My Family Haven

Fun in the first snow of 2010

2010-11-28T06:29:00.000-08:00

Our first snow was early and made its presence known this year. Started snowing on November 19th and stuck around until day after Thanksgiving. Brrr.... it was cold... record breaking lows!

More Birthday...

2010-11-28T06:23:00.000-08:00

So we had a quiet family birthday celebration for Nate and Will. Next year will be the big "friends" party. The boys didn't really want or were interested in a "theme", so we went with the age - 5. In my mind, 5 seems like such a huge number, that last little babydom that seems gone now. More so since they won't be starting "official" school until next year.

Anyway, here are some pictures...

And a birthday gift from nature!

Until next year boys!

Happy Birthday Will and Nate - 5 years and counting!

2010-11-19T11:10:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos :)

Will below

Nate below

Birthday pictures will come later!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T19:07:00.000-07:00

So this year, Nate wanted to be a pirate, Will wanted to be Batman again, and Hunter was a pirate again. This Halloween was actually pretty darn nice this year... just slightly chilly but dry!!! Lots and lots of kids out this year.

That's it for this year!

Mariners Game

2010-09-20T11:47:00.000-07:00

We were lucky enough to be gifted some Mariner's tickets and were able to go down for a game. We drove down to Everett and hopped on the Sounder and then to Seattle. The boys were thrilled about ALL of it and we had a good time.

It meant for a long day though... were in the car at 9:30 am and got home around 7:00 pm.

Kevin and Hunter's overnighter to Heart of the Hills via Deer Park

2010-09-12T18:47:00.000-07:00

So every year, Hunter and his Dad take a trip just by themselves. This year was a late and short one night camping trip on the motorcycle. They were going to go to Deer Park, but it was just not meant to be so they ended up at Heart of the Hills in Olympic National Park.

Deer Park... very foggy and a bit too chilly.

Heart of the Hills

There was some sort of sailboat festival going on in Port Townshend too.

Handwashing

2010-09-10T20:42:00.000-07:00

I must say that I've really been enjoying hand washing my dishes recently. This wasn't intentional but I'm not all that anxious to remedy it either.

First day of 5th Grade

2010-09-08T15:17:00.000-07:00

So... Hunter is such a big boy now and he's been walking to school on his own or with friends since last year. The anticipation of the first day is always exciting but it was really old hat for us and the big kid. I felt like I should be more excited but in all honesty all I could think about is... NEXT YEAR.

I'm already getting butterflies for next year which is going to be a very big year for all of us! Hunter will be going off to middle school, but not really since the middle school burned and they are rebuilding. So in all actuality he is going to be bused to another elementary school located across town as a 6th grader... I know, sounds weird. So not only will he have to deal with being a 6th grader in a non middle school environment, he still has to deal with being in a different school, different teachers, and a whole new group of kids too.

Then the twins will be heading into kindergarten and I will be all alone. I know, sounds so sad... I will love the extra time, but it will definitely be different in the beginning.

So, I do have a couple of pictures to share with you. Love his bouffant hair? I asked if he wanted a hair cut and he did say no :)

And of course it was a traditional drizzly day for the first day of school!

More Vacation Photos

2010-09-02T07:10:00.000-07:00

Theodore Roosevelt Monument along Contintnetal Divide on the way to the East Side of Glacier National Park.

The Lodge

I know we have more photos but I tell you they are kind of jumbled... between 2 cameras and 2 cell phones... lots of pictures :) And I need to do a better job of documenting these lakes and highways. They are all beautiful but start looking the same after a while. My goal is to print out a map and highlight the journey again.

Camping at Fort Ebey

2010-07-31T13:45:00.000-07:00

We took a couple of days to do some camping... tent camping which is why we only did 2 nights :) We decided to go to Fort Ebey which is on Whidbey Island. This was the first camping experience for the twins since we hadn't gone as a family since they were born. Kevin has taken Hunter every year just the two of them.

The tent is amazingly easy to put together. Its a good thing we got such a big one to start out with. I believe when Hunter was still a toddler we actually brought the portable crib with us. It fit perfectly.

And of course the MOST FAVORITE PART of camping were the MARSHMALLOWS.

Until next time...

T-Ball Time

2010-05-11T11:49:00.000-07:00

Its the season and T-Ball has started. Its amazing the difference that 1 year makes, although I don't think the attention span has increased in the same way as their gross motor skills. 20 minutes is really about the max that they are interested. What can I say, they are great hitters, throwers, catchers and GRASS PICKERS!!

Nate left and Will on right

Will

Will batting

Nate Batting

Nate with his helmet over his face... quite a common occurrence

We also had sitings of bugs, planes, dogs, etc.

So long in so many ways.

2010-05-03T09:36:00.000-07:00

Wow, its been forever since I posted. What can I say except that its difficult to keep posting to two different blogs (for me anyway) and keep it interesting.

But, I finally do have some fun pictures and the inspiration was from another hair cut. I adore the way the boys look when their hair gets long, but its inevitable. It can only get so long before it drives everyone nuts.

So here are some before and after pictures.

This is Will... oh he made it awfully difficult for Tammy to cut around his neck since all he did was scrunch his shoulders terribly.

And Nate's turn of course...

And afterwards...

I missed Thanksgiving 2009

2010-01-05T23:52:00.000-08:00

This was a Thanksgiving not to be forgotten. The stage was set to have our entire family meet at Seaside in 3 condo units that Mom had reserved for the entire family (families). My Uncle Miles, Mom, Robert and Jiyoun, Buck and Teo, the Renz 5 (us), and the Gobels (4) and my youngest sister Eden was to be coming later.

Then insert broken arm, ER, splint, and a drive home on Thanksgiving for us. Then we found out that Robert and his wife were headed home to San Diego due to a work emergency for him.

BUT, I did manage to get some photos of the only time outside the condo...

Christmas Tree Farm

2009-12-15T12:41:00.001-08:00

Just a few pictures of us getting our Christmas tree. This year it was cold, but no snow like last year. We are a focused group... go in... look briefly... pick our tree. We don't look for the perfect tree, we look for the perfect side (haha). The tree goes into a corner and I don't bother with inside of it.

This is Nate below.

Here the boys had to lift the tree back up since Kevin cut if too quickly and I didn't get a chance to take a picture.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-03T18:52:00.000-08:00

A day at the park

2009-09-19T15:17:00.000-07:00

Hunter and Kevin at Yellowstone

2009-09-02T19:09:00.000-07:00

Hunter and his Dad left for Yellowstone on Tuesday afternoon and were there watching "old faithful" by Wednesday afternoon. So far so good and the weather looks wonderful.

Visit with Grandma Rhyneer

2009-08-28T10:10:00.000-07:00

The pictures are a bit out of order but you get the gist :)

Lego Ship with some brotherly love

2009-08-28T10:02:00.000-07:00

This is Nate's hand and ship you are looking at. The great story here is that Nate really wanted a lego ship that looked just like the one that Will had made for himself. You can see a section of it in the picture. Will is the naked boy in the background.

Anyway, Nate didnt' think he could make one so Will said he would make one for him and that is exactly what he did. Nate is just as proud of the ship he didn't make as Will is of his own ship.

I am always amazed at the things that the little ones can make at the age of 3 1/2 and I believe that is directly due to their older brother being so prolific with his own lego building.

A visit to the dentist x 3

2009-08-10T22:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I decided to take all three boys to the dentist at the same time. This actually worked out quite well and I didn't do too much running around. Luckily, the dentist they see has an incredible office that can accommodate multiple appointments at the same time.

Hunter is a pro at this so he did great. He has one cavity, but I don't consider that all that bad considering he is almost 10. Opted for a silver filling since its going into a baby tooth and I gave him the option of having the filling done and the sealants at the same time or to have it done in two trips. He opted for all an once... that's my boy... I would have chosen the same thing.

He gets Nitrous Oxide too just because its his first numbing experience, but he's had that before when he had his stitches so he should be ok.

The twins did great. This was their first x-rays and they both were perfect. Will decided he wanted to be the talker while Nate was a bit more sedate. No cavities, but a "watch" for Nate.

Some videos of Swimming

2009-07-21T00:11:00.000-07:00

This one is of Hunter swimming. Kevin said I had the settings messed up so hopefully I will get better quality video the next time around.

This is of Will

This is of Nate

2009-05-11T09:08:00.000-07:00

Nate and Will's 1st T-Ball "game". All the kiddos were super cute.

Video of Will Falling Asleep

2009-05-07T09:48:00.000-07:00

Will has a tendency, oh ok, both boys have a tendency to fall asleep anywhere, but Will tends to do it on the floor. This was just too funny not to record.

First T -Ball Practice

2009-04-25T17:58:00.001-07:00

Check out these pictures :) The boys had fun (I think). There was no crying or screaming so I think they enjoyed themselves. I would have to say that Nate was the most enthusiastic this time and Will was a bit reserved. It will be fun to see how they progress and of course we want to practice some at home. We ran to the store to get mitts, but the store we went to was completely wiped out. We'll have to head out tomorrow and see if we can something somewhere.

And finally, a picture of the boys in Trader Joes "shopping"

2009-04-17T18:10:00.000-07:00

So behind on and not very good updating photos of the family and our doings. Have we been doing anything?? We at least had some sun in between the rain and hail today. The weather is so strange these days.

Anyway, I wanted to share a couple of pictures of the boys from a few days ago. Before I knew it, Nate was asleep upstairs on the comfy floor (lol) and not just on the floor but on a pile of books on the floor.

I took Will downstairs with me and next thing I know this is what he looks like.

They get the sleeping thing honestly by me. I think I can sleep anywhere too :)

I'm also going to share a picture of myself after I dyed my hair. I picked out a blue black and its very black, but obviously, I have dark hair so it doesn't really make a huge difference. I was just tired of seeing my gray so pronounced. I like the gray hidden.

The boys were quite disturbed by the whole rinsing process. I recall words such as "gross" and "disgusting". In fact, Will later told me before going to bed that it "really disgusted him and that he ran out of the bathroom screaming like a girl". Literally, that is what he said. Let me just tell you that all the teachers are going to know that Nate and Will have an older (quite a bit older) sibling by the words they use. Nice huh?

I think I have PINK EYE!!!

2009-03-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

Well, the boys had a spell of having green goop running out of their eyes. Now it's my turn...

Local Touch Tank

2009-03-14T10:56:00.000-07:00

Well, these pictures are a week after the fact, but we had a good time at the local Touch Tank. The twins group decided to plan a little event down there. There ended up being 4 sets there - all boys.

Here are some pictures of my boys :)

Nate and Will and their bikes

2009-03-03T13:55:00.000-08:00

Here they are on our way to get Hunter from school. The going is much faster when they are on their bikes and all is well when its just them and me, but as soon as we start heading home with Hunter and the other kids and parents are also walking home the boys are little terrors.

We are working on the "watch where you are going" and "don't run into people's heels", and "try to stay on the sidewalk", etc. etc.

I guess the saving grace is that they are so darn cute on their little bikes and they are doing quite well with them.

Here are a couple of pictures of them.

More artwork? and Reading Material

2009-02-06T07:39:00.000-08:00

Here's my budding artist - NOT. If only he would use the "correct" canvas - ack. Thankfully, the markers are crayola washable and not black sharpie.

Nate for some reason seems to be topping the headlines recently. Here he insisted that I get him a book. He has also had this thing where he wants to sit on the potty seat instead of the toilet, which is ewww gross. Anyway, I snuck this picture of him in his "private" moment.

You can be your very own canvas

2009-01-19T13:19:00.000-08:00

This is a picture that I took of Nate the other day when I "thought" he was quietly drawing on his dry erase board, but when I looked over this is what I saw.

Singing in the Rain

2009-01-14T01:38:00.000-08:00

I love that title, but the boys aren't really singing in the rain (lol). I have been wanting to get pictures of Nate and Will in their rain gear ever since they got them, but just haven't been able to capture it, until yesterday. I just love these yellow jackets.

The boys are so good about doing what I ask (most of the time) them to do. Here I was asking them to hold hands.

Today's fun in the snow

2008-12-18T14:50:00.000-08:00

We got more snow last night which meant no school today. I honeslty don't beleive that we will have school tomorrow either. Hunter has gone out a couple of times today and played, but these pictures are from this morning. Both the little ones went to sleep quite quickly for nap and Will is still out.

This is Nate plyaing hard. He seems to really enjoy the snow and goes for it!

Nate eating the snow

Here's Nate and Will having a "snowball fight". Will is the one that has that slightly pained look on his face.

And this is Will doing??? Not sure...

Hunter building his fort.

Snow 2008 and the tree

2008-12-17T12:17:00.000-08:00

I thought I would share some pictures from the snow we've had so far and the tree.

This is from the other night.

Here is a picture from today.

And here are some of the boys playing outside. This is Nate.

This is Will.

Nate eating the snow.

Angels.

Hunter's Party

2008-12-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

Well, we finally got Hunter's party for him. He invited 4 boys over for pizza, cake and video games. The boys did play video games, but they also spent a large amount of time playing outside with the numerous Nerf Guns that he has managed to accumulate within the last week. We got him a big one and then he purchased one with his birthday money and then he got 2 of them at his party, plus one of his friends brought one from home so there was plenty for everyone!

Here is a picture of the cake that I made for him. Hunter mentions to me the night before that he thought it would be nice to have a cake that is in the shape of the nerf gun that he just got. What??? - I didn't think so, so I steered him back into the direction of what he originally wanted. A round cake with multiple layers of white and chocolate with raspberry filling and fudge. I said we would make the top look like a target.

I did jazz up the cake board by stamping some somewhat appropriate images on it. I had mostly hunting type of images to put on there and didn't want to go that route, so I did the best that I could. Still turned out nicely and I will definitely do go back to that idea with any other cakes that I end up doing.

Here is a picture of the inside. I was actually quite please with how the cake tasted. I didn't go the scratch route, but went with Betty Crocker instead. I have a recipe where you add 1/4 cup of extra flour to the mix and off the top of my head, I can't remember if the water and egg amounts change or not, but either way, it turned out quite yummy. The raspberry inside was just a jam bought at the store. Hunter's huge request was that there be as little frosting as possible.

I am hoping to add some more pictures tomorrow and I do have a couple of cute ones of the twins too.

Also, today we are going to go see the Dr. for the twins' check up. I still can't get over the fact that 3 years has passed. And get this, I made the appointment for 8 am. I do this everytime and then complain about it. I can tell that today will be one of those days. Hunter also has early release - ack!

Happy Birthday Hunter

2008-12-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

Today Hunter turns 9. Where in the world did my baby go? I just wanted to share a few photos that I took from my scrapbook. Photos of photos... hmmm... sounds odd huh?

Here is a picture of him as a newborn.

Here he is eating rice and broccoli. If you notice my child couldn't possibly get the "normal" 2 top or bottom teeth first, but rather he got his 2 eye teeth first. He was my little vampire.

Here is Hunter outside during the spring. He was copying his dad with the earplugs.

Just another pet... That is Sitka on the left who passed away a couple of years ago.

This is a picture of his cake, what makes it funny is that every year after this Hunter had to have Cheesecake for his birthday. He is a creature of habit. He has grown out of his desire for cheesecake on his birthday, but he had it every year until just a couple of years ago.

Here is Hunter when we took a train ride. He and I had a great time - it was such a great experience.

And for my last picture... so typical of Hunter. He was upset after having some sort of disagreement with us.

And here he is at the present.

I want to post few pictures of Thanksgiving... soon.

Children can sleep anywhere

2008-11-10T08:57:00.000-08:00

This is what greeted us when we walked out into the living room this morning. Unfortunately, all the boys in this household are sick. I guess my turn will come, but then at least it will just be me.

This is Will.

Halloween Fun 2008

2008-11-02T23:17:00.000-08:00

Here we go friends :) Halloween was a lot of fun - luckily for us, the weather turned for the better. I was really afraid that we would get very wet, but thankfully we didn't. So without further ado, here you go.

Here are Will (left) and Nate (right). Nate is starting to give me the "I see the camera smile". I thought they made the cutest little pirates and they did super keeping their pirate "hats" on.

Here is Hunter joining his little helper pirates. He wanted a "dirtier" pirate costume. I did have eye patches for them all, but those didn't stay on.

Here's Nate with his loot and there is his "I'm supposed to smile" smile.

And here is Hunter working on his Pumpkin. This year he was all about removing the pumpkin guts. In year's past, he was more than a little hesitant to get his hands in there.

And here are our pumpkins. These designs are straight from the pumpkin carving books out there. I did all the cutting on the skull and crossbones and did about 1/2 of the tombstone. Kevin did the 1st part. Pumpkin carving is a sure fire way to give yourself carpel tunnel.

Days seem to last Forever, but Years seem to go by in a Blink

2008-10-23T19:59:00.000-07:00

I was doing my daycare duties the other day and there was this lovely lady named Norma in the nursery room that I was working in and she said something that was truly poignant. I don't think these were her exact words, but it was very close to it.

Days seem to last forever, but years seem to go by in a blink of an eye.

This statement is so true. Just the other day, I was anxdiously awaiting the arrival of Kevin so I could literally leave the house and be by myself. It was just one of those long days. It was early release and Will was having potty training problems of the very wet kind - like multiple times.

So, I thought I would just share these 2 pictures with you. I can't believe that Hunter is closing on 9 and Nate and Will are so close to being 3.

This is Hunter - not exactly sure what age he is in this picture, but still very much a baby.

And here are Nate and Will

The pumpkin patch

2008-10-22T23:42:00.000-07:00

I'm late in sharing, but not too late. We decided to go to a pumpkin patch south of us because it is so casual. There is a lovely farm east of us that is a lot of fun with animals, a hayride, maze, etc. but we opted for the self service patch. We ended up going to Frazier Farms down in Burlington and they had tons of pumpkins and lots of great photo opportunities. I just wish our little ones and big one were more willing to pose :) Anyway, here are some photos.

I have a picture of all 3 together, but its being cut off by blogger so I'll have to work on that one.

Another Hair Cut

2008-10-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

Today we went and saw Tammy. Hunter has seen Tammy his whole life intermittently when we can and Tammy did the Nate and Will's first "official" real haircut. The boys have been elsewhere but this visit was their best.

Nate was awesome and got right up, sat down, made faces in the mirror and was good to go. Will on the other hand struggled the 1st half, but settled down towards the end.

Here are the before and after pictures. Nate is 1st. I have to admit though, I like their long hair.

And Will

And before you even ask, think, or wonder... they are still in their pajamas. I like to bathe them after haircuts so I didn't see any good reason why they should get dressed and then get hair all over themselves and then get redressed. So there (lol)

Halloween from the past Part 2

2008-10-09T15:11:00.000-07:00

Here we go friends... This was the sequence of events for trying to get a nice picture.

This is Will

This is Nate

Last year's costumes :)

Nate and Will's 1st Halloween - blast from the past

2008-10-07T23:35:00.000-07:00

So, I (thanks to Kevin) have finally figured out how to get pictures from Smugmug (photo holding/sharing website) onto my blog and am enjoying sharing older photos of the family. I don't like to double post so I put some on my craft blog and didn't want to repeat them here, but since Halloween is right around the corner and I need some incentive to get going on this year's costumes I thought I would share some photos of the twins' first Halloween. Argghh... I'm being such a procrastinator too.

Its so nice when they are little because I get to choose what to make and what they wear, although Hunter has always been easy so I guess I'm just making a statement. Anyway, 2 years ago was Nate and Will's 1st Halloween and I decided they would be very cute as mice and I was right on! Hunter was also very cute as Robin Hood for I think the 4th year.

Its so sad... I don't know who is who... I am pretty sure that Will is on the right.

And since we are talking 1st's, here is a picture of Hunter on his 1st Halloween as a Lion. This costume was a lot of fun to make.

He was only 10 months old so he wasn't eating candy, but he did need some token pieces in his basket.

TTFN.

A little story

2008-10-06T10:49:00.000-07:00

Not much is really going on here. I have a cute little story about Will though. Kevin is in Seattle for a couple of nights and the boys had been put to bed last night. I was downstairs and I heard one of the boys get up. I figured it was Will and sure enough it was. He met me at the back door and needed to go potty. No problem, he went and then right back to bed. I went back downstairs and a couple of hours later, I heard one of them up again. Again, I figured it was Will and yup, right again. This time though he was looking for both his brothers. Now don't forget that Nate was sleeping at the end of the bed and Hunter was in his room, but Will kept saying that he wanted Hunter for some reason. Well, I got him back to his own room, but he was insistent that he sleep right next to Nate, not their usual one at one end and the other at the other. It was cute, but that is my Will... He is my more needy one.

I'll try to get some sort of picture up at some point today. Maybe one of our dreary weather.

San Diego - The Zoo

2008-10-02T09:50:00.000-07:00

So here are some zoo pictures. It was a great zoo and we had a lot of fun. I also want to say that these photos were taken by Kevin (hubby) who is a fabulous photographer.

I love this photo of myself and no I wasn't one of the zoo attractions. I want to use this one for my avatars, I just have to figure out how to get switched over.

Ok, I guess I'm being a bit full of myself since this anotehr picutre of me (haha). Its also with Nate. We took a ride on one of thsoe double stacker buses and got a neat overview of the entire zoo. It was hot though.

I'm not goign to show you all the animals since I'm sure most of you have been to a zoo or 2 at least, but I don want to share a few of the best pictures. San Diego Zoo is known for their Panda exhibit and these pandas were the cutest ever.

And is this not the cutest ever, ever???

And I just like the look of this one.

And the polar bear. I love the underwater shots.

And I love this shot (minus the bone, but the bear's gotta eat!)

And here is my last picture of the tram. Hope you enjoyed them. The tram was fun to ride, but still gave me the shakes, being so high up. That 's Mira, Emylee, Bryson and Nate (I think).

San Diego - Lego Land

2008-09-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

While Kevin, myself, the twins, Uncle Miles, and Emylee were at Sea World, my sister, Hunter, my brother, and Bryson all went to Lego Land. From the pictures it looks like it will definitely be on our list next time around.

This lady and her stroller were out in the parking lot. How amazing is that? The Lego Lady!

Here is Mira and Bryson

Another favorite of the boys - Starwars!

Mt. Rushmore

Just a little snooze...

Thanks! Have a great day.

San Diego - Sea World

2008-09-30T08:59:00.001-07:00

So here are some Sea World pictures. We had a good time here and I think the little boys enjoyed it too. Emylee and Uncle Miles came with us and the older boys and my brother went to Lego Land with my sister. We were also lucky enough to be able to meet up with my friend Brenda and her family there too.

I had been to Sea World in Florida, but it has again been literally decades. Here is Shamu or aka Shampoo by the boys.

Here's Will

The Flamingos - ewww, they were stinky!

This is Nate chasing after the poor birds.

This is the Penguin exhibit... It was kind of neat because you stood on a conveyer belt and slowly moved down the display. We need to rent Happy Feet for the boys.

This guy was standing at the very front on a little pedastol of sorts. He (?) was absolutely preening.

And of course the Dolphins. Will and I missed the beginning because... he had to go potty.

Have a great day!

San Diego - post wedding

2008-09-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

These pictures were taken after the wedding and all the wedding shots were taken afterwards. This picture is of my Mom and her brother (Uncle Miles)

Here is a picture of all 5 of us kids. Robert and I are biological siblings, but my parents adopted all of us at different times.

Here's a picture of Bryson - my nephew.

Here we are at the reception. That is Nate on the dance floor. Both boys enjoyed that wide open space.

Robert and Jiyoun during the 1st dance.

Here's Kevin and Rob

Cake slicing.

Here's Emylee dancing with Hunter. She is just the greatest niece ever. She has been visiting us every summer for a week and I'll be so sad when she grows out of/ can't fit it into her busy life.

A picture of Mom and Rob

We have so many pictures so I tried to get a nice mix. I'll have more tomorrow :)

San Diego - Pre Wedding Pictures

2008-09-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures of before the wedding. I was with the girls, so no pictures of the guys getting ready.

Here is a picture of my new sister-in-law (SIL). Her name is Jiyoun. Isn't her hair beautiful - shhh... she's got two extension in there. We all went and got our hair done and my neice Emylee had an extension put in her hair too. I had never seen ones used in real life and they were pretty cool.
Here is a picture of me, my little sister Eden, my older Sister Mira, and her daughter Emylee.

Here is Jiyoun and her sister.

Here are my sister and both her kids. What a beautiful family. FIY, her husband and their Dad wasn't able to make it to the wedding (we were sad), but just in case you were wondering where he was.
Here is Hunter and Bryson - don't they look handsome?

Here is a picture of the guys chatting it up. Kevin is at the top, Robert is on the left, and Rob's best man, Mark is in the front.

Here is a picture of my younger brother Miles (we call him Buck) with Hunter.

And finally, here is a picture of where I was with the twins during the wedding. Good thing they hired a videoagrapher.

That's it for now. More to come....

San Diego - Rehearsal

2008-09-26T12:15:00.000-07:00

Oh my, I was just looking at the blog and realized I hadn't posted in forever... Anyhow, here are some more pictures of the rehearsal.

Nate just walking down the aisle. Both boys had too much fun going back and forth, back and forth.

And Will couldn't get enough of the pencils that were in the pews. I had to chase him around the whole church putting all the pencils back. His goal was to write "notes" to all the parishioners.

Another picture of Will trying to travers the pews.
And playing in the curtains.

And Nate playing in the curtains too.

Here is everyone practicing. Robert (my brother) is in the blue and white striped polo.

And this is what we all wanted to do by the end of the evening... but as adults its just not allowed huh? This picture is of Will and those fabulous legs are my Mom's.

And this guy is Nate.

Here is a picture of me and Rob at this great Sushi Buffet restaurant after the rehearsal.

Well that's it for now. I will have lots more pictures to share.

San Diego - the plane ride

2008-09-26T11:31:00.000-07:00

I don't do a lot of chatting on the family blog, but I'll give you some background. My brother just got married last Saturday and we (the five of us) flew down to San Diego last Thursday (18th) and just came back last night (25th). We had a great time, but this was the first airplane ride for the twins. According to Will, we rode on a helicopter plane. I've tried to explain that they are two distinct things, but nope, to Will all flying objects in the sky are "helicopter planes".

So I will start from the beginning and just add pictures as we go along. Here are the boys at the airport - thankfully, we were able to fly straight out of Bellingham and directly to San Diego. It would have been such a pain to have to go down to Seattle and fly from there. I do have to interject here that the whole security rigmarole with children is a pain in the you know what. I understand, but I feel that I still have the right to say that it is VERY annoying - the taking off of their shoes, the fact that Nate couldn't hold onto his bears when walking through the metal detector, etc.

The boys are very into writing "notes". Nate is on the left and Will is on the right.

Here is Kevin and Hunter drooling over the new PSP that they got for the trip.

They did a bit of snoozing (but not on the way home)
I could take picture after picture of the boys sleeping together. It is one of my favorite scenes (for more than one reason too - wink, wink). Here they are sleeping in the same twin bed at the condo. They did very well and surprisingly wanted to sleep in the same direction. Remember, they usually sleep with their feet tangled up (whihc they did last night) They did well, the first night Nate did fall off and one night Will fell off, but that was it.

First day of school - 3rd Grade

2008-09-06T21:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, the 1st day of school is over, but I thought I would share this photo with you. I can't believe how much Hunter has grown/changed over the summer. He just seems 'bigger'. He is in a 3rd/4th grade split class. There are 28 kids in his class this year which is HUGE considering that there were only 22ish kids last year and 16 in his 1st grade class. He is only one of the 8 3rd graders in this class. It is his 1st split class.

Remember that we walk to school and luckily, Kevin was able to stay late and help me take Hunter and get him settled. Nate and Will don't make things easy in that area.

Do you see where there little hands are???

Don't worry, I got a decent photo after all - hahah! Although they don't look all that happy, but at least you can tell that since their hands aren't covering their face.

Whistler continued

2008-09-06T21:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry, these are a bit late, but here they are nonetheless. I'm sure you've already ready, heard, etc that it rained every single day we were up there, but it was still fun to get out of Dodge. Here's a picture of Hunter, the boys and me! You notice that Will has his hands covering his eyes? Its something that the boys have started doing when it comes time to take pictures. Why can't I have boys that are like my niece and nephew? They see a camera and its like a photo shoot instantly!! Emylee and Bryson, you need to teach my boys.

And here is my Mom or aka Mommom. It was because of Mom that we were up in Whistler. She has a time share and she asked where we watned to go and this was it. The boys kept calling the condo "Mommom's house"

Here's one of the boys doing the "eye thing".

More wild animals

2008-08-27T19:21:00.001-07:00

Kevin had BBQ some ribs and left the package out and before we could retrieve it we had guests...

Aren't they cute? The boys are still talking about the "Raccoons taking Dad's meat".
And here is a picture of me and the twins.
And here is a picture of Will

Our first night at Whistler

2008-08-24T09:43:00.000-07:00

Just had to share our picture from last night. As we were entering the condo, by way of the door we had just exited this is what we saw ( although the picture was taken after the bear was headed toward the lobby)

I can dress myself

2008-08-22T15:16:00.001-07:00

Haha - Hardly!!! Its such a funny thing to see the boys try to dress themselves when the get the inkling to do so which is few and far between. My friend Brenda's little girl who is just a tad younger than the boys has been dressing herself for a while as well as picking out her own "outfits". So here is a picture of Nate the 2nd time around trying to put his shorts on. Mind you they are shorts, not long pants and this was the 2nd time around since I had already taken them off and had him do it again. I'm sure he'll love these pictures when he's older.

Off he goes... At least he realizes he has to steady himself. There have been times that he's tried and then immediately fell over. By the way, this is all Nate.

Good progress your thinking. He's got both legs in.

He's looking a little worried/frustrated.
You didn't know a cute pair of shorts could also be a very cute boy skirt huh? He was kind enough to turn around for me.
Now is the I'm a little worried/frustrated look.

Hopefully, I will get some pictures of Whistler to post while we are gone next week.

The Fair

2008-08-18T07:19:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it to the fair this year. To be honest, the only reason we go is because of Hunter. The little ones are only 2 1/2 and Hunter is only 8 1/2 - how many more years is that??? So here are some pictures - remember we left the Nate and Will home.

Not the most attractive picture but what the hey :)

Kevin and Hunter on the bumper cars - note, please don't ride this if you have a weak back!

Hunter really liked this ride. He got a ride out of each of us.
Hunter wanted to sit right in front.
I just didn't find any of this immensely fun. If I had a stronger stomach then I could have gone all day!
Kevin went in the Spinner with Hunter, but he refused to go back in because he said it was incredibly hot in there. Hunter did go in later by himself.
I thought this ride would be better for my stomach - it was a little...
We had to have at least one grumpy face...

The Ring of Fire...
Well, we did go on a few other rides, but you get the gist. One year and counting for the next one.

Little Voices and their Favorite Phrases

2008-08-13T23:19:00.000-07:00

I don't have any photos for today, but I just have to get these down. All children have their little phrases and they are just too cute, but I want to make sure that I remember them for the future.

Will has been saying:

"Oh Yeah Baby" - now remember that he doesn't seem to be able to say the "y" sound and exchanges it with the "l" sound. So it actually sounds like he is saying "Hola Baby"

"Dynaco is all mine" - from the movie Cars (have to check spelling) He says this while he is riding his trike outside.

"It too big" - This is in reference to his "private property" All I can say is "boys!!!"

"Big one coming" Another reference to potty time

"I too scared" He says this and ends with fill in the blank. For example "I too scared" to go to his room, "I too scared" to eat dinner, "I too scared" to put on his pants

"I don't know" Now this is funny because he started saying this and then answering the question. I might ask him who a certain person is and he would say "I don't know" - Emylee or again fill in the blank.

Nate: Coming up with blanks here, but I will add to it. He is quieter though.

"Motorcycle Bike" that is what he calls his tricycle.

I need to think back to what Hunter used to say when he was a baby. He was always coming up with these big words though when he was little. It always was a bit weird hearing a small child using such big vocabulary.

50/50 Ain't so bad! Kevin and Hunter camping

2008-08-08T07:47:00.000-07:00

Wow, its been a while since I've posted - apologies to those who check. Good news for sure! I think I can say that Will is officially 100% potty trained, minus any bumps we might have down the road. For the past week he has not had any huge accidents. He stays dry during naps and evenings. I've got him in "real" underpants during the day and have still been putting him in "nighttime" underwear at night due to the fact that I'm lazy and don't want to deal with any accidents if they do happen to occur.

On the other hand, Nate has tottally regressed and is doing his business willy nilly in the pull-ups with a handful of visits to the bathroom here and there. I don't think he'll be far behind though. I truly believe that he is simply trying to separate hiimself somewaht. Now don't quote me since I'm not specialist, but that is the way it appears.

My neice Emylee has been visiitng us this past week too. She is such a doll and of course is in love with the boys and they in turn with her.

I picked her up last weekend down at Mom's. I took the boys down with me and got a chance to visit with my friend Brenda as well. Can you believe not one picture was taken the entire time there. So sad. But truly, I will blame it all on Kevin. I met him down at work and he was late and then we all rushed off. He was supposed to hand me a smaller camera since he was taking mine on his camping trip with Hunter.

Here are a couple of pictures of their weekend trip. They had a great time and it was good that they got to go off and "bonding" time.

The Good, the bad and the ugly plus tid bits

2008-07-30T14:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, there isn't a lot of ugly, but there are some hints of bad here and there. Here is a picture of the boys sitting on the "naughty couch" since this the place we send them. They weren't really being too bad, just not listening. When I took the picture we were at the end and they were hamming it up a bit. Nate was trying to give me a sad face.This is a look we see on Will's face (he's on the right) quite often. He tends to wrinkle up his face with all types of expressions. Its funny because this is so Will, Nate never does it.

Now here is a good. This is a picture of Nate making me coffee. They have refound their Starbuck's barista aprons and having been going around the last couple of days making coffee. This morning, Nate actually brought down my almost finished latte cup telling me he had made me coffee.
And my last story that just made me feel good just happened earlier this afternoon. I had waited and waited to get on the treadmill while the boys were napping and I finally got my rear in gear and got on. I only had 3 minutes left when I saw Will peek his head out the back door. He just stood there and waved at me (I'm in the garage). Then I yelled(not angrily just loudly - sounds bad) at him to go inside and watch some cartoons and I would be right there. So he waves one more time turns around and off he goes. Then right after that, Nate comes out and waves and smiles at me. Then Hunter comes out and wants me to know that the boys are awake. I tell those two that I'm almost done and I'll right in. Off they go without a fuss. How nice was that? It was tremendous.

One other story for you. The other night, Will wakes up and says that he is scared of dinosaurs. Who knows where that came from. Kevin told him that dinosaurs are all gone and he didn't have to worry. So then he went around for several days asking us "dinosaurs all gone?"

And one more update. The boys are still working through the potty training thing. Will is proceeding ahead and doing great. He generally doesn't have any accidents and I've got him back in underwear and he always tells us when he wants to go. Nate on the other hand has regressed. In fact, I've got him back in diapers for right now because he was using the pull ups like they were diapers. He will still ask to go occasionally, but doesn't really have the initiative at the moment. Que sera sera.

Okie dokie that is all for now, unless I think of more....

Moving along

2008-07-29T11:16:00.000-07:00

Well, the boys decided they wanted to sleep in Hunter's room for the first time. They did just fine on the bottom bunk. According to Hunter though he got up twice with one of them to go potty. What a good brother. I was thankful that the boys did not get into our bed at all - wow.

Aren't their little bottoms the cutest!!

The next night they wanted to sleep in Hunter's room again, but they ended up all on the top bunk with Hunter. He didn't seem to mind so....

GRRRRR.... What is up with people????

2008-07-25T08:46:00.000-07:00

Guess What??? Kevin walked out the door this morning only to find out that someone/somebodies had stolen our BOB Bright Red Double Jogger off the front porch. Yes, I realize we didn't have the think locked up, but really....

What is up with that!!!! I am so PISSED really. Anyway, we did file a report and I will be calling consignment and pawn shops today, but even if it were "kids" what does that say about them and their upbringing? And I do realize that even kids who have been raised "right" still do "wrong" things but I am still allowed to be mad.

Last spring, somebody went and stole the twins' push toy and that was during the day at some point. And again it was in the front yard, but for pete's sake they were playing with it throughout the day.

Ok, that's my gripe for the day. Thanks for reading.

Some time at the Park

2008-07-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

One of the best aspects of living where we do is the fact that we are surrounded by parks. Today, we chose to go to the one that is at the end of our street. Its usually very quiet and that was the case today. Here are some pictures of the boys.

This is Nate
Here's Hunter looking a little squished in the tube slide.
Here's Will
Here's Will having a jolly good time putting rocks into the play structure. This actually occupied him for quite a while. At one point, a little boy joined him. Very fascinating, I'm sure.
This is Hunter and ? either Nate or Will (haha). Its amazing how versatile rocks can be.

And last one. This is Nate saying that he was a cat. The picture doesn't quite capture it all, but he was meowing and scratching at the log. Don't know where he gets that one.

Oh Yeah Baby!!!

2008-07-22T07:09:00.000-07:00

Today I have a little tidbit is all. I want to record Will's latest phrases he has been sharing with us. The first one is "Oh yeah baby!", except for the fact that Will cannot say yeah, rather it comes out as "lah". So it actually sounds like he is saying "hola baby" :)

His other phrase he's been using is "I don't know" in regards to EVERYTHING. No matter what you ask it is "I don't know".

Otherwise, not much is going on here. It looks like it is going to be a cloudy day here.

A Leisurely Morning and don't leave the plums out!

2008-07-19T21:17:00.000-07:00

When it was just Kevin and myself we would often go out for afternoon drives just for fun. Even with Hunter we would just cruise and look at areas we didn't visit regularly or whatever... Obviously with today's gas prices we don't just drive for the sake of driving, but we sort of did this morning. We headed south and visited an area that has a lot of houses for sale. We aren't looking to buy, but it is fun to look at prices and new houses.

While we were there we saw LOTS of deer. Here is one that Kevin was especially impressed with. I won't go into details as to what was going through his head! They are all very tame and this one was right at the side of the road.

Now the next part of our day has to do with plums. We went to Costco yesterday and bought a package of plums. Needless to say, the boys love them. Last night, we caught Will poking his finger into the plums from the outside of the container saying "ooohhh nummm". Not too much damage until today.

Kevin came in and there was the container of plums on the floor and this what I took out of the container.

Please don't ask where I was, because I don't know. Now we have to hurry and eat the rest of them. :)

The Twin Invasion and Potty training

2008-07-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

The picture looks like it was taken in the middle of the day, but in reality it was taken last night in darkness. The power of that flash!!! Anyway, the boys have been getting into our bed after we put them into their bed. They aren't really all that sneaky about it either. Because their room is attached to ours, almost every night when I check in on them, they have both climbed and and are snoozing away in our room. Luckily, they are quite easy to move back into their room when its time for us to go to bed. What little stinkers!!!

And on the potty training front, things are going pretty well. Its a bit crazy now that both of them want to use the toilet. It was weird when the other night, they both wanted to go at the exact same time. Today, Nate decided to leave a little surprise for Hunter in Hunter's room - ooohh lucky kid huh? Obviously, its been a while since Hunter went through potty training and I remember him practically training himself. It definitely seems more challenging with two of them.

Sorry, if I'm over sharing :)

Fun in the Sun

2008-07-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

We went looking for a small swimming pool and there wasn't a lot of choices out there, but we did find this little one. It was on sale and only cost $7 and change. What a bargain!!! Here are a few pictures of them having fun today!

This is Will

Potty Talk

2008-07-10T12:36:00.000-07:00

For good reason, I don't have any pictures to share that relate to today's title. But, I was sitting in the bathroom conversing with Will while he was sitting on the toilet doing his business and realized that once again, potty talk is what its all about. Will is quite chatty (in 2-5 word sentences) while he's sitting there describing to me how he's feeling, what's coming next, will he fall in, and finally "all done." Then we stand up, say "good-bye" and flush the toilet.

I enjoy these times and think how in other circumstances "potty talk" is just not appropriate but realize that in my world talk of the potty and all the subtopics related to it, are quite the norm and are filled with humor, excitement, and wonder.

Just things to ponder I guess. I am grateful that Will is the only one that is truly interested in it at this time and I will wait for Nate to join us when he is ready.

I got my memory card reader and card - thank you my wonderful sister - so I might throw in a cute and appropriate picture at some point :)

-Katie

4th of July, update, and lots of pictures

2008-07-06T22:26:00.000-07:00

We spent 4th of July my sister's this year. We had a wonderful time, but it wasn't without some interesting curves. As many of you know, I have had quite the time this past week. Nothing traumatic or anything, but it does seem to continue and am hoping that this week brings complete and total calm.

Any traveling is to say the least a routine buster. We traveled for 7 hours on Thursday in 2 vehicles to get all of us over to the Southeast corner of the state. We arrived safe and sound with no mishaps whatsoever - no complaints :)

We continue the next day with lots of treats, great food, fireworks, etc., but.... the day was interspersed with not 1, not 2, but 3 of the children from my household getting sick and throwing up. Of course, I won't go into the nitty gritty details, but I know most of you know what its like dealing with up-chucking children.

As I said, I hope this week is CALM, so without further ado, I would love to share some photos:

Here is the view of the left side of my sister's backyard.
And the right side with some of us visiting.
Hunter, Kevin, and Will
Bryson and Will playing at the side of the pool.
Nate and Will
And traveling always disrupts nap schedules so this is Will falling asleep on the couch while eating crackers.
Bryson, Jordan and Nate
Afternoon yard games. This one was new to us and a lot of fun. Similar to a bean bag toss with some fun rules.
And Nate cuddling up to Emylee during the fireworks.

List of Players:

Renz Family - Me, Kevin, Nate and Will (2 1/2), Hunter (8 1/2) and Jordan (14) - Kevin's sister's son who had been staying with us.

Gobel Family (hosts) - Mira (my sister), Mike, Bryson (12), Emylee (14)

My Mom (Karen), my sister (Eden), one of my brothers (Miles)

Mike's parents Walt and Gwen

Until next time...

Life goes on...

2008-07-02T08:05:00.000-07:00

Well, most of you regular readers know what has been going on during this past weekend so I thought I would add a picture for you. Mind you, the picture looks much worse than in real life. Hunter's arm is all wrinkly looking becasuse of the bandage they put around it. Now, we just have a large bandaid - less butch looking but better :)

So here's the recap: Jordan (Hunter's 14 year old cousin) apparently grabbed a couple of balloons that Hunter said were his, ran down to our basement and locked the door. So picture 14 year old on one side of locked door looking at 8 year old boy and 8 year old boy staring at 14 year old boy. Also take into consideration that 8 year old boy has a quick temper then picture 8 year old boy banging on door with fisted arm.... The end result is a broken window, a 4 1/2 hour visit to the ER, and 5 stitches.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On another front, I am just kicking myself because I had every intention of taking my camera yesterday to the dentist's, but I forgot of course. Yesterday was actually the 2nd visit to the dentist for Nate and Will. The first visit was just an introduction to the office, the Dr., etc.

Yesterday's visit was a "real" one. I take the kids to a pediatric dentist in town who is awesome. The office has a huge play area and all the chairs are scaled down to kid size. Nate was an angel. When it was time to go back, he followed the hygienist, got right on the chair, went for his little ride in the chair, got himself all reclined, put his sunglasses on and went to town. He was so cute and calm as a cucumber. I just looked from afar while I was dealing with Will.

Will on the other hand just didn't want to get into the chair at all. No persuasion of any kind helped. We will wait for the next time.

A Terrible Experience

2008-06-27T22:11:00.000-07:00

Please don't read if you are a huge animal lover...

I probably had one of the worst experiences I've ever had. Last night, I hit a cat and it died. I couldn't believe it! I have never hit anything in the road, but for some reason, last night was the night. I didn't even get a chance to hit the brakes and when I looked back in the review mirror, it said it all. On top of that I had all the kids with me, anyway, I turned around to go back and without getting into all the details I got everything worked out.

But, I felt just horrible all night. Its something that I don't ever want to happen again. I hope the older boys are ok. The little ones didn't get what had happened. The whole thing just makes me sad.

Sorry, to be such a downer. We are headed off to a little boys birthday party for a bit and it is supposed to be a scorcher (at least here in Washington).

Last day of swimming and miscellaneous updates

2008-06-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

Life is progressing along just fine with our nephew Jordan here. He has been a great help with taking the kids to swimming. I make him get up every morning and as long as he gets his donut(s) then he is happy as a clam. He and Hunter seem to get along for the most part until they pester each other to a boiling point. That can get really annoying.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's something else I've noticed the last week or so. Nate is obsessed with blue shirts. Every day he ask me to put on a blue shirt. We walk to his closet and I let him pick out the shirt - often times there is no blue shirt, but he seems ok as long as he's picking what he wants.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And finally, Will is doing something interesting. He has gotten into saying "I scared" or "____ scares me". I don't know where that is coming from either. He'll even say that he's too scared to go to his room by himself. Just shaking my head here.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phewww... we made it through two weeks of lessons. Hunter was a shoe in - no problems there and the twins did very well. I had to cajole them throughout the process but once they were in the water they did awesome. I'm excited because we are headed to my sister's house and they have a pool where all the boys can practice and be free in the water. We are taking a break for the rest of the summer and then they will do 1 week of lessons at the end.

Fridays are always fun days at the pool where the kids get to go down blow up slides and jump off the diving board if they want to. I wish I had had Kevin's camera because it takes super fast pictures, but mine will have to do.

Here is Hunter going down to slide:

And heading off the diving board. I missed him actually going into the water.
Here is Will going down the little slide
And a picture of Nate sliding down.
Here is Nate on the diving board.
And finally, here is a picture of Nate and Will sitting together at the edge of the pool. I can't get enough of seeing them side by side like that.

A house full - but all GOOD!!!

2008-06-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of all the kids at the house yesterday. I have freind who has twin girls who are 14 and they of course love the twins. They came over yesterday and played with the twins, Hunter, and Jordan. It was very nice to have all those extra hands around.

Both boys in the pool at the same time...

2008-06-19T21:53:00.000-07:00

So today is the 4th day of swimming lessons. I went to my Copics Certification class yesterday and Kevin stayed home with the boys and took them. He sent me a text message yesterday saying that the boys "jumped" into the pool. Whaaaat! I thought it was great, but neither one of them did that for me. So, today came and I was excited to see what they would do. I'm sure you can guess... not for Mommy.... Will got in the water just fine, but not Nate. And of course, Nate was the one that I tried first so I ended up having to put him back and Will then went in no problem. I walked around a bit with him and then for whatever reason after we visited Hunter in the water, he was fine and went in no problem.

I think I have a sign on my forehead that says "Yes, please fuss for me - I love it!!" Will is on the right and Nate is on the left.
And here is a picture of Nate today drinking the pool water. He seemed obsessed with it today.
Tootles for now :)

My skateboarder boys

2008-06-17T00:01:00.000-07:00

These pictures were taken over the weekend. We were visiting with our neighbor behind us and the boys immediately found their way into her garage of all places :) Well, they managed to find these two little skateboards and Cheryl was nice enough to let the boys have them. Her boys are just graduated and 16 so they were ok with seeing them go.

The one rule is that they HAVE to wear their helmets. They both really like them, but Nate seems especially inclined to playing with them. Will played, but at one point got all worked up because he wanted the one that Nate had. The only difference between the two skateboards is that one has red wheels and the other has white ones. Whatever...

Here are pictures of Nate.

Here is Will
And here is Will and Nate fighting. Unfortunately, this is something that I have seen before; just once or twice :)

First day of swimming lessons

2008-06-16T17:58:00.000-07:00

So today was the first day of swimming lessons for all the boys. Hunter is a pro of course (at the lesson thing not the swimming thing) this is his 3rd year. All I have to say is thank goodness for our nephew Jordan. He is able to come with me to the lessons. I already decided that I'm skipping the session in the middle and will have the boys do the last week swimming instead. I admit - I can't/ won't cart them all to do lessons by myself.

Here are a couple of pictures of Hunter in the pool. No goggles though - which means I have to go out tonight at get some. He says he's a much better "swimmer" with them on.

Here is Nate. He went in just fine and enjoyed himself for the most part - no fussing!
Here are pictures of Will. I did put him in the water and the teacher did her best but to no avail. Let's hope that he goes in tomorrow.
And here is a picture of Jordy - doesn't he look thrilled!

Mariner's Game

2008-06-16T07:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the Mariner's game that we went to last Friday. We had a good time and managed to stick it out the entire game. The M's lost AGAIN, although it was close. The field is so pretty and for this time around it worked great being up so high. To be honest, the stadium is very nice no matter where you sit.
Here is a picture of Hunter holding our Beltre bobble heads. The guy didn't want to give Kevin one for one of the twins either. He had to duke it out with him - not really, but come one... The short kid cost just as much as one of us adults and he is entitled to a stupid bobble head!!! Geez!!!

The boys just had to get into those bobble heads.

Is 3 a Crowd??

2008-06-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

I guess its all a matter of perspective huh? This picture was taken last night. Nate and Will love to sit on all of us, but sometimes its a nice way to get a few z's in (shhh... don't tell)

So which one is Will or which one is Nate??? (hint - remember Nate is the one that has "Babies" or "Bear Bears")

More sleeping babies

2008-06-11T13:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, if you check out this blog, you might have realized that I can't get enough of sleeping baby photos. I could probably do an entire album of just sleeping twins - ok, maybe a mini album. I just can't help myself.

The other view :) Nate is the one that has his feet on Will

The boys

2008-06-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

Good morning! Today's picture is of ALL the boys :) This is THE favorite spot for Nate and Will. They like to eat their snacks here and sometimes their lunch. They also like to play in this spot too, which is what they were doing last night - banging their cars into each other.

(Will, Hunter, Nate)

Nature

2008-06-10T11:28:00.000-07:00

I don't like posting without pictures and there really hasn't been much to take pictures of I guess, but I wanted to post anyway.

Things here in the Pacific Northwest have been very wet of late. Summer hasn't even been peeking its head in our direction yet. I hope it warms a bit since the boys start swimming lessons outside this coming Monday. The nice thing about this particular pool though is that its warm. I'll have lots of pictures to share of swimming though.

So today, I have no pictures of people just nature. This first one is a picture of our hops, yes one of the main ingredients in beer. These hops come up every spring and grow like crazy. They look especially nice now, but they will get much fuller throughout the summer. Kevin used to brew his own beer and he did make some with our very own hops. Right now, all you are seeing are the leaves and of course I will take pictures of the actual hops when they come in. They look like small green pine cones. But besides the brewing aspect of hops, they make a wonderful climbing bush.This next picture is of our one and only clump of calla lilies. I love calla lilies and they come up every single year without any care. Those are the types of plants I like.
This last picture is what you'll get if you don't stake your peonies early and then have rainy, rainy weather. The white ones are transplants from our neighbor and the pink ones are ones that I ordered from somewhere.

I'd have a picture of the boys napping (can't get enough of sleeping baby pictures), but at the moment they are opening their door, crying, shutting their door, then opening their door, crying, and I'm sure you can see/hear the pattern.

Hunter's 2nd Grade Performance

2008-06-06T11:13:00.001-07:00

Well, I didn't get to the pictures yesterday, but I am here today. Its still gray outside, but at the moment dry. Hunter's school usually does a Laua lunch and its usually outside, but this year because it has been so rainy this week, the school decided to be safe than sorry and plan for a special lunch in the classrooms. I had forgotten about it and saw the note this morning and decided that I wasn't going to because to be honest, it is a pain trying to coral two 2 1/2 year olds in a classroom with lots of people. Plus, its only for 1/2 an hour. But then, the more I thought about it, I decided I should just buck up and go. I know that Hunter would love to see me there and it will be a nice surprise. I will just get a friend to pick up Hunter after school and the boys can take a late nap.

So, without further ado, here are some photos from yesterday's presentation. My pictures a bit dark - the lighting at the school just isn't conducive to good close up photos. It was a very nice turnout, which is always great to see.

Here's a picture of the whole group on stage - Hunter is in the center holding the microphone next to the little girl in the white dress.

Here is Hunter doing his solo.

And a picture of Grandpa (Kevin's Dad) holding Nate. The boys were really very good. Their only downfall was wanting to jump around stomping.

Now, I'm off the dress the boys and get going to lunch :)

Blah

2008-06-04T07:16:00.000-07:00

Today is another day of rain. It rained ALL day and last night - yuck! So I am going to do a little whining today. Here is a picture of the rain - I guess its just drizzle right now.
Then another night sharing the bed with the boys. I gotta get one of those door knob dealy bobs so they have to stay in their room. Nate always comes to my side and Will always goes to Kevin's side and then they both end up in the middle. Here is a picture of Will - just imagine one more kid next to him.
Then, I want to know why I can't ever keep up on the laundry and why boys/men always take their socks off inside out. I don't take any of my clothes off inside out. Its so gross having to put those socks right side out again. And for some reason, Hunter takes off his pants the same way every time. Its kind of funny how he has already gotten into a pattern. He leaves one pant leg inside out and one leg right side out every single time!!!

Alrighty, enough whining for now.

2008-06-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

30:00
2.50
271.7

Sick Twins

2008-06-02T08:49:00.000-07:00

Oh yuck, both boys are now officially sick. Will had a runny nose and a cough that seemed to be getting better yesterday, but he is still all runny and coughy this morning. Nate woke us up last night with this horrible sounding cough that was clearly hurting his throat. We had to fight with him to get some medicine down his throat. Today is no better and both boys have that "smell" about them. It just smells all snotty and infected. Sorry - so gross.

Otherwise, we are doing just fabulous. I'd share a picture, but you probably don't want to see :)

Some time with Mom for her birthday

2008-06-01T21:20:00.000-07:00

Today was Mom's birthday and we went down to visit - it was a surprise. My younger sister also came down from Seattle and picked up one of my brothers as well. We had a good time while visiting and Kevin made a lovely shrimp fettuccine dinner for all of us. Here are some pictures of our day.

Here's a picture of Mom helping Nate slide down the staircase. By the end of our time, the boys were sliding down no problem.

Me, Will, my brother Miles and Kevin (doing the cooking of course)

Will spent quite a bit of time playing "blocks" with the cans of dog food.

Another time occupier was the new doggy door and in this case the "twins" door.

And I just like this picture. Its Will and me. He has started this thing where he "tickles" my face. Works well until the "tickling" gets a little rough.

And in the end, I didn't get any pictures of my sister... of course :)

2008-05-28T12:28:00.001-07:00

30:00
2.49
270.0

Boy and Tool

2008-05-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of Will having fun with his wrench. He hung it on his bike although it kept falling off every 10 seconds. Don't mind the fact that he's still in his pajamas :)

Good Grief!!!

2008-05-28T09:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I was completely annoyed with Hunter last night due to the fact that right before he went to bed he asked us where his glasses were. What??? He then told Kevin that he had given them to me right after school... What??? I don't think so.

After searching and searching we still couldn't find them. I couldn't even remember if he had them on when he came home from school (a friend picked him up for me). Plus, he had gone over to a friends house and played too. After calling the friend and asking if she remembered seeing him in glasses or not, we just called it a night and decided that hopefully he may have forgotten them at school.

Then, when I was getting ready for bed, I decided to make a quick trip though his room again. I ended up in his closet looking through his drawers and voila, they were sitting every so neatly in the top drawer. Go figure. I woke Hunter up and told him that I found them. This morning he couldn't even remember and we teased him into looking for his glasses in their case - he was positive they weren't in there.

So, I guess all's well that ends well. He has had his glasses a total of 5 days. This so reminds me of the trouble we had with his small metal appliance from the dentist. He broke that thing like 3 times and we had to have it adjusted each time too - which all meant lugging everyone to see the dentist all within something like 10 days.

Riding Bikes

2008-05-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

Today turned out to be a lovely day. It was very, very nice this afternoon and evening. Here a some pictures of the boys out in the back yard with their bikes. Well, actually they started out with their own, but Will eventually transferred himself to the back of the bike that Nate was riding. Then he decided it was fun dragging his bottom on cement - ok whatever!! This is the first time since they originally got their bikes last year that they have done this.

They still aren't pedaling yet and remind me Fred Flintstone using their feet to power themselves along. Its remarkable how quickly they can get going. The other activity they seem to enjoy is pedaling as fast as they can in circles. Silly boys!

I'm swimming in Legos

2008-05-24T10:18:00.000-07:00

So here's today's pictures. Kevin and Hunter are out getting hair cuts and the boys and I were sorting through all of Hunter's legos trying to gather all the lego men parts. Nate and Will are addicted to those little lego men.

Will decided that he would just get into the lego tote and then Nate decided he would just cover him up.

Bye-bye!!

Artists??

2008-05-23T20:01:00.001-07:00

Here is my picture for the day. I looked up and there they were drawing sided by side. Nate left, Will on the right.

Glasses and bruises

2008-05-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

So today ended up being the big day for Hunter - he has officially gotten his first pair of glasses. We went after school to pick them up and have them fitted. They are ones that he picked out all on his own, style and color. I felt that it was important that he have ownership of them. He was very cute about the whole thing and thus far all is good. Tomorrow will be his first day with them at school.

So as a celebration of sorts, Kevin suggested that we go to our favorite dining out restaurant. It is in fact the only restaurant that we consistently go to with the entire family. We seriously LOVE this place. Kevin loves it for their BIG MAMA margaritas and we both love it for the way they treat us - kids and all, plus they know us. We have been going there since Hunter was a baby and we will go until...

Now to the bruise part. While we were at Jalapeños (the restaurant), the boys were being a little bit rambunctious and Nate had left the table and was on his way back (running of course) when he tripped and fell into a table leg right near us. I wish you could have been there. As soon as he hit, the whole restaurant (not too full) went silent and then let out an audible "oooohhhhh". The situation was funny and as usual, Nate cried loudly, but briefly and all was right with the world soon after.Chat later!!

2008-05-21T11:43:00.001-07:00

30:00
2.42
257.3

Beautiful Flowers

2008-05-20T15:21:00.000-07:00

While I was blog hopping the other day, I came across a picture of a pretty hanging basket. I love how hanging flower baskets add so much to our little porch even in the sad shape its in. Anyway, I wanted to share ours since I enjoy looking at them so much. I purchased these from the twins' group ( fund raiser) that I belong too and they were a great bargain! Thanks Krysta for the inspiration!

Thanks for "hanging" with me!

2008-05-19T11:59:00.001-07:00

30:00
2.41
256.9

2008-05-18T09:07:00.001-07:00

30:00
2.39
249.8

Boys, Dirt, and more Dirt

2008-05-18T07:48:00.000-07:00

Finally, we got another beautiful day day! I had a party to go to and on my way, I couldn't believe the throngs (literally) of people that were out and enjoying the day. Honestly, there is nothing as beautiful as the Pacific Northwest when the sun is shining.

Nate and Will couldn't get enough of being outside. I think they could live in the dirt. Ironically though, even though they love the dirt, they are also fearful of small bugs and worms. The older boys, Hunter and his friend, had dug a fairly large hole in the back yard and everytime a worm came into view, Nate would run over to us and cried "snake, snake, snake bite me". Of course the "snake" never came close to him and when we tried to get him to touch the worm he wouldn't.

Here are a few pictures of the boys from yesterday. Here is Nate pointing at the "snake".

These are Will's bare feet.

The other thing the boys like to do is climb - of course. Here is Nate peeking out at Kevin who was mowing along the house.

Then, when I went to find Hunter, he was sneaking in a couple of crafty minutes :)
It looks like its going to be another gorgeous day here!

Hunter's Jog-a-Thon

2008-05-15T15:11:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Hunter's school's jog-a-thon. He ran 15 laps this year, can't remember how many he ran last year and now I'll know this year's numbers for next year. (haha)

Anyway, it had been yucky mucky weather earlier this week but today is beautiful and the kids got to run in the sun. Kevin was able to come home early and go with me and the boys to cheer Hunter on. Don't ask me why he is wearing a long sleeved shirt, I know that I reminded him this morning but you know how that goes. He does have a smile on his face, so I can't complain too much.
Here is Will sitting on Kevin's shoulders. He loves to be up .
And here is Nate showing his uncertainty. It took him a bit to get warmed up to the environment and then he was fine. He proceeded to spend the last part of the jog-a-thon running around knocking all the little orange cones over.

2008-05-15T11:53:00.000-07:00

30
2.34
243.9

2008-05-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

30:00
2.33
242.8