Happy 25th Andrea!

An impromptu gathering of friends and some new faces with great food and good drinks...all to celebrate Andrea's birthday! Kame is a great place to eat, hang out and enjoy some delicious Japanese cuisine.

Seven Months (plus 2 days)

Zac!

I love your eyes...they are sometimes blue-gray or green-brown or blue-brown

I love your teeth...they are cute and give you so much character and you have those top two coming down so fast

I love your hands...they are grabby and swift yet you can pick and point so gently with one tiny finger

I love you...you can be sweet and kind, wormy and wiggly, soft and cuddly and loving

You bring so much joy to our life.

Still Friends After All These MONTHS

Hey there partner! Zac is sporting his cowboy outfit. Check out his wild-wild hairdo! Gracie is sporting a fab-faux-hawk.

No comment. :)

He was not hitting her; he is waving!

This is the one that has cause for conern...he is kissing her!

He could not keep his hands off her.

Gracie and Zac are still friends. They are funny, cute and are starting to talk to each other. They also grab, pinch and rake each other across the face. They are both starting to crawl, babble (Gracie has great verbal skills) and they can sit up and stare at each other for quite some time. It has been a great seven months watching them grow up (a bit too fast). OK, so we put some hair products in their hair. Can you tell? HA!

Back to Our Regular Routine...for a week

Zac all tuckered out after a long walk. It was his third (cat) nap of the day. Strolling is such hard work!

Gracie all tuckered out in the new backpack. She is wearing Zac's hat.

Amy and Gracie...walking and shopping again! So fun.

Amy and I took the babes on our oh-so-familiar walk downtown. We also seem to get there the same way and try to come home on a different route. We have fun walking, talking, listening to out kids, laughing and knowing we will shop, eat and have fun. We are soooo ready for some more sun and warm weather!

Is This a Made-Up Job?

So last week I poured wine for my friends Rich and Robin, who own Viento Wines, at SIP. I had a great time talking with friends who stopped by the booth, chatting with people who I didn't know and pouring some yummy wine. Rich's two boys helped out here and there and they are always fun to work with and catch up with, since we really only get to catch up about once a year. Anyway towards the end of the night we needed to do some inventory of the wine bottles we used to pour. Since I was still talking, chatting and not really wanting to count all the bottles, I asked their youngest if he could start counting the bottles for the inventory. He started in and about 20 seconds later he turns and ask me, "Is this a made-up job?" Apparently he has had a bad experience with doing made-up jobs in he past and most importantly...do I come off as giving out made-up jobs?

Water Water Everywhere!

CJ and Zac



Jake, shooting it up!

Auntie Anna and Zac behind a waterfall. (Zac has some scary red eyes, sorry)

My seeeeeeeeeeestor driving us safely there and back...Thanks Anna!

I sat in the back most of the way there and back again...this is what he didn't do most of the time!
(sorry about the date on the pictures, wrong date. now it is fixed)

Today we went to Grand Mound, WA to a water park and it really was fun for the whole family. (No, I did not get paid to write that)
Getting into a bathing suit is never a highlight of my day, month or year and to top it off I have not one bit of tan skin on me right now...white as a ghost I am. However, I was ready to take Zac out of state for the first time and let him experience a pool for the first time. I know CJ was going to have a blast. So, into a bathing suit I went. I packed two just in case; since I have not wore a bathing suit since last August, 9 months pregnant and it was 100 degrees. Anway...come to find out as soon as I stepped in the water slide area my fears where put to rest...all around us, 500+ people of all shapes, sizes and colors in various kinds of swimsuits. When I say various kinds of swimsuits...let your imagination run wild. Really. Looking around I realized that there is always someone out there to make me look good, make mefeel a bit better about myself (in my motherly swimsuit toting a 6 month old good kind of way) because their butt is just a bit bigger. (yeah I said it...you know you think it!) and just when that person walks away...BAM! There is another (in cute bikini, tan skin and shapely body) making me want to stay underwater all day. Here is a little about our day... Anna and I drove with baby Zac while CJ went with the Ryan's. We all arrived on a wet, cold and rainy afternoon, typical for the first day of Spring Break in Oregon. After a quick change into our swimsuits we headed down the hall to the water park. It is a GIANT room with four different pools to play in, seating all around, food court (that serves beer!) and a swim shop. It really had everything you would need right there. The rest of the lodge had many other amenities but did not check it all out on our day trip. The Ryan's and CJ are in the process of checking it all out tonight (as I type back home) since they are spending the night. Anyway, the wave pool was a fairly nice place to hang out, relaxing and a bit of fun riding the little waves. Very crowded at times. The sports pool...never went in, but CJ said he liked it. The baby and toddler beach was fun for Zac and Jake, they really liked that everything was at their level, tons of water everywhere and little gadgets galore to push and pull that squirted water everywhere! Think of the water table you had in Kindergarten times 1000! Then there is the fort. I giant 4+ story fortress with 2 water slides, water gadgets everywhere and water dripping all over you as you walk through it and up to the top to ride the little water slides down. On top of this whole structure is a bucket that holds 1000 gallons of water and it dumps every 2 minuets (or so, never timed it). It is really cool. OK, maybe really cool the first 10 times you get dumped on, but after that it is only just cool. The big water slides were fun and a bit scary for me. Anna, CJ, Stevie and I went in a 4 person tube down the funnel slide. The super funny part was trying to get my large behind in the small hole and still hold on to the handles that were placed in my armpits then to actually go down the tube into the unknown? Yikes. Let's just say I screamed my head off, laughed a lot and of course it was over all too quickly. The boys would not go again. They said it was too scary. I might have to agree. Anna-the-Brave went again with Steve and Bethany. All in all it was a great day. I have to admit that arriving in the rain, driving in the rain and listening to water rushing, gushing, splashing, squirting and all the other ways water can sound...is a bit much for one day. There is a lot of water! Final recommendation...take your kids, they will have a blast! You might too.

Cheerio Anyone?

Zac started on the classic Cheerio today which means we cut a Cheerio in half and let him pick them up and feed himself. You all know how cute this is. You all know how many don't really make it to their mouths. You all know how much more time they are not squirming in their chair. You all know how cute they look with Cheerios stuck to their chin, nose and cheeks...maybe all at the same time. It is truly a classic milestone for us all.

How are the rest of us doing? Busy with some more busy on top! Work, play, soccer, work, clean, fold laundry, visit, work, play...you get the picture.

Hope you all have a fabulous and restful spring vacation.

Chess Anyone?

I think CJ is a little annoyed with something...just not sure what.

Cole, Stevie and CJ...best buddies!

The look on Cole's face totally cracks me up! I think he is thinking...seriously?
CJ was in another chess tournament today. The cool thing this time around is that his cousin Cole and best buddy Stevie attended the same tournament. CJ got to hang all day with buddies and his Dad. They had a great day.

ZAC

He is 27 inches long, 16.5 pounds and healthy and happy and wonderful and kind and sweet and we are all totally in love with him.

He is sitting up on his own. He rolls over, then rolls over the other way, then back over and back over again...next thing you know he is across the room and has wedged himself against the couch or wall or anything else. He is quick to grab at the smallest thing that seems just out of reach but at the last second he has grabbed it and it is in his mouth in a blink of an eye! So fast. So quick. He loves to eat hair, grab at your nose and/or eyelids. He loves my mom's glasses. He regularly gives out hugs and his kisses are open-mouthed and full of love. If he is frustrated he grunts and groans. He will grunt to the point that Carlos is telling him to stop and "that is enough". Quite funny. He is eating yummy things like peaches, peas, beans, sweet potato, green beans and bananas. They are usually all over his face and some on the table and then some more on his legs and sometimes a bit on his eyebrows. He talks. Well, babbles. Lots of vowel sounds and cute goo-gee-gah. I love when he chews on his index finder and talks at the same time. He has two bottom teeth that are razor sharp. I think they make him look extra cute when he smiles. He sleeps a bit during the day, not too much but he sleeps usually from 10 PM to 7 AM...we are happy with sleep and he is happy with sleep. Not sure how long this good sleep is going to last, but we are taking it while we can. What else? Oh yeah, what did I used to do with that time I never had? And how can almost 17 pounds of flesh bring us so much joy and love? Zac is amazing at bring out the smiles in everyone. We love you!

Busy? I am not the only one!

After checking some of my friends' blogs I realized that I am not the only one not blogging on a consistent basis this time of year. We are all busy, busy, busy. Whew.

CJ is so busy with 3rd grade, soccer just started, homework, reading (a ton) and keeping up with his regular activities that make him grow up. I am constantly amazed how big he is, how tall he is and how much of my little boy is turning into a young tween. OK, he is only 8 (soon to be 9) but sometimes he just seems sooooo incredible old. I bet it has something to do with my baby Zac. Who, by the way is 6 months old. He is 27 inches long, 16.5 lbs and does tons of new tricks. He can sit up, roll all over the place, grab and give kisses. He is eating well, sleeping well and continues to be a very happy and loving baby boy. To celebrate his 6 months of life I asked my friend Sarri to come over and take some pictures of Zac and CJ. So, stay tuned (if you are not too busy) for some great pictures coming soon. If you can't wait that long, check out Sarri's blog for some pictures of my boys. She did a great job! Thanks Sarri.

So, it is now very late at night. Again I am up late listening to the dishwasher, dryer and the occasional snores and moves from my boys. I will try hard to blog more...to remember the smaller, regular things in life. My very busy life.