Summer Fun

A few pictures of what we've been up to since our Summer has truly begun, meaning Late July.    Once the rain stops, and the sun come out, and the mold dries off your skin...you can have quite a bit of fun around this town.  



Beach Day with Hannah and Claudia. Donuts to start, of course!

Ice Cream Cones, homemade!  Huge Treat, big squeals of delight. 

Even the picky one gave it a try.

Fishing Birthday Party for Leandro!

Girlfriends, goosip, sangria, and reminscing about old times.  Perfect.

Mom & Maddy picture.  Increasingly difficult to get good pics with my girls.

Cake time.  Happy Birthday Leandro!

Mosh Pit on the wagon.  Michael pulling six kids. 
Much laugher, and one not so happy.  Poor Makena.

Girlfriend Reunion.  Next year, Vegas.  No kids, of course.

Jump my way to Four

Maddy's  Fourth Birthday was held at Jump Planet.   Warehouse full of large bouncy houses in every variety.    Kids love it, parents run around and chase their kids, and after an hour everyone is tired.  Perfect.   We had 14 kids jumping their hearts out, screaming like crazy.    It was chaotic, fun,  hilarious, exhausting, and over in 2 hours.    Jump Planet is a well organized Birthday Machine.   After jumping their hearts out,  we headed upstairs into a room for Pizza , Cupcakes and Presents.    Madelyn wanted a Dora & Diego themed party and that is what we did.    Next year, were skipping this craziness.  At least that is what I say now.

Birthday Girl

Hannah and Molly going crazy

Line up ...most popular Bounce House

Group Picture,  #1

Group Picture, #2  (Many more attempts, but I won't bore you) 

Dora and Diego Cupcake Cake.  Maddy loved it. 
Mom loved picking it up at a store, so easy!

Birthday Girl Chair.   Maddy wanted no part of being the
center of attention.  Everyone other kid was all about that chair.

Cupcake Love.  

Presents!!!!

Four Years Old

Maddy turned Four on July 8th.  It goes by so fast.  I will admit that some days I feel like time has stopped and I'll be stuck in tantrum-hell with them forever.  But then you look up and your "baby" is turning Four.  I know we'll turn around and she'll be in High School.

At the zoo, after a tantrum of not getting a huge lollipop.   Trying Dipping Dots for the first time and discovering they actually are really good.  But definitely not wanting to admit it to Mom.

We went for her yearly check up last week.   Her doctor comes in and takes a look at her stats and says "Wow, she is tall!"   Maddy is 42" tall and 40lbs.  She has consistently been in the 95% for height since she was a baby.   For both my girls the number one comment I receive is "Wow, she is tall".    Yep, they are.   They can thank their Dad for that trait, not Mom.    

We had two shots that day, which I was dreading.  At four years old, your way more conscious of what is going on and therefore, the screaming associated with shots could be potentially a lot worse!   I was prepared with gummy snacks.   But Madelyn surprised me.   Her Doctor explained to Maddy she would be getting two shots.   Maddy seemed not to care much and didn't have too much of a reaction.  Nurse came in to give the shots...and Madelyn's big concern was the band aids.  She was very clear that she did not want band aids.   Two shots went in with barely a whimper and Maddy's big comment was
"Can I have my gummys now?"    Wow!!!  I was very impressed.

Maddy is all big emotion lately.   I keep hoping this is a phase, but am thinking it just might be her.  She all or nothing, and rarely a mellow kid.    She is loud and loves to be loud, laughing, yelling and generally making sure the house is not quiet.    The loud part she gets from me.  I know this.  I'm pretty sure we weren't meant to have quiet kids.  

Favorite Birthday Presents

As Maddy's language increases, she comes out with some funny things.  I try to keep track of them as they are precious.     Here's a few -

Maddy - I think your orange thing is on the BBQ is done
Michael thinking she doesn't know what she is talking about....then discovers his cedar plank has caught fire on the grill! I guess she did know what she was talking about.

Maddy - at the Pirate Party on Golden Gardens Beach, very upset about the sand.
I don't like this sand...crying crying.....I don't like this beach there is sand everywhere...all around...get me out of here!

Mom - What do you want to be when you grow up, Maddy?
Maddy - I just want to be myself. I don't want to be anything else.
(Perfect. Let's come back to this in 12 years and discuss further)

Maddy - Mom, can I tell you something?
Mom - What honey?
Maddy - I just want to be a kid forever. I don't want to grow up to be a big person.
Mom - Yeah, me too. Oh wait...too late.

Maddy - Mom, aren't you coming to the park?
Mom - No Maddy. I'm staying home to clean and get some things done.
Maddy - Well don't forget to clean the garage
Mom - Thanks kid, I didn't have enough to do.

Maddy - I have a lot of friends and I have to play with all my girlfriends.  But not my boyfriends.  Boyfriends are dumb!

Here is hoping that this year goes just a wee bit more smoothly than last year.   As Three was definitely challenging.  Four has yet to prove any easier.  I keep hoping and Maddy keep it real.

Catch Up

We've been slacking on the blog lately.  Time to play a a bit of catch up.
Madelyn and her friend Molly went hiking in early July, with Dads of course.   The girls had a great time, with one large wipe out by Madelyn. Elbows and Knees have healed, but I heard it was pretty loud crying mess on the trail. Luckily they recovered and moved on.

 Maddy and Molly on a hike, being silly.   

 Another great 4th of July at the Neighbors. We are so lucky to have a fantastic neighbor behind us who throws great 4th of July parties, with an extensive display of Fireworks. The kids mostly love running around and playing on the bouncy house.

What is Fourth of July without Elmo.  He had to come.

 Bouncy slide fun.

 Playing with the neighbor kids, Fox and Maverick, on the hammock. 

 Hula-hooping sweetheart.

Once in a while you catch the girls being very sweet to one another.  

This was a family trip to the Zoo.

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