Halloween...Avengers style

Halloween was fun this year!  Especially with Nathan because as he's getting older he's definitely getting more into the holiday.  He was all about helping me decorate the house inside this year with Halloween decorations that we had and also borrowed from Nana and Pops.  He even set up decorations in his room complete with a web and plastic spiders and pumpkin lights above his window.  He wasn't even really that scared except our neighbors next door put up a bunch of scary things like zombies, a werewolf, skeleton, etc. on their front porch and that scares him.  We haven't delved into the major decorating on our front porch yet other than pumpkins and fall mums, but I have a feeling we'll begin that craziness next year.

We had a lot of fun carving pumpkins this year and did more than we've done in years.  Actually I shouldn't take any credit--I simply cleaned out the pumpkins.  James did the incredible carving.  And most of it was drawn free hand!  He's amazing!

The costume theme in our house this year was Avengers.  Nathan was Captain America and Cameron was Hulk.  I have to say their costumes were pretty cute.  My brother and Carly even got in on the action dressing as Thor and Black Widow.  My favorite part was Thor's wig.

 
Unfortunately it was the worst weather for trick or treating--windy, rainy and cold.  Despite that our crew pressed on.  Cam trick-or-treated at a couple houses for his first time--mostly went around to see our neighbors. Nate went with James and met up with some friends at the top of the Ridge where the trick or treating is insane.  People drive in from all areas just to trick or treat up there.  He had an awesome time and came home with quite the loot.  He barely even noticed that the weather was terrible.  My mom and I had the rough job of staying in our cozy house and passing out candy.

It was a fun holiday because so much of our family came over to join in the fun.  And Nate got to trick or treat with some of his friends from preschool for the first time which was great.  And of course there's already talk of what costumes will be next year.  Star Wars?  Fireman?  We shall see....

Another 0-12 Months Recap

I've been reflecting a lot lately on how fast our boys are growing up.  Nathan can do so many things independently now--putting on clothes, putting on shoes, brushing his teeth (to an extent), reaching up to get things, going potty, etc.  And already Cameron is getting close to forming words and I can tell that he understands much of what I'm saying to him. He's also walking all over the place and getting more coordinated every day.  Last night James and I luxuriously sat at the dinner table having a glass of wine while watching our two boys entertain each other and run around the living room playing.  I'm happy to be in this space and I'm noticing that things are getting easier as they get older.  But I also feel myself getting sad becasue they won't be little for very long.  So I just want to pause time and really really soak all this in.  Sometimes we're so busy that soaking in doesn't happen very well.

So in honor of "soaking in", I'm posting Cameron's growth through his first year. The newborn time is so wonderful, intense and fleeting.  Just wanted to make sure to reflect and honor Cameron's newborn time before we fully move into toddlerhood...

Growth in the crib

And growth in the chair

My favorite  :)

*Sigh* *Tear*

12 Months Old

I wanted to make sure to record Cameron at 12 months and complete the monthly tracking of growth for the 1st year.  Poor second child--definitely not on top of things like I was with Nate.

Gosh I can't believe a year ago Cameron was this tiny sweet baby!  This year went really fast.  And now I can't even imagine what life was like without Cameron.  He has added so much joy, wonder and humor to our family.  Plus being able to watch the boys and their brotherly bonding has been such a blessing.  They are great friends.

Here are the fun things I don't want to forget about Cameron at 12 months:

*At Cameron's 12 month checkup he weighed about 20 lbs. and was 30 inches long.  He's about average in every measurement....other than cuteness of course!  His cuteness rating is above the charts!!
*Cameron is babbling more and more every day.  Hopefully he starts saying real words soon.  He can say mama and dada, but we're not sure if those are just sounds or if he's really calling us by those names.
*He is weaned off bottles now and has moved on to regular sippy cups.  He eats what we eat for dinner.  It's amazing what kids can eat with barely any teeth!  Amazes me every time.  His favorite foods are any kind of fruit, any kind of bread (big surprise), pouches, yogurt, beans, peas, and cheerios.
*These past couple of weeks have actually been kind of a stormy period for Cameron.  He's been sick, teething and going through a developmental phase all at the same time.  So he's actually been more fussy than we've ever seen him.  As I'm writing this he just turned 13 months and finally old happy go-lucky Cameron is starting to emerge again.  Thank goodness!
*He has about 6 teeth--4 on the top and 2 on the bottom
*Cameron loves to dance when he hears music.  He has this funny little bouncing move that he does.  I think he has pretty good rythmn...for a white boy.  :)
*One of my favorite things is that Cameron loves to read books right now.  He constantly goes over to his or Nathan's bookshelf, pulls out a book and brings it over to sit in my lap and read.  I love it!  I try to stop what I'm doing every time and at least read a little of the book because I want to encourage his love of reading and I just cherish those times with him so much.
*Cameron is Nathan's shadow.  He just loves his big brother and wants to constantly do what he's doing or play with him.  Nathan has been an awesome big brother too.  He's pretty good about involving Cameron in what he's doing or sharing with Cameron.  We'll see how long it lasts, but right now we're enjoying them being good buddies and playing together.  I think they've both grateful for a constant playmate in each other.
*Cameron is such a ham and doesn't even know it.  He cracks us up all the time. I think he's going to have a wonderful dry whit like his Papa and Gramma.

Happy 12 months Cameron.  We love you so much!

He seems so long now!

Big Shout-out

First day of fall!  So exciting.  I love this time of year.

But I don't want to leave the summer without giving a huge Shout-out to James our Triathlon Man! What an incredible competition season he had.  Since April, James completed 

1 8K

3 10Ks

1 5K

2 Olympic Distance Triathlons

Wow!  We are so proud of him and his commitment to getting in shape, losing weight and being healthy.  His dedication to his workout routine was stellar as well with getting up at 4am to go work out, fitting in workouts after work, waking up early on the weekends to do long bricks, etc.  What an incredible role model for our sons to see Papa taking care of himself and challenging himself.  It was fun to go to most of the events above to cheer him on and even participate with him.  

Although it was an awesome competition season, I'm kinda ready (and I think James is too) for him to be back to a normal workout routine so we can have more family time on the weekend and also so he can focus on other interests for awhile. 

So until next spring...congratulations James!!  We are so proud of you our Triathlon Man!!

Summertime Part II: July, August & September

Here is our recap of the rest of our fun summer captured through some photos:

July

To celebrate 4th of July we went to our annual Snoqualmie Ridge neighborhood celebration.  This year Nathan was old enough to partake in most all the activities including bouncy houses, a pony ride, train ride, visiting the firetruck, etc.  Then in the evening we did our own mini fireworks show in our alley with our neighbors.  It was a fun day!

In a separate post soon I will describe the triumphal workout season James had this summer in more detail.  But one competition I want to specifically highlight is quickly becoming a favorite annual trip.  ChelanMan is a triathlon event in Lake Chelan.  We go over and stay with some wonderful friends from church in a great house close to the park where the race is with a beautiful view of the lake.  Everyone who competed this year did an awesome job and it was a beautiful and fun weekend! James especially did such a great job and we were so proud of him!

It's always such a blessing in the summer when my close girlfriends who live out of town come to visit.  Even more of a blessing this year was they all came at the same time so we could have a big friend reunion!  This year we did our reunion with husbands and kids too.  We enjoyed a yummy Ezell's chicken picnic at Luther Burbank park and tried to get in as much catching up as we could between running after kids and cleaning up spills.  But it was a fun evening all being together.  I just love my amazing girlfriends that I've grown up with!

Luckily James made a quick recovery from ChelanMan so we could all participate in our favorite race--the Torchlight. It occurs every year around Seafair time.  The race is just before the Torchlight parade that goes downtown and the run goes along the parade route.  So the whole time you're running (or walking fast in my case) people who are lined up all along the parade route cheer you on.  Plus you run downtown so it's just a really fun event.  Then we grab a bite to eat and then enjoy the parade which is quickly becoming one of the kids' favorite activities of the summer.  This year I walked the 5k and pushed Nathan in the stroller.  We had a blast doing this together and hope that Cameron can join us next year.

Nathan ran through the finish line with his Papa!

After our wonderful mini-vaca in Chelan which I blogged about here, the following weekend we had the unique chance to visit James' work!  Every so often Boeing hosts Family Day where family and friends can go to the factory and see the behind the scenes of what people at Boeing do all day at work. It's pretty awesome I must say.  We got to see James' desk and the building where he works.  We also saw a bunch of great small prop jets that they had displayed outside.  And the biggest treat was going into the cockpit of a beautiful brand new Alaska Airlines 737.  We even got to sit in the pilot seats!  I don't know how pilots know how to fly planes--there are a million instruments!  It just so happened this day was James' birthday too (see below for his yummy birthday breakfast!)  so we also went downtown and rode the Great Wheel (huge ferris wheel in downtown Seattle) and then had a yummy meal at Cactus to continue the celebration.  It was a really fun day for the 4 of us.

Nathan and Cameron got their first chance to go fishing!  With Papa, Gramma and Grampa, they visited a great place in Woodinville that is designed for kids' first fishing experience!  They get a bamboo pole, bait, and get to fish for trout in a small pond.  Nate did a great job and caught about 3 fish!  We cooked one up and it was delicious!  What a special bonding experience for the boys, their Papa and their grandparents!

We did another charity race all together--the Columbia Winery charity run and walk which benefits Children's Hospital.  James did the 10K run and I took the boys in the double stroller on the 5K walk. The race route wasn't as fun as the Torchlight, but it was a cool, overcast morning and the boys and I just enjoyed all the excitement of the race.  James came and met us at the end so we could all cross the finish line together.  Then at the end they had a Kids dash which Nathan go to participate in.  He was pretty excited about the little medal he got!

 Thanks to my wonderful parents, James and I got away one night to go golfing.  I haven't golfed in 2 years since I was pregnant last summer and needless to say I was pretty rusty.  But we played one of my favorite courses, Mt. Si and it was a beautiful evening.  Then we finished the night off with a yummy sushi dinner!

The next day we braved taking the boys out on a bike ride.  Nathan loves going on bike rides and riding behind us in the Burley.  Although when he was little he did not love it.  I think it scared him a bit.  So this year was Cameron's first time and we weren't sure how he'd react.  Luckily he did pretty great--once he got some food in him.  It was helpful that he had his big brother next to him.  We rode the Burke Gilman trail to Redhook where we had lunch and then rode back.  It was a gorgeous day. This was an activity we were really hoping to do this summer so we're glad we made it happen and it was so fun!

On September 1, the boys moved up in classrooms at their school.  Nathan is officially in the preschool classroom and Cameron is officially in Toddler 1.  Can't believe how quickly our little boys are growing up!

To cap off the fun summer we ventured down to Mt. Rainier on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. We always like to try and get down there at least once if not twice a year.  We missed last year since I was pregnant and Cameron came.  This year we just did a day trip and then hopefully soon when the boys are a little older we can continue our love of camping in the park.  We headed to Sunrise thinking the weather would be a little chilly--maybe mid to low 50's?  Were we surprised when we arrived at the Sunrise lodge and it was 38 degrees!!!  We packed warm coats and hats/gloves, but we weren't prepared for 38 degrees.  It was definitely chilly.  The boys were troopers and we managed to get about a mile mini-hike in before it was just too cold and we headed back to the car.  But every time I'm up there I'm reminded just how majestic that mountain is.  And being at Sunrise makes you feel so close to it!  We can't believe how close we live to this amazing place--that we can just head there for the day.  So glad our boys get to grow up going to this beautiful place on a regular basis.

All in all this has seriously been one of my most favorite summers ever.  We made a list early on of the fun summer activities we wanted to do and then plotted them on the calendar and we actually did most everything that was on our list!  Thankfully the weather was amazing this summer too so we could do all that we wanted to do.  I'm a little sad to see the summer go, but I also love fall so excited to move into a new season with cooler weather, fall colors, and football!!  Farewell Summer 2015--it's been a blast!!