Sharing a Piece of My Childhood

This weekend was a long Memorial Day weekend and we decided to take advantage of it by going up to Mount Vernon for a picnic with my side of the family on Monday. We also added something that was extra special for me...a visit to Rosario Beach on Whidbey Island on Sunday evening.

My dad (Jerry) used to take my sister and I to Rosario Beach all the time and we loved it! There are great skipping rocks, tide pools, hiking, and it's just beautiful. It holds a special place in my childhood heart. I have so many pictures of me as child here and it's wonderful to start my own collection of pictures with my own daughter. Rosario was also the beach where I took Doug when we were dating and freaked him out because he thought I was putting a crab on his back...really it was just a little tickle, but he screamed anyway. Because Sunday was supposed to be nice, I thought it would be fun to take Vivi to Rosario to see if we could find some crabs of our own...and we did.

The evening was beautiful!

We found lots of little hermit crabs in the tide pools (even though the tide was quite high)! She agreed to hold the crabs after we told them it tickled...and she really thought it tickled.

Doug did a good job of keeping the crabs on her hand, but they also climbed her sleeve, which she said was 'Funny!' As you can see, they weren't very big, but they were fun.

Doug took her further out than I trusted my pregnant body to go, but that's ok because I think I got some treasured shots of this loving father-daughter adventurous duo.

Can you tell she loves her papa? They are really special together and I love to watch their bond and relationship grow.

Hiking up a little trail from the tide pools. My heart stopped a couple times because of that drop-off and knowing how Vivi is prone to just taking off. But, Eagle Scout/Papa Doug did is job in always holding her hand and keeping her on the inside of the trail. Gorgeous view, right?

After an hour-plus at the beach it was time to go to grandma and grandpas for the evening and to stay the night. They got out on the trampoline with her and she loves to 'jump' so she loved every minute!

Vivienne loves to swing almost as much as she does to jump, so she was excited to Nana Anne as a 'swing buddy!' We had such a great time and I love documenting these special moments. I know everyone thinks their child is special, but Vivienne has a spark, love, light, intelligence, and humor that I think truly makes her a special Child of God.

For What it's Leavenworth

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go to Leavenworth for an overnight/day trip and we had a blast! Greatest Aunt Mary, Olivia, Grandma Cathy, Nana Marie, and us stayed in a cabin Saturday night (the others got there Friday) and had a yummy dinner at the 59er Diner and Cabins.

 Dinner at the 59er was great. Their shakes were pretty good, although I won't say they were the best I ever had. However, apparently I said 'chocolate' twice when placing my order so they made it extra chocolatey, which Vivi and I both appreciated.

She also quite liked the heap of whip cream and sprinkles. Doug got an Oreo shake and that was pretty good, too.

Dinner consisted of a yummy BBQ burger for me, nachos for Doug and 'Wet' fries for Vivi. It's like 'poutine' for those of you on the East Coast, and for those of you who are not, it's fries with gravy on top...although it could've used the cheese, too. I'm not exaggerating when I say she pretty much ate the whole plate of fries by herself (she let people try one and I had a couple, but that was Vivi's dinner...aren't we great parents?).

Here's Olivia and Vivi...I think Vivi's getting close to fry drunk.

When we got back to the cabin, Vivi was more than happy to be the center of attention. She put on a show for everyone...even if it just meant standing on bucket in the middle of the kitchen while we tried to play Apples to Apples. We thought it was hilarious, so she got her audience.

After a very unsuccessful night's sleep (the cabin had no doors to separate the sleeping areas), we headed into Leavenworth. We were lucky enough to find out about 'Smallwoods' just outside of Leavenworth. This place was great! It had petting farm, little tractor rides, an area for kids to ride little bikes, a maze, etc.

We had so much fun petting all the animals! Doug was very diligent about making sure Vivi's hand was flat as she fed the goats, mini cows, llamas, donkeys, sheep and more!

They had little food dispensers where you could get feed for 25 cents...this one ate our quarter, but we just went inside and got another bag of food for $1. The petting farm also only cost $1 per person to get into. What a great deal!

I think Doug had just as much fun as Vivi.

This bunny was sleeping, so Vivi sat down next to it and told it to wake up. There were ducks and geese and all sorts of other things...

After going into Leavenworth for German lunch, the hat shop and hearing some Bavarian music, we headed out of town but stopped at the fish ladder on our way. There was a good little nature walk. Here, Doug is explaining what a certain bird looks like...

I can't get enough of the pictures of Vivi and Doug holding hands. She was so tired by the time we left for home, but we had such a great little trip...we'll have to do it again!

To Wait and Work

Yes, this is a mid-day post, but not the bad kind. Our local YMCA has a great child watch that parents can utilize while they work out. Or don't. My back and abdomen have really been bothering lately, so I've decided to lay off the work outs, but I still want Vivi to get that kids interaction...and for me to get a break from her for 1.5 hours. So here I sit, with my book and netbook and I was reminded of a thought that occurred to me last week.

It seems, as a mom, I spend a lot of time either just waiting around not doing much at all (fretting about how much I'm not getting done) or I'm going at 60 miles-per-hour (still not getting enough done). For example, here at the Y, she's having a great time...ok a time (because she's being held)...for at least an hour, but I'm not at home to get done most of what I need to get done. I'm enjoying this time by myself, but really I'm just waiting around.

However, I know as soon as I get her back, I'll need to put her shoes on, get her coat on her while she's walking down the stairs eating the cracker I just gave her, and trying to reach the sippy cup in the diaper bag because she wants a drink. Then we'll go home where I'll try to keep her busy while simultaneously trying to make dinner. Etc, etc. You know what I'm talking about.

Sound familiar?

Maybe I haven't learned to properly utilize my time as a stay at home mom yet, but I often wonder what I could do that would be productive during those waiting times and usually come up with nothing. I mean, what can I do while I watch her in the play area at the mall that would make my 'list' any shorter? Or while she's bouncing on her new bouncy horse upstairs (for 5 minutes); usually just toss a load of laundry in and that's it. Yes, I (sometimes) wash the dishes while she's eating, but I actually prefer not to because she likes to climb up and get involved which just makes it harder. So I usually sit there and eat, too, or just putz around.

Waiting or crazy busy. There just doesn't seem to be a way to get ahead (ie do some of the tasks on my list while I'm waiting around) or try even out the workload. This kind of bothers me, but in a way it doesn't. I actually got used to this because my work at the Y was so seasonal that my workload really fluctuated. Sometimes I'd have to work a couple weeks of 10-12 hour days...and then there would be days where I just didn't have much to do at all. Should I be bothered by this or is this normal?

Be Wary the Mid-Day Post

Note: I started this post around 3pm because I was sooooo frustrated and irritated. Normally, I do not write until the evening after she goes to bed, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Thus, the title: Be Wary of the Mid-Day Post.

Does anyone know what to do with a high-maintenance, hard to entertain toddler? I try all sorts of things so she can HOPEFULLY entertain herself so I can do some stuff....even if it's just sit and read or fold laundry without her hanging on my leg. I have yet to find THAT thing that will keep her entertained for more than 5 minutes...and I'm not exaggerating. She gets bored with most things after about 3 minutes (again, not hyperbole). Even TV has about a 30-45 minute time limit, most of which I use to take a shower and get ready in the morning.

True, she has the attention span of a toddler, but I've known for a long time that my daughter would much rather play with people than toys. And she prefers adults to other kids. Where does that leave me on normal days?! I try to get out of the house at least once a day even if it's just a trip to the Y so we get a break from each other, but this morning was BAD (she ATE MY DEODERANT!!!), so I decided we were not going out in public.

What she looked like after playing in the rain

We played with her new princess tent (where she ate some snack), I tried to get her to ride her new suspended, bouncy horse (to no avail, I mean, come on!), etc. After she wouldn't leave me alone while I was trying to clean dishes because she wanted to play in the water (for those of you who don't know, Vivi LOVES water, any kind of water: puddles, rain, dish water, water fountains, pools, lakes, etc), I decided to partially fill up the shower (we don't have a bathtub) so she could splash around. I figured I was so smart and that would give me a enough time to do some reading or Facebooking or something, but nooooooo. THAT didn't even work longer than 10-15 minutes. She wanted to go out in the rain, so I finally put her in a coat and let her play on our front step with the door open so I could see her while sitting in my chair. She had a great time (until she got too wet and cold) for about 20 minutes and I was able to do some reading, but she still required some correction (ok, yelling) and, again, it didn't last as long as I hoped.


This also really got my goat, although it's not particularly related to this issue: she stuck her head in the toilet after she pooped (before she flushed)! I'm not kidding. She pooped in the potty (yay) and she wanted to see what she produced (as she often does), but then leaned her head so far in the toilet that her hair got in it before I could stop her. Booooo! So I had to throw her in the shower when we should've been walking out the door. AND then she knocked the water cup out of my hand so I got all wet, too. I lost it. We'll leave the description of my reaction at that.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. The thing is, she got all sorts of new toys for her birthday and I was sooo hoping that she'd be able to entertain herself long enough for me to be able to concentrate on something, anything. I even bought her a cute Fisher Price doctor's kit, which she really enjoys (she likes giving shots the most), but I have to be right there with her for her to play with it even after I showed her how to use it on her stuffed animals. Even when I do play with her, no one activity lasts longer than 15 minutes. It's not that I don't want to play with her, I just want to have times where I don't HAVE to play with her or if I'm not playing with her she's not hanging on my leg. She always has to be RIGHT there doing what I'm doing or trying to get me to do what she wants to do. Or I'm trying to convince (or show her) how to play, which she only really wants to do when I'm RIGHT there. Doug even asked yesterday, "When do you think she will not need to be RIGHT there?" It makes for a really long day.

Am I being selfish? Am I lazy? Am I enabling her too much? What can I do?  These are the questions of pregnant, frustrated mother who cried twice today and is all out of ideas. I like to do fun things like go swimming, go to the park, go for walks, the petting zoo, mini-road trips, but we can't do those all the time and, frankly, I don't want to nor do I feel like I should have to.  Help!

Welcome to Two-Year Old Land

On Friday, Vivienne officially turned two (although we suspect she's got an old soul and has been two for awhile)! We celebrated with pizza, cupcakes, and a righteous two-year old tantrum in JoAnne's Fabric before we headed to lunch with Doug. Oh yeah, she's never thrown a fit like this in public and it was comical (later) that it was occurring on her 2nd birthday. I took her to Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park where they have a huge chess set; she had a lot of fun moving those big guys around (she kept saying 'Heavy!'); you will be happy to know that she always lifted with her legs :)

Thank goodness she got over the 2-year old fits (mostly) to have a nice quiet dinner at home with mummy and papa:

She LOVED the chicken, bacon stuffed pizza we got her. Can you tell?

And a birthday cupcake...and by cupcake I mean frosting. She only ate the frosting.

On Saturday we went up to Mount Vernon for a May birthday/Mother's Day celebration with cousins Hailey (who's birthday is May 16) and Wyatt, Aunts Celeste and Derge, and Nana Anne and Grandpa Roger (May 20 birthday). I got an ice cream cake because Vivi LOVES ice cream and prefers it to regular cake, so the girls got to blow out candles to an ice cream cake together!

A big ol' piece of ice cream, fudge and cookie makes for a happy birthday girl.

On Sunday we had another May birthday/Mother's Day celebration with Doug's side of the family. It was an interesting day because Marie had been in the hospital the night before (and had been busted out earlier that day unbeknown to us) and Aunt Mary broke her foot the night before. We all went to Mary's while she laid on the couch all drugged up and while Marie couldn't consume anything other than clear liquids. We had a lovely time just being together and Vivi got some wonderful birthday gifts, including this suspended bouncy horse from cousin Lala and Aunt Mary! She named it 'Awesome!'

Sunday was Mother's Day and I insisted on getting a picture with my girl before we got out of our church clothes because I don't have many pics with her (I'm usually behind the camera). I think I see a resemblance, do you?

Tulip Fun...With the Tulips!

This is how I want to forever remember my little Vivi.

We went to Roozengaarde Garden to get some pictures of my (almost) two year old and some of them turned out really great. Images like this one I hope are burned into my mind so it's one of the last images to flash through my mind before I die. I love her joy, her pureness, her beauty and her love.

 I'm so glad that I get to have these experiences with her now that I'm not working. Today (a Wednesday) is supposed to be the only nice day of the week and there's no way I'm coming to the tulip fields on the weekend. Not to mention they will be topping the tulips soon.

Ignore my finger in the frame. She was trying to find something in flower.

 "I'm gonna get you!"

 Trying to take her shirt off.

 Woodland fairy :)

 Tulip fairy.

 Kissies!

 Finally running around by herself!

 The closest I could get to a pose.

 Rubbing the soft petal on her cheek. Quickly after this, Vivi popped the head off the tulip. Oops.

 Tackling mommy.

 Sniff.

"Are you sure I can't go in there?"

A GREAT Deal

A couple years a go a friend of mine introduced me to the Seattle Family of Multiples sale and my life has never been the same since. It's an AMAZING opportunity to by kids gear, toys, nursing stuff, equipment, clothes, etc. at garage sale prices. It works like this: all the members of the SFOM (people with twins, triplets, etc) get their stuff together, price it and put it out for sale. Then other members get to shop first before opening it to the general public; the last couple years they had a 'big spenders' program where individuals who spent $100 or more the previous sale got to go in before the general public...which is a pretty big frickin deal because stuff goes fast. The scene this year reminded me of that wedding dress sale where women get trampled, rip dresses out of each others hands, etc. It's not quite that bad, but it's pretty intense and cut throat because the deals are...AMAZING. Did I mention I was the first 'big spender' in line this sale? Boo ya! Check out my loot from the sale this weekend:

• 2 dresses (including a super cute 'sailor' dress that Vivi wore to Grandpa Bill's funeral)
• 3 complete outfits (complete outfits are the only thing I'll pay more than $3 for. Each of these complete outfits cost $5 or less, including the 3-piece set that  came with shirt, shorts/skirt and pants).

• 5 pair of super cute and play jeans
• 5 pair of khakis/other pants
• 3 pair of stretch/play pants
• 5 'nicer' tops
• 7 'play' tops
• 2 bathing suits
• 7 pair of shorts (hopefully, we'll have a summer this year)
• 5 skirts (probably too many, but oh well)
• A set of star sheets ($2!)

•  A raincoat
• Cute little polka dot hoodie
• Jean jacket (boo ya!)
• Super cute knit poncho with a matching hat (a 'Bellini,' apparently made in Italy! I always seem find a least one super cool item like this; last sale it was a fabulous Asian-style, olive colored REAL silk dress)

•  A small animal puzzle
• A 'Pooh Bear' wagon and learning blocks (super cute with letters, numbers, and corresponding pictures)
• 2 pair of pajamas (in there somewhere)
• 2 pair of dress shoes
• 3 pair of running shoes
• 1 pair snow boots (planning ahead)
• 9 pair of socks

  And since most of my maternity clothes got destroyed in the last hot water heater leak (understatement) and many people were generous enough to give me money for my birthday to go out and buy clothes I got these:

• 5 maternity tops (the cutest cost $1, the orange one fits Doug...yes, he put it on to show me how huge it is. But when you're speed shopping you don't always have time to consider the size. Besides, I'm sure I'll get big enough...oy.)
• 7 maternity bottoms, including some super cute capris for the summer (no way I'm wearing shorts)

I got all of this in great condition and under budget.My grand total? $211. Yup, all that for $200. The sale is every 6 months and unless we really need something, we don't buy it except at these sales. I didn't need any equipment (ie baby slings, bottles, bath stuff, strollers...although I should've gotten a double stroller...doh!), but I still think the most I've spent is $275 and you get a TON of stuff. It's fun find great deals and I love that I'm doing something financially (and environmentally) healthy! Yes, I'm totally bragging :)

Losing an American Treasure...and Great Family Man

This past week has been busy, crazy, sad, and so many other emotions I can't list or describe. Marie's husband, Bill, who live upstairs passed away at home Tuesday morning and everything since then has been a blur. He came home from the hospital Monday evening and it was obvious he was not going to last much longer and by Tuesday morning he was gone. Vivi and I went upstairs first thing in the morning and I explained to her that Grandpa Bill was sleeping, wasn't going to wake up, and went to live with Jesus and Heavenly Father. She looked at me with big, wide eyes and then smiled and said 'Ok.' I know she's too young to understand, but I wanted to take this opportunity to teach her. And it was all up to me because Doug was gone Mon-Thurs on a work trip, which was a huge challenge by itself!

The day of the memorial service(s) was a marathon day, but I learned a lot of things. The most important is that life is made of the stories we create, remember and pass on. Bill had a million stories and it was obvious that his children, grandchildren, and friends loved and remembered his stories about growing up, about war, about being a tugboat and ferry captain, and about his family and friends.

The second major thing is that our country is losing American treasures like Bill, which was pierced my heart more personally than it ever had before at his grave when I saw his brothers in the Navy honor his life and death with a 21-gun salute, presentation of the flag and taps. Bill was an amazing man who fought in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. He was a part of history. He came from a poor farming family in Missouri (born 1927) and worked his way up to retire as a Navy Captain! The things he saw and experienced are humbling to think about.

The third thing I didn't realize was how much Bill loved and was devoted to children, especially his grandchildren. By the time I got to know Bill, he had a lot of trouble getting around, was difficult to understand sometimes, and was (I thought) relatively scary to little kids (as older adults can be), at least to Vivi sometimes. But as I heard the stories his grown grandchildren shared and the obvious love and adoration they had for him and I was forced to think of a different Bill, a younger and more physically-able Bill.who equally adored these children.

The earlier part of the week was filled with stress, love, service, car trips, food, memories, and family. Marie and family planned the service for this weekend, which meant there was a lot of organizing and planning to do in just a few days. It turned out wonderfully, but it was certainly stressful for those involved (I wasn't really involved, but helped when I could). There was an amazing tribute to the Bill on one last ferry boat ride (complete with a stop half way through the route, family dropping flowers, honking the horn, and a final goodbye from the captain to Captain Ray when the hearse got off boat), a grave site dedication complete with full military honors, and love-filled memorial service later in the day. All for an amazing patriot and an even more generous and caring family man.

Captain Ray will be missed, but he fought a hard fight, most recently against his own body. In the previous month, this proud man felt his body and mind rebel against him. It made me wonder why the Lord suffers some people to leave the world in this manner. While I don't have a complete answer, I believe that part of the reason is to provide an opportunity for others to express Christ-like love through service. The outpouring of support, meals, desserts, prayers, offer of time, offer of services, etc. was incredible. While some of these actions may seem cliche or minor, but I was touched by everyone's concern and willingness to help a family who was mourning a great loss.