Toot...toot...

Keaton has a lot of trains and train stuff so one of the words he says is "toot toot".  He still doesn't say a lot but says "mam", "dada", "NO", "dock" which I think is a combo of dog and duck, "what's that" and a whole bunch of other stuff that we have yet to figure out! 

So we (I) thought it would be fun to take him on a train ride.  I saw on a local parenting site that they do train rides in Snoqualmie to Snoqualmie Falls so that sounded like something fun to do on Memorial Day weekend.  And it did sound a lot more fun than it actually was.  Keaton doesn't do good with activities that require him to stay in one place or stay still for very long.  So a 75 minute ride on a very, very old, very very slow, very very bumpy train was lots of work and not a lot of fun!  I figured he could run up and down the isles but didn't know the train would be in such bad shape and literally have holes in the floor where the cars connected.  It was not child proof and certainly not Keaton proof.  I also don't think Keaton realized it was a train since it was much larger than the trains he has at home or sees in his books.  This activity would have been better in a few years when he's a bit older.  He did get a little flag which was probably the highlight of the adventure...always the little things in life that get kids the most excited!

Speaking of little things in life bringing the most happiness...here he is taking a dip in a lake....and learning to sweep......simple and very enjoyable to a 15 month old!

Zoo Fun & Crystal Turns One

This is my third blog entry of the morning....Keaton is still a great sleeper at 14 months.  He is still a 2 times a day napper and each nap is usually 1 1/2 to 2 hours long.  And he has got in the habit of playing in his crib when he wakes up instead of crying so it gives me even a little extra time.  But when he's up, he's up!  The kid does everything at full speed and there is no taking your eyes off him.

I certainly couldn't take my eyes off him for even a minute at the zoo or he would have been in playing with the tigers or going off with some other family for the day. 

Crystal got to celebrate her 1st birthday at the zoo, pretty fun place to do it!  Crystal and Keaton were still too little to really enjoy the animals but Emerald was definitely into them.  Emerald even got to see how they can make paper out of Elephant poop....pretty interesting stuff!

They had lots of extra activities the day were were there like bouncy houses, music and trampolines.  The trampolines and music were Keaton's favorite part.  He even found a pretty cute dancing partner...his cousin!

Birthday cupcakes!

And Keaton's up from his nap.....got to go!!!

Mother's Day 2012

Mother's Day 2012 was a beautiful, warm, sunny day in Seattle!  We took full advantage of the great weather and headed up to Bowman Bay which is near Deception Pass which is near Whidbey Island.

It is a place my dad and I went with my mom on Mother's Day, right before my mom found out she had ovarian cancer.  My mom was never one to complain but on the car ride home from that trip she was very uncomfortable.  About a month later she found out she had cancer.

It was really great to go up there with the whole family (even the dogs got to come) and spend the day together and remember our mom.  It was pretty chaotic and not a relaxing Mother's Day for Becky and I but oh well.  It seems like everything with kids is chaotic!  My dad started the tradition of coming here on Mother's Day and I hope we continue it. 

We had tons of fun at the beach.  Keaton and Emerald tested out the warm waters of Puget Sound...but only Manny was tough enough to go all the way in and we had quite a hard time getting him out of the water!  We managed to keep all the kids from falling off the cliffs so I would say the Mother's Day adventure was a success!

School Day

When Becky and kids were in town we went up to Goldbar Elementary School, which is where my mom was a teacher at for many years.  After she retired my dad and her volunteered at the school.  My dad still goes up there and volunteers every week.  We got to go with my dad last week, which was really fun but caused quite a disruption in Mrs. Miller's class!

My dad reads to the kids but as you can see he had a hard time keeping their attention during this visit.  It was very interesting how the boys were most interested in Keaton and the girls in Emerald and Crystal.  The kids were making cards for their mothers for Mother's Day so Emerald and Keaton got to make their mom a card. I don't have any hand prints of Keaton so I'm going to keep this card forever...and forever for me probably means a few months :)  Just kidding, this will go in the baby book!



Here is a picture of all 3 kids on the bench that they made in memory of my mom which is right outside the school office.

On the way home I was sitting in the back of the car and could see both Crystal and Keaton and wondered who would fall asleep first.  Keaton did by a few seconds....all that learning at school must have tired them out!



Ercolini Park

We just discovered a new park in West Seattle that has lots of things for smaller kids to do.  Ercolini Park has become our new favorite.....and it's fun to say...Ercolini...Ercolini...

Keaton loves these cars that he can ride around it.  He really loved the police car...actually he liked any car that another kid was in.  This park has tons of cars, tricycles, etc. that I think people have left there.  It's a great way to try to a bunch of different ones.

Keaton has gone back and forth (literally) on his liking of swings.  When he was really little he loved them, then he went through a phase where he got scared, now he's back to liking them (although in this picture he doesn't look very happy).

He is so into swings that he now throws a tantrum when I take him out (one of many, many things that he now thrown tantrums over).  I hope the terrible two's aren't starting early. Keaton storming off because he can't swing more...

What I envisioned to be a relaxing picnic in the park was actually me chasing him around the entire time...but that's pretty normal now a days!  Good thing for lots of parks in West Seattle. 

Playing at Park=Nap Time!

Celebrating Emerald's 4th Birthday!

Lately it has felt like Becky, Jason, Emerald, Crystal and Yager (dog) live closer than they really do.  We have been able to celebrate lots of big events with them.  We got to spend the holiday season with them in December.  Got to celebrate Keaton's 1st birthday with them in February.  Got to celebrate Emerald's 4th birthday with them and will be celebrating Crystal's 1st birthday in a week! 

Here are some pictures from Emerald's birthday party this past week at Grandpa's.  Emerald and Crystal got to have their Grandma at the party too (Jason's mom)!

Good picture of all 3 cousins:



 Emerald must have been very good this year because she got to have another party today at St. Edwards Park.  Her and Claire were inseparable and we barely saw either of them! In the middle picture, Emerald is the pilot of the airplane, Keaton is their passenger and Claire is looking out for rocks and telling everyone when they need to duck from the rocks...Keaton was the only one ducking but that's because I think he was playing hide-and-seek with them (but they didn't know it).  Luckily their plane didn't crash since the pilot was easily distracted.

Keaton having lots of fun climbing.  We are constantly comparing him to the energizer bunny that keeps going and going and going....... He didn't even take an afternoon nap which was amazing!

Well, they are heading to Portland for a few days to visit their Grandparents there but I'm sure more fun awaits us when they get back.  We're hoping for a sunny day so we can go to the zoo!

Going to a Wedding...Gonna Get Married...Again!!!!

Last weekend TJ and I got married again! Not many people can say they have done that.  There is a bit of a story behind it:
When we decided to have Keaton baptized we needed to get permission from a local church to have it done on the East Coast.  When we met with the priest at Holy Rosary, Father John, we agreed that in addition to having Keaton baptized I would also get confirmed and we would have our marriage recognized by the Catholic Church.

Here are a few pics from the baptism at St. Charles in Woburn, Ma. last June.  TJ attended catholic school here and was even an alter boy!

Neither TJ nor I have been very active practicing catholics as adults.  But now that we have a child it is important to us that he is exposed to religion and knows what it is all about.  I have also found a lot of comfort in attending mass this past year.  So going through confirmation felt like the right thing to do.  The confirmation ceremony was this past Monday.  I was very impressed by the homily that Fr. Mulholland gave during the ceremony (he is the Vicar for Clergy for Archbishop Sartain here in the Archdiocese of Seattle).  He talked about his time at WSU and his 1.9 GPA from all the partying he was doing.  He talked about how he went through confirmation and it didn't mean much to him until years later...and how we shouldn't wait that long to become fully committed and connected to the church.  He was very "real" and personable sharing his experiences.  The Catholic church has a reputation of being very outdated and it was nice to hear something so down-to-earth from such a respected authority.  I have enjoyed going to Holy Rosary and getting to know Fr. John, the priest there.  He has a good sense of humor and seems to connect well with people of all ages.

So now comes the wedding!  We considered being married in the church initially but since I was not confirmed we weren't able to.  A week ago I found out Holy Rosary wanted our marriage official before doing confirmation so we organized a very small wedding ceremony in a week. I wore my dress again and was very impressed that it fit 3 years later. Here are some pics from the first wedding...and the second wedding.....

It was a very different experience the second time around and I think we both listened more closely to the vows and realized what a big commitment marriage is really is. TJ also joked that he will have better odds of making it to our 25th anniversary, 50th, etc. since we now have 2 anniversaries to celebrate each year!  We also had to sign something saying part of that commitment is procreation and raising children....so hopefully God will be on our side as we try to fulfill that marriage obligation :) Of course the Catholic church had to sneak that in!  As you can see we do have our hands quite full with one but I know we could handle another!

A few more pics from the "big" day the second time around!  And it was another sunny day!  Good thing we found 2 witnesses to vouch for us!