Flower Girl

Ken and I actually went somewhere without the kids last Saturday . . . and while we were gone our babysitter took these cute pictures of Amelia with the dahlias that she had grown in her garden.  Aren't they great?  Oh yeah, and Amelia looks great too ;)

Beach Weekend

We had our last getaway for the summer at Neskowin, OR.  The forecast was for sun all 3 days - what luck!  However, when we got there, it was anything but sunny.  It was cold and damp, but that didn't slow down Amelia.  She refused to wear a jacket - I'm surprised she didn't get sick.

Our friends, Liza and daughters (MJ & Lucy) came with us.  MJ didn't bring a jacket, so she just wrapped up in my jacket, a towel, and her umbrella (that went everywhere she did).

Grandma Diane came with us too.  Sophia loved having someone to hold her whenever she needed to be held.  We had to keep an eye on Sophia - twice we found her at the top of 3 flights of stairs, sitting there waiting for help to get back downstairs.  We obviously weren't the most alert parents that weekend.

The beach house had this cute little wagon, which made the short walk to the beach easy, even for little legs.

The sun came out in full force on Saturday and Sunday and we all enjoyed plenty of beach time.

 In between beach time, we played a little bocce ball.

Then it was back to the beach for more sand time.  Sophia and Amelia love playing in the sand.

Our friends, Janell and Tom came too, with their son Corbin.  It was a lot of fun to have 3 babies who were almost all the same age, and to see how different they each were.

When Sophia had enough digging, she just crawled off away from the noise and laid down in the sand for some quiet time.

The weather was perfect for s'mores on the beach at sunset.  Thanks to Tom for bringing enough roasting sticks for everyone.

House Hunters

Ken has been looking at houses online for almost 2 years.  When we were pre-approved, our house-hunting became more serious.  We looked at a lot of houses online, drove by a bunch of those, and went inside our favorites.

HOUSE #1

Pros:  3-Bedrooms, 1 acre lot; farther away from suburbia, but close enough to be practical for shopping; separate shop where Ken could play drums.  Cons: no indoor area for kids to play when it rains, 1 acre lot (it's both a pro and a con), and a formal living & dining room (who uses those anyway?)

HOUSE #2

Pros: Newer house w/wood floors, 4 bedrooms, 3-car garage, most inexpensive house of the 3, beautiful yard.  Cons: Close to neighbors on all 3 sides, the master bathroom has a door to the outside, located in a town South of our current location (so farther for Ken to drive for work and gigs), and even though the house is 2300 sq. ft, it feels smaller inside.

HOUSE #3

Pros: 2800 sq. ft, 4 bedrooms, large bonus room for the kids to play in (or guests to sleep in), 3-car garage, greenbelt behind house.  Cons: No bathtub on 2nd floor w/ kid's bedrooms, still within earshot of the train (but not close enough to "feel" it like we do at our current location), 20-year old home so we'd like to do upgrades (eventually), and higher utility costs.

And the house we chose?  You'll find out right after these commercial messages.






Nah, just kidding.  You don't have to wait that long.  We chose House #3.  Our offer was accepted yesterday.  And now the fun begins:  home inspection, appraisal, shopping for a new refrigerator (it doesn't come with one), waiting for closing, packing and cleaning our old house, painting (maybe), and perhaps remodeling the bathroom upstairs.  Ken hasn't slept good for 2 nights.  Me?  I'm so sleep deprived, I fall asleep whenever my head hits the pillow.  I don't think the reality of this has sunk in yet, but I'm excited and ready for the new adventure.

Sophia "walking"

Sophia is doing her best at trying to become more mobile.  She started by pushing the laundry basket around, and has progressed to the little car.  Soon she'll be off and running on her own.

Bus Ride

Amelia loves buses.  She thinks every big vehicle is a bus and points them out wherever we are.  So today, I took the girls on their first bus ride . . . and we went to the library, so that we could do two fun things in one day. 

Waiting for the bus.

 So excited to be riding the bus!

 Sophie didn't seem too excited, but at least she wasn't fussy . . . which was great since she didn't get her morning nap.

The driver said I could let Amelia sit in the driver seat (nice guy, huh?), but knowing how she loves to sit in our cars and "drive", and not wanting to create a scene, I chose to opt for just in front of the bus.

It was a great adventure, and the only mishap was Amelia's skinned knees - from falling on the sidewalk as we ran to the library.  But thanks to the librarian who gave us 2 band-aids, even that was just more to tell Daddy when he got home from work ;)

Ken's Gig

Ken had a gig tonight . . . a concert in the park . . . in a nearby park . . . from 7-8pm.

I thought, "this is perfect!"  The weather is great, I can take the kids, they'll enjoy seeing Daddy play, we'll be back home before bedtime, I'll get to enjoy the music, and everyone will be happy.

So I packed up the house - you know how it is when you take kids anywhere - and we drove 20 minutes to the park.  We got all settled in, said hello to Daddy and sat through 15 minutes of announcements and blah, blah, blah.  And then the music started.

And this is what Amelia did.

We tried moving farther away from the music, but wouldn't you know it, the city of Olympia has a great sound system . . . and it was loud everywhere!  And Amelia just wanted to go home.

Sophia didn't seem to mind it . . . she can't figure out what Amelia is doing.  She thinks Daddy and his band sound pretty good.

So after 20 minutes, we pack up the "house" and head back home.

I bet some day, we'll be the ones complaining that Amelia's music is too loud ;)

Firsts

A few weeks ago, when I was with my cousin at the park, I let Amelia take her first picture.  I had forgotten all about it, until last night when I uploaded other pictures from the camera to the computer.  Considering Amelia is only 2 1/2 feet tall, I'd say she did pretty good - if she was taller, she would have nailed it!

 Last night when we were looking at a house, we let Amelia and Sophia explore the house . . . and suddenly Sophia was climbing the stairs!  We don't have stairs at our house and this was her first experience with them.  I was pretty impressed that she made it half-way up before I carried her back down the stairs.