First day

I know I haven't posted anything in exactly one month, but I seriously couldn't think of anything to post.  I've been so wrapped up in waiting to find out the sex of our baby (not till next week).  So here's Riley's first day of her last year of preschool.  I can't believe she's been in preschool for 3 long years! She seems very ready for kindergarten.  A lot of her friends are already there so it leaves her with just one other girl in her class this year.  One day last week she had a meltdown because her friend was out sick.  When I picked her up later that afternoon she was back to normal and said "I guess I have to play with those boys now."  

Ella wanted a picture too

I put Ella's hair in a ponytail for the first time, she looked so much older!

Parents in Seattle

This week my parents came to visit and we had sunny beautiful weather all week for a change.  We went to Tillicum Village on Blake Island, lots of yummy salmon and amazing views of the city and mountains.  The next day we were of to Chateau St. Michelle, a local winery just east of Seattle.  The girls entertained themselves by collecting acorns while we sat on the lawn enjoying the day.  We also went to the Point Defiance Zoo and saw the cute baby tiger cubs.  Saturday we took the Sounders train from Tacoma to Seattle and saw a Mariners game.   Luckily they have a playground in the stadium, but near the end the girls got into the chanting of "I chi RO!!"  Unfortunately they lost.  I think everyone had a great time, it's always hard to say goodbye until next time.

Our little starfish

Camel ride with Nana

Parasailing over the needle

Sounders train

Tillicum village

Winery

Coming soon...

Yes, this is going to be our new addition to our family in February!  I'm 11 weeks now and everything looks good so far.  We just told Riley and I'm not sure she gets it or not.  She keeps asking if the Dr. is going to cut my stomach open (I HOPE NOT!)  She's pretty excited though and I think will ask me every day until February when the baby will get here.  We're definitely finding out if it's a boy or a girl, so stay tuned!

The many sides of sweet Ella

Lately Ella has been, how do I say it, complicated.  Just over the past couple months she has turned from my "sweet, could do no wrong baby" to "over 18 months".  She can be laughing one minute and screaming the next.  Just to prove it I documented her mood swings this past week.  We were on a foot ferry from Port Orchard to Bremerton and these pictures were taken within 2 minutes of each other.

Rockport, MA

So I booked a last minute trip to go see my sister out in Rockport, MA.  She insisted on me bringing the girls so we took off on a 5 hour plane ride, ugh, the not so fun part.  My niece, Lydia was turning 1 and Erin had a very beautiful elaborate party all planned out.  The theme was ladybugs and she used every detail to transform her backyard into a ladybug garden, and a huge bounce house for the kids.  My parents and Megan were also there so it was nice to spend time with everyone.  Riley saw her first fireworks show on the coast of Gloucester and loved every minute.   She even stopped covering her ears after the first 5 minutes.  The rest of the week we went on their boat and went swimming in the ocean.  This was Ella's first time at the beach and she loved running in and out and making sandcastles with Riley.  It was beautiful and very hot weather (90s) so we got lots of sun, I even got a little tan.  Now we're back and I'm already thinking of where we could go next ;)

Daddy's girls

Dear Jarom,

    If the girls could express their emotions with lots of words this is what they'd say.  We have the silliest dad who always makes us laugh, tickles us, dances, teaches us chants to every sporting event, tells stories with dolls, reads stories in funny voices, gives us hugs and kisses, and loves us with all his heart.  

 Happy Father's Day! 

You are an amazing dad to these two lucky girls.  I love you.

Disneyland!

After a week at Disneyland the girls are trying to get back to normal from the excitement.  We met up with Jarom's brother and their 7 kids and his parents.  Riley loved every minute of it and Ella couldn't get enough of meeting the princesses.  We walked through the Princess and Fairy walk and they got pictures with Tinkerbell, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Jasmine.  Ella was waving hi to them and then when it was time to take the picture she backed up right next to them and said "Cheese."  Then she proceeded to scream when it was time to go.   Riley wanted to ride all the rides except for Snow White's Scary Adventure, Ella was tough and went on everything ;)  I think the best part for me was seeing their faces when we rode It's a Small World.  It was just priceless, Ella was dancing to the music and pointing out everything and Riley just had a big smile.  So despite the tantrums, stress, and sleeplessness it was worth every minute to see that.   (Oh yeah, we also saw Jamie Lee Curtis (my sister in-law talked with her) and we saw the Bachelor, Jake who was with Vienna.  We almost got on the same boat with them on the Jungle Cruise ride!)

For all the pictures from our trip click here: Kodakgallery album