String Birds

Today at day camp we crafted string birds. They were a ton of work and were super messy, but in the end they all turned out so darling. Here they are hanging up to dry.

This one hanging upside down with the blue beak is Jacob's and the one below with a green beak is the one that Andrew made.

Andrew found his! --emily

Day Camp

Today at day camp we had the Reptile Man's son visit with us.

Andrew and his friend, Miss A, got to hold this giant Python. I couldn't post the group picture because I didn't know all the kids. This snake was giant! When Andrew told Kelly what he did at camp today he said: "Dad I held a Panther." It was heart melting cute.

The Reptile Man's son also brought a tortes, an alligator, and lots of snakes. The kids had a great time seeing lots of reptiles they haven't seen this close before. --emily

Rollin' Our Change

I have been trying to be creative with or continued learning during this summer break! Today we rolled our change from our "penny banks" and turned it into cash. I separated the pennies, nickles, dimes, and quarters into piles and Jacob counted them into groups of ten. We then worked out how many piles we needed for each role. He did great! Math in disguise is the best.

In the end we rolled $23.50 in change. --emily

Wedding Weekend

What a fantastic weekend. Our friend Amanda had a destination wedding on Orcas Island. With much planning and preparation we begin our weekend by dropping our kids off at my parents' house at 9:30 a.m. and rushing off to catch the ferry. The ferry wasn't scheduled to depart 'till 12:30, so we figured we had given ourselves plenty of time. We drove straight there and arrived 45 min. early. As we paid the ticket, the agent gal told us the ferry was full and we would have to wait for the next boat. The next ferry wouldn't allow us to be on time for the 4 o'clock wedding. So we decided to park our car and walk onto the boat.

We were hoping we could catch up with someone we might know on the boat headed to the wedding. Or we could call a taxi. We didn't know exactly what we would do, but we knew we had to be on that boat. Moments later, I received a text from a friend asking if we were going to the wedding. Yes we are. And you? Yes I am on the ferry now. Really? Can we jump in your car and hitch a ride to the wedding? It was amazing how it all worked out!

Once on the Island and at the resort we quickly checked into our room and changed our clothes. We had just a few minutes to spare before the ceremony began. No wonder Island Life is so slow. You couldn't be fast even if you wanted to be. We started our morning out the door at 9:00 and barley made a 4:00 ceremony. That is crazy!

It wasn't planned, but look how we all coordinated perfectly. What are the chances of this? The family of the wedding couple planned to coordinate their outfits, but not Cindy and me.

What a cute family! I just love these guys. So warm and loving.

The flowers were so bright and cheery, I loved them too!

The weather was amazingly warm with a perfect ocean breeze. You may think it is silly to mention the weather, but living in the Northwest our weather is always so unpredictable. It is always a good day when the weather is in your favor.

Here we are on the ferry on our way home. It was a whirlwind weekend. But with so many moments reminding us we were where we were supposed to be--supporting good friends no matter the lengths it took to do it. It was worth all the craziness.

Love you Amanda & Ryan and congratulations! --emily

Celebrating Our Independence

We started our celebrating with our community bike parade.

The kids decorated with flags and crate paper.

We got to the parade waiting area early so we could get a good spot near the front.

There were so many people there. It was fun to parade through our beautiful neighborhood with so many of our friends and neighbors.

After the parade, we went to the community park where the boys enjoyed the bouncy houses and other attractions. These inflatable balls were awesome. The boys could crawl inside them and make them roll all over the field.

Jacob is on the Left Andrew is on the Right.

After the park, we went home to cool off and relax before heading down the alley to our friends' house for a barbecue and fireworks.

This just says it all:

The girls sitting nicely at a safe distance watching all the exploding happen. With Snacks!

We had plenty of kid-friendly fireworks including smoke bombs, sparklers, and pop-its.
The boys were fascinated with all that was exploding. Big boys included!

The boys wanted to stomp on everything--the firework debris and the soot. We had to keep reminding them that fireworks are dangerous and hot.

We had a bazillion sparklers. I was in charge of lighting them for the kids. They'd line up, get their lit sparkler, run off and flash it around, then get back in line.

The hardest part was waiting for it to get dark enough for the big fireworks.

In the end, the big fireworks were worth the wait. We had a great time. That is why the 4th of July is one of our favorite holidays. --Kelly

Knocked Out

Jacob had his 2nd tooth knocked out today June 27th.

He lost his first one on June 18th.

It has been loose for a few days and today he decided he was ready to yank it out. He is so brave he wiggled it all day and then just tugged it out.

He now has a darling gappy smile with two less bottom teeth.

He looks so cute!

Last year I made each boy this zippered pouch intending it to be used as a boy tooth fairy pillow. It has little snap arms to attach to the bunk-bed and a zipper mouth for the tooth and loot! --emily

Andrew's Preschool Field Trip to the Zoo

Andrew's preschool took a field trip to the zoo the last week of school. Since Emily was at home recovering from surgery, I got to take the boys on the field trip.

We've been to several zoos before, but this was our first time at the Cougar Mountain Zoo. It is a fun zoo with some cool animals, and we were able to get pretty close to most of them.

One of our favorite exhibits was the tropical bird exhibit. Not only did the birds look beautiful, they could talk.

This macaw reminds me of some birds Emily and I saw nine years ago in Venesuela.

All the kids in Andrew's class had decorated visors earlier in the week. Their teacher told them to wear them to the zoo. I was so paranoid that we would forget it and Andrew would be the only kid at the zoo without a visor. As it turns out, Andrew was the only kid who actually wore his visor to the zoo.

The zoo had several tigers. In fact, there were two different tiger enclosures. They were pretty amazing. We had a great day. --Kelly

Baseball Wrap-Up

After Jacob's last baseball game, one of the moms Kerry, put together a little award cermony complete with trophies and a cupcake cake! It was a great season. Jacob enjoys playing baseball. It was too bad we had so many games that were rained out.

He Loves the game. --emily

Father's Day 2012

Emily and the boys made me a wonderful gift for Father's Day. They know that the gifts I love best are the ones they make themselves. They also know that I love birds. They made me a cute bird feeder for the backyard. The bird feeder is made from a plate and bowl, connected by a large screw. The best part of the birdfeeder is the inscription they made on the top.

I love my family. --Kelly

All Fixed Up

For as long as I can remember I haven't been able to fully breath through my nose. I also have extremely large tonsils, so breathing through my throat has also been a struggle at times. I have frequent sinus infections, constant sore throat and chronic headaches. My doctors have just always put a band aid over the problem, but never really fixed it.

I was talking with my friend Heather about her daughter's sinus problem. She told me about her daughter's doctor. I had a realization he is the doctor for me. I set up an appointent with him within the next few days. He is fantatic doctor and he had answers for my all my "problems." He did alergy tests and I found out I have some alergies I didn't know I had.

I went in for surgery on Tuesday and the doc fixed my devieated septum and removed my tonsils. My nose still looks the same on the outside, I can just breath through it now. My throat is still very sore. Surgery was only 3 day ago but I have been crying trears of joy. I can breath through my nose. I don't remember the last time I could do that. Now my nose works the way it is suposed to function. --emily