Our Winter (Jan-Feb)

Seth was home from crabbing for a few days and Kya helped him get some more gear ready.

 

 

Ryker has been hitting the classmate birthday party circuit pretty hard this year and loving every minute of it.

He was pretty excited about this door prize he won at Usa's party.

Children's museum with Colton

Halibut tacos!

Supergirl and Underwear Boy

Our indoor grown tulips in February

 

Learning to scan on his field trip to Safeway

 

Going away dinner with the Chomjak's.  Sad they are gone, but happy they are on an exciting adventure.

Arcadia and Kya

 

A lot of hard work went into this years Valentine's.

 

Everett Children's Museum

We had no idea there was anything other than a lunchroom in the basement.  Ryker was so mad we've never been down there once he saw the construction room.  They also want to start bringing their lunch so we can stay all day now.  Uh, no way.  You guys being hungry is the only way I can get you to leave after a few hours.  There's a reason we get there right when it opens and have our lunchbox in the car for the ride home!

Get ready......

Get set....

 

Knock it down!

Ready. Let me now when to go again, Ryker.

911, what's your emergency?

Kya jumped into this slide, before I knew where she was.  Ryker thought she was crazy and it took a little convincing for him to go.

 

I think she might like this place.

Edison Bird Festival

Kya loves kiwi (koo-ey as she calls it).  Seth was home for a couple days and she was asking him for some kooey.  I was in the other room and didn't help him out with the translation.  It was too funny listening to him try to guess from her clues.  You know, "those little, round brown things that Mom got at Costco."  She kept saying kooey and was getting frustrated that he didn't know what she was talking about.

Backward pants day.  Yep, he came downstairs like this and yes, I let him go to school like this.  I told Miss Holly that he had his pants on backwards when I dropped him off because I didn't want the teachers to think that I just don't notice these things.  He's worn some strange things and I always let him dress himself, but this was a bit of an extreme fashion statement.  I asked him to turn them around and told him that someone would tease him, but like the mouse tail day, no one did.  They all thought it was funny.  I was worried he would be encouraged to do it again, but it has been 3 months and he hasn't so hopefully he's on to his next stunt.

Dad had another 2 day break from crabbing and made it home minutes before bingo night!

The next day, we headed to Mount Baker for some sledding with Colton.  That's Colton's leg sticking out beneath Ryker.  He fell down just as I took the picture.

Seth brought home a little treat for us!

We had a rainy stretch this winter, but luckily we got a few big deliveries housed in even bigger cardboard to help with the cabin fever.

 

Indoor slide

 

Indoor play pen

The Countdown Is On!

June 21st!

Kya saw a preview on TV today and has asked me about 10 times if we can go today.  Tomorrow?  The next day?  The day after that? 

She doesn't quite have a sense of a few weeks yet.

 

She wants to be Mike for Halloween and I thought I had her costume all figured out until I saw him in that Letterman's jacket....oh man, would that make the costume!

Pilots are Sexy.....

Tactical, schmactical......Seth passed his flight test today!  He's now a card carrying member of the Recreational Pilots Club.  Okay, so there's no card and he didn't join any clubs, (in fact, I made up the club name) but he has a license now!

 

One more achievement to add to his resume.  Wait, he's never had to actually write a resume......must be nice.

Well, if he ever did, it would be chalked full of awesomeness!

You're turning into your mother..........

I've never thought that would be a bad thing, but I never really considered it until having children either.  Of course, I say all the same things my Mom used to say to me.  For instance, today alone......"if you have time to kick it around, you have time bend over and pick it up, are you trying to warm up the fridge or cool down the house?"  That's just a no brainer.  Those comments just flow out of you.  Maybe it's because you've heard it so many times or maybe it's because it all makes sense now when you watch your kid kick a blueberry 4 times across your floor, accidentally step on it, then walk away, leaving a spot every couple feet because there is so much blueberry juice on the bottom of his sock.  I even find myself repeating the ones that I don't understand.  The other day I was taking the recycling out and Kya asked where I was going.  I told her "to see a man about a horse" and kept going.  What the heck?  I've never been sure what that means and was always pretty confused.  I think that was the point though....it was none of my business.  Kya is at the age where she keeps real close tabs on everyone, meaning you can't change positions in your chair without 15 questions about what you are doing and even though she's only 2, I think she could have figured out from the recycling in my hands where I was headed.  Like me, the first couple times I heard it, Kya was expecting me to walk back in that door with a horse.  Of course, I didn't and she was left with a whole lot of questions and no answers.  I digress, this post it about mother's so I won't go into anymore famous father quotes. 

 

The simple fact is, it happens to everyone as you grow up and are responsible for raising your own children.  A little bit of your parents come out in you no matter if you want it to or not.  I have no problem with my Mom shining through in my every day life and in fact often follow my parent's examples when raising my own kids.  I think I turned out quite well and I can only hope that I do my kids the same justice. 

 

It's kind of shocking to actually look at old pictures of yourself and see your children.  It is even more shocking to look at old pictures of your Mom and see yourself!  Yep, it happens to me all the time now and I couldn't be more proud.

 

We have pictures of Kya that look exactly like this.  I was going to post them side by side, but I didn't mark the files the first time I went through them.  I have thousands of photos and am too lazy to find them again for this post.  I must point out the sweet matching shirts that the guys are wearing also. 

This one too...exactly like Kya right around her second birthday. I bet we were even close to the same height and weight.

 

This one is Kya at about a year and a half....chubby little face!  She would have that same grin if she were sitting on her dad too!

 

 

I can't leave Ryker out.  I was shocked at this one.  He looks like this right now.  That is even his "cheese" smile.  It does help that my hair is cut like his.....haha.

Here's where I would have loved to have done a side by side, but I would have to go back in time before I had a digital camera and actually scan a photo of me.  My Mom is probably 25 here.  Take my word for it, it was like looking in the mirror for me when I saw this picture.  There are many more and we have pretty much the same hairstyle in most of them too!   

 

There is only one thing better than having the Mom I have....knowing that my kids get to have her for a Grandma!

Happy Mother's Day!  We love you and can't wait to see you next weekend!

 

We will be spending our Mother's day at the Mariner's game with Ryker's Tball team.   They get to parade out onto the field in their uniforms before the game.  They have navy shirts and caps with gold writing and light gray baseball pants just in case they show a little pre-game parade on TV.  He is number 11 and Seth, Kya, and I will be with him.  That part probably won't be televised, but just in case.....be ready!  The kids also get Mariner's hats and I will be recieving a Mariners bracelet in honor of Mother's Day (haha, can't wait, watch for that in the white elephant gifts that come out of our household next Christmas).  Ryker is really stoked about me getting something!  He's so sweet.  He also has had something hidden in his room for me since Thursday that he made at school.  He's getting really good at keeping secrets.

 

If there are Grandma's in Heaven...........

Last summer when I was in Montana for a month, we unearthed some real treasures including the following poem that I wrote my freshman year at the University of Mary for English class.  We were discussing some of Ty's English work that we had found from high school and Kara brought this out. I had totally forgotten about it, but she had it in her room.  We had a little 2am poetry reading in Mom's garage after the bar closed. There were some tears shed.  I won't say by who, but let's just say that I must be a very touching poet.  Seriously, I'm not trying to show off my sweet poetry skills, but this poem makes me smile and there's no better time to post it than Mother's day.  When I read it, so many more great memories come to mind and I wonder why I didn't include them, but it was supposed to be a one page poem and words like suburban and kohlrabi are hard to rhyme.

If There Are Grandma's in Heaven

If there are Grandma's in heaven,
mines making the rounds.
She's out running wild,
painting the town. 
She never does rest.
She's always on the go.
Living for today,
like there's no tomorrow.

If there are vacations in heaven,
Grandma's out in Seattle.
fishing with Grandpa,
taking a break from their cattle.
They'll take a ride on the ferry,
and later, cook up some salmon,
gather a few sea shells,
and sleep nights in the cabin.

If there are sports in heaven,
Grandma's at a game.
Yelling advice to the players,
and calling refs dirty names.
On a home run, she goes wild,
and she lives for the three's.
She still goes crazy on a every kill.
She's so easy to please.

If there is bingo in heaven,
Grandma's there with her blotters.
Taking her winnings,
and spoiling her grand daughters.
She'll hit the bowling alley next,
and pick up a few strikes.
Stop for lunch at Perkins, Applebee's,
or the Hole in the Wall if she likes.

If there is family in heaven,
Grandma's seeing hers at Lopez Island.
Catching up on old times,
finding out how they have been.
If there's time to go shopping,
she'll pick up a velvet suit.
Soon she'll have one of each color.
Oh what a hoot!

If there are Grandma's in heaven,
mine's one of the best.
I know they love her up there,
but down here, she is missed.
I know everyone has to go,
and it must have been her time,
but to rob this earth of my Grandma,
seems like such a crime.

Until we meet again Grandma,
I send all the love I can show.
I'll remember the lessons you've taught me,
and make you proud as I grow.
You've touched my heart and my soul,
more than you'll ever know.

  

I still do not have her green thumb and am a little low on craft supplies (Seth will not believe this, because we have a ton, but those who saw my Grandma's "craft room" can back me up) but I'm pretty sure I could match her fish filleting skills now!  And as for those velvet suits, well they are back in style if you want a word scrawled across your rear end, but I should have made them into a quilt.  I made lot of quilts with my Grandma, but the one that I kept is pretty tattered now, and her velvet suit collection would have made the best quilt yet! 

Yeeee Haw Cowgirl! 

Such fun Grandparents.  Never missed a parade or most any activity actually.

 

Splish Splash

Ryker and Kya continue to take swimming lessons twice a week.   Ryker can swim the length of the pool (probably about 50 ft) and back by himself.  The instructor walks beside him and probably puts her hand under him once in a while, but they both say that he's doing it on his own.  Kya is putting her whole head under water now.  She still won't jump off the edge from standing without a life jacket on, but she will jump in from a seated position and go all the way under.  She swims like a fish with a noodle under her arms, but still has a long way to go before she's swimming without any floatation.  I love that there lessons include lots of safety aspects.  They learn how to get in and out of a small boat and what to do if the boat capsizes.  The learn how to use lots of different floatation devices different ways in case you can't get your life jacket on properly because you're already in the water.  Makes me want to show them how to make their jeans into a floatation device.  I think they'd find that pretty cool, but I'll let the instructors go over that in a few years when they're ready!

Here kitty, kitty...........

You may remember, at the end of 2012, I posted about getting a cat from my friend.  We've still never seen it.  I'm sure it is living on a big farm somewhere and is really happy. 

 

Searching under the deck.....

 

Nope, no cat

So now here we were, with a lot of cat gear and no cat.  We decided to go check the Humaine Society to see if there was an outdoor cat that might fit what we were looking for.  Out of about 100 cats, they both agreed on one!  I still don't know how that happened.  I told them we had to wait and see which ones fit our criteria first.  When the lady showed us which cats would be good for us, the cat they had chosen was in the mix.  After a couple weeks, we were picking up Blackberry!

 Blackberry had to be fixed so we had to keep her inside for a bit until she healed up.   We kept her in the office most of the time, but every once in a while we would let her walk around the house a bit to get used to us.  She would cruise for a while and then hide from us.

One day we had to leave her out because we couldn't get her to come off the fireplace and we had to leave for school.  This is what I hate about cats.  A dog would have come running when you called it!

She was still in the same spot when we got home, watching Cosmos out the window.  I had put a board across to the catwalk because I was worried she might not be able to jump back.  She finally came out and we were able to wrangle her back to the office without her sharpening her claws on any furniture.

She loved all the little places to hang out in the house, but she soon moved outside.  Now she lives under the deck and we never see her.  If it wasn't for her eating her food, a couple glimpses of her running when we drive in at night, and one brush with Cosmos which sent her up a tree, we wouldn't even know we had a cat.  The kids are a little disappointed and go under the deck looking for her every once in a while, but as far as the kind of cat I was looking for.....she's perfect!  She barely eats any food which leads me to believe that she is out hunting mice.