Tuesday, June 26, 2012

squishy


it's not that he's my favorite (although how can you not favor such a cute little boy that doesn't talk back to you and lights up when he sees you?), it's just that he's in such a cute stage and he actually holds still for pictures. eek, he's growing fast. 



 




the video is of randy bouncing him up and down and him giggling about it. not anything huge, but cute enough for grandparents and aunts. 

Monday, June 25, 2012

boom log and magnuson parks


we hit a couple more parks this weekend: boom log park, just down the road, and magnuson park on sand point.


hey look, i make an appearance on the blog!


walking on the pier made randy pretty nervous with the girls. they were running around and loving it and i'm pretty sure he was tense until we stepped back on dry land.








throwing rocks at magnuson park. madeleine likes to put pony tail holders on her headbands and calls them "boing boings."





we saw a great heron while we were there.


the boy was there too.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

sunday on the north shore

 

on sunday we decided to get out of the house and do a little exploring on the north shore. 


we started out with a bit of a fall, but once she saw the ducks and the waterfront, she got over it.















Tuesday, June 19, 2012

unbroken


just finished unbroken, by laura hillenbrand. i've heard great things about it and was a little worried it might not live up to all of the hype. i have this weird aversion to reading really popular books, which is not at all logical (i've never read a single harry potter book for this reason). anyhow, after my mom and sister both recommended it, i reserved it at the library (there was a long list. see? popular book). thanks to the fast king county library system, i got it a week later and i read it in a few days.

it's popular for a reason. it's a great book. it's very engaging and very well written. also, i knew very little about POWs in general, especially those in the pacific arena during WWII, so it was very informative. and it was very inspiring. lots of great things that i could say about this book. but my baby's hungry, so i'm going to leave it at that and just recommend it highly.

Monday, June 18, 2012

around these parts


we got a bigger bike for madeleine (i'm loving craigslist up here) and she's making the transition from strider bike to the big bike really well. no training wheels. she needs some more practice than just our cul-de-sak, but we haven't gotten out on a wide open path yet. the weather hasn't been cooperating.


randy has been really good with teaching her to ride. i tried a little and madeleine got frustrated with me.



doesn't get much cuter than this.

 

any time the girls hold jonathan, they insist that i take a picture of them.


having a picnic in the front yard. madeleine is camouflaged on the blanket. 


i can't get over how much i love this kid.

peonies from the front yard. it may rain a lot here, but the foliage is doing a pretty good job of selling me on it.

Monday, June 11, 2012

the boy who harnessed the wind


i haven't talked about books that i've read on my blog in a long time, but i want to start doing it again because it's the only way i keep track of my reading at all.

i just read the boy who harnessed the wind by william kamkwamba. i knew that the book would be about an african boy who builds a windmill, but i didn't realize that it would delve into so much of his life previous to him becoming interested in wind energy. it makes sense now that i've read it because it paints a better picture of why he became interested and just how inspiring his efforts were. it was a fascinating read and a little heart-wrenching at times. i like books that put me in touch with cultures that i know little-to-nothing about and remind me of just how blessed i am to have the life that i live. it's a really inspiring story and an easy read.

Friday, June 8, 2012

two months old


this sweet little boy turned two months old this week. which means that he is starting to be a lot more fun. he smiles and coos at us, which makes me melt. i think that it's his evolutionary way of getting me to hold him more. it's working.


he has also turned into a bit of a mama's boy. there's no hiding that he likes me best right now. could be something about a food source, but i'm going to pretend that that's not the only reason. he is such a fun addition to our little family. he has a great temperament and lets me get the sleep that i need. and i will love him forever for that. 


he had his two month appointment on wednesday. here are the stats:

24 inches long (86th percentile)
11 lbs. 11 oz. (50th percentile)
head circumference is 39 cm (22nd percentile)

i'm just glad to see him beefing up finally. he was such a scrawny little thing for so long.

this is a video of him being cute at 5:30 in the morning. he's not usually awake then, but he happened to be on this particular morning and he was being pretty cute and happy. it's really boring for most of it, but he perks up and smiles a couple times and i know there are some grandmas that want to see that. it's also pretty much silent because i was trying not to wake up randy.




and here's a video of his crazy sisters while we're at it. lately, diane has started saying "doh beh dee," a lot. it is a random word with no consistent meaning, as far as we can tell. mostly it's just adorable. she'll throw it in to sentences at random points, or just come up to us, put on a huge smile, and say, "doh beh dee!" then walk off.

we were going to have family night last monday and were trying to pick a song to sing together. we asked diane what song she wanted and she said, "doh beh dee," and started doing a cute little dance. this video is an attempt to get her to repeat it on video, but mostly it consists of madeleine hamming it up as soon as the camera came out. oh well.