fashionista

I love this picture.

Everyday Kyla has room time (quiet time playing in her room while Heidi naps).

And everyday she comes out wearing something different than when she went in.

Today she came out in this ensemble:
her favorite flower headband
a size 2t leotard
ariel feux crocks
a ponytail holder with a flower on it as a bracelet
one fancy blue tutu skirt (that I got on super clearance for her to wear at the rehearsal dinner for the tiffany blue wedding she is in on saturday)

The skirt was hanging high up in her closet.

How did she get it? She must have wanted it really bad. I don't know how.

I wasn't thrilled.

I didn't want to have to wash it before Thursday.

It got pee on it.

How?

It's hard to get off that tight two sizes too small leotard when you are hurrying to use the potty.

Great.

I love this picture.

Great Expectations

All summer I've been waiting to go to St. Edwards State Park. It was on my to do list at the beginning of the summer and it just didn't seem to ever work out. Last time we tried to go on a Saturday our truck broke down on the side of the Maple Valley Hwy and we ended up at Ben Franklin Craft Store with Ya Ya (which was actually a good thing).

The weather tried to hold us back again today. We decided to go for it anyways...we got a late start.

When we got there the play structures looked like castles and you know who LOVED it!

I guess the park used to be an old Catholic Monastery (see it there behind Heidi) and you know who also loved that there was a huge "castle" at the park.

After staying at the playground for a bit (which I must say lived up to my expectations) we decided to go for a "hike". This park has several short trails that are supposed to be great for kids. We decided to take the .3 mile trail to the Water Tower.

Be sure to check out my PROJECT 365 POD to see how Heidi looked the entire way....

Sometimes she looked like this....

Obviously she was NOT in the mood for a POINT 3 mile day hike!

But I figured out this is just the face she makes now when I want her to be in a picture with Kyla because when we scrapped the park early and went to GORDITOS, she looked like this again...

Once she got to play with the "reindeer" though she was okay!

I do think we will do this park again but maybe next year and maybe we will get an earlier start so we aren't cutting too far into the nap hour.

So Long Summer...

Although I know the weather will feel like summer for a couple more weeks, summertime is coming to a close. I'm excited for the crispness in the air, the fall food, new fall clothes, and a new fall routine. The change of seasons always feels good. I'm excited for Kyla to get to go to preschool beginning in less than two weeks now. I'm excited for the crazy flag football season to begin and for Kyla's funny Halloween costume ideas. It's been a busy fun summer...so long summer.

cousins

Papa's Birthday Present........ (by Casey)

Notice the firm grip on the milkshake.

We're off!

One of several snack breaks that went over very well.

Kyla's preferred way of "hiking".



So I have to tell a little side story before I dive into the day......It was my Dad's birthday on Sunday and we wanted to spend some time together. I left it up to him to come up with something and the first idea??? Golf of course. We switched plans a time or two then landed on a round of golf. Being the sceptic that she is, my wonderful wife thought the entire thing was a front and this was just me scamming my way to another 18 holes.

Well, Sunday morning my Dad called and wanted to switch things up a bit and go on a hike. I was actually very excited about the change of plans: 1) Kyla has never been on a hike and I couldn't wait to show her yet another new thing. 2) My Dad loves hikes and his granddaughters, he was very excited. 3) I got to show my wife that I WAS NOT just scamming her for a round of golf.....I was doing what my Dad wanted to do all along. Yeah!!!

On to the trip. It started off with Wally's drive thru in Bonney Lake. Kyla LOVED her lunch (who's not a sucker for french fries and milk shake?).

After lunch, we took off to Lake Mowich in Mt. Rainier National Park. This is one of my Dad's favorite places in the world, he's been there many times including numerous trips with Tyler and I when we were growing up. It had been probably 20 years since I'd been there so I was looking forward to a trip down memory lane.

It wasn't the clearest day, but we had a great time. Kyla had her highs and lows. One minute she'd be going on about how much she loved it, and literally the next sentence would be about how tired she was.

All in all it was a great trip, we made it over 2 miles and Kyla walked herself for about 75% of that.....not bad for a 3 year old. My Dad and I had a great time talking about the past, and an even better time listening to Kyla's commentary about the whole thing.

I have very found memories of doing things like this with my Dad, and I hope to create many of the same found memories with my children.

No Planning Required

Jenn and I took the girls and her baby down to Kent Station while they were here visiting this weekend and the boys were golfing. The plan was to walk around a bit and then go out to dinner. I remembered my other friend Lisa mentioning some water sculptor/fountains down there so we went to check it out.


As soon as we saw them I knew it was probably not a great idea. We had no extra clothes, no towels, and we still had dinner plans. If you know Kyla, you know that if she even gets one drop of water or one speck of dirt or food on her she has to change her entire outfit. I knew she would not grasp the concept of being 25 minutes away from any other outfits.


I hesitated for a few moments. I didn't know the appropriateness level of letting her run around downtown Kent in only undies, especially with all the crazies out there. Jenn gave her approval and both girls stripped down. Heidi put her feet in a few times and then was done. Kyla on the other hand had a hay day!! Before I knew it she was putting her entire body in the strong gaiser like water spraying strongly out of the ground. She was laughing the entire time and did not want it to end.


I still didn't know what we would do to dry her off. Jenn came up with a small burp cloth. I dried her off as best I could and discretly changed her into her dry clothes. Her hair was a crazy mess but she loved every second. After dinner, Kyla wanted to know if we could go back....I told her we'd go again this week...this time with swimsuits. Well, we went back today and she wanted really nothing to do with it. Go figure. She's a spur of the moment kind of gal.

BF Craft Update

Last month I blogged about my trip to the Ben Franklin craft store and how much I loved it. My 2nd and 3rd projects are now complete. (The 1st was my MAGNET BOARD).

This was Project #2. Not technically a craft project since I really didn't do a thing. I got these hooks at BF for $2.99 and lucky for me my husband works at a cabinet shop and manufactured this cute board for me and then put the hooks on. Cute!

Project #3 was this: A 20 x 20 painted canvas behind nine 4 x 4 canvases with pictures on them. The photo doesn't do it justice. I love it!

Happy Birthday to You & You & You & You

Today kicks off a busy birthday week for some very important people in my life.

To Steve: You are a great father-in-law, dad, and Papa.

My girls adore you and your popcorn.

To Taryn: You are a true friend who I can always count on.

I always know where to go for a prayer or the truth.

To Chelsea: The sister I never had and the friend who is always there

and ready to make me laugh.

To Mom: A great friend, a generous Ya Ya, someone I love to spend time with

and all around cute lady who I love so much.

I love you guys! Happy Birthday!

P.S. This is your card...so don't expect another one.

More Farm (Photo) Fun

Well, since I'm all caught up on my chores and Heidi is still trying to take a nap (she's been in there for quite a while now) and Kyla is engrossed with her new princess puzzle- I decided to play around more with my farm photos from yesterday. (I wrote all that because I think some of you think I just sit around the computer all day ignoring my children-I really don't!)

The pictures all have that old timey feel. Did I mention I love Photoshop? It's so fun.

The Little Farm

We checked off another item on our Summer to Do List: The Little Farm at Windwater. The kids had a great time feeding and petting the animals. Kyla rode a little pony named Nino and Heidi loved the chickens and fake cows the most.


I love Kyla's face and the blur of her hand in this picture. She wanted to feed them but you could tell she was a bit nervous (so was I, those were hungry goats).

Kyla and Nino.
Kyla waving to no one. The lady told her it was like she was in a parade.

be glad

I TRIed

Well, this was my 3rd ever sprint triathlon, 1st of the season. It entails a 1/2 mile open water swim, 12 mile bike, and a 5K run. Last year it was a new experience for me and I found that even though the swim posed some major anxieties for me I was pretty competitive at the whole thing overall. I got a wetsuit and a new bike and was ready to go this year.

All "geared out" I was expecting to be faster....I wasn't. My competitive nature (that I guess I have internally) really wishes that I could have beat my time from last year. Something to try for next year I guess. I was slower in all parts of the race but it was the swim that syked me out for the entire thing I think. I just can't seem to relax in that water. It isn't the idea of sharks or fish like I joked about before. It's something about putting my face in that dark black water, hyperventilating, and not being able to catch my breath. I can't relax or swim normal the entire time. I just flail and do the best I can to get out of there. I just keep telling myself to relax but I can't. I think I'm a pretty strong swimmer in a pool setting. Next year I think I will be joining a team where I can practice these open water swims several times before race day.

Still glad I did and still proud of myself.

Casey didn't get any pictures of the water (probably a good thing).

SWIM: 2008-17:43 2009- 19:46

BIKE: 2008- 36:20 2009-43:30

RUN: 2008-26:34 2009- 29:31

OVERALL TIME: 2008- 1:26:07 2009- 1:38:52

CLASS RANK: 2008- 14 out of 1030 2009- 70 out of 287
OVERALL RANK: 2008-192 out of 3714 2009-662 out of 3709

Kyla, Heidi, and my mom stayed behind but I did have a fan club: Casey, Tyler, Chelsea, Pearson, Barbie, Joey, & Jessi- THANKS!

Slide Already!

We've been having a lot of sliding fun lately, so I thought I'd do a post about it. The girls have been loving the park near our house with two big tube slides. One is red and one is green. For some reason they would only go in the red one. But I was proud of them yesterday, they both dared to try the green one....Slide Already!

Slide Already...is one of our favorite books about a boy who has never been down a slide before. He experiences massive peer pressure until finally he does it.



We took Jessi to the pool. We never get to do the big tube slide because the girls are too little and I am always the only one with them. I don't think they've even noticed ever before. Well today they did. Jessi went down several times and I even went down. It's pretty fast. The girls giggled with delight. Slide Already!

At the end of the book the nameless boy turns out to love the slide and wants to do it again and again!

My Pixie Bob

A cute little kitten who loves to be involved in every little girl game, who drinks out of tea cups and goes for rides in strollers most days...that's our Pixie or as Heidi likes to call her "my Pixie Bob."

Don't let all that fool you. Our whole family has the battle scars to prove it. She's a feisty one. Wild! Darts out the door every chance she gets. But she's our Pixie Bob!

Ten on Ten

Ten on Ten
the idea: "take a photo once an hour for ten consecutive hours on the tenth of each month. document a snapshot of your life and find beauty amoung the ordinary things of your day"

Disclaimer: I am not pregnant. But someone I know is!