Hiking

In the fall we started a Running Club to prepare for the kids marathon.  After the marathon the running club evolved to a biking around Greenlake club.  More recently, because the boys moved up bike sizes and I can no longer keep up with them running while they ride, it's become a hiking club.  We've already had a couple successful dry weather hikes, but yesterday we had our first real soaker.  When you and your kids are dripping wet and exceptional dirty what else are you going to do but take pictures.  Despite (maybe because?!) of the weather the kids loved (almost!) every minute.

 

In Between Conference

We were super busy with t-ball and ultimate frisbee games on Saturday and the boys had full unlimited access to screens so day one of Conference went off without a hitch.  Today was not so smooth. After a tumultuous morning session we decided that we needed to get out for some fresh air and decided to ride bikes.  And I realized I never documented the fact that 1) Seth can now ride without training wheels, 2) both boys moved up to bigger bikes and 3) Elyse can now peddle her trike.  Luckily today Jon captured this video with proof of all three.

Double Header!

Seth had his first t-ball games on Saturday and loved every minute!

Sundays

I caught this one sided conversation between Seth and Elyse while they were playing house today:

Seth:  I am the bishop so I have to go to meetings.  Elyse, you are the mom so you have to stay home.

Yup.  He's got it down.

Though the situation isn't ideal, I'm actually pretty happy to stay home instead of going to meetings.  Every once in a while my kids play with each other contentedly and I can watch them have fun together.  This morning they built this fort/slide/tumbling track:

And I'll also feel completely justified in making Jon help them clean it all up!

Pajama Day

Friday was a self proclaimed pajama day for Elyse.  In other words, I wasn't up for the battle. Sadly, I also must admit I'm pretty sympathetic; I'd wear pajamas all day if I could too.  And after this happened in about 10 seconds when I wasn't looking I figured pajamas beat nakedness anyday.

While we were out on our errands for the day, Elyse insisted that I take a picture of her while riding the horsey and saying "giddy-up!"

What a character!

Sock Lint

Before taking a bath Seth will meticulously clean out all the sock lint from in between his toes because he doesn't want his bath water to be "dirty."I find this ironic since he has no problems wearing a peed in nighttime pull-up half the morning. I guess that's a cleaner type of dirty to him!

Seth's Playdate

I'm pretty awful about arranging play dates for my kids. Seth has especially been neglected ever since Matthew has given up on me and started arranging his own.  So Seth was over moon excited to have his very first kindergarten friend play date.  What's more he got to ride the bus from school to his friend's house.  He was so thrilled that he "composed" his own note to his teacher letting her know he'd be riding the bus a full four days in advance. Thankfully he didn't object to me adding in a caption, oh, and my signature!

Better Luck Next Time

The pun is totally intended.  It didn't quite turn out as well as last year but you can't expect to be perfect when you only make it once a year.  It was kind of a last minute effort.  We didn't have pretzel sticks to make the ladder and the boys made their own "coins" from tin foil to lure in the leprechaun because I hadn't gotten any chocolate coins.  Maybe I'll be more on top of it next year . . . or the next . . . or the next . . . .

The leprechaun was not fooled by the tin foil coins and decided to make mischief and leave confetti all over the cake and cupcake to show his fury. 

You can sort of see the rainbow, right?!

Seth's artistry

Seth definitely hasn't been as interested in creating as Matthew was at the same age or even as Elyse is now.  But he created this little number the  other yesterday and I think it speaks volumes about his quirky, sometime morbid, personality.

Hogwarts Express

For the last three days the boys have been turning their bunk bed into the Hogwarts Express. While I generally cringe when I see this kind of mess, I've actually enjoyed watching and listening to the boys working together, imagining together, solving problems together, and generally loving playing together. So, the mess isn't so troubling. Besides, they clean it all up before bed each night. I'm so grateful for these little glimpses that make all the rough days seem worth it!

Fifteen Months

This was a first for us; the boys never had 15 month appointments. Elyse must have sensed the injustice of it because she was a tyrant at her appointment. She even managed to break the pediatrician's head measuring thing in a fit of rage. The good news is that she is very solidly on the weight chart, weighing in at a whooping 20 pounds. At 15 months Elyse is:
• walking pretty steadily, less steadily when she's tired.
• still not napping, at least not in crib. Sometimes she'll sleep over an hour in her car seat, but it's not all that uncommon for her only to sleep 20 minutes during the day.
• an excellent screecher. We like to call her our screecher creature.
• starting to be very opinionated about food, and actually just about everything. When she's not interested in eating something in front of her it quickly ends up on the floor.
• loves pressing buttons. She runs down the hall with a pointed finger whenever I'm near the washer and dryer.
• loves to scribble, especially with markers or sidewalk chalk.
• loves to wave good bye to Matthew at the bus stop.
• gives the best little kisses.
• tolerates the gym childcare pretty well, but still cries when I drop her off.

This is one of our most recent photos of Elyse, taking a quick nap in the middle of the gym kids club.

Between Sessions

We took advantage of the unseasonable warm weather and went for a strategically planned walk; a route with blackberry bushes along the way. We did pretty well!

First Day of Preschool

Since Matthew got a special first day of school breakfast, I thought Sethie should get something special too. After a real breakfast and getting Matthew on the bus we headed to "Grandpa's favorite doughnut place," as Krispy Kreme is known in our home and I treated Seth and Elyse to a doughnut of their choice.
Despite being "a little nervous" when I dropped him off, Seth had a great first day.

Zoo Camp

Matthew is halfway through his week of Zoo Camp and loving every minute. I think Seth has loved spending at least an hour at the zoo everyday before picking up Matthew. Although, I wish he was as interested in the animals as he is scaling the rocks in the Zoomazium.
It's been very school-year-like here with Matthew gone all day and it makes me feel dread and look forward to the start of school all at the same time.

UTAH!

For our summer family vacation we decided it was about time to make the trek to Utah.  Hard to believe we hadn't been back for six years!  Since it wasn't exactly my idea of a dream vacation, I took the time to make it more thrilling (for me, maybe not for the kids) by planning reunions with several friends that we haven't seen in a long time (none of which we documented with pictures).  Of course we got to see LOTS of family, which made the long drive worth it all.  Did I mention that Elyse cried the entire length of Oregon on the way home?!  And the kids really did have a great time!  Seth even decided that Utah was "the best place ever" and is planning his return trip.

Here are some of the highlights, at least the ones that we captured:

Alpine Slides and Coaster

 

Temple Square

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving Point

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Hot Tubing at Grandma and Grandpa Isaacsons

 

 

 

Not pictured: spending time with Paul, Lynne and family; visiting and making new friends; and lots and lots of driving!