Retro Friday

This weekend, last year.

An indoor marathon because outside looked like this....
End of January snow....only thing worse is end of February snow.

Hi Mom...

I'm OK!

Paula and Joe took their big kids on a surprise trip to Disneyland and the little two have been left behind. This is Ben's first time without his mama and I think she is more worried than he is. So far so good...even a few giggles that I didn't get on camera!

These two LOVE to play together--they ran to Jack's room, shut the door and played, played, played. Then they had quite the chat during lunch.

Speaking of cousins, on the way home from ballet this week we drove by the house of a fellow kindergartener and when I pointed it out the girls started talking about him and here's what followed:

Ava: I think he's the nicest boy in class...he always raises his hand AND holds the door for the girls.

Kayte: Yes (long pause) maybe I should marry him.

A: Sure!

Jack: No! I am marrying Kayte!

K: (lots of giggles) No, Jack you are too little to marry me.

Yea Jack, never mind that she's your cousin, the real problem is that you're two years younger than her (which, come to think of it, didn't bother her mom at all!).

Quiet....

Three busy bees.

(Four if you count Ava's baby too)

Thanks Sarah!

He loves them and won't take them off even long enough to get them on the right feet!

Sweet Jem

Kids!

The other night at dinner, Jack had two bites of chicken left on his plate and I told him to eat one more and he said, "I can't! They're friends and the other one will be sad." Ava gave me a knowing smile and said, "kids say the funniest things!"

This one's for Daddy....

We LOVE you!

Jack's 2nd 3rd birthday!

We celebrated Jack's birthday yet again, this time with Ed's parents.

He got another set of Lincoln Logs which are more complicated than I remember....here's Ed "helping" build the Fort and Jack waiting as patiently as possible!

Retro Friday

This weekend, last year.

Potty training (ugh.)

Hangin out

Ed and Jack giving Jemma her bath.

Ed and the kids playing Disney DVD Bingo (the best thing we got them for Christmas!)

The Pilgrims

Today was Ava's class play about the pilgrims. They have been working hard for weeks and she has been so excited! This is totally her thing--she has almost the whole play memorized and she practices for us constantly! She always gets Jack all lined up like he's in it with her and then she does everyone's lines while he waits patiently for his part (which never comes!). She was so excited last night that she was still awake when we went to bed and I could hear her in there singing the song they ended with.

Cute little pilgrims! They were great!

At eight o'clock last night she decided we needed to make a special treat for after the play--she was so earnest that she talked me into it--and she wanted it to be a special "pilgrim" kind of food so we made pumpkin oatmeal muffins (sounded pilgrim to me!) and then she packed up some Thanksgiving napkins to go with them. She was of course up first this morning and she followed me around saying we had to hurry or we were going to be late (sounds just like her daddy!). We made it nice and early and she was the cutest little pilgrim I've seen!

Giggle girls

We LOVE Bear!

Jack's very very favorite books are the "Bear Snores On" series. He has four of them so far and we have to read every one every day. And when we're done he always says, "read it again!"

Sisters

Lately Jemma has been a serious mama's girl and her little lip pops out if anyone else holds her. I was writing this in her baby book when I thought I should check Ava's and see if she was ever like that and sure enough at exactly the same age, I wrote almost exactly the same thing in her book too!

Jack's big day!

Jack's original Birth Day

Jack was a great little birthday boy...so grateful for everything! Full of thank-yous for his presents, the happy b-day wishes, his cool favor bags, the capri-suns--everything! It was like he couldn't believe it was all for him! Will invited him over for his birthday lunch of McD hamburgers and some fun in the snow. After naps, we had dinner at home (Jack's fave baked pasta and fruit salad) and presents from us. And then we headed to the bowling alley for a party with all his cousins. Jack really wanted a bowling party this year although I'm not sure he even knew what bowling was till we got there but he loved it! He is such a joy-full, lovey, sweet buddy that it is such a pleasure to have a day just to celebrate him!

His first treats of the day!

The boys.

Presents!

Showing off his new golf clubs....he suddenly looks a lot older and all grown up!

Cake!

Ed teaching Jack the finer techniques of bowling. Jack was pretty good but in the interest of full disclosure, Ed actually finished second at the junior national bowling championship. (seriously. those good ol' days.)

Here's Will watching his bowl rolling...I think laying down helps it get there faster!

The daddies helping out.

Happy Birthday!

to the best little buddy in the world!

The sweet sound of new toys....

Here are my busy little bees, hard at play with all their new Christmas toys! Ahh, quiet.

This little stinker...

.....got to come on her first shopping trip in Spokane and she cried the entire time (okay, she slept a little but if she was awake, she was crying!). Sadly for Jemma all that crying didn't really slow us down, we went ahead and did all our shopping anyway! Then we took her out to Starbucks earlier today and walked the mall and she was perfect--smiling at strangers, cooing at her birdy--it was enough to make me think yesterday didn't even happen, except for the fact that my ears are still ringing from all the crying! This picture is from today (obviously).

Just like his Daddy...

Ed here...I had to post this pic. Kelly went to Spokane with Paula to "get away" and she took Jemma. I had a fun packed day with Jack and Ava and to cap the night off we watched Tinkerbell. Looks as though Jack has watched me and enjoyed the movie. It's good to see he loves the dog.

Retro Friday

This weekend, 2007

He was a seriously cute almost-one-year old!

Looks like Spring

It was fantastically sunny and a whopping 42 degrees today! I'm knocking on wood as I type this cause I know it will start snowing 2 seconds after I post but it felt deliciously like Spring today....it gives one hope.

These two spent a good chunk of the day looking for their sunglasses...too bad they didn't find them till after dark.

My little helper

Jack has started doing his share of the chores here and he loves it! He has taken over setting the table from Ava (she still clears...he can't yet handle those plates when there is actually stuff left on them!) including folding the napkins in clever little shapes like she always did. His favorite chore is laundry (he did not get that from me!) and he even folds and puts away his little clothes--I've learned to let any perfectionism regarding this chore go and he almost always gets them in the right drawers so we call that a success! He thinks he is ready for even more responsibility....I took him and Jemma on a super quick trip to Costco while Ava was at school this morning and when I got there he wanted a special treat for "babysitting" Jemma in the car (she slept the whole way but he was prepared to entertain her if necessary!). Thank goodness for hard working little boys!

Reading to my girls (and Jack)

My dad gave Ava a set of the American Girls "Kit" books for Christmas and we are reading through them at night. It always starts out with me and Ava and sometimes Jemma (who surprisingly enjoys them or at least enjoys staring at the cover!) but Jack always joins in too!

Have I mentioned I like football?

And this makes me giggle. I'm not a huge Steelers fan but they are the only guys left that I like (even just a little bit).

Ava Blythe

Lately I have been unable to stop staring at this girl...she is growing up and changing almost every second. Ed and I constantly look at each other and say one of the following: "she is getting so tall...she is getting so smart...she is getting so grown-up!" The other night we were reading together and she squeezed my hand and said, "we're good friends, aren't we?"

Happy Birthday Stephen!

Stephen's birthday was actually over a week ago but we finally celebrated it with the family. My kids get very anxious when one of us has a birthday without a "proper" celebration. Stephen of course did his own grown-up thing on the actual day but Jack and Ava kept asking when his "kid party" was going to be. I actually brought my camera just to get a picture of the birthday boy and then totally forgot to take one!

These two dug right into Susan's mousse cake. Regardless of the weather, Ava had to be in proper party attire...a skirt and a bow in the hair. She was a little concerned that Stephen would wonder why she was wearing pink to his boy party but he didn't seem to mind.

Calling all runners....

It was a balmy 37 degrees when I woke up this morning and I decided to head out for my first outside, in-the-cold, non-treadmill run since having the baby. In contrast to my last outside run waaaay back in March, an easy 8-miler in the morning before catering an evening event, today was a sad, slow barely-made-it 4 miler followed by flopping on the couch until my poor baby was hungry enough to force me to get up. Six weeks ago, the owner of my gym promised me I would have "no problem" getting back into shape after doing absolutely nothing for the nine months I was baking sweet Jemma. She was wrong. But it's possible that I might make it eventually...with a little help. Which is why I am starting a little running group and you're invited. I'll give you the basic plan here in case I have any readers who may want to join and then I'm actually going to call and harass those of you who I know run (or have at some point in the distant past...Rachel, Signe, Annie, Shawna...I know you're out there!). Our main goal this Spring will be to run Bloomsday (an immensely fun, HUGE, rowdy street race of 7.2 miles) the first weekend in May, the secondary goal will be to run the CDA 1/2 marathon on Memorial Day weekend. I will be posting all the details and much more on another blog that is invite only but the more the merrier so let me know here or by email if you're interested. Quick note, the only group runs will be the Saturday morning long runs so there is very little time committment involved (although you will have to do some amount of running--at the gym, outside, or in your basement--during the week and I will post my workouts in advance so you can follow those or do your own. And I steal mine from Runner's World so they should technically work--I'm not actually the one making them up!) and those runs will be mostly out-and-back runs so you can head home at any point if you want to run less or you have to feed the baby or go to the grocery store! More importantly, you do not have to live here--you can keep up with us on the blog and if you make it for Bloomsday or CDA that would be great but you can train for something local also. Let me know if you are even slightly intrigued and I'll send you the blog invite. I don't care if you haven't run in years, I promise there will be reasonable work-outs, good information, and a chance to hang out--even if we're too out of breath to actually talk!

Here's Ava stretching out with me after one of my last runs early last Spring--I must have known it was coming to an end when I made Ed take this shot!

Kicks and Giggles

Jack and I heard Jemma give a little giggle yesterday. Sadly it was not for us but for this ugly red bird that she spends much of her time talking to.

And the thumb is officially out of the closet. She also has to rub her head with her other hand which is cute now but could cause us some problems when her hair starts to grow!

Movie Night!

This year we gave the big kids movie tickets for Christmas, so yesterday we headed out for the big show. Jack got to tag along because he is so darn cute (and he's free!). The movie was less than spectacular (and scary!) but they liked it and hey, they were just happy enough to load up on candy and popcorn!

They all "paid" for themselves.

Yes, we had the theater all to ourselves! Look how intent they are and the movie hadn't even started yet!


This sweet pumpkin stayed home with her daddy.



Rachel, this part's for you...on the way home we had this conversation:
Will said something about his house and I said we knew the people who lived there before him.
Will: No you didn't.....really? who was it?
Me: the Madsons
Will: the Madisons?
Me: No, the Madsons. Tage and Simon...
Will: Tage? Simon?
Ava: Hey we know them.
Kayte: they used to go to the park with us.
Me: and Violet...
Ava: Violet? I love Violet.
Me: and Ben.
Will: No not Ben, he's our boy.

Back to school!

Ava went back to school today and while she was super excited, Jack was not so much. Here they are right before she headed out the door and right after I got this shot his little lip popped out and his eyes welled up. Don't worry, a little hot chocolate cheered him right up (especially since it was served in Ava's special mug!)

Closet thumb sucker

Jemma started sucking her thumb just minutes after she was born and then within a couple days she gave it up. But for about a week now I have been pretty sure that she has been sucking it in the middle of the night. (Ava was a serious thumb sucker so I know the signs!) For one thing she now sleeps up to 10 hours in a stretch and every once in awhile on the monitor I hear her cry for a second then some slurping sounds and then she conks out again but I have been unable to catch her in the act till now. Sure enough, she slides her chubby little hand down the side of her face till her thumb pops in her mouth (this can take several tries!). Here's the proof!

More snow!

Ed's at it again.

Jemma is spending the day in her jammies!

She LOVES her big sister!

Jemma wears a dress

and she's looking quite pleased with herself.