Weekend Bliss

We had such a great weekend: sun, eating outside, and delighting in our family.

Will and Clara (13 months)

Fun in the yard:


Jane is close to walking. She may walk before she breaks her first tooth!

Will's furnace burns hot

The high today was maybe 71 degrees, but it may as well have been 90. Will was "too hot" and had to take his shirt off as soon as we arrived home from the park this afternoon

Playing in the yard and at the new park off of Issaquah Hobart Road



Feeling better with fewer clothes on :-)

Early Mother's Day Gift

I received an early Mother's Day gift from Will a couple of weeks ago. He went to a Home Depot Kid's workshop and made me a Mother's Day wheel barrow to hold a flower pot. Seeing him walk through the door in his Home Depot apron, toting the wheel barrow proudly and saying "Happy Mother's Day" (as coached) was so precious. I sure do love my kids!

We love Bocce but apparently aren't very good at it

We were invited to attend a Young Life fundraiser Bocce ball tournament for the Sky Valley area on Saturday. We have a long history of Bocce championships in our family, but neither Simon team fared too well on Saturday. Time to lick our wounds, work on our game, and get geared up for the Issy/Sammamish tournament in August!

Bocce Bandits

A dejected Team Dirty Santa (with Carlton shirts...not sure how there is a connection between the name and the uniforms...)

Completely unrelated to this post's topic, but here are some recent pictures of the kiddos and their cousins

Kiddo Update

I just uploaded some pictures from the weekend and realized that I have taken 181 pictures this month--a record even for me!
Must have been a lot going on this month which reminds me, I haven't done a kiddo update in a while:

Will at 2 and some change:
This is such a classic Will face when he is kind of unhappy but hasn't quite gone over the edge. It makes me laugh:

Recent accomplishments: Talking in phrases (since February-ish), climbs into his own car seat and waits to be buckled in, we are also beginning to figure out Will's food intolerances and he is doing SO much better health-wise
Loves: Trucks, trucks and more trucks, and as always, his Will-sized Pooh Bear
Doesn't love: when Sissy shares his trucks
Tender Moments: Held Jane's hands and danced with her today and then tackled her (which Jane loved), gave her a big hug and said "Two friends."
Also, yesterday, we shared one of those double-popsicles out on the porch. I gave him his half and he held it out and said, "Cheers." Will is SUCH a snuggler. He will snuggle with anyone who is willing!
Jane at 10 months:

Recent accomplishments: clapping, pointing, crawling (as of mid-March), standing on her own for a few seconds, sleeping pretty consistently for at least an 8-10 hour stretch
Loves: Other kids, playing hide-and-seek with Will, her blankie
Doesn't love: when I leave her in the church nursery (the days of getting paged every Sunday about 15 minutes into the sermon have returned), getting frequent ear infections (although she's been ear infection free for almost a month and we're praying that she'll stay healthy)
Tender Moments: Snuggle time before bed is our favorite. Also, Will always pets Jane's head and says "Night Night, Sissy" before bed time and Jane just beams at him with pure adoration.

Coulon Park revisited

Obviously a lot has changed in our family in the past year--it's grown by a whole person! I was reminded of this in a very tangible way when we met my dad at Coulon Park a couple days ago. Almost exactly one year ago, I took Will to this same park on a similarly warm April day. I was almost 8 months pregnant with Jane at the time and Will and I had a great morning playing at the park. Before we left, I decided to take Will to look at the ducks who were swimming in the water near the beach. To my surprise, Will took off at a full-on run into the water. He didn't get far of course, but we were both absolutely soaked, clothes and all. I'm sure we were a site to see (picture soaking wet hugely pregnant lady toting a stripped-down 14 month-old back to her car)
Well, Tuesday, I sat at the beach in the same spot thinking about how much our family has grown and changed in the past year. No longer pregnant but now, only one year later, with a vibrant 2 year old and soon-to-be 1 year old. I was thankful to have another set of hands with me this time, as Jane would've loved to repeat what her brother accomplished last April by taking an unplanned dip in Lake Washington. She took off crawling towards the water every chance she could get.

Afternoon at Luther Burbank Park