Super Hott Drummer!

Pictures

We spent some time at the dog park this weekend. August and Hazel do such a great job at making the most of what we're doing. Hazel can be found collecting sticks and writing words on the table in the small dog area. She also loves to walk up to the dog owners and chat with them about how cute their dog is...**this is supposed to say RAT, but it looks a bit like CAT. Hazel called me over to look at what she'd done by saying, "you're gonna be sooooo scarred by this!"

Every time we go to this park the kids run to this hill and start digging. I'm always on them about how gross I think it is because, well, we're at a dog park where dogs pee and poop on the same hill they are digging in. When I announced that we were going to the park they both ran for their gardening gloves so that they can dig without risk.

Of course Hazel has to lay on the ground to do the digging. It's always amazed me how different these kids are from each other. August, when he was a baby did not want his legs or arms to touch grass or sand. He'd try to balance himself on his bum while keeping his legs off the ground.
Hazel on the other hand would lay on the grass and wave her arms and legs around. I'll always remember putting her on the sand at golden gardens beach and having her wiggle and squirm her way INTO the sand so that she could feel it all.
They are still this way. August does not understand why people put sandals on in the sand. Hazel longs to run in the grass/sand without shoes on.
Ahh, these kids.

Play Date for Dogs

Let me just start this little blog by commenting on the weather today:
it was both sunny and warm. The kids and I had an engagement in Bellevue at 10 this morning but by the time we returned to Seattle at 1 the breeze was even warm! It's been a long time since we've left the house without a coat...we kept thinking that we'd forgotten them somewhere.
Once we were home we spent some time in our backyard enjoying our neighbors and our neighbor dog, Niko, the Sheba Inu.
Tank and Niko play along the fence and call for each other when they are outside. Every once in a while we are able to throw one over the fence for a full fledged play date.

Hazel got the bubbles out and taunted the dogs with the floating soapy balls of fun while August sat at the patio table reading the 5th installment of Harry Potter. It was a nice afternoon. Later we walked to doggie playtime at our local dog store and wore Tank out further. He's now totally asleep on the couch.

Here's hoping for another nice day tomorrow when we'll get to have August's favorite friend over for a few hours after church.
Let's hope we can make it to the park so the boys can play basketball or soccer or throw the ball around.

Weekend and Teeth

So last weekend Trey surprised us with a quick trip to The Great Wolf Lodge...I'd say that it was a great time for all of us:

August's plans were foiled when he read this notice outside of the giant indoor water park:
He was sooo hoping to both pee and poop in the pool!

I think the next time any family comes to town we should plan on staying at least one night at the lodge. The water park itself is worth the couple hour drive and the hotel is pretty cool too. I think it's pure genius to have this kind of thing near Seattle, the fact that it's a huge INDOOR water park means that our LONG wet winters can easily be broken up by a short trip here. I can't wait to go again.

In other exciting news...Hazel has lost her first tooth!! She had been wiggling it for weeks but it finally came out during school when she was playing with her head band in her mouth. Apparently she was shocked by the blood and began screaming in her classroom. Some of her friends were very alarmed and it became big news among the kindergartners. Hazel went to
the nurse to recover and to call me. She made it through the rest of the day just fine.
August has himself a mouth full of messed up teeth and went in to get braces on his lower set the other day. Here are his teeth before the braces...let's see how they change through out the year...I'm sure we'll all look back on this picture and be amazed...shoot, for what we're paying we dang well better be amazed!!

August

The Boy, not the month.
He's had so much going on these days:
He has been getting work done on his teeth for the past number of months. It all started with an expander on the roof of his mouth and has now progressed to braces on his bottom teeth. He was great during the appointment and I just couldn't help snap this picture of his mouth all stretched out. He went right to school once the braces were in place, taking his travel toothbrush and toothpaste with him. After school he did ask for some kids pain reliever while he worked on his homework.

Nowadays you can pick out the color of your rubber brands and so...August chose glow in the dark bands. We left the office with hopes that he could read in the dark by the light of his teeth. He was a bit disappointed when bed time came.
August has been getting ready for the Washington State standardized test for the 3rd grade. I hate these things. I was never a good test taker. August, as some of you know, takes quite a while to get things done, homework is always a struggle- he's missed recess because he can't get work done during class time. I worry about this for him. So we've been working on some test like items at home and I think he'll do just fine. His teacher said that it's not a timed test and that the students get as much time as they need. It starts on Monday and continues through the week.
During all this prep time I've noticed him retiring to his room for hours after school work. He hangs out there and then sneaks out of his room and asks for my iPhone to take pictures. This is what he's been working on:



I think the most impressive thing is that these aren't kits. He is just going in his room and building new Speeders. He's emailed pictures of some of these to his cousin Z and his best friend F and a boy from school with hopes that they'll all start building their own. He has this grand idea that they can all get together and make card for these Speeders with "fire power" and other things I can't remember because it sounds way too much like Pokemon and well, I just don't get all that. I'm just loving it. He said these words to me a few days ago, "I can't believe I'm saying this but I think I'm having a better time building Speeders than I do playing video games!"
Hip-Hip!

grumpy

Everyone has been talking about it...the fact that it was 80 on Saturday and then promptly turns to 45 and rainy the very next day. It is driving me bananas! I can't even plan what to wear for each day because who knows, it may start out sunny and then turn into a thunder storm. I did manage to take Tank to the dog park during the one hour of sun we were blessed with today...

Yesterday it began to hail in the evening. Tank needed to go out back so he rang the bells on the back door. So what usually happens is that I'll open the door and he'll leap out to see if any of our dog neighbors are out, then he'll sniff around for the exact spot to unload on, then he'll run around and then he'll lean on the door to come back inside. Not this night. This dark and stormy night caused Tank much distress. I opened the door, he walked outside and stood on the little entry step and listened to the hail. Then, he began to inform the whole neighborhood just how pissed he was that it was hailing. He barked and barked and barked and the hair on his neck stood up and he bounced around with stiff legs. It was such a great way to end the night because I felt the exact same way. Stinking Weather!

10 on 10

April Color Theme:
11:00 hour- Red

12:00 hour- Orange
1:00 hour- Yellow
2:00 hour- Green
3:00 hour - Blue
4:00 hour- Purple
5:00 hour- White6:00 hour - Black

7:00 hour - Grey

8:00 hour- Brown

More

Just had to post these pictures of our second cupcake eating fest:
Yummy graham cracker crust on the bottom!
Yes Amy, he eats his cupcakes much like he drinks his coke from the bottle...;)
Hazel didn't have to fake this smile at all...the sugar when right to her head.August could not be distracted from the task at hand.
I'm pretty happy that there is school for the kids tomorrow...I've got some time in the gym coming my way after all these sweet treats this weekend.

Trey Bakes Again

Trey found some inspiration from the cupcakes...

My Own Little Cupcake

Trey spirited the kids away this morning saying that they were going to get bagels. I took the opportunity to pick up around the house and enjoy a nice quiet breakfast and then walk the dog. It was wonderful. As Tank and I were rounding the corner back to our house we noticed that everyone was back so we ran up the stairs to greet them. August had this very excited look on his face and Hazel was giddy on the couch...
Me:
"What did you guys do?"
Kids:
"What??? Nothing! We just went to Trophy and got cupcakes, that's all!"
Me (wide eyed):
"For real? Did you LOVE THEM Trey? Weren't they great?"
Trey:
"We haven't eaten them yet...we brought them all home to have with you."

All together now, AWWWWWW! What a good man.