First Day of Preschool

This morning was Emerson's first day of preschool!  He's been excited all summer since he turned 3 and an official "big boy who gets to go to preschool and bowling."

He said his favorite part was making a fruit loop necklace.  Many more favorite parts to come, I'm sure.

A Night at the Races

This weekend we went to Skagit Speedway to watch Uncle David race his motorcycle. It was absolutely terrifying (for me).  We got to watch go-karts and motorcycles and they went SO fast. And the boys loved every minute of it, especially Elliott who declared that he would be doing that soon.

(Above photo courtesy of Emerson)

Equally as much, the boys enjoyed the concessions both.  

 Emerson did wear earplugs part of the time. He repeatedly took them out, put them in his mouth and tried to spit them out like a rocket ship. Then we put them back in his ear. Gross, I know. But I only had the one set. Next time I'll bring two sets: one for his ears and the other for spitting.

Bird Watching

I ran into our neighbor at Qdoba yesterday and she casually asked about what we were up to that afternoon.
I replied, "We going bird watching in Leavenworth," and it was definitely an answer she was not expecting.

But bird watching is exactly what we did and it was fabulous.

We started our adventure on Blackbird Island.

Here they are on the hunt for birds. This whole experience was Kristi's idea. Kristi has gotten Elliott interested in birds.  They sit around and practice bird calls.  Cute and weird all at the same time.

Listening to birds on Kristi's phone.  Emerson's version of the bird calls were kissing noises. Not effective, but again, very cute.

 Emerson had to be carried some of the time because he had a tendency to run off....and there were signs all over warning us to be on the lookout for bears (really) and reminding us not to run.  Emerson was a prime target so we kept him as close as possible.

  Elliott carefully documented his bird sightings.

Elliott's looking for birds (fake) hidden in trees. 

We all really enjoyed finding the hidden birds. It was a bit like looking for Easter eggs!

Inside the museum, we check out their snakes, spiders, tortoises and fish.

Here Emerson is dissecting an owl pellet and examining (breaking) the bones of a mouse.

Elliott really liked the owl pellet and we really washed his hands after.

We had lots of fun jumping between beds doing fancy StarWars moves.

Emerson couldn't quite make it. Jason kept encouraging him to taking a running leap. And he did. Smack into the side of the bed. Jason and I giggled about that off and on for hours!

We were all tuckered out when we finally decided to head home. Especially Emerson who feel asleep in between ordering our McDonald's food and receiving it.

Some Days

Some days I'm in awe of the mess kids can make. I sent Emerson upstairs to use the bathroom which apparently to him meant he was supposed to stand on my bathroom counter and pee.  He called for me (because he was annoyed by the pee on his leg) and when I went upstairs, he stepped toward me, slipped on his pee and knocked a glass bottle of massage oil on to the floor (it shattered) and simultaneously spilled my perfectly brewed cup of Market Spice tea onto the oil mess on the floor and somehow managed to get a (used) q-tip into the last bit of tea I managed to save in my cup.

It was such a huge mess that it was picture-worthy, but I'm disappointed the photo below just doesn't capture the moment as much I wanted it too.

But since photos of my kids are much more interesting than photos of my bathroom mess, here are some pictures of our recent trip to Country Village with grandma. We took a city bus ride to get there.

About 2 minutes after this last photo was taken, Emerson was asleep in my arms and Elliott was sprawled out on that back seat nearly asleep himself.

Happy 5th Birthday Elliott

This weekend we made up for all the past birthdays we let pass by without much fanfare.  In the past we've had small family gatherings, but no major parties.  We've also been known to 'forget' to buy gifts for our own children's birthdays which is easy to do with Aunts and Grandmas who spoil them rotten. But with Elliott turning 5 this year (or 1.25 depending on your calculations), he had a pretty good idea of what birthdays are supposed to include....cupcakes, balloons, gifts of course!

And oh yeah....4 of his favorite friends who were dropped off for a few hours of fun.

With lots of energy to burn, we headed outside for a giant lightsaber fight. The pictures tell who won.

 Boy was it muddy! (and other things too...but that was cleaned off with toothbrushes)

And very exciting, thoughtful presents that delighted Elliott.

Delicious StarWars cupcakes...decorated with a greeting card from his grandma that happened to arrive the day I was trying to figure out an easy way to decorate the cupcakes according to the requested StarWars theme.

And the big event of the night was watching StarWars...lots of smiles and snuggles.

Followed a little pre-bedtime coloring.

Definitely birthday success.

Cleaning Day

This morning I desperately needed to catch up on cleaning and chores around the home.  I was scrubbing the sink when I noticed how peacefully the boys were playing together.  I should have known better.

Minutes later Batman and Batman visited:

Thankfully, they were there to protect me while I cleaned.

But later, this little batman decided that the house was much too clean for him and insisted on painting time.

Little Gymnast

Emerson wore himself out at a friend's fun birthday party.  No fear in this boy.