Saturday, July 31, 2010

Elijah achieves one of his summer goals.

Elijah had some goals he wanted to reach this summer. 1. tie his own shoe 2. ride a bike with no training wheels 3. read lots of books 4. not be afraid to go up stairs by himself. So with summer in full swing he has accomplished one of those goals. (well besides reading lots of books which he has been doing all along) Last night I hear Peter's voice from outside our bedroom window. "Honey look out the window" So I looked out and there was Elijah riding circles in, with NO training wheels. He hasn't had them off all summer so this was his first time having a go at it. And he just went. Around and around he went. It was awesome. Needless to say he is quite proud of himself and so are we. This is typical Elijah. When he is ready to learn something he goes for it. But the key here is when he is ready! This was so easy!

Concentrating!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

A Taste of Maine in Washington

Our local library is amazing. All summer in addition to their awesome reading incentive program, every week they put on something special for the kids. We have gone to almost every special event. We saw stories come alive, science with water, mini horses, and today was the kids craft fair. My boys really wanted to do it. So here's the idea kids make items and then come to the library to sell their items. Two key factors 1. kids have to make it and 2. each item has to be $5.00 or under. We had no idea what to expect but I had an idea to do a "Maine" theme, hence the title a Taste Of Maine. The pictures do a good job of showing off what we did. Everyone loved the booth and thought the kids were "adorable" First we had LOBSTAH ...or our Washington version, chocolate lobster pops. We put them in an ice bucket to look like a lobster pot. So adorable and they were a BIG hit. The kids made these by themselves. They were by far perfect, but then again in their own way the were totally perfect. Price 50 cents.

Moose Droppings....aka chocolate covered almonds. Isaiah made the tags to resemble moose tracks. These were also a big hit. Price 25 cents.


Whoopie pies a Maine staple...they came out so good. The boys loved "matching" the cakes and putting them together. Price $1.00h

Mini wild Maine blueberry muffins. And yes we found a can of wild Maine blueberry muffins to use. We put them in plastic bags and tied with gingham blue ribbon...so cute. Price 50 cents

Maine Lighthouse bookmarks. We had ordered stickers for this project but they never came so we printed off some our favorites and glued them on. They boys really liked this craft. Price 10 cents.


We're ready to sell....what would you like to buy?


Opps forgot our little buddy Ethan.


This is what Hannah thought of the whole event. She actually was pretty good. She took a little nap, but once she woke up she wanted out. She's not walking yet, and this what not a time or place to let her crawl.


Isaiah pretty much too charge of the booth. He did all the transactions, adding, accepting money, making change and telling everyone why we chose the things we did. "My mom said Washington doesn't have lobsters"


The room full of little entrepreneurs. The boys made 15.00 before we even got to the fair from Ethan's grandmother, and then they made another 22.25, so 37.25 minus the money they spent on other people's crafts, slime(huge it the girl made 2.00 per qt zip lock bag of homemade slime), magnets, chocolate covered pretzels, gummy candies, shaved ice, origami jumping frog,and painted lady bug rock...it brought the take home to 23.50.

Here is my bounty from the craft fair. From left to right.The cutest felt cupcake necklace, (I thought it would be cute for Hannah's 1 year pictures), a journal, because (I can never have enough), cute bottle cap magnets and one with a "B" on it, a big, bright pink flower for Hannah's headband, and some cute little gift tags. Price $12.25

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

His and Hers

I don't know maybe it's because Hannah is sleeping through the night? Or maybe it's because it's summer? Or maybe it's all the talk of my sister's upcoming wedding? Or maybe just maybe after almost 11 years of marriage we do still do....but love is in the air. The other day Peter brought me home some beautiful flowers. They are bright, fun, and cheery. I'd much rather have a bouquet like this than roses, after all my favorite "flower" is a dandelion. I was so happy with his random act of showing love I decided to return it with a huge homemade whoopie pie (which by the way I told him he couldn't eat because they are for the bake sale) So tonight when he gets home from work instead of a bouquet of flowers he will have a delicious whoopie pie. His and Hers...both say "I love you" And since Peter will read this before he gets home....it won't be a surprise =)

Monday, July 26, 2010

Hannah is 10 months ...afternoon at the beach

This post has a lot of pictures....and mostly of Hannah. Not only because she is adorable but because it was her first trip to a lake to swim. She turned 10 months this week and it's been a week of milestones it seems. She is sleeping through the night, stayed in the nursery at church, has her two front teeth totally through, and is pulling herself up to standing. She loves life. It's so exciting to see her changing but also a little sad because she'll be a year old soon and it's gone by too fast for this mommy. What a joy it has been to have her in our lives. Sit back in enjoy the pictures, she's pretty cute.

Hannah Bear and the "boys" Isaiah and Elijah and their friends Ethan and Ben..Hannah had all their attention!
Putting Hannah down by the water. She was very skeptical of the sand, and had no desire to go near the water.

Hmmmm maybe I'll get a little closer to the water, but just my toes are going in.


This picture cracks me up because she's always sitting with her legs crossed like that. So cute and lady like.

Ok so maybe not just my toes, maybe my legs can go in the water too.

I am liking the way this feels.

I love the toys daddy bought me.

I am all in, and I think I like it.


Oh yeah I LOVE it!

I am having a ball!

I love watching what the boys are doing.

Did they make this trench for me?

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Summer Updates

Summer is in full swing here in Washington. We've been busy with, tennis and golf lessons, and fun activities at the local library, and of course the daily trips to the park and hanging out with the neighborhood kids. All and all it is shaping up to be a fun summer. And there's much more to come. The weather has been beautiful. Still not as much rain as we had heard so much about when we first moved here. I think we brought all the good weather with us from Maine!

The boys spent the first part of June taking tennis lessons. They loved it. And not to brag about my kids but they are pretty good! Elijah especially loved it and wants to take more lessons soon.

They just wrapped up 6 weeks of golf lessons. Good thing too, since Peter bought them those shinny new clubs last summer. At the end of the 6 weeks they had a pizza party, golf tournament, received a t-shirt and a certificate.

Every week our library puts on something amazing for the kids. They have acted out stories, experimented with water, saw miniature horses, and in a few weeks they will sell things at a kids fair. Our theme will be "A Taste of Maine"

We've had so much fun hanging out with new friends and going to our church's weekly BBQ. There's so much more summer left and we intend to enjoy every second of it. There are still swim lessons, soccer practices start, and an over night excursion somewhere. Before you know it, we'll be flying back to Maine!

Mommy and Bear, she LOVED the tennis balls. Seriously there were hundreds all over the place during the lessons. She laughed at them all.
Elijah with his racket!


Bumper cars at the Raspberry Festival.



Miniature horses at the library.


Isaiah receiving his golf certificate.


Elijah receiving his certificate.

The boys with their t-shirts.

The whole gang. Elijah is the 4th from left on the bottom and Isaiah is 3rd from the left in the back row.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

The Wall

There is an amazing lady who blogs over at Lemonademakin'mama. She is so creative and FUN. She has posted many projects I will be using soon, but she has a gift for taking inexpensive things and making them beautiful. I am no where on her level but I was inspired to stretch my creativity after following her blog. I found a really cute page in the Pottery Barn catalog. I just love the idea of a mix of photos and artwork. So I wanted to do something similar in our living room. The letters alone form the catalog cost more than I would ever spend so I went hunting. I found letters at Michaels for 1.99, I had some paint already, so I painted them up nice. The boys did artwork on canvases from Walmart 2 for 7.99. I already had frames, so I added some new pics and my wall is well on it's way. The picture I took from the Pottery Barn catalog. I still have some more frames to add to my wall but it's a start.
The art work is done by the boys. Elijah did "Our Family" and Isaiah did "Seasons in Maine" I love their work.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Cascade Pass....well sort of

I am going to throw my husband under the bus with the story of our adventure to hike to the Cascade Pass. Peter always schemes up grand adventures for this family. And while I so appreciate his efforts and his desire to do fun things with us, sometimes I think his adventurous spirit is TOO BIG for this little family.
Today was the perfect example. We live in a BEAUTIFUL area. Being from Maine we are being in awe of God's amazing creation and while I am still very LOYAL to my MAINE roots...I will say the state of WASHINGTON is breathtaking in it's own right. That being said, Peter has been chomping at the bit to get us out for a real hike. He has researched and googled to his heart content. He found this hike for the Cascade Pass and that's all we've heard about for the past two weeks. Instead of fighting him on it, I have learned after almost 11 years of marriage to just go with it. Sometimes, and I emphasis SOMETIMES his adventures turn out really fun. BUT SOMETIMES, that end up with "Oh me and my big plans" comment half way through as the rest of us whine in the background.
Cascade Pass was suppose to be a moderate to easy hike, good for children the website boasted. And you know it might just be...but NOT today. To the opening to the Cascade Pass was suppose to be 2 miles...YEAH RIGHT! UP and UP we went. 2 boys and a baby girl in the backpack we went. We tried to be good sports as we were blown away by the amazing views. But then...we heard some loud sounds...cracking, and shifting sounds, maybe thunder? No it wasn't a storm on this PERFECT and RARE not a cloud in the sky day. It was snow and ice coming down a mountain next to us. Can you say AVALANCHE? But we pressed on. UP and UP we switch back after switch back. We stopped after an hour and had lunch to refuel. And then UP and UP we started again. Then we saw some snow that we need to cross...FUN! Snow in July...AWESOME. We passed with ease. But then more snow, longer, steeper, more slippery....and then more. Now us Mainers know snow. We laugh at snow. But we weren't laughing with a baby on back, steep mountain bellow, and us wearing shorts and sneakers. I will admit I was a wimp. I begged to turn back. I had visions of slipping and Hannah and I tumbling down the side of the mountain and being the feature story on the evening news. The boys chimed in "Please dad lets turn back" Poor Peter his big adventure to get to the Pass was slipping through his fingers. I wanted to keep going but then I again I really wanted to turn back.....so WE DID. Back down we went. Total we hiked 3 1/2 hours. We didn't make it to the Pass...maybe next time ...if Peter can convince us to go again. Maybe in August. Oh YEAH on the way down we saw a guy hiking up in ski boots and skies on his back...I am thinking there was much more snow ahead of us if we kept going. So enough of my story lets get on with the pictures.

The boys, all smiles BEFORE the hike began.

Snow in July!

Amazing!

Daddy and Hannah

Don't you want to have a picnic here!


Another great view.

You can barely see us....but we're there. Me and the kiddos.

Snow and more snow!

Monday, July 5, 2010

4th Of July

This 4th of July we celebrated with a group of great friends. There were the three most important things that everyone should have a 4th of July celebrating Fun, Food, and Fireworks. (Friends and Family are a given) And we all in abundance.
I made Gram's potato salad, and some baked mac 'n cheese and some stuff to grill and we headed over to the Klinemsn's. Once there it was like one of those cup of soups, just add water...just add kids and you get a party!
Hannah Bear in the car...her tshirt said "I'm a star studded cutie"
Ok so here's the "family pic" it was either this one with Peter's eyes closed or another one with Peter scratching his head. HA! The perfect family picture still alludes us.
Here are the little poppers. I say little but they were a BIG hit.

I put this picture on because Peter is smiling in this one and a BIG smile too. I may just have to crop and enlarge it.
Roasting the hot dogs. The kids loved this.
Sparklers....Elijah is doing some sort of Star Wars move here.

The boys had matching 97 cent shirts. They said "Future Leader...I can do all things through Jesus" They were perfect for the 4th.


Here's Auni. She is so adorable and she LOVES Hannah. She has since she was in my belly. She has drawn Hannah many pictures and given her many little notes. I am sure when Hannah is a little older there will be tea parties in their future.


Well here are the cutest group of kids. They had so much fun ALL afternoon. They played with light sabers, ate lots of food, made s'mores, played on the playground, giggled, and squealed. It was awesome. God has truly blessed our children with some amazing friends here in Washington.
Speaking of being blessed....here are some of the "girls". They have been such good friends to me. They have opened their lives and made room for me and my family and I am so thankful. Left to right back row Kari, Kristy,Julie,Terra, and front row Kate,Melinda and Me.
Hannah and Melissa. Hannah has quite the little fan club going on. The kids all love her. I keep her with me when Peter and I teach Sunday School to the k-1 class. She stays in my carrier and the kids LOVE that she's part of the class.

Sara, Isaiah, and Elijah watching the fire works that we chipped in to buy. They were actually a lot of fun. I was so nervous because in Maine they are illegal and I just thought there is a good reason they are. But if your "safe and sane" they are fun.


Peter in his favorite gray "hooded sweatshirt" lighting some fireworks.
They boys LOVED it. Hannah did NOT. Her and I hung inside and watched from the window. On the way home people all over town were setting off fireworks. It was really pretty.