Fort Richardson

Love Camping?  Then Fort Richardson is the place to be this summer.  All campers sleep in a cozy 4 person tent complete with an air mattress, Internet access, and free ipad usage.  This place has the best roasted hotdogs and offers delicious smores as dessert.  There is also a huge play set for entertainment as well as many different game opportunities such as softball, baseball, and croquet.  In the background you will hear the trickle of water flowing out of the water feature and the distant cheers from fans cheering on the Ballard Bomber baseball team.  This place receives 4 stars for it's hospitality, comfort, and entertainment.

Starting the campfire for hotdogs and smores...if you look closely you can see Jackson trying to steal the hotdogs off the table.  Sneaky guy!

Miss Violet chillin' on her play mat in the grass.  She loves, loves, loves being outdoors.  The poor thing crashed before 7:30 tonight.  I'm sure when she's older she'll think camping in the tent is great!

Isaiah eating his pear and hotdog.  Dinner was pretty simple tonight.  This kid ate three hotdogs!   The roasted flavor must have been a hit!

Ava holding the hotdogs...this girl was ready to eat.  She ate two. 

Yum Yum!

Fort Richardson...this tent is great.  Andy and I registered for it when we got married and it sleeps four people very comfortably.

These two were the only ones left!  Isaiah fell asleep on a deck chair and Andy carried him to his bed.  Jackson is crashed out on the family room floor by me and Violet was a sleep hours ago!  These two looked so cozy...Ava insisted on watching a Netflix movie.  It's a good thing that Fort Richardson has Internet access outside!

 

Here are a few other pictures...Violet playing...she was having fun spinning the three chickens.  It's fun to see how interested she is with everything!

There go those chickens again...she was fascinated by them!

Sound asleep outside in her swing.  As I said earlier...this kid loves everything about being outside.  I'm very thankful the weather has been so nice lately.  I'm not sure what we're going to do when the temperature becomes hot again.  The breeze was perfect for a nice little morning nap.

Big sister Ava swinging next to her!

Isaiah enjoying a taco ice cream treat.  Andy found these at Sam's Club and he loves them.  Picture a chocolate coated waffle cone shaped like a taco shell with vanilla ice cream on the inside.  Summer time means pajamas all day sometimes...we change into new ones of course...but why not!

 

 

My Three Happy's:

1) My wonderful, amazing, and awesome husband painted the dining room for me.  If  you remember it was a deep red color.  It was pretty but made the room so dark...it was time to brighten things up and this light gray color was the perfect shade to add that extra light and help the dark furniture and wood floors stand out.  The first color I chose was too light and it looked white on the walls.  I went back to Lowes the next day to darken the other paint can to the next shade of gray...and it turned out great.  It almost has a light blue tint to it.  I love it.  Andy also painted the baseboard trim white and for now we're going to leave the wood trim around the doors...we both kind of like it that way. 

 



The room seems much bigger and so fresh!  It's amazing what a can of paint can do to a room!

 

2) The wonderful weather!  We woke up to a 60 degree morning and the temperature was in the low 80's with a slight breeze all day.  It was perfect!

3) I love the fresh basil and cilantro growing in a planter on our deck.  Isaiah likes to snap off pieces of the cilantro and eat it plain.  Summer time means fresh ingredients that add great flavor to recipes!

 

My Favorite:

Andy and I have been watching a neat HGTV show called "Love It or List It."  Each episode features a family that is tired of their home because it's too small or not updated.  They give so much money to have parts of the house remodeled while a realtor finds new houses in the area that they could move into.  In the end they chose to "Love" the house they are in because of the remodeled work or "List It"...put it on the market and move.  Every episode I've watched shows the families loving their house.  The updates and changes are fun to see and really makse us think about how we can make our house more functional.

Balloon People

One of the best things about being a first grade teacher is having access to TONS of cool activities that you can bring home and do with your own kids.  There are so many teacher blogs out there...and that combined with Pinterest provides so many fun things you can do with your class and children.  The best part is that most of them are educational in some way and not only provide a craftivity but also a reading, writing, or math component.  Meet our "Balloon People"...a craft from one of the best bloggers in the world...Abby Mullins.

  

You use a balloon and her unit comes with printable facial features and feet templates.  You can also design your own.  Isaiah was adding hair to his guy.

Here's Ava's balloon girl.  They had a blast making them!

Two proud kids with their new creations.  We also printed off a mini book where the kids started to fill in things about their balloon person...likes/dislikes.  Ava does a great job spelling lots of sight words and uses inventive spelling for ones she doesn't know...although we do hear "Mom, Dad...how do you spell____."  Isaiah has been doing an amazing job with letter sounds.  When he writes words we tell him the sounds and then he as to think of the letter to write.  This little smarty has really surprised us lately.  He's been sounding out three letter words all by himself and has been writing them correctly!  So proud!

A little rest and relaxation with books.  If I remember correctly they were playing school and this was quiet time.

Isaiah was doing picture reading!  I told him that's what beginning readers do...they look at the pictures and tell the story in their own words.

This kid has been a reading champ lately!

Miss Violet having her "quiet time."  She's an amazing sleeper now at night.  I think we had a little colic going on for a while and that is now over.  She gets very upset if she's not in bed by 8 and gets grouchy when she's tired.  We do need to work on naps.  This kid prefers her swing and her swing only...I'm lucky if I can get a few catnaps in her crib.  We'll get there!  Just like Miss Ava when she was little! 

 

How can our littlest baby be 3 months next week?  Unreal how fast time goes.  She is more precious and lovable than we could have ever imagined. 

As promised weeks ago...here are some new pics of the furniture we got for the family room.  I've NEVER picked out a rug before but really like how the lighter color contrasts with the dark furniture.  It was time for a bigger couch with five in our family now!

The coffee table...Pottery Barn inspired...but cheaper!  It already looks distressed on top so I few more dents throughout the years will fit right in.

Here's the sofa table that sits behind the couch.  We have this by the kids art station and we use it to house some of the games...by some I mean a few of their favorites...the rest are still taking up the shelves by the fireplace.  I don't think anyone can ever have too much storage.

 

 

My Three Happy's:

1)  Seeing the cornstalks growing in the garden.  I love seeing all the other stuff too...but there's something fun about growing corn.  As they say "Knee high before the 4th of July"...I think we're on track.

2) Ava is now officially old enough to fit into Abercrombie Kids.  I was so excited that we went a little nuts with the purchases the other day.  A girl has gotta have lots of clothes...right?

3)My smiley Vee Vee...she has her grumpy moments...don't get me wrong...but this girl's smile is beyond adorable.  I love when she spots Ava and Isaiah.  She immediately smiles and starts to talk to them.  They carry on little conversations with her and it's so fun to watch.

 

My Favorite:

I love thunderstorms...not the scary ones with 70 mile per hour winds...but the nice quiet ones that rumble in the evenings or early mornings.  Call me crazy...but I think they're so cozy!

Someone's Growin' Up

Today marks the day that Miss Violet turned 2 months.  I swear the more children you have the faster the time goes...and that scares me.  In 2 months time it's amazing to see the changes in Violet...her likes, her dislikes, her expressions, her sleeping patterns, her personality...she's becoming a little girl already.  Since the day we found out we were pregnant with her I prayed that God would lead her in a path where she would be happy, healthy, grow to know what being kind and caring means, and to make good choices in life.  I also pray every night that God helps me protect my children and keep them safe.  Our babies are our miracles...all of them...Ava, Isaiah, and Violet are the best gift that could be given to Andy and I.  Yeah...parenthood has it's crazy moments when you think you're loosing your mind, but the moments that take your breath away and the moments when you couldn't imagine life without your kids outweigh those "chaotic times." 

 

As I look at Violet today I'm reminded of that day two months ago when I held her in my arms for the first time..the day that our BIG little girl entered our lives and became a part of our family.  She is so loved by everyone and her little smile makes my heart skip a beat. 

 

Below you'll see some pictures that I've taken of Violet each week/month since she was born.  It's so fun to look back at her physical changes and to see how much she's grown up!  Ava started calling her "Vee Vee" a few weeks ago and it's stuck.  So if you read that name, know that I'm referring to her.  I'm sure she'll just LOVE that nickname as she gets older.  Here's our Violet...

 



The day I was born!

1 week

2 weeks

 

3 weeks

4 weeks

 

1 month old

 

5 weeks

6 weeks

7 weeks

 

8 weeks

 

Miss Violet today...2 months!

 

Our little Vee Vee

 

She will grow to learn so much from her big brother.  Isaiah is so loving, caring, and gentle to her!

 

A big sister will teach you all about being a girl...how to do hair, nails, make-up, and what clothes look fashionable together.  Ava adores her little sister!

 

Things about her personality and what she loves:

 

In the past two weeks we've really seen a change in Violet's personality.  She's always been happy and content in the morning, but late afternoon into the evening is when she would turn grumpy.  Now she's much more happy, is entertained easily, and only gets fussy when she's ready for a catnap.  She smiles all the time.  Seeing our faces, hearing our funny voices, and seeing Elmo makes her smile.  We haven't talked about Elmo for a long time since Ava and Isaiah are so old...but he's becoming a popular little creature again at our house.  Her favorite books are Where's is Baby's Belly Button? and Elmo Loves Hugs.  She loves songs...pretty much anything...and loves to do the actions to "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed"...but instead we do Five Little Violets.  She really likes swinging in my lap on the swings...she's almost ready for her baby swing outside...maybe in a few weeks.  Her favorite toy is her Disney train with Dumbo, Lucky the Dalmatian, Squirt, and Simba.  She loves sitting on the floor with me in my lap and watching the train go back and forth.  I help her push the button with her hand...of course she's too young to understand that she's making the noise...but she loves the songs and watching me manipulate the toys.  Violet loves stroller rides when she's upright in her stroller so she can see things.  She's not a big fan of car rides unless the car is moving.  Violet loves fashion already...the inspiration comes from her big sister and brother who like to pick out her clothes.  She wears lots of cute outfits complete with bows that actually stay in her hair because she has so much of it.  The weather has been a bit on the chilly/rainy side so all those fun summer clothes haven't been used much yet. 

 

It's funny how this little girl has created her own little schedule...which I'm sure will be interrupted numerous times this summer when we do things outside of the house.  By 9:30 or 10 she's usually ready for bed; although it's been getting a little earlier lately.  After she's had her last bottle we rock her a bit and lay her down awake and she's a champ at putting herself to sleep.  She wakes up once...for the past few nights it's been 4:05 on the nose...eats and then goes right back to sleep until 8 or a little after.  I'm able to keep her up for about an hour and a half before she's ready to go back for a nap.  For morning naps she's not a big fan of her crib...but loves her swing...just like Ava did.  She'll nap for another 3 to 4 hours and then take random catnaps the rest of the day.  Of course she isn't eating foods yet...but drinks anywhere from 20-24 ounces a day.  Violet says "goo" and "gaa" when she talks and has this adorable little squeak when she tries to laugh. 

 

That about wraps up all the info about our little Vee Vee.  It's been so nice to be home the past two months with her and the kids and now to have the whole summer off.  One of these days when the weather actually feels like summer again we'll have to get to the pool and see what she thinks of gliding through the water with us.  I can't wait for all the fun things that we will do together as a family.

 

Happy 2 months Miss Violet!  We love you to pieces!

 

 

 ...and here are a few random ones!

 

 

Isaiah showing off his artistic ability.  This is the crab he drew all by himself.  He was so proud!

 

A little super hero fun...we got our new Family Fun magazine and they had a download template you could print to make these masks.  This morning we traced and cut them out, decorated them, and then used my laminating machine to make them a little more sturdy.  They played "Incredibles" for a while.

 

My Three Happy's:

1) The kids wanted to roast Smores last night so I went up to the store to gather the marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers. I don't know what I'd do without Larry's...our little local grocery store that's literally blocks away.  We spent the entire day outside yesterday and it was the perfect way to wind down the evening. 

Andy and Isaiah roasting the marshmallows...Jackson snagged a few too!

 

Making Smores...they were awesome!

 

Diggin' in!

 

Violet can't quite enjoy the yummy taste of Smores so we just hung out and watched.

 

2) Ava and Isaiah have been going to bed around 9 or 9:30 each night...we're just having too  much fun to go to sleep.  We're either outside until the last minute or having a cozy movie night.  The best part is that everyone, including Violet, is sleeping in until 7:30 or 8.  Compared to the 5:45 or 6:00am time that we were all getting up during school...I'll take the later time please!

3)The kids were so excited to bring home all of their "End of the Year" stuff.  They have both worked on their packets of skills already and really love to learn.  Ava was very proud of the certificate she got.  Each child in the class received a different award and she was presented with the "Rockin' Reader" certificate for being a hard working and super-duper reader!  We're so proud!

 

My Favorite:

**Peony flowers...we have these growing in our backyard.  I LOVE how pretty they look and how amazing they smell...and they make the perfect centerpiece for a table in the summer!