april 27

when i got out of bed this morning and went into my bathroom (with brooke in tow), i looked out our window and saw 2 ducks at the park.  there are never ducks at the park, so it struck me to see them there.  i called to brooke to come look, and she was very excited to see the ducks.  she asked if they were coming to our house :)  as luck would have it, by the time we walked downstairs the ducks were making their way across the street and into our yard!  i took brooke to the windows downstairs, and we watched them search for something to eat.  brooke was so thrilled.  she wanted to know if they could come live at our house.  she thought they could live in our milk box on the front porch.  she also thought they had come all the way from kirkland because we were there on saturday feeding the ducks by the lake.  young minds sure are precious!

april 26

we had a momentary break in the weather today so gavin and i walked to pick brooke up from school, and then we stopped by the park for a little fun before dinner time.  brooke loves to swing when someone else is next to her, and today she was taking great pride in showing the boy on the other swing how she could pump her legs to keep herself going.  she was also trying very hard to strike up a conversation with the boy's mom.  brooke's funny like that :)

april 25

we're all missing gram vicki today, but this toy has been a great diversion!  we opened up this great little sandbox from aunt heather, uncle danny and stella today, and gavin has been playing with it nonstop.  it is the perfect gift for him and perfect for our rainy spring seattle days!  he even lets sister get a hand in there, too :)

april 24

what a happy easter!  the easter bunny was very good to brooke and gavin, and they loved hunting for easter eggs.  gavin shoved the candy into his mouth as quickly as kevin could open the eggs, but brooke laid all of her candy out and surveyed her loot before asking if she could have some :)  we got dressed up and headed to church then enjoyed an easter brunch at the woodman.  it was so nice to celebrate easter with my mom.  i don't want the day to end because tonight mom gets on a plane.

april 23

mother nature out did herself today :)  we soaked up the sun big time.  colored easter eggs outside.  had a picnic lunch at the park.  hid the colored eggs and let brooke hunt for them over and over again :)  went into kirkland for an early dinner and evening at the beach.  happy, happy.

april 22

kevin and i left the kids with mom and took off in the late afternoon for seattle.  it was a gorgeous day, and it was great to be out in the city with the sun shining.  we went to happy hour at a couple of hot spots in the market.  our favorite was matt's in the market.  the setting was beautiful, and the food was amazing.  we sat at the bar and sampled their food and wine.  magnificent.

april 21

gavin has been having a ball playing with all of his new toys.  our house looks like gavin's amusement park complete with every ride-on toy you could imagine :)  here gavin is eating dinner with his new construction plate and utensils from aunt heather, uncle danny & cousin stella.  talk about having fun at the dinner table... :)

april 20

happy birthday to gavin!  i can't believe our little guy turned 2 today!  what a fun day we had celebrating.  gavin loved every minute of it.  we opened lots of present in the morning, played really hard all day and then finished with a small birthday party complete with "big rig" decorations, a "garbage truck" birthday cake and home-made cincinnati-style chili and coneys :)  can you say "yum?"

april 19

we had such a great day today.  the sun was shining and gram vicki came to town :)  on the way to the airport i took the kids for a rare stop at mcdonald's drive thru.  they got really cute toys from the new movie "rio" in their happy meals, and it took only minutes before brooke asked if we could go see the movie.  i knew it was playing at the little theater in north bend that very night, so we planned an impromptu family trip to the movies.  kevin met us for dinner at "l taco" where we had a light, yummy mexican dinner and then we walked over to the movie theater.  it was gavin's first time at the movies.  he and brooke both sat still for the entire movie, and they both really liked it.  the adults did, too :)

april 18

swim lessons.  brooke gets more excited and confident in the water with each passing day.  she'll put her whole face in the water now, and she loves to show her teacher all the things she can do :)

april 17

the weather in snoqualmie during the spring is best described as "crazy."  today it was supposed to be 50 and partly sunny.  we had snow followed by sunshine followed by rain followed by sunshine followed by hail followed by clouds.  good thing we made the most of the sunshine while we had it (so did the big bee i saw in our cherry blossom tree).

april 16

today we headed up north to mount vernon to experience the tulip festival.  we heard it was a "can't miss" so we made sure to add it to our calendar this month.  it rained almost the entire 90 min. drive, but miraculously it wasn't raining when we arrived at the tulip fields.  the tulips were so beautiful, but the kids were much more interested in the mud and the big puddles.  thank goodness we were prepared with new rain boots and a change of clothes because both of the kids fell down in the mud multiple times.  gavin was thrilled; brooke was not :)

april 15

gavin loves to get out the broom and help me sweep the floor.  sometimes he does it because i'm cleaning up a mess, and in those instances he follows me around trying to get his broom into the mess i've swept up. other times, like today, he comes up with the idea all on his own.  he even pushes the chairs out of the way to sweep underneath the table.  what a good boy :)  i got out my camera to capture gavin cleaning, and then all of a sudden he threw the broom down and started dancing.  he must have liked the music that was playing on one of the cartoons on tv.  our boy loves music, and he sure does like to sing and dance.

april 14

our nutritional cleanse has had a profound impact on our lives, and i think we'll continue juicing for breakfast and sometimes dinner long into the future.  it is soooo good.  i love that gavin loves it, too.  he is daddy's big helper in the mornings when kevin is preparing our juice.  gavin helps put all the fruits and vegetables in, and then he has a "big boy" cup of juice.  he gulps it down and then usually asks for more.  it doesn't matter what's in it, he drinks it.  gotta love that.

april 13

as much as the little gym is a part of our lives here in seattle, so is george's.  if you've been here to visit us, chances are you've been to george's.  hardly a week goes by without a stop in north bend at the old dutch bakery.  even gavin knows to ask for george's after swim lessons now :)  that's how we ended up there today.  it cracks me up to see him devour a donut!  look at that face!

april 12

back to the little gym today.  we spend a lot of time here :)  today was a very special day because we brought hudson along with us.  i wasn't sure how i would do with two energetic boys on my hands, but it ended up being a lot of fun.  gavin and hudson had a blast, and i think i've cemented my place in hudson's heart forever :)  anastasia told me that when hudson awakened from his nap today she asked him what he dreamt about, and he said "tara."  :)

april 11

brooke has been taking classes at the little gym since we moved here.  i think these classes have been so instrumental in building her confidence.  sometimes it takes quite a while, but brooke has conquered so many fears inside the walls of the little gym.  i was so proud to see her walking across the balance beam (a widened version) all by herself tonight.  she was really proud of herself, too, and that's what has been so great about these classes and the wonderful teachers brooke has had.  they push her just enough and praise every single accomplishment.  it's no wonder that brooke loves going to gym class.

april 10

brooke is now the very proud owner of her first "big girl" bike!  we've been wanting to buy brooke a new bike for a while now, but she has never been very interested in them.  she's never liked any of the big bikes that she's tested out in stores and has always chosen to stay on her balance bike.  that all changed last night at rei when she saw this shiny pink cruiser bike.  she hopped right on and rode it all around the store.  i couldn't believe it.  i've never seen her pedal a bike before.  she fell in love with it and said "it fit her just right."  it sure did.  thanks to bob bob and ba kaye, we were able to return to the store this morning and buy it for brooke.  she's one happy little girl.

april 9

today i made this cute little invitation for gavin's birthday party.  we're keeping it small and only inviting 2 other families (both who have little boys gavin's age).  since i only needed a few invitations, i decided to make them all by hand.  the theme of his birthday party is "big rig" and includes lots of construction vehicles.  gavin's going to love it!

april 8

we had a picnic in the driveway today.  the thought of it makes me laugh.  it wasn't the original plan, but it was just as fun.  i had an eye doctor appointment across town this morning, and i took the kids with me.  i thought we might be out during lunch time so i packed us a picnic lunch.  after the appointment, i decided to head home before gavin got too sleepy.  the sun was shining at home so we unpacked our picnic lunch right in the driveway (the grass was too wet).  we ate, the kids played with all the toys in the garage, and we soaked up the sunshine.  the highlight though was a visit from our local firefighters who happened to be on our street checking fire hydrants.  they stopped at our house and gave the kids lots of special treats.  they were so nice!  look for pics on tara's canvas :)

april 7

i love thursday mornings.  gavin will hear the garbage truck coming down the street that runs alongside our house.  his eyes will light up, and he'll yell, "mom!" and off we go tearing for the door.  we have just enough time to get there and open the door to see them dumping our can into the truck.  gavin's excitement is contagious as it makes brooke excited to see the garbage man, too.  gavin waves his little hand nonstop hoping to catch the attention of the "worker."  the garbage man never waves :(, but the recycling man always waves :)  we like the recycling man.  he knows how to make little boys happy.  this morning i just happened to think about my camera and grabbed it as we ran to the door.  i knew i would not have time to adjust my camera settings.  i opened the door, took off my lens cap and pressed the shutter just in time to catch the garbage truck in front of our house.  the camera gods were smiling upon me because by some miracle, i got a decent shot.  one i'll cherish forever.

april 6

i am so tired of looking at the mess in brooke's room.  every couple of days it ends up looking like this.  i am constantly fighting the urge to clean it myself, but i know she has to learn to do it herself.  she takes great pride in cleaning it, but "cleaning" usually means that she lines up or piles up all of her stuff all around the room.  she says, "look, mom!  i'm organizing!"  i can't help but smile.  and i can't help but remember that my room was always a mess when i was a kid.  it would drive my sister crazy, and she would usually end up cleaning it or "drawing" a line across the room to keep all of my junk on "my side."

april 5

what makes the rain a little more bearable?  rainbows!  this was a big, bright, beautiful one.  i could see the entire thing right outside of our house.  it felt like i was standing under it.  too bad i couldn't get a picture of the entire thing.  it was beautiful.

april 4

saw this this morning and ran for my camera hoping they would both stay in place for a minute longer.  they did :)

april 3

every once in a great while i can get both of my children in the frame and snap the shutter while their eyes are open and looking at me.  rarely, rarely do i also get 2 smiles.  today must have been my lucky day.  we made a spontaneous trip into seattle today and ending up spending 7 hours in the city.  we started at the indoor play space at rei where the kids love to climb and slide and run around.  then we went to essential bakery in wallingford for lunch and down to gas works park to take in the view of the city.  it's probably the best known park in seattle - the view from the park is the one most often featured on tv.  it was beautiful, but it was too chilly to stay for long.  the kids weren't ready to go home so we headed to alki beach in west seattle.  brooke and gavin love the beach.  they could have stayed out there for hours, playing in the sand and searching for rocks and sea shells.  we finally got them off the beach and grabbed an early dinner for the kids at a local fish-n-chip place.  brooke said it was "the best day ever!"  mission accomplished.

april 2

brooke loves to "work" with her daddy.  any excuse to be in kevin's office, and brooke is all over it.  she's always asking if we can "clean" daddy's office, which really means she wants to sit at his desk and write/draw on his paper.  when kevin brought out one of his work binders today, brooke rushed to his side to practice writing her letters.  i love the way brooke is focused on her writing as kevin looks lovingly at her work.

april 1

if i was a little more on top of things, i would have planned a funny picture for today in honor of april fool's.  instead i have the three amigos :)  i'm loving how brooke, hanna and gavin play together and generally just enjoy being around each other.  they all earned a treat after dinner tonight and decided to sit together on the bench to eat them.

march 31

at brooke's preschool they have a behavior chart with a star for each day of the week they attend school.  they get stars taken away for bad behavior.  if they have all of their stars at the end of the week, they get a surprise.  i'm happy to say that brooke has never lost a star.  she started out very excited about the surprise she got to pick out of a big suitcase each thursday, but then her excitement faded.  today, it all came flooding back when she chose a ladybug magnifying glass.  she loves it!  she keeps asking me if she can keep it forever, and if we can go exploring.  yes and yes.  if only the rain would stop.