Not Taking After Her Bro

This one?  She ADORES being a hot mess.  Food in every nook, smooshing pureed goo in her fingers, toes...this child is giving us a messy run for our money.  We have a feeling she might actually enjoy her first birthday cake experience.  Dude just stands and stares in awe at her willingness to be "gross." 

What Our Weekends Have Been Filled With...

We've been looking to "upgrade" our swingset for quite some time.  Ya know, getting rid of the one that elevates 4 feet off the ground every time Dude swings on it, causing him to fly off the swing in a nervous giggle each and every time.  Well, we found one on Craigslist for under $200, which is a real steal in the world of used swingsets.  What we didn't realize is how much "Daddy" time it would require before it was swingable.  My dear hubbie did a fantastic job cutting, measuring, bolting and tightening and now our kiddos are having the time of their lives on our brand newish swingset.  It comes fully loaded with 4 swings, a turbo slide, a fort, fireman pole and soon to be climbing wall.   

Bedtime Round Here

Below is an example of an average bedtime around these parts....

Dude gets in PJs (ever so slowly), he comes down for a treat (3 skittles or something along those lines) and heads up to brush his teeth and go potty.  We practice spitting as this is still a concept he isn't grasping.  We're getting there though. 

We head to his gigantic bed, where we read books.  Tonight we learned the first 3 Commandments and wrote them on his board to help him remember.  No, he can't read, but there's something about writing them down that makes us parentals feel teacher like.

We cuddle for about 30 seconds before he starts kicking me in the face and playing with my nostrils and proceed to say prayers.  Tonight's prayers ended with "And I'm grateful for water to drink.  And God, Mommy is grateful for wine.  Amen." 

I go to leave his room after kisses, butterfly kisses and saying "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite.  You too and me too."  Before I shut the door he says, "Wait, Mom!  Look at me."  His one arm is straight up in the air and the other one by his side.  "I am da Statue of Liberty!"  Wow buddy.  That is awesome.  I go to close the door again.

"Wait, Mom!  I have to go potty."  I inform him that he JUST went like a racehorse and he does not need to go again.  He insists that he does and I threaten to take his puppy away if he doesn't get any pee out.  I stand in the bathroom door like a Nazi, waiting for the pee.  He's standing up, looking at me, and says "You just have to be patient Mom."  5 seconds later he pushes out 10 drops of pee and says, "See Mom.  I told you.  Da pee came." 

He puts his PJs back on and heads back to bed, muttering something about monsters being in his bed.  I choose to ignore these further excuses to NOT going to bed and tell him if he comes out again, puppy is going to have to sleep in the closet.  I shut the door and tell him that I love him.  Thus far, that concludes bed time for tonight.   

My Little Pumpkin Face

My little love gets a little more irrisistable every day. 

I had to show off these two toe heads.  Izzy and Dude were in the same class last year and happened to be in the same swimming lesson too, so they've become little compadres.  Very blond compadres.  All these women in Dude's life.  Eventually it'll start going to his head.

My Little Pre-K'er

Is summer really over?  Maybe not officially, but our summer schedule has come to a screeching halt as of this morning.  Mon, Wed & Fri will now consist of lots of little man learning and brain growing.  I'm pumped for my guy to get into this school routine again - he learns so quickly and seems to eat up this whole concept of education.  Let's hope this trend continues!  He woke up at a rather depressing hour for Mom and Dad, so we started mental and physical preparation for his big day.  1/2 a waffle, yogurt, melon, OJ.  Healthy breakfast, check.  We moused up his wild mane and adorned him with his brand spankin new handsome big guy shirt and oh so cool skull tie.  Handome boy, check.  Then he headed outside for his photo session.  Mama's need to document everything possible, check.  Pre-K, here we come! 

   Could he look any older and more growed up?  I don't think so. 

 Our best Riley is home from their 4 week vaca.  Yeah's all around our household for having our friends back!  They'll be in the same class again this year.

 Little loves. 

 We waved at a bus as I said a silent prayer of thanks that I didn't have to allow a bus swallow my little man.  Yet. 



A Fly on the Wall

During my recent date to Yogurtland (our FAVE) with Dude, the kid had my laughing the entire one hour period of time that I spent solely with him.  The poor fella doesn't get my undivided attention very often, so this was a real treat.  For both of us.  If you were a fly on the wall you would have heard choice phrases like those listed below....

"Mom, you don't stand up to pee like me.  Because your peeps goes into your body like an inside peeps right?"

I turned our car and I said something like, "Mommy didn't do a very straight turn" and Dude says, "Mooooom, Bad Turns Count Too!"  He gets this from the swing at daycare...they intentionally try to have a bad turn so they can keep going, so this rule had to be instilled. 

While we were driving there was a huge rainbow to our left and the sun was shining to our right.  He says, "Mom, can we please drive to dat rainbow?"  I turned the other way and he starts cheering, "Yeah for da sun!  Tank you God for the sunshine on our Mommy date!"  The sweet moments - thank goodness for the sweet moments.

A worker was mopping the floor at Yogurtland.  Dude walks up to him, very casually, observes for a minute and says, "Scuse me mister.  You missed a big HUGE spot right dere."  He was right.  The scraper was needed.  I apologized for my son's forwardness and the worker says, "It's okay.  Sometimes I think kids would be better employees than adults are." 

We stopped in at Starbucks on our way home.  A family was eating a huge cake at the table next to us.  They asked Dude if he would like some and he says, "Um, we have lots of yummy treats in dis bag (the yogurt) and dat's enough treats for me for da day."  The family was quite impressed, as was I.  

That's all I can remember.  Oh how I love my little big man.

My Little Loves on Camera

A Whole Bunch of Misc. Happenings

There's been a whole lotta random going on as of late, so we'll combine it all into one hodge podge post.  My parents were here while we wined and sat on our duffs in Washington, so naturally the entire Jansen clan got together before they headed back to the Midwest.  The first set of photos are from B&B's backyard partaaay.  We were celebrating Bruce's retirement, which is a big deal for our dear Unc.  He has worked in the education arena for years and years and years and is finally enjoying some R&R.  The future is his.   

 The looks.  Oh how I love capturing little boy looks.

 My sweet, sweet boy.

 These two bonded on this blanket for a good hour while we all played around them. Easy babes.

 My kids adore their Nana and Papa.  The feeling is mutual.

 Abby and Mark are expecting number 3 in December!  Surprise! 

Model baby, Cohen. 

Moving on.  In preparation for Grandpa V's arrival, I allowed Dude to pick out his own outfit.  This was the winner.  I did make him change his shirt before we ventured out into the 91 degree temps.

We LOVED our weekend with Grandpa.  The kids were spoiled with attention, which is a treat for them.  Dad's an easy going guest, loves to take in the Colorado outdoors with us and rolls with our 2 kid life.  It was so great spending time all together.  Oh how we wish we had some family close by.  Thanks for coming out Dad!  We'll look forward to your next trek out.    

 Bradster came over on Saturday to soak up the sun and keep Duder company. 

 I love this shot because it represents our current life.  Squirt chills on a blanket, watching her big bro love life.  Our girl is not afraid of the grass, unlike her older sibling.  He HATED the grass until he was like 2.  Squirt eats it like it's chocolate. 

 Her favorite summer spot to be.  Nana even brought this pool into the kitchen while they babysat and allowed her to soak in the pool, kitchen style.

 They each had their own way of drinking from the crazy snake sprinkler.

 Hiking with Grandpa at Roxborough.  Duder made it the whole 2.5 miles, with only occasional whining.  Thank goodness for quarter mile marker signs, adorned with cute animals.  That was motivation to keep going for the little man.  Squirt slept in the backpack the entire time.

Hydration.  You'd think the kid had never been given fluids before.

That wraps up the randomness for now.  Peace out.

7 Months

Our not so little punky girl is already 7 months old.  I'd love to bottle her right now and keep her like this forever.  Our ultra happy girl is sitting up with attempts to get on her knees when toys escape her grip.  Crawling will be in the near future, although we're not encouraging it....I really dig this "plop her down and know that she's staying put" age.  She's lovin' anything that she can chomp on and can already get those little air filled stars into her mouth without a problem.  The pool is proving to be a favorite place and anything she can cuddle with makes her giggle with glee.  We're still taking 2 naps per day and sleeping 7:30-7:00am most nights.  Unless our babe is hungry or exhausted, she's a ray of sunshine.     

On that note...I will admit that our little ray of sunshine is starting to display some girly attitude.  Just Friday she started screaming at us when we take things away from her...she grips it with all her might, looks us in the eye and screams until she loses interest in the battle.  She's starting to "get" things, which is a deep sigh reality for us.  I know what I was like as a hard headed girl and I can only assume God is gifting me with the same blessing.       

Da Farm

I've been waiting to post about one of our favoritest parts of vaca.  The farm.  Phil & Katy's beautifully quiet, quaint, charming farm.  These two live and work in Seattle and have a whole 'nother life in a tiny town coined Chimacum...a life that you can't picture (with justice) until you see it firsthand and observe Uncle Phil in action.  This doctor man was definitely born to hang with cattle (and later slaughter said cattle), pound in fence posts and brine ham.  His element has been found.  Katy renovated their adorably sweet farm house to a perfect country, but not too country, T.  Everything Katy does (art, design, architecture, cooking) is done with amazing and appropriate detail, creativity and perfect simplicity.  She is my creative hero.   

 2 Vogel men, workin' the farm.  And Scout.  Can't forget about Scout.

 The cattle brood.  The man of the group is in the back left.  Two babes are in the middle. 

 Tim's task was pounding in stakes for the fence.  My little farm boy's hands were covered in blisters.

 This little house is where they dry and smoke meat.

 Phil explains to a very eager Tim how he hangs the animals and turn um into edible goodness.

 Carmella (I think) is the hussy who almost ran me down with her horns.  I came within inches of being stabbed in the gut as she bulldozed past me. 

 Home grown eggs are dropped on their doorstep by neighbors.  Made for good breakfast sandwiches.

 I loved capturing these two in their farming element.  How cute are they? 

 No Hummers out here.  Just classic beauties like this one.

 This "lawn ornament" sits on the road, guiding people down their driveway.

 My 10 year anniversary babe n me (and Scout).

 Of course they have a massive bulldozer type machine.  It's fully functional too.

 Katy's photographing their cattle babies while Phil gives um a little love tap.

In addition to the farm, they own a corner market, offering colorful and ultra fresh produce and such from local farmers.  This little store has been a community building experience for Chimacum.  A feel good story of a tiny little town trying to put themselves on the map and provide home grown food for their home grown neighbors.  Phil and Katy put their hearts and souls into making this market thrive.  I love the charm of its origins and I sure hope it sticks around for years to come. 

 Katy designed and painted the entire building.  Love it. 

Dude's souvenir from our trip.  The cookies didn't quite make it home.

If you ever happen upon Chimacum, stop in.  You might see a middle age guy walkin' around the field, strummin' his guitar, harmonica strapped to his face and a home grown sonnet coming out of his mouth.  These are the folks you meet in the country.  It's a different pace - hopefully we can mosey their way again soon.  Thanks for showing us your world away from your world Phil and Katy.