Blessings

The day after the 85th birthday party was Moose's Blessing.  The blessing was at the church, and afterwards we went back home for a potluck.  (I'd planned to have it at the park so that I wouldn't have to worry about the condition of my house [it's already a sight, plus we'd had houseguests all week], but the weather didn't cooperate with us).  It went fine, though.  Plenty of good food, and fun cousins for my kids to run around with. 

The whole gang at the church just after the blessing.

It's always a blessing to be with family.  This time it was more J-side and less N-side (which is the opposite of what it normally is, since the N-side lives here and the J-side doesn't).  We love both sides, and I really do feel blessed that we have gotten to spend time with both sides of the family this summer.

HH with his boy.

The cake. 

Not really necessary, but I didn't sew a gown like for the girls...I had to do SOMETHING....

The cake said, "Welcome to the World, Moose" around the side

Dapper in his homemade pants and bowtie
(both from a $1 thrifted mens suit jacket)

Chick with G'ma J

with G'pa J

First time pig tails (or devil horns...whichever fits)

il giardino

I went outside to take a picture of this:

and ended up taking pictures of these:

Grandma C is 85 already!

Here are some pictures from Grandma C's birthday bash.

Chickadee with her Great-Grandma C

a whole lotta commotion

Cousin L taking a picture.  And isn't Aunt Janet's piano the coolest piano you've ever seen?!  I seriously love it.

The four cute little girlies playing with Aunt Jeanne.  Marbleworks: a seriously cool toy that I totally want to get now.

Is it too early to call

Mensa?

Ok, maybe.  I guess MENSA is an exaggeration, but I am pretty impressed with my little Chickadee, and now I'm going to brag about her.

The thing about Chick is you just don't know what is in that head of hers-- and you can't ask her because she doesn't "quiz" well.  So sometimes we get surprises.  Like when she counted to ten, or when she recited the pledge of allegiance.

Or like the other day.  I had just parallel parked, and was right in front of an intersection.
"We're on Wall Street" pipes up Chick from the back seat.
I look to the intersection, and sure enough, we were on Wall Street.
"Did you read that on the sign?!"
"No."
"Then how did you know that we are on Wall Street?"
silence.
"Did you sound it out from the sign?"
silence.  Then, "Three dollars Wall Street."
That's when I knew for sure that she was reading it, because the sign said "3000 Wall Street."

So evidently she's doing better at learning to read than I though : )

(These bottom three pictures are from a park playdate this week)

My National Women's Self Appreciation Day List

Ok, so I just read Katy's blog over at No Big Dill, and thought it would be great to make a little list too. 
(a little list because I'm short on time).  Being sick (yup, still) and the hot weather are bringing out an excess of self-criticisms, so here's a reminder to me (and you, of course) :

I like my hair color.
I like my resourcefulness (I once referred to myself as a "Macgyver" in a job interview.  I wasn't hired.  whatever.)
I like that I'm one of the most laid back members of my family that I was born into, and I like that I'm the uptight one in the family that I created by getting married (did that make sense?).  For some reason the opposites make me feel well rounded.

I like my creativity.

I like that I'm a little bit quirky without being totally crazy.

I like that I like baths. (It's my list, peanut gallery)

I'm out of time.  What about you?

This picture has nothing to do with this post, but I love that I'm a mom. 
And I love how they look slightly conspiratorial.

the cure for a grumpy day

I've had a terrible cold this weekend, and still don't feel well. 
HH is working on a side project & will not get home until late every day this week, it seems.
It's too hot.
Monkey pooed on the kitchen floor.
Chick didn't nap, even though she's staying up late & waking early.
I bought a new blouse, and when I took pictures of myself in it I realized that I look like a water buffalo.
My house is a complete mess and I lack motivation to clean it. (it's too hot to clean)

So I took pictures of baby Moose, since he's nothing but sweetness on a bad day.  (btw, he can roll over from back to tummy, and he can maneuver off of his blanket when he's on his tummy.)

slice of life: tough love from his big sis.

a little spit-up makes him all the more sweet, eh?

Fun with Cousins

Here is Monkey with her cousin and Aunt Jeanne.  You can't tell from the picture, but the two little girls played well together.

Jeanne & family came on Tuesday morning.  That weekend brought a lot more family to town for Great-Grandma C's 85th birthday.  I'll post about the birthday later.  But on Friday night we had a game night at our house.  We made homemade pizzas (LOTS of pizza, which provided food for Saturday's breakfast AND lunch!).  The adults played "In a Pickle" and "Cashflow" upstairs.

The cousins ate outside (some not pictured), and then the older ones watched VeggieTales downstairs. 

(Do you like our downstairs carpet & decor?  We haven't gotten started on remodelling down there)

We compared babies.  Moose is 6 weeks younger than his cousin, and is probably lighter, but it doesn't really look like it...and honestly it doesn't really feel like it, either.  Baby O is darling, isn't he?

Anyhow, it was a fun night.  It made me wish that we all lived closer....

Nautica

A week or so ago we had HH's sister, Jeanne, and her family stay with us.  With an extra 4 young people, it was certainly more exciting around here!  Chick LOVED having cousins here to stay with us.  Monkey did too, once she warmed up to the idea : )  You can see pictures on Jeanne's blog for their adventures (one day they took my girls to Greenlake).

One day we were going to have a Ferryboat & beach adventure together...but they drove on the ferry, and we walked on the ferry.  Anyhow, with the extra time to get the stroller out and kids in, etc...we walked onto the ferry that came AFTER the ferry that they drove onto.  But we all had a lovely day just the same.  And for $4.50 or so, it was quite an inexpensive and fun outing! 

We just went to Clinton Park (or beach?) that's right next to the ferry terminal, since we were on foot.  It was fun, though.  We ate a picnic lunch, and played.

Got dirty.

I was there, too.

When we'd gotten back to the Mukilteo side, Monkey was asleep, and Moose was ready to eat.  Chick helped push the stroller, and then made a new friend at the playground while I fed the baby.

So although it was unfortunate to not get to play with cousins, it did open my eyes to the fact that I CAN go out and do fun things with three kids by myself.  I don't HAVE to be such a homebody!!

Stay tuned for more fun with cousins....

little people

We got all of the toddlers from my side of the family gathered for a picture at my neice's wedding.  

(The boys are my great-nephews, the girl in hot pink is my niece, and Monkey, of course).

And he shall be called

MOOSE!

Strong, tall, reasonably friendly & sedate in general (I think), and LARGE.

At Moose's 2 month checkup he weighed in at 14#3oz, and was 25" long ...bigger than his sisters were at 4 months (well, essentially the same length as Monkey, but otherwise bigger).  Heavier than Monkey was at 6 months!

I have several things to catch up on & tell you about, so hopefully over the weekend I'll be able to get a post or two up.  Life has been happy and busy!

By the way: Something I learned about Moose (the animal, not the child)-- they weigh up to 1500 pounds, and need 9500 calories each day. But they are herbivores, eating a lot of water plants (which provide their sodium). Can you imagine how much plant stuff they have to eat before they reach 9500 calories?!! I'd be eating all day to get to that amount, and I'm not even vegetarian!

They are also polygamous, which I don't necessarily recommend for my Moose (though I bet polygamy wives are happy for the extra childcare & help with housework....).