Go Big Or Go Home

We made the most of our Easter weekend and had more fun than any one should really be allowed to have.  Our weekend was so jam packed with activities that the kids were at a whole new level of crazy by the time Sunday evening rolled around.

Friday's light itinerary included playing in the backyard.  This was followed by a play date with Gina and Atticus at the Mountlake Terrace pool where they had open swim and then an Easter Egg Hunt in the pool.  The kids loved all the pool toys that were out during the open swim.  The favorite was floating mats that stretched across the pool that they could walk on and then jump into the water.  I could not keep them off it even though it required McKenzie to jump 2 plus feet from the edge of the pool to get onto the mat. My children are destined for extreme sports and I'll be along for the ride, holding my breath all the way. 

Here's McKenzie preparing to gather the eggs from the pool.   Such a fun activity for the kids!

Ben preparing for his favorite pool activity - jump!

After swimming we all came back to our house and met up with more friends, Rachel, Keaton and Katie and Cody for a pizza and cookie making party.  In total we had five kids three and under with four of them boys!  We sure did have some fun but I also learned some lessons like don't bother picking up before a play date and to have premade food so I could concentrate on the fun.  We started off with some treats for our friends just in case there was any doubt that we weren't going to get enough sweets over the weekend. 

Here's the crew minus Keaton who McKenzie insisted on holding as much as possible.  Cody is 2, Atticus will be 3 in May, McKenzie will be 4 in June and Ben is 2.  Ben is only 25 days younger than Cody and might possibly be 25 pounds lighter.  These two are complete opposites in size but very similar in their sweet personalities.

McKenzie and her favorite little guy Keaton.  She was holding him and told Rachel that she could babysit.  She is 3 going on 16, I guess!

Photo Courtesy of Gina

Ben was so excited to have friends over to play in his room that he got a bit out of control and turned into "The Dumper"and his friends barely made it out alive after he dumped two huge bins of Legos and GeoTraxs on them. 

Photo Courtesy of Gina

Once we finally settled down from our fun night the kids had a great night of sleep and actually slept in a little on Saturday morning.  We then went to McKenzie's ballet class and then out to enjoy a wonderful sunny day at our favorite park, North Creek Park or as Kenzie calls it "Pink Park."

McKenzie practicing pumping by herself on the swing.  This is such a happy day for a Mom when your child starts to do things on their own.  Especially if you have to run across the playground to catch your other child who is trying to jump off of various parts of the playground equipment.

Ben climbing everything he could find then yelling for me to "Look" and 'asking "Jump?"

After lunch and naps we headed out again to meet up with our friend Kim and her dog Muki to play some ball.  These two can't get enough of Muki and luckily for them she's handles all the attention very well.   

 

Another good night of sleep after all that fun in the sun and then it was Easter morning!  The Easter Bunny hid eggs all over our house starting on the stairs.  Here's the kids opening and eating their eggs as they found them.  

  

McKenzie finding the Easter Baskets.  I couldn't believe it took them so long to find them.  They were sitting on the dining room table.

After we found the baskets we got dressed and headed out for Yakima to visit Great Grandpa Z with the rest of the family. Here's McKenzie, cousin Claire and Ben ready for the egg hunt!

Too cute McKenzie with her basket of eggs.

Little man trying to shake an egg out of a tree since he couldn't reach.  He tried everything to get that egg out, shaking, climbing, jumping finally his sister came and got it down for him - so sweet!

Ben and McKenzie taking a break from the hunt.  McKenzie is yelling, "We love Easter!"  We do love it and can't wait for next year when we have even more fun than this year.

Double Take

When you have two of anything it's hard not to notice the how different they are especially when you are comparing two people.  For all the million things that are different about McKenzie and Ben there are a million things that are the same.  One of the things they do share is their love of trains in any shape or size.  There is nothing better to them than spending a sunny Sunday afternoon at the Country Village riding the train.

If nothing else as they grow older I can always show them this moment in time when they were completely on the same page at the same time just being together.

Getting Ready for the Bunny!

In our typical fashion we are gearing up for Easter with our practice egg hunts, our explosion of stuffed bunnies, chickens and lambs and of course dying eggs!  This year Ben actually got to participate in the egg dying process.  His contribution was shouting 'blue' over and over again while dipping his fingers into the blue vinegar egg dye cup then licking them repeatedly.  Lovely doesn't even come close to describing it.  McKenzie on other other hand was quite the seasoned veteran at dying and we only lost three eggs in tragic accidents with the floor.

We are very much looking forward to the Easter Bunny's visit and have lots of Easter fun planned!

 

Our beautiful eggs which we want so badly to look at and hold every day.  We'll see how many make it to Easter.

Living The Dream...

Each Winter and through the long endless Spring while we wait for the reward of Summer to show up sometime in July, Matt and I discuss moving.  There are many reasons we think about moving most of them weather related.  In the end our reasons for staying are not ones that can be picked out of a town's statistics or a weather forecast. We stay because of the friends and family we have near by and how much we appreciate and enjoy their company.  However this does not make us give up our list of reason we want to move.  One of our big move discussion points is always the desire to have a pool at our house that we could use longer than the short summer season here.  The happiness I see in my kids faces when they are in the water makes this a must have item.

About a month ago we discovered the next best thing when we joined Columbia Athletic Club in Mill Creek.  We have been members of the local gym for a few years and have enjoyed it for Matt and me.  But the kids were not allowed to swim there and we have tried to fit in other local pools schedules into our weekend time around naps and other activities but we always felt rushed.  The "jum" as the kids call it has open family swim available all the times we could actually use the pool.  We have been going swimming with the kids every chance we get and we are all loving it.

Ben has turned into quite the swimmer these days with this help of his puddle jumper life jacket.  He can be a free agent in pool and just kick his little self all around.  This life jacket is seriously a life saver as it makes it possible for one of us to take both kids to the pool by ourselves and actually get in a few worry free moments to relax. 

 McKenzie continues to advance her swimming skills.  She also has a puddle jumper life jacket that we bought for her before Hawaii.  She is also confident enough to take it off and practice actual swimming and has been going underwater with her Daddy to pick up some dive balls from the bottom of the pool.  So looking forward to swim lessons this summer and watching her swimming continue to blossom.

We are still looking forward to the Summer since the "jum" has an outdoor pool as well and then we'll really be living the dream!!

Rainbows Out of Rainy Days

One of the things I love about the kids is their eternal optimism.  They seem to be able to turn any situation into something fun.  Last Saturday it was typical Northwest Spring day which called for morning sprinkles, mid day showers and afternoon drizzle.  My first thought on seeing the rain in the afternoon was that we'd be stuck in the house for the rest of the day with nothing to do.  Luckily the kids came up with a much better way to spend the afternoon by using their new umbrellas!  What could be a short five minute trip to the mailbox turned into almost a hour of fun.  Mind you, this same principal can work horribly against you as well.  Any normal activity that should take you five minutes to complete will take you at least half an hour if you have the kids along.

Here we are heading out with the excitement of umbrellas way over the top!  Ben, though, has not mastered the umbrella as he doesn't grasp its purpose and holds it over his shoulder.  McKenzie on the other hand was all about not getting rained on.  Love that Ben has a little get-up-an'-go in his step.  He loves to try to skip. 

Serious umbrella user balancing his need to use two hands and his desire to hold my hand while walking with the umbrella.  In the end I got to hold the umbrella and he ran free.

McKenzie strolling along without a care in the world about getting wet since she has on rain boots, a rain coat and her umbrella.

Ben discovered a nice puddle and did some serious splashing!  McKenzie was having none of it as she might get wet she told me.  Imagine that.  

Ben did get wet but he loved every minute of it! 

Benny's Buttons

Our guy Benny loves pushing buttons on anything, anywhere, everywhere, even better if the button actually does something.  He loves to get his hands on the remotes, Wii controllers, computers, car key fobs, a landline phone is pure heaven with that lovely dial tone just waiting for the push of a button.  You name a button and he's pushed it.

We had that in mind when we made his Christmas list last year.  He received many Benny approved items that included buttons.  One of his favorites is his own little laptop " 'puter."  He loves to tote it around and push the buttons to his hearts content.  Lately he's been making little makeshift desks out of things to put his " 'puter" on and I found him in the laundry room the other morning happily working away.

He was probably trying to hack into our wireless  network to trade some stocks.  He's still cuter than the E-Trade baby any day!

Daddy's Girl

One of my all time favorite pictures of McKenzie was taken when she was two months old and just starting to smile.  She was practicing one of her favorite activities even to this day, waking Daddy up.  I have the picture on the wall upstairs and this weekend she was telling me about it when we were in the car.  She likes to talk about when she was a baby.  She said, "remember when I was a baby and I was supposed to be in a picture with Daddy smiling?"  She tends to throw in a "supposed to" when talking about the past for some reason.

Later that afternoon Matt was laying on the bed watching the kids playing in the landing and McKenzie decided to recreate the picture.  She was very exacting including making Matt close the curtains since she felt that it was dark in the first picture. 

Still cute together even almost four year later. She really is a Daddy's girl!  Hopefully she will retain her love for her Daddy as the years pass and also her tolerance for having her picture taken for my sake.

Back When I Was A Kid...

I remember Tim Noah coming to my elementary school and performing with his crazy cast of characters who joined him on stage to create a wonderful imaginary world just perfect for kids. If you asked anyone who went to school around this area about Tim Noah they would remember those assemblies over all the others. Luckily for my kids, Tim Noah is still performing live in downtown Snohomish at his Thumbnail Theater. The show is not as wild as it once was with "Musty Moldy Melvin" and "Greasy Grimy Gertie" dancing on stage but it's still a great show and the kids loved it. The show is action packed and the kids are invited up onto the stage at various points during the show which made McKenzie's day.  She wanted to be on stage for the entire show doing her dancing.  Ben on the other hand wanted to go up on stage but then when he got there he wanted to get off and fast.

We met one of the giant creatures on the way in and I can safely say my kids aren't scared of giant dressed up animals.  Ben walked right up and put his hand into the creatures mouth.  Nice to meet you!

Here is Tim Noah himself serenading McKenzie when it was her turn to go up on stage.  She was loving it! 

Super cute one of the kids sitting together for Friends With A Song.  McKenzie rushed up to the stage and Ben slowly followed then didn't know what to do so Kenzie helped him sit down right next to her.  Such a good sister. 

We now own the Wow Wow Wibble Woggle Wazzie Woodle WOO CD and are listening to it on repeat so we'll be able to participate even more next time we visit the Thumbnail Theater.  A big thanks to Tim Noah for continuing to make great childhood memories.

Come Grow With Me!

Looking back at my childhood, some of my best memories are of spending time with other families.  As kids grow and become involved in their own individual activities they form friends but often don't know the whole family well.  I love that my friends with kids make the effort to get together and share their families with mine.

This past weekend Carrie, Gina and I took the kids down to Seattle for an adventure.  We went to the Children's Museum which is always a lot of fun for everyone.  It's a magical place for kids because they are encouraged to touch everything.  It was a nice calm visit for me since Ben was home sick so I only had to keep an eye on one child and could catch up with Carrie and Gina. 

Here are our budding artists Atticus, Mikelle and McKenzie working with clay in the art room.

McKenzie and Halle camping like we did in the summer.  I love that they remember our trip to Entiat together.  So looking forward to this years trip already.

After we explored the museum we had lunch in the Center House which is upstairs from the Children's Museum.  We were lucky enough to find seating right next to another kids play area so we could enjoy some more visiting for the mommies while the kiddos played more.

Then we headed out to see the fountain which is always a favorite stop when we're downtown.  We will be planning another visit when it's warmer and we don't have to worry so much about the kids getting wet.  We tried for a nice picture of all the kids sitting looking at the camera but got the next best thing - them all looking in the same direction. 
 

 We were brave and went down to the bottom of the ramp and then when the fountain seemed to turn off for a few minutes the kids all ran out and touched the fountain.  McKenzie thought that was so much fun.  She's an adrenaline junkie already. 

Looking forward to many more good times with these families who are part of my kids lives!

Logically Speaking

One of the greatest gifts of parenthood is watching your child form ideas and thoughts based on the environment around them.  They are learning constantly and applying that knowledge in the most logical way they know.  Luckily as parents we get to hear all the big ideas hot off the press before the world can tell them they are wrong.

Our Kenzie as you can see in the picture above is a free spirit who throws caution to the wind and dives into life.  I love this about her.  She has a totally unique view of the world around her and she often applies her skies-the-limit attitude to her new ideas.

Tonight after dinner Ben and Daddy were watching a kids show on TV and McKenzie asked me to read her a new book that she got at school today.  I started in on the book but noticed she wasn't focused and was watching the show.  I asked her if she wanted to read the book or watch the show and her response was classic Kenzie.  She said, "But Mom I have two eyes."  I agreed she had a point, she does have two eyes but there's the whole bigger concept beyond that about focus that she has just skipped over.  Now if only she could focus on me trying to explain focus to her.

I love my job as Mom, expanding minds since 2007.

April Fools

I am a huge fan of practical jokes, so April Fools Day has always had a special place in my heart.  Though looking back I'm not really sure why since my earliest April Fools Day memory was answering the phone for my mother as a really young child and having the neighbor tell me that a prisoner had escaped from the prison just over the hill from my house and to lock the doors. Not a good joke to play especially when a child who was probably only five answered the phone.  Yikes! I'd better ask my Mom if it was even April Fools Day or if I just tell myself that.  Good thing I have many other memories of actually laughing on April Fools Day. 

Since the kids are so young we didn't have any real tricks planned for April Fools day this year.  In the end it was the kids who fooled us. 

McKenzie learned about April Fools Day at school and when I went to pick her up she had her dress on backwards.  I didn't think much of it and just asked her why it was backwards and she laughed and said, "I tricked you... it's a funny joke."  So typical of her.  If she does tell us a joke she always adds "it's a funny joke" at the end just in case I hadn't gotten the actual joke.  She does always make me laugh. 

Ben's trick was unintentional but it was a serious trick.  When we were getting ready for school I handed him Bippie, his beloved flat Hippo friend.  We then proceeded through the house and out to the car with various delays along the way.  When we got Ben in the car Bippie was missing.  So Matt and I tracked back through the house looking for Bippie.  He was no where to be found.  We retraced the wandering path to the car trying to think of where it possibly could be.  We theorized about how Bippie could have jumped over the stairrail when Ben was sliding down the stairs head first.  We quizzed Kenzie to see if she had taken him.  We checked in the toilets.  No stone was left unturned.  No Bippie.  It was time to go, so go the kids went.

Fast forward to me telling Matt a funny story about Ben and how he had recently started helping himself to fruit snacks in our pantry.  He figured out that just because he couldn't reach the knobs on the cupboard doors didn't mean he couldn't open the cupboard.  He could simply open them by pulling on the bottom of the door then he can climb up the shelves a little and grab the fruit snack box.  His big downfall in his whole method is that he wants to put the box back but can't so he asks me for help and that's where he gets caught sneaking fruit snacks.  So as I'm telling Matt this he asks if Bippie is in the cupboard and yes, there it was!  I'm not sure if Ben on Bippie thought of the trick but it was a good one!

 Guess it's time to stop holding back on April Fools and start plotting for next year.