Relaxing in Denver

I have been feeling a little stressed out lately with school and all the different sports and activities starting up so I was really looking forward to a relaxing weekend in Denver with my sister and her family. As soon as Brian dropped me off at the airport I could feel the tension and stress just slipping away. No cleaning, cooking, running kids around and listening to whiny kids for 4 days. I didn't even mind having to make an extra stop on the way to and from Denver. More time to read and people watch in the airport.

Here I am with my niece Tyler and nephew Max. Tyler would say the cutest things and is such a cute and smart little 3 year old . I just love Max's chubby cheeks and big blue eyes.

Here I am with my sister Jocelyn. We went shopping, out to eat, to movies, played games and just had a great time talking and catching up. I wished we lived closer so we could hang out more! Thanks Joci, Brett, Tyler and Max for the great weekend. It was relaxing and so much fun- I miss you already!

Down She Goes!

I finally got Sienna to climb down the stairs today. Usually she just sits at the top and whines for someone to come and get her. She has been climbing up them for awhile but I guess the coming down part freaked her out. She got so excited when Mom started clapping and getting all excited. You have to wonder what they really think about us crazy Moms.



I always like to watch my kids when they are sleeping. After a long day it's so fun to go look at them and see their sweet faces. They look so peaceful and innocent and you wonder how they can even drive you crazy during the day.

Here Sienna is sleeping. She was facing the wall so I couldn't get a shot of her face.
Just starting to wake up after she was rudely awakened by the flash of mom's camera.
There's my smiley girl. She always greets me with a huge smile when I go to get her in the morning or after her nap.
She has the cutest pose of lifting her shoulders and then tilting her head over to one side and giving you a huge smile.

Back to school

It is that time of year again-back to school. The kids were all so excited to start school, especially Colin who will be starting his first year of preschool. Here are some picutres of the kids on their first day back to school.


Brian bought these Seahawk jersey's for the boys and they love them. Austin's favorite thing about the first day was playing kickball at recess where he managed to trip and rip a hole in his new jeans. Oh well!
Rylie's favorite thing about school was meeting her new teacher and playing jump rope during recess. She is going through this phase where she doesn't want me to put anything in her hair and it is driving me crazy. I like to pull her hair back and put barrets and elastics in , but I guess you just have to let go of some things.

Colin's favorite part of preschool was -that's right-recess. He got to blow bubbles and jump on the trampoline. There are 9 boys in his class and 1 girl. That poor teacher!

Bigfoot tournament

Austin had a soccer tournament up in Snohomish a few weeks ago and we decided to make it a mini vacation for the kids and stayed in a hotel. It also saved on 3 hours of driving 4 days in a row. This is a really big tournament with teams coming from all over the state. The name of their team is Synergy and their colors are blue, white and orange. The atmosphere at the tournament was really fun . There were vendors, concessions and lots of people camping.
The boys did really well. They made it to the semi-finals and then lost. We are looking forward to the start of their season-go Synergy!

The coaches are giving a pep talk before their first game. They have 1 head coach and 2 assistant coaches.

The boys taking a little break and messing around. It is a lot of fun to see the boys start to bond with each other. They come from about 5 different schools so they did not all know each other before.

A couple of families on the team camped out so after one of the games we all got together and had a BBQ.

Sienna had a great time at the BBQ




Rylie and Colin were great at the games. They did a great job of finding stuff to do.
Colin can't wait until he can play soccer.

Here is the game where it was raining. Austin is #18. You can see the huge water puddles in the field.

Here is the coach telling the boys to not give up at half-time during the game they lost.


All white uniforms-just what a mom wants!

Little Streaker

Here is another funny story from the adventures of Colin.

One day I was putting Colin's 4th outfit on him because he either kept getting it wet in the pool (which he was not supposed to be in) or having an accident because he doesn't want to stop and go to the bathroom. So I told him this was the last outfit for the day and if he got it wet he would have to wear it the rest of the day. Well , not much later in comes Colin again saying that he got his shorts wet in the pool. I told him he would have to wear them. He went upstairs and I thought he was playing . About 15 minutes later I get a knock on my door. Jill (my neighbor) is standing there with a naked Colin. He had gone upstairs taken off his wet clothes and then gone next door to ask if he could borrow David's clothes because his mom would not let him have any. We were both busting up laughing at the picutre of this naked boy knocking on her door asking to borrow clothes because his mom wouldn't let him have any. It was pretty funny and definately made my day. One more reason why my life is never boring and I love my Colinator!

Let's Play Ball!

Rylie played baseball this summer and had a great time. I was a little surprised when she said that she wanted to play since last summer there was only one other girl on her team. This year though there were four girls and one of them was her good friend.

All ready to play some ball. Rylie loved putting on her uniform before the games.

Rylie would get bored out in the out field waiting for the ball and with so much sand around it was too much of a temptation not to play!

For her age group they use a pitching machine which is not always very accurate. Rylie had a hard time at first but never gave up and soon was hitting the ball every time. She even hit a double header (is that what you call it when you make it to 2nd base?).
Coming in to home plate. The kids always have a huge smile when they make it home .

So proud of her new trophy. Way to go Rylie for having a great baseball season!

Fun In the Sun!

It has been really hard this summer to keep up on blogging. I feel like each day is a blur with all the kids being home. I am behind in everything ...laundry, cleaning, meals. Any sort of a schedule I used to have is out the window right now. Oh well-isn't that what summer is all about?



Unfortunately we have had a pretty gray and chilly summer this year . When we do have those beautiful sunny Seattle days we like to take advantage of them. Going to the beach is one of our favorite outings because it is fun for all ages and it is free! Here are some pictures of our trips to the beach as well as the Auburn water park and our little pool in our HUGE backyard.



The kids have more fun playing in the sand then they actually do in the water. The water is pretty chilly.
My friend Camille and I have been asked if these two are twins. Emma is 1 year older than Sienna but with their cute curly red hair they do look a lot a like. What cuties!
Colin and his friend Hunter-I can't get a picture of them without one of them putting a hand on their face. Silly boys!




It's amazing how this $30 Walmart pool has kept my kids entertained this summer!

I love geting muddy!

Yes, I still like to eat sand.