Cousins!

Baby Don 4 months, Abigail 22 months, Griffin 2 1/2 years, Sophia 5 years

September

We spent Labor Day weekend with my best friend, Sandy and her family at the beach!  It was a lot of fun and the weather was gorgeous!  The kids all play so nice together.   Dylan is almost 14 and Evan is 8.

The next weekend was Don and Deniece's 40th Anniversary.  We all headed out to the lake house (Grandpa Dick's) for a nice family dinner and celebration.  We had a great dinner and a great time.  It was soooo hot that day!

Aunt Kim - sometimes referred to as the baby whisperer.  Not that baby Don needed any special techniques to fall asleep - he's a pretty go-with-the-flow baby.  But my babies always had a hard time going to sleep during family functions and Kim was the one to have the patience to get them to sleep.  Love it!

Look at this beautiful little peanut!  He's so adorable!

Another fun-filled month.  Many more to come, I'm sure!

Goodbye Summer 2011

We all know it - summer came and went in a flash. But we had lots of fun anyway and took advantage of every drop of sunshine this year. As I sit here now feeling cozy in a robe and woolly socks drinking my coffee and looking out the window at the rain storm - I figured I better get back to blogging a little more often. And back to cooking dinner a little more often. And back to getting the kids to bed on time a little more often... Sometimes you just are so tired after a long summer day of play, that you just crash right in the middle of the living room...

We had a few days later in August that we were able to have Carson for the whole day! The kids love having a playmate. Carson is a sweet little boy and him and Griffin are great buddies!


Kyle's friend, Shawn, came to visit with his little girl Kennedy. She's about 7 or 8 months younger than Griffin. She is a rough and tumble little gal with an amazing personality. So smart and so funny!

We were also so glad to be able to hang out with Marisa and baby Don a lot during her summer off as a school teacher. Don is such a mellow little guy with the cutest smiles. He is mesmerized by Sophia and Griffin, thankfully not scared or overwhelmed.

We had a handful of days we spent playing at Kyle's Uncle Monty's house. They have a pool, and lots of blacktop to ride bikes, and a little 4-wheeler Griffin loved! Aunt Beth always makes it so nice for us to visit there and is so sweet to take such great care of our little family.

All in all, it was a great summer! It feels good to be into fall, though. We are back on routine and the house seems a little more in order. Sophia is loving kindergarten and Griffin is enjoying his special time with mom. We've been working on his colors and shapes and he's almost got them down. He's pretty good at mimicking counting and knows a few letters. Sophia has learned a handful of "sight words" at school and says her favorite part of the day is riding the bus. She's still taking her weekly dance class and enjoying it.

Kyle has been working long, long hours. We had some major house repairs we had to get done before the rain came. Pretty expensive at this point (don't ever let MC Construction build a home for you!!!). So he's been working a lot to cover those expenses - which means longer days for mom, too! I've been keeping very busy with my new little cake business - Party Cakes by Amy. It's a lot of fun, but also a lot of work with kids to referee and take care of while I'm baking, decorating, or cleaning up. So I've had a lot of nights that it's just easier to stay up late to get everything done while the kids and Kyle are sleeping. I am really enjoying it, though, and have a quite a few loyal customers at this point.

I'm hoping to start blogging more frequently, now that we're home more often. Stay tuned for our September update coming later this week!!

Goodbye to Grandpa Dick's Tractor

All loaded up and ready to go to a new home... An older gentleman just a few miles down the road from us was excited to buy this old tractor. Kyle is pictured below (Sophia snapped the pic) taking one last ride.

Off to Kindergarten!

Daddy stopped by to see her off and so did Papa Dan. Here we are waiting for Bus No. 1!

Here it comes...

Reality seemed to set in a little and she got kind of quiet...

The bus driver gave no directions, but Sophia knew what to do. Find a seat, sit down quietly, and make sure to wave to Mom!

Griffin was pretty sad that he couldn't ride the bus with sissy... Poor little guy will have to go through this for next couple years.

I've just been holding back tears all morning. It was a pretty weird feeling to watch my baby ride off on that big bus. I might have to go buy her a cell phone tonight so she can call me from the bus from now on! ha!

Best Buds

Griffin is so in love with baby Don! He loves to hold him and kiss him (and kind of poke his eyes and ears in such a loving way...)!

Ocean Shores with the Wyckoffs

A few weekends ago we drove out to Ocean Shores and spent two nights with with Kim, Zach, and Abigail. The kids love each other so much and get a little crazy at playtime!

The weather was beautiful, a little overcast in the morning, but sunny by noon every day we were there. Probaby the best weather I've experienced at Ocean Shores!
My kids LOVE the sand!

Abigail wasn't too sure about that messy sand, it took her a while to want to play in it. Kimberly is pregs in this pic with Baby Ty, due this November!

Kyle is quite the swimmer when we are at the ocean. He was even body surfing!

The little guy off to the side in this picture is my best friend, Sandy's little boy Evan. They were at the beach for the day and found us for a fun little visit! We will be going back to Ocean Shores for labor day weend with Sandy and her family for 2 night. I'm really hoping to get that warm sunshine again! On the way out of town we stopped and did a few rides on the bumper cars! So fun - I don't know who enjoyed it more me or the kids. :o)

Pictures from July

Day Out with Thomas (not as great as I hoped... but the kids had fun)
After visiting Thomas, we went to Snoqualmie Falls. So beautiful!

Then we ate at the Salish lodge, not very kid friendly, but gorgeous view of the falls.

Day at Summit Lake with my friend Joy and her family. So much fun and SUNNY!!

Sometimes a boy just wants to be nakey-nakey, what's the big deal?! ;o)

And finally we made the apple pie that Sophia always asks to do at inopportune times. Best crust I have done yet. I took the time to brush with egg whites and sprinkle with sugar, which formed the thinnest layer of crunchy goodness!

July was fun, it finally felt like summer! Hopefully I will get all my pictures uploaded to Kodak later today. The album from Day Out with Thomas and Snoqualmie is already on my links list.

Alderbrook & 4th of July

The first picture isn't actually at Alderbrook, but I just threw it in anyway. This is what happens when I try to do step aerobics before naptime. I have my little helpers to workout with me...

These are pictures of our 4th of July stay at the Alderbrook with all the Husseys. It was a lot of fun. The kids liked the rocks in the pathway the best, I think.

Griffin couldn't take it any longer and had to take a little snooze with his baby cuz, Don.
Breakfast time in our room.

Sophia was getting so mad at me when I would hoist her in, after she was the one who counted to 3! Silly girl.

We like to attend the 4th of July parade in Tumwater every year. It's pretty cute and the kids have a good time watching the muscle cars and cowgirls.

Sister Love

Sophia had a little something to say to her brother last night on her way downstairs to bed...

"Griffin, do you know how good I love you? More than anyone in the whole world. Even more than Santa."

Hot Dog, Hot Dog, Hot Diggity Dog!

Proud New Daddy

My brother-in-law, Richie, is the cutest new daddy. He's always been in love with babies and now he finally has his own to completely dote on. Father's Day we were all at the Hussey household and amongst all the chaos, I look into the living room and Richie has set Baby Don up for a little photo shoot. It was so cute.
Then Richie asked someone to take his picture with Baby D on his phone so he could have a picture of him and his boy on there to show people. So cute!

And this last picture is a very common sight nowadays. Richie loves our Griffin very much and is always packing both boys around with him now!

Happy first Father's Day, Rich. You are too cute.