Maiden Voyage

My in-laws recently bought a new boat for the entire family to enjoy so we put it in the water yesterday for it's maiden voyage. The kids had such a blast - I swear, Ragen's cheeks must hurt today because he never stopped smiling from ear to ear! I managed to forget to take a picture of the actual boat but here are a few shots from our day on the lake.

We started out by going around Mercer Island and looking at the gorgeous homes. Then we stopped at Coulon Point for Ivar's. We headed back to the marina and Jeremy's parents took the kids home for nap so that Jeremy & I could head out on the boat alone. It was such a treat and felt just like the old days! I even managed to get a little captain time in so that I could brush up on my skills.

Thank you so much Nana & Bumpa! We know there are many fun memories to come on the boat!

This smile says it all!

The kids were trying to avoid the wind by sitting on the floor

Mags just loungin'

3 trusty captains

Check out that concentration!

7 days!

I am afraid to say it...afraid to jinx it....but I think we made it! I think Maggie is potty trained! She made it 7 days in a row with no accidents so she earned her prized possession. A pink Sleeping Beauty dress-up dress.

It started out by us telling Mags that if she made it 2 days in a row without an accident, then she could have this metal princess lunchbox that she so desperately wanted. It took us 2 weeks to get 2 days without an accident. Then it finally clicked! So after 3 days I told her that if she went 7 days in a row without an accident, she could pick out a special toy at Toys R Us. I took her to the store on day 5 for extra incentive. Out of everything she could have picked, she wanted a pink dress-up dress. Even though we have a box full of dress-up dresses. She told me how this was so pretty and it was her "favorite." I tried to steer her towards other things but she wanted only the pink dress. We had a sticker chart going for the 7 days and she woke up this morning so excited that there was only 1 square left on her chart. Way to go Maggie girl!! Keep it up! PLEASE!!

Doing twirls singing "Bippity Boppity Boo"

Goodbye Miss Wendy

Today was Maggie's last day with Miss Wendy who is an amazing preschool teacher that we have all grown to love. Ragen started his preschool years with her in 2006 and it was a fabulous experience. It feels like we've been with her forever because Maggie was only 2.5 weeks old when Ragen started there. Wendy's school is for 2-3 year olds and it's perfect because it's in her home (she has an entire basement level made into a school) and it's only 6 children. She taught my kids manners, sharing, cleaning up, schedules, potty training, etc...The only thing that made my goodbye with her when Ragen left her school tolerable was knowing that we'd be back in 2 years for Maggie's turn. Today was her last day and therefore time to say goodbye to Miss Wendy. Tears were shed but I will always remember how special she was in helping our kids learn such valuable lessons. And they had so much fun in the process! Now Maggie is on to Pilgrim next year and she's very excited to go to Ragen's school. I don't think she fully understands that Ragen won't be there though. :)

Happy Father's Day

Ragen and Maggie are so lucky to have Jeremy as their daddy! He is an incredible role model for them and puts them first no matter what. They adore their father and he can bring a smile to their faces just by walking into the room. Thank you for being such an amazing daddy!!

We were able to spend father's day with all 3 father's from our family - Jeremy, my dad, and Jeremy's dad. We all had dinner at my parents and I think it was really fun for the kids to have all their grandparents together. They certainly weren't lacking any attention!

As a note to my dad - I want to make sure he knows how grateful I am that he is such an important part of my kids lives. We didn't have this kind of interaction with my grandparents growing up and I know that my children are benefiting from his involvement everyday. I love you dad!

And to Hank - we are so thankful for everything you do for us. The kids love to laugh with you and we love the enthusiasm you show them each time you're back from one of your adventures.

Bumpa (Keri's dad), Maggie, Jeremy, Bumpa (Jeremy's dad), and Ragen

Jazzing it up

I sat down today to wrap Maggie's teacher's end-of-the-year gift and I realized that it was a rather vanilla gift. Something most people would like (a Bellevue Square gift certificate) but yet, not exactly thought provoking. In an effort to jazz it up, I whipped up a label, tied a pretty bow and voila! Sometimes simple is definitely better!

Pit Stop

Maggie has made really good progress in the potty training department but we're not quite there yet. On the days she is with me, she goes the entire day with no accidents and I really don't have to remind her all that often as she goes on her own. On days she's with other people or at school, she doesn't seem to fare as well but the accidents are definitely decreasing. She's really trying hard and it's important to me not to let her get discouraged so I try my hardest not to let her have an accident.

Earlier this week, she had an accident in the car and was super upset by it. It's so different than when I was potty training Ragen. With him, if there was a true emergency, I'd just stop the car and let him pee in the nearest bush. Then I remembered that a few friends recommended I keep a spare potty seat in the car. Today I had the opportunity to use it for the first time and it worked like a charm! On the way home from school, she started screaming about having to go "so very bad." I was on the freeway and couldn't exactly pull over so as soon as I got to our exit I stopped the car. I couldn't help but snap a pic on my phone. Here she is doing her business on the side of the road. The important thing is that she was able to hold it until we got the car stopped and she is on her way to another accident-free day! Go Mags!!

Game! Set! Match!

This week Ragen started summer tennis camp at the Tennis Club. He fell in the love with the sport last summer and after a long and snowy winter, we wondered if he'd still be as interested. As Jeremy and I have been playing more, Ragen has become more and more passionate! He had a great week with Coach Jonathan and the staff and can't wait to go back for another camp in 2 weeks. I just can't get over how cute all those kids look in their "tennis whites." :)

Ragen & his buddy Davis - future doubles partners?

Sweet backhand!

Maggie patiently watching her brother

Happy birthday daddy!

Friday night was Jeremy's birthday and it was a pretty big one...35! We celebrated by enjoying a date night at Purple Cafe in Kirkland and then went for ice cream and a walk along the Kirkland waterfront. It was a gorgeous night and we had fun looking at all the boats in the marina. We celebrated with my family on Sunday night and the kids were super excited about his smores ice cream pie. You can never get enough help blowing out the candles!

We are so lucky to have such a wonderful daddy in our lives. Jeremy, you are an amazing husband and an even better father. May this be the best year yet...you've earned it!!

Beaches of Normandy

Normandy Park, Washington that is...

We went down to visit Jeremy's grandma in the hospital today as she'd fallen on Friday and broken her femur. That's a whole other story as she did it at 11pm and didn't call anyone to come help her until 7am because she didn't want to wake anyone up!

After visiting with great-grandma, we took the kids to a private beach in her neighborhood which holds many fond memories for Jeremy. When he was growing up, they'd come to the States to visit his grandparents for the summers and they'd spend hours at this beach. Our kids had a blast and are already asking when we can go back.

Searching under rocks for baby crabs

Time flies!

Ragen and I have a "date" on the mornings we drop Maggie off at school. After taking her to Miss Wendy's, we stop at the Starbucks inside QFC. The gal who works there loves to chat with Ragen and ask him about his adventures. As I was paying for my coffee last week, she said "Too bad you don't have a camera." C'mon...I ALWAYS have my camera! So I turned around and quickly snapped this shot of Ragen. It reminded me of a trip to Target when he was about 2.5 years old so I had to compare. Both times, he managed to get himself into the basket thinking he was so funny!

Bedtime ritual?

As the kids were winding down their playtime outside with daddy, I was sitting down to blog about swim lessons today. I hear Jeremy yell, "Uh Ker - you might want to come quickly and bring your camera!" So I went running outside to find Maggie soaking wet from running thru the sprinkler. It's 5 minutes before bedtime and the kids were "helping" daddy set out the sprinkler to water the lawn. When Ragen saw Maggie all wet, he of course took that mean he had the green light as well. We tried to be mad but it really was just so funny!

Notice Ragen sitting on the sprinkler in the background?

Major progress

The kids are both enrolled in swim lessons at the Bellevue Club this session and it couldn't be going better. After Maggie's 1st swim lesson where she screamed the entire time, she had a bad encounter with her teacher so I pulled her out for a few weeks to try and regroup. We had her do a private lesson which went really well and then just our luck, the instructor had her baby early. I decided to try out the group lesson again and it's been going so well. She's actually asking to go under water now and do more dives. This is a complete 180 for this little lady! Both kids actually have private lessons twice a week because nobody else is signed up with them (but it's at the group lesson price - yahoo!).

Ragen has improved immensely as well. He probably could have stopped with lessons for the rest of the summer which was my original intent. But he was making such great progress I decided to do one more session for him. I can't believe how well he's responding! He swam the entire length of the pool (25 yards) this week only stopping one time to rest. He's doing backstroke on his own and he loves the butterfly. It's hilarious to watch him dolphin kick with all his might!

After this session, we'll focus on swimming only for recreation for the rest of the summer except each of them will do a week with the swim lesson goddess, Susie Gravrock.

See you at the pool!

Clearly happier to get in the pool

She LOVES the backstroke

She also really responds well to her teacher "Miko"

Ragen working on his form for diving

Good times with old friends

Last night we had a fun-filled BBQ at some very dear friend's house. Todd & Jennie had our family and also the Tuckers over for dinner and it was such a great evening! The kids all got along famously. Ragen was following Tyler around like a puppy and Tyler was reveling in it. The girls (Madison, Kate & Maggie) kept each other entertained for hours and were really genuinely having fun together. Mackenzie & Abigail just did what babies do...which was a great chance for me to get a baby fix :) We spent the entire evening outside in the sun and we laughed and laughed and laughed... Very good times with our old friends!

Madison, Kate & Maggie - dress & up and a bouncy house so it doesn't get much better!

Tyler & Ragen taking a break from the running around to play Wii

S'mores time!

Bike riding at the park

One of Ragen & Maggie's favorite weekend activities is going to Lakemont Park to ride their bikes (however Maggie only has a tiny trike so she uses her scooter). There's a large loop around the park and Ragen takes such joy at being able to do the loop all by himself. Mags gets all excited to scooter but daddy ends up carrying the scooter most of the way and she swings til she just can't swing anymore.