Happy Halloween!

We had a very fun Halloween!

We started with Trunk-or-Treat at the church.

and then we went trick-or-treating with Grandma Susan.

We ended with a yummy dinner of jack-o-lantern pizza and mummy dogs. Thanks Grandma!
It was delicious!

Molly Jane is ONE!

It has been a year since this little bundle of energy joined our family. We are so lucky to have this adorable little fireball in our lives!

We had a great birthday party with a few of MJ's playmates from church. It was so cute to seem them play together. Molly knew it was her special day and paraded about laughing and getting as much attention as she could from everyone.
Afterward she was showered with gifts from her grandparents.

Molly loves this book from her Great Grandpa T. It makes noises :) Her favorite is the balloon going up and the dog barking.

Her new playhouse from Grandma and Grandpa. It was a big hit with both Molly and big brother Sam.
Sam gave Molly a peek-a-boo book "Where is Baby's Birthday Cake" and was nice enough to read it to her.

Mmmm cake!

Happy Birthday Molly Jane!!!

Ocean Shores

We went to Ocean Shores for Memorial Day Weekend with Grandma Susan and Grandpa Mike, Aunt Kara, and Roxie.

It was a wonderful weekend of relaxing, watching movies, playing games, going for walks, flying kites and playing in the sand and surf.

Here is a hidden gem in this little tourist beach town. This Irish Restaurant and Pub is our favorite place to eat here and there is live music on Saturday nights. The potato soup and soda bread are simply scrumptious.

Happy Birthday Grandma Susan!

For Grandma Susan's birthday we rode the ferry, not to go anywhere - just for fun. When we reached Bainbridge Island, we just stayed on the gang plank and got back on the ferry.

Sam has been asking to ride on a boat for several weeks. He was so excited! It was a beautiful day to be out on the Sound. The scenery was gorgeous. It was also the day of the Seattle Maritime festival, so there were lots of boats out. We even saw the Seattle fireboat putting on a show.

After our ferry ride, we went to Ivars for lunch and fed the seagulls. This has been a favorite family activity/tradition since my family moved to Washington 20 years ago. It was Sam's first time! He thought it was the greatest. What isn't to love about hurling french fries in the water and seeing it devoured by birds, or watching them snag a fry in mid-flight.?

Sam's, "sandwich in a boat!"

After lunch we went for a ride on the carousel. It was a fun day.
If you ask Sam, he will tell you how old Grandma Susan is.

Happy Birthday, Grandma Susan!

Mother's Day

i thought it would be fun to get a picture of my kids and i on mother's day. (i am usually the one behind the camera so we have very few of these) we didn't get the shot that i had unrealistically painted in my head but i love the ones keenan took - more true to life. the one in the middle is my fave :) i love being a mom!

Happy Birthday Dad!

For Keenan's 30th birthday, we went to the Mariners Game! The Mariners didn't play a very good game (they got stomped on by Tampa Bay) but that didn't stop all of us from having a great time!
Sam was very proud of his "nice, cool hat." and his Mariners baseball shirt. He loved cheering for Ichiro and Ken Griffey Jr. (When we played baseball in the backyard the next day, Sam was still cheering for "I CHI RO!" and "Go Gurffey.") He was very excited to meet the Moose, but was a little intimidated once we got to the Moose Den. If you want to here Sam tell you all about the game click here.

Grandpa Mike and Grandma Susan came with us to the game. They gave Keenan and Sam matching Griffey t-shirts as a birthday gift.

"Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks" or rather pizza, hot dogs, chips and kettle corn. What's a baseball game without overpriced junk food to stuff yourself with.

Sam and his dad had a real good time together!

Sam was over by the bullpen watching them "throw the ball really fast" when Jose Lopez hit his 3 run homer - and guess who ended up with the homerun ball!

Molly Jane cheers on the Mariners!

Not - my favorite word

Sam really likes to say what things are not. If I give him milk, he says, "that's not apple juice." When we got in the car yesterday, a song on the radio was playing and he said, "that's not Row, row your boat." We passed by a painting of a dragon on a building at the park and Sam said (in his best gravely scary voice), "ooh dinosaur. No, that's not scary"
Sam's other favorite thing to say lately is "To infinity and beyond!"

Locked Out

It was a beautiful, sunny morning. I planned to go to the park to meet some of our friends and enjoy the sunshine. I went out to the car to load a stroller for MJ. I shut the door behind me and opened the garage and as I was carrying the stroller to the back of the car I heard Sam behind the door, banging and wanting to come out with me. We live on a busy street, so playing in the front yard is off limits which just makes the front yard a more fascinating and alluring place for my little man. I ignored his banging (this was only going to take a second) and loaded the stroller and went to go back inside ...and the door was locked. Sam had locked me out of the house! Then I heard a little scratching at the window. Sam was in his room watching me and playing with my keys. The little guy had locked me out of the house and stolen my keys and was taunting me with them. So there I was in the driveway, locked out of the house, my kids in the house - but at least I knew where my keys were. I thought it was so funny I took a picture of him with my phone.
I know Sam didn't lock me out on purpose, he was just trying to join me. He probably saw my keys and tried them in the door (which has a child lock on it so he can't open it) and then when that didn't work, went to his bedroom to see what I was doing out there. I went around back to the sliding door (he knows how to unlock and open that door no problem) and knocked until Sam came over and then he unlocked the door and opened it for me. I said "Do you want to come outside?" He said "No, I want that outside" referring to the front yard.
Next time I'm keeping the keys with me.

Easter: Take 2

We began our Easter morning on a search for our Easter baskets. After a beautiful and inspiring Easter church service, we went to Grandma Buddy's house for Easter dinner and other Easter festivities.

Molly and her Grandpa.
Molly loves Easter eggs. They are good for shaking, sucking, and crawling after.

I found one!
It was pouring outside, so we had an indoor egg hunt. Sam was thrilled to find that his eggs had "easter beans" inside. He's never really had candy and didn't really like the jelly beans much, but he kept shoveling them in his mouth sucking on them for a few seconds and then spitting them out. Mmm sticky.

Newsflash: Molly started crawling on Easter. She had been scooching and rolling with a bit of crawling, but now she is crawling up on all fours. It was the plastic Easter eggs that really gave her the motivation to get moving. They roll away and then you can chase them!

Easter: Take 1

The first weekend in April we had an Easter party at Grandma Susan and Grandpa Mike's house. It was a rare beautiful sunny day. We had an egg hunt all around the swing set outside. Sam enjoyed it so much that we rehid his eggs about 3 times. Then he realized there were bunny snacks inside!

It was wonderful to have such a beautiful sunny day to play with our family and celebrate the atonement and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Easter Eggs

An Easter Egg dyeing tutorial by Samuel

1. Color egg with a crayon

2. Carefully place egg in the dye

3. Wait

4. Remove egg from dye

5. Repeat steps (although you may just repeat 2 and 4 and forget about 3)

Be sure you put a few eggs in lots of different colors until they becomes a nice earthy brown color. Pink and then green and then pink and then orange and then green works great!

Imagine

Sam has entered the world of imagination. I love watching him pretend these sticks are "big jets" "flying really fast". I get endless entertainment watching him drift off into his own world and catching the little phrases in his land of make believe. He gets much of his inspiration from the books we read together and movies he watches. It is so funny to see him close his eyes and say "speed, speed speed" (from Cars). He loves to build things with our couch cushions. Latest creations include a garage, rocketship, and tall tall tower (which he climbs with sticky shoes to rescue princess Daisy).

This smaller stick is a "rocket ship" and it is "flying really high." He brought this "rocket ship" home from the park with him and wanted to sleep with it that night. He resumed his rocket ship play when he found his stick the next morning.

Sam isn't always off in the land of make believe. He loves his new frog boots and is on the look out for puddles whenever he has them on. I love his exuberance and joy!

6 months!

Molly Jane is 6 months old!


six things about MJ - one for each month she has been part of our family
1. Big smiles. Her adorable smile lights up our life. Molly is such a happy baby and her bright smile warms my heart every day.
2. Loves her toes. MJ loves to play with her toes. If she is wearing colorful socks she will chew and pull until she gets them off and then alternate between eating her toes and eating her freed socks. This morning she was wearing pants with elephants on the toes and she managed to pull her pants all the way off.
3. On the move. rollin' rollin' rollin' scooch scooch. She is not crawling yet, but she is quite mobile. It always surprises me how far she can get when you look away for a minute. Especially if there is the proper motivation (sam's balloon for instance)
4. Loves toys. MJ loves playing with toys. She is particularly fond of anything that makes a crinkling noise, any kind of string or ribbon, and just about anything she can put in her mouth.
5. Loves her brother. She keeps an eye on him at all times. She giggles when she watches him. She especially likes it when he is being tickled. She also has complete control of him. If she gets a diaper change, he wants one too. If she is being rocked, he wants to too. If she has a toy, he wants it too. You get the picture.
6. Sweetie! Molly is such a sweet natured baby. She is a great snuggler and has a way about her that just melts your heart.

I love my Molly Jane!

Giraffe Pirate

We use our family membership at the zoo fairly often. It is definitely one of our favorite family activites even in the chilly winter months. We all get bundled up and see the monkeys, lions and Sam's current fave the giraffe pirate.

About six months ago, Sam was in the Health Sciences bookstore where there is a large skeleton. I pointed to it and asked Sam, "Whats that?" He looked at it and thought about it for a minute and then his eyes lit up and he said "pirate!" He recognized the skull from the skull and crossbones pirate flag. When he saw this giraffe skeleton, it became the giraffe pirate. Now this always has to be our first stop at the zoo. It has become even more exciting than the giraffe slide.

Sam and Dad looking at the monkeys.

MJ in the lions den