The Kiefer Crew

If you're lucky enough to be in Nantucket, you're lucky enough!

2010-08-26T20:25:00.001-07:00

I had one of the most amazing opportunities last week. I went for 7 blissful days with girlfriends to Nantucket. I'd never been and have heard my dear friend Vanessa talking about this place for years. Both her daughters were baptized there and it's always been a very special family place for her so she really wanted us to see it. So Liz and I joined Vanessa plus her sister Janai and Janai's best friend from college and we headed back east! I am so fortunate that my wonderful husband gave me the green light to go and have my time while he stayed back to man the homestead and handle the kiddos for an entire week. I know it wasn't easy and I'm so incredibly lucky.

We did all the girly things - went out to breakfasts, lots of shopping, relaxed on the beach, ate amazing dinners, had a few skinnygirl mararitas along the way. I couldn't have asked for a more fun group of girls to share this experience with! I could go on and on and on...this trip was absolutely magical. I've got 100's of pictures so I'll just put up a sampling here.

Vanessa - I truly can not thank you enough for your generosity and hospitality. It was so special to see Nantucket through your eyes. I can't wait to take the families back someday.

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The Nantucket airport looks exactly like all the other buildings there. Loved that! (Oh, and didn't at all love the puddle-jumper we took from Boston - scariest thing ever! My knees were literally in the pilot's back)

First day in town we headed straight for the wharf

It was really overcast but we were optimistic the sun might come out later?

Keri & Vanessa on the first beach day

3 amigos! I can't remember the last time I actually swam in the ocean

Time to hit the town - Liz, Vanessa & Keri

An unexpected FANTASTIC night! This was late night singing at the piano bar - The Club Car (Liz, Keri, Marissa, Vanessa & Janai)

Liz is glowing at 5 months pregnant!!

She was a great sport dealing with the rest of us!

Unforgettable!! Janai, Vanessa, Keri, Liz & Marissa

A day on the lake

2010-08-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

When summer finally decided to arrive in mid-August, we were lucky enough to be invited to our friend's the Reiff's house on Lake Sammamish. What a spontaneous and FUN day! Once the clouds finally burned off, the kids decided to swim out to the water trampoline they visited last year. I loved Maggie's confidence to just go for it. No fear out of this girl! After a few hours of swimming, Jeff was kind enough to take the kids tubing. Again, Maggie loved it (Ragen was a bit more apprehensive). Jeremy came over after work and we decided to take Grace, Ragen & Maggie out on the boat again. After Grace rocked it waterskiing, my kids decided to try. I looked at Jeremy and he looked at me and we figured, what the heck?! So Ragen went first. To our total amazement, he popped up on the first try! It was incredible! After falling, he got a bit cold so he called it a day. Maggie's turn! I have to admit, I was apprehensive but I figured she had a life jacket on and Jeff & Dee are PRO waterski drivers. I knew we were in great hands. Low & behold, she popped up on the first try too! Amazing!! Both kids had an absolute ball and this is a memory we will always hold very dear. Thank you so much Dee & Jeff!

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There goes Maggie to join Grace & Reese. This one isn't about to be left behind!

Fearless!

Grace, Reese, Maggie & Ragen

Vanessa & I went tubing too. I have not laughed that hard in a LONG time!

Jeff giving stellar pointers on what to do

So proud of this boy! (love Jeremy's "Where's Waldo" head in the background)

Monkey see, monkey do!

Absolutely amazing (she wasn't even 4 yet when she did this!)

She's four!

2010-08-26T18:27:00.000-07:00

Oh, my sweet baby girl! How can you be four already?! Maggie is such a fun girl to be around all the time. She hangs back, slightly shy, observing everything that's going on but don't think for a second that she's not taking it all in. She keeps Jeremy and I laughing ALL the time. Her sweet nature is hard to resist despite all my best efforts. It's been incredible to see how much she's matured and grown since her ear surgery in December. She's like a whole new girl who's got to make up for lost time. I can't wait to see what her 4th year brings her! We love you so much Missy Goo!
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The tradition of a donut cake and balloon for breakfast

She finally has her own bike!

Thanks Mimi & Bumpa!

Rainbow birthday party time! (I'm beaming with pride at the rainbow tutu I made for the birthday girl) :)

A mom can go crazy with the rainbow theme. Jeremy finally had to cut me off.

Rainbow food of course. My mother in law made the fantastic rainbow jello - a huge hit!

Note to self - those pinata's are indestructable. Even the 6 year olds were having a tough time.

More delicious cupcakes from Mimi!

Why is it that at all birthday parties the kids have to sit on top of the kid opening presents?

Again, Jeremy cut me off with the rainbow loot!

Tennis Week

2010-08-26T18:13:00.000-07:00

How does so much time get away from me? Oh yeah, those 2 darling little blond haired kids that I have with me all the time! Well, in an attempt to briefly catch you up I'll start here...

Every July, the Seattle Tennis Club has a member's only tournament called Tennis Week. For as long as I can remember we went as a family many times during the week to watch my parents and/or my parents friends while they played during Tennis Week. Last year was the first time Jeremy or I ever played in it. It was my very first real match - I'd only been playing for about 2 months. I was petrified! It didn't go so well but we had fun (plus the winners buy the losers drinks so we ended up with lots of free drinks that week!).

Fast forward to this year...Jeremy and I decided to play together again. I also played ladies' doubles with my childhood friend Kelley Stryer. Jeremy played singles as well. It made for a busy week of trying to find babysitters as no matches are set up ahead of time and you usually have 2 days to get the match scheduled and played. In the end Kelley and I didn't do so well (next year, right Kell!?!) and somehow Jeremy and I ended up winning our flight! We had an absolute blast playing together and I feel like I gained a ton of match knowledge by playing with him. We walked away with the crystal barware from Kusak's that is given away each year to the champs of each flight.

While we were thrilled to win, our Tennis Club bill was brutal that month after buying all those losers drinks. Oh well :)

Kelley & I at our first match. Our moms were Tennis Week partners back in the day.

Mark & Melissa were in town for a bridal shower so they came to cheer us on in the finals!

I take my ready position seriously...

Champs!! (no clue why my arms are folded like that?!)

The same week, Maggie had her 1st tennis lesson at the club. She loved it!

Getting a few pointers from Coach Jonathan

Breaking tradition

2010-07-11T19:49:00.001-07:00

This was the first year in who knows how long that we didn't spend the 4th of July at the Seattle Tennis Club. There were several factors that went into our decision but it was a tough choice to forego our annual tradition of spending the day at the STC and watching the fireworks there. Intead we went to the Strickland's new house for a lobster boil. It turns out that we definitely picked the right year to skip the STC given the driving rain and cold temps. Each year it's hard to keep the kids entertained between dinner and the fireworks and this year in the rain would have been miserable. Plus our dear friends the Stryers weren't going to be there which was a major bummer for the kids. At least at the Strickland's they could swim in the warm water and then go right inside to watch a movie. Sadly we didn't get to have the tennis round robin we were planning due to weather. Rob & Vanessa put together a fantastic party and we had a great time celebrating America with great friends!

Keri with our hostess, Vanessa

Keri, Liz, Ali & Vanessa

The best margarita machine EVER! Because the first batch always goes too fast...

Maggie & Ellie swimming despite the cold and rain

Ragen is a little apprehensive with the live lobsters

An old fashioned lobster boil

Ragen & Reese seeing how many tattoos they can apply without supervision

Daddy helping with the poppers

Ragen loved the sparklers and writing his name in the air

4th of July in the neighborhood

2010-07-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

Each year our neighborhood puts on a 4th of July bike parade and picnic. We meet at a local park and bike decorations are provided. This year they added a balloon guy which kept the kids busy as they waited in line for the perfect balloon animal. After the bikes/scooters/strollers were decorated, the fire truck led the parade around a loop in the neighborhood. This year was a bit different since Ragen was newly on 2 wheels! Jeremy helped him along the parade route and I ended up pulling Maggie on her scooter. We were both exhausted at the end!

Happy birthday America!

Parade begins
Go, big 2-wheeler, go!!

Annual shot with the fire engine

A relief!

2010-06-21T20:30:00.001-07:00

I nervously drove up to Susie Gravrock's for swimming today. Last year, out of the 4 days in a row that Maggie took swimming from Miss Susie, she cried for 3.75 days of it. It was awful! I was so thrilled that Maggie got right into the pool today and happily did everything Miss Susie asked of her. Way to go Mags!

Maggie and her friend Sarah from school

Backstroke kicks (which she enthusiastically made into Rockette kicks)

Diving off the side

Class always ends with a jump off the diving board!

Hit the Courts!

2010-06-21T20:07:00.000-07:00

The calendar says it's summer but someone might want to clue in Mother Nature. I heard today was colder in the morning than it was back on January 19th or something like that. Crazy! Sunshine or not, summer means its time for tennis! Ragen started his tennis clinics at the Seattle Tennis Club today and he was very excited to be moved up with "the big kids." He did great and defintely had the bug again. He asked me how soon he could come back and when I told him "tomorrow" he literally jumped for joy. He begged to play as much tennis as he could this year so he's doing 5 of the 6 week-long camps at the STC. These clinics worked out great during the last 2 years as we'd just bring all our beach stuff and just stay for the afternoon to play in the sun. Obviously this year, no sun. I hope that changes quickly!!

A new year, a new (and bigger) racquet!

A serving lesson from coach Jonathan

Daddy

2010-06-21T19:30:00.000-07:00

When Jeremy and I first started dating, I knew very quickly what kind of father he was going to be. I could tell based on the way he treated me with the utmost respect, that he'd be patient, and understanding with little ones as well as be an excellent teacher. A few of our friends had children before we did and it was a joy to watch Jeremy learn some of the ins & outs of parenting. This also led to many discussions about our parenting styles. Luckily we had similar views and once Ragen was born, we were able to find a rhythm we were both comfortable with.

He always puts our family first and our kids know they are the center of his world. He does a fantastic job of showing them that - even on the days when he's only got 10 minutes to be with them due to late meetings.

I'm honored to have him as a partner and my kids are especially lucky to have him as their dad.

The Graduate

2010-06-15T19:59:00.001-07:00

Where has the time gone? Wasn't it just yesterday when we were walking Ragen to school for his first day of kindergarten? Today was Ragen's graduation from Kindergarten. I love that they make such a big deal of it at the school. They marched in to "Pomp & Circumstance" (do I really need to cry EVERY time I hear that song?!), received their diplomas, sang a few songs and watched a wonderful slide show that one of the mom's put together. As the school year comes to a close, we are very excited "to be in the grades" as they say but at the same time, we'll miss the kids and parents we've met this year. There are some favorites that we really hope to move into next year with. Fingers crossed! Look out 1st grade...here he comes!

Day at the ballpark

2010-06-15T19:45:00.000-07:00

Ragen's little league sold tickets to the Mariners game as a fundraiser so we decided to take the Bumpa's as a part of their father's day gifts. They went early and had the chance to walk the field, check out the dugout and then they all went to lunch. Ragen really enjoyed applying his new love of baseball as he tried to figure everything out. I know my dad loved it as we were a major baseball family when I was a kid thanks to Uncle Mark. What a fun day for 3 generations at the ballpark!

Responsibility

2010-06-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

I am so glad to finally check this one off my to-do list! I've been procrastinating doing chore charts for the kids for way too long. They've been given jobs to do around the house but not with enough consistency or accountability. My hope is that with the chore charts, they'll becoming fine upstanding citizens instantaneously. Maybe?!

I created these charts for each kid and had them laminated. I'll use a dry erase pen to change up the chores every so often and then we'll reward the kids with stars. When they've earned enough stars, they'll get to pick a special activity our outing to do one-on-one with a parent.

Wish us luck!

Always a sad day...

2010-05-28T17:07:00.000-07:00

The last day of preschool each year is a sad day for me. Pilgrim is a wonderful school but they end the year so darn early! Maggie had her last day on Wednesday and then today was "Preschool in the Park." It's an annual event held outside at school where the kids can run around, jump in the bouncy house, play on the playground, do bubbles, obstacle courses, etc. Well, thanks to our 50 degree and rain coming down sideways weather today, it became "Preschool in the Fellowship Hall." Not nearly as fun but she still loved being there with her friends!

If the sun would just come out to indicate that summer is on it's way, then I might be a little happier about school ending. I don't think I can spend the next few months indoors hiding from the rain!

Mrs. McTaggart was a fantastic teacher and both Maggie & I will miss her!

I heart LA!

2010-05-28T16:59:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love going to LA. I LOVE the sunshine and warmth! I love being able to see my brother and now his new family. I especially love flying to LA without my children (love them dearly but also really enjoy uninterrupted US Weekly reading).

Last weekend my mom and I flew down to visit Uncle Mark, Aunt Melissa, Tiana & Elijah at their house in Studio City. It was the weekend of Melissa's bridal shower so we wanted to be there which also gave us a chance to visit the site of the wedding. We had a great time and the spot they have picked out for their wedding is gorgeous! They're getting married at Calamigos Ranch in the hills of Malibu.

We also stopped by a spot called Malibu Family Wines which is an outdoor wine tasting room. This place was fantastic! We had a great time sitting out in the warm sunshine, drinking a bottle of wine, listening to music and discussing wedding details.

As always it was sad to say goodbye but we look forward to Mark & Melissa coming to Seattle in July for a Davidson family wedding shower.

The blushing bride with her special wedding wine glass

Tiana & Melissa

Me & my baby brother

Mark & me with our mom at the
Melissa, Mark & me

All About Me

2010-05-28T16:44:00.000-07:00

For Ragen's "special day" at school to celebrate his birthday, he made an "All About Me" poster. On his actual birthday, he brought his family to school so he could introduce us (having daddy at school is always a special day for Ragen!). He stood in front of the class as they sang "Happy Birthday" and then he discussed his poster in detail with his friends. I also put together a slide show for his friends to watch and thought I'd share it here.

I created a donut cake for breakfast and of course had a Star Wars balloon (and no, he didn't eat them all and yes, he shared with Maggie)

Mrs. Koch leading "Happy Birthday
Newest Kiefer family member...Scuba Doo the betta fish! Ragen was ecstatic to have his "first real life pet!"

Blessed

2010-05-28T16:42:00.000-07:00

I am truly blessed to have been trusted to be the mom to these two special babies!

Ragen is 6!

2010-05-28T16:09:00.000-07:00

How is it possible that my baby boy is SIX and finishing up kindergarten!?! Ragen was such a typical toddler boy. He was into everything and he was ALWAYS on the run! He didn't walk anywhere...always running. He rolled early, walked early, and talked early. Because of all this, his baby years seemed to go that much faster. He didn't sleep all that much though. That killed me! There were a couple of years there where I wasn't sure how I was going to survive him and his buzy ways (as my playgroup can attest to!). I really never would have expected that by the time he was 6, he'd be so grown up, so responsible, so compassionate, so goal-oriented, and all the other amazing things he is. The conversations we have floor me. The fact that he's writing and reading so well is astounding. All by the age of six. My little boy is growing up at light speed and I want it all to stop. NOW! Happy birthday buddy!!

For Ragen's birthday party, he of course wanted Star Wars. To say he's obsessed would be the understatement of the year. However it couldn't be a plain old Star Wars, it had to be LEGO Star Wars. And they don't make Lego Star Wars party stuff so I had to make it all myself. Of course I did... We had the party at the Bellevue Club and it was a great spot! We took over the gym and they put up their inflatable bouncy slide. They also set out all their balls, hula hoops, etc. So the kids just played. I think the highlight though (and what kept them the busiest) were the light sabers Jeremy & I made out of swim noodles. It was a riot! They each had a light saber with their name on it and we let them beat the heck out of each other. They LOVED it!!
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The centerpieces which were personalized with things like "Ragen is 6" and "May the force be with Ragen" (I made the wrap-around portion and I can't take credit - I saw the idea online somewhere)

Ragen loved this part - YODA SODA! I put lime green sherbert and Sprite in the cups and the kids loved it. I wish I'd taken a picture of the cup full of green sludge!
The "MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU" banner and sign I made to coordinate with all the party stuff

Customized cupcake toppers. This was a huge hit!

The kids were in heaven when they realized this bag was full of light sabers! (By the way, if you don't already own a Merin Designs tote bag, you must get one for summer!!)

The kids battle the dark side!

Trying to get a group pic

Ragen's oldest friend Davis couldn't be at the party so we celebrated

with him that night

Mother's Day Tea

2010-05-28T15:56:00.000-07:00

Not only has Ragen loved his kindergarten year in school but I'm loving it too! There are so many fun activities that are unique to the kindergarten students (not sure how I'll feel about it next year during 1st grade). The kids put on the most darling Mother's Day Tea at school. Ragen was talking for a week about how he was so excited because the kids got to serve the moms their food!

The kids had prepared 3 songs that they sang to the group and it was so fun to see how seriously they were taking it. During the song "What a Wonderful World" each child had decorated a poster with a phrase from the song and they revealed each as they sang that part. Ragen's was the 1st line of the song "I see trees of green". I'm teary just thinking about it!

They had also made us several homemade goodies and they are things that I will treasure forever!

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The kids singing one of the songs (They're seperated boys & girls because of the choreography. Yes! There was choreography!)

My sweet boy singing his part of "What a Wonderful World"

With each verse of the song, another kid would hold up their drawing

Mrs. Koch reading a section of Ragen's book about his mom. "I like it best when my mom..." Ragen's answer was "lets me break the rules." Hmmmmm...

I am so proud to be his mom!!

Zoomazium

2010-05-28T15:45:00.000-07:00

Multiple choice question here...

Zoomazium is either (a) the name of the indoor play area at the Woodland Park Zoo or (b) a term that is fitting to describe our life these days. If you chose (c) all of the above, then you are a winner! What a ridiculous blog drought I've been on. Then again, all 7 of you checking this blog probably don't care. Just kidding :)

We went to a private birthday party for Ragen's friend Reese at Zoomazium. I must say, if you ever need a spot for a unique private event, this is a GREAT choice! The party was after-hours so they had the run of the place themselves. They started at the flamingo's exhibit and had a private talk with the zoo-keeper about the animals. Then they went to Zoomazium which if you have ever been during regular zoo hours, it is a "zoo!" This was so great because even though there were probably 60 people there, at least we knew they were all a part of our party. The kids had a fantastic time running around! The zoo-keeper also brought an armadillo for the kids to experience live & in person. He was such an odd but cute little creature. The zoo has a caterer they use and the food was all really great. They even had a kid-sized buffet full of hot dogs, sliders, mac & cheese, grilled cheese, shot glasses with tomato soup, etc...A big hit with the kiddos! Happy 6th birthday Reesie!

Keri, Dee, Vanessa & Liz with the birthday girl!

Ragen petting the armadillo

Kiefer family

Go Cubs!

2010-04-10T10:11:00.000-07:00

We're officially a baseball family now! Today Ragen had his first t-ball game and he couldn't have been more excited. Jeremy is an assistant coach which makes Ragen extremely proud. The first practice was canceled last week due to rain so today's game was the first introduction to the sport for all the kids. It was hilarious! I knew we were in for some good laughs when the very first batter hit the ball about a foot off the T, picked it up himself and ran with it to 1st base. :)

Ragen did a great job out there today and Maggie was a happy cheerleader (until the 30 degree temps got the better of her). Looking forward to a great season, Cubbies!

Direct contact!

Ragen with his buddies Jake & Sam

Easter

2010-04-08T12:36:00.000-07:00

Easter seemed to come and go in the blink of an eye this year. The kids woke us up at 7 o'clock on the button singing songs they'd made up about it being Easter. I hadn't wanted the hard boiled eggs to sit out all night (yummy egg salad!!) so I told them I'd go down to check on things. I quickly hid the eggs and then rushed upstairs to tell them the bunny had come! I had also forgotten to have the kids put out a carrot for the bunny so I put a few half-munched carrots out as if he'd gone into our fridge to help himself to a snack. Ragen got a kick out of this.

After our baskets and egg hunt, we ventured down to visit Jeremy's grandma who'd ended up in the hospital a few days before. She was in high spirits and loved the drawings the kids had made for her. Our timing wasn't great so our visit was pretty short. The kids were excited to see that Great Grandma has brought them Easter baskets to the hospital!

From there we joined Jeremy's side of the family at Anthony's in Des Moines where we spend most Easter brunches. It was sad that Great Grandma couldn't join us as she loves having all of her grandchildren & great grandchildren together. Plus we have a new addition this year as Ava is only 3 weeks old. Nana & Bumpa were gracious hosts and it was fun to catch up with the cousins.

After a few hours of downtime at home, we went over to Mimi & Bumpa's house where the Easter Bunny had hidden even more eggs and brought more baskets. Yikes! Grandma B (Keri's grandma) had a great time watching the kids in excitement as they found their eggs. I couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that the Bunny hides in the eggs in the same spot she did when I was a little girl! :)

Another Easter has passed us by but we do not forget the true meaning of the holiday. Our kids are doing better at grasping the significance of Good Friday and Easter and we look forward to them connecting more & more of the dots.

Easter Bunny loot

Maggie has been desperately wanting "dress jammies" and anything Disney Princess is a bonus!

Ragen manages to turn a bubble wand into a Light Saber

Good little egg finders

Found them all!

All dressed up in our Easter best!

The best Godparents!

2010-04-03T20:06:00.000-07:00

Chad & Ronni always spoil our kids at Easter - they are such wonderful Godparents! Last year we were lucky enough to all be in Palm Desert at the same time during Easter so this year we had to do it long-distance. A few weeks ago a large box arrived and the kids could hardly wait to open it. Their eyes got wide as saucers when they saw what was inside. The most awesome egg decorating stuff EVER (not to mention plenty of candy)! These egg kits were things we'd never seen (is it possible that Spokane is on the cutting edge of something?!?) ;)

Thank you so much Uncle Nuk & Auntie Roons! We love you and hope to visit soon!!

We have been begging for a week to be able to use our new stuff! The time has finally come and we can hardly contain our excitement!

Both opted to start with the roller brushes first

Ragen focus was incredible

Maggie loved making the spinner go extra fast!

We couldn't believe thow this thing worked so well and didn't break the eggs

Maggie's final product (I love the ones with one tiny splash of color on it)

Ragen's finished product

Adventure Kids Playcare

2010-04-03T19:52:00.000-07:00

This is genious! You might remember Child's Play Cafe which really was a great idea until they decided to put it on Main Street in Bellevue and pay one of the highest rents in all of the city. Now, there's a similar concept in Issaquah (in the same shopping center as Target) except you get to leave! At Adventure Kids Playcare, it's basically a drop off babysitting service and the prices are comparable to what you'd pay a babysitter.

Today they had a free Grand Opening event that was also an Easter/Spring festival as well. They did an egg hunt (several different age groups) throughout the play space so the kids of course fell in love with the place. They also had taken over the empty space next door for tons of crafts, a disply from Petco (complete with rats & snakes - ewwwww!), pizza, ice cream sundaes, face painting, balloons, and more. Outside they had a couple of bouncy houses, a fire truck to explore, and this awesome mobile video gaming theater.

By signing up today, we got a great deal on the annual fee (which goes towards arts & crafts, snacks, etc) and I now look forward to our first date night where we drop off the kiddos! If you become a "fan" on Facebook, you'll get notices of specials so be sure to check it out!

Ragen was a little confused as to why this Easter Bunny looked different that the fully costumed Easter Bunny we saw at Seattle Gymnastics Academy yesterday. I quickly explained that this must be one of the Easter Bunny's daughter's who helps him during this busy season! He bought it...

Egg hunt - Mags even found a golden egg

Getting Ragen to leave this place was near impossible. He was playing all kinds of Mario games on 52" plasma tv's with the sound blasting. He was in HEAVEN!

Feeling super-cool after sitting in the fire truck and getting a trading card

2 weeks of break

2010-04-03T19:29:00.001-07:00

I started out last week thinking I might be one of the unluckiest moms around but it turns out that I was completely wrong! Somehow it worked out where my kids had 2 different spring breaks. That meant 2 straight weeks of being out of our routine, having a kid with me at all times (if not 2 kids), and absolutely no "me-time."

Ragen was out last week and we had a great time together. He's growing up so fast and it seems truly impossible that he's going to be 6 soon. Since Maggie is in pre-school, we get quite a bit more 1-on-1 time together so this turned out to be a real treat for my big boy and me. He was so well mannered when we had to do the boring old errands (he actually accompanied me to Gene Juarez for a brow wax and sat there like a perfect gentleman!). We managed to fit in plenty of fun things for him and I am so thankful for our special time last week.

Friday, both kids were out because Maggie's school took the day off for Good Friday. We went to the Seattle Gymnastics Academy for some playtime and they had a blast! The Easter Bunny even showed up for a visit!

Next week is Maggie's turn for vacation and I look forward to some fun mommy-daughter activities with her too! I might gain a ton of weight due to my lack of workouts but it's worth it :)

Spring is definitely here!

2010-03-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day in Seattle. One of those days that affirms why we endure the crappy rainy days throughout the year. As the kids were playing in the backyard, Ragen came running to the house screaming. I went outside not sure what I was going to find. I heard him saying something about bunnies. I thought "Oh great, we've got dead bunnies in our yard and I'm going to have to explain this to the kids." Every spring, we've got a bunny that hangs out in our yard every day. He/she sits in the exact same spot year after year eating our grass and looking into our sliding glass door.

I followed Ragen to our sandbox which is actually filled with pea gravel and not sand only to find 2 teeny tiny baby bunnies sitting in there not moving a muscle. Probably scared to death by the little blond toddler squealing in delight about how cute and cuddly they are! Imagine her excitement when the bunny let her pet him. Ummm, Maggie - go wash your hands :) Besides these 2 bunnies, there were at least 3 or 4 more that were piled on top of each other buried under something resembling a homemade nest. Who knows how many are actually under there.

Now comes the hard part of trying to get the kids to leave them alone to let their mommy do what she needs to do. They want to go check on the bunnies every 5 minutes. They really are darn cute! This was a real confirmation that it is definitely springtime in Seattle!

She's here!

2010-03-25T09:40:00.000-07:00

While I was in Palm Desert, we celebrated the arrival of the newest Kiefer to the family. Jeremy's sister Gretchen and our brother-in-law Skip welcomed Ava Mireille Peri on March 16th. She is absolutely precious! She was 2 weeks early after some low fluid issues and was born via c-section due to being breached. I swear c-section babies are so much prettier :) My kids could not be more excited about having a new baby cousin. They have loved having Tiana & Elijah in their lives but they've been asking for years when they'd get a baby cousin. We look forward to watching her grow up! Congratulations Auntie Gretchen & Uncle Skip!

Ava in the hospital

Visiting her at home

Nana with all 3 grandchildren

Sweet baby girl!

This one time...at tennis camp

2010-03-24T17:31:00.000-07:00

For Christmas, Jeremy got together with my friend Liz's husband and they gave us a trip to Palm Desert for a tennis camp being run by the Bellevue Club. It was such a fun 6 days away and while I missed the kiddos alot, I was definitely in need of some girl time. The camp was being hosted by both the Bellevue Club and the Seattle Tennis Club which gave me a chance to spend time with a pro from the STC and meet some people I can play with over there. It was held at Palm Valley which just happens to be where my in-laws place is. Liz and I arrived 2 days before the camp started and soaked up as much sun as we could and did some shopping. It was a good chance to get acclimated to the heat so that when camp started, we could handle the long hours in the blazing sun. Speaking of sun, we had the most amazing weather during our entire stay! I feel so fortunate to have gotten to spend so much time doing something I love doing and enjoying the sunshine at the same time. Jeremy managed the kids fabulously although I think his stress level was off the charts given the fact that he didn't fit in as much work time as expected. I can't wait to go back next year :)

Our luxury suite at the BNP Paribas Open. Federer's match ran late so we got to see most of it - such a treat. That's him in red behind us. I think he's winking at me :)

Andy Roddick's match was up next in the suite. Doesn't get much better!
We went back for another day at the tournament (with general admission tickets - not nearly as fab!). We saw some more greats and managed to soak up alot of sun. These yummy frozen margarita slushies were going down like water :)

Nadal taking the court for his match

Watching another match before we figured out that if we went to the other side, we'd be shaded.

During camp, we had the opportunity to go to PGA West and play on the grass and clay courts. A very fun experience!

100 days

2010-02-22T20:09:00.000-08:00

All throughout the school-year, Ragen will randomly tell me how many days they've been in school. I figured it must be a fun way of learning to count to higher numbers. Sure enough, today was the 100th day of school and they celebrated this accomplishment. He had to turn in a 100 day project which entailed collecting 100 items. It could be anything - legos, pennies, paper clips, etc...Ragen chose crystals. Of course we don't have many crystals laying around so we made a trip to Michaels to get some super fancy crystals. They also celebrated "Zero the Hero", made a puppet and sang a song about him. All the kids came out of school today wearing these crazy 100 day hats and how many stickers do you think is on each hat? That's right...100.

Hope Heart

2010-02-22T19:40:00.000-08:00

Saturday night we had the opportunity to be a part of the On Wings of Hope Gala hosted by the Hope Heart Institute and it was a crazy fun time! The rocker chic affair was held at the Sodo Showbox and featured an auction as well as dinner and the band Everclear. They raised over $600,000 for heart research. The event was extra personal because the featured speakers (and co-chairs for the event) were our dear friends Rob & Vanessa Strickland. They lost Rob's son Shawn to a heart defect at age 13. They spoke eloquently about what it was like for Shawn and how important the research is. The committee made sure to pay attention to every small detail which made for an extremely memorable evening. We were honored to be a part of it all!

One of the many details - an airbrush tattoo artist doing the Gala logo tattoos

Keri & Jeremy

Vanessa & Keri

The slide on the screen while Rob & Vanessa spoke about Shawn. They had a firefighter on stage also because Shawn had a full Boston firefighters funeral)

Dee & Jeff Reiff - love her tattoo placement!

Upgrading Bellevue

2010-02-22T19:36:00.000-08:00

Bellevue finally has gotten a new "every day" restaurant that is so fabulous. You have got to try it! As much as I love all the fancy new additions to our sleepy little city (I really never thought I'd see the day where we had to pay for parking in Bellevue), we need more quick in and out places to eat. Especially with kids. That's why MOD Pizza on Bellevue Way is so great. They are super fast, super yummy pizzas with tons of topping choices. Best of all, each pizza is only $5.88! They have great salads too. Two thumbs up!

MOD Pizza - Made On Demand

Ski bum!

2010-02-22T19:30:00.000-08:00

Ragen has really warmed up to skiing. He was sort of indifferent in the beginning but seems to have found his groove now that they're going faster and taking the chair lift up. It's so fun to watch my little guy! Now the rest of the fam just needs to start skiing again so we can keep up.

Oh, and I hate my voice on video...

A teeny tiny treat

2010-02-22T19:02:00.000-08:00

How cute are these? My mom made these tiny treats with Maggie last week and I thought I'd share because it's such a fun activity for the kiddos. So easy too! They reminded me of a post Bakerella had last year that was so creative.

All you need to do...

Use 2 Nilla Wafer cookies as the buns, a mini York peppermint patty for the burger, and colored frosting for the condiments. If you want, you can put them into the microwave for a few seconds to soften up the Nilla Wafers a bit.

So easy & fun!!

Heart Day

2010-02-15T11:55:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a very loving Valentine's Day! Here are a few highlights from this heart-filled holiday.

I wanted to do a little something for all 4 of the kids' teachers but I figured they probably didn't need another box of chocolates. So I made them each their own simple set of customized notecards. Who can't use more stationery, right?!

Maggie concentrating on perfect frosting to cookie ratios at her class party. I loved how the apples were placed on each kids plate however very few ever were eaten.

Ragen is hard at work decorating his Valentine mailbox. I have to admit - it's going to be really hard for me to relinquish arts & crafts duty for the kids. I told him that he could place the Star Wars stickers all over the mailbox (of course assuming there would be methodical yet random placement throughout) and he was compelled to line them up end to end in a not-so-perfect way. My type-A personality took a hit that day.

Ragen's classroom set up for his party
Ragen's mailbox along side his buddy Zachary's. Zach made R4-D4 who happens to be R2-D2's not so famous friend.
Other mailboxes made by Ragen's friends

One of the games at Ragen's party - grabbing conversation hearts with chopsticks. He was surprisingly talented!
Growing up, my mom decorated the breakfast table every Valentine's day so it's something I've done for the kids each year. I sort of forgot to run to the party store this year so I ended up with only a few decorations. They were thrilled regardless!

Something I didn't get a picture of: Brunch in West Seattle with the Kiefer family on Valentine's morning. As if the sugary treats that morning weren't enough, at one point I looked over at the table and Maggie was drinking the syrup out of the little pitcher. Let's just say that trying to run errands with the kids after a major sugar rush isn't the best idea. I honestly believe that outing might have been one of the 5 worst all time errands trips with kids. UGH!

Ski School

2010-01-09T15:13:00.000-08:00

Ragen had his first day of ski school today at the Summit at Snoqualmie. It was so fun to watch as he excitedly got dressed in all his new ski gear. Luckily he was perfectly dressed and said he wasn't too cold. It was a pretty terrible day up at the pass as it had snowed overnight but then rained this morning leaving a very icy mess. But the kids made the most of it and hopefully next week they'll have better conditions. He had fun and is looking forward to his next lesson.

Anxious to get started!

Ragen & Josie are in the same class

Davis Stryer is doing the same ski school too

Mommy's little skiier

All set & ready to go!
Skis on - mission accomplished

2010

2010-01-04T17:36:00.000-08:00

What a fun way to end 2009! We were invited over to the Quinn's house for New Year's Eve with several other couples but it ended up being just us which was still so fun. Another couple stopped by for a cocktail and it was really fun to finally meet them. Our kids were spending the night at Mimi & Bumpa's so we had a kid-free New Years. This meant we might even stay up past 9:30!

Let me backtrack...the evening almost didn't happen. Maggie had had the 24 stomach flu 2 days before New Year's Eve and I'd had it the day before (the eve-eve as Chad & Ronni would say). We were both doing great all day so when I dropped them off at Mimi's for a sleepover, everyone was very excited. I left and came home to finish getting ready only to get a call from my mom that Maggie had thrown up all over the kitchen. HUH!?!? I called Liz (45 minutes before we were supposed to be there) and apologized profusely but I thought we'd have to cancel. I knew they'd probably gone to alot of effort and were serving steak and lobster so I felt terrible. The more I thought about poor Mags as I drove back to my parents to pick her up, the more I thought it was just too odd that she'd started throwing up again after being just fine all day. She hadn't slept well at all the night she was sick and then that day we'd had a playdate so she never napped. On top of that she ate tons of junk at the playdate so I started thinking maybe her already weak tummy couldn't handle it on top of being utterly exhausted. By the time I got there, she was literally doing twirls, calling herself a ballerina, and happy as could be. I talked my parents into letting her stay, called Liz (who thought I'd been messing with her the entire time) and quickly went home to change.

We had a fabulous dinner, drank champagne, and had fun conversations with dear friends. Thank you so much Liz and Brian for ringing in 2010 with us. We haven't made it to midnight in years!

The beautiful tablescape!

It was probably not the best idea to start taking pictures at 11:55pm with no lipstick on...

Post-Christmas Activities

2010-01-02T23:04:00.000-08:00

Mark and his family were here for almost a week and we packed in as much family time as we could. Ragen and Maggie absolutely idolize Tiana & Elijah and what's so sweet is that I really think that the big kids love spending time with the little ones just as much. We had a wonderful visit with them all and I'm just disappointed I didn't seem to take many pictures of Mark & Melissa. :(

Enjoying the ice skating in Bellevue Park. We couldn't go last year because the tent collapsed in the snow storm.

It took him awhile, but Ragen finally got the hang of it. Tiana & Elijah took him around which saved Uncle Mark's back!

Jeremy, Mags, Ragen, Mark, Tiana & Elijah

Maggie LOVED the skating

Another holiday tradition - the Bellevue Botanical Gardens Christmas light display

Bumpa, Mark, Keri, Melissa, Elijah, Ragen, Maggie & Tiana

These displays amaze me each year

This was an indoor aquarium complete with fish, octopus and floating jellyfish

Merry Christmas!

2010-01-02T22:48:00.000-08:00

We had such a wonderful Christmas morning watching the delight in our kids faces! They really are at fantastic ages and enjoyed the spirit of Christmas to the fullest. We opened up our own family presents as well as everything from Santa before the rest of the family came over. My parents and Mark, Melissa, Tiana & Elijah came over around 9am (and yes, we'd already finished our own stuff by that time). We decided to eat before attacking anymore gifts. On my mom's side, there is a very strong sense of tradition when it comes to Christmas morning breakfast. I decided that we're at my house this year and I'm doing things my way. So there! :) We had a wonderful egg casserole dish, a grapefruit/orange/pomegranate seed salad, homemade cinnamon rolls and drinks. It was perfectly delicious and our new tradition.

After opening gifts, everyone went their seperate ways in hopes of getting a 2nd wind. It was so much fun to see Christmas through the eyes of tweens (beTWEEN childhood & teenagers) and to have Mark and his family here. My parents were in heaven to have us all together! Later in the afternoon we headed over to Jeremy's parents to do Christmas with his grandma and family. Later some dear old family friends joined us (they spend every Thanksgiving & Christmas with these families) for dinner. It was a full house but very fun to be around such tradition and all the laughter. After dinner we scooted out to head back over to my parents. Yet another Christmas celebration! This time was to be with my grandma after they'd all eaten dinner. It was a crazy day but we are grateful to have seen everyone in the family and spent quality time together. The kids crashed before leaving my parents neighborhood.

They're off!

Happiest. Boy. Ever.

Maggie with her "Princess Music Thing" that she asked Santa for

All 4 kids anxiously awaiting the gifts...It is so fun to see how close they have become.

We had to get Elijah a Husky shirt to start representing the Dawgs down in LA. He's a huge USC fan so we've got to bring him around. He even wore it a few times while up here but the bigger question is will he wear it in California?

Maggie's very special quilt that Grandma B (my grandma) made for her with fairies all over it. She absolutely adores it!

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

2010-01-02T22:30:00.000-08:00

About 5 days before Christmas, we got a wonderful surprise...Mark, Melissa, Tiana & Elijah were coming up to Seattle for Christmas!! They were going to show up on Christmas Eve and REALLY surprise us but my mom was actually in-the-know (she'd just been down to LA to help with wedding plans a couple of weeks prior) and she was having a really hard time keeping the secret. Shocking, I know.

Christmas Eve was a fun family filled day. Each year, both Jeremy's family and mine get together after church since we all attend the same service at St. Thomas. I had already volunteered to have everyone here and now with Mark's family and Jeremy's sister/husband coming (they're normally elsewhere on Christmas Eve), we had a full house! My mom and Cheryl had kindly volunteered to cook dinner so that I wouldn't be too stressed as I was hosting Christmas morning here as well. I figured that if I wasn't preparing any food, I didn't really have to think much about anything at all. That proved problematic when my mom went to plate up the food and I realized we had nowhere to sit! How in the world were we going to eat soup on our laps!? So I ran upstairs, got the dining table leaf and pads, a green tablecloth and quickly set the table with my Spode Christmas dishes. Voila! Very festive!! My table only seats 8 and we had 10 adults so poor Jeremy was stuck on a kid chair from the playroom. He said it was pretty easy to shovel soup into his mouth at that height but eating salad like that was more challenging. We had a good laugh at his expense.

Before the kids could go to bed, we had a few holiday traditions to attend to. First we got them all dressed in their Christmas jammies. Finding matching ones this year proved difficult so we took what we could get. The kids laid out milk & cookies for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph. They excitedly went to bed without much prodding and daddy read the classic The Night Before Christmas. This is a special tradition for me as my dad read it to Mark & me until I was in college.

After everyone left, I started wrapping. I have never in my life left wrapping until Christmas Eve and I can honestly say I'll never do it again. Not only could I not sit back and enjoy a holiday movie, I was exhausted and didn't finish until 12:30am. Let's just say there will be some changes to the Christmas Eve traditions in the Kiefer household next year...

As busy as it was around here with our raging Wii competition and the kids playing hide & seek, it was really fun to have a houseful of family!

Mark, Skip, Gretchen, both Bumpas and Jeremy watch Elijah and Ragen battle it out at MarioKart

One of the few times Maggie actually looks at the camera - she's that excited

A case of the sillies

I love how both kids have thier "ba-ba's" here, are in their matching chairs, and are both sucking the appropriate digit for each :)

Santa came!!!

Rain or shine!!

2010-01-02T22:23:00.001-08:00

It's become a Christmas tradition for our family and we weren't going to let a little rain get in they way! Between the huge party we had in mid-December and then all the hustle & bustle of getting ready for Christmas, there was literally 1 day that we could go and see Snowflake Lane this year and Jeremy wasn't even able to join us. :(

As we were driving towards the mall I was thinking "well, at least in the rain it won't be very crowded and it should be easy to park." Ummmm - wrong! Trying to get into the parking lot was proving to be such a nightmare that I even told the kids we'd probably end up missing the show anyways. Maggie sweetly reminded me to be patient (which literally caught my breath!) and just as I was pulling past the ticket pulling area (about to make a u-turn to go home), someone pulled out of one of the 6 parking spots right there on the ground level! She taught me such a valuable lesson in that moment!

We found a spot in the rain and just hoped the time would go quickly. I couldn't believe how crowded it was up & down both sides of Bellevue Way. Apparently Snowflake Lane is a big enough deal to lots of other families as well. The kids loved the show and I loved how the rain stopped right as the drummers came out.

1st Annual K/R/Q/S Christmas party

2010-01-02T22:01:00.000-08:00

It started out as a way to avoid having to buy too many Christmas gifts for the kids. Liz, Dee, Vanessa and I decided we'd have the kids draw names and do a little Christmas exchange. Then we figured it'd be a great idea to do it for ourselves too. Then Liz had a grand idea of having a cookie exchange. Then our gift exchange became a gift exchange/cookie exchange/dinner party. In the meantime, let's have the husbands draw names for a gift exchange too. Then we were all bringing a dish for the party plus some wine plus the 4 Christmas presents PLUS 6 dozen cookies? Craziness! So we ditched the cookie exhange idea and ended up with the 1st annual Kiefer/Reiff/Quinn/Strickland Christmas party at Liz & Brian's house!

The kids ate a quick dinner then scurried upstairs to play with the babysitter while we had cocktail hour. We brought them downstairs to exchange gifts and Liz had the idea to have each of the kids explain one thing they like about the person who's name they'd drawn. To watch these 5 year olds and 3 year olds tell something sweet about their friends was priceless! There were several "I like so and so because they play so nicely with me." The kids retreated back upstairs to play with their new toys and also decorate cookies (again - loving the babysitter!).

Now we could enjoy a fabulous dinner without any kids tattling or hitting or breathing wrong. After dinner, we did the adult gift exchange and decided to carry over the idea of saying something you admire about the person who's name you'd drawn. This was easy for us girls but it was fun to watch the guys a) get sensitive about each other and b) try to make it meaningful to the gift that their wife probably picked out! We laughed and cried and realized just how special it is that 4 couples came together by chance and have become such good friends.

It's too late now but for next year if you and your friends/family do a gift exchange where you draw names, you should definitely try out http://www.drawnames.com/. It was such an easy way to do it! The website has you set up who's involved and who can't buy for whom (is that even gramatically correct!?). So you could tell it that Ragen can't buy for Maggie, etc... We did 3 seperate draws (kids, moms, dads). Then it emails each person individually to let them know who they've drawn and keeps it all secret. The website even goes so far as to allow you to set up a wish list if you'd like.

Liz's beautifully set dinner table

The kids table

A first! All 7 kids smiling happily! L - R: Ragen, Reese, Grace, Josie, Maggie, Ella & Ellie

All 8 adults smiling too - another victory!

Things got silly as the night progressed...

Rob, Jeremy, Brian & Jeff posing with the gift Brian made for Rob (which is a picture "George" took in college of Jeremy & Brian and then had Rob & Jeff's pics added).

Jeff and the leather beer holster Jeremy gave him - it was a hit!

Celebrating Christmas at School

2010-01-02T21:43:00.000-08:00

Life has become so politically correct and for the most part, I am all for most of the changes society has made. One thing that makes me sad is the lack of Christmas spirit in the classroom. When we were kids we had a full-on Christmas party and it was always my favorite time of the school year. I can appreciate the need for religious sensitivity but it would be nice if the kids could enjoy Christmas or any of the other holidays in the public schools.

Maggie goes to a christian preschool so Christmas is out in full force at Pilgrim. It's such a breath of fresh air to wish someone Merry Christmas and not panic for a split second that you've offended them. That's the last thing I want to do during such a fun time of year.

Maggie & her buddy Ellie are hard at work on their gingerbread houses

Maggie's masterpiece

The Christmas program at her school was a family affair

We were totally shocked Mags participated by singing proudly. She tends to get shy when the center of attention and to us that day, she was the COA!

I love how half the class is doing one hand motion and the other half is doing another hand motion

Ragen's school doesn't do a holiday party however the kindergarten classes do decorate gingerbread houses. It was a fun opportunity to go into the class to help out and see Ragen interacting with his buddies. Jeremy was even able to skip out of work to help out and Ragen was beaming to have his daddy there.

If all the kids grabbing for the candy doesn't spread swine flu, I don't know what will!

Giving each kid his/her own frosting bag might not have been the smartest...especially the kids who's parents couldn't come supervise. It was EVERYWHERE!

Ragen's masterpiece

Surgery

2009-12-12T15:38:00.001-08:00

Today Maggie had surgery to have ear tubes put in and her adnoids taken out. We've been really anxious as the day approached so I'm glad to have it out of the way. She is recovering well and is happy to be playing and coloring at home.

Yesterday a special surprise arrived from Uncle Mark. He sent Maggie a stuffed dog that was given to him the first time he checked into the hospital as a young boy. He had ear tubes numerous times as well as a couple of fairly serious ear surgeries and this dog was the one thing that kept him company through it all. He wanted Maggie to have it and also for her to rename him since he's always been "Dog" to Mark. She picked the name Macaroni and keeps telling people today "Remember how Macaroni used to be Uncle Mark's?" It was an incredibly sincere and thoughtful gift and will mean alot to both Maggie and me for a long time to come.

This morning we checked into Children's Hospital at 7:15 and I was really worried Maggie would be complaining of hunger non-stop. She is my snacker. Thankfully she never asked once and even better, the surgeon was running on time so we didn't have to wait too long. She was energetic as we waited in the pre-op room and she loved wearing the Looney Tunes gown with special sock/slippers. She was the perfect patient as nurse after nurse after doctor after doctor came in to ask questions and get vital stats. Jeremy decided he wanted to go back into the OR with her while she was placed under anesthesia. Ummmm, no thank you! I waited in the confines of the room and I'm glad I did because he said it was unbelievably hard to watch. Considering I had choked up on the phone the day before when they gave me her eating instructions, I was really nervous I'd be a mess when they took her out of the room. But since Jeremy went with her, it was much easier for me so I am grateful for that. As she was brought back into the room about an hour and 15 minutes later, she was groggier than I've ever seen her. It was a very tough thing for me to see. She just laid in my lap with no expression holding a popsicle for about 20 minutes. Then she slowly perked up and before you knew it, she was thrilled to be leaving the hospital in the wheelchair.

We are so glad to have the surgery behind us and pray for a speedy recovery. Our hope is that this will alleviate the number of colds and ear infections she gets as well as aid in the recovery of colds she does come down with. Right now it's tough for her to beat a cold and they usually last 4-6 weeks. Another hope is that the surgery will help her with the mild speech delay she's faced. We'll see how she progresses and then decide if another speech evaluation is necessary.

Thank you so much to Mimi & Bumpa who kept us company at the hospital. And a huge thanks to Nana & Bumpa who arrived at our house at 6:45 this morning to stay with Ragen. Not only did they watch him, take him out to buy Maggie a gift but they also finished cleaning up the mess from last night's big party. They did EVERYTHING. Thank you so you all!

Mags snuggling with her baba and Macaroni

Looking excited but not really knowing what's ahead of her

Ready to go in with daddy

Mommy is thrilled to have my baby back in my arms but was a little uncomfortable with how out of it Maggie was (and the blood coming out of her nose!)

Ready to head out after her 3rd popsicle

Ragen was so proud of her and picked out a Dora card for her and some coloring stuff

Davidson Family Christmas

2009-12-12T15:13:00.001-08:00

To say there are a lot of Davidsons around the Seattle area is an understatement. We gathered last night to celebrate family and the holidays. This year the party was at our house and I was super stressed all week (OK, for 2 weeks!) to make sure the party went off without a hitch. My fears centered around the idea of having 40-50 people in my house at once. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying my house is small. It's just that it doesn't have that great party flow. There's nothing like a huge party at your house to jumpstart the decorating process! Thankfully everything went fabulously and all 42 of us fit comfortably. Well, 43 if you include Iggy! Tonight Iggy went home with cousin Bobby, Malei & Grey. We'll be dropping by to be sure he's displayed prominently all year round. :) The Davidson family had alot to celebrate this year as we welcomed 4 new members of the clan (Tanner & Chase, Kennady, Amelia). We had a wonderful time catching up with everyone and we certainly missed those of you who couldn't join us!

Setting the scene...the family room

The office which became more like a living room this year

The tented bar outside. Unfortunately the heater didn't do it's job and the red wine didn't enjoy the 17 degree temps!

The newest Davidson - Tyler & Henri's sweet little Amelia

We gather for the Iggy presentation

Iggy will continue to reside in Madison Park

We also celebrated Uncle Bob's 70th birthday!

I know people tend to gather in the kitchen but this is ridiculous!

I had to steal a few minutes with Amelia!

Double whammy!

2009-12-04T15:44:00.000-08:00

We have stumbled upon the greatest kid friendly dinner out spot! On Mondays, Romio's in Factoria not only has "kids eat free" but at 6pm, they have a balloon artist from GiggleWorks (seriously - we're not talking simple boring balloon animals here!) to do free balloon creations for the kids. Jeremy literally stumbled upon it one night without me and it was a slow night at the restaurant so both my kids ended up with 3 creations each that night (including a 3 foot Yoda that looked freakishly real!). This week we went again and Maggie chose Ariel and Ragen chose the At-At walker from Star Wars. Neither a shocking choice. I think the Totem Lake Romio's has this same feature on Tuesday nights but I'm not sure. How perfect that Ragen was wearing his Star Wars shirt for the occasion!

For comparison, here's the real At-At Walker...

Prayers

2009-12-04T15:34:00.001-08:00

Each night since Ragen memorized it a few years ago, we've been saying the "Now I lay me down to sleep" prayer with him (he says it, we listen). A few weeks ago Maggie asked to have the prayer said in her room as well so we started saying it for her. A couple of nights ago she asked if she could say it herself so we figured this might be good entertainment at least. We were so impressed! She only needed prompting once and was cute as could be saying her big girl prayer.

(I left the lights turned low for ambiance but I think I might need to retake the vid and leave the lights on!)

It's the holiday season!

2009-12-04T15:21:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite days of the year is the day after Thanksgiving! It symbolizes the start of the holidays and I just love everything about it - even the rush of shoppers at 4am (not that I've ever participated at that ridiculous hour however for the first time ever I did make it to Target at 6:30am this year to pick up the Disney Princess Vanity for Miss Maggie - shhhhhh!).

Growing up, we'd go cut down our Christmas tree the morning after Thanksgiving every single year. Rain or shine! We'd go with my cousins & aunt/uncle to the same tree farm and go to breakfast. It is a special tradition I hold close to my heart. Jeremy and I committed the 1st Christmas sin and have a fake tree (for now at least!) so we have bypassed that tradition but I look forward to picking it back in in years to come.

So now that we're not freezing are tooshies off in a tree farm on this day, we have a new tradition. We take the kids downtown to see Santa and catch some of the Macy's parade. In years past, we'd be standing in line for Santa (for 2 hours) and catch the parade as it went by. For the past few years, we've been fortunate enough to have a "hook-up" and get to go by appointment to a VIP Santa in the upper floors at Nordstrom. I have to tell you it is heavenly! The kids did so great sitting on Santa's lap. I was very nervous about Maggie - she's hit & miss but she did a fantastic job. After Santa we did a little shopping and then went on the carousel at Westlake.

Once we were home, we got out the Christmas decorations and holidayized our house. We are now fully immersed in Christmas cheer and I'm loving it! It really doesn't matter to me what we do on the day after Thanksgiving, as long as I'm kicking off the holiday season with my family, I'm a happy girl!

The "real" Santa photo arrived today and I'm thrilled with it!

Macy's has a wonderful program where in the stores you'll see these "Believe" mailboxes and a letter writing station. For every letter that is dropped into the box, they'll donate $1 to Make-A-Wish. I love this campaign!

We couldn't believe that at 1pm on it's first day, there was virtually no line for the carousel.

So very thankful

2009-12-04T15:16:00.000-08:00

The list is endless. There are too many things I'm thankful for this year. First and foremost is my family. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day with the perfect blend of some quiet time along with the craziness of extended family. Jeremy and I snuck over to the Tennis Club to hit with the ball machine (I'm so thankful I took up tennis!). Then we spent the afternoon at home with the kids before heading to my parents house for dinner. Unfortunately Mark, Melissa & the kids couldn't make it up for the holiday but we were blessed with a large group of relatives on my mom's side. I think my grandma was in heaven having that many of us together. We had a lovely dinner and quality time with the family.

At the top of my THANKFUL list :)

The kids donning the hats they both made in celebration of Thanksgiving at school. Ragen's was a head-dress and Maggie's was a turkey complete with dangly legs

My grandma with 3 of her 6 grandchildren

School Thanksgiving

2009-12-04T14:36:00.000-08:00

At Ragen's school, they did a Thanksgiving feast where the kids were wearing hats signifying the Pilgrims and the Indians (I mean Native Americans). Everyone brought Thanksgiving food including one friend who's family tradition is to eat potstickers on Thanksgiving :) Ragen polished off 10 turkey rolls setting a class record!

They had made placemats stating what they are thankful for and then the teacher read them to all of the parents. The answers ranged from "my family" to "sugar."

The Thanksgiving feast

All the pilgrims & indians

Ragen's Native American self portrait :)

Why can't they always act this way?

2009-12-04T14:34:00.000-08:00

I had to share this sweet moment between Ragen & Mags. We were at Kelsey Creek farm trying to get a Christmas card photo and in between takes, they were snuggling like crazy. I was able to snap them in a moment. I find myself chuckling at this picture because they are so hot & cold. A lot of the time, they treat each other exactly as portrayed here. Other times...not so much!

Disney on Ice...in style!

2009-12-04T14:22:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago a few other moms and I took our girls to Disney on Ice up in Everett. There were 4 moms and 6 little girls and we had a blast. As a special treat, we took the girls up to the show in a limo (thanks Vanessa!) and then went out to dinner at Anthony's in Everett beforehand. Watching the girls lip synch and have a dance party in the limo was hilarious. It was raining like crazy that night so we were thrilled to not be driving. The show was fabulous and we had incredible seats. I was actually sad for Ragen that he wasn't there because despite the lean towards all things girly, he would have loved it. The show featured The Little Mermaid (Maggie's favorite), Cars (one of Ragen's faves), the Lion Kind (another Ragen fave), Mickey & the gang, and Tinkerbell. It was a really special night out with our little ladies!

Maggie, Ellie, Ella, Grace, Reese and Josie riding in style

Up close & personal

First of many "rounds" - these were the $72 snow cones in a Tinkerbell cup

Aerial & Flounder

Another "round" - this time was $72 cotton candy in this Tinkerbell hat

The NEW bouncy place

2009-12-04T14:13:00.000-08:00

"Bouncy places" have been all the rage in our house for the past couple of years. Both kids absolutely love them. With Ragen in school full time, we don't go nearly as often as we used to. Back in the day of having both kids home a day or two a week, I was always looking for things to do. But now our days off are limited.

On Veterans day (I know, I'm way behind!), Ragen went to a birthday party at the NEW place to be if you're a kid in Bellevue. Sky High Sports is a giant warehouse full of trampolines! It was a drop-off party and when I went to pick him up a few minutes before the end, I felt truly sorry for this brave mom. She had 7 five/six year old boys running around like crazy in what can only be described as chaos. They were sweating profusely and having the best time!

If you're looking for something fun to do, you should definitely try this place out. They have a jousting area for older kids and one set of trampolines looks like it might be for the younger crowd. There's also a set of tramps that go right into a foam pit taking me back to my gymnastics days.

Word of caution...don't go on a day when there's no school! They do take reservations ahead of time and even sell out so plan ahead!

It was incredible to watch the height these boys could get!

Maggie snuck her way onto the trampoline when we picked up Ragen

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T19:58:00.001-08:00

Last night was our 2nd annual Halloween bash with the Tucker family. Sadly for Jeremy, he was the solo Daddy last night because Alex was out of town but we were so glad Courtney and the girls could join us in our neighborhood.

We started with dinner for the kiddos - mummy hot dogs. Then we prepped for trick-or-treating. Maggie was super excited that Court brought real makeup and did her up so that she was the best looking Aerial around (well, she and Madison were both Aerial so they both looked the bestest). We have a fantastic neighborhood for the holidays and people go ALL OUT. We always laugh that it's like in the movies when they show Halloween and there are so many people on the streets passing each other but in most areas, that doesn't really happen. Here it totally does. There were times last night when we had to get off the sidewalk because there were so many people walking through at the same time. After about an hour of trick-or-treating, we headed inside. My mom was kind enough to have stayed here to open our door to the little goblins so we could all take our kids out. Once we were home and put on a movie for the kids, the adults sat down to a buffalo chili dinner. It was such good stuff but we didn't think about the fact that the 2 hours it sat simmering was only intensifying the "heat" in the buffalo flavor...it was so spicy!

Thanks Court, Madison & Mackenzie for joining us again this year!

The kids loved helping me deck out the house for Halloween

Table is set complete with Twisted wine (so Halloweeney!) and Peep ghost straws

Mummy dogs - so tasty!

Ragen & Mags all ready to go

Court, Mack (the lobster), Madison (Aerial), Maggie (the mermaid), Ker, Ragen (Luke Skywalker)

The kids LOVE going to "Snoopy's house". These people decorate like crazy for every holiday.

Pre-Halloween festivities

2009-11-01T19:41:00.000-08:00

This was a very busy week leading up to Halloween. Not only was Jeremy gone so the kids and I were on our own, but there were festivties everyday (if not twice a day). Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of my dad stepping in for the "Pumpkin Carving with Dad" at Ragen's school. Thanks for pinch hitting, Bumpa! Here's a recap...

Prepping the pumpkins for carving. Ragen was totally grossed out by the "goo" so he insisted on using a spoon.

"Dad & Me" carving night at Maggie's preschool. Daddy was playing golf at Pebble Beach (poor daddy!) so Brian Quinn stepped in as dad for the night. Ellie & Maggie had a great time at their special dinner out and carving night. Thank you Brian!

Annual trick-or-treating at Gamma Phi. Note to self - make sure Maggie has a nap on days where she's expected to follow directions and socialize with massive amounts of people after a long day.

Trick-or-treating for Kids Camp at the Bellevue Club. So that Maggie wouldn't rip her mermaid dress any further, she opted to wear her Sleeping Beauty dress. Ellie was a hula dancer and Josie was a ballerina. They got an insane amount of candy for this activity. Just what we needed a few days before Halloween.
The mermaid is ready for the pumpkin parade at her preschool

Maggie's class (at least most of the gang)

The carmel apple station at Ragen's class party

Halloween Carnival at the Bellevue Club. The only group shot of the kiddos - Josie, Reese & Ragen with Maggie, Ella & Ellie. It was nearly impossible to get them to pause for a photo in between the face painting, musical chairs, bouncy houses, games, movie and running around.

Musical Chairs

Why yes...it is possible to jump on bouncy houses in a mermaid costume!

Spooky Spaghetti Dinner

2009-10-23T21:52:00.001-07:00

Tonight was the Spooky Spaghetti Dinner at Cougar Ridge where dads from the school served and waited on the kids dressed in Halloween costumes. It was a fun concept and the dads who were helping were all decked out in their finest Italian waiter gear.

Maggie must have had a sixth sense about the evening. Earlier today, she asked me several times in the Spooky Spaghetti Dinner was going to have the lights on or off. I told her for sure the lights would be on and there would be nothing to be afraid of. As we were walking to our table with our plates full of spaghetti, the power went out! I immediately stacked the plates so I had a free hand and grabbed Ragen and Jeremy pulled out his Blackberry for a little light to keep Maggie calm. It was only out for a minute and we weren't really sure if that was for effect (given the name of the event) or if the power had really gone out on this blustery night. When we got home we realized our power had been out at the house as well so I guess we got our answer.

It was a fun way to kick off Halloween as the kids were super excited to be in their costumes for the first time.

So excited to have Daddy at the dinner with us!

Mommy's Little Mermaid and Luke Skywalker

I love asking Maggie what she's going to be for Halloween because the answer is always "a muhhhh-maid"

The force is definitely with this kid!

So patriotic!

2009-10-19T11:52:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in this video with atrocious quality, there is a darling little 5 year old saying the Pledge of Allegience and then busting into "You're a Grand Old Flag". I completely cracked up when Ragen told me he'd like to give me a show of all his "school songs." I ask him EVERYDAY what he did at school and he's totally that kid...you know, the one who says "I can't remember." So I had no idea they were saying the Pledge everyday nor did I know he knew so many wonderful songs. The first time I heard him, I was brought to tears and goosebumps. I love his annunciation (I'm not sure that comes across in the video) and I love that the only word he consistently gets wrong is liverty instead of liberty.

I'm happy to report that since taking this horrific Blackberry video, I bought a Flip camcorder and will be taking much better quality vids from now on!

Pumpkin Patch 2.0

2009-10-17T17:19:00.001-07:00

We've had massive rain here lately and it's tough to find a break in the weather. Last week I had promised the kids I'd take them to the pumpkin patch to get our "real" pumpkins since they each get small pumpkins through school. Wednesdays Ragen's school gets out at 12:30 so it was a good day to go and they were super excited. Of course Wednesday it was raining cats & dogs when I picked him up but they still wanted to go. So we geared up in our boots & raincoats and ventured out. Bad idea. We were freezing and soaked to the bone and that was after only about 7 minutes out in the rain at the pumpkin patch. But, we got our pumpkins and that's what counts!

Don't they look happy to be there?

Playdate

2009-10-17T17:14:00.001-07:00

We had Maggie's 1st official playdate here last week and she was so excited. Ellie Quinn came over because their school was out most of the week due to a teacher's conference. The girls had a blast (as evidenced by the tornado that went through my playroom). I have always felt guilty that Maggie seems to be carted around from activity-to-activity with Ragen so I'm making an effort to have more things specifically for Mags. Obviously it was a success because the girls never fought and Maggie is still talking about the playdate several days later.

Decorating Halloween cookies

They each had a plate for their creations. There's so much frosting on these cookies, you can't even tell what shapes they are!

Playing dress-up, of course!

Pumpkin Patch field trip

2009-10-17T17:05:00.001-07:00

Ragen's class to their first field trip last week to the Pumpkin Patch and we lucked out with a beautiful sunny day. I was excited to join in the fun so I could witness how he was interacting with the kids in his class. We boarded the school busses and headed to South 47 Farm. All 80 kindergarteners from Cougar Ridge participated so the busses were pretty amped with noise. I was exhausted by the time we got back and have a new-found appreciation for kindergarten teachers who are with these kids all day!

Running through the apple trees

Petting the chicken after we watched her lay an egg 3 minutes earlier

Ragen with his buddies Ben & Zachary

Following in mommy's footsteps

2009-10-17T16:55:00.000-07:00

Maggie started gymnastics a couple of weeks ago and to say that she loves it is an understatement. All week long she asks when she gets to go to "tomastics" and is so excited when Tuesday finally rolls around. It's been very nostalgic for me as she's going to the exact same gym (Gymnastics East) where I competed for over 10 years. One of my old teammates even owns the gym now.

Everyone who saw what I endured first hand all those years ago looks at me like I'm crazy to be putting Maggie into gymnastics. My answer is always the same - she's not going to compete and that's the big difference. To go once a week and have fun running around is one thing. To go 5 days a week for 4-5 hours a day is entirely something else.

For now, Maggie is loving her "tomastics", I love seeing her so enthused, and it's pretty fun to walk down memory lane.

How cute is that tiny leo?

Someone get that girl some spankys! (the underwear-like things that go underneath the leo to keep it from riding up your cheeks) :)

"I see Husky Stadium!"

2009-09-30T20:01:00.001-07:00

This is what I hear from both kids everytime we cross the 520 bridge from Bellevue to Seattle..."I see Husky Stadium" and then Maggie yells "Go Huskies!" We usually bring them to a game or two early on in the football season when we can plan on an afternoon game, nice weather, and usually a less-important opponent. They get super excited and talk about it for weeks.

On September 12th (I'm behind, I know!) we took them to the game vs. Idaho. We went to the game via the Eide's boat which was so much fun for all of us! Ragen & Maggie really didn't understand that you can arrive at the stadium on a boat so they were in heaven. After heading over on the boat, tailgating and all the cheering at the game, they were pooped! We went back out to the boat in the 3rd quarter to finish watching the game on TV. You really can't beat watching the game in 80 degree weather in a bikini on the boat just 100's of yards from where the action is taking place!

Little do the kids know how monumental the game was - it was the first win for the Dawgs since November 2007!

A rare pic of mom & dad!

A great family shot with the stadium in the background but of course, my kids & pictures don't really mix

Wicked!

2009-09-30T19:56:00.000-07:00

Better late than never, right? Back in mid-September, my mom and I went to see Wicked at the Paramount Theater. I won't go into too much detail about the show other than to say that I LOVE this musical and highly recommend that you see it. Wicked is showing here in Seattle until October 4th and if you miss it here, well you might just have to jet on out to NYC to catch in on Broadway.

This was a Mother's Day celebration for my mom and I as we gave eachother the tickets for the holiday. We had a wonderful dinner at Morton's before catching the show. I am so fortunate that my mom is such a dear friend and we have such a great time together. I can only hope that I have as special of a relationship with Maggie in about 30 years.

Soccer mom!

2009-09-14T16:36:00.000-07:00

Friday night I officially became a soccer mom, minus the minivan. Ragen started his 3-on-3 soccer last week and it's a great way for him to try out the sport to see if he wants to continue playing it. I must tell you - he better LOVE it if he plays next year because then the games move to Saturdays. In our house, Saturdays are for Husky football! We figured this would be a great way to see what he thinks since the practice & game are in the same evening.

Jeremy grew up thinking soccer was the only sport on earth since he grew up in England. I grew up playing soccer one year and hated the mud so much, I never played again. I also did cartwheels in the backfield the entire time. Let me just say the Woodridge Wildcats weren't sad to see me go. We decided to let Ragen try a bunch of different sports this year so that he could get a feel for what he really likes and might want to continue with. I must say, I'm hoping that soccer isn't his thing. But for now, I'll be there cheering loudly on the sidelines. Go Thunder!

Soccer stud

Good thing it's only 3-on-3. They've got enough for 1 sub!

Pretty good skills although he made the rookie mistake of heading towards the wrong goal once

What a supportive little teammate!

What soccer game is complete without orange wedges? I'm pretty impressed that my little fruit-hater dove right in.

Maggie's day!

2009-09-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

Today was Maggie's big day - her first day at Pilgrim. Last year was a fabulous "school" experience and we adore Miss Wendy but it really was more of a daycare situation. So this was Maggie's first day in her new class. She happily walked up to give Mrs. McTaggert & Mrs. Byus their apple cookies. In typical fashion, I forgot to snap a picture of her cookies and didn't even manage to get a photo of Mags outside our front door. I'm going to figure out this 2nd child neglect sooner than later - I hope!

We walked into school and it really was 50/50. I wasn't sure if she'd be totally fine given that she's been to school before and she's also been coming to Pilgrim with Ragen for 2 years. I also worried she'd scream & cry because she's been going through a mommy phase and has been very clingly the past 4-5 months. Luckily she made it easy on me and was a champ as we walked through the door. She instantly found some playdough and then moved onto the princesses. When I picked her up, she told me all about the books they read and how they do "criss cross applesauce" which made her giggle. I'm so thankful she loved her 1st day and that Pilgrim has such a great group of teachers to help with the transition. Way to go Maggie girl!

Maggie with her buddy & classmate Ellie

Does anyone have tips for convincing her to look at the camera - she does this is 95% of pictures!

Time for fun!
Very ladylike, honey...

Kindergarten!

2009-09-03T13:25:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe it. We've anticipated this day for so long and now it's here. Ragen went off to Kindergarten today! I am so proud of him and how he handled it. He was so excited and acting so grown up that it really made the drop-off easier on me (although the eyes were full of tears as he walked away from me). Ragen was also thrilled that Jeremy stayed home from work this morning to help out and walk him to school.

We have been building up to this day trying to make it a huge exciting event so he would be happy and not sad. But we also wanted to make sure not to make it into too big of a deal so that he wouldn't freak out. Yesterday he picked out his outfit (from a very short list of choices!) and he helped me make a giant gingerbread cookie that I had volunteered to make for his classroom today. He asked me to read him extra stories last night thinking that he needed some practice for Kindergarten. I'm not sure if he was stalling or really wanted the practice. He must have been a bit anxious because he got out of bed about 15 times which is rare for him. I am nervous that he'll be exhausted today but I guess it's not my problem, right?! :)

This morning he awoke to a special breakfast of green eggs & ham with a side of donuts. We read Dr. Suess the other night and he thought it'd be fun to have that someday so I figured today was as good as ever. We had to alter our morning routine a bit because we have to head out for our walk around 8:10 which is early for us but we made it. Nana was nice enough to come over to watch Mags so we could walk Ragen to school by himself. He went right up to the appropriate line and stood there patiently. Then it was time to head into school and unfortunately the parents weren't invited. I totally understand why but I really had wanted that photo op.

Maggie and I went to Build-A-Bear as a special mommy & me project today. She had received a gift card for her birthday and was excited to use it. She picked out a pink unicorn which she named Jasmine (after Princess Jasmine, no less). She also chose a Disney Princesses t-shirt and a Husky t-shirt (atta girl!!).

I have such mixed feelings about this new chapter. I know that Ragen is ready for full day Kindergarten and is probably loving every minute. I am happy to have the break from screaming kids who run all over stores when shopping but I also miss my little man and can't wait to pick him up at 2:53!

Back to school breakfast
I'm a Kindergartener!

Love how the backpack is bigger than him

So proud of our little guy!

You better believe that at the first sign of rain, I'll be driving him to school!

One last hug!!

There he goes! Not even looking back. I love his confidence.

I figured it'd be nice to bring the teacher an apple on the first day of school. Especially when it's in cookie format! I wonder if Ragen remembered to give it to her?

The giant gingerbread cookie for his class. They'll realize that he "escaped" from the oven and will go on a gingerbread hunt throughout the school looking for him. In the process, they'll learn their way around the building. This cute little guy had some flaws but overall he turned out great.
Maggie gives Jasmine a scrubbing before choosing clothes

Thank you Auntie Roons & Uncle Nuk (and Bailey & Carter too)!

ABC's

2009-09-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

I was so glad to capture this video on my Blackberry today for a bunch of reasons. First, I have so little video tape of Maggie (again, poor 2nd child!). Secondly, she starts preschool next week so it's quite fitting. And third, she's going in for a hearing and speech evaluation in a couple of weeks so I thought this would be a great baseline. Oh and fourth, I've never uploaded vids so this was good practice :)

Carrying on the tradition

2009-09-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

Every summer growing up, we'd go to the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe as a family. We had a cabin on Lake Roesiger which was about 15 minutes from the fairgrounds so I have wonderful childhood memories there. We've taken our kids to the fair every year since Ragen was born to carry on the tradition and my kids love it just as much.

Yesterday we took the kids along with Mimi and Bumpa for an afternoon of rides, animals and junk food. The kids were so grimey by the time we got home that there was no way I was putting them to bed without a bath first.

The Miracle Worker

2009-08-28T12:59:00.000-07:00

If you live somewhere in the greater Seattle area, chances are you've heard of Susie Gravrock's swim lessons. I've actually been out of town before and overheard strangers talking about Miss Susie and what an amazing swim teacher she is. Ragen did fantastically in her lessons over the past several years. With Maggie, I did a few swim lessons through Water Babies early on and then sort of got busy. Poor 2nd child!! I started the lessons up at the Bellevue Club in the spring and after a rocky start, she did OK. I was able to get Maggie in for a week at Susie's so I jumped at the chance figuring she'd be swimming like a fish at the end of the week.

Poor, poor Susie (and everyone else at class that week)! Maggie screamed like crazy for 2 straight days. She was out of the pool as fast as I could put her back in - about 25 times. Finally on day 3 (of 4), she got in calmly at the start of class. And didn't scream. In fact, Mags was having fun!! She was the first one out of the pool for dives and the diving board. The day before I'd had to drop her off the board screaming like crazy. This day, she jumped right in. On the last day, she actually dove off the diving board! She was so disappointed when the week was over. We headed straight to the Tennis Club after lessons on the last day and when we swam in the big pool, she jumped over & over off the side by herself. She wouldn't even jump in to me holding my hands at the beginning of the week.

I'm so proud of Maggie for overcoming her fear and progressing so well! I really can't say enough about Susie and what a miracle worker she is. Who knows how she does it but she always manages to amaze me!

.Day one - one of the few times she stayed in the pool long enough to have a turn

Day four - such a happy little swimmer!

Jumps & dives off the edge

Maybe she has a future on the dive team?!

Birthday Carnival

2009-08-24T20:39:00.001-07:00

If you're looking for a fabulous birthday party theme for your little one, I suggest you have a carnival! My friend Vanessa did this for her 4 year old daughter Ella this past weekend and it was such a hit with the kids! They rented a giant bouncy house, pony rides, several carnival games, a popcorn machine, a sno-cone machine, spin art, sand art, etc...She had her family members man all the different activities and pass out prizes. The kids caught on quickly that the more games you played, the more prizes you got. It was a nice sunny day and a huge success! Happy birthday Ella and thanks for a wonderful party, V!

The carnival scene...

Gorgeous cake with a ferris wheel

The birthday girl!

Ragen, Maggie & Reese have some help with the sand art

Pony rides!

2nd Annual

2009-08-24T19:44:00.001-07:00

We just returned from one of our 2nd annual summer trip to Whidbey Island. The Tuckers are gracious enough to have us and 2-3 other families to their house and we always have the BEST time! We arrived at Whidbey Thursday afternoon and for the first day, it was just us and the Tuckers. What a great way to spend quality time together - cooking, playing on the beach, bikes, crabbing, swings, etc. The kids had so much fun! Then on Friday, the Bosch family and Tom & Kalees West joined in the fun. Kalees' dog Bella was a huge hit for the Kiefer kids! Saturday morning the Evans family headed up and our group was complete. We have such a fabulous time at this island getaway every year and we can't wait to go back! Thanks Court & Alex for hosting us!!

.Obligatory ferry boat picture

Been there for 10 minutes and we hit the beach - with a cocktail :)

Crabbing was hit & miss but this particular catch was a huge one!

Ragen adores Mackenzie

Kids before they head off digging for sand shrimp. Connor, Ragen, Maggie, Ryan & Madison

Ragen & Mads with Alex. It's cute how Ragen & Alex are special buds!

Maggie logged alot of swing time.

The guys cleared a horseshoe pit and had a tournament. They took it super seriously.

Another successful trip!!

l to r: Maggie,Keri, Jeremy, Ragen, Madison, Amie, random neighbor girl, Courtney, Mackenzie, Alex, Anna, Ryan John, Alex, Gabe, Willie, & Connor

"Doo-ra" birthday party

2009-08-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday was Maggie's 3rd birthday party. Ever since we planned Ragen's birthday party for last May, Maggie has been wanting a "Doo-ra" (Dora) party so we took the theme and ran with it. I had both kids' 1st birthdays at our house and swore I'd never do it again but I had a momentary lapse and figured it wouldn't be that bad so we had the party at home. We also had Dizzy's Tumblebus visit which was a blast for the kiddos. Since Maggie has a summer birthday, not very many kids could come which was actually a blessing because the party was really mellow and controlled. The best part is that Maggie had a wonderful birthday party and clearly enjoyed her special day!

The door sign I made which also had a darling banner with Maggie's name on it hanging across my porch but those pictures didn't turn out :(

The kids are ready to tumble! Madison, Alexandra, Emily Anne, Ragen, Ellie, Maggie, Cameron & Nate

Maggie couldn't seem to go down this slide fast enough. She loved the Tumblebus!

Receiving her medal at the awards ceremony at the end.

Poor Mackenzie was too little for the Tumblebus but she was still quite the party animal

Lunch and the darling Dora cake my mom made

It wouldn't be a 3rd birthday in my house without my kids throwing a fit when the birthday cake comes out. Maggie wouldn't even look up at the cake so Ellie blew her candles out for her.

The Dora bottlecap necklaces I made for the favors. Each had the Dora I created for the invites and the kids' names inside. A fun project once I got the hang of it :)

Goody bags! I found the BEST resource for custom cokkies! The Whimsy Cookie Co. is in Tennessee and definitely worth the shipping charges! Her blog features her orders and it was such fun to see all of her amazing creations. I will definitely be using her for other fun cookies! Laurie was fabulous to work with and her cookies are not only super cute but also super yummy!

The fish was THIS big

2009-08-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

Ragen went on his first real fishing adventure today and had a blast! He caught his first fish last year up at Whidbey but those aren't "real" fish. This was true blue fishing with gear and everything. My dad has been wanting to take him for his first fishing experience since the minute he learned Ragen was a boy. Today, my dad and Jeremy's dad took Ragen out on the boat for a boys only fishing trip. Ragen caught 5 fish but only 3 were big enough to keep for dinner. Ragen asked if I was going to cook them but I am leaving that part of the experience to my dad. He can clean them and cook them!

She's THREE

2009-08-11T15:33:00.000-07:00

Our sweet baby girl turns 3 today! Maggie came via scheduled induction a week early so the day she was born was so much more relaxed than when Ragen arrived. I was so ready to meet our little girl and remember feeling so much more prepared when I held her in my arms for the first time. I recall the first thought I had was how glad I was that Dr. Case had gotten it right way back when (at 11 weeks) when he told us it was a GIRL. You hear those horror stories and since it was only 11 weeks, I was always nervous that I'd get my hopes up for the girl and then we'd actually have a boy. So relieved! Mags was such an easy-going and mellow baby. She just hung out, slept well and was a happy baby. We always thought she'd be a laid back kid and she was...until about 8 months ago. She did everything late - sat up late, crawled late (OK, never), walked late, spoke late...But she sure is making up for lost time now. Maggie is so busy and loves to run everywhere, talk as fast and loud as she can, and does everything her brother does. Literally. It's so hard to get mad at her because she's so funny at what she's doing and looks so cute doing it. I can sense a diva in the making which scares me to death. :)

Maggie girl - I wish you the happiest of birthdays and can't imagine my life without you. You're my best girl and I love how you tell me that even though you're a big girl now, you're always mommy's baby. I can't wait to see what your third year brings as you've grown up so much and developed so far in the past year. I love you all the way to heaven and back (and you always reply with "and heaven is really far - farther than space."). It sure is!

Princess 1st birthday party

Still the princess (in the same crown)

There's a first for everything

2009-08-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

Today I tackled a project that not only have I been putting off for 3 years, but I've actually never done it before...I planted pots! (Or did I pot plants?) In anticipation of Maggie's birthday party here this weekend, I decided that it was time. The pots have sat empty next to our front door since we moved in and since my poor yard is as cleared-out as they come, I thought we could use some color in the pots. I'm pretty proud of myself and think they turned out quite lovely. Thanks to the nice lady at Bellevue Nursery for all the input! Maybe this will inspire me to finally re-plant the yard?

I turned this...

Into this...

Sometimes they need a little push

2009-08-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in a previous post about the raft at the Seattle Tennis Club, Ragen has this morbid curiosity about the water slide. He talks about it all the time and then when it comes time to do it, he freaks out. He's been out there with several friends who have all done it and the peer pressure doesn't sway him one bit (I guess that's a good thing, right?!). This past weekend Jeremy and Ragen made their way through the very choppy water to the raft and Ragen was totally psyched to go down the slide. He came back in from the raft two times with zero completed attempts.

Right before we were going to leave, Ragen decided he wanted to try once more. Jeremy climbed up with him with the intent of doing the first slide together. We were on the beach waiting and waiting and waiting...so I just yelled to Jeremy "Just go!" A split second later, he PUSHED my precious baby boy down the slide alone!! Even after being traumatized, Ragen decided to go down by himself again. I was so proud! When the boys got back to the beach I quickly asked what the heck that push was all about and Jeremy explained that the lifeguard wouldn't let them go tandem. I guess you do what you have to do!

As a side note, Kelley and I took Ragen & Davis out to the raft that same day. I haven't been out there in at least 10 years. We even went off the "10" which is the 10 foot diving board. No way was I attempting the 20!

There's Ragen about to drop into the water!

Davidsons

2009-08-03T22:07:00.000-07:00

The Davidson family is large and chances are that if you know a Davidson, I'm somehow related to him/her. Jeremy is still asking for a family tree to see how everyone fits together. We had a last minute family BBQ at my Uncle Bob & Aunt Fran's house this weekend and even though not everyone could attend, we had a great time. The family is so large that it really is hard to get everyone together. We strive for twice a year - the summer BBQ and the Christmas party. Thank you so much to Bob and Fran to hosting and to Jane for getting the ball rolling on having the party at all!

Beverages to suit everyone...beer, wine, soda, seltzer & breastmilk! (Not pictured are my Uncle Bob's lethal but amazing margaritas)

Ragen LOVES babies so he was in heaven with our two newest Davidsons - Tanner & Chase

Maggie & Tuck remembering the good old days when they were babies and used the play mat

Ragen was really thrown off by the black bottom pool

l to r: Bob, Tim, Sally, Fran, Bobby, Cathy, Tanner/Chase, Sarah, Tucker, Debbie and Maggie (with Alice in the middle of the pool)

Getting as many Davidsons in one shot as possible - such a gorgeous setting

l to r: Keri, Gray, Elisa, Peter, Morgan, Leigh, Barry, Brent, Tyler, Henriette, Justin with Ragen swimming. Thanks Brent for throwing that ring to him for nearly an hour!

Seafair

2009-08-01T22:11:00.000-07:00

For the first time in about 12 years, we went out on Lake Washington for Seafair. I have so many memories of spending the first weekend in August among all the craziness out there. It's hard to believe that in all those years of mixing boats with drinking, that nothing serious has happened to anyone we know. Thank goodness! We decided to head out so the kids could get an up close view of the Blue Angels. Plus, it's rare to have a gorgeous sunny day for Seafair so we wanted to take advantage while we could.

It was super choppy heading out and Maggie cried for much of the way. We got to the north side of Mercer Island and realized we'd missed our opportunity to head under I-90 to get near the pits for the Hydro races. So we turned around and headed all the way around MI from the south. This time we sat in the back where Maggie actually fell asleep on my lap as we were cruising through all the crazy waves.

We watched a great show by the Blue Angels and are still amazed every year by the talent and bravery of the pilots. When you grow up around Seafair you really can't help but smile at the sight and most importantly, the deafening roar of the Blue Angels.

Taking the idea of rocking to sleep to a whole new level!

Daddy takes the kids for a swim break (AKA pee break)

I only took my little point-and-shoot camera on the boat but still some fun shots of the Blue Angels

I like this one because it shows the sunny day, the chaos of all the boats, and the Blue Angel jet flying right at the tree line

Mack's 1st boat ride

2009-08-01T22:03:00.001-07:00

The day after the hottest day in Seattle's history (The record now stands at 103 although my car registered 108 in Bellevue), we desperately needed to cool off. We decided to head out on the boat to escape to the lake. The Tuckers came with us and it turned out to be Mackenzie's first boat ride. We had a great time swimming and then headed down to Coulon for dinner at Ivar's. We were so busy worrying about whether it would be too bumpy of a ride for a 3 month old, that we forgot to get her a life jacket and wouldn't you know it - we moored the boat right next to 3 bike cops. After narrowly avoiding a ticket with a fib or two, the rest of the evening went smoothly. It was a fun way to spend some quality time with Courtney, Alex, Madison & Mack before Court heads back to work on Monday.

Lake Chelan

2009-08-01T21:02:00.000-07:00

At the last minute, two girlfriends and I decided to escape life here in Bellevue and take the kids over to Lake Chelan. We loaded up 3 cars (and I mean LOADED) and caravan'd over to Chelan for 4 days and had the BEST time! It was just as hot over there as it was here but at least there was air conditioning and the kids beat the heat by staying in the pool for 6+ hours everyday.

Ragen was the only boy so he was dubbed "man of the house" and there was only one or two occasions where we had to tone the 5 girls down to be sure that the boy was included :) All the kids got along great (for being together 24/7) and the moms definitely enjoyed our girl time.

We stayed at at fabulous spot called The Lakehouse which is across the street from Don Morse Park so we had easy access to the lake, putt putt golf, go-carts and more. However, our kids loved the pool and splash zone so much, that we just stayed around the resort. It was so hard to get our water rats out of the pool, that we just brought all our dinner stuff down everynight and cooked dinner at the outdoor kitchen at the pool.

This will for sure be an annual moms & kids trip however we learned a few things for next year...make sure the navigation systems in the car are up-to-date and even though we tried to combine grocery list and not overlap, we still packed WAY too much food so we'll need to fine-tune that process. Liz & Vanessa - another fabulous trip and I look forward to our next!

The view outside our condo

The 6 Musketeers - Maggie, Ragen Josie, Reese, Ellie & Ella

The little girls enjoying the splash zone at the condo. Here they were making milkshakes of all different flavors

We rented a boat one day and headed out on the lake. Josie, Reese & Ragen inner-tubing.

Captain Vanessa & her first mate Ella

We had smores by the pool everynight and I cracked up when Ragen's caught fire and he exclaimed that this was his favorite was to eat smores. It's always been my favorite way too because I'm too impatient to wait (the camping group can confirm!)

We were lucky to escape with all 12 eyebrows in tact

On our last night after the kiddos were tucked in, we settled out on the deck with some skinnys to watch an amazing lightning storm. We actually watched a lightning strike hit the mountainside and watched this fire start. It was incredible!!

Mini-Hawks

2009-07-24T14:19:00.000-07:00

Ragen and his buddy Jake just finished up the Skyhawks Mini-Hawks camp. They spent the week learning skills in baseball, basketball and soccer. Of the three, he says his favorite is baseball followed by tennis and golf. I guess we should keep up the tennis lessons and maybe try the golf camp next year!

Berry pickin'

2009-07-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

Poor Maggie suffers from 2nd child syndrome. She isn't signed up for nearly as many activities as Ragen was at her age, she doesn't have many playdates, she was late to the game for swimming lessons, etc. Yesterday she had her very own playdate with her friend Alexandra from preschool. She was so excited to meet up with her friend at South 47 Farm in Kirkland for their FarmTots program as well as some raspberry picking. Thankfully it's an organic farm because she ate just as many raspberries off the bush as she put into her basket!

Searching for the ripe ones

Maggie with Alexandra and their bounty

She got to pick out any type of lettuce and help harvest it

Another milestone

2009-07-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

Ragen reached a summertime milestone today...he went out to the raft at the Tennis Club for the first time! For years he's been asking to go to the "playground" in the lake (he calls it that because of the slide, diving boards, and blow up floaties) and the lifeguards keep telling him that he can go when he can swim out there by himself. This week he kept jumping off the diving board in the pool and swimming the 25 yards to the shallow end with no problem so I figured he could give it a try. So, with daddy there for support, they headed out. He was so proud of himself! He climbed up the ladder to the slide 3 times but came down via the stairs everytime. Apparently it seemed a little steep once he was up there. Maybe next time!

That's him at right center...the little head bobbing above water

He made it! (that's him on the right with Jeremy)

Troopers

2009-07-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

These 2 kids are such troopers! Last night we had to be at Jeremy's cousin's wedding in Olympia...at 5pm...on a Friday night. With rush hour being so bad around here we left 2.25 hours early thinking that would be plenty of time to make the 60 mile journey to Olympia. WRONG! It took us nearly 3.5 hours to get there door to door. We missed the entire ceremony! We felt terrible. Although, we were so proud of our kids who only asked "are we there yet" about 10 times. We had to make one pit stop on the side of the freeway (it would have taken us an additional 30 minutes if we'd gotten off the freeway and then had to sit in the traffic on the on-ramp again). In case you're wondering, the pit stop was for Maggie, not Jeremy :)

Ragen & Maggie with Nana & Bumpa

Dancing together

Summer fun

2009-07-18T15:32:00.000-07:00

We are loving this hot Seattle weather. Around 9pm, it's not so lovely but the rest of the day is so great! Yesterday we spent a few hours at the Reiff's house on Lake Sammamish. By the way, every time I have to write "Sammamish" I think of my longtime friend Kim Fricke who was a cheerleader at Sammamish High School - "S-A-MM-A-MISH - let's go!" Strange, I know. Anyways, Dee's daughter Grace wasn't even home but she let Liz and I invade with our kiddos and it was such fun!

Their next door neighbor has one of those trampolines in the water and before you knew it, Ragen was jumping off the dock and swimming over to it. It's crazy how he's getting so adventuresome and trying new things. I'm so proud of him but I also have a hard time not envisioning him as a little boy anymore. Maggie wanted to swim to it too but I stuck close to her on the air mattress. She's just like me - if any milfoil gets within 2 feet of her, she's shrieking like crazy!

Thanks for hosting us, Dee. Everyone had a great time and I'm sorry if it wasn't exactly relaxing for you!

A little perspective - this is the view from Dee's dock with no zoom

So proud to have made it!

Swimming back in for a break

Ragen & Josie

Maggie wanted a turn too

Bye bye baby crib

2009-07-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

This rite of passage has been a tough one for me. Maggie is out of her baby crib and into a big girl bed. Well, big girl mattress. I haven't found the furniture I want yet but she's sleeping on the mattresses in her room.

As the new owners of the nursery furniture loaded up their car, Maggie ran over to hug her crib saying "Bye by baby crib. I love you." It melted my heart. I painstakingly shopped for months for this nursery set. We brought Ragen home to it. Both kids slept in it. It went with us to 3 houses. Lots of history with that furniture.

I'm very excited to do Maggie's "big girl room" and I love seeing how proud she is of herself to be a big girl. It's just hard to see that wonderful chapter come to an end.

A funny Ragen moment in the crib - 11 months

Maggie's 1st day home in her crib

Last night in the crib

Crazy sleeper

4th of July

2009-07-14T15:16:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly enough, I did not wake up to "Happy Birthday America" this year. I think this might be the first time in the 12 years Jeremy and I have been together.

We started out the day with the neighborhood bike decorating & parade. The kids had lots of help from Mark & Melissa to decorate their bike and scooter. Luckily this year the fire engine wasn't called away so we were able to do the parade behind the engine which Ragen thought was fantastic.

Ready to start!

Uh, daddy? Could I get a helmet that fits me? I can't see!
Ragen stayed at the front of the parade next to the fire truck

Elijah, Maggie, Ragen & Tiana
Sweet Maggie Girl

After a power nap for Mags, we headed over to the Seattle Tennis Club for our annual 4th of July festivities. This year was so much fun because with the kids being just a year older, they handled things much better and we all could enjoy ourselves a little bit more. The Stryer family is always there which is fun and this year Mark and crew were with us too.

First we played on the beach

Then we went to the lawn for some bouncy houses, snow-cones & pony rides

Maggie's first year actually enjoying the pony ride

Bumpa & Mags
They wised up this year and put a bar out on the lawn :)

Ragen & Davis with their matching airbrushed tattoos

Then up to the other lawn for dinner - the entire crew except my dad
Maggie & Riley killing time in the gym waiting for the 10pm fireworks

Waiting for our fireworks show to start

Davis & Maggie thought it was too loud

Touring Lake Washington

2009-07-14T15:07:00.000-07:00

We took Mark, Melissa, Tiana & Elijah along with my parents out on the boat on a gorgeous summer day to tour around Lake Washington. This was a great way to show them some of the Seattle sights from a unique perspective. We cruised across the lake and went through the Montlake Cut, making sure to point out Husky Stadium (Elijah is a USC fan - boo!) and also the spot on the Montlake bridge where Jeremy was crazy enough to jump off in college. Then we had lunch at Ivar's on Lake Union and also got to see some of the Duck boats launching. On our way back to Bellevue, we went by Bill Gates' house and tried to stress the magntitude of it all. We also stopped in Meydenbauer Bay to swim. This is the spot where Mark and I used to hang out with our friends during summers. I was shocked that both Maggie and Ragen were totally comfortable jumping off the boat and swimming around in the open water. We all jumped in except for Mimi & Bumpa. It was so cold but once you got used to it, it was great.

Mark, Keri, Debbie & Barry

Elijah, Ragen, Mark, Melissa & Tiana

Captain Tiana
Maggie kept jumping in and swimming to whoever was closest
Ragen, Elijah & Tiana

Uncle Mark's big news

2009-07-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

It's been a whirlwind few weeks around our house. Summers just seem to get really busy and on top of that, my brother Mark visited for a week in early July. The most exciting part of the visit was set in motion a few days before when Mark proposed to his girlfriend Melissa. We are thrilled for them and are happy to welcome her into our family. As an added bonus, she has 2 kids - Tiana and Elijah who are nearly 13 and 10 respectively. These 2 were absolutely wonderful with my kids and are incredibly well mannered and polite. We are excited to grow the extended family!

Once Mark and crew arrived, there was lots of Seattle sightseeing to do as the kids hadn't been here before.

Elijah, Uncle Mark, Melissa, Tiana at Pike Place Market

Top of the Space Needle - Elijah, my mom, Mark & Tiana

My kids are always asking when they'll have cousins so now they will!

All week, we'd find one of the kids being super sweet to one of my kids - here's Elijah reading Maggie a book about princesses no less

Maggie really wanted Tiana to paint her nails

Nana & Bumpa had us all over for dinner so the boys were playing Wii

Maiden Voyage

2009-06-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-26T19:32:00.001-07:00

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

2009-06-23T21:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-22T14:52:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-17T12:50:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-06-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-14T14:45:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-06-11T20:00:00.001-07:00

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

2009-06-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-08T16:13:00.000-07:00

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!