Let's Go Fly a Kite!

It was perfect kite-flying weather here in Western Washington today.  The hubs realized this and came home early from work so that we could finally fly that Buzz Lightyear kite Santa brought the kiddos this year. It was super fun; the perfect Family Home Evening activity.  They each got to send Buzz flying by holding him over their head and Kelly and Ev both wanted a hand at the controls.  At one point when Ty was flying it the hand reel broke and the kite went FLYING across the field.  I was laughing so hard.  Ty went running after it and the kids who had been watching gleefully suddenly became slightly hysterical as they ran after Dad and the kite they were afraid of losing forever.  Everett came running back toward me full-on sobbing.  I still couldn't stop laughing.  The kite landed on the roof of the school, but Ty was able to catch the string before it got too far and get it flying again and back to the safety of an open field.  That will be one of those memories that I'll be able to recall with fresh laughter every time.  I noticed the background when I was looking through the pictures - the trees, sky, and clouds...I live in a beautiful place!  AND I have a dang cute family who I adore.  These are the kind of days I love.

Tucker and I were there too, of course, but he was bundled in the wrap and I was the photog.  Here is a picture of him snoozing today...little man is getting chub and growing fast!

Toothless Wonder

My little boy (who was just a baby yesterday, by the way) has lost a total of 6 teeth.  That's right, 6.  And brother isn't even 6 years old yet!  The two middle bottoms were out a while ago, but I think it's just been in the past month (month and a half?) that he's lost the other 4.  He is so cute all toothless.  I'm sure there will be some awkwardness as the adult teeth grow in to his still very little face, but what is childhood without awkwardness? He'll still be cute as ever.

Yesterday Max was talking about how we say bottom instead of butt at our house.  Then he wanted to make sure that booty was okay "because I like to sing 'shake my booooo-ty' and it just doesn't sound right singing 'shake my botttt-om'."  Permission was granted.

I have to say a word about Maxwell T's confidence.  I dig it.  The other day the kids were getting ready to leave the house, Max was on his way to school, and Kelly got out her scarf. I made scarves for Max and Kelly for Christmas.  Max wanted his scarf too but couldn't find it, so he decided that he'd wear one of Kelly's pink scarves.  I asked, "Are you sure you want to wear that, Max?" He responded with an it's-so-obvious-mom, "Yeah!"  I had two seconds where I worried that he might get made fun of at school, but then I remembered who I was worrying about.  I don't think that at this time in his life Max would ever feel made fun of even if it was someone's intent.  He likes what he likes and doesn't care much what anyone else thinks.  Brother is confident. Maybe oblivious to meanness? I hope it stays that way and that he can rock a pink scarf anytime he pleases.

Perfect day...almost.

The first day of my first solo mom of four week was gorgeous!  We had beautiful weather.  And when you live in the Pacific Northwest and you have a day with beautiful weather, you get the heck outside!  So the kids and I went to Waterfront Park and spent about an hour before we had to get Max off to school.  Max asked, "What if we accidentally forgot to go to school?"  I have to say it was a little tempting to "forget", but we got him there.  Sometimes it stinks to be responsible.  I just wanted to play at the park with my kids all day.

Then I hatched a plan.  Papa Johns has a Monday Mania deal - any large pizza for $8.99.  I ordered online, called Ty and told him to meet us in the Walmart parking lot in Poulsbo, packed some other food, picked up the pizza, and met the mister.  I didn't tell anyone where we were going.  He jumped in with us and we drove to the second park of the day!  My kids refer to it as Pirate Park because the play area looks like a pirate ship, but it's really Salisbury Point Park.  It's right on the Hood Canal, it was warm and perfect. We live in such a gorgeous corner of the world! Heaven.  We were the only people there for the first hour.  Once the playground started filling up, we took our brood to the water where they threw rock after rock after rock into the Hood Canal.  It was such a fun evening.

We needed some things from Costco, so we stopped and shopped, picked up some Family Home Evening treats, and then realized we'd left Ty's car 15 minutes north of us in the parking lot. Bummer.  I fed Tucker in the Costco parking lot and then we all drove up to get the car.  As we were unloading our Costco goods I realized that the blanket and our jackets, which had been on a picnic table at the park and I'd asked Ty to grab, were not in the van.  A quick question to my hubs revealed that he had, indeed, forgotten to throw them in.  He laughed.  I laughed later.  What is wrong with our brains?! So I put the kids to bed while he drove the 45 minutes there and back.

Still a really great day.  I've got this mom of four business.  No problem.  :)

Inquiring Minds...

I have had several questions about my itchy status.  I am very pleased to report that I am itch-free!  It lasted about 2 weeks after Tucker was born and got really bad about a week and a half after delivery.  Lots of tears, frustrations. But about a week ago I was finally able to use a loofah in the shower again!  I shaved my legs for the first time in about two and a half months (came in handy that my leg hair didn't grow much during this pregnancy)!  I can wear anything I want and don't have to rip my clothes off to scratch like a crazy person at the end of every day!  Hallelujah!  The scars are starting to fade a bit.  The memory of how bad it was is fading, but can be recalled pretty quickly. :)  PUPPP is no joke, but it was 100% worth it.  I mean, look what I got out of the deal...

Humpty Dumpty Day

The Kindergartners had a Humpty Dumpty Day - make a contraption with a raw egg in the middle that can be dropped from the top of the school without breaking.  This is a serious undertaking when your dad is a rockstar engineer!  Life was super busy and so Ty and Max weren't able to start on it until the night before it was due after Ty got home from the Young Men activity at 8:30.  It involved oil for viscosity purposes (I had to ask what viscosity meant), rocks glued to the bottom of the can, rubber bands, newspaper...it was awesomely involved.  Max was really excited about it!  Note the sign that reads "THIS SIDE UP!"  Well, Mr. Janitor must not have read the memo when he threw it off the roof (shown below).  Max was so worried when it was thrown.  He told me after, "But it said please!"  He'd made sure to add the 'please' the night before so that whoever threw it would be sure to drop it the right way.  BUT IT MADE IT!  Maxwell's egg survived!  

T-Ball!

Max is trying his hand at t-ball.  He's on a team with two of his good friends, Adam and Ian.  So far it's not his favorite sport, but he's having fun!  And he sure looks cute in his little uniform (says the unashamedly biased momma).  There's a whole lot of down time in baseball and so there is a lot of dancing/hip shaking in the outfield from our boy.  He is REALLY into hip shaking these days.  I hope I never forget the way his little hips move when he's doing his hip-shake walk.  It's bizarre and totally adorable.  I sure love this fella.  He's a character for sure.

Papa & Grammy

My parents - Papa Dan and Grammy - were here for a week!  During that week we found out that Ty was going to have to go to Georgia for 5 days for work the following week...so my dad stuck around to help me out.  It was a wonderful visit!  I got to sleep late and I hardly lifted a finger to do anything.  The kids, of course, loved having them here.  While they were here they made pizza, play dough, and Karmel Korn.  They sent the kids on a little Easter hunt.  We went for a nice walk to see the animals at a nearby farm.  Papa helped to give a fun Family Home Evening lesson on Wilferd Woodruff and  he also got to go to Max's first t-ball game (not something that will happen often living so far away).  Oh, and we did a lot of snuggling with a new baby boy. :)  We sure miss them and can't wait to go to Vegas in a few months!