Boss Turns 3.

As time goes rushing by this year (business, homeschool, etc.), I've discovered that I'm seriously lacking in the documenting department. This is saying a lot for me, considering I'm a die hard scrapbooker (well, I collect the supplies, but haven't had any time to do anything with them). When I glanced through my phone pictures, I racked my brain trying to remember what we did for Boss' 3rd birthday. Sad! I used to always put these things directly on my blog so at least I could refer back to them.

So far this last year, we haven't really done parties for the kids, opting instead to do a special outing/trip or day of some sort. Jude, Colin and Samuel went to LEGOLAND for Jude's 7th birthday (didn't get that on the blog yet, but those boys thought it was pretty darn cool), and Abe did a trip to the art studio with his siblings. We also invited immediate family over to celebrate with strawberry shortcake and presents.

And at age 3, Abe currently is called "Boss" (I have a feeling this name will stick for many years). He loves wearing his clothes backwards and shoes on the wrong feet (yes, it's deliberate - we've asked him). He likes the movie "Frozen". He's left handed and has been for some time. He's smart as all get-out and has a vocab that astonishes me constantly. He regularly argues with me like an adult. He likes pink and purple. He doesn't know what to do without his "kids" (siblings) around - and thankfully, that doesn't happen often. He prefers to sleep in his sister's room and is scared to sleep alone. His eyes are huge and astonishingly blue and melt my heart on a regular basis. He is also my biggest snuggler. By far. He has nicknames for everyone that change regularly, sometimes multiple times in one morning. My nickname went from "Mommy" to "Mimi" to "Meem" to "Gimi" to "Theemie", and on and on. I think he will have a healthy sense of humor when he gets older. Heck, he has a healthy sense of humor now. He scares easily (like when Colin hangs him upside down by his ankles). He can buckle himself in his car seat (thank goodness), until his attitude shifts and he cries that he wants me to do it. He definitely is attached to me fiercly. And I wonder if that's because we lost some serious bonding time when I had cancer. That, I will never know and can't dwell too long on.

Here he is opening his gifts. Water guns, play doh sets (he LOVES play doh), and other fun toys.

He doesn't love everyone signing him "Happy Birthday". Can you tell?

 Art studio! All the kids enjoyed this (except maybe Samuel, who ended up painting  picture of Jesus).

This is a basket of pre-birthday food for Boss. He wanted spaghetti for his birthday meal and I made strawberry shortcake upon Colin's recommendation. My kids don't get sweets too terribly often, so any dessert I made would have made him happy. And who doesn't love Talenti gelato?

 Sissy was perhaps the happiest person in this art studio. She wants to be an artist when she grows up.

 Jude enjoyed building robots with Colin. This place had lots of recycled object to choose from.

 Look how bored Colin was!! He survived, though.

My 35th Birthday and a Seattle Adventure.

For my 35th birthday, Colin decided he wanted to take me to Seattle. It truly was the perfect present for me, because honestly I would love to experience cities right now more than I would like stuff (that's not to say I don't like a good Amazon gift card or Peete's coffee now and again). He couldn't hide his shock when I said I wanted to bring the kiddos. I really wanted them to experience a big city and live this trip through their eyes - they are always such a fresh perspective! We purchased Amtrak tickets (always a dream of mine to take the train up) and reserved a nice hotel (another love of mine - nice hotels) and we were off. I have to admit that bringing a three year old was a bit of a challenge with no naps and late bedtimes. But the memories were totally worth it. We swam in the hotel pool (we stayed at the Sheridan) which was really high up on its own floor and had an amazing view of the city. This swimming experience was Juliet's favorite part of the trip. We both helped the kids better their swimming skills, which was really good quality family time. We had the pool to ourselves most of the time.

This city definitely (at least where we stayed - right on Pike Street) had a very business feel, so we got some looks being a family of 6 wandering around downtown midweek. We walked to Whole Foods the first night and brought back pizza and sandwiches for dinner.  The next day we walked Pike Market and along the waterfront all day. We also walked to Safeco stadium - which was Samuel's dream come true. We were barely able to walk to the train by 4:00 that evening we were so exhausted. For food we had crumpets for breakfast (kids had Nutella crumpets, Colin and I had egg and cheese and ham crumpets). Lunch was fish and chips for them and more crumpets for me. Lots of coffee stops (I even walked by the world's first Starbucks). We grabbed Subway on the way out for the train ride home.

We visited the gum wall and all the kids contributed. Gross.

A testament to Boss' exhaustion - he literally slept on Colin's shoulders.

We snuck into a little creepy ghost town of a shopping center (if you can even call it that) and paid a fare for the kiddos to ride the carousel. Boss needed help, so I rode with him. Thankfully, he wanted off after about 20 seconds, because I was on the verge of vomit from the motion. Yuk. I don't know how kids do that.

This was everyone leaving the hotel for the last time.  We all miss that 4 star kind of life :)

We popped into a Starbucks (as you can imagine, there were many) to rest and charge my phone. We checked out of the hotel early, so we were literally backpacking around the city on the last day. Colin and the two older boys held our entire trip possessions on their backs.

Jude was pretty excited about the train ride.

Photo bomb - and yet another testament to how tired Jude was.

This was the backside of Pike Place.

We popped into a chocolate shop - Seattle does it up right with food.

Samuel contributed to the gum wall.

Sissy on the carousel.

Our train ride up was an experience in and of itself. 3 1/2 hours. Lots of iPad, snacking, coloring, talking, reading.

And watching the scenery rush by.

We made so many memories as a family. I can't wait for our next adventure!

Samuel's 7th Birthday

Samuel's birthday is on New Year's Eve and I think this one was his favorite yet. I asked him what he wanted to eat, start to finish, for the whole day. He requested pancakes for breakfast (and no, not the spelt blueberry ones, the white trashy ones :)), Vietnamese restaurant for lunch and homemade pizzas that we "decorate" ourselves for dinner. He didn't even want fun Sunshine pizza for an outing. So, he got all his food wishes granted. He also wanted to go bowling and ask a few friends to come along. Luckily these friends obliged even though it was completely last minute. Here are some pictures, totally out of order (sorry - I can blame my lack of organization on chemo brain, right??).

Juliet eating at the Vietnamese restaurant:And excited about it! My children LOVE the vegetarian rice noodle soup bowls - weird children, they are.
Samuel even attempted chopsticks.
This is what Abe did most of the time. Easy peasy!
And firs thing that morning, Colin bestowed Samuel with a bb gun. He was extremely excited! He also received a vat of Legos and some other specialty sets as well.
Such a cute picture of Wes, Samuel, Steve and Jude at the bowling alley.
Jude loves sugar more than life itself so he was pretty excited about this chocolate cake!
Here is the whole crew partaking in the birthday cake.
Samuel and I - do you mamas ever notice how little you are actually in family photos?
Yes, Jude chooses his own clothes.
Here's the whole crew! Ruby, Steve, Sissy, Wes, Samuel, Steve, Jude, Eli and Wyatt.

Eli bowling.

Ruby enjoying her cake.
Samuel enjoying thoroughly one of his presents.
Sissy is SUPER excited about bowling!

And she picked out her own very pink ball with Grandpa's help.
Samuel's about to blow out his candles.
Sissy really enjoyed helping me make frosting that morning - and of course she had to test it to make sure it wasn't poison.
John sweetly took Sissy to wash her hands.
Action photo.
And Tiffany was the baby whisperer for me. Bless her heart.