"Kwen Griffey Jr."

I haven't written in forever and I have so much to catch up on, but I figured there is no time like the present to start over.  I will update how amazing Evan's kindergarten year was and how much he adored his teacher at a later date. I will talk about how Wes wouldn't let me leave him alone at preschool and how he stayed right by my side the entire time when I get a minute. I will post the before and afters from the kitchen remodel instead of leaving them in my phone so the amazing transformation can be documented. I will update my life and try to keep up on this part of things as soon as possible, but tonight I simply must document another amazing translation from Wes. He is 4 and drives me out of my mind a good majority of the time, but he also has this amazingly funny side which keeps me laughing and can help lighten the stress of his evil ways. Truly evil ways. I am not sugar coating that one. In fact, sometimes I wonder what I did to deserve this or how I will possibly parent him when his actions remind me of a small little red guy with horns. And a tail. That loves fire.

Anyway, tonight, on a good night, we were all watching the Mariner's game. The boys are obsessed with baseball and know more about the players than me. It was the Ken Griffey Jr. induction into the hall of fame. Steve said "Ken Griffey." Wes looked at him, completely serious, and said, "dad, you said it wrong. It is Kwen Griffey Jr." 

Yes, little one. You are correct and I adore you.

Eye dr!

Today, Wes had his first eye doctor appointment. I have been worried, ok- obsessed, with his eyes and have been worried that they were not tracking correctly together. No one else has seen it so I was willing to admit that I might be an over obsessed, staring at his eyes at inappropriate times, crazy person AND it turns out that may be the case!! Hooray!! They said his eyes look great! He sat in the chair and told the dr all the little pictures (that's a hairplane, that's a car, that's a telephone) and as he did it I sort of died a little. Thanks for humoring me, Wes. I adore you. All is well. 

Things to remember: Wes

I have a big trip to Jackson Hole to blog about, but on this road trip back Steve and I have been laughing our heads off at Wesley and I wanted to write down a few of  these amazing three year old things so we don't forget them.

1- he calls airplanes "hair planes"

2- he has an imaginary friend he calls "Colo." (she is a girl and always seems to make her way to wherever we are. Her mom drives her or she rides a motorcycle.)

3- he never wants to be last and gets really upset if he is the "rockin' egg" (more commonly known as the rotten egg...)

4- he calls littering "glittering"

AND

5- he named his stuffed bear from the grand Tetons "Horse Bear Eagle" and expected everyone to call the little black bear by his full name.

Also, these had to be posted:

Yes, that is a plaid fedora. Amazing!!

And yes, those strange looking cat children insisted on using my makeup to transform themselves into animals.

March adventure! Flying Heritage Museum!

So this happened:

As you can see everything was as it should be- Alysa is all dolled up and ready for any teenage selfie that may be necessary at an airplane museum. Max looks slightly like the Uni-bomber and is just a photo away from getting mad at someone and stomping away alone. Ryan and Owen are happily taking care of younger cousins and loving their time together. Ivy (also known as "perfect") is smiling her best smile and is ready for the next amazing shot of her. Lyla is content with the adventure and happy to be with the others. Evan is, well I have no idea what Evan is doing here, but he was loving all the planes! Autumn (also known as "character") is wearing cowboy boots and pajamas and had sat still for long enough. And Wesley is not in the picture as he cried for most of the adventure, didn't want his picture taken, pulled my hair and demanded to go to the car RIGHT NOW!

I adore this photo of our littles and I adore our adventures even more!

February Adventure! Skagit Wildlife!

As it always seems to go, Feb was coming to an end and we had yet to adventure. We were all looking at our busy schedules and fearing the worst. More specifically, how on earth were we going to fit an adventure in between piano, baseball, karate, swimming, tennis, gymnastics, dance, coaching, work trips, visits from mom, birthday parties, anniversaries and choir? So one Sunday morning, knowing that time was running out and there was no better time than um, now, we convinced Eric that he would in fact have time to squish a muddy treck looking for wildlife in right between church and a romantic evening for his and Emilee's anniversay. After a little Internet research, a quick online purchase of a required state park parking pass and some lunch, we headed out to the Skagit Wildlife Area in hopes of seeing some migrating birds.

The adventure took us to what we fondly referred to as a muddy bog and allowed us to spend some wonderful time together, in nature, without electronics or expectations. We saw a huge eagle nest, a few Eagles, some cranes and some geese. My sisters and I relished the fact that we had pulled it off. The cousins played and ran and, most importantly, enjoyed themselves (despite a near breakdown from Em's older kids asking why on earth they had to do this?!) 

February adventure: check!

Stitches!

On Friday, i was at book club with my friend, Jannine, and I got an urgent call from Steve on her husband's cell saying that Wes had hit his head on the wall and he was on his way to the ER for stitches. The gash was only about 1/2 inch long, but pretty deep and Wes ended up with 4 little stitches and a tetnis shot. 

He was so brave! He sat and held my hands as they shot numbing stuff into the wound and then followed up with a fish hook looking thing in his head to stitch him closed.  I was amazed!

After the stitches, the dr covered it with a bandaid and sent us on our way. We kept it covered with a light bandaid so he wouldn't mess with it.  I took it off today and asked if he wanted to see it. He looked in the mirror, saw all the little strings hanging off and said, "it turned into a bug!"  Ha!