Snow Day and Tommy Dancing - February 6, 2017

Here are some videos of the kids playing in the snow, and Tommy dancing to the birthday card that my parents sent Mike for his birthday.

Snow Day! - February 6, 2017

It snowed all day and all night Sunday and into Monday, so we got to wake up to almost a foot of snow! And school was canceled! Needless to say, the kids were super happy and excited to get out and play in all that snow. Tommy wasn't sure what to think. And he was wearing plastic bags on his feet because we don't have any boots his size... after three boys?! Go figure.

It is rare for this part of the state to get so much snow, but I'm so glad that the kids got to have a few snowy days for our first winter back in Washington. Even I was feeling giddy as I got Tommy and I bundled up to go play outside. All four of the older kids had a blast. I built a little sledding hill that Will and Jakob played on for awhile. Sadly, the falling snow soon turned to rain and started melting the snow on the ground. But, they still got two more days off of school because of all the melting snow and rain plus cold temps at night making icy roads.

 Bonny loved it too, possibly even more than the kids. She was running circles in the yard, jumping and burrowing in the snow. It was so cute!

Tommy tried crawling in the snow, but he got stuck. Is it bad that I took a picture before going to help him? After taking a picture, I asked Will to help him up, so he did and then accidentally dropped him, so Tommy face-planted in the snow. He wasn't a big fan of the snow after that.

His face was wet from both snow and tears after his face plant... I think he'll have more fun next year when he can actually walk.

Cereal Snuggles, Cozy Kitties - February 4, 2017

Tommy loves snuggling cozy things. We'll catch him laying his head on a pillow or bean bag or sometimes just on the floor, and we say "Aww, snuggy snuggy" and he laughs and does it again.

Apparently, he loves snuggling sugary cereals too. He was so happy when Mike gave him this box to hold while we were grocery shopping. He had never even eaten Lucky Charms before. I think all kids have an innate attraction to junk food.

Just a few pictures of the steps along the way to completing the crib-to-bench project we've been working on.

We had an audience while we worked in the garage.

Those kitties love it when we turn on the fire. Bonny does too, and it's so funny to watch them all try to get the best spot in front of the fireplace. If Bonny wants it, she'll force the cats away inch by inch until she is front and center.

Priest Point Park and Goodbye Gilly - January16, 2017

There is this cool park in Olympia called Priest Point Park that Mike and I discovered back when we lived here the first time. We took Avary there to play when she was just a little toddler. It is right near the Olympia waterfront, and when Sam and Avary were doing climbing lessons at a gym down there back in October, I would take Will, Jakob and Tommy to this park. So on Martin Luther King Day, we were wanting to do something outside, and we decided that a trip to this park would be worth the drive. It totally was. We had so much fun! First we played at the playground, where Tommy clearly loved the swings.

Then we walked down to the beach where the kids had so much fun searching for seashells, clams, and sea squirts. And Bonny got to play with a few other dogs and swim to her hearts content. She seriously wore herself out.

You can see the capital building across the water.

We even found a live jellyfish. What do you do when you find a live jellyfish? I have no idea... so we just left it there, hoping it would survive until the tide came back in.

And how amazing is this tree? Nature's jungle gym.

Sleepy Tommy.

Not at all sleepy Will.

Poor Sam lost his pet fish, Gilly, that day too. He hadn't been able to get him to eat anything for a few days, and Sam was in tears, worrying about him. It was so sad, but Sam handled it well when he found out that Gilly had died. He wanted to bury him in a wood box, but he settled on a paper box. So Mike made this paper box for him and Sam decorated it. Then he buried him out by the Leyland Cypress in the backyard and made a grave marker. Avary's fish, Pretty died last year. It is sad that they are both gone now. I still remember so clearly, going to the pet store after they sold all their Halloween (2013) candy to us to buy those little fish. They were good pets. Goodbye Gilly, old buddy. We'll miss you.

Photographer Jakob, Cats, Haircut - January 5, 2017

Jakob got a hold of the camera the other day and took these pics.

I was being lazy and reading a book. I'm trying to read the books the kids are reading because I feel like they are reading all these books for Battle of the Books at school, and I don't even know what's in them. I want to know what is going into those little minds of theirs.

I took this one of the cats because I thought it was funny that they were in the exact same, very uncomfortable looking position.

And that night, I finally got around to cutting Tommy's hair. These are the before pics. This kid had been getting called a girl almost every time we went out in public. People would say things like, "She's so cute" or "How old is she?" all the time, even though he'd be wearing very boyish clothes. I had put off cutting his hair, partly out of business, laziness, and also I think because it made me a little sad to be giving him his first haircut, but it had also started hanging in his eyes, so unless I was going to start putting barrettes and ponytails in it, it was definitely time.

This was quite dangerous, by the way.

After a bath and haircut he crawled around all happy like he felt like a million bucks. I didn't cut a lot off, just made sure it wasn't in his eyes or long enough in back for a ponytail.

And guess what, I was at the post office with him and Jakob yesterday, and the guy there said, "So you have a boy and a girl." Huh?! I guess we need to just go for the buzz cut... but not yet.