Take me out to the Ballgame...

We got a great Christmas gift a few months ago... tickets from family to see the Mariner's TOGETHER with my sisters and thier families! It was lots of fun... a day filled with sunshine, hotdogs, IVARS (my fav at Safeco), cheering, moose hugging & high fiving, walking, cheesing for pics, swedish fish, cracker jacks, a little snoozing (by Luke) & wishing they had won! A successful day! It wasn't any our kids 1st trip to Safeco (we love the Mariners) but it was so much fun to be there with a ton of cousins and aunts & uncles who love them! yeah!

Simple things...

I love it when I can get my kids entertained with something simple. Away from videos and having TO BE entertained. Today... in our wonderful backyard (that I am thankful for everyday) I brought out the Wal Mart bubble wands. We saw these last weekend at a friend's wedding and made a mental note to get some soon! I saw them at Walmart and did you know that the Big one Wyatt has was only $2? I did splurge a little on Makenna's... I got her the Disney Princess one that was slightly more (it was her birthday this past week after all and i am a sucker for anything Disney)... but they have the basic ones for $1 and $2. you can't beat that. Now... I would recommend buying a big jug for quick refills. The wands don't work really well unless they are full. What fun... For over an hour they were running and chasing and stomping and squealing. No fights nothing! Pure Bliss. The last photo is of Luke napping (he missed out on the bubbles for now)... he LOVES the Goodnight Moon book... so much so that we had to buy another copy to keep in the diaper bag. He carries it and as you can see here ...sleeps with it. He loves it and so do I. Ahhh... the simple things.

Growing up...

My husband and I had a conversation tonight while the kids were still up... a short one but it did happen. We were talking about our nephew and how he will be in college in a year... and the decisions he is thinking about now that will affect him ... well for the rest of his life. Later I started thinking about my kids... we have had a lot of firsts this past year. A 1st Birthday (last June of my youngest), KINDERGARTEN, an organized sport (T-ball), saying goodbye to our dog (almost 12) because of lymphoma, and so much more.

Life... it just happens... it happens if you sit on the bench and watch it and it happens if you jump right into the deep end and try and keep up. I personally am much more the "jump into the deep end" kind of person instead of sitting on the bench. Sometimes sitting on the bench would be good for me. As I have aged I have chosen the bench more times then I did when I was younger... some of my friends are glad I am learning. Anyway - I know that my children are growing and changing everyday and soon they will be the ones choosing colleges, and "friends", and making those big LIFE decisions. I hope between now and then we can hold thier hands and help yto guide them to be able to make those decisions wisely. I always want to be that safe, soft place for them but to be a challenge to them as well. Grace and Prayer and bit of mercy mixed in should do it... I'll take the challenge day by day... now step back while I get ready for a cannonball into the deep end... here we go!

Photos freeze time...in a way

I was loading the photos from this weekend onto our computer and I was thinking about how a day can be filled with "drama and stuff" but when you view the photos they help your "selective' memory really only remember the "good" stuff. I like that... the other stuff isn't worth going over again anyway. We had a good day but there was a little drama... I am glad we have the photos. The look pretty angelic don't they?

The Zoo... just me and the kids

I packed up the kids by myself on Tuesday and drove down to Seattle to the Zoo. It was raining on the way down (a little). I didn't care... I NEEDED to be out of the house and we have a membership and I packed lunch. So besides the gas we were looking at a FREE day. (Okay so I did pay for a ride on the carousel). Turns out the rain had really stopped by the time we got there and the sun actually came out for most of the day. Some of my mommy friends think I am nuts for doing the outings I do with all 3 kids By MYSELF. I find it rather challenging and I get a lot of satisfaction out taking them and exposing them to the outside world. I love the zoo and the kids have been a lot. They love it. I love it. We saw lots of things... Elephants, a baby gorilla, and Orangatan swinging on a vine (you don't see that every time), Zebras, and so much more. I love my kids and I will deeply miss this stage when it is over... I like pushing a stroller, opening up cheese sticks, toting a diaper bag, and trying to cram 4 people into one bathroom stall. These are fun times.