Beach Day

A friend of mine organized a great day at the beach where moms and their kids have a chance to enjoy the sunshine and water fun. What a great day! Here is Andrew showing you his plain jam sandwich. I think that is his way of saying, "Does anyone see anything wrong here? Can someone talk to this lady that calls herself my mom and tell her about a thing called peanutbutter?!"

Andrew hugging Jacob. He love to give hugs.

Andrew was luring the ducks in by feeing them cheese.

My guess was he wanted to give them a hug. Andrew loves to give hugs.

I am so grateful for my handsome boys!

I am such a lucky mom to have two heathy and happy boys to

look after and enjoy every day. --emily

Running

Today while we were out I snapped a couple of awesome shots of Jacob! This is why I am going to sign him up for track. Look at his great form. He is fast! Everywhere we go people are always commenting on how fast he is. --emily

Picking Raspberries

Today our friend called us in the morning to see if we wanted to go raspberry picking. We ate a quick breakfast, got dressed and went to pick berries. This year has been my first real year of berry picking, so if you are not a picker yet, here is something obvious I forgot to take into consideration.

Strawberries vs. Raspberries:

Strawberries are low to the ground so I could always see my boys as they wandered and played, but the raspberry stalks were taller than corn stalks. The kids loved to run and hide in the raspberry stalks, but I couldn't see them so this made me nervous. Washington strawberries are small, so you have to pick a bunch to make jam. I could pick a whole lot more raspberries in an hour, but because I had to spend so much time trying to keep an eye on my kids, I picked the same amount of raspberries as I did strawberries. Andrew kept hiding and the big boys would try to find him. This would cause Andrew to run farther away while giggling. Also, as you can see in this picture, Andrew enjoys strawberries more than raspberries. All in all, we had a great time. Next year will be even better because the kids will be a little bigger and I will know what to expect. Needless to say, I hope we picked enough raspberries to make jam. --emily

Day Out With Thomas

A couple of months ago we bought tickets to go and see Thomas at our local train depot. Jacob loves trains and Thomas so we thought that it would be a fun family outing to go and see him in person. Jacob has been so excited about the idea of going and meeting Thomas. He kept asking when we are going to see him! So the day has finally come and what a great day it was.

Our day started out with Thomas water stickers.

They had a large tented area with eight train tables set up so the kids could play with the trains. It was a big hit with all the kids. If we let them, I am sure that the kids would have played there all day.

Jacob's seeing The real Thomas for the first time. He was in awe!

Here we are all loaded on the train and ready for a great train adventure.

The train took us on a short 25 minute ride over the Snoqualmie Falls. It was a gorgouse sight that I have never seen before. We have gone to visit the falls in the past and I used to work at the lodge a long time ago. But this was an amazing view that can only be seen from the train.

Andrew and Kelly enjoying the ride. Andrew was feeling so sick today. I felt so bad for him. I think the motion of the train was making him feel worse. Poor kid! This is the worse day to not be feeling good.

I love this picture of Jacob. It was cute that Jacob found the only seat on the train that the window had been broken out. Jacob loved sticking his head out the window and feeling the wind in his hair. It was a darling sight.

Kelly and Jacob had a cute converasation right before this picture:

Jacob: "Can I touch him"

Kelly: "Sure go ahead"

Kelly: "You should give him a hug"

Then Jacob gave him a darling big squeeze.

I think today was a dream come true for him. It is so fun to see our kid's eyes light up and sparkle!--emily

Bike Helmets

We went to our local fire station for FHE to be fitted for bike helemets. The boys have been wearing helemets that are not ideal for them. Andrew's was run over by the Jeep and I was able to pull it into a normal shape so he has been wearing it like that for a couple of weeks now. Jacob has been growing so fast that all of the sudden his helmet didn't fit him, so he has been wearing Kelly's. Also Jacob has had a thing about being asked a bazilion times to put his helemet on with threats of having to go back inside because he won't put it on. So when a friend told me that the fire station fits kids with the right helmet for inexpensive, I thought that might be my ticket to making the helmet a special thing. My hope was that Jacob would want to put it on every time without me nagging so much. When we returned home, Jacob was so excited to wear his helmet. So we went for a family bike ride, Jacob began to explane how his new helmet had made him so fast. Yeah, I hope this is the end of having to beg him to wear his helmet. We shall see! --emily

Celebrating Our Independence

Our day began with a kid bike parade. This was amazing. In our neighborhood we have so many kids. I would guess that there were 500 kids and parents that participated in the parade. We started at the school, looped through town and ended at our local field/park where the party began.

This cute old fire truck was at the end of the parade.

The community planned an amazing carnival funded by local businesses and churches. There where about 6 bouncy houses and a strap-in jumpy thing for the big kids (dads), pony rides, a petting zoo, free snow cones, cotton candy, drinks and other food. It was mind boggling to me to be at an event of this caliber and not be charged for anything.

Jacob loves a good bouncy house! This was a huge pirate house that Jacob picked to go through. There were sharks to weave through and a huge slide. As you can see, he had a great time.

Andrew enjoying some good cotton candy! Too much sugar for one little dude, but it was party day.

The big kid jumpy thing!

After a couple of hours of playing at the park we ventured home for some real food (lunch). Then as Andrew took a nap, we gathered our stuff for our next party. Our neighbor had invited us over for a BBQ and some evening fireworks. We are so lucky to have such amazing neighbors.

Kelly lighting snakes for the kids. This group of kids were great. They played so well together all evening. I don't think that there were any tears all night. They where all good listeners with the fireworks. They stood at a safe distance and had a fun time.

I Love this picture because for the past couple of years Jacob has been afraid of sparklers. When he was younger he burned his finger on a sparkler, and every year his great memory recalls this sad moment. This year he was a little hesitant, but look at him go. What a great year of fun friends, good food, and fireworks. -- emily