Go Tigers!

In addition to ballet this year McKenzie has been playing T-Ball through the local YMCA.  At the first practice the coach asked the team what they wanted their team name to be an suggested they think of things that are fast. The team came up with Tigers, unfortunately the YMCA didn't assign colors based on team names and so McKenzie's team color is maroon.

Here's McKenzie leading the pack during warm ups for their first game.  We have a great group of kids and a really great coach who's main goal is to have the kids learn the game while having fun which is so important at this age.

McKenzie during her first at bat.  She had a great hit and then ran off towards first base!  It's such a joy to see your child participating and enjoying life!  Go Tigers!

Fabulous Fours!

We survived the wondrous ones, the terrific twos and the tremendous threes with our McKenzie and now we're on to the fabulous fours!  Each age with McKenzie just keeps getting better and better as she expands her world and discovers all the new things she can do.  In our usual style we couldn't just settle for a simple celebration - it's not everyday your sweet girl turns four.

On McKenzie's birthday she woke up to a birthday display on the kitchen table with presents, flowers, a birthday crown, and a cake with rainbow sprinkles!  Here she is showing us how old she is.  

Our princess checking out her birthday cake.  She is just excited about the sprinkles at this point!  Wait until she sees what Mom has on the inside!

Blowing out her candles and making a wish!  Good thing she has been practicing all year for this.

What kind of birthday would it be if your brother didn't swipe some of the frosting while waiting for Mom to cut the cake?

The reveal!  A rainbow cake!

She was so excited when she saw the inside.  She had asked for a rainbow cake and I had seen the perfect thing on my friend Dana's blog.   I knew I had to figure out how to make it.  Dana sent me some easy directions and off I went creating a rainbow cake to make McKenzie's birthday complete.  How did we ever live without the Internet?

We also deviated from our normal birthday dinner and took the family to Chuck E Cheese for a night of family fun.  The kids loved it and Kenzie actually understood how to play the games and win tickets.  Ben was just so excited he was allowed to push buttons, lots of buttons!

And what do you get for a girl who has everything?  The birthday gift she was most excited about on her actual birthday was the prize she picked out at Chuck E Cheese.  A blow up chair for Flat Monkey.  Now he can relax in style when he visits Barbie's house.  Life is good!

For her friend birthday party we had a joint birthday with cousin Kayla who turned six this year at Jump Planet, our favorite jump house gym.  Both girls invited friends from their schools and it was a great crowd of wild jumpers.  I tried to take more pictures but it's nearly impossible to get a good shot of kids on a bounce house.  A big thank you to Grandma C who spent the entire party literally running from place to place with Ben as he jumped his little heart out.  

The birthday cousins blowing out their candles on their yummy ice cream cake!

Cabin Fever

The early part of the year always drags on as we wait for the glorious Northwest summer to arrive.  This year Spring has been seeming to lag even longer as we wait for those moments of sunshine that make living with all this rain possible.  Any opportunity to escape the normal routine and head off an adventure is a welcomed break especially if there ends up being sunshine involved.

Matt's Grandpa and now his Uncle Ron and Aunt Beverly own a cabin in the Wenatchee National Forest where you can walk down to Rimrock Lake.  We made a large loop through Washington on our journey to the cabin and back home.  On the way there we took I-90 to Ellensburg then headed South to Yakima and then on to the cabin.  On the way back we crossed over White Pass which is just 10 miles from the cabin and drove through part of the Mt. Rainer National Park, finally connecting with the civilized world we know near Enumclaw.  We have never really explored this part of the state and the views were amazing. 

Here is Rimrock Lake from the beach just across the street from the cabin.  The mountains surrounding the lake and the overall size of it were unbelievable. 

Aunt Bev couldn't believe the kids were in the lake since it was sunny but not terribly warm during our visit.  But as usual when there's water there is no stopping them from going in.  The water was "Brr!" according to Ben but he just kept going in. 

The kids also didn't seem to mind walking on the sharp gravel that made up the shoreline.  Maybe their little toes were frozen and they couldn't feel the sharp rocks.

Our little nature boy standing on the shore gearing up for his next venture into the water.

Kenzie taking a break on some driftwood and showing off her pale legs that are badly in need of some sunshine!

Here's where the kids slept at the cabin.  They thought it was so fun to have a slumber party but whoever invited them seemed to forget to tell them about the slumber part.  They stayed up late and were up early!

A favorite spot for these two was sitting on the firewood box watching the birds and chipmunks on the front porch.  They spent most of the morning there watching the wildlife.  This was so much better than television!

Ben hiking up the road to the cabin.  One of those trees behind him to the right is the famous tree that Matt and his family hit in their car and resulted in Matt's stomach scar.

Here's a flashback picture of Matt at the cabin when he was probably around seven sitting so patiently waiting for a chipmunk to come get a peanut.

We had a wonderful trip.  It was just the breath of fresh air and change of scenery we needed to tide us over until the sun is shining at home!

Practice Makes Perfect!

We are nearing the end of McKenzie's ballet class and are in frenzied preparation for the big recital.  When I originally signed her up for ballet I figured it was a couple of months and then a performance of sorts in front of the parents.  Boy was I wrong.  We have been diligently dancing our way through every Saturday morning since September and are preparing for a grand finale show at the Edmonds Center for Arts.  I also didn't realized I was signing myself up to be a stage mom.  I knew there was a costume and that I'd have to brush Kenzie hair and make sure she had clean tights on but I was not prepared for the detailed instructions I received.

Hair is to be curled in ringlets, half up, half down.  Eye liner is something I can opt to use with the required lipstick, mascara and blush.  I'm not much into make up myself so all this is taking some getting used to.  I had to do some trial runs with the hair and makeup to make sure I was able to pull it all off for class picture day.

Here's McKenzie on one of her practice hair runs.  We're testing to see if the curlers were going to work or if I needed to buy a curling iron.  Thank goodness I saved the hot rollers I received for Christmas in high school.  They finally came in handy!

Finished product! Beautiful curls to go with the headpiece for her costume.  I'll save the big reveal of the whole costume for after the recital but as you can see from the colors here, it is bold!

It's fun that there is an element of participation for me in the kids activities.  It keeps me learning and expanding my own world!  From this experience I have confirmed that I'm not cut out to be a stage mom but I will enjoy this little venture while it lasts.

How Does Your Garden Grow...?

Our garden is growing out of control.  I am learning a lot with this first experience in gardening.  Lesson one for the season is if someone is so dedicated to gardening that they gather and package up tiny seeds and ship them all over for others to buy, they probably have grown these same plants before and are telling you to space the seeds out for a very good reason.

As you can see I have crammed too many plants into the far end of the garden but they are all thriving despite the cramped situation.  The poor carrots and radishes that I planted from seed are the worst.  I simply didn't believe that they needed the space the package indicated and then to further justify the need to dump the entire packet of seeds into the small space that I had I told myself that perhaps all the seeds wouldn't grow.  Each and every one of those tiny little seeds seems to have grown.  I'm working on thinning them out now.


I have lost two different types of plants due, I think, to lack of water.  My cucumber plants dried up and died and my basil plants wilted down to the ground and withered up.  I even kept the basil inside for a week and a half longer than the other plants but perhaps not long enough.  I'll have to do some more research before I attempt either of those again.

Our first crop from the garden has been lettuce which is growing quite nicely.  We have been having fresh lettuce in everything possible.  Time to plan a nice big salad so I can use more of it up!  Kenzie and I finally got around to staking up our peas and sweet pea plants this past weekend and they are climbing higher with each day.  I can't wait until the sweet pea flowers bloom.  Those were my favorite as a child.

I plan to keep documenting my gardening lessons as the garden grows so I remember for next year.

Three Little Monkeys

Having fun at the zoo.  We recently spent a fun day at one of our favorite places, the Woodland Park Zoo, with one of our favorite people, cousin Claire.  The kids loved running along together from one exhibit to the next.  It's always interesting to see what animal and/or animal activity holds their attention the longest.  On this trip it was our old friends the orangutans.  Other favorites were the elephants, penguins, and giraffes.

Here are our little monkeys just hanging around!

Ben making a new friend.  Ben did not want say good-bye to this friendly guy.

Stair steps: Ben 2, Claire almost 3, Kenzie almost 4

Ben wore his tracksuit to the zoo and was often jogging along through the exhibits with one of us chasing along behind him.  The girls opted for more of a life of leisure and found a way to share their ride.

A stroller made for one - perfect for two cousins!

Ben moving in for a hug on a big kitty!

Two cuties taking a break to watch the elephants.

Always a great way to end a fantastic zoo trip!

Looking forward to many zoo trips this summer to enjoy the animals with the kiddos!

Take One...

McKenzie was 2 1/2 years old when she went to her first movie, she loved it and enjoyed the whole show.  We decided that Ben was old enough to see his first movie at the theater and decided to plan a family outing to see Kung Fu Panda 2.  Unfortunately, Ben's attention span did not last as long as the movie.  He was too interested in everything but the movie so I had to leave and take him for a stroll while McKenzie and Daddy finished the show.  When he started yelling "My Grandma, My Grandpa," I knew it was time to go.  He often yells at the elderly and I'm just lucky he decided he liked whatever Grandparent he saw.  If he doesn't like the Grandparent he sees, he points and yells "Bad. Bad Grandpa."

Just like making movies we'll be going on to Take 2 at a future date. 

Enjoying some popcorn at the show.

Parenting: Science or Art?

McKenzie will be turning four in less than two weeks and she still loves her afternoon nap.  She will sleep most days for two plus hours in the afternoon.  She has always loved to nap when she was almost two we finally had to wean her off her morning nap with what we termed a controlled nap.  She was allowed to fall asleep in the morning but only for half an hour that way she would take a good afternoon nap.  With all this desire to sleep you'd think the evenings would be easy but she fights bedtime with everything she has.  This is where my question comes in: is parenting science or an art form?  Let's explore...

Science    According to Wikipedia these are the elements of scientific method:

1. Characterizations: My child won't go to sleep at night and won't stay in her bed. This happens almost every night.  She needs just one more thing... no two more things... .
2. Hypothesis: Maybe she is getting too much sleep during the day.  Perhaps she is overly tired.  Could she be trying to drive me crazy?  Is she being paid off by Grandma to pay me back from similar behavior when I was a child? 
3. Predictions: If I try a shorter afternoon nap she may be tired at bedtime.  An earlier bedtime might keep her from being overly tired and will let her drift off to sleep quickly.  If this keeps up I will possibly go crazy if I'm not already there.  If I find that Grandma has wished this on me she'll be sharing a room with McKenzie next time she comes for a visit.
4. Experiments: Test all of the above and then test every suggestion you learn from other parents and the internet. 

The experiment part is where the true job associated with parenting comes in. It is when every day you are preforming a new experiment to try to find that one little element you can alter to change the game and keep your child doing what you want them to do.  Matt and I are always strategizing new plans to get McKenzie to stay in her room at night.  Here are a few of our recent attempts: taking away a baby doll every time she gets up, giving her a silly band in the morning if she doesn't get out of bed, and my new favorite reading to her from 'Little House On The Prairie' which to a child is not all that exciting since she is used to picture books.  I must say while reading the long chapters of the book does settle McKenzie down a bit.  What I really leave with each night is a strong desire to know why Pa and Ma did not publish a companion book that talked about parenting.  They just say "bedtime for little girls" and Laura runs off to bed.  In my dreams.  Now let's give art a chance.

Art    According to Wikipedia art is defined as "the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others."  We certainly do use our imaginations when trying to come up with new things to try and the aesthetics of our environment do increase when my child are safely snuggled in their beds for the night.

In the end I believe that parenting requires a finely tuned sense that allows you to join arts use of skill and imagination with the scientific knowledge gained from forming your hypotheses, predictions and executing your many experiments.  And still some nights you get to put your child back in bed over and over until she has no more dolls to sleep with and some nights you end up with this.