Sunday, August 28, 2011

Fun Weekend

We had lots of family fun this weekend and I wanted to jot it down for memories sake:

We spent hours in the Volunteer Park wading pool and visited with our friends The Eriksen's.

Shawn and Max had their usual saturday afternoon at the Greenwood Library

Alice and I had fun shopping at Trader Joe's.

This morning Max and I went to Fred Meyer and got stuff to make goo (slimy, stretchy play doh made of glue and borax)

We had fun playing with the goo.

We all went on a little walk and chatted with our neighbors who gave Alice a really cool radio flyer trike their son has outgrown (and I was just about to go buy her a trike for her birthday. Score!)

Alice took a long nap both yesterday and today.

I got an hour and a half to myself at beautiful Fremont Peak Park to relax and write a letter to my penpal.

Shawn got to take an hour out by himself for reading and coffee at Lighthouse.

Max and I painted on our patio and made block towers.

We all went and picked blackberries just down the street and came home with enough for a delicious cobbler, and enough berries left to put on cereal and in yogurt.

Shawn and the kids read several library books and had fun spending time together while I whipped up a delicious dinner: Fresh coho salmon with lemon and butter, quinoa cooked in vegetable broth and flavored with tamari, steamed broccoli, and the previously noted blackberry cobbler. How nice it was to make a dessert with berries picked just minutes earlier. We'll definitely be going back to these blackberry bushes soon.

What a nice mellow weekend. It was just what I needed :)

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

New Bunk Bed!





Max got his new bunk bed today! We went ahead and had the bottom bunk set up, too. There's no going back to the crib for Alice! Both kids LOVE the new bed, and are sound asleep, happy as clams.
Also, Max's Grandma Rose made him a beautiful quilt, lots of bright colors, just perfect for him! Our friend Vinnie bought him these totally cool Scooby Doo sheets. What kid wouldn't want a giant mystery machine picture on their pillow :)?

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Celebrating Max

Today we had a "Max" day. He's finally fully toilet trained after a very long couple of years. It's been a week and a half and he's doing great. The bunk bed we promised him is on order due to be delivered this week, with a snazzy set of Scooby Doo sheets washed and waiting. We wanted to do something special for him today, as he has been working so hard. We started off the day with a family breakfast at the Hi-Life, Max's favorite breakfast place. He gleefully inhaled the kids grand slam. Alice ate 2 pieces of bacon lightening fast, it was pretty amazing to turn back to her a few moments after her plate arrived and see only bacon crumbles remaining where 2 large slices were a mere minute before. After our fun breakfast Shawn took Max to ride the Duck: http://www.ridetheducksofseattle.com/
Max has been wanting a ride on this since he was old enough to point, so we coughed up the big bucks today. After the neat ride they came home for lunch and Max excitedly told me all about it.

We then attempted to drive to a birthday party out on Lake Washington. Both kids fell asleep in the car (a rarity), and there was some festival going on out there with such traffic we were unable to get through. We drove to a shady side street and hung out and enjoyed some iced tea as the kids dozed. Later in the afternoon we headed up to a friends house in Northgate for a backyard hang out and dinner. Max had so much fun playing with our friends toys. He announced happily while eating: "Mom, this is the best dinner ever" (a cheese and refried bean quesadilla, cucumber slices, black olives, corn on the cob, and watermelon).

He was so pleased with himself and our special day. It was lovely to see. And he's even been good about not using this loud "quacker" noise toy that he got on the Duck in the house.

Such a nice day with the family. Now, if only Alice would stop biting other kids when she's over tired. She bit our friend Cleo twice on the arm and left purple bite marks, with puffed up areas where she broke the skin. I cannot wait for her to grow out of this phase!

On another note, today was a beautiful summer day. Perfect hot weather, but not too hot. Alice and I spent some lovely time this morning at our neighborhood Fremont Peak Park and we had a nice lunch just the two of us.

In September I'll only be working 1 day a week due to the seasonal nature of my job. I've got one lead at UW for a half time job with full benefits. My resume made it from HR to the hiring department, so I'm hopeful I will get an interview. For now I'll enjoy some time at home this fall with the kids. We've got them registered for a six session art class which starts mid-September, along with 7 sessions of swim lesson for both kids. They have been enjoying a drop off playgroup Wednesday mornings at a local neighborhood center and Max has really been flourishing being back at Trettin preschool on Fridays. It's really nice to have some activities lined up for them, they both love learning so much.