We Made It!

After weeks of anticipation, nervousness, hesitation, and excitement we finally made the 1,500 mile journey to the Seattle, Washington area on August 7th. Luckily, we only had a three hour flight to get there ;-)

All our possessions and valuables would meet us in Washington in a week or two. We had a good flight - the kids were well behaved and Owen even slept for an hour! We looked absolutely ridiculous trying to get our 7 luggage bags, pack and play, stroller and children out to the rental car area to get our car. I had to resort to bribing with candy and treats to keep the kids from running wild. They were done with airports and airplanes. We were packed to the brim in our rental car and were off to see our new house (in Issaquah) before making the drive our temporary house for the week in Bothell.

This was the first time the kids had seen our new home, and they loved running around an empty home exploring, being loud, and checking out their new rooms.

Our temporary house was a typical 3 bedroom town house that worked well for us. The one downside - no A/C. Come to find out most Washington homes DO NOT have A/C!!! This was a HUGE adjustment for us. It was very warm to sleep at nights, even with a box fan. I had to open the kids doors, to help get cool air circulated into their rooms. Me and the kids were able to go on walks, explore the forest in our back yard, play at parks, and relax while Dan was hard at work.

Our things arrived at our home on Friday, Aug. 12th and we were excited to get into our new home and get settled. Drew kept asking when we were going to go back home to AZ. Like we were on a bad vacation and he wanted to go home ;-) It was a busy, hectic day unpacking the truck and making sure everything was accounted for. Poor Owen had to take a nap in the bathroom because each room was filled with boxes and noisy movers! Allie and Drew were troopers that day - they spent it exploring outside or watching a movie! We couldn't have asked for better weather when we arrived. It has been sunny and beautiful in the 70's and 80's.

(Mount Rainier)

Boxes, Boxes, Everywhere...

We spent the week up in Bothell until our furniture and things were delivered. To help the days go by, we played at a few nearby parks. The kids had a blast climbing this huge rock wall. I was so proud that they climbed up ALL by themselves, and down (mostly ) by themselves. You truly can’t appreciate how high it is, and to climb up you were slightly inverted. Owen found him a "nice graffiti wall” to hang out by while Allie and Drew were monkeys.

Boxes, Boxes, everywhere... (sung to a Blues Clues tune by Steve). We had over 300 boxes to now unload and unpack. We immediately started on the daunting task. We tried to get the kids rooms set up as quickly as we could so they could feel some sense of stability and familiarity. Their room was livable enough by Friday night - and all kids slept well in their own beds! Drew laid on his bed with his big blue polka dot blanket and just said "awwwwww - nice and cozy". He missed his bed! Him and Allie had to share a full size bed at the temporary house. It was very warm inside, and the beds were pretty hard with plastic pillows - needless to say, none of us got very good sleep that first week :0

Our sweet friends, Chase and Ali came over Friday night and helped unpack boxes and brought us some delicious brownies. (I think that was my dinner that night too!) They helped unpack the kitchen boxes and pantry. Chase enlisted Allie and Drew to help him put cans on the pantry shelves. They talked about that for about a week or so later - recalling how fun it was to unpack the pantry with Chase! And Allie would remind me often, on how good the pantry looks - cause they did a GREAT job!
Our neighborhood had a BBQ at the park the very next night, on Saturday. We were welcomed and introduced to many new people. There are some kids in the neighborhood that are close to Allie and Drew's ages. The kids were ecstatic to be outside at a park and not profusely sweating!

Silly Girl

This is Allie's latest thing - whenever I pull the camera out to take pictures, she becomes silly. She won't let me take a normal picture of her anymore. She's been my hardest child to photograph her entire life - she'd turn her head, or not look at the camera with her eyes, or walk away, and now silly! I guess payback will be in her wedding video someday...

She's going to hate this post when she's older...

So, I was scrolling through my camera the other day and let out a belly laugh. Allie took some pictures of herself with my camera and these are a few of them. She really is an adorable little girl, but she looks like she has 5 chins in these pictures! For the next few weeks, everything I needed a good laugh - I'd look at these silly pics. She's a ham!

Future Composer?

Allie has discovered a love for drawing & writing on paper. Her latest is writing songs... This is one I found on the counter one morning. She is so talented and works so hard when she puts her mind to it!
I guess no one wanted to sit on the couch by me ;-)

Halloween Houses

I knew we'd have lots of down time at home after Owen was born, so I tried to come up with some fun projects the kids could do. I envisioned baking gingerbread house pieces to decorate Halloween, but since I had a 2 week old fussy baby, the gingerbread turned into graham crackers frosted over milk cartons. Luckily, they didn't care one bit, and had a blast decorating their houses with all sorts of candies and treats.


Owen didn't cooperate too well and was fussy so I had to hold/rock him the entire time they were doing the project. The kids were on their own & had to do most of it themselves. As you can see, they didn't mind a bit! Drew was adorable trying to frost his house all by himself. He had a couple extra layers of graham crackers on one side - I stopped him after he layered 4 graham crackers with frosting... He thought it was fun! I think they both ate as much as they put on their houses...

I am humbled all the time by my wonderful children. For the chance to be their mother and to raise them. They bring me such joy in my life. At times I am glad they are getting bigger and older and are amazed at the things they can do all by themselves. But at the same time, I want them to stay little forever!! We have so much fun laughing and playing and being silly. I truly enjoy being with my children.

To stache or no stache - That is the question...

Okay... So, we have a little dilemma in our house. I am NOT a fan of facial hair. I don't like how rough and prickly it is. I prefer Dan clean shaven. But Allie begs and begs her dad to not shave. "Please daddy, just leave your mustache - I love it!" Is she serious? She truly loves his "stache". One time she even cried when he shaved it after letting it grow after a long weekend. Dan sometimes shaves it to a Hitler mustache - she likes that too!!! Where did I go wrong?!?