Beginning of a New Phase

Man the time is just flying by. I barely know what day it is lately. It's Saturday night and I am thinking I should write on my blog when I realize the last post was nearly 3 weeks ago. Wow.

So here is what has been happening around our house.

Jackson started kindergarten. I was nervous but not sad. On the first day my thought was, there he goes off into the world. This is the first of many steps away from my protection. One day it is kindergarten the next it is college. But I am so excited for him to learn and meet new people. He loves it. He rides the bus to and from school every day. Then he comes home and tells me all about his day, he finishes eating his lunch because he never eats all of it at school, and he always asks me for water right when he walks in the door. Apparently going to school and riding the bus makes one super thirsty.

 

I just pray that I am teaching him well at home. I hope that he has the right principles to stand up to the world and all the evil it in. He is an amazing kid. He is sweet and smart and I don't want outside influences to drive those characteristics out of him. He has really matured over the last 6 months. He no longer throws tantrums or whines, he helps around the house, and he isn't afraid like he used to be of new situations. He seems to take things head on these days.

He also started karate. I love this. He is learning discipline and confidence. I have seen major improvements in his shyness especially towards people he does not know. It has even helped his concentration and focus.

Elizabeth is also doing karate. She doesn't need the confidence (spunky little Lizzy) but her concentration has increased and her attention span. It is also helping with her coordination, she is a bit clumsy like her mom. I love hearing he sweet little voice yell commands in the class like YES SIR.

I think she misses Jackson when he goes to school more than anyone. She looks out the window every afternoon waiting for the bus to bring him home. Thankfully she is going to preschool 3 days a week for 4 hours and making lots of new friends. I think she and I would go crazy if it was just us at home alone all day. She is one of the younger children in her class but the teacher says she is very smart and is included in the activities for the older kids like reading and letter recognition. I am always telling everyone how smart she is but for some reason they all just look at me like, "sure she is, that is what every mom thinks about their kids." Not that it matters what other people think.

Christian is walking at 10 months already. He is so athletic and strong. He loves chasing the kids around the house and crawling into the dog's crate to hang out with the puppies. He is a very smiley baby and loves to follow commands like "clap your hands" or "wave bye bye." He doesn't eat baby food at all but loves all the food we eat including steak (I know crazy!) He also loves cars. He has a few little cars that he pushes around the kitchen floor. And my favorite personality quirk he has been doing lately is clicking his tongue. He walks around the house click click clicking. It is really cute.

 

 

Sunny in Seattle

Our summer in Seattle kicked off with a bang. This was a quick trip. Really quick. We only spent a week in Seattle this year due to our busy schedules. But we made the best of the time we had. I flew by myself with all 3 kids. Thankfully Christian slept about 1/2 the time and the remainder of the trip went fairly smoothly. There were a lot of kids on the plane so mine were not the only ones who squawked a bit.

We got in late Tuesday night and were greeted by my mom, Derek, Sarah, and Steve. The kids were so excited to see them again. The next day I met my dear friend Jeremy at the park for lunch. We chatted while the kids played. Then off to Seattle to stay the night at Steve and Sarah's house. Both Jack and Liz thought staying at Aunt Sarah's house was a real treat, Jackson even told
me, "I've always wanted to have a sleepover." All his 5 years of life, haha.

It is a little apartment but we managed to make it through the night and were rewarded with a beautiful day in Seattle the next morning.

We met up with Adam and spent the day at the beach throwing rocks and wading in lake Washington. It was amazing. I miss the water so much and being on the beach I was surrounded by it. The smell is divine, by far my favorite smell in the world. And so refreshing, like the rain and ocean washed all my stress away. While exploring the beach and the docks we found a crow tangled in some fishing line hanging from a tree branch. Thankfully Adam climbed the tree and rescued the crow, Super Adam to the rescue. The only mishap of the day was Elizabeth losing one of her jelly shoes when Adam was dropping her feet into the water. She was very distraught but her mood quickly changed when we suggested shopping to buy some new shoes. (She is definitely my daughter, lol).

After shopping we spent the afternoon at the playground. An amazing playground. I didn't know Seattle could be so family friendly. I always think of it as a singles town with no community atmosphere but I was enlightened and happy to spend a relaxing day with my family.