For old times sake

This weekend, we were reminiscing about Carlton's dance moves from the 90's tv show, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. I proceeded to demonstrate my Carlton impression and Phil Painter didn't think I was doing it right. After finding this video, I think I was pretty good. What do you think, Phil? This one's for you!

Rainier

This weekend we enjoyed a gourmet meal at the house of Chef Andrew Barfoot, after which we watched the Huskies go 0-3 (or is it 0-4)?
Today, we made the most of a beautiful day and went to Mt. Rainier with The Simons, the Farleys, Rick and Gale Paul and Phil and Leah Painter. It was free-day at the park which was a bonus, and we actually managed to go for a 3 mile hike with all the kids at the Sunrise lookout point. Clara seemed to do well in the bjorn, and Jane was sacked out the whole time in our front pack. Will rode in the back pack and in various people's arms during the trek. Rainier has been special to us ever since we got engaged there back in 2003 and we've managed to make it up there every year since.
In the past week, Will has added many new words to his vocabulary including dirt, purple, orange, hook (when he wants to watch Peter Pan), and gentle (which we've been trying to teach him ever since his sister was born).

Captain Will

Phil & Will enjoying the view

Attempting a family picture

with Leah

Clara having some carrots at the picnic

part of the group

The Exersaucer Milestone

Jane is starting to hit some developmental milestones (holding head up, trying to roll over). She is now strong enough to go in the exersaucer (for all you non-parents, it's a little saucer with a seat in the middle) and it made me reminisce back to Will's first experience back in April of 2007. Man, does time fly!

Will, April 2007




Jane, September 2008

Happy Birthday, Dad (aka Pa, or Papa)

Here are some pics from our b-day celebration for Dad:

The kid's table

Don't forget Janie!

Snuggling
Will and Evan
Here's a video of our adorable niece, Evan singing her version of "Happy Birthday"

Another video, this time of Will and Evey playing on a chair together

Round one

Fall is on the way and we can tell as we just got over round one of sickness. Hopefully we'll be healthy now for a little while at least. We did manage to go to the zoo last weekend and unfortunately I didn't get many pictures as my hands were too full! It was fun, though and a beautiful day. Now, whenever we see an animal that we saw at the zoo in a book or on a movie, Will nods his head like, "yeah, I've seen that before."
John's been traveling a lot--fall is always busy that way. Hopefully he'll drum up some good business!
Today was my first day of MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) with the kids. It's a time for fellow moms to learn from each other and from God's word. I'm excited to make some new friends as still don't have many close friendships with other moms. Child care is provided which is great, and Will actually had a great time even though he was in the nursery for almost 3 hours. This is HUGE for him as he historically has hated the nursery.

Will at the zoo

The huge car-grocery cart-nightmare to maneuver-mobile

Janie trying to roll over

A dejected Jake Locker

Cousins & Cooing

Cousins Clara and Jane got to hang out on the Farley's floor today:



Will enjoyed reliving his glory days in Clara's exer-saucer:

Jane is cooing:


Can you tell I love my kids? I can't stop taking pictures:

Temecula

We just returned from a fun whirlwind trip to Southern California. It was Jane's first plane ride and Will's first time with his own seat on the plane. The flight down went really well. The flight home, well, let's just put it this way. At one point, John leaned over to me and said, "I kind of hope the plane goes down."

Despite the joys of traveling with two kids under age 2, our trip was great. It turned into quite a cousin reunion. We were joined by Amy, Timmy and Caleb Stark who were visiting from Cold Lake, Canada while David was doing some flight training up in Iceland of all places. Beth Clauson, another cousin, also flew down from San Francisco. Finally, Chris Clauson, yet another cousin, drove over from San Diego.
During our visit, there were a total of 6 kids under age 3 (Caleb, Timmy, Will, Brielle, Cadence and Jane), and 2 babies in utero (don't worry, not us!) which made for quite an adventure. I never managed to get a picture with all the kids in the frame--impossible.
We had a great time swimming, and just enjoying each other's company. Josh and Tiff are always wonderful hosts--thanks guys!

Brielle and Jane

Swimming in the pool

Timmy, Caleb and Amy Stark

Timmy

Beth and Jane

Josh giving his girls a swim lesson

Janie on her way to church

Tiff entertaining four of the six kids

Johnny multi-tasking