I love giveaways

a little etsy love: Monday Giveaway-Noodles & Milk

This etsy shop has the cutest stuff. And so I really want to win this giveaway. Check out the first birthday onesie and tutu. (Of course, Will would probably rather I choose the funky matching pants outfit with the first birthday onesie, but come on! Really? Josie's chubby little legs under a tutu? Who can pass that up?) Anyway, I get another chance if I blog about it, so here I go! (BTW- Josie's turning one in April. I am in crisis mode. This cannot be.)

Our Day with Aunt Carey

So let's chalk this one up to the category of "I'm the Funniest Person I know." I made that Family poster for Marshall a few weeks ago and the kids loved it. They looked at it all the time. But Aunt Carey fell off. And lately I had been finding Aunt Carey all over the house. So I thought it would be fun for us to have a whole day with Aunt Carey today.

First, Aunt Carey had breakfast with us.

Then Aunt Carey read a book with Marshall and played with Josie.

Thank goodness Aunt Carey was here. She and her friends Tigger and Pooh watched the kids while I took a shower before preschool.

Aunt Carey came with us to preschool.

Today was a big day. They had a field trip with Community Transit. The bus came to school. A hilarious guy gave a little presentation and then the kids got to ride the bus. (On a side note: Let's just say this was M's favorite field trip EVER. The bus pulled up while we were walking into the classroom and I thought Marshall was going to explode he was so excited. And so did all the other parents. It was hard to control that excitement and sit and listen to the presentation, but he did a very good job with the help of Kirsten. :)) (Oh, and the parents at preschool thought Aunt Carey was hilarious....or at least they told me they did to make me feel better.)

Aunt Carey went with us on the bus.


After Josie's naptime, Aunt Carey played a little with Josie while Marshall was still asleep.

Aunt Carey played with the kids while I cleaned up from dinner.

Then it was time for goodnight kisses....

And bedtime stories.

Thanks for spending the day with us Aunt Carey!

(For the record, I think this is pee-your-pants funny. Best blog entry yet. Will thought so too. That's why we're married. )

What I love about Aunt Marsha

Our dear Aunt Marsha passed away this week. We will miss her so much it hurts. Lately however, I have been thinking a lot about Aunt Marsha and, while I'm very sad, every memory makes me laugh or smile. She was an absolutely amazing lady and I wanted to make a list of my favorite memories of Aunt Marsha.

• First and foremost would definitely have to be her laugh. Every time I think of her I hear that great laugh in my head. It was rambunctious and giddy and contagious all at once. Aunt Marsha could be heard laughing from around the block, but that was once of the best things about her laugh! She brought such joy and vivaciousness into a space. Everyone laughed with Marsha.
• But she wasn't always laughing. Aunt Marsha was one of the most empathetic women I know too. She felt the hardships of others and did her best to make things better. Everyone around her knew that they could come to Aunt Marsha if they needed a hug or just a shoulder to lean on.
• Before I ever thought about calling her Aunt Marsha, I knew her as Mrs. Boynton. As a student in Aunt Marsha's 8th grade IPS class, I learned a lot about myself. Aunt Marsha had respect for her students, so much so that she wouldn't let them rest on their laurels. I will always remember when we handed in our first lab reports in September of 8th grade and we ALL got lower scores that we anticipated. I mean, we were the smart kids. We weren't used to getting anything below a B. When Stephen Kelly got his lab report, he studied it carefully and said,"Does this stand for Correct?" At at that moment we realized that we weren't going to be able to blow through IPS like we might be tempted to in our other classes. And then there was the time I got a 2 in effort (1 being the best) on my report card. My mom FLIPPED. She didn't mind the B, but a 2? I wasn't putting forth my best effort? That was unacceptable. Aunt Marsha calmly explained in the parent-teacher conference that followed that she couldn't give a 1 to someone for a B when she knew that I was capable of a A. It didn't mean that I was slacking off, but she knew I could do better. And that is what I mean by respect for her students. She expected the best because she knew that we could give it to her if we tried our best.
• I remember that the first time I saw Aunt Marsha's house it wasn't at all what I expected. I mean, I was used to the no-nonsense science teacher who called it like it was. Tough, but caring. Fun, but serious. I did not expect a Victorian house decorated with dolls. But I think that shows a lot of who she was too. Tough and soft at the exact same time. A childlike joy for life with an adult view of what the world was like.
• Will and I visited Aunt Marsha the summer before we both moved to Charleston right after college. We went to Camp Dennen with the rest of the family because Rebekah, Laura, Cassandra, and Forrest were in Massachusetts visiting. Will and I were all glowing with new love and excitement about our impending move. But Marsha made it quite clear what her expectations were. She followed every statement about our move to Charleston with "And then you can get married." At the time I thought she was jumping the gun a bit. We were engaged 4 months later.

Aunt Marsha, we will miss you so much. But I know how strong your faith was and I know that you are in heaven watching over all of us. And as much as we felt your love while you were here with us, we feel it even stronger now.

Please Pray for Aunt Marsha

Many of you reading this blog have a special place in your heart for Will's Aunt Marsha, aka Mrs. Boynton, the junior high science teacher that introduced us all to lab reports and the letters C and D not standing for Correct and Dynomite. :) She was a great teacher who inspired her students to not settle for good enough. She even used to do push-ups with her toes in the chalkboard ledge and her arms on the head lab table to reward her students. And she was the one who started this incredible story of Will and Chrissy, placing us together as lab partners in 8th grade Introduction to Physical Science. (I still think she knew exactly what she was doing.)

Aunt Marsha is going through a hard time right now with her health. She is fighting hard but is back in the hospital again and needs our prayers. So if you have time today, send a little prayer out for Aunt Marsha. I know she's been sending prayers out for all of us for a long time.

At least Josie is with the Program

So Josie has decided to keep us on track with our letters, celebrating our misplaced S week by STANDING as much as possible. We had seen her do it before, but for the past couple of days, that's all she does. Stand, stand, stand.....in her crib, on the coffee table, pulling up to chairs. Will thinks she is going to walk any day, but I don't think she's quite there yet. Every time I try to practice with her by holding her arms, her little feet kind of buckle below her. Definitely not taking steps on her own. But definitely is getting the desire. So we are entering that fun stage we had right before crawling. The "Howl with Frustration" stage ......it's awesome. :) It's a good thing she's so darn cute.

Here she is on her first attempts the other day. (Yes, she is watching the NCAA tournament in the background. GO BLUE DEVILS!) Initially, she was all about the tip-toes. (I was going to write that she is going to be a ballerina like her momma, but I think I will think positively and say she will be a ballerina like Auntie Leia or Auntie Marit.)

Then she got really good. She stood and watched Zooboomafoo with Marshall like this for about 10 minutes. Now normally, I don't like Jo Jo watching TV (unless it's ACC basketball), but I made an exception here because she was doing so well standing (and I needed to make dinner). Check out that cute cloth diaper booty. Josie's got a big ole butt, OH YEAH! Also, the lack of socks....I can't keep them on her feet unless I stick shoes on there too. She's just like her Grandma. If only she knew the calluses that are ahead of her, she might think better.

S is for Slacker

So clearly I should be doing an S week this week because tomorrow is the first week of spring. But frankly, I wasn't feeling well on Monday when I normally plan the activities all out and I decided that I am worth a little break. Luckily, the beauty of having a 3 year old is that he has no idea what day Spring officially starts. So for us, spring starts next week on Monday when we will do all sorts of wonderful activities starting with S.

Also, I am reading this book, The Bitch in the House, for my book club and I have realized a few things. 1) I am so lucky. I have a great husband that truly wants to make sure my needs are met. And I am not angry and dissatisfied (this week). 2) Mommy expectations are something I completely make up myself. So if I decide to lower the bar, no one is really going to notice but me. Marshall is definitely just as happy acting out scenes from "Roary the Racing Car" with his race cars (which is what he is doing right now.....I love listening to him play.) I mean, I do what I do for the kids benefit, but slacking off here or there isn't going to do any permanent damage.

Plus, I got this great deal on a desk set off of craigslist and I am all jazzed to finish up the sunroom. I'll post after pictures (because the before consisted of piles of boxes...no need for documentation there.) I can't focus on that many things at once.

Totally Terrific T week

Now that pneumonia isn't keeping us in the house, it's getting harder to remember to do this activities. But we did get quite a few T things accomplished this week.

We chose T because of the culminating activity that Marshall and Daddy did yesterday. We promised Marshall that once he filled up his potty chart with stickers (that's 50 stickers) he could go on a train ride. Well, poor kid did that a long time ago, but pneumonia and Grandparent visits and general life activities just got in the way. Marshall never harped on us about it, but everytime he went to the potty, he looked at his chart and said excitedly,"I get to go on a train ride!" So we finally took him yesterday. I woke him up from his nap and asked if he wanted to go on a train ride with Dad. Now normally, waking him up is a struggle, but I have to because he would sleep all the way to dinner if we let him and then bedtime is later than Mom and Dad would like it. :) But, enticed with a train ride, he jumped up and said, "Sure Mom!" While getting shoes and coats on, Josie tried to "share" her rubber duck with Marshall, to which he replied, " Josie, I'm sorry. I can't play with you right now. I am going on a train ride."

(Hilariously, I asked him if he wanted to wear his train engineer's hat. He looked at me and just said "No." I swear if he could roll his eyes, he would have. Like, "Mom, even I know, that would make me look really dumb." He also really wanted me to know that trains don't ride on roads like cars and wanted to know if Josie and I were going to Home Depot to get some wheels. I have no idea where that came from.)

He positively bounced in his carseat on the way to get Dad. We picked up Dad and Will joked that he and Josie were going to take a train ride and Marshall and I were going to drive home. To which Marshall was silent for a bit until I said, "Oh Silly Daddy!" and then he exclaimed "Silly Daddy! No! Marshall and Daddy are going for a train ride and Josie and Mommy are driving home!" He repeated this laughing hysterically for the rest of the ride.

So we couldn't find a train that would take us somewhere and then take us back to Edmonds. So we completely defied the logic behind public transit and I dropped Will and Marshall off at King Street station in downtown Seattle and then raced back on the highway to go get them in Edmonds. (FYI- It took almost exactly the same amount of time.) And they had a great time. But we have no pictures, because even though I did pack the camera, when Will and Marshall jumped out of the car while I was at a red light, we forgot to give them the camera in our rush. Will said that Marshall loved it though. Will told the conductor that it was Marshall's first train ride and the conductor had the engineer come and talk to Marshall. (Marshall told me that his name was Dennis.) The train goes follows the Sound, so apparently it was beautiful and Marshall said they saw boats. It was worth the potty training.

The other T activities were not so inspiring.

We practiced TIP TOE-ing. (He definitely looks like he is Irish step dancing in this picture.)

We made a TUNNEL out of paper bags.

Then we made a letter T our of our bodies.
Lower Case t

Upper Case T

And we took a TUBBIE. (Okay, we so we do this all the time, but it does start with the letter T).

They love taking a TUB TOGETHER. :)

And because Will and I think we are hilarious......

BEWARE THE EDMONDS ALLIGATOR!

Finally, we took a walk through the TREES in Yost Park. (No pictures from that because, I must admit, that was a bit cheesy. It's like counting grocery shopping for G. We go walking in Yost Park all the time.)

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go! (Little Girl Version)

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go! (Little Boy Version)

Josie Crawling

As promised, here's a quick video of Josie crawling. Sorry it's so short. I was using my parents' camera and it took me a bit to figure it out. (Also, I need to remember to not speak when doing videos because I always sound a little off.)

Josie's Big Accomplishment

We finally have forward movement! Josie officially started to crawl this past week. YIPPEEE! As second time parents, however, the initial joy of seeing our daughter crawl for the first time, turned immediately into dread. Now she can go anywhere she wants....gone are the days of playing quietly on the floor while Mommy makes dinner. :) Time to really get that babygate for the top of the stairs! And as predicted, she is following her brother around like a champ. Nothing is more entertaining that brother's toys. "Help Mom! She's coming after me! She's coming after me!"

Josie is such a good-natured blob of fun! Her chubby little arms and legs are fantastic. She is just a great kid. She does love to be around Mommy still, but is the biggest flirt imaginable. And when she smiles, her whole face shows it. And she smiles an awful lot. We got so lucky with such happy-go-lucky babies. (I mean, she does have her moments and all. She knows what she wants and when she wants it. But overall, she's a ton of fun.)

This week she got into a box of socks so I took the opportunity to have a photo shoot. Take a look at his cutie. (Yes, it did just occur to me that I should probably take a picture of the actual crawling process. I'll post that soon.)

Why do we buy toys?

What? You looking at me?

Oh, you are! I better start posing!

Make sure you get my good side! (I love all her rolls. She's a little bottom heavy right now, no? :) To be fair, she does have a cloth diaper on in this picture, which gives her quite a booty. And I am thinking we should probably enter a contest for baldest baby. She does have a little Jo-Hawk, but the hair is so fair that it doesn't show up in pictures.)

What up, yo! G's in the Hiz-ouse!

In honor of the arrival of Grandma and Grandpa for a visit, we decided to work on the letter G this week. However, we did go back to preschool and playgroup, etc. this week, so there were not as many G activities as I had planned. (I attempted to count "GROCERY shopping" but that was a bit of a stretch.)

First we made GOOP (2 parts cornstarch, 1 part water). If you aren't familiar with goop, it's a mixture that looks like a liquid and drips like a liquid, but when you touch it, it acts like a solid. Marshall loved the goop and he also made me feel quite confident in my decision to wait to use our beautiful farm table as our regular eating table until the children are older. :) As usual, he emphatically denied that he wanted to play with the goop until he saw what it was. Then I couldn't get him to stop. He made a delightful mess, but the best part about goop is the easy clean up. (Although in retrospect, I think I put in just a little too much blue food coloring.)

Then we got to spend a lot of time playing with GRANDMA and GRANDPA. Here are some pictures that Marshall took this morning (or told us to take).

Please ignore the fact that I am the only one left in my pajamas. Or better yet, pay good attention to that. I get to be a woman of leisure with all this childcare help around. :)

Last night we made an adorable book called "G is for Grandma and Grandpa". I just used the "Book Fold" function on Word and we made a book that compared Grandma and Grandpa with Marshall. Marshall had to "interview" Grandma and Grandpa for the book. ("Grandma has _____ eyes. Grandpa has _____ eyes. I have blue eyes." That sort of thing.) I inserted some pictures and then the intention was for M to draw some pictures. Marshall loved asking the questions, but lost interest toward the end. Maybe someday the book can be illustrated..... (I had also planned on making a bunch of GRAPES with paint , but after the failed book art attempt, I lost motivation.)

Thanks to Leia for her suggestions for the Letter S. She had lots of great ideas for S activities that related to spring. I however, think I am going to have to wait on that since the skies have become omnious and I think we will be seeing a different kind of S this evening....SNOW. Who told me that Seattle doesn't get much snow when we moved here? I think you lied.

Seattle Child

Today we were eating lunch and the sun finally broke through the clouds and poured sunlight on our deck. Marshall, upon seeing this through our sliding glass door, said,"Look Mom! It's snowing!"

I think it's time for spring.