This and That...

Here's a few things we've been doing lately...

Took a walk today.  It wasn't raining - so outside we went, until we got cold.  Kate loved walking up and down this fence around the retention pond down the street. 

 We do a babysitting co-op with some friends at church.  We call it kid party, to make it more attractive to the kids.  There are three families, and Kate has been the youngest kiddo for awhile, until Elliot joined us.  This past Saturday was at our house.  Kate enjoyed playing with Elliot - she followed him around, and even shared her crackers with him...

 Jackson and his friend Lucy playing a game on my phone...

 I took Kate and Jackson to check out a fun new play place in the area called Elevated Sportz.  They have a bunch of trampolines for the big kids, and a really cool play area for smaller kids.  Jackson and Kate had a great time!

So - there you have it.  A few highlights of life around here.  I'm still trying to get this little old blog caught up with everything that happened at the end of last year and in January of this year.  One day, it will be up to date!  Otherwise - we just keep moving on! 

The evolution of a moving baby...

Kate has been very slow at moving. At her 9 month check up, she hadn't started crawling yet. By her 1 year check up, she was moving around - not crawling, but scooting and getting around in her own way. She had her 15 month check up last week, and she has finally started to do some walking. I've tracked down several videos we have taken of her over the months that highlight the evolution of her moving! (hopefully, they will all load!!)

This first one was taken in early November. She had just started to scoot...

This one was in early January. She's really got that scooting thing down! I think she looks like a gorilla when she really gets moving! She never really did crawl. She will, once in awhile, if she gets stuck in a spot or she's copying her brothers.

The walking begins. Kate will cling to your finger and walk anywhere! Her favorite place to walk is outside, up and down the sidewalk with dad. She yells at him everytime he comes home! This was in late January...

A few first hesitant steps on her own. This was February 8th.

10 days later, she's doing so much better!

Which brings us to today.... Since February 18th, she's walking more and more - although she is still really hesitant to walk, unless she is holding your hand or using her little walker toy. Once in awhile, she'll be brave and walk across the room. This past weekend, she tackled the stairs, and went all the way up and all the way down (I'll have to try and get those videos loaded on soon). She's finally getting it all figured out! It will be interesting to see how long it takes her to finally walk on her own, without screaming for someone's hand to hold. She's a funny girl!

Here's is one last video, taken on February 19th.  I was cooking dinner and she came into the kitchen and stood herself up and started walking back and forth on her own.  She hasn't done it since, but I love this video!

 

Presidents Weekend Sleepover!

When we bought our home - almost 10 years ago, we never could have guessed that the couple that bought the home next to ours would become like family!  They were a sweet little couple, and we slowly got to know them.  Then we had Adam, and they had a little boy about 8 months later.  They they had a little girl and 11 months later we had Jackson.  Then they moved away to Edmonds.  We were all so sad!  But, since they've moved away, we still see them every couple of months, and they still feel like family.  Over the long Presidents day weekend, Adam and Jackson had a sleepoever at their house, and they had so much fun!  Jeff and Quyen are so amazing and they make my boys feel like they are at home.  The kids got to build their own forst to sleep in!  Here's Adam and Xander's fort...

 And Jackson and Maira's fort...

The new day, there was actually some sunshine!  They all went across the street for a basketball game.  Not sure what Adam is doing in this picture...

Jackson and Maira took turms riding bikes.  Quyen has generously saved some of Maira's things for Kate and she was thinking that these pink riding gloves could be passed on to her when Maira was done with them.  Little did she know that pink is Jackson's favorite color!!  She said it was pretty funny to watch Maira help Jackson get them on!

 
We love having such great friends!  The boys loved having a sleepover!  We did find out the Jackson is a little theif!  Apparently, before they went to bed, Quyen found that Jackson had swiped Jeff's wedding ring and put it in his bag.  Then, when I went to pick them up, I found several toys in his bag that didn't belong to him.  Then, after getting home and unpacking everything, I found a bag of chuck e cheese coins.  We have never been to chuch e cheese, so I know they don't belong to us!  I think all of the items that have mysteriously gone missing around the house must have been swiped by Jackson!

100th Day of School

Adam's class celebrated the 100th day of school on February 15th.  Maybe all schools do this now - I don't ever remembering celebrating this when I was in elementary school, but Adam did it last year in Kindergarten and this year in 1st grade.  My mom had the day off from work, so she came and stayed with Jackson and Kate so I could go in and help with the celebration.  I ended up spending almost the whole day there!  Adam's teacher is great, and she had so many fun projects to do with the kids.  It was a long day, and I came home exhausted and with a very big appreciation for what elementary school teachers do every day!

Here are a few pictures.  They made glasses, and crazy hats and took a group picture when they were all done.  Adam was being a goof ball!!

 

 
 This is the only other picture I took of one of the other projects.  They did 10 dots of 10 different colors of paint to make 100....

It was fun to spend the day in Adam's 1st grade classroom...

Happy Valentines Day!

From all of us - to all of you - here's a big KISS!!