Ethan's Birthday

Can't believe it, but my little guy is 6 years old now! He has been such a trooper and is doing so well in school. We had a little birthday party for him Friday afternoon with a few friends friends from church and a few friends from school. It was a pirate party (my favorite at-home party theme), complete with pirate hats, a treasure hunt, and "treasure" at the end. It went really well. Trevor was sad to miss it (he was still at school), but he helped me figure out the treasure hunt clues and even hid the treasure for me (in the shed in the backyard...yes, I made them tromp through the snow to get it!) Kevin took his nap through the whole thing, which helped a lot. I told the kids that there was a dragon sleeping upstairs and that they should be careful not to wake it, although Kevin is fairly used to sleeping through all kinds of noise around here. We celebrated as a family on Saturday, and Ethan got his favorite present: a camera! Yes, after pestering me all the time to use my camera (and dropping my brand new one a few months ago), he now has one of his own! I will post more about this later. Happy Birthday to my Ethan...what a sweet boy! (P.S. That's a Cold Stone cake...with all the party preparations, I totally forgot about a cake! I think this one was yummier than anything I would have made, anyway!)

Another Birthday

So my birthday was yesterday...I've reached that milestone age of 34. I never actually thought I would forget how old I am, but I must say I had to do some calculating recently to figure it out. Which is funny because Ethan is constantly reminding everyone how old they are (watch out if he asks you how old you are...eventually everyone will know). It was a nice day...Ethan kept asking me what time my party was. I had to do a little explaining about how adults don't usually have parties for their birthday. He looked perplexed when I told him that, and a little sad. I spent the morning finishing up the laundry and putting up Christmas decorations. I did squeeze in some time to do a New York Times Crossword (my secret addiction). I had lunch with friends, had an hour-long talk with my parents on the phone (they told me my birthday was actually a day earlier in Australia), and put away the laundry. Robert gave me flowers and dusted (best present ever...I HATE dusting). We went out to dinner and had cake afterwards.
Then I went to card class...see my beautiful creations?!















(I did not come up with these beautiful designs, but I did put them together...not sure what I'll use them for yet). All in all, a great birthday!

A Year With Frog and Toad

We went to see "A Year With Frog and Toad" a couple of weekends ago at the Children's Theatre. (Kevin had to stay home with a babysitter.) It was SO cute! We loved it! Ethan was laughing so hard and so loud the whole time. The rest of us laughed our fair share, as well. By the end of the show, Ethan was talking back to the performers. Great cast, great music, great stories...they did a fantastic job of keeping the charm of the books, while interjecting some theatrical magic and pizazz. The whole show and the whole experience was just great! We highly recommend it for all ages.
Here's a link to the CD of the show's music (which we promptly purchased afterwards). http://www.amazon.com/Year-Frog-Toad-Original-Recording/dp/B0001IN0LW
It doesn't do it justice because it just has clips of the songs, but we are still singing the songs around the house and in the car. Did I mention it was great?! I think it may become a yearly tradition.

I love my spoon

Kevin has discovered the wonders of using a spoon. He refuses to eat any other way. The only way I can get him to try new foods is by handing him the spoon...he'll eat just about anything as long as its on a spoon. He's got a bit of practicing to do yet for his aim. (You also get a nice look at his 5 day old shiner.)

Black Eye

Kevin got his first black eye (as I watch his personality emerge, I am sure there are more to come). He and Ethan were taking a bath before church a few weeks ago and things got a little crowded. Kevin decided to try out his sea legs and stand up. He promptly slipped and caught the edge of the tub. Lovely! Our favorite caption for these photos: "You should see the other guy." Unfortunately, they don't caption the color in its full glory...that came a few days later.

Halloween (yes, I know it's almost December)

I'm attempting to catch up on blogging, since it's been a month since I last posted! Sorry, disgruntled blog viewers...I will try to mend my ways. Needless to say, things have been a little crazy around here and I find myself falling into bed soon after I put my own children to bed.

Halloween was great fun...Grandma Sandi came, as tradition dictates. Kevin was a reluctant trick-or-treater...2 houses was enough. (I have to admit, it was a little cold for my taste, as well). The candy was a big hit, though. He revived the leopard costume that both of his brother wore...and I think he wore it well. Ethan was a king...very suitable for his views on the world. If only he WERE king...that would make life so much more acceptable to him. Trevor was, to quote the title on the costume tag, an "Evil Knight." This was our first foray into scary costumes...I'm not sure how I feel about that. I had him omit the scary mask for the Halloween party at church.

The school parties were a success. Robert and I helped out at both the kindergarten party and the 3rd grade party. Lots of fun was had by all!

This just cracks me up

So, we got this damage to our roof and siding from a storm in August. Ever since, we've had the joy of working with insurance companies, mortgage companies, and contractors. Our on-again-off-again contractors have been working on our siding off and on (and on and off) for the past week. I decided to document the stripping of my house with pictures. As I headed to the backyard to take a picture, I spied something that didn't belong on the back of my house:

I don't have a lovely telephoto lens (I am limited to the point-and-shoot variety of camera), but I'm sure you can try to make out what has been etched into the walls of my house by some wise-cracking worker from long ago...just look near the peak of the roof...yes, it says: DRUGS! The guys told me maybe I wouldn't want a picture of that...but it just cracked me up! They told me that they would cover it up and soon as they could, because we wouldn't want the neighbors to get the wrong idea...or ring the doorbell looking for me to hook them up.

The Perfect Autumn Evening

Tonight we had so much fun raking up the leaves and sliding down into them. It was such a beautiful night. I know evenings like this will be very few and far between in the coming weeks. Robert says they are forecasting snow this week!

Our beautiful maple shed most of its leaves this morning. It's been getting down to freezing the past few nights. This morning the leaves just fell one after another!

Kevin was so funny tonight. He was trying so hard to climb up the slide (like his brothers), and when that didn't work, he worked and worked at going up the ladder and then going back down the ladder. And don't you dare try to stop him or help him! He has quite the stubborn streak. Makes me wonder what we are in for as he gets older!

Visit to the Apple Orchard

We visited a local apple orchard last Saturday...it was a beautiful day! You can't see it in the pictures, but we were being attacked by lady bugs (or maybe Japanese beetles...not sure how to tell which is which). We've since eaten all of our apples and made several loaves of apple bread. I love autumn! And I love apples.

The Soundstairs at the Science Museum

I'm trying out posting video. Unfortunately, I don't have any way to edit video on my archaic computer, so sorry if it's too long or boring...you don't have to watch it! (I'm thinking I need a Mac now...but those old PC habits die hard!)

This is at the Science Museum...the boys were having a blast going up and down these stairs that play a note each time you step on them. We spent almost the entire day at the museum and saw tons of exhibits, but Ethan kept saying, "Can we go back to the Soundstairs now?" (Translation: "I'm done with learning about refracting light...I want to run around and make noise!") We tried making harmonies, but couldn't coordinate it well enough. Guess we'll have to figure out a way to install these at our house so we can practice.

An Evening at the Children's Museum

We had a great time at the Children's Museum with some friends. The kids have been off school all week so we have been taking advantage of all the great museums around here. It's been very "Seattle-esque" this week...lots of clouds and sporadic, and sometimes torrential, rain showers. The downside is that they couldn't work on re-siding our house (we got some wind damage from a storm the end of August), so we have to wait until we get a nice dry day. I'll post pictures of what is sure to be a very exciting ordeal once they start.
We finally heard from my parents in Australia...it had been almost 3 weeks since we had heard from them. I was ready to post "Have you seen these people?" on my blog. Now we know that they are doing well and working hard. We're so proud of them!

Build-a-Bear for Kevin

Trevor and Ethan made a Build-a-Bear for Kevin for his birthday. They picked it out and put two little hearts inside (with a kiss and wish from each of them) and helped fill it with stuffing. Kevin loves his bear and gives it hugs all of the time! We decided that he can name it later on.

Kevin's 1st Birthday

Here is a slide show with pictures from Kevin's 1st birthday. I made a bathtub cake because one of Kevin's favorite things to do is take a bath! He gets very excited whenever he hears the water running. The other day he nearly climbed in with all of his clothes still on! We had a fun time and he really enjoyed the cake. He also got into opening his presents. Can't believe he's 1 already!

Guilt Blogging

Someone has added me to their blog list (Thanks a lot, Stacey), and since I'm quite sure her blog is well-trafficked, I am now compelled to finally add something to my blog.

I've hit a few road bumps in my effort to blog, or to "exist" in cyberspace, but I am determined to fight my way through it. I apologize early for the crudeness of my layout...I'm sure it will become more e-sophisticated as I learn the ropes. Sadly, my computer lacks the necessary software to make beautiful headers and things of that nature. Maybe when we buy our new computer...we are having the age-old Mac vs. PC debate. Where do you fall in that debate? I'd love to hear.

Here are some recent pics of the kids:
That's Kevin in a big box of big Legos,
Trevor with brownies that he baked all by himself (very tasty!),
Kevin on his airplane that he got for his 1st birthday (Robert is training him early),
and Ethan on his last day of soccer (so proud of his purple jersey)

Let the Blogging Begin

Ok. I've been meaning to start a blog for a while now, so here it goes! I helped my mom get one started for her last week, so I figure I've got to keep up with her.

We just got back from San Diego last night, after a sad farewell to my parents, who will be leaving for an 18-month mission to Australia in a few weeks. We had a great time spending time with them and trying to help them get ready. I was sad to say good-bye, but also so excited for their new adventure. Plus, we hope to make travel plans at some point to see them in the "land down under."

Tonight is Open House for Trevor's and Ethan's school. Trevor starts 3rd grade next Tuesday and Ethan will be in kindergarten. After the Open House, Sandi (my mother-in-law) and I are off to the Minnesota State Fair to see Vince Gill (she bought the tickets, not me). It should be fun. Robert gets to get dinner for the boys and take them all to Trevor's soccer practice (in other words, he gets to be the soccer mom tonight).

I hope to post some pictures soon. Stay tuned!