Squirrel in my Bag and Snake in the Sink!

Today we went to a park for an outing with people from Parents as Teachers. We grabbed lunch from McDonalds because I forgot that we were out of bread. After it was over, I grabbed my bag which contained a few leftover fries and set it on the grass while the kids continued to play on the playground. When we were getting ready to go, I told Kyrie to go get the bag. She came back with,"Mom! There's a squirrel in the bag!"

We sat and watched for a while.






It found the french fries! Moments later it went back down and came up with a ketchup packet! Guess it wanted a little ketchup to go with the fries!


Late tonight, I decided to make a trip to the gym. When I got there, I used the restroom and started to wash my hands. I got my heart rate up before I even stepped on the treadmill when this snake came up out of the drain! I let out a scream! I didn't bother to reach over and turn off the water. There were two guys and two other girls working out. I told them about the snake in the sink, so we all gathered around the bathroom and stood there watching it. One girl told me that the manager had tried to get the snake out earlier, but was unsuccessful(Thanks for the warning!). We called the manager, but she was in bed and didn't want to come down, so she said if no one was going to get it, we could shut the door and leave a note about the bathroom being out of order.



For some reason, I decided to put on a brave face and pick the snake up and carry it outside. I don't know why- maybe I was afraid of it coming out under the door or something. Anyway, I hope it stays outside now and enjoys it's freedom.

And that was my experience with wildlife- twice in the same day!

4th of July

If you want to see all 63 photos I took of the day, you can click on this!

We had an excellent 4th of July. Went to church in the morning. In the afternoon, we attended the parade:




This is my favorite picture!

After the parade, I put the final touches on the raspberry pretzel jello salad that I had prepared the night before for the party we were attending that night. Note to self:Spray whipped cream might be convenient, but it will surely melt and run later on.


Later that evening we left for the party that was a few blocks down the lake from us. The neighbors were setting off a lot of fireworks, and Jayden was very overwhelmed by it all. I think it was partially due to the fact that he was tired, but Mark decided to take him home and put him to bed.


Isaiah and I took a little boat ride on the lake before they shut it down for the fireworks. It was pretty smoky coming back to the dock because of all the fireworks being ignited. The man next to Isaiah is Captain Ken. He is a sailboat enthusiast. After we got back to shore, he taught Isaiah how to tie knots. They really bonded.



Kyrie and Isaiah were the only kids at the party, so a lady there gave them all her sparklers to play with and we got to play with some personal fireworks.







At 10:00, they shot off the fireworks over the lake. It wasn't as big a show as last year, though.



It didn't matter too much because we got to enjoy all the other fireworks that the neighbors were setting off. ;)



Happy 234th birthday, America!

Another schnuzzling post

So it's been a while since my last post. I would like to blame it on all the fun that I'm having on our vacation in Seattle. Mostly it's because it was easier to post all the pictures that I've been taking on Facebook.

I saw a post on another blog I follow about sleeping babies, and it reminded me of this picture that I took of Jayden about a week or so ago. Once again, he has fallen asleep in a funny place in a funny position- holding a SpongeBob card. And yes, this poor child is only wearing a diaper. I am lucky to get him to wear that. He is fully clothed when we go anywhere, but as soon as we get home, he is asking,"Shirt off? Pants off?"



Well, we've been here for about two weeks, and we are planning on staying through the end of July. It's a pretty long vacation, but we're fortunate to be able to do it since Mark can work from anywhere and we have a basement apartment to "live" in. Since we've been here, we have gone on hikes along the Puget Sound, attended an International Festival with Taiko drumming, Hula dancing, aerial arts, juggling, bouncy castles and train rides, and more. The kids have been swimming at the Club pool a couple of times(it's still hasn't warmed up too much here). Kyrie has reconnected with her friends, and has been to the Seattle Center on three different occasions with her neighbor friend. They've ridden the roller coaster there a couple of times. I'm amazed at her bravery. She must get it from her dad- I don't like roller coasters.

Today I took the kids to see Toy Story 3 in 3D. I don't think the 3D effects were very spectacular, but will warn anyone(especially mothers) who hasn't seen it to bring a tissue or two. It was definitely good writing. I also liked the cartoon short that came before it.

We're looking forward to the 4th of July(as I type, I can hear some fireworks being shot off in the neighborhood). Church in the morning, parade in the afternoon, and a BBQ and watching the fireworks from the neighbors' house(they live on the lake where the firework display will be shot from). We had a good time last year- such a good time that Mark wanted to make sure that we were here for the 4th this year.

Hopefully I will get around to posting more while we're here. I have a lot of pictures I haven't shared yet. And probably will have more pictures and fun times to report as the month progresses.

Uncle Manny

Our dear friend Manny will be moving to Virginia in July. We will miss him!

Give me some knuckles!


"BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABY Jayden!" as Uncle Manny says.

Our kids love him!

Actual New Pictures!

Kyrie lost her third tooth last night. All bottom teeth. No signs of her top teeth budging yet. It's always exciting when she reaches another milestone, though. Bittersweet, because it means my oldest baby is growing up!

These are also cell phone pictures, so not the greatest quality:

Cell phone pictures- Exhibit D

Before Kyrie got her own room:

Cell Phone Pics Exhibit C

A New Little Friend
My mom is normally a Great Dane person, but she got a chihuahua to keep my grandma company(although my grandma isn't too fond of animals in the house). My mom is also involved as a board member for her city's humane society. For the past couple of years or so she has been fostering some chihuahua dogs.

Anyway, the last time we went to visit her, Kyrie fell in love with this foster chi. Mom tried to convince us to take him home, but we aren't really the chihuahua types.

So exhibit C- Kyrie and Cole

Cell phone pictures-Exhibit B

Christmas lights. I love them. One of my favorite things about Christmas. It's nearing summer now(although it is still pretty cold here), but I'll post some Christmas pictures anyway.

Before we left Seattle, I took Kyrie and Jayden(Mark and Isaiah had already come back to Pullman) to a botanical garden in Bellevue where they decorate the whole park with Christmas lights. Really beautiful. Here is a picture I got with my cell phone. It's a swamp with swans, dragonflies, lily pads, and all sorts of wetland flora and fauna.

After Christmas, I did a girls' outing with Kyrie and a couple of my friends. We enjoyed the lights in Lewiston at Locomotive Park.

Cell phone pictures-Exhibit A

I drank too much caffeine today! Have been doing a little bit of organizing in my desk. Ran across my micro SD adapter. Fun pics that I've never shared before! I found 50 of them that were worth sharing, but you won't be bombarded with all of them now. Let's see if I get around to a post a day with different pictures to share.

Exhibit A:

Schnuzzle with Mr. Giraffe

Jayden schnuzzles again at lunch time:

Kyrie's Starry Night

The last couple of days in Art, we have been studying Vincent Van Gogh. Kyrie got to try her own attempt on The Starry Night.

Sleepy Boy

Jayden schnuzzled again today.

Mother's Day

I didn't get a chance to post pictures from Mother's Day besides the family shots that turned out oh-so-nice.

I tried to get pictures of me and the kids, but as usual, Jayden wasn't a willing participant.

Mark did manage to get a shot when Jayden peeked his face in to say "cheese."

Mark got my friend to watch the kids while he took me out to lunch. We were going to go to Mongolian BBQ, but I had mentioned that I wanted to check out Red Bento sometime, and at the last minute, we decided to pull into the parking lot and go for it. It was a good choice. We had California rolls and yakisoba with shrimp. The food was delicious and the service was pretty good. I was a little chilled in there because they had the doors open to let all the smoke(I think they burned some food) out.

Afterward, we headed to the U of I arboretum. This is the place where I used to go for quiet time when I was in college. It was the place that Mark proposed to me. We went for a walk around the trail- walked all the way to the end because I knew of a bathroom, and needed to use it pretty badly. Remind me not to drink a bunch of Dr. Pepper before I go on a nature walk. ;)

We saw a few bunnies.

Self portrait

The barn at the end with the bathroom. ;)

It was a beautiful day.

Why You Haven't Seen a Picture of Our Whole Family Together For a Couple of Years

I'd like to present exhibit A.

Just barely sit down and Jayden already proceeds to kick off one shoe and struggle. I try tickling him, but it's not helping. Isaiah doesn't look at the camera.

Exhibit B:

Isaiah looks at the ground while Jayden goes for the other shoe. Mark's smile starts to slowly fade.

Exhibit C:

Isaiah still looks away. Jayden is still not happy. Mark says,"Okay, we've had enough." Kyrie still has her pose.

So my apologies to my aunt who has been begging me for a family picture for a while now for my grandma's memory scrapbook, but you might have to deal with individual pictures. Or wait until my youngest outgrows his dislike of getting his picture taken- which could be 10 years from now. ;)

3 year check-up

I took Jayden to his 3 year well-child visit. I was kind of apprehensive about the visit today. I know that Jayden doesn't like anyone messing with him. I have to sit on him to brush his teeth. Hair cuts are not fun. I didn't expect today to be any better. It wasn't. He didn't want the pulse oximeter on his finger. He struggled when they were taking his temperature. We were already off to a bad start. If you are a faithful blog reader, you will know that the tears come too easily for me sometimes. I was already tearing up when the nurse took us to the room. We talked about my concerns with Jayden- mostly about how he was behind his peers in speech. Jayden played with the fun toys they had in the room- happy and seemingly oblivious to what was going on.

The dr. came in later, and we talked for a little while. We went over the things that he does say- fortunately, I had been compiling a list, and he was impressed with the fact that he identifies shapes, colors, letters, numbers, and even some words that he can read. He watched Jayden playing with the IPod Touch and commented on his fine motor skills. The doctor put my mind a little more at rest when he said that he was less concerned about Jayden's speech than I was. He did a quick check of Jayden(and Jayden showed him exactly how much he dislikes being messed with).

We will be going back in a few months to see if there has been more progress, but I have already enrolled Jayden in Headstart for the upcoming year. He will have access to a Speech Therapist there, and I'm hoping that having a little more interaction with peers his age will be helpful.

When we got home, I took his carseat out of the car. He has reached the 35 lb limit for rear-facing in his seat, so we'll be turning him around now. We have chosen to keep him rear-facing for an extended period because studies have shown it to be safer and more effective than forward-facing. I used this opportunity to wash the car seat cover(that thing was dang hard to remove), and now I will have to go re-install the seat so it will be ready for Mark to take the kids out tomorrow(I will be working crowd control for graduation all day). But here are a couple of obligatory pictures.

Jayden's 3rd birthday

We kept the night pretty simple. A couple of our friends came over and we served cake and ice cream.
I made this little IPod Touch cake for Jayden because he LOVES my IPod Touch!

I decided that I should be in the picture sometimes, so I handed Mark the camera. I love this picture- even if I don't have make-up on.

All-in-all, a pretty good day. Jayden actually attempted opening gifts- a task that he usually leaves up to us. He did a decent job at tearing the paper off once we got it started for him. He played with his new toy helicopter for a while before heading over to the computer- another favorite past-time of his.

Happy birthday, little guy! We sure do love you!