Philips First Tooth Fell Out!

He has been a wiggling it for weeks now and finally it came out when I gave it a big old yank. his Big Boy tooth is already peeking up in the hole. We like to put our teeth in a little glass for the toothfairy to find so she can see how beautiful and shiny it is magnified by the water. Since it was his first tooth and it was so hard to get out the toothfairy gave him $3.00. Maybe he won't be so scared when I want to pull out his next loose tooth. The other bottom tooth is already got the wiggles.

Happy Birthday to Me

Came home from the Gorge on my Birthday to a wonderful surprise. My Sweet and Amazing Man had not only cleaned the entire house including doing all the laundry, but he had also gotten me a birthday cake... acually two birthday cakes because Philip was with him and he can talk Jose into just about anything. The kids really wanted me to blow out candles but 31 candles wasn't going to happen so they settled for three. What a perfect birthday present. Thanks fam!

We just got back from Creation Fest at the Gorge. It was 4 days of great music, from artists like the Newsboys, Jeremy Camp, Switchfoot, David Crowder Band, Skillet, Barlow Girls, Superchick, and many More. Sadie's highlight was meeting Pure NRG and getting her new shirt signed. She also loved the fact that we did lots of swimming because we opted to stay at a hotel rather than camp. I loved the beautiful scenes of the gorge and listening to the great speakers and talented musicians. Oh and the very cool candle lighting ceremony. The place was packed with thousands of people and to see the hillside glowing by candlight was awesome and inspiring. Last time I was here it was 10 years ago at a No Doubt concert. So much better to be listening to music that is glorifying and entertaining. God Rocks!

My Little Mermaid

This summer Addie has become quite the little mermaid. She loves to play in the water. She could stay in there for hours on end. She has been determined to learns all kinds of new water tricks like blowing bubbles, dunking with and then without plugging her nose, going under water and kicking to the top and more. She gets an idea in her head and then even if she is a little afraid at first she just keeps trying until she has conquered it. That's the upside of determination. My cute little mermaid girl even fell in love with her friends little mermaid baby and spent all afternoon teaching her tricks in the little plastic pool and taking her down the slip-n-slide. So Cute!

Ready, Set, Dunk

He Didn't want to do it. He was scared.

But, she is so cool, and so pretty.

How can he say no?

Got to be brave to win the girl.

So He Was!

Anything for Love!

Faces of Philip

Philip can make the best pathetic faces in the entire world. I have often wondered if he secretly practices looking crushed and injured in the mirror. He actually wasn't upset about anything when I took these photos - he was just posing.

The looks are pretty easy to ignore most of the time, it's the constant groans and goat noises that are a little harder to let slide. This boy could be a professional grumbler. Like his dad he just seems to enjoy complaining. Kind of like an 85 year old man that doesn't have anything better to do than tell everyone his woes. If you could see inside his mind I'm sure he would have all of his complaints catalogued in alphebetical order to be easily accessessed at any given moment.

Top on his list is that he is hungry and that's because he is always hungry. But he doesn't just stop at stating he is hungry. No Philip takes it to the next level... Maybe to an entirely new level. For instance he might start by stating that he's hungry- then he goes on to say he needs food- he's starving- his tank is empty- he needs fuel- why don't I want to feed him- you know he could die if he didn't get fed - if his mother loved him she would make him food- ohhh--uhhh--ugghhh why won't I just get him some food- gosh it's not like he's asking for me to feed a whole army- man doesn't anybody care about him- okay he guesses he is just going to have to feed himself- oh finnnalllyyyy lunch is ready-- oh man yuck what is it?- oh man peanut butter and jelly, yeah thats his favorite but can't I even cut the crust off for him- gosh is he asking too much- well he's going to have to just pull it off then because he doesn't want to eat the crust today-

And then finally after eating and clearing his plate- thanks mom that was a good lunch!!-- (half an hour later)-- what are we going to have for dinner tonight?

Yep that's my boy!

Tween?

This is the face that I have gotten to look at on Sadie for most of the summer. Does she not look a little pre-teenish here? She is only 8. Ok - 8 1/2. That still isn't pre-teen, but she keeps reminding me that she is almost a pre-teen. I'm not ready for a teen, or a tween. Nor a Tween 'tude. She is a really sweet girl though. I absolutely adore her. I just can't believe time has passed so quickly. now she is more into her ipod and computer games than she is toys. At least she still doens't seem to notice boys! But I'm sure it's next.

Carter's Photo Shoot

Carter, my little ham, decided he wanted me to take his picture. Over and over and over again. I seriously took over 20 photos of him just pose after pose. All different, most pretty cute. I just thought it was really funny that he was asking me to keep taking his picture, then he'd look at it, and pose again. Thank goodness for digital cameras. It's pretty cheap entertianment.

Fun in the Sun!

It has been so nice and sunny this week that we decided to spend not one but two days at Bloedel. I had a great time swimming with the kids, building sandcastles, having a picnic, and just plain enjoying being a mom. My kids were so great all day long. They played nicely with their friends, the didn't squabble (much) and there were no injuries. Just Fun, Fun, Fun, and lots of sun!

Who Needs a Hot Tub?

Ok so maybe I wish we had a Hot Tub, but the kids obviously don't care. They can kick it in the kiddie pool just fine still. Actually my friend Sam, whose house we are hanging out at in these photos, has a mommy sized Hot Tub, it just isn't working and hasn't been for years. I keep picturing all us girlfriends lounging in it sipping some lemonade and soothing away the Mommy headaches and pains at the end of the day. But she keeps not getting it fixed-- so for now I guess we kick it in the kiddie pool too.

More Park Days

Just another day at the park. My kids are pretty fortunate to not even know how privelged they are to live in such a beautiful town with beautiful parks and fresh running water spraying out of the ground for them to run and play in. With Mommies and aunties who bring tons of snacks for them to munch on and warm towels for them to dry off in. And never mind the many friends to play with. Yes I must say we are blessed. Blessed indeed.

Annual trip to Birch Bay

We went to Birch Bay the other day and played at the beach. It was a super low tide and the sand seemed to stretch forever before you could get your toes in the water. Because the tide was so low, the sand wasn't too muddy. It had dried out a little except for where little rivers ran through. That didn't stop my kids sensory issues from kicking it into high gear. Carter does not love the beach. There are crabs,and seaweed, and sand, and water and all kinds of things he decides to be afraid of when he sees them. Addie just seems to get mad at everything, sand beween her toes, water in crocs, shoes off her feet, dirty feet back into her crocks. Its a challenge. but the beautiful beach is worth it. And every year I just have to remind myself it was a little easier than the year before.

Birch Bay

I was surprised that Addie and Carter were not the only ones who didn't love the beach. Sadie had been allowed to bring Tori so she wouldn't be stuck hanging out with a bunch of "little kids". But still the girls spent quite a bit of time asking if they could go sit in the car. Can you believe it a beautiful beach on a bright sunny day and the girls wanted to go sit in the car. I swear they are skipping into their teen years. At least Philip had a blast running around with David and Evan. That is until his stomache reminded him it had been more than 15 minutes since he had eaten. Growing boy and his unsatiable appetite. You know even the dog seemed a little whiny at the beach. Of course that wasn't until she ended up swimming in the cold salty water. because she could touch when we passed over a little inlet. She kept trying to drink the water and then would get an awful look of disgust on her face until she got to the next pool of water where she would stupidly try it again.

After walking out to the water's edge we headed over to the state park to wash the sand off our feet and enjoy a picnic lunch. i could have spent the rest of the day out there exporing the rocky side of the beach, but Samantha and her kids were done so we decided to head back to town to go to a park.

Well at least by the time we left everyone agreed they had had a good time. Their tummies were full, their feet were covered in sand and their buckets were filled with shells and treasures. It was a good day.

Same Day Therapy

This summer we were able to get the kids all to therapy at Susan's on the same day. Thanks to Tina, the new therapist there who works on Fridays.

Our therapists are so nice they decided to work the scedule out so we only have to drive to Lynden once a week. Yeah for saving on gas!

While Sadie is not in school they are allowing her to join in, which has been a huge blessing because she had felt a little left out. It's also really good for all of them because the dynamics change when you add an older sibling into the mix. I love the communication strategies the therapists come up with.

This first session of everyone in the same time slot was a little hectic... the kids were having a ball... so it was loud. Then we moved outside and it was a little more organized, and the kids didn't feel the need to be quite so loud.

I am just so incredibly thankful for the therapy they recieve and the talents the therapists have. I can't say enough good things about these sweet, caring, and patient woman. Especially having therapy on Fridays when it has already been a long week and everyone is tired. But these great ladies just never seem to run out of patience and always are full of great ideas and new insight to the workings of my children's minds. I don't know how I'd get along without them.

Artists at Work

One of the kids favorite outside activities is to paint the house. Of course they just use water, but they have a great time doing it anyway. I thought Sadie would think it was too babyish, but perhaps her artisitic side just can't resist the chance to create. Mom loves it too, because it lets them be creative, keeps little hands busy, and it's good clean fun that mom doesn't have to worry about the mess.