Ethan hosts a play date

Ethan hosts a play date for Olivia, Liam and Ryan. Play dates are a wonderful opportunity to learn patience and hoan out manners. Ethan I might add is excellent at saying his "peas" and "dank coo". Sometimes "dank coo" is followed by "now" which to Ethan has the same meaning. We are working on that...

I baked a lemon cake for the occasion. Ethan picked out this little guy to put on the cake stand instead of the spider which he threw on some lemons then ran off giggling. (as if he got away with something)

Simply precious.

Once all the friends left Ethan and I buckled down to a few chores. I threw this pile of laundry from the dryer on our coach to use the bathroom. Look who crawled on top and fell asleep? I must have been home for a minute.

Great Harvest

Call it beginners luck that we had such a great harvest this year. It was so fun to deliver these produce gift baskets to our friends and neighbors. We had a few good laughs coming up with combinations of herbs, flowers, fruits and vegetables for each family we shared our harvest with. Aidan had a hard time deciding which zucchini to keep and which to give away. He would sometimes protest that he did not want "yuckie ties" ( my signature colored raffia) tied on the herbs. Some of our friends received one sunflower while others received a whole bouquet. My favorite part of growing a garden this year was to watch Aidan stand tall and proud when he announced that the gifts were from his and Ethan's garden. So nice of him to include Ethan who spent many laborious afternoons watering the plants.

This is the most fruitful pear tree ever and it thrives in our backyard! Last winter after coming home from a fruit pruning class from my Master Gardener course, I broke out the clippers and pruned with confidence. Then in the early spring after the the flowering period when the pears showed, I thinned out the clusters of fruit. The result is a pear tree to share with the entire neighborhood!

Aidan and Ethan where given a couple packs of sunflower seeds. I let them go to town and plant what we call a secret garden.

Nice work boys!

This picture makes me swoon!

We have already picked eight peppers from this plant and it's still going.

We share a lot of the crop with the birds this year. Yellow cherry tomato's were more popular with them than the red variety. Also as soon as the Aidanberries and Ethanberries from the two blue berry bushes we planted in honor our boys started to turn a hint of blue, the birds flocked to them before we could.

Some of what we grew was for show to see how big they would get. We found large zuchini's are best grated and put into pasta sauce... with meat balls. Yum!

GOAL!!!

Bears (silver) vs. Robots (blue)

Aidan plays soccer through AYSO. I was really impressed on how well the game was organized for four year olds. These mini athlete's took all the drills seriously and applied what they learned right away. The first half an hour on the field is practice and the second half hour they play three on three without a goal keeper.

All the practice drills from last Saturday were done in pirate terms. This drill was called stopping the sail.
'
It's game time.

Look at them GO!

Everyone on the field had a special job.

Ethan the water boy.

Daddy the trainer. Mom - being a paparazzi parent.

Aidan tried to shoot a goal three times. On the third try he did it!!! I was too busy cheering him on to take pictures. Aidan turned to where Kyle and I were standing and flashed us this look with his arms out like he was flying and shouted" Mom did you see THAT".

Another parent gives Aidan a high five as he rotated off the field. I thought that was so nice!

Everyone wins in AYSO soccer because they do not keep score.

GO BEARS!!!!

My Little Dumplings

Dumplings for dinner !!!

After a totally rockin' first day at school Ethan helped make dinner. I started to pull all the ingredients out of the fridge when Aidan said, mom Ethan and I want to help. Help is always a tricky request because it's hard to gage how much "help" I will actually have. I looked at the clock and it was only 5:15pm. There was time to kill before Kyle waltz in the door so I said "boys, grab your stools and listen carefully." Aidan said " I need to go wash my hands. Ethan come on, we have to wash our hands before we cook." I knew at that moment that this lesson was going to be a good one.

Ethan loved playing with the stuffing and took the approach of a pro as if he has made dumplings many times before ( with play dough). Never mind the eggs that holds all the corners together, Ethan found a short cut of smash all the part together until they looked like a wadded ball.

Ethan was on a roll. He wore a totally serious face like a mad won ton chef.

Surprisingly they were able to share one cutting board without a fight.

Aidan followed my every word of instruction. I think he liked all the different textures, smooth won ton wrapper, squishy filling and slimy egg.

The perfect dumpling.

Kyle caught this fantastic shot of Ethan in the process of washing our hands for dinner. We were all too busy cooking to notice Ethan's pants falling down. What a cute toosh!

Ethan goes to school

Ethan had an awesome start to the school year. He was so excited once I handed him the red lunch box, Ethan took off running and stopped at the front entrance of the building to give it a long stare.

A stair case to the left of the door looked interesting so we took a little detour to investigate.

Nola joined us. School is better when you have a friend there. Nola and Ethan play together at the gym's childcare program. Also Nola's brother Luca and Aidan are friends. Nola's father will be coaching Aidan and Luca's soccer team this year so we will be seeing a lot of their family this year. Yeah!

Ethan is making a pouring sound which sound which I can almost hear when I look at this picture. It's so fun to see his imagination come to life. Ethan has a sound for all his play actions. The funniest is when he pretends to snore because it's really loud and no one in our family snores. Makes me wonder where he gets it from.

I love this facility because there is ample room to be agile. Notice all the natural lighting. Ethan's four hour time here is split into three play spaces. There's another room of this size with different play stations and an age appropriate play ground outside with an alternate large play area inside for bad weather days. When the teacher described some of their activities for the year like painting with balloons, my eyes lit up like a two year old. I want to play too.

There was no way Ethan was going to get away without a picture with mom. Fours hours to fit in all our family errands. I will either be busy doing stuff for the boys or busy missing them.

Got Milk?

Aidan asks us questions all day long. I love his inquisitiveness. We try our best to always be honest no matter the question. Here's the situation of this morning that goes in the books as the start of many awkward honest answers.

Our family was standing around in the kitchen. I pulled whole grain waffles out of the freezer to stick them in the toaster. Kyle had one arm wrapped around me ready to embrace on our "good day" kiss with the arm reaching for his keys and wallet. Ethan had his head in the pantry looking for pretzels for breakfast. Aidan came to us mid way in the process of getting dressed. Gripping his chest he asked " What is this?"

Kyle: "That is your nipple"
Aidan: " does it have milk inside?"
Kyle: "Only mommy had milk inside."
Aidan turns to me and continues "mommy, remember when I was a little baby and I got to drink from you?"

Kyle takes this opportunity to exit the conversation and scoot out the door. " I'll let mom tackle these questions."

Thu answers to Aidan: " Yes, I do remember. Then you turned one and became too big to drink from mommy."
Aidan " Ethan too?"
Thu: " Yes, Ethan too."
Aidan " Mom, why doesn't dad have milk?"
Thu: " That is because the mom's are the ones who carry the babies and so our bodies we built to have to milk"

Here I am thinking , this conversation has to end, it's getting too deep for me to glaze over with four year old appropriate answers.

Then Aidan asks another stooper " Mom, does dad stuck on your nipples?"
Stunned as I flip off the coffee machine. Then, a "DING" - saved by the toaster bell. I turned around with two hot waffles in my hand being mindful not to ignore Aidan's question I replied
" Yes, but not for milk. Now, would you like butter or maple syrup with your waffle this morning?"

"BUTTAAAH" Ethan screamed.
I walked to the table and swept them in another chapter of " The Twits."

Happy Anniversary Darling

Kyle and I were actually married in at the court house in Seattle a month after he prosed. The elopement only happened because Kyle had accepted an offer abroad. Since we did not want to spend a year of engagement apart, we thought we would get the paper work out of the way and plan a totally awesome wedding for the following year. Two weeks later we found out that we were expecting Aidan. In our case order never mattered. I believe what happened was meant to be.

Our secret to staying married is quite simple. Those who sleep together stay together. We try to as best as we can to go to bed at the same time. ( with a few exceptions such as when Ethan was three months old and I was so exhausted at the end of the day Kyle graciously tucked me into bed before putting the boys to bed) Here is the start of our family. I love the detail in this picture. Kyle's look of love. The orchids in my hair, I would wear flowers in my hair every day if I could. And me holding Aidan's hand to include him in on the first dance.

Hurricane winds hit the golf course site were we were expected to say our vows over looking the green. Our secret to passing the hard issues in our marriage is a bit of a joke to say we already weathered the storm. By the time we hit our first year anniversary we had already moved abroad, adjusted to a being married and had our first child together.

What it really comes down to is lots of good coffee helps us stay married:) I love you bumpkin'.