(September 13)

Some mornings Ella wakes up before she should. Usually, if I lay with her, she will go back to sleep for another hour or so. Only problem is, either she wakes Kevin up before she falls back asleep, or she falls asleep, and his alarm wakes her up. So I’ve been sleeping with her on the couch in the mornings. Kevin was getting ready to leave and took a picture of us. Really sweet of him, except that the flash woke her up. Then she was up for the morning.

We both have crazy hair in the morning.

Jameson has discovered he can go upside down. This is his new sitting position on the couch.

(September 10-12)

Jameson waited all day for Papa to come. He was even really good, and wanted to show his sister some love. FINALLY! It has taken about 6 months for this to happen, but I finally have some pictures with Jameson showing some love for his sister.

Papa and Grammy finally came by, and Jameson showed off his skateboarding skills.

On our way to dinner, Jameson was showing Dad his singing skills. Usually, he doesn’t sing in the car for Dad. That show is only for Mom.

(In the middle he shouts…”I see a bus!”)

We ended up at a Korean bbq restaurant. We weren’t quite sure what to do, so the servers helped us. You actually grill your own meat at your table. Would have been really good, except we started talking and forgot about our meet for a little bit. Oops. It was really good. Papa took over grilling ,while Jameson was a walrus with Grammy.

Saturday, we headed out for our adventures. We had some brunch first…

The boys headed out to check out gun shops, and we headed over to Bainbridge. After going earlier in the week, I knew Debbie would love the little shops. We found some really neat things, and met back up with the boys later that night. Ella did so well shopping with us for the day. Sunday, Grammy and Papa stopped by for one last good-bye before heading home, and before we headed off to church. Jameson wasn’t too excited about them leaving.

Thanks for a fun weekend!

Jameson loves his dad’s motorcycle. He will go out and sit on it, and “ride it.” He thinks his dad is so cool!

(September 6th)

We haven’t taken any of the ferries since moving here, so Labor Day we decided to go on an adventure. We met up with our friends and headed to Seattle to catch the ferry to Bainbridge Island. None of us had been, so we thought we’d check it out. Well, we didn’t think we would make the ferry, so we took our time since the next ferry didn’t leave for another hour. Turns out we pulled up, and they hurried us onto the boat. We were the last car on which meant our 3rd car in the caravan, who was only 1 minute behind, got stuck. We thought they would make it, but turns out, they didn’t. We told them to leave their car and jump :), but instead they stayed behind and waited. We said good-bye to Seattle for the day.

Jameson loved watching the boats in the Sound.

We went out on the deck at the front of the boat. Not the best idea. It’s really, really windy. I didn’t realize the ferry was going that fast till I was getting wind blown. We took our pictures, and then we ran back inside.

We found a restaurant to eat lunch at, overlooking the sailboats. They looked at us like we were crazy when we said 4 adults, 3 children, and 2 babies. We ended up having to eat on the patio, which would have been fine, but it was cold. They really only had like 8 tables inside. I think we should have waited for one of those. Really, they probably just didn’t want us inside with all the kids.

I love this picture. Brittany was trying to take a good picture, but the girls were saying they were hungry, and Dan was imitating them. Nice family photo, I think. A TRUE family photo.

Random… a giant vase you could take a picture in.

We got our lunch, met up with all our friends, and went to look at the shops. We played in toy stores, and ate delicious ice cream. Then we headed back home. On the ferry ride back, Jameson was actually playing with Ella. She thinks he is hilarious.

Later that night, Jameson was building blocks. He had to show us his big, big tower he built all by himself.

(September 3)

This is a common phrase around our house. I am quite impressed sometimes, though. The entertainment center has proven to be a worthy building site since there is no tv on the shelf to fill it in. Because it’s higher, Jameson has taken to standing on his chair to build. I would like to point out the color coordination of his buildings. He will switch out blocks to keep the same colors together.

He can tell you what the colors are, and most of the shapes. I’m pretty impressed. And here’s what Ella is doing while he builds…

She’s found her toes! Glad she finally has a toy that’s always within reach.

(September 1)

I think time goes faster with each child you have. Ella has already hit 6 months. Today she weighed in at 17.5 pounds. She hasn’t had her appointment yet, so I don’t know all her stats, but I did step on the scale with her. At this point she loves to blow raspberries. This doesn’t help when I am constantly getting after Jameson for spitting and then Ella turns around and spits. So now they spit at each other and laugh. She rolls all over, can roll both ways, and even turns herself around. She is starting to scoot to things, but not quite an army crawl yet. Ella demands attention. When she’s done playing or tired of something she starts “talking.” It’s more of a yell to tell us she’s done. She is eating more solids and even some rice cakes.

At the current moment, we are dealing with our first round of sickness, thrush. That’s why her mouth is purple in the pictures, it’s the medicine she’s taking for it. She is still waking up once during the night, but that’s getting later and later, or earlier depending how you look at it. Hopefully soon, we can make it completely through the night. I have a hard time letting her cry it out, though, because of everything she went through the first few weeks of life. I guess I feel guilty for what she had to go through, and don’t want to cause her to suffer any more. I know crying it out for a few nights will only benefit both of us in the end, but I can’t bring myself to do it yet.

Anyway. She is a healthy and happy girl now, with cheeks I can’t get enough of. She loves her brother and laughs at him all day. He on the other hand only likes her sometimes. He’s getting better, though, wanting to play with her more and hold her once in a while. He loves her treats, too. I can’t get enough of these two.

August 13th was our anniversary. Kevin got us tickets for Teatro ZinZanni. It’s a dinner show complete with circus acts, improv, and cabaret artist along with a five course meal. It is in a tent known as a spiegeltent which is dutch for “mirror tent.”  It’s decorated with mirrors and stained glass. The tent was incredible. I think they told us on our way in the tent was an 100 years old this year. We sat at a table with 5 other guest, all happened to be women. I was glad we were in a booth and not on the floor. I would not have wanted to be one of the guests they pick from the audience to be part of their acts. It was really fun, and the food was really good. Surprising since they are preparing about 300 meals all at the same time.

(They gave us the boa’s to wear. The idea is to dress extreme.)

In the last 5 years we have…

• Had 4 homes
• Lived in 2 states
• Finished two BS degrees
• Completed 5 certification
• Received two lovable kids
• Had 10 different cars… holy crap that’s a lot (didn’t realize till I stopped and counted)
• Had 4 motorcycles
• been able to visit family every year in 3 different states
• faced many trials which we hope we have learned from
• grown closer as husband and wife
• Had many, many fun times (some documented on our blog)

A few weeks ago Kevin and I were up till like 3 am just talking in bed. It felt like we were dating again, when you stayed up till all hours not caring. It didn’t feel like it 2 hours later when I had to get up to feed a baby, and then 3 hours later when a 2 year old woke me up, but I loved it. I’m so glad we can still talk about nothing and learn about each other. Kevin told a friend of ours he was up late just talking the night before. His response was, “You guys still do that?”  Yes we do! Hopefully this next year won’t have as many trials as this year did. I would really prefer a “smooth sailing” year. I do love him, though, and I’m so glad he is so patient.

(August 28)

We took some kids and met our friends at the circus. I think I was more excited than Jameson. I remember going to the circus when I was really little… once. Kevin said he went when he was really little, but doesn’t really remember it. It was like the first time at the circus for us all. Jameson wasn’t too fond of the noise at first, and neither was Ella.

But then the acts started, and after a little bit, he calmed down and uncovered his ears. He loved the motorcycles act, and a few others. He got bored with acts like the tight rope and dances. The all time favorite came, when the elephants came out.

Jameson loved see the elephants, but I think the dads enjoyed them more. I think the elephants get a little stage fright. As soon as they came out, the stage hands were cleaning up after them . It was quite entertaining to see if they could get everything cleaned up before it got stepped in. Then they brought the baby elephant out. Jameson loved it!

Jameson has started to climb into Ella’s crib with her when he hears her awake. I’m more worried about the weight in the crib than him doing anything to her. He’s getting pretty good with her. Ella loves it when he joins her in bed.

Do you like that mid snore picture. He was “sleeping.”

High chairs have a new meaning with Jameson. He was reading a Halloween costume magazine very intently.

It’s a frequent activity at our house for the boys to go out and find slugs. They are huge here. I can’t believe how big and nasty they are. Jameson loves to inspect them, and then after, I demand a hand scrub.