Perks...

Nov 13, 2015

Stuffing your kids in hats like this is one of the perks of living in a state whose temperature drops below 50.  Also, Friday night football games with friends.


Three...

Nov 11, 2015

Dominic turned three last Thursday.  This year we wanted to really spoil him.  Last year was a complete wash, everything was still new and Washington was still a completely foreign land, plus I was sick and just entering my first energy draining trimester with Max.  So this year was all about celebrating him.

Every year we stuff our kids room full of balloons, but since Dominic is deathly afraid of balloons, not necessarily the balloons themselves but the potential of one extemporaneously popping, we decided to forgo our tradition and opted for streamers as an early morning surprise.

We tried to fill the day with fun adventures and people Dominic loves.  Gifts from family arrived and sat waiting for him in the morning. We opened gifts, played a lot and rushed out the door to meet some friends at the childrens museum before taking Scarlett to school. Then per Dominics request we enjoyed a mommy son date at Chick-fil-a for lunch.  The very fact that this was his one and only actual specific request of the day felt like a parenting success. Three years and I think we made a very wise boy.

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"Happy Birthday to you Dominic" - Scarlett 
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Thank you to everyone who loved on our little boy...and to our family and friends that sent a little something in the mail to help make Dominic's birthday extra special.

Happy birthday my boy.

Sports fans...

Nov 9, 2015

Supporting the local teams, with a little LA on the side.

Fall is here...

Nov 6, 2015

Fall is here in full force, and our front yard is in the running for "yard that shows just how little the family living on this property know about taking care of a yard in the fall".  Essentially we are just assuming the falling leaves will eventually melt away with all the rain or blow into our neighbors yard during the next windstorm, either of which weather forecast is to be expected every day from here until next June.



Good news is Chris finally got a leaf blower so at least it appears like we are trying to keep up with the Jones'.

P.S.  Our neighbors Halloween decorations seen above included "beware" tape, a full skeleton hanging in the window stuck to a giant spider web, a poltergeist hanging in the door way and a strobe light ALL NIGHT LONG.

Halloween...

Nov 4, 2015

For the sake of my own failing memory and in an effort to use this blog as a personal memory book...I give you Halloween 2015.


Summer lovin'...

Oct 26, 2015

When Chris and I decided to uproot our tiny family of (then) four to the tippy top of the western U.S. we dreamed of the summers we could spend frolicking through the pacific northwest.  With neither of us working for a total of 10 glorious weeks we imagined, well honestly, I think we imagined a life without kids, but instead we decided to have one more.

So in an effort to reminisce over our not so originally planned summer turned absolutely perfect with the arrival of baby Max,  I give you 10 weeks worth of pictures.

June -

Scarlett finished preschool and Max was born the next day.
 
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July -

My dad and sister came to meet Max...they were the first family members to meet the little guy.
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Once we came out of our newborn baby cave we got on a plane and flew to CA for a little R and R
But mostly we went to CA so Granny could meet her umpteenth great grandchild and to get Max baptized at our "home" church.

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We bought a van
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August -

We came home from CA to a flurry of visitors.
Joe and Kim and their four kids came for a week long visit.  This idea that originally stressed me out (I had no idea what to expect while having a total of 11 people in our house for an ENTIRE week), quickly became one of the best weeks of our summer.  We had SO MUCH fun.  We made memories with our kids and our family that I will never forget and we hope that this can be a tradition every year.

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So, even though summer has officially been over now for a month, and truthfully we welcome the beautiful fall leaves and pumpkin spice everything.  We miss the day to day monotony of asking "what do you want to do?" and knowing that it could literally be anything.  We were so lucky to have been able to spend that time as a perfect family of five and look forward creating more memories in the Washington summers to come.