summer days

Our only plans this summer were to go camping ALOT, and designate July weekends to installing our new windows…so far we have not fulfilled those plans yet. I never realized how many summer birthdays there are in our family…I think I’ve counted 8 so far! We have already celebrated my birthday, Ruby’s, my father in-laws, and my nephew’s, but there are still four more to go! When we are not occupied with birthday fun, you can always find us outside enjoying the sun while we have it.

       It has become a bit of a tradition to walk across the street to the park after dinner. Ruby rides her scooter, Shepherd obsesses over the baby swings, and we all stop at the skate park to watch the skateboarders. Shepherd has begun to develop a love for the sport. Although he doesn’t have a board of his own, he pretends all day by jumping off of things, yelling “skateboarding!” A few weeks ago Jeremy went to roll around the skate park, and put each of the kids on the board with him as he went around the park. Shepherd’s eyes just lit up as they went up and down the ramps. He definitely is turning into a mini Jeremy!

 

 He is always following Ruby at the park. It definitely pushes him to try things he might not be quite ready for...like the big rock climbing wall. After I took this photo, he wanted down immediately!

 

The kids love to run around the bases on the field. They also like making sand angels,  which makes for a very satisfying bath time!

 

 

I can already predict needing to buy about three more workbooks for this kid this summer.

 She doesn't want to stop!

 

Every morning, after Jeremy heads of to work, I get about 15 min. to myself, 30 min. if I'm lucky!

I usually grab my book and some breakfast and sit on our front porch soaking up the silence. Then I hear my queue to come inside..."Mommy! mommy! cereal! spoon!" Those are Shepherd first words every morning :)

 

     

 

 

pause button

It is amazing to see how fast Ruby and Shepherd have grown in these past 6 months. Shepherd has experienced his first haircut, which he still talks about and is constantly rubbing his head saying "hair cut, cut." I think he misses his long hair (so do I!) Ruby has become quite the artist these days. I always find her at the table drawing just about everything, although her favorite thing to draw are princesses, obviously! The other day we experimented with making plant prints. I let her go in the backyard on her own to gather different plants and flowers. She put them between two pieces of paper and hammered away. She also tried to do it with rocks, and for some reason they didn't transfer so well on the paper :-) She did however make some holes from hammering them so much!

I wish there was a pause button for certain days in their childhood...seeing them grow up sure is bittersweet.

 

 

the beach

 

      

Anytime the sun is out in Seattle the streets get crowded, parks are swarming with kids, and we can't help but join the mess because we don't get many days like it in the winter. A week or two ago we ventured to Carkeek park. Ruby was very hesitant to cross the bridge to the beach, but she made it in one piece (I had to carry her). They threw countless rocks in the water, dug plenty of holes, and even made sand angels. As you can see by the pictures it wasn't exactly warm at the beach, but who notices the temperature when you're having fun, right? brrrrrr!

 

Growing up...

The other day, the kids and I were playing in the living room while waiting for daddy to come home. The photographer in me could not pass up the great light coming in from the window and just had to grab my camera. As I was looking over the photos I took I couldn't help but pull up Shepherd's baby pictures and see how much he's grown. I can't believe he is going to be one in twenty one days! It has been such a blessing to see this little man grow and I have to admit, I kind of miss the newborn days. On the other hand, I sure do love this new concept called sleeping through the night!

Oh and there has been lots of bread baking going on in this house. Still trying to find a good recipe for whole wheat sandwich bread. Anyone have any suggestions?

jumping is a funny thing

As we were eating lunch last week, Ruby began jump roping by the table, and out of nowhere came this great laughter by Shepherd. Every time she jumped, he would laugh. It was the cutest thing.

Life lately...and deal of the week

Yes, it has been a while since my last post, and yes, I am not so good on keeping this blog consistent, but I do my best with the time I've got. We have been pretty busy here in the Hanson household, potty training Ruby, sleep training Shepherd (which is long overdue!) and attending quite a few birthday parties.  Which brings me to my deal of the week. This deal is the best kind out there...you know, the FREE kind? Jeremy and I put our skills to work to make two little twins very happy for their birthday, at least I hope they were happy with the gift :-)
       I had the idea of making bean bags out of some Heather Ross fabric and Jeremy was more than willing to make a wooden stand with three holes in it for the bean bags to be tossed in. The morning of the party Jeremy went down to the shop, gathered some wood scraps and was done an hour before we needed to leave!
       We also are getting ready to take the kids on their first camping trip of the summer! I just hope it doesn't mess up the work we've put into getting Shepherd to sleep through the night!

HOMEMADE GRANOLA FOR OUR CAMPING TRIP

Settling in

       Sometimes it is just too hard to say "no" to something that is free. Last week my husband had an opportunity to say "no", to,  well basically, a whole living room set. Did we already have 2 couches, a coffee table, 4 chairs, and 2 credenzas? Yes, but what's one more couch, chair, table, and shelf?! With that said, our house was a bit of a disaster for a few days until we finally figured out how to redesign our whole main level. We decided to eliminate the playroom/art room and make that a t.v. room with 2 couches right next to each other. Luckily, the rest of our furniture fit perfectly in the main living space which has become my favorite room in the house.
    
      This morning I was able to snap a few shots of our living room before the kids got all their toys out and we also devoured some waffles with home made raspberry sauce!

All art work was done by my grandpa and Jeremy's grandpa

My mothers day

Our new favorite spot to go as a family...Silver Arrow Bowmen. This is where we went on Mother's Day!  We all had our bows and Ruby even got to shoot with her new bow and arrows that my mom and step dad got her! All the targets are on this course are along a hiking trail that  they've made specifically for shooting with your bow. Its was definitely a great spot to spend with my family on mothers day!!!