More pretty pictures

 

Little pudgy owl Johnny in front of the owl exhibit at NW Trek with Ellie.  There's an owl in the window at the peak of the structure.

 

 

Little girl owl Holiday

 

 

Mommy, Ellie and Johnny on the tram.  Holiday and Anna behind us.  Toni and Drew behind them.

 

 

Picnic time!

 

 

Johnny's playing with Uncle Drew.

 

 

Ellie and Anna with Holiday in the middle.

 

 

Thar's a bear! Whar? Thar.

 

 

Coyote?  Wolves are bigger right?  Man it's been a long time since 5th grade.

 

 

More critter close ups...they really do blend in on the wider shots, it's like 'Where's Waldo?' sometimes.

 

 

Mountain lion? Cougar?  Seriously, it's been awhile.

 

 

That badger looked so bored.

 

 

The raccoons were slightly more lively.

 

 

Very impressive were the eagles.

 

 

This is fun little step structure, I remembered that from when I was a kid.  Here I'm pointing out a baby squirrel to Holly.

 

 

Anna took very good care of Holly that day.

 

Just a note to our public...I was getting some spam comments on the blog so now I'm moderating the comments.  So don't worry, you may comment away.  Basically the way it works is now I'll get an email expressing that someone wants to post a comment and I have to check yes or no.  So it's just a matter of when I check my personal email and then it will get posted.  That means if either of kids are awake or I'm working it could be a good while, so don't panic, I'll get to it eventually.

More pictures and Remlinger Farms

 

Daddy and Johnny hanging out.

 

 

Johnny's happy place...on Mommy's tummy.

 

 

OH YES!

 

 

YES!YES!YES! Holly loves to paint.

 

 

First ballet class.  This is what a fake 'fall down' looks like.

 

 

This is a confidence builder exercise.  The teacher has the girls take turns standing up, saying their name, hold old they are and to sing a song.

 

 

First position.

 

 

It's a pretty impressive space for a small operation.

 

 

Releve'

 

 

Mommy and the kids.

 

 

Johnny in the saucer.

 

 

Close up...you can see the extent of the drool.

 

 

Gotta have more...it's just too cute.

 

I've almost caught up on the pictures. I still got a bunch so I'll continue to post them in doses.  This was the first week that Holly and her classmates did their dance lesson without parents watching.  I think they did okay once the door was closed and they realized they had to pay attention.  I was waiting for her when her class was over and suddenly I heard a stampede heading towards the door.  The door flies open to about 7 little 3 year old girls bursting through all going, "Mommy! Mommy!" with big smiles on their faces.  I was cracking up.  We went to Remlinger Farms right after that.  It was described as the disneyland of pumpkin patches and I quite agree.  I recommend it for kids ages 1-6, maybe even a little older depending on the kid.  What I liked about it was there was a gate charge of $15 and you do as much or as little as you wanted without getting nickel and dimed.  So Holly rode the merry-go-round a couple times and the canoe ride saw a lot of action.  The whole family rode the small train, the four of us fit easily in one of the train cars, and it was a real steam engine, just little.  It's on a figure eight track and you can see all the animals and a lot of the grounds and even go through a tunnel.  We did that twice.  There was a car ride that the whole family did together, they were the kind of cars back in the day of model-A although I don't think I'm entirely accurate on that.  I had Holly ride in front since she normally doesn't get to view the world from the front seat yet.  But the course it was on was beautifully landscaped, being an amateur gardener myself I was very impressed.  There was lots of other stuff like the animal barn, feeding the chickens, riding ponies with food names (Holly's was named Coconut), playing in the sandbox with diggers, the haymaze.  We had lunch at the burger shack and checked out the store and the market.  Maybe next year we can do more...we didn't even glance at their cornmaze and there's few things that Holly isn't tall enough for yet.

Another Batch of Pictures

 

Roly poly time

 

Chillaxing with his favorite toy.

 

Tummy time!

 

Johnny's hanging out with Daddy.

 

Just so cute.

 

Sleepy Johnny.

 

This was another request to hold baby brother.

 

This year's Bumbershoot.

 

Now dance...

 

...and spin...

 

...no touching the camera.

 

Snuggle time with Mommy.

 

The purpose of this picture was to showcase Johnny's ducktail.

 

This is what a typical weekend morning looks like when we've all woken up.

 

See those two little teefies on the bottom?  You can definitely see the drool.  And he's definitely still a redhead.

Much needed photos

 

At Renton River days...little bit cranky.

 

...but she liked the ducks.

 

At Zootunes, we were there for Los Lobos.

 

Johnny did not like those headphones.  That's one of his favorite toys.

 

Holly had fun with Daddy at the arts and crafts tent.

 

When Holly asks to hold Johnny this is what it usually looks like.

 

And now she's a cowgirl/ballerina...what? they don't have those?

It must of been really hot that day for Daddy to get in the pool.  I'm thinking this was Seafair weekend because when the heat was the worst.

 

Holly didn't even want to put clothes back on.

 

And neither did Johnny.

 

He such a cute little pudgling.

 

Yes...we do possess pictures.  We've been ridiculously busy/exhausted...you know...infant...toddler.  That mixed in with colds and teething and family drama over the past two months, downloading pictures tends to become less of a priority.  Despite the busy day yesterday Daddy managed to squeeze it in.  We saw the Prestons on Friday night for dinner.  When Holly saw Anna she squealed for joy while pumping her fists, it was sooooo funny.  Then in turn the Prestons invited us to go to NW Trek yesterday since they had some coupons for it that were about to expire.  I haven't been there since I was 9, I only remembered the tram.  Everyone had a great time and it was perfect weather for it.  The kids did great.  Holly enjoyed seeing the animals in the display areas and in the tram and she enjoyed her Anna again.  That's all we heard about this morning was how much she wanted to see Anna.  

Roly poly little baby (maybe not so little)

So Johnny has been wearing 9 months and 6-12 month sized clothing for a few weeks now and this week I put him in a new 6-12 month onesie from Old Navy and he's already filled it out.  First thing I said, "Oh crap...this one was new."  He's growing at almost a startling rate...Holly wasn't like this at all.  Apparently breastfeeding suited him really well.  His new clothes aren't too small for him yet so no worries there.  But I wouldn't recommend buying him clothes and saving them up for Christmas. I would buy much closer to the time when he'd actually receive anything, that way we're sure it'll fit.  I really don't know when he'll bump up to the next size.  Johnny's favorite thing to do right now is lay on the floor holding his feet in the air or toes to mouth and then just rolling around on the floor like that.  I have to say, that looks like fun.  Johnny has been doing some assisted standing so David decided to crack out the big baby saucer toy.  So it's all cleaned up and Johnny tried it out last night since he certainly has enough stability for it.  We're thinking that the little baby swing will get phased out soon.  We're switching Holly's place at the table because when it's time to break out the high chair, it can only fit in her previous place in our tiny house.  When Johnny's 6 months old the solid food feedings will start so that gives us a month to acclimate Holly to her new spot.

The usual ... again

Holiday had marked improvement in ballet class, not just in dance moves but also in listening better to the teacher.  It's way cute to see her doing it at home and hearing her say "tall as a tree" up on her tiptoes with her arms over her head.  She remembered plie and curtsey (that one was new this week).  Johnny spat up a lot yesterday, David thinks it's because of all the drool.  I guess it's a matter of time before we see more teeth.  All the other daily goings-on have been pretty much the same for us, we just seem to be more tired, so we slept a lot this weekend.  We probably needed the rest.  Seems like summer is still fighting off fall still but I think fall is catching up.  I noticed a lot more leaves had turned color.  Perhaps the shorter days are forcing it.  We have a lot dead lawn that I'd like to see come back to life, but there's been that lack of rain thing.  So David and I continue trimming overgrown bushes and weeding because that still helps the yard look better dispite the crispy grass. 

Growing kids

I've updated the clothing status for the kids.  We probably have enough clothes for Johnny in his current size to just make it through laundry.  He does go through a couple outfits a day due to the drool factor.  He'll probably have his front teeth any day now.  David had to lower the crib a notch since Johnny has gotten so big.  It was as if he was going to roll right out of there.  It seems that Holly is a tall 3T for now.  She loves dresses so much that she'll probably keep wearing them we'll just throw on long sleeved shirts and leggings or tights underneath.  It seems like all the leggings are out of stock in her size so I'll have to wait on that, but she does like wearing tights.  Grandma Linda just sent her a new coat so she's set there, and she has a jacket on the way.  Other than tights and leggings, the only things she might still need is a new set of hat and mittens because they were really small on her when she wore them last.