Watkins in Washington

December Happenings Prior to Christmas

2009-12-22T23:08:00.000-08:00

Random photo I took of Elliott. Ain't he sweet?

The five of us went to the Festival of Trees Linda puts on for Providence Hospital in Centralia every year. (I guess we actually went in November, but close enough.) Anyway, in addition to seeing all the beautiful trees and wreaths there are fun games and crafts for the kids, Santa and even karaoke.

Searching for treasures in Mrs. Pockets' pockets.

A chip off the ol' block!

We also made a trip up to Seattle to see Santa, ride the carousel and have a nice lunch. I wasn't going to send out Christmas cards this year but we snapped a quick photo in Seattle and used that for our card. We lucked out that day with the weather. It was a bit chilly but at least it wasn't raining!

The Os fulfilling a life-long dream of parking on a rooftop.

This is the photo I chose for our Christmas card.

Linda, aka LaLa, and the boys.

I nearly picked this one for our card because it's just so... natural.

Good times on the carousel. It was Elliott's first time on a horse!

My left-handed kindergartner, Owen.

Writing letters to Santa.

Our Santa was SO sweet. He took time to talk to the boys individually.

The Os got to do their Winter Concert at school this year for the first time in the last three years. Snow closures caused the last two years' performances to be rescheduled until after Winter Break from school. It's a little anti-climactic when you return from the holidays and THEN have the holiday concert. I shot lots of photos for yearbook and got some pretty cute ones. Especially of my kids. ;o)

We are looking forward to having a little Christmas Eve party with our friends the Gills and our PNW family members -- which now includes cousin DeeDee! We're having a "Pizza Throwdown" between Brian and Genny. Brian will use the grill and Genny will use the oven. I am eagerly anticipating the fruits of their labor! Of course I will post results here on my blog.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Turkey Tournament 2009

2009-11-28T21:33:00.000-08:00

We journeyed to the little town of Orting, WA today for the annual Turkey Tournament -- a wrestling tournament for first- and second-year wrestlers. I left the house with the Os at 6:30 am and we got back home at 4:45 pm. Long day. It was also a great day! Both boys won 1st place in their brackets and received "gold" medals. Owen even got a pin today! He was extremely proud of himself as you can see in the photos below.

Oliver being silly while warming up.

Owen playing with his friend Brodie while warming up.

Coach Pat, the Os and some of their teammates.

1st place winner!

Proud boy.

Look out!

My tough guys.

My sweethearts.

Wrestling!

2009-11-15T22:19:00.001-08:00

Owen and Oliver are wrestling with the Olympia Wrestling Club this season. It's their first time to wrestle for real and they are totally LOVING IT! Brian and I are thoroughly enjoying watching them. It's hard work and very intense. It's also loud and fun! Here are some highlights from their first two wrestling meets.

October 2009

2009-11-07T17:22:00.000-08:00

What a great October! The weather was awesome and the fall leaves were gorgeous. This month was extra-fun for me because I got to go on a girls' weekend with 6 friends to Las Vegas. I'd like to thank my sponsors -- Brian and my Mom -- without whom I would not have been able to go.

Besides going to Vegas there were the fun trips to the pumpkin patch and the corn maze. Halloween was awesome this year. We had our friends the Gills over for dinner, trick-or-treating and a silly new game called Quelf.

Oliver and Owen started wrestling at the end of October and it is quite entertaining. Videos and photos will follow in a subsequent post.

And now for some of this month's highlights presented to you in photographs:

My two chefs making homemade pizza. It was DELICIOUS!!

Owen reading to Margot before her nap. So sweet!

My favorite photo of my gal pals in Vegas.

The Shellys and I at the NY NY Piano Bar. A blast!

Genny, Shelly & I with the Strip behind us.

Trying to get a photo of Elliott at the pumpkin patch.

The Os were being totally silly jumping in with him.
Notice Elliott is pushing them away. Ha!

They can be so sweet sometimes.

Lost in the hay maze.

I LOVE how the light is hitting him in this photo.

Peek-a-boo!

Goofballs.

The Kiddie Corn Maze.

Wheeeee!!!!

The Watkins boys with the Martin boys at the Rutledge Corn Maze.
Too. Much. Studliness.

Elliott and Kindergym teacher, Cyndi.

Owen gutting a pumpkin with Maisie.

Getting ready to go trick-or-treating.

Elliott and his friend Nolan out trick-or-treating.

And then it was the big kids' turn!

September 2009

2009-10-28T23:16:00.000-07:00

Brian and the Os at a Mariner's Game.

September brought the Watkins' family the return of the almighty SCHEDULE. Do I lament the passing of the lazy days of summer? Somewhat. It was definitely less stressful. But I thrive on staying busy and a schedule keeps me centered, focused and alert. Of course I have to write everything down now because my mind isn't as sharp as it was in my 20s.

For example, I told my friend I would be home one afternoon and her 6th grader could come hang out at my house after school until she returned from a shopping trip. I did not write it down because his arrival time would have been during Elliott's nap time and I am always home then. Well, nearly always.

On the day in question, Owen had an afternoon field trip -- odd because he is in morning kindergarten. Also odd was the fact that he started crying when it came time to take him to school. He said he didn't feel comfortable going on the field trip without me. I figured Owen must really need me and it wouldn't kill Elliott to miss one nap. So away I went without a single thought about the 6th grader who would show up to my empty house.

Oh, the shame! The embarrassment! THE GUILT! Not one of my prouder moments, I can tell you that.

Obviously, the return to a schedule is the result of school starting. Owen started half-day kindergarten this year. His teacher is a wonderfully warm, sweet little thing. She has this old puffy armchair-rocker in the classroom with a great big quilt thrown over it. It makes the room feel so cozy.

The cutest thing about Owen starting kindergarten is that he's made a brand-new friend named Owen. They are Owen S. and Owen W. The wildest part is that they look a lot alike! They are also the only 6 year-olds in the class. My Owen came home today grinning saying that Owen S. wanted our phone number. He said Owen S. refers to the two of them as "The Owen Team."
Love it!

My Owen is in the blue shirt. Owen S. is the other one with the same hair.

Here's Owen coming home from school on the big yellow bus.

Oliver is having an interesting year so far. He was placed in the new 2nd/3rd multi-age class with a 3rd grade teacher. Criteria for placement was not smarts. They chose students who could work well independently. As a result, he gets to do some things that other 2nd graders do not. He gets to the be the big buddy for reading buddies (older and younger students pair up), he gets to do a night sky journal this month (a 3rd grade activity), he participates in Passport Club (a geography thing that starts in 3rd grade), gets to do 3rd grade math and has access to books on a higher reading level in his classroom.

Oliver also started PATS (Program for Academically Talented Students) this year. On Tuesdays, he and one other 2nd grader travel to another elementary school that hosts the program. He and 16 other second graders from 8 different elementary schools go deeper into the existing curriculum doing reports and projects to develop critical thinking skills. He's doing completely new and different things in PATS and he seems pretty excited about it.

Both Oliver and Owen are participating in the 100-mile Club at school. They receive a foot charm for a necklace for every 5 miles they run. Oliver has 6 or 7 already and Owen has 2. Owen doesn't have the same opportunity to run being in half-day but he is darned proud of the 2 feet he has! He wants to make it all the way to 100 miles. I don't think Oliver is quite as ambitious. We'll see what happens.

In September, Oliver turned 8 years old. Wow! I remember 8 very well. I was in 3rd grade, Mrs. Buckingham's class. It was the only year I made straight As the whole year despite the fact that my parents separated and divorced that year. Anyhoo... for Oliver's birthday we picked up a couple of his buddies and went to the circus. Neither of his friends had ever been to the circus so it was a treat watching their little faces light up. The boys were well behaved (all 5 of them) and a good time was had by all.

The pack we took to the circus.

They were all totally shy to take a picture with this performer. Silly boys!

Showing off for his buddies.

Father and son Mariner's Game.

Post M's game fun in Seattle. Oliver's first rock show!

Elliott and I started a new adventure in September -- Kindergym! It's a little playgroup at the community center with lots of gross-motor toys and circle time with music. He LOVES it. I swear he thinks it's all done for his benefit. Most of the children sit with their parents around the circle. Elliott stands smack in the center, eyeballing the teacher, smiling, jumping, singing and dancing. He's quite entertaining to watch.

Going against the grain... as usual.

Elliott and his buddy, Nolan.

Elliott's first haircut. At age TWO. That he barely needed!

Cheese!

And last but not least -- our household now includes a cat. It wasn't my idea, that's for sure. But the boys are loving having her and are taking good care of her so I can't really complain. Meet Maya....

Downtown Portraits, October 2009

2009-10-08T21:47:00.000-07:00

I still need to put up some photos from Oliver's birthday but I couldn't wait to post these! Brian and I took the boys downtown to take some pictures last weekend and some of them are pretty cool. Elliott is still difficult to work with but he's getting better. Brian even took a few of me with the boys which is always a special treat for me.

Whidbey Island, August 2009

2009-10-07T21:42:00.000-07:00

In late August, we were invited on a lovely weekend getaway to Whidbey Island with Linda, Janet, Alex, Vanessa, Mark and Leon. Linda won a stay at a beachfront home through a silent auction and decided to celebrate her birthday (and Elliott's) there with all of us. It was a really cool house in an amazing location. There was plenty of good company and good food. Thank you, Linda!

Little Man Turns Two!

2009-09-27T21:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm over a month late on this posting. I can't believe how quickly the last part of the summer blew by! I'm attempting to catch up starting with Elliott's 2nd birthday. He turned two on August 22nd. About a week prior, we had a little at-home party for Elliott and invited his one friend, Margot, and her family over to dinner. The kids played, the grown-ups talked, we ate dinner and did cake and presents.

My big two year-old!

Elliott and his sweetie, Margot.

Elliott got so excited during the Happy Birthday song...

He was literally squealing with joy here.

Trying to blow out the candles.

Stunned and amazed when they finally went out!

Cake face!

Elliott made quite a show of opening gifts.

Elliott at work with his new birthday train set.

Gorilla Boy Sings the ABCs

2009-08-09T18:04:00.000-07:00

Brian and I laugh at how similar many of Elliott's movements are to a gorilla. Check him out:

Where's Your Six?

2009-08-09T17:56:00.000-07:00

Here's my sweetie at 23 months:

My Funny Guys

2009-07-11T14:28:00.000-07:00

My little Jedis watching Episode I together.

Singin' in the rain.

Love this one!

Revenge of The Wiggles! Elliott found all the old Wiggles toys and books and became interested just from those. I played a Wiggles DVD for him and he was in love.

I pulled out Owen's old Wiggles t-shirt and pjs from the keepsake tote and Elliott was ECSTATIC! I mean, I didn't know he could reach that level of elation. The Wiggles are magic. Really. I don't understand how families get by without them.

The morning he woke up with these jammies on he said, "Show Daddy Wiggles jammies!" You can see how happy he is in this photo.

Elliott has learned to count! Oliver and I were tickled when we heard Elliott count his own hops yesterday, 1 through 10. Way to go little man!

First Track Meet

2009-07-10T00:22:00.000-07:00

Tonight was a first-ever track meet for Owen and Oliver. They've been working hard at track practice and were totally excited for this meet. I couldn't believe how well they did!

I won't bore you with their times and distances but they both ran the 50 yard dash, 200 meter, 400 meter, 800 meter and mile races. They missed out on the 100 yard dash because they were busy at the softball throw and long jump.

I will say that both the boys blew away the competition in their separate heats for the 400 meter. They were phenomenal!

They tied each other in the mile coming in at 9 minutes 25 seconds. (I ran a 15-minute mile one time in high school and threw up. Weenie!)

In the long jump, Owen averaged 6 feet over three jumps. Oliver was consistent with his three jumps at a whopping 9 feet! The kid is a freaking grasshopper!

Their scores get written down on their backs so we can compare their numbers meet to meet.

July 4th Weekend

2009-07-09T23:41:00.000-07:00

We spent a wonderful weekend camping at Mark & Vanessa's forested property on Whidbey Island. It was beautiful there and great to see everyone. Mark has done an amazing job building their house.

I could have done with a little bit of moisture in the air though. It was pretty dusty because we've had a bit of a dry spell. Highly unusual! The kids have never been so dirty... and they liked it. Actually, they LOVED it! I guess it's a boy thing.

We had a nice time visiting, going for a bike ride into town for ice cream, playing at Castle Park, doing a few fireworks, and relaxing at the beach.

We're looking forward to getting together with these guys again in August to celebrate Linda's and Elliott's birthdays!

School's Out!

2009-06-22T23:10:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's late. We had several snow days to make up for this year so the kiddos didn't get out until June 17th! They don't go back until September 9th though so it all works out.

So here is what's been going on around here:

I produced the elementary school's first talent show in June. It was a blast! I already have the dates confirmed for next year. Woo-hoo!

Baseball ended and track started tonight. The kids have never done track before and they are REALLY excited about it. Practice on Mondays. Meets start in July on Thursdays.

Oliver will go to a baseball camp in July and start fall baseball mid-August. Owen wants to play soccer in the fall so I guess Brian and I will have to divide and conquer.

We'll be going camping over July 4th weekend on Whidbey Island. We'll be there with Vanessa, Mark, Leon, Linda and most likely Alex. I'm refusing to commit to any other camp outs this summer because of the Tasmanian Devil known as Elliott.

Elliott and I have coughs. Owen has allergies in his left eye and pink eye in his right. Oliver lost his second baby tooth. Elliott cut a canine tooth. Brian appears to be as healthy as a horse. No fair!

Oliver read a series of books called Percy Jackson & The Olympians. It got him interested in Greek mythology and he's been reading anything he can get his hands on about it. His writing journal came home at then end of the school year and I found a great piece in it. Hopefully you'll be able to read it:

Father's Day was uneventful but that was fine with Brian. He said he couldn't remember the last time we just hung out at the house and did nothing. He even got to read his paper and take a catnap. My gift to Brian was to clean up the back yard. It was spic 'n span by Saturday afternoon. By Sunday evening it looked like I'd done nothing because a wind came through. That's what happens when your house backs up to a greenbelt.

I have so many little projects to do that I put off during the school year. I don't really even know where to start. Hmmm.... maybe I'll start by making a list! I love lists.

I took the kids to see the movie Up. It was brilliant. I cried, I laughed, I cried again. If you haven't seen it, please go! I'm hoping Brian and I can go see The Hangover this weekend for his birthday. He's going to be 39! I can't believe it. I'll be 37 in September. My mother was 36 when I met Brian. How weird is that?

Last night, to entertain themselves, the Os made cartoon flatulence to tape to their backsides. Owen's was a long, straight, green rectangle. Oliver's was a green cloud with a brown spot in it. Little creeps. But hey, that's some cheap entertainment!

For the second year running, Brian took Owen to a Mariner's game as part of Owen's birthday celebration. Brian took the cutest photo!

And how sweet is this?

Alas, this last one has no explanation. But you better believe this will serve as leverage one day! Or blackmail.

Happy 6th Birthday to Owen!

2009-06-01T17:35:00.000-07:00

Owen's birthday party was last Sunday and it was SO MUCH FUN! We went to Friendly Grove park that we love so much. There were lots of kids, mostly boys. There were chips, dips, fruit, cheese and of course birthday cake. We did sack races, Red Rover, a pinata and played in the sprinkler we brought from home. (Resourceful aren't we?)

The kids were great. They were all good kids, enthusiastic to play the games and very sweet to the birthday boy. The only fight was between Oliver and Owen and I guess that doesn't really count since they're siblings. It was lame though because Owen ended up crying in the bushes for about 10 minutes until he could shake it off. Poor kid. Oliver got to do push-ups when we got home.

Owen got some really cool birthday presents from his friends, his brothers and his parents. In fact, when Owen opened his Star Wars game for the Nintendo DS he started jumping up and down giggling like a madman. Owen NEVER gets excited like that. Brian and I just looked at each other like, WOW!

Tuesday is Owen's actual birthday. After I drop Oliver off at school, Elliott is going to play at Margot's house and I'm taking Owen on a date for a special birthday breakfast. Just the two of us. I'm really looking forward to it. He's such a sweet boy.

How 'Bout Chocolate Bunnies?

2009-05-27T20:38:00.000-07:00

Elliott is jabbering away now. I think he may talk more than Owen. And that's saying something.

One of my favorites is when he doesn't want something he'll say "IdontwikeitIdontwikeitIdontwantit" while he waves his hand.

My other favorite is "chickaburga" which he'll ask for nearly every day starting at around 10am. I'm just going to start calling that kid "Burger."

He's picked up a new phrase from me, "how 'bout."

He came up to me the other day and said, "outside." I asked, "What about outside?" He replied, "How 'bout -- outside."

I was rocking him before his nap on Sunday. He wasn't feeling well and I thought he was asleep when he suddenly cried out with his eyes closed, "How 'bout -- abcs?" He wanted me to sing.

He also says a couple of things like a little Italian-American:

More moke-a pees. (More milk please.)

No touch-a bees.

The funniest and weirdest thing he's said to date was today while talking to the kindergarten teacher Oliver had and Owen will have, Mrs. Fettig. Now the thing you have to know is that Mrs. Fettig is African-American. I asked Elliott, "Can you say Mrs. Fettig?" He looked at her intently for a moment and said, "chocolate bunnies." Her skin is about the same shade as the chocolate bunny graham crackers he loves. She cracked up! I was fairly speechless.

We're Back!

2009-05-11T22:14:00.000-07:00

That makes it sound like we JUST got back. Ha! We got back nearly a month ago from a 3-week trip to Texas where we visited with friends and family. We did lots of fun things and had a swell time. The Os did not want to return home. For me, one of the highlights of the trip was introducing Elliott to everyone. Another highlight was getting to know my nephews and niece.

One of the reasons I've taken so long to update my blog is that I couldn't decide which photos from the Texas trip to post and how many to post because I took over 500 pictures. Holy smokes! So I'm just going to skip it altogether and not post any. Most of you have Facebook accounts and have likely seen some of my Texas photos anyway. It's the only way I'll be able to move forward. I don't like it but... there it is.

I must recount one event that happened while in Texas, however because it's just one of those things that was so cute I'll never forget it. Owen and I were sitting at the table eating breakfast and he was kissing my arm all over just like Pepe LePew. He was even making the "Mmm, mmm, mmm" sound. I laughed and asked what he was doing. He looked up at me with these lovey-dovey eyes and in his best French accent said slowly, "You set my foot on fire." My mind raced to understand this comment. I smiled and asked, "Do you mean your soul?" He covered his smile, giggled and said, "Oh, yeah."

Oliver finally lost his first tooth at 7.5 years old. You have to look closely though because his adult tooth had already grown in behind it. So no gaping hole.

This looks like he's wearing Bermuda shorts, doesn't it? No. These are Elliott's 2T jeans. Someone give this kid a sandwich!

Owen is really into making forts lately. He reminds me of a lion up there.

He called out, "Mom, come look at my tall tower." Boy, was it!

Baseball photos of Oliver:

Photos from Owen's cooking class at Bayview School of Cooking. It was a special Mother's Day event called "Thanks a brunch!" They made a fruit salad with canteloupe and honeydew melon, bite-sized frittatas and a scrumptious coffee cake.

Photos from Owen's preschool field trips. I didn't get to go with him to the dairy but the other mothers told me Owen was letting all the calves suck his fingers. Looks sweet but seems icky. (Dairy farm photo courtesy of Jill Morse. Thanks, Jill!) The marina field trip was fantastic because his preschool hired two divers to bring creatures up to us. Owen touched everything: starfish, sun stars, sea cucumbers, crabs, moon snails, whatever! I touched nothing. I'm a fraidy cat.

Here are some of the things Elliott is doing lately. He loves his train, is excited about the Robodog, goes crazy for balloons, is interested in coloring and continues to eat his body weight in bananas on a daily basis.

Elliott is a Piece of WORK!

2009-03-22T14:37:00.000-07:00

Out With the Old and In With the New

2009-03-08T12:32:00.000-07:00

February is over and March is here. And with it comes the promise of spring. Daylight savings began today and while most don't like it, I do. It's not so much that I like springing forward and losing an hour as I dislike falling back. I don't see the point. Why do we ever want it get darker earlier? Maybe I don't understand how it works. Whatever. All I know is that as soon as March 1st arrived my mood improved rather dramatically because March means it's that much closer to June and June means summer!

Basketball is over for the Os, thank goodness. I'm not sure we'll do that again. I don't know how much they got out of it. They never complained about it but they didn't cheer when it was time to go either. When asked, they say they liked it and want to play again next year. I found it completely hilarious! Very few of the kids know what's going on at this age. During one game, Owen couldn't get this girl off him because she constantly guarded him -- even when her team was on offense! And Owen was so funny... he would yell "PASS! PASS!" even when he was completely blocked by whoever was guarding him. Oliver would also yell "Pass!" but would never pass himself. They both scored several baskets during the season so they think they're pretty hot stuff.

Now baseball season is upon us. Oliver already had his first practice. Most of the boys are 1st grade friends, all but one was on the team last year and a few of them are also in Scouts together so they are going to have WAY too much fun this season. I feel for the coaches.

I arranged a kickball game up at the elementary school last Friday during a teacher in-service day. (Owen still had preschool that day so he didn't get to play.) Sixteen kids showed up from 1st through 6th grades. It was Oliver's first time to play and he had a great time. I had an even better time watching the kids though.

The most exciting thing we did in February was go see The Lion King musical on stage. Brian was out of town so Linda went with the Os and me. Elliott stayed with a friend of mine that day. The show was outstanding and worth every penny! The music was wonderful, the performers were great but it was the costumes that I found so amazing. The costumes were brilliant engineering works of art. I highly recommend it if it ever comes your way.

The most exciting thing we have going for March will be our trip to Texas. I haven't been back in 4.5 years. Owen was younger than Elliott last time we went. I'll be there with the little guys for nearly three weeks and the Os are really looking forward to it. Owen looks at the calendar all the time to see how many days are left until we go. I told them it was already 80 degrees there some days and they nearly fainted! Right now in Olympia it is 37 degrees and snowed this morning! Snow, snow you have GO TO GO!!

The Os are having a bit more fun with Elliott these days now that Elliott is getting bigger and tougher. Elliott's favorite thing to do with his brothers is take something of theirs and RUN. He laughs and laughs while they're chasing him. Of course when they catch him and wrench whatever it is from his hand he throws a royal fit, but it seems the fun outweighs the disappointment because he keeps doing it.

Elliott is still climbing on everything and grinning about it. The only difference is now he'll get up on something, grin and yell, "Get down!" Rotten little...

And now for some photos!

Owen LOVES to cook. He's been making scrambled eggs for everyone in the mornings with Brian's supervision. There are cooking classes for kids here in Oly that I want to look into for him this summer.

This is what happens when you're the youngest.

Do girls have to strip down to have fun too, I wonder? Probably a boy thing. The photo of the three of them cracks me up because you can see all of Oliver's little muscles. Owen even dropped making cookies to finally get nearly-nude and join in the fun.

This was for "Dress as your favorite literary character day" at school. I told him he had to get a haircut or else people would think he was Hermione rather than Harry.

And finally the cute factor:

A Couple of Firsts and Owen version 5.5

2009-02-03T11:09:00.000-08:00

At 17 months, Elliott has officially entered into my favorite age range: 15 months to 3 years. During this time, babies become toddlers and then preschoolers. Their personality emerges and blossoms, they learn at break-neck pace and are nearly always happy. Every day is something new. And the language development! That is the most interesting thing to witness. They understand so much and try so hard to get all those mouth muscles under control to say what they're thinking. The simplest actions and words turns into games like peek-a-boo and bye-bye. Elliott's bye-bye game is getting into the kitchen cabinet, saying bye-bye and closing the cabinet door. He'll do it over and over and think he's the cleverest kid in the world.

At 16 months I realized it was well past time for Elliott to start using eating utensils. It's not that I didn't ever let him try. I did. A few times. It's that he made such a huge mess and didn't get very much into his mouth. I don't have time in the mornings to give him a bath after painting himself head to toe in yogurt. So I figured I would wait a little while until he had better fine motor control to let him try again. My plan worked! He's starting to use a fork and spoon without bathing himself in food. Yippee! He has some trouble loading the fork and spoon but at least he's getting it from bowl to mouth without much problem. It's one small step for Elliott and one giant leap for me. I can do other things while he eats his own oatmeal! Oliver and Owen could use utensils much earlier but I had more time to work with them. And really, so what? It's not like he'd end up going to kindergarten not knowing how to use them. But it's one of those milestones we mommies are proud of. Elliott still has so little hair though that he looks like a baby pretending to be a big kid when he uses a spoon.

Oliver was recently in his first stage production at school. It was a musical version of Rumpelstiltskin brought by the Missoula Children's Theater. It only resembled the original story in the vaguest way because they had to stretch it and contort it to accommodate about 50 kids. This version had a king, a queen, a jester, 2 knights, 10 gnomes, 10 or 11 bees and whole bunch of villagers and of course, Rumpelstiltskin. Oliver was one of the bees. The bees had a couple of songs (no lines) and basically provided the "cute" factor as they were all the youngest players. Brian and I were thrilled that Oliver agreed to audition because the last time he was on stage for anything he nearly threw up. We simply can't have stage fright in this family! After the first live performance for the student body, Oliver realized it wasn't so scary after all and he loved all the attention he received. He wouldn't let me wash off his "bee cheeks" until right before his basketball game the following day. He's hoping for a bigger role next year and Owen can't wait to audition as well.

Owen and Oliver both love their hair now. Oliver's is getting too long actually but he thinks he looks like a rock star. He loves slinging his head around when he plays air guitar. Owen's hair is big and crazy and SO suits his personality. I finally took him to get it cut when it was standing about 6 inches off his head in every direction. And even then I had to force him into the stylist's chair! He looked so much better after the trim. So here is Owen version 5.5. (That means he's 5 and a half for those of you who don't get my pun.)

Hello 2009!

2009-01-21T13:28:00.000-08:00

Goodbye 2008. It was nice while it lasted. Man, you were quick. 2009 means that my BABY will be two in August! That can't possibly be. Can it? Oh well. C'est la vie.

It took me awhile to get back into the swing of things after winter break. When the boys were out of school we were sleeping in every day, eating breakfast at 9:30a or 10a, lunch around 2p and then all of sudden it would be dinnertime and I would have gotten zero done that day. While it was relaxing it was also unproductive. I dislike unproductive days. They make me feel useless and lazy which leads to feeling overwhelmed at trying to catch back up. So while it was fun while it lasted, I'm glad it's over and the routine is back. Routine is good for me.

Christmas brought a couple of hand-held games to our house. These things can be very good and very bad. They can be good on the occasions when you need the kids to be occupied and quiet such as on a long car ride or on a plane. But they can be bad because they're addictive and the Os ask to play them EVERY SINGLE DAY. I don't let them, of course. And I usually limit their play to 30-45 minutes when they do get to play. Also, playing the hand-helds are in lieu of any TV or computer time that they might otherwise have. But out of the bad comes another good: because they want to play every day I have a powerful bargaining chip. I can tell them they need to finish all their chores before they can play the Didj or the DS (clean their room, take out garbage and recycling, help pick up after Elliott, etc.) I can tell them they have to be on their best behavior while we spend 3 hours going to the grocery store and Costco. It doesn't always work -- 3 hours is a long time for a kid to behave perfectly. But it's okay because I don't really want them to play those games at all.

Elliott has learned to climb. Bah! He climbs onto the couch and onto the end table or tries to get onto the windowsills. He stands in the middle of the coffee table as if it's his stage. He smiles one of those devilish grins that says, "Look what I can do even though you don't want me to." He climbs from the dining chairs onto the dining table. One morning, while I was at the gym, he even climbed onto his changing table and laid there waiting for someone to change him! Brian was getting coffee downstairs and when he went back upstairs to check on him, Brian found Elliott lying there giving the sign for diaper change. Funny kid.

He's also saying many new words: baby, cheese stick, bear, pear, outside, yogurt, cookie, shoes, moon, eat, belly button, bath and book. It's all very cute, of course, but the cutest is when he wants to say thank you. He signs 'thank you' but says "OK."

Oliver and Owen started basketball a few weeks ago. Neither of them have ever played before and I don't know that I'll encourage them to play again. They struggle with the basics and get angry that traveling is allowed in their age division and stealing the ball is not. I don't think they're sure about any of it yet. Brian may take them to a local college game soon so they can see how it's supposed to be played for real. That might get them more excited about it and answer some questions for them.

The snow finally melted when it rained and rained and rained. Then we got a WHOLE WEEK of dry. I think I even saw a bit of blue for a minute or two which is practically unheard of this time of year in Western Washington.

I was feeling spontaneous last Sunday when I got up and told Brian we needed to go for a hike and take advantage of the dry weather. He wanted to do a river-type hike down low. I picked something that was closer to home and easy-to-moderate. What I did not realize was that it was in the foothills of the Olympics. We were surprised when we arrived to see snow still on the ground everywhere. We should have just gone back home. But as is usually the case when the Watkins step out, we did not do the smart thing. We got out there anyway. It was crazy! We were all stepping in snow up to our knees at times and had snow filling our boots. Brian forgot the hiking poles and had Elliott on his back in the pack. So he was constantly worried about toppling over with a baby on his back. Poor Owen has no hiking boots and was out there in regular sneakers. They were SOAKED. I felt so badly for him but he was tough. Fortunately, we took a wrong turn and got off the trail. We ended up on the main road toward our car and it saved us about 45 minutes of further misery.

Ah, but the story does not end there, no. As we are walking on the road, Oliver picks up a rather large stick -- about 3 feet in length or so and about a half-inch in diameter. He proceeds to stab the stick into the snow with every step he takes. I was walking behind him when I suddenly see him lurch forward with his face toward the stick. He stumbles, throws the stick down, and covers his eye with both hands! He wails. I grab him and turn him around expecting to see blood running everywhere and the remaining vestiges of his deflated eyeball oozing out from between his fingers. There was no blood but I had to see behind his hands, for the love of all that holy!

He wouldn't take his hands away so I ended up throwing him down on his back in the snow attempting to pin his arms. Meanwhile, Brian casually strides over and tells me to stop panicking. I looked at him all wild-eyed with blood rushing in my ears while sitting on top of my injured 7 year-old and yelled, "I'M NOT PANICKING!!!"

Hey, I'm his mother. What can I say?

It turned out okay after all. His eye was very red and injured looking for a couple of days. Like hand-held video games, the snow was both good and bad. Oliver probably wouldn't have gotten hurt if not for the snow. But since he did, it was good that I was able to scoop some into a bag so he could hold it on his eye.

And a couple of other funnies:

Oliver was shivering one morning and I asked him why he was so cold. He replied, "I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm so thin."

The boys asked to watch at TV show one weekend morning and we told them it had to be educational. Owen asked to watch The Backyardigans. We told him The Backyardigans was not educational. He retorted, "Well, it teaches imagination." Nice try, buddy.

Christmas!

2008-12-27T09:51:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve was relaxing and enjoyable with Linda, Alex, Vanessa, Mark and Leon. We had some yummy food and played some games. Christmas Day was fun but messy. It took a while (as usual) to get everything cleaned up and put away. Santa came to see the boys, much to my surprise. I told them I was sure they had gotten themselves onto the naughty list this year. Santa must be more forgiving than me.

Consequences

2008-12-24T10:02:00.001-08:00

Elliott at 16 Months

2008-12-23T18:22:00.000-08:00

Snowed In. Shoot me now.

2008-12-23T17:25:00.000-08:00

Winter break officially started yesterday. But because of the crazy amounts of snow we've received, the boys have been home every day for the last WEEK. Sure they've been having fun in the snow but they can only stay outside for so long. So they keep bugging me to watch TV, play on the computer, play their Leapsters, etc. I've been encouraging them to find other, more creative things to do but it's not going as well as I would like. Oliver has gotten his Erector set back out. He took apart the airplane and is building a motorcycle with it now. Owen played with Play-Do for quite a long time the other day. The cutest thing they did was to host a birthday party for Nutty, their stuffed animal squirrel. Nutty had lots of stuffed animal friends attend the party. The animals played a game of kickball together with the whoopie cushion serving as home base. That was a riot.

As I write, all I hear is a raging din coming from downstairs. All three of them are yelling and laughing like wild men. NPR is in the background as Brian is in the kitchen. I just heard Owen yell, "Dad, Oliver took off all my clothes!" Must I go down there and face it? Sigh. I guess so. I just have to remember they're not always like this. Sometimes they're like this:

I did get out the other night to take the Os to see The Tale of Despereaux. It was lovely. A bit dark but that's the story. The book was much better, by the way. I also took Oliver to hear a sing-a-long of Handel's Messiah last night with a friend and her daughters. I thought it was one of the coolest things I'd ever been to. Oliver was totally bored. The Messiah is pretty boring as music goes. But there were between 75-100 people who showed up to sing the chorus and it was beautiful. The sopranos in the audience were the highlight of the night for me. They were having much too much fun. The conductors were having fun with it too. Most of the musicians were high school students but you would NEVER know. There were all the cream of the crop from the local area high schools. There were several violins and violas, quite a few cellos, one bass, one percussionist, two trumpets, two oboes, one bassoon, and a HARPSICHORD! It was most excellent.

My car is snowed in and there are NO snow shovels left in the stores. Not that I trust my tires on snow. Brian has fancy new snow tires so if I want to go anywhere I have to wait to take his car. He's off work starting now. He's barbecuing brisket for Christmas Eve. I'm glad he's home to help me control those things that have replaced my children since the snow came.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

Santa Photo 2008

2008-12-18T15:58:00.000-08:00

Doesn't Santa look sweet? We thought he was just great. Poor Owen. Unlike Mr. Photogenic (Oliver), Owen is not the most comfortable in front of a camera, is he? That's ok, he has good hair. ;o) Do you love Elliott's scarf? I knitted that a few years ago for Oliver and thought it would dress up Elliott's outfit. I'm so glad I put it on him! He looks like such a little man.

Santa in Seattle

2008-12-14T10:54:00.000-08:00

We went to Seattle last night to see Santa and attend an annual caroling party. It was COLD! But it was dry for most of the night so it was nice. I like it to be cold and dry at Christmastime. It makes it seem so much more Christmasy. (Is that a word?) We had dinner at the best food court in the world (Westlake Center) where I got to eat the honey-lemon chicken from the Indian place I frequented as a Seattlite. Then we took the kids to ride the carousel and see Santa at Macy's. Seattle Macy's Santa is now better than Seattle Nordstrom's Santa in my opinion. They had a really fun set up with lots of great decorations and the photographers worked really hard to get a good shot. The best part though was that they accept appointments or give you a return time for your photo so you don't have to stand in line! What a relief. At Nordstrom you have to stand in line for 2.5 hours or you can forget it.

The caroling party took us out around Green Lake and it was beautiful. The snow started coming down while we were out there and the Os caught many on their tongues. We all had snow in our hair. It was good times.

The tree at Westlake Center.

The Os were so silly. They kept holding hands with all the inanimate decorations.

Poor Linda could hardly hold onto Elliott until the ride got going. He's so wiggly!

What is it with my family and nose-picking?

Elliott was not the happiest camper being stuck in the baby backpack.

These reindeer were animatronic. Fun stuff while waiting our turn to see Santa.

Preschool with Owen

2008-12-14T10:40:00.000-08:00

Brian and I got to spend the day with Owen at preschool last Friday. We played, did crafts, listened to the kids sing a few songs on the stage in the sanctuary, watched a slideshow of the kids dressed up and role-playing the Christmas story and had lunch together. Only one kid in 24 got stagefright and thankfully it wasn't mine!

Owen and I count the links on his countdown-to-Christmas chain.

Brian and Owen color a Christmas tree with melted crayons on a hot plate.

Owen takes a whiff of the lemon-scented marker.

Owen tries to get Brian to take a whiff as well.

Their completed cooperative artwork. What a masterpiece!

We had a wonderful time with Owen at preschool and enjoyed watching his performance. He was very proud to have both of us there.

BINGO Night

2008-12-14T09:03:00.000-08:00

Kindergarteners and 1st graders got together on a Friday night for some serious BINGO. This is Oliver at the beginning of a round.

And this is Oliver's scary looking competitive face when the letter he needed to win didn't get called.

Still Getting Into Everything

2008-12-02T23:21:00.000-08:00

It looks cute, right? That's because you don't have to pick all the junk up that he drags out of these drawers!

Where D'ya Get Those Peepers?

2008-12-02T23:19:00.000-08:00

This was a random snapshot out in the front yard when I was playing with my new lens. Dang, look at those eyes! Click on this one to see the big, clear version. Blogger fuzzes out the photos for some reason.

Scouts Cake Auction

2008-12-02T23:16:00.000-08:00

I knew I couldn't escape participation in Scouts forever. The pack had a cake auction in November. Cakes had to be decorated according to a theme: scouts, patriotic, outdoors or sports. I'm no cake decorator so I had to sell Oliver on something easy. At least I thought it would be easy. Have you ever squeezed firm icing through one of those tiny star attachments? I thought my hand would fall off! My cake decorating career is over before it begins. AND I will never eat cake with buttercream icing again as long as I live. When it has to be pure white like ours was for the American flag, there is no butter in the so-called buttercream. It's CRISCO. Greasy, nasty vegetable shortening with this fake butter flavoring and a lot of powdered sugar. Disgusting. But it looked pretty!

I think the Hot Tamales put people off. We ended up buying our own cake. For a measley $12!

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-12-02T23:11:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was great as usual. Brian smoked not one, but TWO turkeys so there were plenty of leftovers for everyone. Brian also made sweet potato casserole with the cinnamon, cloves and marshmallows. He made two loaves of bread, cornbread dressing and bacon-wrapped, cream cheese stuffed, grilled jalapenos. I made a pumpkin pie for the first time ever and it was perfect! I was pretty proud of myself. Linda brought the cranberry sauce. Mark was in charge of the gravy and green beans and Vanessa made butter with the Os. Homemade bread AND butter. Yummy! Vanessa also made a dessert with huckleberries she picked on Whidbey Island and Linda made whipped cream with the Os. Alex made snide comments and kept the couch warm.

The chefs at work.

Alex ~~forced Linda to watch~~ showed Linda photos from his recent trip to Europe. One hour and 220 photos later....

Brian isn't used to so many carbs anymore and passed out for a few minutes on the floor.

Vanessa read to the little guys.

While Mark got crazy with the medium-sized guys.

Oliver and Owen go totally nuts when a grown-up gets down to play.

One Little Monkey Jumping on the Bed

2008-11-18T20:34:00.000-08:00

Blowing Kisses!

2008-11-18T19:20:00.000-08:00

Volunteer Work

2008-11-18T18:45:00.000-08:00

I am happy to report that I started volunteering at the public library. Yesterday was my first day on the job and it went really well. I can only volunteer a couple of hours because of the kids' schedules, but I'm thrilled to be able to get those two hours in! It's a nice change of pace and it's where I want to be ultimately when I go back to work one of these days. I'll be getting to know people (hopefully) and impressing them with my ~~anal retentiveness~~ organizational skills and enthusiasm for public library services.

For my first project, I'm indexing their storytime resource collection that doesn't get circulated. It's something they've wanted to get done for a long time but haven't been able to get to it. It's easy to do and I get to read/browse some great picture books. I also get to sit in a quiet office while working on this project. Quiet is something I haven't had much of in the last, oh, seven years or so. I relish it. It is so relaxing.

Toddler Gym

2008-11-18T09:35:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that he's already a toddler. Brian and I still call him "the baby" about 90% of the time. I realized the other day that he's old enough (and has been for the last 5 months) to go to Toddler Gym at the Y. I don't have the enthusiasm for it I did when the Os were this age so once a week is all I can stomach. Elliott seems to enjoy it though so I'll take him. Funny how your parenting style changes with additional kids. I was always so diligent with not letting the Os walk up the slide. With Elliott, I think "eh, whatever."

This is his favorite thing to do at Toddler Gym. This is a little trampoline with a handle. In this photo, he's flirting with another mom.

Flight Museum

2008-11-18T09:25:00.000-08:00

The Scouts had their first "Go See It" last Sunday. That means field trip to us civilians. They went to the Olympic Flight Museum here in Olympia and had a wonderful tour guide who taught the kids all about pitch, roll and yaw. Owen even came home doing a little dance and chant that the guide used as a memory tool. They made awesome paper airplanes and Alka-Seltzer rockets. They had a great time and learned a lot.

Elliott at the Japanese Gardens

2008-11-14T22:40:00.000-08:00

I took Elliott to the Japanese Gardens today along with my new 50mm prime lens attached to my camera. I was scouting the location as a possible place to do our family portraits tomorrow and took the opportunity to try out the new lens as it wasn't raining. I was having a really nice time although keeping Elliott out of the water and mud was quite the challenge.

As it turned out, it was too much of a challenge. Elliott ended up ankle-deep and covered in thick, black mud. He cried, I was angry and I thought, I better have gotten at least one good shot after all this! I think I did. And I love my new lens!

Elliott had so much fun exploring the place. Here he is combing his way through some bamboo.

I had to make monkey noises to finally get him to look up and smile. He was totally into the rocks and leaves.

The Boy Plays Hard!

2008-11-14T22:30:00.000-08:00

You can see the determination on his face here. He will pull this thing over!

Can someone tell me how to break him of his addiction to this pacifier? The Os were not half as attached as Elliott is. He seeks it out every waking moment and whines, grouses and moans when he doesn't have it.

I always think babies who fall asleep while eating are just pitiful. This is the first time it's happened with Elliott. He got really quiet and I looked over and felt so sorry for him. He had a busy morning.

Two New Additions to the Blog

2008-11-07T09:42:00.000-08:00

If you'll scroll down a little and look on the right side of the screen, you'll see two new slideshows: "Brian & Britt Before Kids" and "Oliver and Owen as Babies." If you're interested in where or when the photos were taken, you can click on the slideshow and be re-directed to my Picasa Web Alubms where you'll be able to see the captions.

Genetics

2008-11-04T22:25:00.000-08:00

I saw some photos of my nephew, Logan, recently and thought, "Wow, he has gotten SO cute." And then I realized something. He's so cute because he looks like his Auntie Britt!

You think I'm joking? Get a load of this:

Genetics are so weird and so cool. I swear Logan looks more like me than my own boys do.

And while we're checking out my baby photos...

Halloween

2008-11-01T17:17:00.000-07:00

Oliver and Owen had to "make-do" with costumes this year. Oliver wore last year's and Owen changed his up slightly by swapping out the hood for the creepy Skeletor mask. Funny that Elliott wasn't afraid of his brothers.

Elliott loved his chicken costume. I think it must feel similar to his blankie. He walked into the office at school wearing it with the biggest grin on his face. He knew he was cute and he knew he was going to get attention for it. And boy did he! The ladies in the office did not disappoint.

Our jack-o-lantern is Jack the Pumpkin King but Brian refused to let us chop off his "hair" so he didn't look quite right. Our house wasn't as spooky as we would have liked, but I guess it was spooky enough. One of Oliver's 1st grade buddies wouldn't come to our door because he was afraid. Poor guy!

The Os made quite a haul and weren't even gone that long. Then they sat down to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas. On VHS! We really need to get it on DVD. There was a preview on the tape that said in the big loud voice, "COMING IN 1995." How retro. Embarrassingly so.

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And here's a bonus photo. I took the boys to Priest Point Park after school last week when the weather was so fabulous. Elliott is getting so big! He's such a fun baby. Er, toddler.

A Picture Says a Thousand Words

2008-10-24T13:45:00.000-07:00

I got an e-mail forward from one of my fellow PrObama neighbors today and I really enjoyed it. So I'm posting it here in case it doesn't get around to you.

Fall Foliage

2008-10-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

Our friend, Allison, sent us some lovely photos of the fall foliage in Finland where she is living with her hubby and two kids. I thought I would share some of ours! I've been too busy lately to get out and get the big trees so for now the ones on my street will have to do. They're little (about 9 years old) but still pretty.

Hey, Look! It's Me!!

2008-10-23T14:23:00.001-07:00

Brian actually took a photo without being asked!!! I'm so lucky.

Into Everything

2008-10-23T14:12:00.001-07:00

Parents talk about their toddlers "getting into everything." In my case, the phrase can be taken literally.

Getting into the closet. He learned to slide the doors, Owen put some stuffed animals in there and it's now his favorite place to be.

Getting into the kitchen cabinets. He usually just withdraws a pan lid and deposits a toy.

Getting into the bookshelf. He practiced this move over and over again and only fell on his head once. And even then he laughed about it. Nutty kid.

And sometimes, he's ON TOP of things. And yelling at me while he's doing it!

And then there are the times he plays and does the normal cute baby/toddler things and I think, "Whew. What a relief!"

He throws the ball and kicks it too. He's watched more than his fair share of soccer practices and games from the sidelines.

Oliver at 7 Years

2008-10-16T10:04:00.001-07:00

Wow. Seven years old. I can't really say it doesn't seem like it's been seven years. I guess I just never imagined myself with a 7 year-old. That's a full-on wild and crazy, dirty, little boy! Gone are the days of cute doings and sayings. Instead I get to go to school conferences and hear all about what a wonderful student Oliver is. His teacher told me, "Oliver is very patient with me." Which means she knows he's bored with what she's teaching.

I appreciate that she is doing her best to challenge him given that there are around 24 other kids in his 1st grade class. He tests at nearly a 5th grade reading level already. His teacher says he tests highly because his vocabulary is so large. I guess all the reading we do to the boys has paid off! I fully expect Owen to be a great reader as well. He's already able to get through early readers with little help. It's amazing how quickly a child progresses once it clicks for them.

So Oliver is in a separate reading group with other advanced kids (although none of the others are quite as advanced as he *puff puff*) and he sits at a separate table during math with one other boy to work on 2nd grade math problems. Now that Oliver has reading under his belt he has become a math fiend! He's great with addition, working hard on subtraction and oddly enough has a pretty good grasp of fractions for his age. He can tell time pretty well and count money. He does some multiplication and is trying to figure out division as well. Total sponge.

Okay, enough bragging about his brains. Now I'm going to show off how handsome he is. ;o)

Scout Uniforms!

2008-10-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

Oliver got his Cub Scout uniform last weekend. The boys are required to be dressed in uniform when selling popcorn (fundraiser). Doesn't he look cute?

As Den Leader, Brian has to wear a uniform too. It's not as bad as I imagined. You can't read it in the picture, but Owen's cap reads "Little Scout Buddy." He can attend everything but den meetings.

The Scouts led the Pledge of Allegiance at a re-dedication ceremony for this monument in front of the capital. It's called Winged Victory and it honors WWI veterans. It was a really boring half hour and I was proud of Oliver for remaining still the entire time. Many older boys were not so still and well behaved. Tsk tsk.

An Amazing Photo of the Milky Way

2008-10-12T09:53:00.001-07:00

My friend, Genny, sent this photo to me. At first glace, I thought "Whoa." Then I thought, "Wait a minute, this can't be real!" So I did some digging online and to my surprise it is indeed a genuine photograph. The photographer is also an amateur astronomer. His name is Wally Pacholka and he had to make 5 separate 1200 mile round-trip journeys to this cave in Utah before getting the shot right. According to Pacholka, the cave is so wide he had to take 4 single 25 second shots and then stitch them together. That's Jupiter you see to the left. It's beautiful and I am awestruck. This photo takes me back to being twelve years old and wanting desperately to grow up and explore space. Thank you, Mr. Pacholka. And thank you, Genny, for sending it to me!

The Tiger Cub Scout Banner

2008-10-09T16:29:00.000-07:00

Well, it's not the work of art I hoped it would be but I guess it's pretty cute. I especially love the one with the whiskers that looks like a fish. Alas, I could not be there with my handy measuring tape to tell the kids exactly where to glue down their tiger. Brian asked the other dads and kids not to glue down until everyone was done, but they didn't listen. So while the spacing is uneven and the placement fairly willy-nilly, it's not as bad as it could have been.

The question now is where will the new kid's tiger go? We just found out we might be getting another cub. Uh-oh. His tiger might have to be pea-brained.

The Beauty of Randomness

2008-10-09T15:15:00.001-07:00

Get a load of this:

When I saw this ad, I wrinkled my nose and thought, "What???" I couldn't grasp that this was a real product. I mean, who? why? And better yet, I want to know what marketing genius designed this ad?

My favorite part is "COLORFULLY EMBROIDERED. -- Not Just a Patch!"

I get tears in my eyes every time I read it.

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The list below was written while driving (Silly woman driver! Pardon my messiness and misspelling.) and discussing with Owen what he wanted to be when he grows up. After we got home, he snuck off with the list to add the last item.

What a great day. I got to cry from laughter not once, but twice!

Breathe In... Breathe Out.... Repeat.

2008-10-06T14:37:00.000-07:00

The last month has been a complete whirlwind. I can't remember ever being so busy. Ever. I mentioned joining the PTO board in a previous post. I won't bore you with the details but it looks like the really, really time consuming part is over with already and I can breathe again. And pay more attention to what Elliott is doing. That boy will empty out his dresser and bookcase faster than you can say boo!

Soccer

Soccer is going well. Actually, not just well. It's going GREAT! When the Os played two years ago we had to bribe them to play. They pretty much hated it. This time around they are a couple of wild men out there. Their competitive spirits are shining through, much to the chagrin of opposing players. Their division plays 3-on-3 with no goalie. It's supposed to be just good ol' fun with no competition involved. That means nobody keeps score -- except of course for Owen. And once Oliver realized Owen was keeping score, he had to join in to make sure Owen was counting correctly.

Oliver is a ball hog so we have to remind him to pass to his teammates. Oliver has also (sadly) inherited my loud, obnoxious behavior. While I'm a bit embarrassed about it, Brian thinks it's great because Oliver uses it to his advantage to intimidate the opponents. For example, during kickoff last Saturday, Oliver runs at the ball full steam ahead, arms are up in a 'V' with index fingers pointing up and half-yells-half-growls the whole way. I think a couple of the kids actually took a step backward. Who knew my half-pint could be so fearsome?

Owen is a sorry winner. When he or one of his teammates scores a goal, he pumps his fist in the air for about a minute solid. But my favorite sorry winner move he does is when he plays air guitar and mimics guitar sound with his mouth to the "CHARGE!" tune that they always play at baseball games. That one rules. And he made it up himself which makes even more hilarious.

The stupid league didn't order enough small shirts. So my little guys had to wear MEDIUM shirts! Grrr.

You can see Oliver saying, "Pass it to me, Owen!"

Go Watkins boys!

SCORE!!!

Cub Scouts

Tonight is Oliver's first cub scout den meeting. Brian is den leader along with another dad. It's proving to be quite a bit of work but I know it will be worth it. They're going to have a great time. Brian was in Scouts for many years and loved it. Oliver and Owen peruse the Tiger Cub handbook and ooh and ahh over all the fun things there are to do. The rocket ship derby and cake auction are coming up soon and those sound great.

For the craft at tonight's den meeting, Brian will have the boys make a banner for the den. It took about 6 hours of prep work from me (not including the time it took to go and get the materials) and will probably only take the boys 20 minutes to complete at the meeting. I told Brian he better enter those boys in every parade this town has so they can carry MY banner! I know Brian appreciates it though so that makes me feel good about the time spent. I'll post a picture of it when it's completed.

I must say I was quite surprised that Oliver didn't mind the whole popcorn selling thing. (Scouts sell popcorn for their primary fundraiser the way Girl Scout sell cookies.) I gave him a clipboard, his selling sheet and a pen and off he ran to the houses around us. I think he hit about eight houses and sold to three. One told him to come back the next day. Not too bad! I had him give me his sales pitch before going out. He was so dang cute! He's so serious.

Hi, my name is Oliver. I live over there. I'm selling popcorn to support my cub scout den at McKenny Elementary. What would you like?

I almost fell over. That kid has too much confidence. I couldn't and wouldn't sell things when I was a kid. Come to think of it, I still don't think I can. Too much fear of rejection.

Oliver's 1st Mariner's Game

Here are some photos from the Mariner's game Brian took Oliver to for the special father-and-son birthday thing. They had really good seats and I believe someone hit a homerun that night. Oliver was totally wowed.

Intense, isn't he?

They went with a couple of Brian's friends. The woman had this little cake made as a surprise. Oliver was obviously thrilled.

Awww.

Elliott at 13.5 Months

Elliott is walking briskly. It won't be long before he starts trying to run. He loves to be chased. He knows a few signs: more, all done, eat, milk, up, diaper change, book, light and moon. He says mama, dada, cracker, ok, uh-oh, night-night, and something resembling Oliver and Owen (Awah and Oweh). He pants for animals. He used to mimic my growl when he dropped his cup from the highchair. This has been replaced by the "uh-oh." He also has the iron grip of death as you can see in the photo below.

Elliott finally started giving hugs back... sort of. He still doesn't use his arms but at least he snuggles his head onto our shoulders.

Couldn't you just eat him up?

Owen's Got Talent

2008-09-21T13:31:00.000-07:00

We would like to wish a very happy 55th birthday to my Mom, Beverly. Enjoy that cake, Momma!

Oliver's 7th Birthday!

2008-09-17T14:32:00.000-07:00

Oliver's 7th birthday was a whole 3-day weekend o' fun. Friday night we had pizza and watched Spider-man 3. Saturday, he opened presents from Mom, Dad and brothers and we all had brownie-blackberry-ice cream sundaes. Sunday, we went to the Great Wolf Lodge to play at the indoor waterpark.

An Erector set from Mom & Dad. It's quite the project. It has nuts, bolts, screws and a tiny little open-ended wrench and a little Allen wrench. He works on this thing for a few hours each day and rarely asks for help. I inspect his work after he goes to bed to see if he needs to re-do anything. So far, he's only had to correct a couple of things. I'm pretty proud of him. Brian is completely awed because he never had the patience for projects like this as a kid.

Outside the Great Wolf Lodge.

Part of the indoor water park. I didn't take my camera in there for fear it would get wet.

The Northern Lights Arcade.

Oliver and Owen exchanged their arcade tickets for whoopie cushions. You can see by the look on Oliver's face how much he enjoyed his. This was their introduction to the W.C. Oh the joys of two boys with whoopie cushions!

This is the Clock Tower at the GWL. They run an animatronic show three times a day. Looks promising, doesn't it? IT WAS SO LAME!!! I'm pretty easily amused and I nearly fell asleep 2 minutes in. So when I tell you it was weak, you better believe it. The boys also thought it was boring. The chorus to their song (possibly the worst ever written) was, "There's nothing to be scared of here." Good lord. Oliver cracked up when I sang, "There's nothing to be scared of here, except for this bad song."

Since His First Birthday...

2008-09-15T21:27:00.000-07:00

Elliott has become my Wee Warrior. Watch out everyone!

He's learned to climb. Oh no!

He's gotten really interested in playing and rocking on this zebra.
(Zebra? Random.)

He's gone on his first wagon ride. It was short because he kept trying to stand up.

Notice the purple car in the background? Yes, it's my 1993 Civic!

He got a backyard swing for his birthday, courtesy of Memaw Bev.

Most of my monkeys swinging together. Owen was taking a 3-hour nap!!

Oliver lets Elliott kick him as he swings forward. Oliver yells and Elliott cracks up!

Owen's 1st Day of Pre-K

2008-09-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

Owen is attending to a new preschool this year for pre-K. It's called Log Cabin Christian Preschool and I think it's going to be wonderful for him. He loved it after just the first day! And if you know Owen at all, he's generally pretty un-opinionated so it was a nice surprise to hear him say he thought Log Cabin was great.

This is his third year of preschool and each year will have been a completely different experience for him. His first year was at a cooperative preschool -- very touchy, feely and an easy transition into preschool. Last year's preschool class was at our elementary school with a mixed group of special needs and non-special needs kids where he learned a lot about interacting with children at a variety of developmental levels, made a few good friends and got a lay of the land for the school. Log Cabin is very structured but still play-centered. I'm confident he will be well-prepared for kindergarten next year!

Owen gets his name tag pinned on by Miss Diana.

Owen settles in quickly and finds something fun to play with.

Busy, Busy, Busy

2008-09-10T22:21:00.000-07:00

No, we haven't dropped off the face of the planet. School started last week for Oliver and this week for Owen. I bit off more than I can chew with a job on the PTO Board and soccer started tonight. Whew! I'll put in a more lengthy update when things settle. With photos, of course.

The Greatest Show on Earth!

2008-08-31T17:10:00.001-07:00

We went to the circus last night in Portland and it was GREAT! There were new, inventive acts we'd never seen before, the costumes were outrageous and the clowns were a hoot!

We went in 2006 and it was pretty good. Last night's show was much better, however. The Os were amazed at so many of the acts. Oliver's mouth was agape over the contortionists, the motorcycles daredevils and the strong men. Owen went wild for the motorcycle daredevils! They got SEVEN going at once in the steel ball. It was fantastic. The Os are old enough now to get the clown humor. Bonus! When the trick horse riders were performing, I asked Owen, "Do you think you could do that?" He replied, "If I had training." WHAHAHAHAHA!!!

There were smiles and laughter, ooing and ahhing. Just like it should be.

Watching some of the performers at the pre-show on the floor.

One professional clown and two amateurs.

The Great Owentini!

Circus Peanuts for a peanut at the circus.

The elephants were so much fun to watch.

I wonder if the elephants being sat upon are uncomfortable?

The elephant finale!

The Grand Finale!

Poo is Funny

2008-08-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

That's right, poo. Not Pooh, as in Winnie the, but plain ol' poo. Just think about all the different words we have for the offending excrement. Poop. Poo-poo, doo-doo, doody, caca. Fecal matter. Feces. Sh**. Turds. Crap. Logs, bricks, pellets and dump -- all construction oriented. Dooky. BM. #2. Stool, spoor, manure, droppings and dung. I don't think your age matters as long as you're at least old enough to know what it is and from whence it came.

Yesterday, Owen was reading The Lion King to Oliver. Of course, Owen can't actually read yet so he was making up the story according to the illustrations. Or so I thought. Owen was giving quite a dramatic performance and Oliver was red with laughter. I thought, wait a minute... The Lion King isn't funny! I decided to tune in momentarily and here's what I heard:

...and Scar pooed on Simba. Simba took a bath but it wouldn't come off so he had to stink FOREVER...

I had to quickly hide so they wouldn't see me crack up. Laughing at their potty humor would add so much fuel to the fire. I shudder to think. But who could NOT laugh at that. Poo is definitely funny. As long as you're not the one stepping in it.

For more information on poop, visit
http://www.smellypoop.com/facts_about_poop.php.

Eunice Lake Hike

2008-08-26T21:54:00.000-07:00

We went for a hike last Sunday to Eunice Lake within Mt. Rainier National Park. It's in the northwest corner of the park. From the trailhead, the lake is 1.9 miles one-way. Tolmie Lookout is another .9 miles where there's an awesome view of Mt. Rainier. We made it to Eunice Lake and started to continue on up to the lookout but it started to rain so we turned back.

There was no way to know if it was going to just sprinkle for a few minutes or turn into a downpour. Since we had the baby with us, we played it safe. We'll have to go back another time and complete the mission! Brian and I estimated we hiked about 4.5 miles total. This was the first real hike for the Os and they both did really well. Owen didn't complain at all. Oliver did have some trouble with his little leg toward the end so we were sort of glad we didn't go to the peak.

Aside from Oliver's leg hurting, we only had one mishap (if you don't count a wrong turn getting to the park) -- a record for the Watkins in Washington! The water container we put in Oliver's pack leaked all over his sweater. Bah! All 32 ounces of it. The good news was that the sweater absorbed nearly all the water so Oliver stayed dry. The bad news was that Oliver had nothing to keep him warm if/when he got cold. Being the devoted mother I am, I let him wear my fleece pull-over. He looked so funny in it with the sleeves hanging down to his knees. Give him a couple of years though, right?

I had two favorite moments. One was when Owen started singing, "We live in a beautiful world" by Coldplay. It was sweet and cool at the same time. Oliver, whose brain is always on overdrive, informed me that a quarter of two miles is half a mile. I doubt I even knew what a quarter of anything was at 6 years old!

And bless Elliott's little heart... he was an absolute angel the whole day. We left the house around 9:30am and didn't get back until around 6pm. He went from his car seat to the baby backpack and back into the car seat without complaint. I think it was about 5:30pm that he signed "all done" in the car and growled a little to let us know he had had it. We are lucky that he is so easy-going.

Oliver kept doing weird hiker-statue poses. Owen joined in for this one.

The crazy hair is a result of smearing DEET all over the boys' heads to keep the mosquitoes off.

Wildflowers next to the lake.

A peek-a-boo of Mt. Rainier from Eunice Lake.

We made it!

Eunice Lake

Happy 1st Birthday, Elliott!

2008-08-25T21:30:00.000-07:00

One down and seventeen to go. Woo hoo! We made it through his first year. And nearly unscathed. I wanted so badly to get some really great pictures of Elliott on his birthday. Unfortunately, the rascal won't stand still for more than half a second. I snapped over FORTY pictures and all but this one were blurry because he was constantly walking around. I would have tried to get more pictures sitting on the picnic table you see below, but he started to stand up on top of it so we had to abort mission.

Don't they look sweet?

The next set of photos are an example of something I like to do with the kids when they're little. I'll occasionally take pictures of the things they're into at that time. So here's Elliott playing with some of his favorite toys in his bedroom at one year old.

The Little People Farm. For some reason I saved all of Oliver and Owen's Little People.

He drops the balls into the top of the giraffe and they roll out the leg holes. He's really proud of himself for figuring this one out.

Apparently trying to make a return trip.

Peek-a-boo!

Elliott's birthday was on Friday and we celebrated on Saturday. It was just the five of us with some cake, ice cream and a few gifts. The Os had just as much fun with the new toys as Elliott did.

Oliver really wanted to video and I let him. There was mishap and we ended up singing the happy birthday song and blowing out the candle twice. Elliott loved being the center of all that attention.

We let Owen blow Elliott's candle out since Oliver got to blow Owen's first candle out. Elliott is sporting a custom-made birthday shirt designed by mom.

I really need to take a cake decorating class. So lame!

Click on this one to enlarge it and see if you can read his shirt.

Brian and Elliott reading his new birthday book, Gallop! It's the coolest book ever!

Elliott actually pulled some paper off himself!

This is a fun toy I found at Target. It's a giant gum ball machine he puts the balls into and then there are three ways to release them.

I believe this was Take One. Just look at that grin!

Elliott didn't care too much for the cake by itself. It was too sweet. Once Dad combined it with the ice cream though, he was all over it!

Camping at Kitsap Memorial State Park

2008-08-18T12:49:00.000-07:00

We went camping last weekend with Linda, Alex, Vanessa, Mark and Leon. Quarters were close, but it worked out just fine. We shared some meals and some laughs and had a good time just hanging out. All the boys played and had fun. We plan to make it an annual event at various locations.

The park is close to Poulsbo and there was an arts and crafts show going on that we went to. I got a new pair of earrings out if it! There was also a marine science center the Os wanted to visit. It was small, but nice. The weather was warmer than we would've liked, but at least it wasn't raining!

The babies did really well considering the circumstances and they both get awards for being able to nap whenever and wherever. Alex gets an award for keeping the Os entertained.

As usual, I took too many photos. This one is far and away my favorite. This is Leon (3rd cousin to my boys) taking his first crawl while his adoring parents, Vanessa and Mark, watch him with great pride.

And here are some others that I like from the weekend:

Picking blackberries at our campsite.

LaLa and Chunks.

The group going into Poulsbo.

Mark, Brian and the babies.

Vanessa helping Oliver with a craft.

The finished product.

The Os at the Marine Science Center.

I'm an Aunt!

2008-08-17T15:35:00.000-07:00

My brother, Ben, and his wife Aimee delivered their first child on August 8. His name is Logan and he was 7 lbs 10 oz, 20 inches. They are such proud parents. I hope they're getting some sleep.

The happy family.

The first of many joint naps, I'm sure. It's one of the great things about being a new parent, isn't it? You get an excuse to nap when you're SO tired. And is there a sweeter nap than one with a small wonder?

Doesn't she look radiant? And so full of love.

If I know a thing or two about baby boys, this is a dangerous position for Ben to be in!

Frankenbaby

2008-08-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

At 11.5 months of age, Elliott has acquired some interesting new skills. He can walk backwards, play peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake, turn pages in a board book and careen into coffee table corners without hesitation.

Wait... what was that last thing, you ask?

Oh, you haven't heard? Well, on Tuesday evening Elliott tripped into the corner of the coffee table. There was the dreaded thump, followed by a howl, followed by me yelling, "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!"

I scooped him up and ran into the kitchen to hold his gushing head over the sink. By then the massive amounts of blood has run into his left eye. There was enough there that we could no longer see any part of his eyeball and feared he'd actually lost his eye.

I wailed, "Is it his eye? Is it his eye?"

Why do we say things twice when panicked?

Doug blotted the blood with something, a paper towel maybe and we were immeasurably relieved to see that it was a mere gash in his forehead.

Brian was running around asking (twice), "Where's my first aid kit? Where's my first aid kit?"

Of course, I got the blame for moving said first aid kit.

As soon as we got the blood out of his eye, Elliott stopped crying. Apparently that was more bothersome to him than the gash. Babies... go figure.

Doug stayed with the Os and assured them that all would be well while Brian and I took Elliott for stitches. When we arrived at the urgent care clinic inside our HMO we were taken back to an exam room right away. After about 15 minutes, I asked Brian to see if he could get someone to help us.

He returned to our exam room and replied, "They said there were four people ahead of us with chest pains, loss of consciousness etc." Well, I'll be damned if old people dying takes priority over the scratch on my baby's head!

I waited about another 5 minutes before I got up in a huff and reached for the door. Brian said, "Don't do it, Beverly." (Beverly is my mom. She has a certain way of dealing with situations like this. Remember when George Jefferson got upset? That's her.) I just smiled and said, "Oh, don't worry."

I wandered around the nurse's station looking lost with Elliott on my hip. We looked terribly pathetic with blood all over us. I pretended to be understanding about the old dying folk and said (while giving them the doe eyes), "Oh. I see. I just wanted to find out about how long it would be because it's his dinnertime and he's getting very fussy."

One of the doctors happened to take notice. He got up and walked over and quietly asked, "What room are they in?"

I walked back into our exam room in front of the doctor and beamed a big, fat TOLD YOU SO smile at Brian. As luck would have it, the doctor was a grandpa 8 times over and was just an awesome guy. He put 4 hideous bright blue stitches in Elliott's forehead and we were out the door. Which was a good thing since we had people at our house waiting for us to cook dinner!

Yep. It was a crazy evening.

The wound doesn't seem to bother Elliott at all. He does get extremely upset when I have to change his bandage though.

He actually looks kind of cute with his bandage, doesn't he? Well, get ready for the ugly truth.

The envelope please. Drum roll.

The winner of this year's Mother of the Year Award goes to..... me!

Blueberry Picking with Uncle Doug

2008-08-05T13:34:00.000-07:00

Brian's brother-in-law, Doug, arrived yesterday afternoon. He's in town for a week to go on a backpacking trip through The Olympics with Brian and four others. We haven't seen Doug in nearly four years! Reactions from Oliver and Owen were not what I expected. Owen got all gussied up for him and even asked me to do his hair (which means make it curly). Oliver turned two shades of scarlet when we finally met Doug at the airport. The boys were quiet at first although Doug made them laugh quite a bit.

They played some frisbee and tossed the baseball after dinner. I can't tell you how great it is to have someone who actually knows what he's talking about give them pointers on baseball. Brian and I are useless when it comes to sports. Doug corrected Oliver's form and from then on Oliver was firing them in. Both the boys were doing loads better catching grounders after Uncle Doug taught them the "alligator chomp."

This morning we went to pick blueberries. We all made a good team because Doug picked the high ones, I picked the middle and the boys picked down low. We're going to make a blueberry-lemon crisp tonight for dessert. Yummy!

We came home for lunch and while I made PB&Js, Uncle Doug wrassled with the Os. That was the end of the quiet! Man, oh man, Oliver and Owen were in a frenzy. They love to wrestle and fight anyway, but when an adult joins the mix they go berserk.

Some serious picking.

Some sort of discussion.

The booty!

Even Elliott tried to pick some berries!

Happy 12th Anniversary!

2008-07-28T09:54:00.001-07:00

July 21st was our 12th wedding anniversary. Wow! We were able to celebrate it together on Saturday, the 26th by climbing Mt. Ellinor in Olympic National Park. It was my first ever real mountain hike (as opposed to an easy nature walk). Most of the trail was very well-groomed and so the going was fairly easy. The snow chute, however, was a bit challenging on the way up and a lot of fun on the way down. (Both our rear-ends were drenched!)

We had a nice lunch up at the peak, saw some mountain goats, Douglas squirrels and lots of wildflowers (it's just now springtime up there). Visibility was poor at the peak but that was fine by me since I'm afraid of heights. ;o) Visibility was better below the snow chute so we were able to appreciate the lovely vista.

Afterward, we returned home to clean up and then went to see The Dark Knight. Woo-hoo!! It was BATASTIC! I was afraid it was getting better reviews than it deserved because of the death of Heath Ledger, but I was so wrong. The plot was complex, the action was thrilling, the cinematography was stellar, the soundtrack was good and the acting was fabulous. And Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker really was astounding. I can't imagine anyone being able to fill his shoes to take over that role. I rather hope they don't even try.

We owe a mountain of thank yous to Linda for making our anniversary celebration possible. She kept all three boys for us so we could go hiking. We love you, Linda. Thank you so much.

Bike Helmets

2008-07-24T09:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, so apparently an explanation is warranted on my kids' seemingly constant wearing of bicycle helmets. The reason you see the boys wearing helmets in so many photos below is because they were on and off their bikes every few minutes so there was really no reason to remove them... it just slowed them down. Also, Owen can't take his off by himself. :o) He even wore it during some meals. It was really funny. I could tell he enjoyed the attention he was getting by wearing it at odd times.

Cape Disappointment Campout

2008-07-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

Camping at Cape Disappointment is usually anything but. This time however, it was very windy and cold which made things difficult with the baby. Who knew he needed mittens in July?!? When the sun came out, it was as gorgeous as we remembered and we had a good time, especially on our family bike ride. Of course the Os had all kinds of fun playing in the woods, climbing trees, riding bikes, building a sandcastle and of course, roasting marshmallows.

Oliver tying up his friend, Joanna.

Owen was really upset when he found out he couldn't actually take his big hiking stick hiking.

The impromptu limbo game.

Don't know what Elliott's attraction to this rainboot was, but this was what he did when we let him roam around.

Brian and several of the kids built this sandcastle.

Oliver and Joanna sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

Ocean Shores

2008-06-25T22:04:00.000-07:00

It was such a nice day last Saturday in Olympia that we decided to go to the beach in Ocean Shores. Where it was cold. Whaaa! But it usually is out there. We're just always surprised by how cold it is. I wasn't in complete denial though. I brought jackets. Hallelujah!

Elliott surprised me. He wasn't scared of the cold, the sound of the surf or the water/waves. He would've walked right into the ocean if I hadn't held his hand the entire time. Brian helped Oliver and Owen build a sandcastle.

Done with baseball... for now.

2008-06-25T21:57:00.000-07:00

Baseball is over for the boys, but not forgotten. They look forward to the next season. Here are some pictures my friend Annie took.

Oliver - Reading and Scootering

2008-06-23T19:38:00.000-07:00

Oliver has come a long way with his reading over the last year. He's reading so well now that I'm surprised when he gets hung up on a word, as crazy as that sounds. The other night he read a Skippyjon Jones book to Owen at bedtime. It was so cute I had him give a repeat performance on camera. You'll need to turn up your volume to hear him.

The next one is just for fun. This is how Oliver rides his scooter -- cracks me up!

Milestones abound!

2008-06-20T20:26:00.000-07:00

At 10 months old, Elliott is walking about 95% of the time now. He can bend over to pick things up off the floor without falling over and stand up from the floor without grabbing onto anything. I guess I'm okay with him walking already since it's summer and we'll be outside so much. I don't really want him crawling around on the ground. Also, he has his first tooth!

We are all very proud of Owen. He is riding his bike without training wheels! He's been able to ride a straightaway for awhile if I got him going, but he finally learned to get himself going yesterday. He was so determined. He said, "I'm capable of doing this. I'm not giving up." And when he realized his goal, I could swear he grew a whole 2 inches and gained 5 pounds. It was beautiful!

Member's Night at the Zoo

2008-06-20T20:02:00.001-07:00

I took Oliver and Owen to a special member's-only night at the Pt. Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. They have a new kid's area that recently opened called Animal Avenue. It has new things to play on and new animals to see. New animals include:

• Ring-tailed Lemur
• Black Lemur
• Damaraland Mole Rat
• Golden Orb Weaver spider
• Goliath Bird-eating Spider
• Antilles Pink-toed Tree Spider
• Emerald Tree Boa
• Green Tree Python
• Western Bell's Hinge-back Tortoise
• Pancake Tortoise
• Ornate Horned Frog
• White's Tree Frog
• Hour Glass Tree Frog
• Surinam Toad
• Long-legged Desert Ant
• African Emperor Scorpion
• Madagascar Hissing Cockroach
• African Cichlid

There were also stuffed meerkats in their Meerkat Manor. The live meerkats are not on exhibit yet and someone has a sense of humor. We laughed and it lessened the disappointment. Overall it was a really nice time. The weather was great, the boys behaved themselves and I didn't have to push a stroller! LOL

The mandatory sitting upon the beautifully carved bench out front.

Leapin' Lemurs!

The cool new spinning toy.

Snailiver

Now that's a goatee!

Video added

2008-06-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

I added three videos from Oliver's concert. They are within the post titled "End of Year Kindergarten Concert." They are about 2 minutes each, I think. So cute!

Father's Day Photos

2008-06-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely Father's Day today. The weather was awesome, Brian let me take pictures of him with the boys, we had a picnic and went for a hike through the forest. We topped off the day by having dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant.

The next two photos happened to be taken just as Brian was taking a swift kick to the crotch by Elliott. It's a good thing we're done having babies! ;o)

End of the Year Kindergarten Concert

2008-06-13T22:44:00.000-07:00

All three kindergarten classes put on an end-of-year concert for their families. They were forced to wear garish sailor's hats for some reason. They sang several songs. Each song had a sign language component. The kids were all so cute. Well, most of them anyway.

I felt sorry for a couple of them who had obvious stage fright. They cried hysterically. One boy completely freaked me out because he was stock-still except for his eyes. His eyes kept crossing -- sometimes one eye, sometimes both. I honestly thought he was about to have an epileptic fit or something. I watched him intently for a couple of minutes, panicked and ran to check with his mom that he was ok. Apparently that is his coping mechanism in uncomfortable situations. (He's really shy.) Interesting.

I never envisioned myself as one of those moms who boo-hooed at events like this. Normally, I don't. But one of the songs was "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom." This is a song adapted from the book Chicka Chicka ABC. I read that book a thousand times to Oliver as a baby and toddler. They started singing the song and didn't get that far into it when I have this FLASH of Oliver sitting in my lap at about 9 months old wearing a white t-shirt, a diaper and his brace on his feet. I'm reading/singing the book to him.

The flash ends. I look up at Oliver singing a song I used to sing to him and I totally lost it. I mean really. Not just misty. Not a restrained tear or two. BUCKETS of tears were streaming down my face. It was all I could do to remain in my seat. I wanted to run out of the room.

Oliver could see me from the stage and did well to maintain his composure. Finally though, my blubbering got to him and his eyes welled up. I thought, Oh no! Look what I've done now. I willed myself to stop crying so he wouldn't go to pieces up there. I was filming the whole thing for Pete's sake! I don't even know what I did to stop to crying. I think I had to look at the other kids or think about baseball. ha ha ha

If you know the book, the photo above is the part where it goes, "Oh no! Chicka chicka BOOM BOOM!"

The last two photos are (1) Oliver with his teacher, Mrs. Fettig and (2) Oliver's girlfriend, Chun Hui. (She's the one who drew the picture of the two of them under an apple tree sometime around Valentine's Day.)

The final selection in the concert was the cutest, most appropriate song they could have sung. It's called "First Grade."

5 Year-old in a 12-month Shirt

2008-06-13T22:40:00.000-07:00

His excuse was, "Well, it was in my closet."

Clever Relief from Teething

2008-06-13T22:32:00.000-07:00

I noticed Elliott's pacifier tucked into his bottom lip for the first time a couple of days ago and thought it must have happened on accident somehow. But I keep seeing him with it like this and I realized finally that by tucking it under his bottom lip, the pacifier is putting pressure on his bottom gums. It looks absolutely ridiculous, but whatever works!

Owen at Five Years Old

2008-06-03T14:25:00.001-07:00

Elliott's First Steps

2008-06-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

He's been thinking about it. I could see it in his eyes as he cruised around the walls, the coffee table and from sofa to love seat. He's been standing unassisted for a few seconds here and there. He had even taken a few tiny baby steps without really realizing it. But yesterday, at 9 months of age, Elliott finally took those first REAL steps! And we were all there to witness it -- mom, dad and brothers.

Happy Birthday, Owen!

2008-06-01T18:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Brian took Owen to his first Mariner's game. He wants to start a tradition of taking the boys individually to a game each year for their special birthday present from Dad. Safeco Field has lots of fun things to do and see. Owen got to play in the Kid's Zone and Brian weaseled some sweet seats in the cafe that overlooks the field. The cafe seats are reserved for people that have the really expensive tickets but Brian didn't know that when he went in. He and Owen had already ordered when the server asked for his voucher and to see his tickets. I can imagine the look on Brian's face! But the server was cool and said they could stay unless someone showed up with the right credentials. They got lucky and nobody showed to claim the seats!

Brian and Owen in front of the mitt sculpture.

Owen in the cafe.

Owen brought luck to the Mariner's -- they ended a losing streak!

**********************************************************************************

We celebrated Owen's 5th birthday today at a new place in town called Charlie's Safari. It was loud and rowdy -- perfect for a bunch of little boys! The kids played for about an hour before we had pizza, cupcakes, ice cream sandwiches and gift opening. Then the kids played some more before we decided to call it quits.

Owen, Luke and Oliver

Oliver

Owen and Luke

The birthday boy!

Owen and his friend from preschool, Ethan B.

I love this photo because you can see the two boys in the background blowing along with Owen.

A face only a mother could love. And even then it was tough.

I had a monkey on my back throughout the party.

You can tell Owen was ecstatic to stop for a photo with Mama.

Dad gets a big smile though. Humph! Must be that Mariner's game yesterday.

Oliver was so excited to give Owen his gift. He was doing his jig that is easily confused for the pee-pee dance.

Oliver's gift was two super-soakers. Look at that fiendish face!! He can't wait to use those bad boys.

The Lemonade Stand

2008-05-26T14:41:00.001-07:00

We had a yard sale last Saturday and the Os wanted to have a lemonade stand. So here's a picture of them at their stand with our neighbor, Leanna. They staffed their stand for all of about 30 minutes before losing interest. They ended up with $2.90 in their till and $1.00 of it was the change I gave them to get started.

Businessmen they are not! They are however very generous. They took the proceeds and bought Popsicles for themselves, Leanna and Leanna's brother when the ice cream man came by.

Wheeee!

2008-05-26T14:37:00.000-07:00

We got a trailer bike for Owen off craigslist and he said it's the most fun ever! It'll be great once I get my bike and a bike trailer for Elliott. We can go on family rides on the Chehalis trail!

2008-05-26T14:33:00.000-07:00

Bye Bye

2008-05-20T22:44:00.000-07:00

Kiss the Girls

2008-05-15T14:23:00.000-07:00

Oliver spent the better part of 20 minutes or so chasing the girls to kiss them. They just smile and giggle.

Elliott at the Park

2008-05-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

Here's the big guy! Nearly 9 months old and still mostly bald. Ain't he sweet? I took these today at the park near home.

Mother's Day?

2008-05-13T21:42:00.000-07:00

The question mark is there because it wasn't the greatest Mother's Day for me. I won't go into detail because, well, I would prefer to just forget about it. There were a couple of bright spots though. On the Friday before Mother's Day, Owen's preschool class sang a couple of songs for us and gave us gifts. His card (written by a teacher) read, "I love you. Thank you for making me dinner. Owen" I'm glad someone appreciates my cooking! LOL The mother's day song they sang was very sweet and of course I shed a couple of tears. Oliver's school-made gift was a hand-print flower with a poem. He was quite proud of it. His card (written by him) read, "I love my mom becos she is nis to me." REALLY? Ok.

On Sunday, Mother's Day, we went to Linda's house to visit with her, Alex, Vanessa, Mark and little Leon. He has the sweetest face! We ate a lovely lunch, too much dessert and played most of a game of Cranium before we had to say our farewells.

Lyrics to the song.

Owen was so sweet and gentle with Leon. He kept telling Leon how sweet he was and that he loved him.

Twister!

2008-05-13T21:39:00.001-07:00

Santa Claus brought the game of Twister to our house last Christmas. The Os hadn't been very interested in playing until lately. Santa thought it would be hilarious to watch the kids play it. Little did he know the kids would want to play it with Mama and Daddy. Oh, the pain! I never realized what a workout that game is. No comments about my derrière, please.