Summer Vacation 2011

The kids and I returned home yesterday from a week in Washington State to visit family and friends. We are all exhausted, but our trip home was worth every yawn from the boys.

The boys and I met Cousin Zach and Aunt Abby at the park for a play date last Wednesday. I couldn't believe how big Zach has gotten! And he is such a cutie, too. Evan loved racing around the park with his cousin. Evan still talks about going to the park with his "big cousin Zach."

On our last full day in WA, the boys and I met up with some dear friends of ours at a park in Auburn. I haven't seen Karen or the kids in over 18 months, and I was delighted to spend a few hours with them. Evan claimed he doesn't remember Aidan and Ethan, but they hit it off right away. Look at those smiles! Seeing them made me miss Pullman... they were a big part of our life while Mark was in school.

Jack and Jocelyn are exactly 5 weeks apart. I just can't get enough of her cuteness. :-)

Jack wanted to swing, but the infant/toddler swing was being used by Jocelyn. He insisted on trying the big boy swing, and he did great holding on. He scared me half to death, but he didn't fall off. He kept saying "whoa!" and laughing. Goofy boy.

Evan wants to do everything Grandpa does, including golf in the front yard. I'm not sure why he has such a grumpy face? Maybe he's tired of Mommy taking pictures of him.

Monday we took a trip to the Seattle Aquarium. We met Cindy, Ray, and their daughter and grandson for a few hours. I knew the temperature would be cooler in Seattle, but I was not prepared for 62 degrees and pouring down rain. The kids were real troopers and I only heard a small amount of whining when we were walking through the rain.

Evan took a great picture of Abby, my Mom, and me, but it's on her camera. Hopefully she will send me that picture so I can post it here (hint, hint Abby!). But I do love this photo of Abby, Grandma, and the boys. Evan couldn't be happier than when he gets to spend time with Abby and Grandma.

Isn't this sea anemone cool looking? Such a pretty green.

This little boy is a big fan of his Auntie Abby, too.

My parents treated us to a night at Great Wolf Lodge last Saturday night. Evan and Grandpa hung out in the wave pool for almost 3 hours, while Jack and I wandered around the toddler/pre-school area. I wasn't expecting the water park to be so loud, but it was a fun two days.

Miss Kaitlyn celebrated her 6th birthday last week, and we were lucky enough to be in town to celebrate with her. Happy Birthday Kaitlyn!

Friday night I cooked a big dinner for some family friends. The boys were less interested in the Ranch Style Chicken I cooked, and more interested in playing in the backyard.

At the Puyallup Library:

What could be better than curling up on the couch with Grandma? Playing Angry Birds, of course! Evan is addicted to the game, and he has installed 5 or 6 versions onto my iPod. If I had a nickel for every time Evan asked to play Angry Birds, I would be a very rich woman.

We also had a lovely BBQ with Mark's parents, lunch at the Olive Garden with Uncle Tom (and my Dad), a mini play date with Evan's girlfriend, Jayden, and a quick trip to the South Hill Mall. I can't believe all that we did in 9 days!

Have a wonderful Friday, friends.

Saying Goodbye.

Mark and I are moving again.

Crazy, I know. I feel like we just moved to Ohio. But this move is going to be a good thing for Mark and a good thing for our family. This last year has been a fantastic adventure and our family has learned a lot, but Ohio hasn't felt like home to me. And I am really, really tired of the snow. And being cold all the time. And huge heating bills because I refuse to turn down my thermostat below 65 during the day.

So it's a good thing we are moving to Florida :-)

And for the record, I am NEVER moving in January again. This will be our third move during the month of January, and it sucks! It's cold and snowy, and I'm praying the roads are drivable when we leave in a couple of weeks.

My Dad and Mark's brother have graciously agreed to help us during the move and I can't thank them enough. Evan worships both of these men and they will be a huge help to us as we pack the truck and drive to our new house. Evan is looking forward to driving with Kenneth in the moving truck and teaching my dad how to play Super Mario Brothers on the Wii. He is kind of obsessed with Super Mario Brothers right now :-)

And any tips on how to keep a 20 month old entertained during an 18 hour car trip would be appreciated!

In other news, we got back some unusual lab results for Jack. If you could keep him in your prayers, I would appreciate it. We are repeating his lab work tomorrow and should have the results by Thursday. If his results were correct (as opposed to a lab error), we will be seeing a specialist on Friday. He did have an MRI today and the results were completely normal. That experience was really stressful, and I hope I never have to go through it again. Jack did great while the nurse took his temperature, blood pressure, and weight, but he would not fall asleep after they gave him the oral sedative. He ended up needing an extra dose through an IV, which caused him to be extra loopy and goofy this afternoon. The medication could be in his system until tomorrow afternoon, which will make his 9am physical therapy appointment interesting.

Tonight I am going to take some deep breaths and watch a little football. I think I've had all the excitement I can handle in one day.

Wish us luck.

The Graduate.

Karla Dudley has two new products available in her shop today (here and here). I love the Sunkissed kit... perfect for summer layouts. I used the kit to create a layout about my sister & parents on her graduation day:


[All Supplies are Karla Dudley Designs. White cardstock: Sunkissed. Patterned paper: Sunkissed. Flower sticker: Sunkissed. Metal rimmed tag: Sunkissed. Jewel brad: Sunkissed. Staple: Digi Essentials . Tag: Sunkissed. "a" brush: Digi Essentials No. 5. "GRADUATE" brush: Digi Essentials No. 5. Fonts: Amalie & Georgia. Layout size: 11x8.5 inches.]

Isn't she just the cutest thing you have ever seen? And my parents look so happy. It was a wonderful day for all of us. And I couldn't believe it when I saw my mom for the first time. She has lost over 30 pounds since New Years and looks amazing!! Mark and I are so, so proud of her.

Have a wonderful Thursday, friends!

xoxo,
Erin.

Quick Photo Share

I am slowing going through all the photos I took on our trip, and this is one of my favorites. It's not very often my parents are cooperative enough to pose for me!


(Left to Right: Uncle Tom, Deanna, Abby, & Mike.)

Have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo,
Erin.

The First Half of April:

I can't believe it is already April 16th! Our family visits are over, and it's time for us to return to our normal schedule. I know the boys miss Grandma and Grandpa, and Uncle Tom, though. Evan keeps asking when they are coming back... poor guy! I don't think he understands just how far we are from Washington.

We are definitely going to buy a globe in the near future for the kids. I am hoping a globe will help them understand where we are compared to the rest of our family.

I wanted to share some of the photos I took during those visits (and a couple from Easter, too):


Oh, how Evan loves his new quad. I think he has ridden it almost everyday this past week. He loves, loves, loves it! Look for a layout for Karla Dudley Designs on the 19th about Evan's new quad!


On Tuesday we went to the Newport Aquarium with Uncle Tom. Evan and Jack loved it! I really liked the jelly fish & the sharks. One of the exhibits allowed visitors to touch a shark & I did it! Their skin is really leathery and tough, but soft at the same time. Evan said he didn't want the sharks to bite his fingers because he likes his fingers, so he didn't want to touch them. I was okay with that!


This is probably my 2nd favorite photo of our aquarium trip (my favorite photo is of Uncle Tom and Jack). I love the jelly fish!


My favorite Aquarium photo.


Jack got an early birthday present last weekend from Grandma & Grandpa. He is the perfect size for this little blue buggy.






Mark was given amazing tickets to a Cincinnati Reds game the week my parents were in town, so my Dad, Mark, Evan, and I got to go to the game. The seats were behind home plate on the 100 level, and we were definitely spoiled! Evan enjoyed the game, but did get a little antsy toward the end. We stayed through the 7th inning (and missed the walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th by the Reds), but it was a great experience. This was Evan's first MLB game, and our first Reds game.






We also visited Sharon Woods in Sharonville, Ohio. It was a perfectly beautiful day and the park was great for Evan & Jack. Evan got this crazy idea to walk across the stream, which landed him in the water, but he loved every second of it.






This was Jack's first time riding in a swing. He wasn't so sure about it at first, but eventually started smiling and giggling.






It was also Jack's first time on a slide. He LOVED it! My mom would hold onto him all the way down and he would smile and clap.


Yes, I dressed the boys in matching shirts on Easter. They looked so, so, so cute! And I love how sparkly their blue eyes look in this photo. I do love that they both got my blue eyes... it's probably the only thing they got from me!





Wow... that is a lot of photos. Thanks for looking if you've stuck with me for this long! And THANK YOU Mom, Dad, and Uncle Tom for visiting us. We had so much fun during our time together, and we can't wait to see you in May!

Have a blessed weekend, friends.

xoxo, Erin.

Our Weekend Away.

Evan, Jack, and I made it home safely last night after another long drive... over six hours! We made a couple of stops, but it really wasn't too bad. Evan was so helpful with Jack during the drive... he would make faces at Jack and talk to him, which Jack loved. He also handed him his toys & would pull his car seat shade down if the sun was in his eyes. Ev is such a good big brother.

Today we just hung out at the house, relaxing and I did a ton of laundry! Mark got to spend some time with the boys:

Jack got a bath before bedtime to help soothe him a bit. He is teething & was seriously crabby tonight. He did great going down for his naps today, but bedtime was a challenge. He just wants to be held while chewing on his thumb. Baby Tylenol does help, but I think his nice warm bath before bed gets him calm & sleepy the best:

All Evan wanted to do today was stare at a screen... the tv, my computer, Mark's computer, or Mark's phone. He wanted to play the Wii, Starfall, and watch Charlie & Lola. I got him distracted with other things most of the day, but he did manage to snag Mark's phone while Mark was in the shower:

Evan also got to spend some time today (and last night) playing with my new toy:

... a real working typewriter! I wanted one for Ali Edwards class through BPS (which starts Thursday!), and my mother-in-law was nice enough to track one down for me:

Of course Mark had to have a turn on the typewriter, and he typed "Hello World", which is a coding phrase. I think it's used when you are testing out new code you've written, to make sure it works properly. Dion, Mark, or Roy: feel free to comment if that isn't right...

We attended Evan's pre-school pot luck last Thursday. This was the only photo we took because my camera was turned on by a certain three year old, and when we arrived at the park it was almost dead. I was so disappointed! But, I was e-mailed some photos of Evan and his friend Ryan by Ryan's mom, which is great! I just wanted to have some photos of Evan playing with his new pre-school buddies!

... and I got my hair cut last Wednesday? Tuesday? I don't remember... but I like that it is so low maintenance!

Evan, Jack, and I visited with my in-laws on Sunday. We had a yummy lunch & played with them for a bit:

Thank you for the typewriter, Debbie!

Saturday my parents, sister, and I took the kids to the Puyallup Fair. This was Evan's third trip to the fair, the other two visits were last year. Evan was so disappointed Mark wasn't going to be there to go on rides with him, so I was worried he wouldn't want to do anything when we go there. I was so wrong! He was a little nervous at first, but once my dad started taking him on rides Evan really got into it. We went through 48 tickets in a little over an hour (thanks mom & dad... and Terri!), then we ate some yummy fair burgers (which were so overpriced) & visited some of the livestock. It was a really fun afternoon:

Instead of waiving to us, Evan was showing us his numbers.

While we were walking back to the car Evan was so tired so he was in the stroller, and my dad was carrying Jack. He is such a great Grandpa!

Evan and my dad going down the big slide.

My dad & I were waiving at Evan and he gave us a thumbs up in return.

We also went to a birthday party for Jayden Saturday evening, but I was too busy monitoring Evan & holding Jack to get photos... another bummer. Evan had a great time, despite having to share his friend with others, and he got to eat a super delicious cupcake. Sometimes being a mom means putting down the camera and enjoying the moment!

Peace.