Nathan's 3rd Birthday

Wow I can't believe our little boy is 3 years old already!  He officially turned 3 on May 10.  It's been a fun few weeks of celebrating.  On May 3 we had his birthday party with friends and family.  It was Construction Theme (his obsession love of trucks & machines continues) and we held it at the Si View Community Park in North Bend.

The day couldn't have been more beautiful.  Mid-70's and not a cloud in the sky.  All our family and several of Nate's little friends and our family friends were in attendance.  We had folks "build their own sandwich" for lunch.  The kids played at the park and then we had some fun activities planned.  We had a dump truck pinata which actually turned out to be an epic fail.  A hilarious epic fail though.  It was a pull string pinata. One of the dads went to help his daughter pull one of the strings that was being stubborn and the whole pinata came crashing to the ground.  All the kids burst into tears.  And then they realized that all the candy had poured out on the ground and they scurried to pick it up.  Amazingly they felt better after that...go figure.

The next activity was a relay race where the kids had to run down the grass, put on the
"workerman" hard hat, vest, tool belt and boots and then race back to the finish line.  This was pretty hilarious too.   And so much fun.

Next up was cake.  Grampa Jay made an amazing construction cake which Nathan loved.  And it was delicious.  He is so talented!

And then we finished out with presents and favors.  Nathan got some awesome gifts including some new machines, fun games, and a couple books.   Here are a few more shots (photos courtesy of my brother and mom)

The celebrations continued the next weekend when the four of us went to the zoo as a joint celebration for Nate's birthday and Mother's Day for me.  We haven't gone through those photos yet, but it was a really fun day as well.

Happy birthday Nathan!  You bring so much joy to our lives and we just love you so much!  Hope you have a fantastic year!!

7 Months Old

So I'm recording Cameron's 7 months milestone and he just turned 8 months.  But I don't want to miss the fun things happening a month ago.  Better late than never right?

Here are the fun things happening at 7 months:

*Cameron has started eating solid food!  His very first food was sweet potatoes which he liked and then he moved on to carrots.  He did pretty well and is skilled with eating from a spoon although he often likes to steal the spoon from us to chew on it.
*James and I did our first trip away from Cameron when we went to Friday Harbor (earlier post).  And of course while we were gone he decided to sleep through the whole night for the first time!  Seriously?!?! Hopefully this will start be a trend soon though.
*He is almost crawling.  He gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth, but can't quite figure out moving his arms forward yet.  He also has this funny army crawl that he does across the floor.  If he wants to get to something he will figure out a way to get to it.  He loves to be on his tummy playing with toys.
*Cameron has started sitting up on his own!  It took a little bit of practice and then one day he just continued to sit for long periods of time without falling over.  He loves being able to sit and observe his brother or play with toys in a more fun way.  I think he feels like he's more part of the action with everyone.
*I've noticed that Cameron is very drawn to the color red.  He loves his Elmo doll as you'll see below and any item that has a bright red color on it, he's drawn to it, wants to touch it or play with it.

We are having so much fun with Cameron and can't imagine what life was like before without him.  Love you buddy!

Love this photo sequence.  Happy....sad....curious....hungry...

Yay for sweet potatoes!  Nathan is such a great helper

Mmmmmm....

Easter in Pictures

Not much time lately to blog, but I'm trying not to get super behind.  I wanted to capture our Easter holiday so I'm going to do it through photos (which let's face it are much more fun than reading my descriptions anyway).  So here goes...

This year we did some serious egg hunting.  And Nathan learned the "hot and cold" game!

Having a blast and feeling pretty proud of his hunting skills

The stockpile of jelly beans, chocolate, and fruit snacks

Basket time!  And Nathan is using my old Easter basket--so special to me and brings back good childhood memories

Ah trying to get a good family photo with little ones.  At least one is looking at the camera!

We enjoyed a lovely brunch with Nana & Pops and Ryan & Carly

Cameron's First Easter and egg hunt!

Love these brother moments!

Nathan's helping explain all the great stuff Cam got in his basket

Cameron was really most interested in the grass

Wonderful Easter dinner with Gramma & Grampa and Aunt Jacky and Uncle Johnathin.  So happy to get this great family photo!  Everyone is looking and smiling at once.  It's a miracle!

Sweet picture of Gramma and Cameron

It was a nice holiday with both families.  And we also had a great sermon at church that helped me think about Easter in a new way complete with tears.  Not a big surprise with our amazing church.  Feel so blessed with family time.  And most importantly feel so blessed to receive Christ's love, grace and to celebrate the Resurrection that never ceases to overwhelm and humble me.  He is Risen!  He is Risen indeed!

Weekend Getaway

In late March, James and I were fortunate to get away on our own for the weekend.  It could not have come at a better time.  As many of you read this post, we clearly were at the point where we desperately needed some time to relax and rejuvenate.  Thanks to our amazing parents, we were able to do just that.

We traveled to San Juan Island which we had never been to before together.  I visited there many years ago with my parents and James had never been.  I had forgotten how lovely and relatively easy it is to escape to the San Juan Islands.  We kept saying how we want to go back this summer and take the boys.  Initially we were looking at places to stay in Friday Harbor.  But my brilliant husband found a highly rated place on Trip Advisor called Snug Harbor Resort.  We could not have picked a more perfect place for what we wanted the weekend to be all about....quiet, peace, sleep, couple time, reading, and nature.  For any of you looking to travel to San Juan Island, we would highly recommend it.  We stayed in a little waterfront cabin.  It had a small living area, full kitchen, wonderful shower and cozy little bedroom.  It had just been remodeled recently too so it was beautiful.  And right outside our large windows was the peaceful harbor.  Talk about a little haven!  I unfortunately didn't take any photos of our place, but the website definitely does it justice.

I never knew that San Juan Island had so much history!  It played a pretty major role in relations between the U.S. and Britain a few years after the Revolutionary War and was the subject of much land control conflict.  The Island still has an American Camp and English Camp of which we visited both.  Nice little history lesson which we always enjoy.

English Camp (the prettier of the two camps)

Cute little cemetary at the English Camp

We also took a great hike up from English Camp that gave us beautiful views of the surrounding islands, the Haro Straight, and all the way to Victoria, Canada.  

The orange colored buildings down below is our resort

We also visited Lime Kiln Park which is normally where you can view Orca whales from land, but they aren't usually around until summer (see--another reason to go back).  But they had a great lighthouse and James had fun taking photos.

Unique silver and gold tree

We also went up north to spend a little time in Roche Harbor.  What a cute place!  And a wedding was going on which is always fun to observe from afar.  

Other than exploring, the weekend consisted mostly of reading books, taking naps (I took a nap each day--I never do that!), sleeping in, making breakfast, watching movies, and going out to dinner.  We went to 2 fabulous restaurants in Friday Harbor--Cask & Schooner and Backdoor Kitchen.  Yum!  Even the ferry ride both to and from the island felt heavenly--nice views and peaceful.  At one point we were sitting next to a family with a little toddler.  Although we felt bad we actually moved to a different seat saying "We'll be back in that world in a little bit.  Let's just savor the quiet for a little longer."  

Needless to say we finally felt human again after this trip.  And probably acted like better parents upon our return.  It was exactly what we needed.  And it's amazing how even though we relished the quiet time and chance to reconnect, we missed the boys a ton!  It was fun to come home to them and appreciate them more.  Thank you Warners and Spauldings for helping to make this getaway possible!