Well hello blog. Sorry I've basically abandoned you for over a year and skipped most of documenting 2017. For a while I contemplated being done with blogging altogether, but every now and then i'll go back to old posts, and feel so thankful for the information I've kept here. It's such a gift to tell stories to the kids, and be able to go back and show them pictures, and get more detail. So here I am, close to the start of 2018, and feeling ambitious to document what I can, when I can.
I thought i'd start with a snapshot of our current life. I love the little details that feel normal now, but I know change yearly, if not monthly.
Right now we are a week away from the daylight savings shift, and Ben and I are counting down the days until our kids sleep a little later than 5am. On most days, Levi wakes up crazy early... like 4:30 early. I can't believe it, but I'm still nursing him. I planned to wean him shortly after his first birthday like I did with my other two, but we passed that mark. I was waiting for him to stop showing interest and well, he hasn't. Anyway, when Levi wakes up in the morning crazy early, I will nurse him, and then put him back into his crib with some books and the closet light on and then go back to bed. Maddie wakes up soon after Levi around 5. We always know she's awake for the day because her door squeaks really loud. Sometimes she sees that no one is awake and then closes her door for a few minutes. Other times she comes into the hallway and whispers "daaaaaaaaad" Ben is amazing and gets up every morning with the two early birds. Usually by this point, Levi is over being in his crib and yelling "MAMA! DADDDYYYY! OUT!" Ben gets the kids breakfast every morning (usually pancakes or waffles) while he gets himself ready for the day. Around 6:15, he comes in to my room and usually says "Babe, it's time to get up." or "Can you listen for the kids? I need to take a shower." That's my cue to get the day started. I usually read a couple devotionals on my phone or read from new morning mercies and check my email. I get ready a little bit, gather the kids clothes for the day and head downstairs. I try to quickly make something for myself to eat, get the kids dressed, pack snacks for Colter, do Maddie's hair, make sure I have everything I might need for the day.. homework, water bottle, random school project, etc. The kids usually have one show before we leave for school so that I can get everything packed up and ready.
We leave the house by 7:45 every day, and I always check google maps to see what route is the quickest to school. 99% of the time the fastest route is taking the back roads to school. It's almost the exact route I drove when I was working before Colter was born, so it feels a little nostalgic. I love the drive for the most part. Lots of curvy, tree lined streets with minimal traffic. We drive through a neighborhood during the last part of our drive, and it's my favorite place. The streets are super wide, the trees are huge, the lawns are well taken care of, and the houses are all unique and beautiful. I never told Ben about my love for the neighborhood, and after he took the kids to school for the first time, he mentioned loving the neighborhood too. We always have similar taste in homes and neighborhoods. We usually get to school around 8:15. I park, get the stroller out and then make sure everyone has everything.. backpacks, coats, show and tell, etc. Colter starts school first, so we head into school, drop his backpack at the locker, and he inevitably gets out his cliff bar snack, meant for recess time, and eats it. I put the rest of his snacks in his desk, give him a hug and head out. He's done really well with drop offs this year. I think I can count on one hand how many times it's been a really hard/dramatic exit. If he's having a hard time, the therapist (Kate on MWF and Liz on Tu/Th) will take him to the quiet room next door, and I will leave from there. After dropping off Colter, we walk over to Maddie's preschool. Her school starts 30 minutes after Colter's, so we have some time to play before we go. Maddie almost always goes right to the swing with her friend Maddi and they beg me over and over "can you push us super duper high with a twisty twist?" Levi usually wanders off to the house area, where he plays with all the kitchen food and the phone. Lately he's been really into the water table, and sometimes he'll end up at the train table or on the slide. Around 8:45, I give Maddie a hug and do a "grand finale" swing and then tell Levi it's time to go, which is never fun. He's getting harder to convince to leave places lately, so usually I'll talk about something with a lot of excitement as I swoop him away "OOO maybe we'll see a garbage truck!! Do you want to ride in Maddie's seat?! We get to go to little gym today! Oh look! A squirrel!" It works 90% of the time.
Maddie goes to school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday she has gym and library and Wednesday is her show and tell. Colter has gym on Tuesdays and library on Wednesdays. He also has art and music on other days, but he's never made it to those specials this year, so he usually stays in the quiet room. Maddie is always coming back from gym on Tuesdays when I come to pick her up, so we wait in the car and watch her come back. Her and Maddi have a favorite high school boy that walks them back and they always yank on his arm the whole time. I always feel bad for the guy. Once they get back to class, they never want to let go of the boys arm, so I usually have to pry them away. Colter loves gym but at one point decided he was never going to go again because his PE teacher apparently threw out his favorite mat that he had been using all year because it was old. Well, somehow the mat reappeared and was fixed after a few weeks, so all was well. I always hear about some sort of car that he makes using the mat and the scooters. He also likes to line up the scooters and make a train. During recess, he plays "bot team" with other kindergarteners . I'm not sure exactly what it entails, but I know it involves staying at a base in the trees and trying to capture people.. usually his therapist. There was some drama at one point this year, when some girls decided that they wanted to use the base and Colter had a hard time understanding why all of a sudden they wanted to use it. They worked it out after a few days, and they are back to using it as their bot team base. Colter is the only 1/2 day kid in his class, so i'm the only one waiting at pick up. He gets out at 11:40, and I pull up to the front doors and wait for him. Colter rarely complains about going to school, but never seems to really love school. On hard days, he usually proclaims he's never going back again, but that only lasts for a short time. Overall, he has done pretty well this year with the adjustment to kindergarten. He sometimes gets work sent home that he has refused to complete during the day- usually his bible journal which involves writing words and drawing pictures from the story. They are currently learning how to count by 10's, how to count using tallies, and addition. He seems to be really quick at picking up math and understanding numbers. I haven't seen a lot of progress in reading, but I don't really know how much they are working on it. The first part of the year was a letter review, and now they work on sight words and writing words. I do get worried about how he will learn as the concepts get more challenging. He does not like to try things when he thinks he will fail. I know he's very smart, but it's hard to challenge him without causing a melt down. Sometimes I feel like his anxiety gets in the way of his ability to do things I know he could do if he was calm. It's easy to look ahead and try to make predictions about schooling, but really we have to take it one year at a time, and this year, Shoreline Christian has been a gift to our family.
Maddie has done really well in school. At the beginning of the year, she stuck to her swing every day, and never seemed to be really interested in the other kids. As long as she was on the swing, she was ok. Her friendship with Maddi began in November, and she has really helped Maddie open up. Her circle of friends is still small (Mainly Maddi , but also Madelyn and Claire). She kind of reminds me of how I was.. always really close with one or two people. From what I can tell, she is very obedient , is a great listener, and is smart. She enjoys school and always tells me super random things about her day.. usually much later. We had a great debate around Christmas time when she told me that one of her teachers said that Jesus never cried. I realized that came from the song silent night, when it says "but little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes." There are some wild boys in her class that are always either acting like wild animals or the villian from the tv show PJ Masks. Sometimes they come up to the girls and paw at them, or shout "I"M ROMEO!" but Maddie never seems too phased by them. I think having a brother that is challenging, has really helped her be more understanding towards others. I know she's ready for kindergarten next year, but recently i've been feeling sad about her being in school full day next year. I know it doesn't make sense for me to do two pick ups, and I know she can handle full day, but to go from three 1/2 days, to 5 full days feels like a lot. I'm going to miss my time with her.. it honestly went so fast having her at home with me.
Right now I have free days on Mondays and Thursdays. I usually try to see a friend one of those days, and the other day we either come home to play and catch up on the house, or go grocery shopping. On Tuesday mornings, Levi and I usually run an errand or go to Cloud City coffee before Little Gym. Levi seems to love little gym. He loves exploring the gym - especially hanging from the bars and walking on the balance beam. He's getting pretty good at forward rolls, and loves busting out the hula hoops. There are lots of different personalities in the class, but my favorite is a boy that has figured out he can deflate a certain kind of ball by ripping the plug out with his teeth. It is my favorite thing to watch him run from ball to ball, ripping the plug out, while his mom frantically chases after him, trying to keep him from doing it. I always want to get a video of him, but I don't want to be awkward. Levi loves the bubbles and the stamps. On Wednesday we go to see Marieka in downtown Edmonds . We mainly talk about how things went during the week with Colter, and she gives me some strategies to try. I feel so thankful for her and feel like it has helped me so much having someone to talk to about the struggles. Levi loves playing with all of her different toys, and does really well letting me talk. He always seems to poop while we are there, so I have a running joke that he must feel really relaxed during therapy :) Maddie is taking ballet/tap with Harper again this spring, and she's loving it. She is also finishing up a gymnastics class with Sydney on Wednesday afternoons and takes swim lessons with Colter on Wednesday afternoons as well. After gymnastics, she's going to start soccer on Saturdays for the Spring. She seems to like pretty much anything she tries, so it's been fun moving from one thing to the next. She doesn't necessarily love anything enough to keep her in it for the long term. Swimming had been going really well and both kids have made a lot of progress. It's been a bit bumpy for Colter the last couple months and i'm not really sure what shifted. First he didn't want to do a certain backstroke, then problems started over lots of different things.. not being able to splash while doing bobs, not getting to go on the platform, not wanting to use the paddle board. It's pretty stressful because when he screams , it echoes in the pool area, and all of the parents of course are curious what is going on. Autism is hard because a child doesn't look a certain way where people know ok, he has autism. Its easy for me to feel embarrassed and I find myself wanting to wear a shirt that says something like "nothing to see here, just dealing with autism." I know most parents probably feel bad for me, but it's easy for it to feel like judgment. I'm hopeful that we will get back on track with swimming, because it's been so fun for me to see Colter doing something he enjoys since he's never played a team sport, and didn't like lego camp or boy scouts.
After school, I feed the kids lunch , put Levi down for a nap and turn on some shows for the kids. Colter always wants to watch youtube videos about minecraft. We call the youtube person"the guy" . Maddie usually watches PJ Masks or some other show on netflix. While they watch shows, I usually take care of business- make phone calls, pay bills, respond to texts and emails, and prep dinner. When Levi wakes up from his nap, he always wants to look out his window at the dogs in our neighbors yard- we call them Big Pup and Moose. Once Levi is up from his nap , I try to get us all out of the house for some fresh air. Sometimes we ride bikes to the mailbox, occasionally we go to one of the parks, other times we go in the backyard. We got a trampoline for Christmas, so a lot of days, the kids want to go jump. Sometimes our neighbors will see us outside, and come out and play. This almost always leads to someone coming over to our house to play usually until dinner time. Maddie really enjoys Sydney and Emmie.
Around 4:30 i'll start to finish up dinner. Colter usually plays some legos or wants to act out a random story- usually minecraft. He always wants to be a baby zombie and I'm usually some random character- a cave spider, Steve, who knows. He basically tells me what to talk about because I have no clue what minecraft is about. Most of the time I have no idea what he's talking about- command blocks, jungle temples, ender dragons.. but we play the best I can. Ben is usually home around 5:15 because he has started leaving at 4:15 since traffic was getting so bad. He carpools with David on most days, but he's one week away from beginning a new job . We are so excited about this new opportunity for him. He's going to be working at a bank that is around 15 minutes away! The culture at the new bank seems to be such a wonderful fit for him. We can't wait.
Dinner is challenging . We rarely all sit at the table for more than 5-10 minutes, and it's one area that consistently makes me feel a little sad. I hope as the kids get older, and actually want to eat dinner, that we will have more conversation and enjoy staying longer. Colter pretty much only eats a smoothie at dinner, which I guess there could be worse things, but he finishes pretty quickly. Levi and Maddie usually eat some part of what Ben and I make. Levi is definitely the best eater of the three. After dinner, we might play a little bit, or move right into bedtime, depending on how everyone is doing. I usually put Levi to bed around 6, and then Ben and I alternate putting the two big kids to bed. I do admit though- Ben puts Colter to bed more often than I do. I read Maddie two books, and then she likes to have tickle scratches and picture stories. Once I finish two stories , she almost always tucks LuLu under her arm and literally falls right asleep. I usually hang out for 5-10 minutes after she's asleep. Colter likes to do different things before bed. Sometimes we listen to an audio book, sometimes we'll read a book if he picked one out from school, other times we just talk - or more like he talks about minecraft. He also likes us to lay with him before bed.
Because the kids get up so early, Ben and I don't stay up very late. We usually watch a show if we have one recorded . We both like Fixer Upper and the Amazing Race when it's on. I watch This is Us and Dateline.. usually as I clean up the kitchen once the kids are in bed. We just cancelled cable though, so i'm not sure what this will look like going forward. Sometimes we just talk if we have a lot to catch up on, other nights we'll play a game, or do the date box from the month. We usually head up to bed around 9. Ben is working on his last school paper, so sometimes he'll stay downstairs to work. I'm usually asleep by 9:30.
On the weekends, we usually have a few events.. whether its a family activity, birthday party, girls, night , etc. We have been attending Hallows Church since late summer. It's a super small church, incredible preaching, and kind people. We haven't gotten as plugged in as we'd like. It sometimes feels intimidating to have people over because we can have challenging times in the home, and sometimes it's hard to open yourself up to that. I know both Ben and I love connection with others , so we hope to put ourselves out there more this year. We've really enjoyed the kindergarten parents, and we've done several date nights, girls nights, etc with them. I love that our kids will grow up with many of the same kids and families and that we will know their parents so well.
Wow, well that was a lot of detail. Mainly for my brain because I know life will be different soon! I am really enjoying this stage in life, although I definitely finish most days feeling pretty exhausted. I like having breaks from parenting all 3 kids at the same time. I really cherish the time with Levi and Maddie because I know soon it will just be me by myself during the day. Hard to even imagine. Anyway, thanks for joining me on my snapshot of 2018!
See you soon.. hopefully sooner than a year from now!
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Friday, July 14, 2017
February
The crazy month of February arrived! The month of never ending celebrating!
Once again i'll let my one second a day video do most of the month review, and I'll fill in a few details that didn't make the cut.
https://youtu.be/77QeXatNjHY
- Maddie and Harper are still loving their ballet class with Miss Osiris. I found out she is an NAU alum, so of course she is fabulous :) We have some time to kill after we drop off Colter at school, so we usually head to the play gym. Levi is starting to enjoy playing on the toys, and Maddie and Harper run wild riding bikes, throwing hula hoops around, tumbling, etc.
- I took the kids to Edmonds after school one day because the weather was incredible. Levi loved throwing rocks and trying to crawl towards the water, and the other two kids were so content digging and collecting.
- We had yet another snow storm!
- Harper had a minnie birthday party
- We watched the super bowl over at Jessie's and rocked out to Katy Perry
- aaaaan more snow. Seriously! We had more snow days this year than I can remember in almost all of our years of living in Washington.
- Trader Joe's shoppers. I don't take all three kids shopping by myself very often, but honestly, they have become mostly helpful. I remember dreading taking just Colter shopping and now it's pretty enjoyable, unless it's at a place like Target or Fred Meyer where they become obsessed with getting toy.
- Levi seems to really enjoy music and sings along in the sweetest little voice!
- Levi doesn't mess with the kids toys too much, but occasionally we have to build a giant barricade to keep precious things safe.
- Levi loves cruising in his car. Maddie loves speeding down the sidewalk on our street, so one time I let go of Levi to get him going fast and I about died laughing because he looked so hilarious.
- Maddie had a sweet ballet birthday party. I asked around and found a girl in high school who is a friends babysitter that is a dancer. She came and led the girls in some games and dances. The girls had such a fun time.
- The sun came out and we went down to Edmonds to eat dinner outside and play at the sand pit at Anthony's.
- Another beautiful and cold day in Edmonds with friends.
- Valentines day with my love. We did our at home date box which was a relaxation spa. Perfect!
- Mary and Greg got Colter and Maddie craft/experiment boxes for their birthday. The kids have LOVED them! They look forward to them every month, and every time they have been so quality.
- My sweet girl turned 4. She requested m&m pancakes, had a special day at school, had a spaghetti dinner. We also took her to build a bear, where she stuffed all her pinkies in her new pink bear LuLu. She also rode on a motorized stuffed animal and got a trip to the candy store. I'd say it was a good day!
- Adventures with Grandpa
- Ben and I roadtripped it up to Bellingham to go out to dinner with Ryan and Jayna for their combined 80th birthday.
- Mary and Greg were looking at a boat in Ballard, so the kids and I explored the marina and found this cool fountain. I want to come back in the summer!
- Ben and his parents took the big kids to the snow for the day, so Levi and I had fun at a little gym open house.
- Maddie does not like to go to bed with wet hair, so she has us blow dry her hair after every bath. Her hair is seriously gorgeous! Ben does the best job.
- Greg had a birthday while they were in town .. the big 65!
- Colter requested pudding cups with chocolate lego minifigures in them. They were a big hit with his class.
- For Colter's birthday, we decided to keep things low key and take him and James to the lego store to each pick out a lego set to build. We had family over to have a pizza dinner and cake, but Colter stayed upstairs all night building. Ha! IT was a perfect celebration
- Colter turned 6! I can't believe it! We had a wonderful day celebrating.
- Levi loves the hot potato game. He really rocks out!
- Fort building adventures
Other things that didn't make the video and other pictures.
More pictures from our snow day. Everything looks so beautiful blanketed with snow!
The kids think it is super fun to play construction workers and take apart Maddie's bed. When I'm really tired, I usually let them do it even though it's such a pain to put back together.
Ben went into Colter's class and did several science experiments. The biggest hit was the elephant toothpaste, which shot a thick stream of foam out of a water bottle.
Pics from Maddie's party:
We had dinner with the Grants one night. Love these little boys so close in age!
Mr. Teddy gets lots of love from the kids at school.
Once again i'll let my one second a day video do most of the month review, and I'll fill in a few details that didn't make the cut.
https://youtu.be/77QeXatNjHY
- Maddie and Harper are still loving their ballet class with Miss Osiris. I found out she is an NAU alum, so of course she is fabulous :) We have some time to kill after we drop off Colter at school, so we usually head to the play gym. Levi is starting to enjoy playing on the toys, and Maddie and Harper run wild riding bikes, throwing hula hoops around, tumbling, etc.
- I took the kids to Edmonds after school one day because the weather was incredible. Levi loved throwing rocks and trying to crawl towards the water, and the other two kids were so content digging and collecting.
- We had yet another snow storm!
- Harper had a minnie birthday party
- We watched the super bowl over at Jessie's and rocked out to Katy Perry
- aaaaan more snow. Seriously! We had more snow days this year than I can remember in almost all of our years of living in Washington.
- Trader Joe's shoppers. I don't take all three kids shopping by myself very often, but honestly, they have become mostly helpful. I remember dreading taking just Colter shopping and now it's pretty enjoyable, unless it's at a place like Target or Fred Meyer where they become obsessed with getting toy.
- Levi seems to really enjoy music and sings along in the sweetest little voice!
- Levi doesn't mess with the kids toys too much, but occasionally we have to build a giant barricade to keep precious things safe.
- Levi loves cruising in his car. Maddie loves speeding down the sidewalk on our street, so one time I let go of Levi to get him going fast and I about died laughing because he looked so hilarious.
- Maddie had a sweet ballet birthday party. I asked around and found a girl in high school who is a friends babysitter that is a dancer. She came and led the girls in some games and dances. The girls had such a fun time.
- The sun came out and we went down to Edmonds to eat dinner outside and play at the sand pit at Anthony's.
- Another beautiful and cold day in Edmonds with friends.
- Valentines day with my love. We did our at home date box which was a relaxation spa. Perfect!
- Mary and Greg got Colter and Maddie craft/experiment boxes for their birthday. The kids have LOVED them! They look forward to them every month, and every time they have been so quality.
- My sweet girl turned 4. She requested m&m pancakes, had a special day at school, had a spaghetti dinner. We also took her to build a bear, where she stuffed all her pinkies in her new pink bear LuLu. She also rode on a motorized stuffed animal and got a trip to the candy store. I'd say it was a good day!
- Adventures with Grandpa
- Ben and I roadtripped it up to Bellingham to go out to dinner with Ryan and Jayna for their combined 80th birthday.
- Mary and Greg were looking at a boat in Ballard, so the kids and I explored the marina and found this cool fountain. I want to come back in the summer!
- Ben and his parents took the big kids to the snow for the day, so Levi and I had fun at a little gym open house.
- Maddie does not like to go to bed with wet hair, so she has us blow dry her hair after every bath. Her hair is seriously gorgeous! Ben does the best job.
- Greg had a birthday while they were in town .. the big 65!
- Colter requested pudding cups with chocolate lego minifigures in them. They were a big hit with his class.
- For Colter's birthday, we decided to keep things low key and take him and James to the lego store to each pick out a lego set to build. We had family over to have a pizza dinner and cake, but Colter stayed upstairs all night building. Ha! IT was a perfect celebration
- Colter turned 6! I can't believe it! We had a wonderful day celebrating.
- Levi loves the hot potato game. He really rocks out!
- Fort building adventures
Other things that didn't make the video and other pictures.
More pictures from our snow day. Everything looks so beautiful blanketed with snow!
The kids think it is super fun to play construction workers and take apart Maddie's bed. When I'm really tired, I usually let them do it even though it's such a pain to put back together.
Ben went into Colter's class and did several science experiments. The biggest hit was the elephant toothpaste, which shot a thick stream of foam out of a water bottle.
Beautiful Edmonds
Maddie's birthday fun
Dinner in Bellingham
A date night visit to the Fremont troll
a new year!
I started this year with a new resolution: to capture a snipet of every day via video. Below the video i'll attach the highlights!
https://youtu.be/rIwLNLJoiZ4
- firepit on New Years Day
- Ben tried a new painting technique for the door frames that involved taping everything off with plastic and using the sprayer. Great idea- unfortunately it didn't go very well.
- Levi loves playing in the sink. Usually after he eats and I wash off his hands and face, he lunges towards the sink to try to get in it. Every now and then (mainly when the sink is actually empty) I plop him in the sink and let him play.
- The kids love going through the car wash. This was Levi's first time and he surprisingly didn't cry.
- Levi had his 9 mo. check up and as Dr. Reese would say , "I think he's just perfect!"
- Colter's teacher does an awesome activity called "creation station" where she lays out a bunch of recyclable materials, and the kids can make anything they want. Colter usually comes home with some sort of robot/spaceship/battle machine
- Ben took the kids to the kids museum for early opening while Levi napped. He always comes up with something epic to do in the block room.
- The kids needed to burn some energy, but it was raining, so we headed to the rainbow play systems play time. Unfortunately they are moving to a smaller space, so the show room might not be open for playing anymore. Such a fun idea!
- Levi learned how to stand up in his crib, and around the same time, decided he didn't love going down for his afternoon nap.
- It was a rough, early morning, so I went old school and loaded them all up in the car, drove to starbucks, and rode around in the parking garage at the mall. It's always a great reset for mama and the kids.
- I love my special time with Maddie while Colter is at school. Gail cleans our house once a month, so on the days she is cleaning, Maddie and I hang out at my sister's house.
- On Fridays Maddie has ballet class so Levi doesn't get his morning nap. He does a great job falling asleep after ballet, when we are on our way to pick up Colter from school. Neither kid ever did car naps, so it's a bit of a phenomena to me :)
- We went to open gym at gymagine to meet up with Carlie and Mila for a play date.
- Finley turned two! He had a perfect little birthday party at Chick-fil-a, complete with a huge platter of nuggets and fries, the dressed up cow, and a great little play area. We got him worker guy tools and a bob book. He snuggled right up to me to read.. by far my favorite moment!
- Colter and Ben built an epic lincoln log house and then had fun doing slow mo videos of it being destroyed.
- We had the Grants and the Blankenships over to watch the seahawks lose their playoff game. Boo. That night we were supposed to surprise Jayna in Bellingham for her birthday, but she was really sick. Jill, Adelle, and I decided to have a girls night out anyway, so we picked up some starbucks, shopped for some treats at trader joe's, and then surprised Jenni who just had her daughter Penny a few days earlier. After our visit, we drove all around Edmonds and stopped at our first homes. It was such a fun night to reminisce about when we first met each other.
- Levi loves his little scooter. Maddie and I love to push him back and forth.
- Ben took Maddie on a sweet little date to a bakery
- The kids love to pull the cushions off the couch. They usually make pillow walls for Ben to get through, but this day they made a huge fort and piled all the blankets in.
- Maddie loves taking ballet with Harper. She loves her teacher Miss Osiris, and she does a great job following directions. She can't wait for her stage performance in june.
- I went to see JJ Heller in concert with my mom and Kimi
- Levi started to wave and he sometimes says "hiiiiiii" with it. Melt.
- My sister and I tried to surprise my mom at school for lunch, but we didn't realize she has meetings during lunch on Monday. Plan B was eating at a nature preserve right by her work. The kids loved breaking up the ice, climbing on top of the cave, and fishing around in the water.
- Another skill acquired by Levi this month- climbing the stairs at rapid speed. Que the baby gate!
- A rare moment of all the kids playing in the same space.
- One day after school I was driving home and saw a ton of emergency vehicles parked at the Shoreline rec center. We think they were doing some sort of training, so we checked them out, then ran around on the field.
- My little mama Maddie.. always trying to help. She loves to feed him, bring him toys, play with him. She's so amazing with him.
- Maddie is a little daredevil with her bike. She pedals so fast and loves to go up and down the hill over and over again.
- Colter is super into chess right now and wants to take anyone on in a game. He's really good at remembering the rules and legitimately beats me every time.
- Randomness. The kids are always drawing on themselves.
- I took Max home for Jessica because she was getting her hair done. I also dropped Harper off as well, so it was a full load of kids. We stopped at Mel and Mia's pastry shop because i'm crazy, and loved the cute little place.
Stuff that didn't make the video cut:
We started off the New Year exploring a new park. Once again being outside cures all grumpy attitudes for the Crowl Family. We have had so much fun with the snow this year. Everything looks so magical when it's covered with white.
We tried out the pool at McMenimens and it was such a wonderful experience. It was freezing outside and there are two huge openings in the roof , so even though the pool was super warm, it took a lot of courage to drop the towel and get in! Brr! The steam coming off the water added an element of mystery. We will definitely be back.
Ben had the kids watch Bob Ross on netflix one day, and the night Ben and I were dying when the kids were using their Bob Ross voices to paint.
Levi was the cutest costco pizza nibbler ever.
Levi had his first spaghetti dinner. He devoured it.
We met the family for lunch at Uncle Peteza's. It's one of the best places to eat with large groups of loud kids. They give the kids pieces of dough to play with and it's never packed so the kid are able to roam a little bit. After lunch the kids needed to burn off some energy, so we let them run around in a empty lot next to the restaurant. It was super icy and the kids kept falling on the ice over and over again. It was seriously like a comedy show. My sister and I were trying so hard to hold in our laughs as we made sure they were ok .
The kids always ask to go to the Seattle children's museum that's in the center house. Ben took the kids one morning for a special outing. Although it wasn't as good as the one in Everett, they still had a good time.
https://youtu.be/rIwLNLJoiZ4
- firepit on New Years Day
- Ben tried a new painting technique for the door frames that involved taping everything off with plastic and using the sprayer. Great idea- unfortunately it didn't go very well.
- Levi loves playing in the sink. Usually after he eats and I wash off his hands and face, he lunges towards the sink to try to get in it. Every now and then (mainly when the sink is actually empty) I plop him in the sink and let him play.
- The kids love going through the car wash. This was Levi's first time and he surprisingly didn't cry.
- Levi had his 9 mo. check up and as Dr. Reese would say , "I think he's just perfect!"
- Colter's teacher does an awesome activity called "creation station" where she lays out a bunch of recyclable materials, and the kids can make anything they want. Colter usually comes home with some sort of robot/spaceship/battle machine
- Ben took the kids to the kids museum for early opening while Levi napped. He always comes up with something epic to do in the block room.
- The kids needed to burn some energy, but it was raining, so we headed to the rainbow play systems play time. Unfortunately they are moving to a smaller space, so the show room might not be open for playing anymore. Such a fun idea!
- Levi learned how to stand up in his crib, and around the same time, decided he didn't love going down for his afternoon nap.
- It was a rough, early morning, so I went old school and loaded them all up in the car, drove to starbucks, and rode around in the parking garage at the mall. It's always a great reset for mama and the kids.
- I love my special time with Maddie while Colter is at school. Gail cleans our house once a month, so on the days she is cleaning, Maddie and I hang out at my sister's house.
- On Fridays Maddie has ballet class so Levi doesn't get his morning nap. He does a great job falling asleep after ballet, when we are on our way to pick up Colter from school. Neither kid ever did car naps, so it's a bit of a phenomena to me :)
- We went to open gym at gymagine to meet up with Carlie and Mila for a play date.
- Finley turned two! He had a perfect little birthday party at Chick-fil-a, complete with a huge platter of nuggets and fries, the dressed up cow, and a great little play area. We got him worker guy tools and a bob book. He snuggled right up to me to read.. by far my favorite moment!
- Colter and Ben built an epic lincoln log house and then had fun doing slow mo videos of it being destroyed.
- We had the Grants and the Blankenships over to watch the seahawks lose their playoff game. Boo. That night we were supposed to surprise Jayna in Bellingham for her birthday, but she was really sick. Jill, Adelle, and I decided to have a girls night out anyway, so we picked up some starbucks, shopped for some treats at trader joe's, and then surprised Jenni who just had her daughter Penny a few days earlier. After our visit, we drove all around Edmonds and stopped at our first homes. It was such a fun night to reminisce about when we first met each other.
- Levi loves his little scooter. Maddie and I love to push him back and forth.
- Ben took Maddie on a sweet little date to a bakery
- The kids love to pull the cushions off the couch. They usually make pillow walls for Ben to get through, but this day they made a huge fort and piled all the blankets in.
- Maddie loves taking ballet with Harper. She loves her teacher Miss Osiris, and she does a great job following directions. She can't wait for her stage performance in june.
- I went to see JJ Heller in concert with my mom and Kimi
- Levi started to wave and he sometimes says "hiiiiiii" with it. Melt.
- My sister and I tried to surprise my mom at school for lunch, but we didn't realize she has meetings during lunch on Monday. Plan B was eating at a nature preserve right by her work. The kids loved breaking up the ice, climbing on top of the cave, and fishing around in the water.
- Another skill acquired by Levi this month- climbing the stairs at rapid speed. Que the baby gate!
- A rare moment of all the kids playing in the same space.
- One day after school I was driving home and saw a ton of emergency vehicles parked at the Shoreline rec center. We think they were doing some sort of training, so we checked them out, then ran around on the field.
- My little mama Maddie.. always trying to help. She loves to feed him, bring him toys, play with him. She's so amazing with him.
- Maddie is a little daredevil with her bike. She pedals so fast and loves to go up and down the hill over and over again.
- Colter is super into chess right now and wants to take anyone on in a game. He's really good at remembering the rules and legitimately beats me every time.
- Randomness. The kids are always drawing on themselves.
- I took Max home for Jessica because she was getting her hair done. I also dropped Harper off as well, so it was a full load of kids. We stopped at Mel and Mia's pastry shop because i'm crazy, and loved the cute little place.
Stuff that didn't make the video cut:
We started off the New Year exploring a new park. Once again being outside cures all grumpy attitudes for the Crowl Family. We have had so much fun with the snow this year. Everything looks so magical when it's covered with white.
We tried out the pool at McMenimens and it was such a wonderful experience. It was freezing outside and there are two huge openings in the roof , so even though the pool was super warm, it took a lot of courage to drop the towel and get in! Brr! The steam coming off the water added an element of mystery. We will definitely be back.
Ben had the kids watch Bob Ross on netflix one day, and the night Ben and I were dying when the kids were using their Bob Ross voices to paint.
Levi was the cutest costco pizza nibbler ever.
Levi had his first spaghetti dinner. He devoured it.
The kids always ask to go to the Seattle children's museum that's in the center house. Ben took the kids one morning for a special outing. Although it wasn't as good as the one in Everett, they still had a good time.
Sunday, February 26, 2017
December life
We started off the month with a special triple date with the Heavilands and Wornicks. We checked out a local game store, and shared a lot of laughs while playing some new games.
Maddie, Mary and I went to see the Nutcracker and then finished the evening with ice cream. Maddie loved the beautiful ballerinas, but was a bit scared with the eye patch man and the big rats. Of course we had to take pictures with every ballerina afterwards.
Both kids participated in the Christmas program. I was so proud of both of them- it was a bit overwhelming/loud/chaotic to have all those kids up on the stage , and they both tried their best.
This guy scarfed down his first spaghetti dinner
I spend a lot of time in the car, and there are certain times when I realize just how gorgeous this place is. The mountains are simply breathtaking on sunny days.
Levi started pulling himself up on everything. The doll house is one of his favorite places to hang out. He loves to grab onto the pole or elevator cord and eat the people. :)
These two love their nightly baths together.
We finally got a really good snow day! Overall, it was a super special day home with the kids. It also happened to be my moms birthday! It was a little tricky getting outside with having a baby that isn't walking because it's not like I could just plop him down in the snow. We took advantage of his nap times and built a snow fort and threw snowballs. We also walked around the neighborhood and made snow ice cream.
This year was my mom's 65th birthday, so we decided to pull off a big surprise and booked a weekend away in Vancouver. We had such a wonderful time together. On our way up, we stopped by a beautiful suspension bridge. It was a bit treacherous with the snow, so Kelsey and I stayed behind while my mom and sis ventured out.
That night we went to an incredible lights display. It was so enjoyable to be there without kids, even though they probably will have loved it. It was so nice to go at our own pace, stop at things we wanted to, not hear about being cold complaints, and just talk. It was so fun.
The next morning we did a little worship at the rental house, and then we went to Granville Island , where we enjoyed some delicious lunch and treats. To make the experience even sweeter, a beautiful choir started singing just as we sat down to lunch.
When I was gone, Ben took the kids to the aquarium with Austin and Finley on Saturday morning.
The kids finished up school for winter break
My sister gave me this hat and i'm in love!
Gigi and grandpa gave each kid a super cute Christmas outfit. Here is Levi in the cutest polar bear sweater ever!
We went to Evergreen Church for their Christmas lights display. This church does an amazing job serving the community every single night. They had delicious hot cocoa, homemade cookies, a great train display, heaters outside, polaroid pictures, not to mention the incredible synchronized light display!
Maddie and her bags. She doesn't play with a lot of toys, but boy does she love to fill bags with trinkets. Whenever we are missing something, we immediately look in Maddie's bags. You have no idea what you'll find!
Mommy goes to the beauty salon
Ben and I took our kids, along with Saisha and Harper to Bethany community church to make a gingerbread house.
We had another special experience at wild lights. The highlights once again were the penguin character and the zoomazium snowball fight. We also got some free cocoa!
Ben had the week off before Christmas. One morning we got to go out to breakfast at the Fat Hen. We had heard lots of good things about, but we didn't walk away totally wowed. Still wonderful to spend time together.
Later that morning, Maddie and I went to get pedicures together. She picked out both of our colors. She told me she wanted to get the color of our silver sharpie. Ha!
That afternoon, Colter and I had a blast at the Children's museum together. It was such a special day getting quality time with Ben and the kids.
We went out for a drive to look at Christmas lights, and then decided to surprise Nana and carol at her house. She was asleep when we arrived, and it took her a minute to realize what was going on :)
I took Maddie, Harper, and Levi downtown to the teddy bear suite and then to Pegasus coffee for a hot cocoa.
The next morning, all of us went downtown for more Christmas fun. We looked at the trains at Macy's, rode the monorail to the Seattle center, looked at the model train display and took turns driving one of the trains, and then played on the playground. I love the city during the holidays.
We kept up the gingerbread man tradition and the kids were good sports on pretending they still believe that he ran out of the oven.
We got some snow that morning, so the kids spent time playing outside. It's been so fun to have more snow this year than we have in several years past.
Levi started to crawl right before Christmas. We busted out the moving kitty toy and he loved it just like the other two.
Ben and the kids slept under the tree. I'm always amazed what good sleep the kids get when sleeping in unusual places like hotel rooms, camping, etc.
On Christmas Eve, we went for a beautiful, snowy walk at North Creek Park. We also played on the playground, and Colter and I found a painted rock in the woods. It was a part of a Facebook group called "Bothell rocks" We logged that we found it, and then moved it to a new home a few days later.
We went over to the Wornicks on Christmas Eve and went caroling, exchanged boogspace and cousin gifts, and shared a delicious meal.
Christmas 2016!
The kids were so anxious to open presents, it was out of control! I was so glad when everything was open so that they could calm down and start playing! My mom came over around lunch time and gave the kids their gifts. Maddie got a new bike, so we took it for a spin.
That afternoon we went over to my sisters for Christmas dinner.
Colter got a metal detector for Christmas, so we took it down to the beach to try to find some treasures. I had these grand visions of finding coins and other metal things, but unfortunately we didn't find anything! Fortunately Ben brought a few quarters along, so we would throw them down in the sand and Colter would think he found something.
Ben loves lego building almost as much as Colter. He asked for a lego set for him and Colter to put together. These two had a blast putting this together.
I took the kids to two different parks one day and it felt like the good ol adventure drive days.
Geting a picture with all three kids is super challenging. Our tree was getting drier by the minute, so I bribed the kids to do a picture together before taking the tree down.
I ran into my friend Jackie at zoo lights, and it made me miss her terribly. They moved to West Seattle a couple years ago and because of school schedules and the distance, we rarely see each other. We were able to meet up at the zoo and catch up a little bit. The kids played great together and it was so easy to pick right up like no time had passed. We've been coming to the zoo together since our boys were little babies!
On New Years Eve, a lot of people were sick, so instead of having everyone over for a party, it was just our family. We still had a blast with a huge balloon drop, party horns, netflix countdown, and Caliburger (which was not even close to In and Out) . This year went so fast , I can't believe we are on to 2017! Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!!
Maddie, Mary and I went to see the Nutcracker and then finished the evening with ice cream. Maddie loved the beautiful ballerinas, but was a bit scared with the eye patch man and the big rats. Of course we had to take pictures with every ballerina afterwards.
Both kids participated in the Christmas program. I was so proud of both of them- it was a bit overwhelming/loud/chaotic to have all those kids up on the stage , and they both tried their best.
This guy scarfed down his first spaghetti dinner
I spend a lot of time in the car, and there are certain times when I realize just how gorgeous this place is. The mountains are simply breathtaking on sunny days.
Levi started pulling himself up on everything. The doll house is one of his favorite places to hang out. He loves to grab onto the pole or elevator cord and eat the people. :)
These two love their nightly baths together.
We finally got a really good snow day! Overall, it was a super special day home with the kids. It also happened to be my moms birthday! It was a little tricky getting outside with having a baby that isn't walking because it's not like I could just plop him down in the snow. We took advantage of his nap times and built a snow fort and threw snowballs. We also walked around the neighborhood and made snow ice cream.
This year was my mom's 65th birthday, so we decided to pull off a big surprise and booked a weekend away in Vancouver. We had such a wonderful time together. On our way up, we stopped by a beautiful suspension bridge. It was a bit treacherous with the snow, so Kelsey and I stayed behind while my mom and sis ventured out.
That night we went to an incredible lights display. It was so enjoyable to be there without kids, even though they probably will have loved it. It was so nice to go at our own pace, stop at things we wanted to, not hear about being cold complaints, and just talk. It was so fun.
The next morning we did a little worship at the rental house, and then we went to Granville Island , where we enjoyed some delicious lunch and treats. To make the experience even sweeter, a beautiful choir started singing just as we sat down to lunch.
When I was gone, Ben took the kids to the aquarium with Austin and Finley on Saturday morning.
The kids finished up school for winter break
My sister gave me this hat and i'm in love!
Gigi and grandpa gave each kid a super cute Christmas outfit. Here is Levi in the cutest polar bear sweater ever!
We went to Evergreen Church for their Christmas lights display. This church does an amazing job serving the community every single night. They had delicious hot cocoa, homemade cookies, a great train display, heaters outside, polaroid pictures, not to mention the incredible synchronized light display!
Maddie and her bags. She doesn't play with a lot of toys, but boy does she love to fill bags with trinkets. Whenever we are missing something, we immediately look in Maddie's bags. You have no idea what you'll find!
Mommy goes to the beauty salon
Ben and I took our kids, along with Saisha and Harper to Bethany community church to make a gingerbread house.
We had another special experience at wild lights. The highlights once again were the penguin character and the zoomazium snowball fight. We also got some free cocoa!
Ben had the week off before Christmas. One morning we got to go out to breakfast at the Fat Hen. We had heard lots of good things about, but we didn't walk away totally wowed. Still wonderful to spend time together.
Later that morning, Maddie and I went to get pedicures together. She picked out both of our colors. She told me she wanted to get the color of our silver sharpie. Ha!
That afternoon, Colter and I had a blast at the Children's museum together. It was such a special day getting quality time with Ben and the kids.
We went out for a drive to look at Christmas lights, and then decided to surprise Nana and carol at her house. She was asleep when we arrived, and it took her a minute to realize what was going on :)
I took Maddie, Harper, and Levi downtown to the teddy bear suite and then to Pegasus coffee for a hot cocoa.
We kept up the gingerbread man tradition and the kids were good sports on pretending they still believe that he ran out of the oven.
We got some snow that morning, so the kids spent time playing outside. It's been so fun to have more snow this year than we have in several years past.
Levi started to crawl right before Christmas. We busted out the moving kitty toy and he loved it just like the other two.
Ben and the kids slept under the tree. I'm always amazed what good sleep the kids get when sleeping in unusual places like hotel rooms, camping, etc.
On Christmas Eve, we went for a beautiful, snowy walk at North Creek Park. We also played on the playground, and Colter and I found a painted rock in the woods. It was a part of a Facebook group called "Bothell rocks" We logged that we found it, and then moved it to a new home a few days later.
We went over to the Wornicks on Christmas Eve and went caroling, exchanged boogspace and cousin gifts, and shared a delicious meal.
Christmas 2016!
The kids were so anxious to open presents, it was out of control! I was so glad when everything was open so that they could calm down and start playing! My mom came over around lunch time and gave the kids their gifts. Maddie got a new bike, so we took it for a spin.
That afternoon we went over to my sisters for Christmas dinner.
Colter got a metal detector for Christmas, so we took it down to the beach to try to find some treasures. I had these grand visions of finding coins and other metal things, but unfortunately we didn't find anything! Fortunately Ben brought a few quarters along, so we would throw them down in the sand and Colter would think he found something.
Ben loves lego building almost as much as Colter. He asked for a lego set for him and Colter to put together. These two had a blast putting this together.
I took the kids to two different parks one day and it felt like the good ol adventure drive days.
Geting a picture with all three kids is super challenging. Our tree was getting drier by the minute, so I bribed the kids to do a picture together before taking the tree down.
I ran into my friend Jackie at zoo lights, and it made me miss her terribly. They moved to West Seattle a couple years ago and because of school schedules and the distance, we rarely see each other. We were able to meet up at the zoo and catch up a little bit. The kids played great together and it was so easy to pick right up like no time had passed. We've been coming to the zoo together since our boys were little babies!
On New Years Eve, a lot of people were sick, so instead of having everyone over for a party, it was just our family. We still had a blast with a huge balloon drop, party horns, netflix countdown, and Caliburger (which was not even close to In and Out) . This year went so fast , I can't believe we are on to 2017! Happy New Year!
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