Portland Getaway

This weekend I took a quick road trip to Portland with some close friends; Andrea, Alainna, Goose, Kim and I drove to Portland to stay with Sheila who is now living there. The motivation for the trip was our good friend Erin aka, Graybill was visiting from England and staying with family in Portland. It was great to get everyone together and really felt like old times, all of us getting ready together, sharing clothes and makeup and starting each morning with coffee and 'Friends' re-runs.

Alainna, Sheila, Andrea, Goose, Kim and myself

Sheila and I

Pink Trees!

I just love how pretty our block is this time of year. Just a few photos of the kids walking to the park on Friday.

I love her little braids

Oh yes, Finn was there too. He was in constant motion and didn't comply to my requests for photos.

Shouka!

Her killer Whale from the whale show this summer...goes everywhere and does everything with her. Today she put the little camera on Shouka and said it was his work badge (does look like daddy's lariat style badge) and he wanted his picture taken.

Healthy Smile!

Addie had her first dental appointment yesterday. She and I both went for our cleaning at Dr Schumaker's office. I thought that we would have our cleaning one after the other, but she had her teeth cleaned and checked by the Dr while I had mine done in another room... They had asked her if she wanted to wait for her mom, and she said "No, I'm ready to meet the dentist!". She thought it was all great fun teeth polishing and suction and all! It didn't hurt that after her teeth being declared in perfect health, she got to pick a toy from the toy bin AND get a new toothbrush with lightning mcqueen on it!

Sunday at Alki

Today after we got our new stroller, we found ourselves at Alki Beach with a few hours before church. We had a wonderful lunch at the Alki Bakery (who knew they made the best cinnamon roll in the world!) took short walk, and then let the kids play in the sand for a bit.

We had forgotten how lovely it is at Alki and will surely return soon!

Good to the last bite!

Shouka wouldn't miss out on a trip to the water!

Working around the Yard

Saturday we worked on our yard with some help from Gramma and Grampa. Daddy and Grampy worked hard on the fence in the backyard, hopefully it will be done soon!

Watching 'The Red Balloon'.

Got the time?! Addie loves her new cow watch from Mimi!

Enjoying the backyard, and being her silly self!

Addie loves to wash the car...Mommy, not so much, thats why it needed to be done so badly!

Shopping and a Date!

Mom blessed us with her presence on Friday. We enjoyed lunch at Nordstrom followed by some shopping.

Blake and I are working on more frequent date nights, and had our second this month-thanks to mom!

Kids with Colds

We spent last week getting through yet another cold. I took the kids outside for some sun each day. This particular day they wanted to sit together and were full of giggles and feeding each other crackers.

Surviving the Sick and Teething

We are still getting through this latest cold, and poor Finn is cutting the molars and canines, one corner at a time. Today poor guy is quite swollen and bleeding from his gums in one spot, ouch! Despite all that our little man has been in good spirits all day. We need to break out of the quarantine for a short bit, so went out for pizza, runny noses and all!

Video 1 is Finn playing peekaboo at dinner, and video 2 is Finn doing a little dance to Journey, right before bed (with a second person we can coax him into really shaking it, bummer I don't have that video!).

Ice Cream/Library Date with Grampy

Other News...

Finn gave his very own special gift...saying both Grandpa (Boppa!) and Grandma's (ammahh!) names so that they could hear and understand him. He also said Behll (Belle the dog), but I don't think she appreciated it quite as much. It was interesting that he was able to differentiate between the two yellow labs Thor and Belle, calling Belle by her name, and Thor, "dog". A few of the other new, recognizable words lately are, "hot", "bye bye" and "bath".

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Today is Grandpa Cobb's 61st birthday. We were lucky to share the weekend with Grammy and Grampy as an early celebration to the milestone. It was a wonderful time for all, through I was suffering from a nasty cold and the accompanying exhaustion.

Some of the fun included Addie getting a special trip to the new library and the ice cream store with just Grampy (there is a photo of this event that I am hoping to get my hands on!), a birthday dinner with the Larsons, coffee with Uncle Jay, Sunday lunch at the Calico Cupboard in La Conner and a little unexpected extra.

A few pics from our time:

Addie spends a lot of time at Grampy's desk drawing. In this particular photo, she was drawing whales and eyeballs.
Look brother, two yellow dogs
The only picture I managed to get of the birthday boy.

Baby Chicks

While we were on Whidbey, Grampy took the opportunity to buy new laying hens with Addie's help. She took each visitor that came to Grammy's over the weekend out to see the baby chicks; she was so proud of them!

It was fun for Addie to do something I grew up doing!

Dress-up at Grammy's

Grammy has a chest of special dress up things at her house for Addie.

Finn was fascinated watching Addie play...and first chance he got, he took off with her necklaces!

Mama's Little Helper!

After a trip to the mall, Addie was very nap-ready when we got home, but Finn was full of energy. He ran around with the two balloons he and Addie were given at Nordy's and helped me with my cleaning and dishes (which he lives to do!).

Two balloons that he kept getting tangled in.

Balloon and one of his favorite red balls

He loves to help out!

"Hiiiiyyy!"

Finn loves any sort of phone these days. Or even anything that he thinks might resemble a phone, like the dvd player remote or i pod.
"Hiiiiyyy", "Dada, dada!".

Addie with the same pretend blackberry in February of 2008, Finn's same age!

Busy Man

Finn is pretty good at managing to carry things and walk by now...but sometimes, he just tries to multi-task a little too much and ends up with a lovely bruise from a crash or fall. He is often seen enjoying a beverage, carrying several red balls and a blanket while briskly walking...and not watching where he's going! Oh the trials of little boys.
Here are some pics of him today, juggling only one task at once and paying careful attention to where he was at! I am grateful for no "head bonks" (as Addison calls them) today.

Swanson's Nursery

Today we met up with the Thompson's at Swanson's nursery in Seattle. April and I had fun shopping and planning for our spring garden, and the kids played together and enjoyed lunch at the cafe inside.
These koi were the highlight for all four kids. They were so big and set up for easy viewing (Finn and Kellen both managed to sneak in some fish patting, though we tried to prevent it!).

Pre-Church Coffee

We were all really tired this Sunday after working, and running all Saturday...we needed a little caffeine!
This was Finn's first Sunday where he joined Addie in children's church. I was a bit apprehensive about it, but it went perfectly. I asked Addison how Finn did; "he was sad and cried a little, so I hugged him and kissed him and he was all better". The official word was that he cried for a minute and then settled in and was perfectly happy. We are thankful it was such an easy transition from sitting with mom!

Ooh what'd I get...

Mmmm!