Whidbey Island

Its been awhile since we've done a weekend away with the girls.   I was determined to get the girls to the beach and to get myself out of this house.  Michael went along with the plan, though, I am sure he thought I was crazy.   

We rented a house up on Whidbey Island.  Beautiful old farmhouse with a porch I could have sat on forever.  The view was straight out over Useless Bay - just gorgeous.  So peaceful, we'll till nap time was over...and then chaos started up all over again.   

It was a good weekend, but not an easy weekend.  The girls loved it.   I enjoyed being away from our regular routine.  We checked out local beaches, took in the Bayview Farmers Market, and headed up to Coupeville for lunch.   

The girls loved playing in the yard at the Farmhouse. There was no neighbors nearby, so all the screaming, running, and chaos could be enjoyed without limitations.   

Our low point of the weekend was visiting a local mexican restaurant, La Casita, or something like that.  The clock is always ticking as soon as we sit down, as Makena is not so good at dining out.  In hindsight we should have bought frozen pizza at the grocery store and ate in.  Nope, naively we went for Mexi.    Neither of the girls were listening or acting nice, and then Makena in one quick move, shoved her plate, with rice and chips, across the table and careening off onto the floor, food flying everywhere.   I swooped her up and took her outside for a timeout, which she sort of understood...I hope.    Michael said the hostess came over and said "Oh Dear".  You know you've really hit rock bottom when your making too much of a mess at a Mexi restaurant!    Not two minutes later I look up and Makena has somehow reached over and has grabbed two large fistfuls of Madelyn's hair and is pulling them and yelling, like she was grabbing the reigns on a horse...only it was her sister's head.   All I could do was say something like "Aghhh ...Ahhhhhgggg" and point.    Michael just about ran with Makena out of the restaurant, while I yelled "check please!!" 

We had more than our fair share of tantrums, screaming, whining, and horrible behaviors while eating in a restaurant. But overall, it was still a good weekend. Or at least I'm trying to convince myself. I crack up when thinking about it because I have multiple friends who have taken their kids traveling far and wide. To places complicated and way more exotic locations - Thailand for a month, the Phillipines for a month, Hawaii, Boston, etc...and all of them seem to do rather well. We tried Whidbey for a weekend and I am pretty sure Michael was ready to hitchhike back home at several points. Somehow, someday this will get easier. When...and how we will get to that point is a complete mystery to me.

I guess we just keep trying.  

Yo Ho Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life For Me

We went out to Golden Gardens today for a birthday party for a friend.  Hannah turned five years old and her fantastically creative Mom threw a Pirate Party for her.   Treasure Hunt and all, it was a great little shin-dig for the 5 and under crowd. 

One kid whines, the other kid whines....its contagious.

There is SAND on this beach!  And its in my shoes!

Sword Fight

Maddy was over the top excited about this party, until we got there and she realized the beach has sand. Yes, we've been to the beach before. But sand in the shoes was a new source of irritation and one she had trouble letting go of. We had a few bumps, but recovered and she had a great time. I couldn't resist sharing a few pics, as the kids were all so cute!  Thank You to Karen G. and family for such a creative fantastic party!

Blackbeard himself leading the treasure hunt!

Treasure.....that way

Treasure Bags

Makena's Two

Makena is Two.    I talk about Maddy so much on this blog and feel like I need to give the spotlight to Ms. Makena.  

Our big thing with Makena right now is her lack of words.  She started speech therapy this week because she really isn't saying much.  She is babbling more and trying, but not real words.    Happily she loves speech therapy, as really its about one on one attention and new toys to play with.   Its an easy thing to love from her two year old perspective.   Already she is trying to say more words and we respond with overwhelming joy and then she claps and laughs.   This can only be a good thing!

She is a determined and independent little girl, who wants mostly in life to be doing everything that big sister is doing.   She gets very mad each day when I strap her into the car seat, as she is determined to do this by herself.    She is also working very hard to figure out how to dress herself, just like big sister does each day.  

Unfortunately, she is a terrible picky eater.  I thought Maddy was tough, but Makena redefines the word PICKY!  Tonight she actually picked up a piece of pizza and gave it a bit of a try.  Huge for this girl - huge.   We offer no pressure, and little attention as the more attention you give her about food, the more she will not eat it.   And more likely will chuck it.  Ughhh.  Who knew I'd be celebrating for my child to eat pizza?   I thought these foods just came naturally with kids.   Humbled, yet again.

Makena loves music.  Each day we turn on Pandora and the girls dance around in their silly ways loving it.    And she loves to be silly and make us laugh in any way she can.  

Her big present this year was an easel.  She really loves to color and paint.  Maddy wasn't as into art at this age, but Makena really likes it.    As long as we can keep her from "decorating" our walls or furniture, than it will be a good thing.  But realistically I'm expecting some "decorating" to happen.
  

I'm not sure what the next year will bring for Makena.  But I can tell you this, she will most definitely be doing it her way, her pace, and there is just no changing anything about that.   I need to remind myself of this everyday.

Party for a 2 year old

Makena turned two at the end of May.  I tried to throw a small simple party, but it sure didn't feel small or simple with 11 kids and 12 adults in our house.   The weather cooperated so at least it wasn't pouring down rain.  It would have been nice for a bit more sun, better luck next year.

Curious George was the mascot for the day.    And though Makena loves him, she wasn't so much into this party thing.   She gets easily overwhelmed by a lot going on around her...and that is exactly what happened.   Everyone else seemed to have a great time, but Makena not so much.    Just like the weather, better luck next year.

Theme of the Day

Pre-Pinata Excitement

Pull-string Pinata; good for less scary pinata situations

Michael and I spent most of the time holding Makena and trying to make her happy.   She didn't eat, even her favorite foods.   She was upset at the birthday candles and wouldn't touch the cupcake afterward.   And I have to say, she missed out as the cupcakes were delicious from Cupcake Royale.   In the end, she celebrated with gummi worms while the rest of us happily ate cupcakes without complaint.   

Apologies for the blurry pictures.  It was a bit of a rough party to get any good pictures at.  

Next morning we opened presents, and this part she enjoyed thoroughly!   Maddy happily assisted and instructed her on exactly what to do and how to do it.   We had a small family party later on Sunday and this was way more Makena's speed!

And finally a big smile from the Birthday Girl

Random

I'm playing a bit of catch up with the blog again.   It just gets away from me and we seem to take less pictures lately.   Too busy keeping up with two girls and two sets of hands which get into everything their not suppose to.    Anyway, a few pics from the last few weeks.

Dollies are big right now in this house. 
Someday we'll hide Makena's pacifiers.  She loves them too much.

This is Maddy's room after a game of "Stinky Clothes",
which means empty your dresser because your clothes are stinky. 
Then Little Sis comes in and tries to put them all on.  
The game of Stinky Clothes is now banned in our house.

 

Easter Cookies with Molly

Try not to be too envious Martha

Carousel ride at the Zoo

Molly's Little Brother, Tate.   Happy, Smiley, and Adorable.

Makena loves the Wyatt.  Wyatt does not love Makena.   To Be Continued....

Cookies for breakfast...once in awhile you let them get away with something.

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter at Meme & Pepe's place.  They put together an egg-hunt for the girls, which was a big hit.    I'm not sure who had more fun, the kiddos or the adults watching them.   Aunt Nancy was visiting from North Carolina, who gave much attention to all the girls.  The weather was gorgeous, so were able to eat outside in the sun on their patio.   Fantastic and long overdue for the grey rainy Northwest.  

We forgot Easter Baskets, hence an Xmas Basket was found to make up for forgetful parents.

Once in awhile I can get crafty...it just doesn't happen too often

Jesse & Lily checking out the treats

Family Photo, long overdue

Soaking up the sun and treats

Sandbox time!

Gymnastics

Once a week the girls have gymnastics class.   Madelyn does a trampoline and tumbling class, while Makena and I do the toddler class.   Maddy loves it.   Mostly she loves to jump on the trampolines and I swear she could be there for hours.  The gym is great as they usually have at a bouncy house set up and other fun stuff for the kiddos to play with. 

Makena had good days and bad days with it.  Today was mostly good and she was happy about it all. Some days she just isn't up for it.   Michael is really grateful for this class as now "Maddy thinks our couch is her personal trampoline".    Oh well, it was bound to happen.

Listening to teacher...and getting ready to take flight

Makena's favorite part - the drinking fountain

Inching along

Patiently waiting her turn

And we always have at least one little tantrum

Picky Eaters

Picky eating is something that runs in our family.  I was a terrible picky eater.   By the time I reached college, I found some courage and started trying new foods.   But at 38 years of age, I still have a list of foods I really do not want to eat.   Of course, if I had to I could be polite and eat these things.   I would just never choose to eat mushrooms, olives, Alfredo sauce, and a few other things.   They just don't taste good to me.   On the flip side there are many things I love to eat.  Sushi, I could eat it every day and be very very happy.  Almost all types of seafood, prepared just about anyway makes me very happy.   Indian food, Thai food, Vietnamese food, all make me sing happy, happy, joy, joy!    And much more.

I have two beautiful girls and I'm here to tell you, they are both very picky eaters.   When Maddy was a baby, it became apparent that she was definitely choosey on what she would eat.  I blamed myself for not teaching her to eat right, or introducing enough foods, etc.   All the while I was pregnant with Makena, I vowed to do things differently and surely Makena would be a great eater.   Maybe she'd even be such a good eater it would rub off on Madelyn!!    Well, I was humbled yet again in my parenting journey.

Makena is an extremely picky eater.  And not for lack of me trying.  I realized with kid #2, that its not all about what I do or don't do.   Some of this is just who they are.   And Makena is very much afraid of food.  She absolutely will not try new things.   I still put out many new items, over and over, and over.   And most of the time its thrown off her plate.  Yes, thrown...that is a whole seperate blog post.  Madelyn, at 3 1/2 years of age will break out into sobs when I put new foods on her plate  Its plain offensive to even have it on her plate.  But we still try.   Once in a rare while we have a success with a new food, only to be met with screams and crying when we try and serve the new food again.   How fun for us.

Here is where the soap box comes in.   I am very tired of the judging that goes on between parents.  I believe most of us are guilty of it.   I try to remind myself to each his own.   I recently had an experience where another parent was surprised, maybe even shocked, that I wasn't feeding my children what was on my plate.  We had Orange Ginger Tofu Stir-Fry last night.  If your child would eat this, well you definitely get the parental gold-star of the day.   My children would break out into screams if I attempted to feed this to them. That is just not how it goes in this house.    And fantastic for you, if your children will eat whatever you cook.   Maybe this makes me a bad, horrible parent, who's has done an awful job raising them.  Or maybe, just maybe this makes us pretty damn normal.   Someday they will eat things like spaghetti or PB&Js or maybe even Thai food.  But for now, they don't.  And we'll get there.....some how, some day, in our own way.   And hopefully without a lot of needless judging.

Leaving my soap box for now.

Random

“Play is the work of children,” Captain Kangaroo (aka Bob Keeshan) once said. “It’s very serious stuff.”

Maddy Says...

"When I grow up I want to be a Daddy so I can stand up and pee like you Daddy."
"Know we talked about in Preschool today?  We talked about Naked Mole Rats."
"Mommy, why don't you go talk to someone else."
"Pirates don't go potty" (She was playing dress-up in a Pirate outfit)  Her friend Molly came back with "Princesses go potty".   

And Makena isn't saying much yet.  She has lots of babbling, gesturing, whining and definitely gets her point across.  But words are not being said yet.  I'm sure one day soon she'll explode and then will have two little ones jabbering non-stop, and a mom who already feels silence is like gold.  You can never have too much.

Playing a little catch up in this post.   I got a chance to visit Madelyn's preschool on Valentines Day.   Makena came with me and did her best to interrupt their story time and make a nuisance of herself. 

Mostly, over the last few weeks, we did a lot of this.....

And this.....

When Madelyn is sacked out on the couch, with pillow and blanket....you know your in the trenches with the sickies.   We had a bad croupy cough the last few weeks.  It started with Madelyn and was tough for her, so I knew it wouldn't be anymore fun with Makena.   I am glad to be done with that, back to healthy kids, and getting some good nights sleep again.