Sand in the City

We are in full "prepare Bennett for Preschool mode" around here. We have gone school clothes shopping, been fine tuning potty training and talking a lot about how the mommies don't stay at his new school with him.

We are so excited to have him start preschool at the new childrens museum... and one of the great fundraisers they have each year is Sand in the City. We had never been before but knew we were going to check it out this year to have a sneek peak at the new building Bennett will soon be entering for school.

It was a fun day in the hot sun, tons of fun activities for the kids and we even snuck in a visit from our friend Charlie from college and his fiance. What a fun day! It made us so excited for school to start!

 Look what Bennett found... happy boy!

 This creek is infront of the school... so cool!



Going to the zoo!!

This mama was in desperate need of getting some outside air and decided to take a fun day for Bennett at the zoo. When I woke him up I whispered "Hey Buddy want to go to the zoo today?!" he was so excited and said with a huge beaming smile "Can Lily go with us?!" I thought that was a perfect idea.

We picked up Lily from school and headed up to the Point Defiance Zoo. The kids were great even with the 3 on 1 mama ratio. They mapped out where they wanted to go on their maps and seemed to be the most excited about the Sharks and Penguins. We saw it all, even the new spotted leopard cubs, the polar bears feeding and our favorite the Camel rides!!!

 I think they had fun... oh and this is what the car looked like before leaving the parking lot... and one sleeping baby behind me... it was a peaceful drive.



Out with the old...

I can't believe how much this feels like the end of an era... We packed up Bennett's toddler bed tonight and all I could think about was the old days when we assembled this crib. It was a special time because my hopes were rising that we would have a healthy little boy after months on bedrest. It was the first time I felt hopeful during our pregnancy after the loss of his twin brother.

I was lying on the floor in Bennett's room watching Joel assemble the crib dreaming of many nights tucking our little boy into bed.

And after many many nights tucking him into that little oak crib we are now tucking him into a huge queen bed. It was a little special because Bennett was bouncing around like crazy jumping on any part of the mattress that was on the floor during the whole process... not to mention how many times he said "wow this is my big boy bed!!!"

He is in some dire need of some bedding but that is ok because I am ready to hit the fabric store this week!

One last picture of the old toddler bed...

 Loving the new bed... we had to have a long talk about the ceiling fan and jumping on the bed...

 Reading his favorite book before bed...

We Heart The Sun!

It seems like since we got home from Chelan the weather gods have been loving us Western Washington folk. We have spent many afternoons out on our bikes, cleaning up the yard, playing in our little swimming pool in the yard and doing some real swimming in Grandma & Grandpa's hot tub.

We are using up every second before all this sun is replaced with dreary rain in the fall... (not that there isn't of tiny bit of me that is ready for the holiday anticipation festivities of the fall)



Happy 6 Months Annie June

Sometimes I think of how sweatpants and burp clothes have invaded my life and I am completely jealous of those friends that get to enjoy wine filled happy hours in high heals after a day conversing with adults...

But then I spend one afternoon in the sun with my two little piglets and remember that I get to dig in the dirt making a dirt track from my son's plastic quads, I get to rock out on a fisher price piano with my daughter giggling with me in the middle of our front yard, I get to walk around the lake following my little boy on a bike and pushing my daughter in the stroller, then going out for some frozen yogurt.. and I remember how pretty awesome I have it in my little world of Nick Jr. cartoons and peanut butter and jelly.

My little girl turns 6 months old tomorrow and this has without a doubt been the fastest and most rewarding 6 months of my life with the two kiddos just tring to hold it together through the barfed on sweatpants and all.

So it is that time again for an update on our little lady and I cant believe how much she has changed in just the last 4 weeks.

My little girl is not only sitting up but she is leaning forward to get toys out of her reach. She has started to butt scoot just like Bennett and I am starting to think that she will skip crawling and go straight to walking just like he did. She is obsessed with toys and favorite being an empty bag a baby wipes and hot wheels stolen from her brother.

We are trying to transition her to her own crib but I must admit that when 3 am rolls around she usually ends up in our room again. She is getting formula sometimes and still breastfeeding a little. She is getting her first tooth on the bottom left but it seems to be taking forever to actually come in and more just about the drooling and crying at this point.

She gabs my ear off babbling like crazy now and I love it! She continues to be my little sweet heart reminding me more and more of myself every day. I have a feeling this will make us butt heads in about 12 years but until then I am loving every bit of the things that seem to be a little like her mommy.

At her six month check up with Dr Lester her stats were as follows:
16.1 pounds and in the 35 percentile
25.5 inches and in the 51 percentile
Head circumference in the 75 percentile... must be all those brains :)

Did I mention my kids play together now?! oh how I love these two when I don't need to constantly entertain both of them simultaneously 100% of the time... and it is super cute how much he loves her.

Her big girl bed... I will miss her in her bassinet next to my bed but I wont miss her almost jumping out of it at night :)

Trailblazing Little Man

 I have been loving the many bike rides a day because lets be honest, the more energy he gets out on that bike the less energy he spends jumping on the couch in the house. He is so full of energy on these warm days that stay sunny until well past his bed time that I have made an effort to get him outside and busy on a project for most afternoons.

Bike riding has without a doubt been one of his favorite activities since we got back from Chelan. So in an effort to embrace his passions I got out the Chariot hitch for my bike and went to Target to get a new mama helmet and away we went. And went and went and went... I am pretty sure I have seen our mailbox down the road about a million times a day... So I called Teri for some help on the local trails (I am a wienie and I don't think I can handle riding on the road with two kids, I'm not that coordinated to begin with, and who really knows how to use that hand signals anyway?!). We packed up the truck and headed to the trail head. It was a great trail and Bennett started off slow. After about 1/2 mile I asked him if he wanted to get into the chariot with his sister but he said no... I asked him a bunch more times over the next couple hours and each time he said "no I ride my bike" but after about 7.5 miles he said "mom I'm tired!" and he got into the chariot for the last 4.5 miles. It was such a fun morning. We traded bikes towards the end and I loved Teri's bike! I know what I am asking Santa for for Christmas!

The perfect end to our morning was frozen yogurt at Lime Berry and a Corona on our back porch. When we came home Bennett quickly disappeared and I was panicking "Bennett where are you?!" and then I went into his room and he was laying on his belly in his bed with his shoes still on hanging off the end of his bed... This kid was tuckered and he loved every second!!!

I have told nearly everyone of how far he went, such a proud mama, he has never stopped amazing me and how much he can do. I have learned to never doubt his strength and even to let him lead me on stuff. I hope he will forever keep this passion, happiness over the simple things and resilience over any obstacle. Love you buddy!

 B loved this bridge. It is just for the trail but goes over I-5.. He was so excited

 Annie's new helmet... a little big for her :)

 Our shaded bench for lunch

 Well deserved chocolate yogurt!

Maybe someday he will race like his cousin Alonso... We went on Sunday to watch him take 3rd at the big state race!! he is amazing!

Well done boys!

Grandma Sandy's Dress

So I have been looking forward to doing this for a while, Today Annie and I had a great ladies day with Grandma Sandy... It was wonderful, some special pictures, lunch and shopping. While we were off being very girlie Grandpa Steve had a boys day with Bennett, he cried all the way home that he wanted to go back to Grandpa house, I think their day invovled the hardware store, the tractor and icecream... pretty much Bennett's perfect day!

So 67 years ago Sandy wore the cutest little white dress for her 6 month pictures and today Annie wore the exact same dress for her six month pictures. I love how special this is between Annie and her Grandma and I can not wait for the day that Annie's Daughter will wear this for her 6 month pictures too!

We love you Grandma Sandy! Thank you for being such a special Grandma and having such a special day with us!

Dirty Dirty Dirty Dash 2012

I am the first to admit that our family does some pretty crazy things. We have about 4 times a year when we try to get everyone together for a crazy weekend of fun with the kids. We have going on 13 (Number 13 coming from the Petersens in January) babes under 5 years old and it always so much fun when we get together. There is always a ton of food, wine and laughs!

But even with all the craziness this was by far the craziest! 14 of our family members got together to makes 6 teams to do the Dirty Dash here near Olympia.

It sounded like fun, getting a babysitter for the littlest ones, getting in costume, drink beer and tequila early in the morning and run a 5k with 12 obsicles of mud on them. We all met at our house at 8 am for a day that I had no idea how hard and muddy it would be. It was a blast. Joel and I drank 2 or 3 beers each on the course. The next day I woke up with numerous bruises in places I didnt think was possible... but I will for sure be signing up for it again next year!

I must also admit that this is the first time we have had a babysitter for Annie, I was anxious about leaving her all week, not because I didnt trust Grandma Sandy but I was just worried I would miss her and not enjoy what we were doing, but after a night out on Friday night with the hubby I was totally ok with leaving her again for the morning of fun with the family. Thank you Sandy for helping us with the Kiddos, they also had a fabulous weekend with you! Bennett has not stopped talking about it.

Here are about a million pictures... Love this day! Our family is the coolest!