Sweetness

Jase fell asleep during Stake Conference.  I love sleeping babies when they're so rosy and sweet.

 

Later we spent time with friends and I took this sweet picture of Tallie with Venna and Jase (just one year apart). 

Max's Milestone

Max came home from school on Friday with the exciting news that he had lost his first tooth.  It hadn't even been loose!  He had been eating lunch opening the utensils (that come in a little plastic bag).  He noticed something white in the bag but didn't pay attention.  Then he felt the hole between his teeth.  He was so excited and so were we!  He wrote a note to the tooth fairy and she did not disappoint. 

Max making a silly face to sow off his new hole!

Sunsine and Riding Bikes

Ryan is our cute little bike rider.  He went from no pedals to pedals without training wheels! 

It was a gorgeous day!  We worked in the yard, played bubbles, made fairy houses with friends,

Played at the park,

And rode bikes again!

Today

Today was a peaceful Sunday (much different than last Sunday).  The boys woke up and did their morning routine well.  Max puts away the dishes and Ryan puts away the utensils.  Can I just tell you how much I LOVE it that they're big enough to do chores?  Ryan was a self-starter and got out the breakfast bowls, spoons and cereal BEFORE he asked me for any help.  "Mom, can you pour the milk please?"  They can be taught!  Church was wonderful as always and the boys listened when we got home to changing into play clothes and helping with lunch.  Then we watched Pollyanna/dozed.  I love Pollyanna and the lesson it teaches, but it was a bit long for the boys and well their parents fell asleep so they wandered off to play legos.  But they came back and their parents woke up for the ending, so they got the gist of the lesson I was hoping they'd glean from it.  After dinner and after dad's fireside, we went on a geo-cache search.  We never found it but we still had adventures.

And I had to take some pictures of Jase in this awesome sweater that my parent's scottish friend knitted for their soon-to-be-born grandson (Max) in 2007.  All of my boys have looked darling in it.

 

Do the Puyallup!

When I was in grad school, I worked at a home for developmentally disabled adults.  One of them, Judy, always looked forward to going to the fair in Spring and Fall.  She was blind and didn't talk a whole lot but she could sing the Puyallup Fair commercials, "Do the Puyallup!" forward and backwards. 

We haven't done the fair too often with the boys but when Max won tickets, we had to go.  Max's baseball game was rained out but it was still a great day for the fair, nice, overcast and a pleasant temp.

We started out with some face painting.

 And then we discovered some fun animals.  Jase saw turtles!

Since Ryan loves frogs, here he is with a huge African frog.

And more...

 Then we played a little music.

and enjoyed all that the fair had to offer.

We let the boys do rides for the first time! 

Another highlight was learning about wool.  It starts on the sheep and then it gets spun into yarn and knitted or woven into cloth.  The boys really liked learning about this process and people were so nice to explain it to them. 

Here, these people are singing and "waulking", a Scottish tradition of wetting woven, wool  cloth and pounding it, pushing it along to make it more dense.  They would sing as they did it and it was their social gathering.

We also enjoyed listening to the bagpipes and thinking of my parent's first mission and our ancestry. 

Daddy and Max getting ready to ride the Starship 2000 (which will always be the Gravitron to me).  Next time I'll join them! 

Cowboy Max 

And the "Thank a Farmer" magic show. 

So much fun!

Grandpa J's Visit

We had a lot of fun with Grandpa J here.

 

A very serious Max shows some coloring he did for Grandma Kate.

Grandma Kate and Great-Grandma were visiting GG's sister, Laverne in Chicago.

Here are some pictures from the Evergreen Air Museum.

 

The boys love Japanese Zeros even though they were the enemy at the time.

Max walked up to this tank and said, "Don't shoot".

Here are some pics from the trip to Oregon.  First stop was Great-Grandma's house at Milk Creek.  So many memories.

Then a visit to Geniel and Phil and Grandma Bernice.  And then a picture had to be taken because when they went to Uncle Roger's house, Uncle Eric was there.

 

 

 

 

Grandpa J Came to Visit and Other Stuff

Grandpa J came and spent a lot of time with the boys.  Sadly, I need to wait to get photos though.  Tony and J took the boys to the Evergreen Flight Museum.  Jase and I stayed behind to write a talk and attend some special baptisms.  Then we got to visit with the Bulsons which was fun.  Sunday was a bit busy.  Tony and J drove to Oregon for the day to visit family and they even saw Uncle Eric which was no small miracle.  The kids and I had a fun, busy church day and then this girl had a much needed nap. 

 

This week I've had lots of property management responsibilities and other things and I feel like I'm trying to keep my head above water.  Busy, busy.  We said good-bye to Grandpa J yesterday.  The boys had fun spending time with him and wanted him to stay longer.  Max won a coloring contest and received two tickets to the spring fair.  Here are a few snapshots that are on my camera that needed to come off.  And I've got to take a break from work, right?

 

 

This is one of my favorite sweaters that all three boys have been able to wear.  I got this sweater from my friend, Jenn.  It's a keeper.  Now to decide which boy gets it in his keepsake box.  I have to save just a few special things and then I want to pass on the blessings that were shared with us.



The day after we found out we were having a girl, I was grocery shopping at Fred Meyer and I wandered over to the baby clothes section.  I am a sucker for girl clothes with little lady bugs or little strawberries.  So, I had to pick up this outfit.  I'm not into tons of pink but who doesn't love lady bugs and or the teeny strawberries?  No, I won't be buying her clothes all the time, but I couldn't resist just one little layette.  And it says, "Daddy's Little Lady" on the jammies.  Swoon!

Parenting can be frustrating.  When a sensible, smart 5 1/2 year old thinks it's funny to spit on his mom when he's giving her a good night kiss, it's really frustrating.  He knows how disgusting that is and why he felt the need to test that limit, I don't know.  Did he really think I'd think it was funny?  Oy.  But when he came to apologize to me the next morning, he was crying and I started crying and he wrote this sweet note. 

 

When I was putting some blankets away, I found my baby blanket.  I was excited to pull it and put it in the bassinette.

 

On Monday we learned of the bombings at the Boston Marathon.  I just hurt for those people who had to experience that, suffer from it and lose loved ones.  It really helps to know that we have a Savior who helps us and comforts us even in the darkest of times.