Basket Rides

Sigh...this poor girl. She's takes after her momma so much and she doesn't even know it.

When I was about Josie's age, I used to sit in a cake pan and make my dad push me around the house. Josie decided to use a metal basket (from our wicked awesome toy storage unit). And Grandpa couldn't help but oblige.

The First of Many Soccer Saturdays

Ah, and so it begins. Marshall had his first soccer lesson today. Tot Soccer. Adorable. We went to Sports Authority yesterday and geared him up (including cleats.....they were on sale for $5. He's worth it.). He was very excited this morning. We dressed him all up and took pictures with Daddy (who was leaving for a business trip this morning). He got his soccer ball and then announced to everyone that he needed to bring his calculator to soccer practice too. So Marshall.

And then I learned once again that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. We had been talking about how the coach is like a teacher and that you have to listen to the coach and do what he asks you to. However, we didn't talk about how the coach probably doesn't need your input to run practice. Marshall had a lot to let Coach Ian know about himself. Like that he's 3 and a half, or that he was there to play soccer, or that he thinks it's really funny when Coach Ian blows his whistle. My parents like to tell this story about how my kindergarten teacher sat me in the play kitchen because I talked so much, but I thought I was there because she needed my help and the kitchen was close to her desk. I think Marshall is headed for the play kitchen.

At the end of practice Marshall said,"I had a good time at soccer Mom. Thanks for bringing me to my soccer game." Whew....I think we'll go back next week.

Pre-game Photoshoot

(I swear that's Josie, not some little boy we picked up off the street.)

Practicing with Dad in the back yard


(I love that last one. "Get me away from that crazy ball!")

Marshall was really excited to be there with Christian from preschool. (How cute is this? You'd never know that they fight over the trains all the time.)


Listening to Coach Ian and practicing "FREEZE!" when Coach Ian blows his whistle


Playing soccer


On three...One, Two, Three..."KIDS LOVE SOCCER!"

The J

I think I married a Renaissance Man. Seriously. I have this annoying habit of seeing something and saying, "We could make that." I have done this for a long time when it comes to basic items of clothing (and judging from the pieces of clothing I have made myself, this statement is completely false.) Lately, Will's doing it right along with me. Except he really CAN make things.

Case in point, Will made Marshall a bookshelf before he was born. It's beautiful, but was his first foray into the world of furniture making. He followed no plans. Just what put into place what he envisioned. And this is the result.

A beautiful, basic bookshelf.

Fast forward three years later, and Will decides he needs to make a bookshelf for Josie as well. (If sewing all the nursery components are my thing, bookshelves are his.) But this time, he's got more experience under his belt and he's got loads of ideas. And thus, came the J. A bookshelf for Josie shaped like a J. Ingenius. And beautiful. And perfectly personal. Something special just for Josie from her Daddy.

Hard at Work

All Finished

How lucky are we to have this guy around? (Of course, the down side to this is that I have seen what he is capable of......I've got big plans, I tell you.....BIG Plans.)

Words

Clearly, I haven't had a bunch lately since it's been about a week since I've blogged. But we've been busy here in Edmonds! Between working Wednesday and Thursday afternoons and preschool, we've been more scheduled the past two weeks than we have been in a really long time. But it's a great level of busy-ness for us.

And Mom and Dad came to visit. We spent the weekend outfitting the basement playroom. (Mostly so they could have a place to sit when they watch TV at night :)). Pictures to follow. It looks FABULOUS! Today we went to the Puyallup Fair with Grandpa, but I forgot my camera. You'll just have to trust me. It was fun. :)

But back to words....Josie's using more and more of them. She's a riot lately. Her newest is "Uh-Oh" which she uses quite frequently especially since she has a propensity to get into mischief. (And then flash her winning, cute smile.....this one is going to be trouble, I tell you!)

Here are Josie's other favorite words....



She really loves "nose" since she gets to shove her finger right up that handy little hole when she says it. Sigh....this girl....I just want to eat her for breakfast she's so cute. I mean, I know everyone thinks their kids are cute, but gosh, Josie is beyond words.

Family Pictures

While in Philadelphia, we took the opportunity to take some family pictures since the entire Roberts clan isn't together very often! Kevin Nowak, a guy Will and I both know from childhood, now lives in the Philadelphia area, so we had him come and do the pictures. And we all learned that it is impossible to get four children to look at the camera and smile at the same time. (Especially when Marshall is one of the four. But honestly, even Josie wasn't posing that afternoon!) But we had fun trying.

Grandkids

The Entire Roberts Family (including the Dread Pirate Marshall Roberts)

Roberts Family, West Coast Division

Roberts Family, Philadelphia League

The Roberts Men....Fish fear them, ladies adore them.


All the Ladies!

I'm not the only one....

....who thinks Edmonds is fabulous.

Erin does.

And so does Howard Cuff. (It's the last line in the whole article for those who aren't patient enough to read the whole thing.)

See? This place is fabulous. And all of our friends and family need to come check it out for themselves.

Airplane Musuem

On Labor Day, we visited the Flight Heritage Collection museum. It's basically a "museum" of Paul Allen's vintage airplane collection. It has WWII and older planes from the US, Japan, Germany, and the USSR. It's really cool and open to the public. (And absolutely gorgeous since it's basically Paul Allen's show off place.) A great simple morning excursion.

Here's Marshall telling you all about the cockpit of an airplane.



The following pictures were taken by Marshall. He's favorite was "the shark airplane."

First Day of School

Threes Class already! I can't believe it. Marshall is doing so well in school so far. He's really interacting with the kids and is trying to "use his words" instead of his hands or feet to solve problems. :) What a difference a year makes!

Marshall and Saint...er..I mean, Teacher Connie

Does it get any better than this?

What I did on my summer vacation, Part Two

After we stayed at Nana and Papa's, we took a long drive down to Philadelphia to Bella's house. Kellan, Aunt Carey, and Uncle Chris live there too (but I just call it Bella's house). Daddy met us in Philadelphia. Oh, and Grandpa was there too! We went to the zoo and rode the duck boats and played at playgrounds. It was really fun. Mom and Dad went to cousin Colleen's wedding. We just went to a dinner and a party afterward. It was fun seeing all those new people. Lots of ladies that sounded alike and who Mommy called "Aunt" paid us LOTS of attention. We liked it a lot.

Then we went home on a big airplane. It was fun.
love
Marshall and Josie

The Philadelphia Zoo




Grandfather Heaven at the Liberty Bell


Snacking it up before the Duck Boats


Riding the Ducks! Both kids really enjoyed the ducks. Josie really loved blowing through her quacker. It was hilarious.


We brought the kids to Colleen and Dave's rehearsal dinner. There weren't a lot of pictures because Josie decided to run laps around the restaurant. Luckily my cousins, Katy and Emily were nice enough to follow her around. Josie LOVED the attention from the big girls.

Double-fisting it already....tsk tsk....

My cousin's wedding was out of this world beautiful! She was married at the Cathedral in Center City, Philadelphia and then the reception was at the Franklin Institute. GORGEOUS! We all had such a wonderful time! I had such a good time in fact, that once again, I didn't end up taking too many pictures. I promise I tried to get one of the bride and groom dancing, but none of them came out. You'll just have to settle for the cake cutting and a bunch of goofy pictures of my cousins.



We like to party. It's genetic. My cousins Alex, Sarah, John and Chris.


My cousin Sean and his wife Autumn. I'm quite certain this is why they have four girls under four.


And finally, on Monday before we left for the airport, we went to the Camden aquarium. It was fabulous! I highly recommend it.



That last one is a picture of Marshall NOT touching the dogfish shark.

And I finally remembered how to use the video part of my camera. (You press the red button at the top. You'd think it would be easy to remember.) This is a little something for all of those who grew up with New England Aquarium commercials.

All in all, it was a fabulous trip! We had a great time!