Christmas Card 2012 Preview

Don't look if you want to be surprised when it comes to your mailbox!

 

Photo Card

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Pain of a Father

I'm not in favor of haircuts for tiny kids anymore....tonight we took Judah to get his haircut and instead of a fun trip to a kids playground with a haircut on the side, we had a traumatic experience. Everything was fine and fun (see photo) till the mean lady with the noisy vibrating razor blades started trying to attack his neck... Then my heart was ripped out by having my son look into both his parents faces with confusion and overwhelming fear, wondering why they would put him in this race car chair like some sort of sick trick..... And, finding that he couldn't escape, and realizing that they actually wanted him there....breaking down, mouth quivering, then sobbing, hands trembling with fear and clutching to moms finger as if to life itself.....and then the Father being asked if he could please hold his son still, in a headlock, so she could trim the hair around his ears....all for what? "Oh, think of how cute he'll look...", I said to my wife. The shame of my vanity has no end....

Pumpkin Hunting

We made another visit to Fairbank Farm this year. This is the farm literally right around the corner from our house. They are open on Saturdays in October and have animals and pumpkins. It was fun to take Judah back this year and remember how little he was last year. He really enjoyed feeding the ducks and chickens. We also saw really cute little pigs, a horse, a cow, lots of ducks, chickens, and other birds. He also enjoyed the pumpkins and the wheelbarrow. Of course the first thing he did when he was in the pumpkin patch was try to lift up a big pumpkin. He eventually found a little one and proceeded to toss it into the air like a ball. After our farm visit we went out for lunch to our favorite Chinese restaurant, Taster’s Wok. Judah loved it and ate really well. Later in the day we were able to attend our friend, Logan’s, 2nd birthday. He is one of our friends we walk with on Friday mornings. He had party hats, books, and ballons at his party, all were a huge hit.

Just for fun, here's our family picture from last year.

And some more fun pics from our day.

 

Who needs a fancy t-ball set

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Jamie and I looked over from discussing a project to see Judah teeing up his ball on the patio umbrella holder and then hitting it with the broom stick.

Pure Child Excitement

Barista in Training

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Judah's watched Dad make coffee a few times with his expresso machine and thought he would give it a try. We played coffee making for quite a while. My favorite part didn't make the video, when he found the old discarded coffee pucks and popped one into the portafilter. I had to move those :) Funny how much kids pick up, he doesn't have many words but buy does he understand!

Michelle and Jamie at Sam and Kaylee's wedding

Here's a shot of Michelle and I at the coolest place for a wedding (and best weather) possible.

Toy Rotation, So Far a Success!

I swapped out toy set 1 for set 2 this week and Judah has been having so much fun playing with these toys (once he discovered they were new in his baskets). We’ve rotate between blocks, books, laptop, trucks, racecars, and the kitchen. With a visit to the deck or backyard also thrown in. I love that he’s doing such dedicated play now, not sure if its the age or this toy rotation, but it can’t be hurting. I decided we need to probably rotate the moving toys (fire truck and grocery cart) at least in and out of his room. He’s also definitely taking more of an interest in books then he has previously which I love. One thing to note when I reorganize for Christmas and Birthday, probably can remove the ring stacker and some of the other babyish things, he just isn’t interested in them much.

Judah News- September 16

Judah’s new favoite book, “Brown Bear” has lots of animals in it so we’ve been working on learning the sounds they make and their names. Judah has taken it a step farther and has recognized that the frog in the book is just like his stuffed frog and the doggy in the book is like Ally the dog and his stuffed dog. He also likes to look at all the pictures in the Jesus Storybook Bibile, so we do abbreviated Bible stories as we flip through the pages. It’s good for me to think on the fly about how to summarize and remind him of each story. In other BIG news, Judah went pee on his potty for the first time this week! Jamie took him in and sat with him for awhile, wet his hand with a washcloth, and he went. He was a bit surprised by what happened. The next day we practiced a few times, but the one time he went it was after he started running for the door and it got all over the floor. Oh well, guess that gives me time to read up on this potty training stuff. I’m hopeful he’ll be ready after he turns two, but have every expectation that he might be three.

This week we also got to go to the zoo! Even better, Dad got to come with us. We got our zoo pass so now we can come back even more often. We saw penguins, elephants, gorillas, a zebra, and a hippo. It was great!

FH Visit for Kaylee and Sam's Wedding

After our fun weekend with the Johnson’s it was really hard to go back to work. So after one day we decided to cut out early and head the island on Thursday since Adam had the day off. We caught the morning ferry and were there by 11. I had to work some so I hung at Andi and Dan’s office to get stuff done while Jamie took Judah to see some construction equipment. Then it was off to Stone’s where we had yummy sausage for lunch and Judah headed to bed in his tent. The weather was gorgeous so we did lots of hanging on the front porch, sipping sun tea, and doing our nails. Ashley and I even painted Judah’s purple, which his Dad did not appreciate, but he was really excited about them. The Zaehring clan came over for more yummy food at dinner and Bryan and Jenn joined us again after bedtime to do some singing and recording.

Friday was full of more hanging out, topped off by a beach BBQ in Kaylee and Sam’s honor. Adam made all this yummy sausage for it, so we ate well yet again. Judah loved the sand and the water and had a great time playing with cousin Hazel. We got to see lots of island friends, including the extended Ellingson clan, which was great.

Saturday started out with garage sales! Our favorite. I picked up an awesome stool for Judah in the kitchen, some fabric for jean blankets, and candy land. We spent the afternoon at the Zaehrings, where we got out the sand and water table for the kids. They proceeded to get super messy because of course I had not brought a change of clothes. Then it was lunch and naps. I headed to the store and made some cornbread for Sunday brunch. Once Judah woke up we had to hightail it back to Stones to get ready for the wedding. Ashley did my hair and makeup which was a huge treat. Then back to town to board the bus to Lime Kiln Lighthouse. The wedding was gorgeous, overlooking the sunset. They had champagne and pictures after, followed by a reception in town. The food at the reception was particularly amazing.

Sunday was Gus’ dedication at church. I wasn’t feeling well so Judah and I missed out, but Jamie was able to stop in to represent us. Then we were off on the ferry to head home.

Judah's Kitchen

I found a really cute blue, wooden kitchen on craigslist this weekend. It came with a bunch of wood food that you can “cut” up, as well as dishes and pots and pans. I set it up and we brought Judah in to see it, unfortunately we forgot the patio door open so he totally didn’t see it in his qwest to get outside. After bringing him back in and putting him right in front of it he was super excited and started playing immediately. I think he played for over 2 hours with it, we had to make him stop at 6:30 to eat some dinner, which is actually very late for his dinner, he usually gets cranky for it by 5:45. This morning he was right back at it and kept pulling me over to it. One cute thing he kept doing was laying the pillow on the floor, pulling me over by the finger, and wanting me to lay down beside him. Not sit, lay down. Not sure where that was coming from, maybe he realized I should be comfy for all that playing he would be doing. Overall, a pretty successful CL find!

Labor Day Weekend

Our original plans to camp with some friends from Idaho got scrapped so we were looking for something fun to do for the holiday weekend. Jenn and Bryan were happy to oblige and joined us for a stay-cation at our house. We had a really relaxing, fun weekend hanging out at home. The kids loved playing together with the kitchen, shopping cart, swing, in the backyard, and in tents.

On Saturday morning Jenn and I got to take a fun outing to Value Village! I needed some 2T jeans for Judah and Jenn found some cute outfits for her kids. While there we found out about the Monday 50% off sale which we were also able to hit up. There Jenn really scored, getting a cartful of clothes for her kids. I found a few shirts for Judah and some sheets for the trailer.

Meanwhile, Jamie and Bryan visited the cash and carry to get a brisket, turkey, and chicken to smoke. They also picked up some supplies for Bryan to reinforce our deck railing. We had a yummy dinner of smoked chicken and creamed spinach. The brisket ended up getting done several hours early, at 5 am on Sunday, we held off and had it for lunch after church.

The other fun thing we did was some music recording with Jenn and Bryan. Jamie continued figuring out how to use the recording equipment and software to edit the music. He even found an old recording from Low Tide with the Stones.

Here's some more pics

Trucks On The Road

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Judah's current favorite book is Trucks. Here's Daddy reading it before bed.

Jean Quilts!

While I’m feeling all inspired to write about life I thought I’d tell you about my jean quilting project that I did for last Christmas. I had a stack of hole-y old jeans that I have been collecting basically since we were married. So when I say a stack I mean a big one. I’d collected them even before I knew how to quilt since its sacrilige in our family to 1. throw away a watermelon rind (why you ask? You make pickles with them of course! Though these new fangled watermelons don’t have nearly the rind they used to so those ones you can throw) and 2. throw away jeans that can be used to make blankets. Anyway, fast forward 6 years and I’ve learned to quilt, have a huge stack of jeans, a creative urge, and it’s Christmas coming up!

Now, my grandma’s jean blankets are usually squares but in order to maximize the number of blankets I could make I decided to get a bit creative and first start with strips. Also, this had the added benefit of minimizing sewing fabric back together. My other constraint was the fact that I had already procured several pieces of backing fabric at yardsales and the sale rack at Joann’s. This limited the dimensions of my blankets and in some cases made me get creative to use the whole piece of backing. In the end I was able to make 6 blankets! One for each of my female family members (they have to share with spouses) and one for me! Below is more detail on each blanket and the general order I finished them in, though I had them all mostly thought out well ahead of finishing the first.

 

1. Andi’s: Brown corduroy backing, 6” offset strips
2. Jenn’s: Gold upholstery backing, 10” strips with edging strips of 4” squares
3. Mom’s: Blue backing, 10” squares with 6” strip accents and a center of 5” squares
4. Grandma’s: Tan corduroy backing, 10” Strips
5. Amanda’s: Green backing, 6” random strips
6. Mine: Red upholstery backing, 6” squares

 

 

Voluntary Flowers

It was really fun this spring to find that a few of my plants had survived the winter. Here are two fuchsia plants from my hanging baskets that had buds on them this spring. I repotted them and now one has multiple blooms! The other is the mum I bought last fall. It has lots of lovely blooms already!

Judah Update August 19th

Disclaimer: These little updates are more for my own memories than anything, feel free to read or skip as you desire :)

Judah is getting some more words, the most popular of which are “what’s that” and “no”. He says no to everything, and then we ask him if he can say yes and he says “yes”. He is shaking his head yes and no to answer questions now. Like would you like oranges or bananas for breakfast? He is understanding commands like, pick that up and take it to the coffee table. He puts on his croc shoes by himself (though not always the right foot) which fit him mostly now. The other day we got him out of bed and he had removed his shirt so he gets that concept and is learning the mechanics of dressing. He knows how to step into his pants and helps with that (when he wants to wear them, we have a fair bit of “no pants” time). He loves brushing teeth, and mostly lets us do it, though he also loves sucking the paste off. His fork and spoon skills continue to improve and he can drink out of a cup or bottle by himself, though best to not let him carry it around (after I mopped up the spill on the carpet). He understands the concept of screwing on bottle lids and the like, though is still working on the mechanics of doing it. Also relatively new is tantrums when he doesn't get his way and whining to get our attention or when he needs help with something. We’re working on how to ask for help and get our attention without the whining/crying. He has started kissing us, directly on the mouth, but it is super sweet. One new thing that just happened was that he got upset when Brynn and Chloe started playing with his newest toy, the bicycle pump. So now we are getting to start teaching him about sharing. His favorite book is Trucks and he just giggles when you read it. He is doing really good sleeping in his tent in the trailer and loves to “fly” into it before bed to read books and snuggle up. We do before bed downtime play in his room when we read and sing songs. Then we pray and Daddy sings him Amazing Grace or How Great Thou Are or It is Well.

Toy Rotation

The abundance of toys in our house has finally driven me crazy so I finally initiated a toy rotation system, an idea I saw on Pinterest. The hardest part was just doing it, gathering and sorting the toys into sets. It went well once I got started, probably because I had mostly thought through what I wanted to put together a few days before. I decided not to break up the books yet and will leave out his firetruck for each set as well. The rotations are:

1. Guitar, piano, Mega Blocks, wagon, Cabbage Patch doll, bus with little people, tool bag, hardhats, two puzzles, stuffed monkey, remote control, black tablet, cell phone, hole-y ball, tractors, and Ikea cars.
2. Race track, plastic race cars, construction trucks, train, ring stacker, wooden blocks, drum set, soccer ball, stuffed dinosaur and penguin, Melissa and Dug puzzle, laptop, cell phone, and play badge.
3. Plastic trucks, metal race cars, tractor and animals, stuffed aligator and bear, Duplo blocks, xylophone, drawing pad, number puzzle, Lego fireman set, Ikea ball, plastic cell phone, wood ferry boat, and Melissa and Doug pounding bench.

I ended up storing the extra two sets in the plastic bins in the changing table that I already had! I had to move out the diaper/wipe supplies and bedding, but it all fit nicely into the baskets in the baker’s rack next to the changing table.

 

Conrad Visit and Olympic Peninsula Trip

My Aunt Stacy and her family (Rick, Ben, and Hannah) drove out from Fargo to pay us and the pacific northwest a visit. They did all the Seattle sites on Wednesday and then we joined them for some sightseeing Thursday. We all went in the Suburban to the Ballard Locks, Theo Chocolate, Paseo’s for lunch, the Fremont Troll, and Gas Works Park. They rounded out their afternoon with the Meadowdale hike.

Friday we all left for our camping trip on the Olympic Peninsula. As usual, it was not without its maintenance drama. We ended up putting tires on not only the trailer, but also the Suburban at the recommendation of the tire people since ours were not rated correctly for the load we were pulling. On the way to Tacoma we had some scary trailer wagging that made us stop at the next store and question these new tires. They informed us that we had been given a not so good recommendation on tires and made us an appointment to stop at the shop in Bremerton to have them swapped out. So we stopped, unhooked the trailer, got the tires changed, had lunch, hooked up the trailer, and went on our way. But while hooking back up the trailer we realized our emergency brake cable was frayed and actually broke. So slight detour again to an RV store. Except google took us down the wrong road which ended in a ballpark where couldnt’ turn around and we had to back down about a half mile before we could. Back on the road we found the store, bought the cable, installed it, and went on our way again. We arrived about 4 hours late to the campsite and missed out on Hurricane Ridge with the Conrads that day.

On Saturday the Conrads headed to Victoria on the ferry and we did Hurricane Ridge. It was gorgeous, great weather and views. Sadly Judah was not wanting to sit in the stroller or walk, only be held, so our hiking was limited. We headed home and Judah had a good nap while we relaxed. After nap we did the Merrymere waterfall hike, this time with Judah in the pack, which was much better, and good since the last bit is a bunch of stair climbing. Then it was back to camp to meet up with the family for dinner.

Sunday we broke camp and headed to the west side, by way of the Sol Duc Hot Springs. That was a fun time of playing in the pools and soaking up the sun. Judah enjoyed the warm kiddie pool. Then on to Kalaloch, right on the beach. It was cold at the beach with very little sun and onshore breezes, we all got out our pants and jackets. It was a nice campsite though, all in the squiggly trees, and distant from neighbors. We got out the bikes and did loops around the campground. Judah loved riding in the Wee Ride with Stacy (we forgot the trailer, darn).

On Monday we all drove up to the Hoh Rain Forest to hike. Judah again in the pack, which he enjoyed. Back home for nap and beachtime. Judah really enjoyed the beach, as did Ally. She loved flinging her the big rocks around and digging holes. The Conrads were her new bestest friends, doting on her and taking her for walks.

We had to depart for home on Tuesday, which was much too soon, we would have liked a few more days to explore and relax. We got home around 3:30 cleaned up the trailer, put away stuff, washed and vacuumed vehicles, grocery shopped, cooked dinner, did laundry, made banana bread, packed up Conrads, and then enjoyed a few episodes of Arrested Development. Conrads departed early Wednesday morning and were sad to see them go.

Side note: We did a lot of driving during this trip and to help Judah we listened to a lot of They Might Be Giants Here Come the ABC's and 123's. As a result we often had these kid songs stuck in our brain. As I was writing this, naming each day and what we did, I was reminded of one that became quite "popular", the Never Go to Work song. So, for Hannah, our trip theme song:

On Monday, I never go to work.

On Tuesday, I stay at home.

On Wednesday, I never feel inclined,

Work is the last thing on my mind.

On Thursday, it's a HOLIDAY!

And Fridays I detest.

Oh its much too late on a Saturday.

And Sundays a day of rest.

Here's some more great pics!

 

Baker Lake Camping Trip

Judah, Hazel, and Gus

We headed north to Baker Lake to enjoy a camping trip with the Zaehrings and Johnsons at the family’s favorite campsite. On the way we dumped out as part of the attempt to revive the seals on our blackwater tank valve with some special oil. After this yucky experience Jamie decided to see if we could find an RV maintenance place on the way to fix the valve once and for all. We found a shop with an opening in Mount Vernon. So we headed for Walmart to kill some time and let Judah run around the store (literally) for the first time. He loved it and it helped to have two chasers. He got a little box of animal crackers that he carried all around and a new water bottle with a straw. We then headed back and hung out at a great park right by the RV store. Brian’s Mom and her 10 year old friend, Aspen joined us for the weekend. The weather was crazy warm and beautiful, the beach and lake were jam packed with people. The kids loved running around the campsite, swimming, and biking around the campground. Hazel would barely take off the bike helmet and wore it around all over. Aspen took Ally under her wing and wanted to take her home at the end of the weekend. She even got to go swimming in her cute lifejacket. The kids actually did really well sleeping wise, Judah in his tent in the trailer (except when it got too warm, then we realized we needed to run the air for a bit each day). Hazel also got a tent to sleep in and Gus had the pack and play. When we started to head home we realized our tire on the trailer was completely flat. So we pumped it up and kept checking it until we could get to an RV store and get a special chock that allows us to easily change the tire. We were also able to pump out at the store and backfill the tanks for the first time.

Check out our picture slideshow.

 

Comprehension

Today I got to be in Judah's room at church. It was fun to see him enjoy himself with new toys while I snuggled sad kids wanting their mommies. I was struck by the fact that I was giving him detailed instructions and he was able to follow the directions. Like, "can you go get that other block to put in this box?" and "the soccer ball is under that table".

Building with Blocks

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Judah has been building block towers, just recently putting like pieces together. While I definitely want you to see Judah's building skills, the most interesting part of this video is the little temper tantrum when the tower breaks. Oh boy, there may be parenting challenges ahead!

Judah and the Girls

Judah has been really enjoying spending time with his second cousins, Ava and Karleigh at the lake. They have been very sweet to him, playing with and helping him.

Ahhhhh!

Beautiful view, a blissful quiet silence - as you can tell, this is before the kids wake up! After that, it'll be beautiful giggles and laughter...

Driving the boat!!

Judah says, "Driving the Malibu with Grandpa is fun. I even know which button sounds the horn!"

On the Pontoon with Grandma

Munching an apple after a 3 hr nap!

Leavenworth!!

Awesome trip over the mountains to test out our camper pulling power and take some time for ourselves! Michelle fixed the fan blower hard start capacitor, we ate healthy, and putt putt golfed on real grass in 83 degree warmth.... Oh, and slept in till 10 because we could!

MN Lake Visit

After a busy 4th of July we headed west to MN for a Lake Visit at Grandma’s house. Things started out busy, since the Bell’s and the Fox’s were hanging out all week. We quickly started tubing, skiing, wakeboarding, and surfing. Judah even got in on the fun, riding in the 2 seater tube with Mommy, Erika, and Luke. I was able to get right up on the surf board this year, after all my struggles last year. I’m still trying to get rid of the rope but getting lots more comfortable. On Friday the Johnson’s joined us (Ashley, Kelly, Ava, Karleigh, Titus, and Tarris). Judah hit it off with his second cousins and they all enjoyed playing with the Fox boys, Jackson and Luke. The girls and Jackson all tried water skiing and did lots of kneeboarding. On Sunday, I drove Jamie into town to head to Iowa for his work week. I was then able to meet up with Anne for a nice dinner and get a quick Costco (10 min!) run in. Ashley, Kelly, and Titus left Monday, leaving the girls to play and come south with Grandma later. We had a fun week playing with the kids in the sandbox, swimming, on the pontoon, walking around, driving the cozy coupe, doing bubbles, and playing with toys.

 

Trying it out

This is a new blog post to try it out.

There went a picture.