june 10

i'm recommitting myself to getting in shape.  it's been too long since i've worked out consistently.  kevin is home most of the time now, and his last day at p&g is quickly approaching.  i'm determined to squeeze as much goodness out of our situation as possible, and i'm starting with a personal commitment to get healthy.  starting today.  here i go!

june 9

one of the many blessings of living close to family is the frequency of date nights.  kevin and i enjoy being with our children so much that we are not very good at scheduling babysitters so we can go out.  we did it a handful of times in seattle but definitely not on a "regular" basis.  having all of the kids' grandparents nearby, and particularly gram vicki who wants the kids as much as she can have them, allows kevin and i to have some great 1:1 time together.  we usually drop the kids off with mom as she's getting off work, and then we almost always head to OTR for drinks and dinner.  we love the atmosphere in OTR and the wine bar and bakersfield are our favorites for drinks and dinner.

june 8

what a fun friday!  we played around at home this morning.  i cut gavin's hair for the first time, and it was not disastrous so that's good :)  we built a big fort in the playroom and had fun playing for hours.  then we all headed over to zach and megan's for a summer cookout.  (unfortunately, heather had a stomach bug so they couldn't make it.)  the kids had a great time playing outside together.  zach, megan, kevin and i enjoyed having a nice low-key dinner together and getting a chance to catch up.  after dinner the kids played some more inside and dressed up as super heroes.  i love all of their smiles in this picture.  it shows how happy they are to be together, even now that we see each other so often.  i love that my children's best friends are their cousins :)  we enjoyed a good bonfire and had some yummy s'mores with giant marshmallows.  then when it was dark, all the kids grabbed a butterfly net and ran around the front yard catching fireflies.  it was brooke and gavin's first time catching fireflies.  it was my favorite moment of the day.  it was a midwestern summer night, and it was perfect.

june 7

gavin started t-ball today!  gavin has loved baseball for as long as i can remember.  right after his second birthday he started insisting on having a "real" baseball pitched to him.  i bought him a "real" bat way before he was ready to use one, but use it he did.  i've spent countless hours pitching and catching and instructing.  it's a special pastime for the two of us.  so, tonight brought me great joy.  his red "Y" t-ball shirt hung down to almost his knees and his batting helmet was many sizes too big.  those things only contributed to the cuteness out there on the field.  gavin was so enthusiastic!  he (and his whole team) ran after every ball.  they hit off the tee and ran the bases.  they learned when to put on their helmet and when to put on their hat.  all very crucial fundamentals of baseball :)  gavin, joey and brandon are all playing on the same team, which is going to make t-ball fun for everyone this year - both the players and the spectators!

june 6

this summer i thought i would put all of my "pins" on pinterest to really good use.  i created a small book of ideas/crafts/projects for me and the kids to do this summer.  the first one is this DIY angry birds game.  we gathered medium sized rocks which the kids painted in different angry bird colors.  then i painted cute little faces on the rocks to illustrate the different angry birds and the pigs.  we used wooden blocks to create the towers and then stacked the pigs at different levels of the tower.  we used toy slingshots from the dollar store to fire the angry birds at the pigs on the tower.  making and playing the game took up a good part of our afternoon and was a lot of fun on a beautiful day like today.  the best part about this DIY project was that it only cost me $2.00!  everything else we already had.  that almost never happens :)

june 5

spending summer break with my niece, nephews, sister and sister-in-law is exactly everything i want to be doing in this moment in my life.  simple play dates at the park.  picnic lunches.  enjoying sunshine and togetherness and the blessing that is family.  i feel so fortunate.

june 4

it's the first week of summer break!  this is the first time i'm truly experiencing what summer break is like with the kids.  in seattle brooke went to preschool year-round, but this year both brooke and gavin are off school for the summer.  i'm so excited to have them to myself all day every day.  oh, the fun things we will do!  we're starting this week with swim lessons.  brooke and gavin are both in the same class.  we're starting out very slowly, but my hope is that i have two little swimmers by summers end :)  i loved watching them together through the glass windows.  the experiences they get to share are so special to me.