonney Lake for a Sunday visit. And we thought we had remodel stories to tell! Their building stories trumped ours in the first two minutes. We were going to kind of play how long we stayed by how the little kids were doing. Luke and Tommy were awesome and everyone was having such a fabulous time we ended up staying all day and into the early evening.
What a wonderful family they are. Adam and I enjoyed the easy conversation and relaxed atmosphere we felt being with Mandi and Greg. Their kids are amazing, from Colleen (16-- pretty awesome name, right?), who is such a beautiful young woman inside and out, to Cameron (14) who gave us a glimpse at what is ahead for us in our boys' early teen years, to Keegan (11), who entertained our big boys the whole afternoon, to Atalie (9) who charmed Luke and kept him smiling, to Griffin (5) who could have slipped in with our five and we wouldn't have even noticed, he would have fit so perfectly! We sure love them and this visit was truly a gift for us.
We were also able to meet up with a few of our friends from our old Everett ward. Originally we were going to get together at the cabin, but the weather wasn't supposed to be all that warm, so we decided a park would be better. But when we woke up the morning of our playdate it was raining, so Beth kindly volunteered her house to let the kids and mommies pour en masse: me with my five; Beth and her three kids; Kedra with her two kids, Olivia and Nolan, with one on the way next month; Emily N. and her son Jack with one on the way in the winter; Emily S. and her kids Abi, Elyssa, Ammon, and Easton; and Sarah and her daughters Rachel and Jayden. It was a packed house! But the visit was worth the craziness. I just love these ladies and miss being in the same ward as them. We laughed the hours away and the visit was all too quick. The kids thought it ended too quickly as well. They were pretty bummed when it was time to break the party up. 
The next great visit was with our neighbors from the neighborhood we lived in before we moved to Colorado. It was the first house we owned and we lucked into some amazing neighbors with 2 incredible sons of their own. In an earlier post I mentioned that our friend Ian came up to play at the cabin one day, well, when we dropped Ian off that afternoon, we decided one visit wasn't enough, and the Parkers invited us over for dinner the following week. Luke and I ended up missing the dinner because Luke got a high fever the night before (that lasted three days, he's now on antibiotics for strep throat), but Adam took the other boys. The Parker's backyard is like a little boy heaven. There are tree forts, a trampoline, rope swings, pellet guns to shoot and woods to explore. They did an outdoor weenie and marshmallow roast for dinner. It was a night of perfection. Evan was still at camp, so, sadly, we didn't get to see him this visit. Jay and Dar are a couple of the kindest of people I've met in my life, and I sure missed being able to visit with them. Fortunately Dar and I had had a chance to talk for a bit when she dropped Ian off at the cabin the previous week. I love listening to their stories of where they've been with their boys and where they are now. They are incredible parents and have raised fine boys, so I like to learn all I can from them!
Last night I was able to get together with the women of my first ever playgroup when Zach was an itty bitty newborn. We all delivered within 3 months of each other at Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland, Washington. And we all attended the baby forum the hospital offered for free during your child's first three months of life. So we've been friends for over 9 years now. Wow! Time flies! These women are an ingrained part of my treasured memories from my early days of motherhood, and even though we don't all keep in regular contact, their friendship is priceless to me because of our history and how they have helped me to be the mother I am. Sometimes not everyone can make it, like last night we were missing Nyree and Lindzie (they weren't just missing, they were missed!), but we try to get at least one gathering together every year since we stopped meeting as a playgroup back when our kids all started preschool and some of us moved here and there. Whenever we meet up it is one big gabfest as we share stories and commiserate and celebrate. Ladies, I love you! (In the picture: Me, Tamara, Becky, Staci, Ashley, Trisha, Pam and Kristina)
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