Fighting Times

We have had a pretty evenful couple of days! I am busy with the final touches of the 2008-2009 school year and have been keeping busy with assessments, report cards and packing my classroom for my move to the north 40. I will be in one of the portables next year, so have to get everything ready to head out there. What a project! I thought I had a lot of stuff last year when I moved to my new school, good grief, I have to triple that with all the curriculum and everything that is in my current room that has to accompany me out.

We enrolled Eli in his first round of swimming lessons. Jess and I are lucky to be able to join him during his lessons as he's in the Parent/Tot class. It's pretty cute. We've been working on getting used to being in the water, kicking, pulling (arms), and trying to get comfortable with putting our head under water. Mommy is the mean one who dunks him...but I warn first!

Thursday evening after swimming lessons, we were getting jammies out to get ready for bed when he took quite the trip. Literally. He tripped and fell right into the corner of his door, splitting his eyebrow wide open. We ended up at Urgent Care for a few hours and got three stitches out of the deal. Eli was quite the little trooper though. The only time he cried while we were there was when the doctor was injecting more anesthetic into his cut. What a tough kid! We were so proud of him for being so brave.

Today was the Maple Valley Day parade and we went down for the first time since we've lived here. Honestly, I had NO idea it was such a big thing. We've lived here for 4 years and had never made it to it (let alone known when it was!). We walked down with some good friends and enjoyed all of it. Eli's favorite parts were the fire trucks, ambulance, and tow trucks. He was quite attentive from start to finish though, all 75 minutes of it!

Here we are waiting for the parade to start. The opening police motorcycle was on its way, so Eli was much more interested in that than getting his picture taken. But this is proff that we were all there!

Watching and waving to the tow trucks.

They really were THAT exciting! HAHA

Eli was watching Drew play wallball. He was really into it. He is really tired in this picture though, he was more than ready for a nap.

He is such a handsome boy
even with a bruise from his forehead to chin with stitches in between.

Good times with good friends...and family!

The past two weekends have been spent with family and friends. This past weekend we ventured up to Sedro Wooley to celebrate a good friend's second birthday. It's amazing how fast these past two years have gone. It doesn't seem like that long ago that we were meeting Alexis for the first time as a very tiny newborn. Now she is a running, jumping, vivacious little girl. The kids, Eli, Alexis and Natalie, had a wonderful time playing together and the adults enjoyed catching up and playing too.

While we were there, I had a fun time playing with our camera and ended up with some shots of Steph and the girls. I haven't had the chance to play with the pictures yet, but wanted to share a few pictures from our visit.

I love this shot of Steph and Alexis. It is one of those "caught in the moment" pictures that just makes you smile.

Of course, I had to get one of her and the girls. Yes, there's no Peter. He and Jess were off playing somewhere.
Eli had a wonderful time running and playing in their HUGE yard. They even had some of the big Tonka trucks to play with. He was in seventh heaven!
Natalie loves playing with Eli. She would hold his hand and try to make him play with her. She had a difficult time understanding that he wasn't a baby anymore, but that he also wasn't as big as herself. He was a good sport though and loved playing with her.
Of course, there has to be a picture of the adults here too.
And of course they boys had to play around!




MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

On Memorial Day weekend, my aunt, uncle, cousin and her family all drove out from eastern Montana. We spent a few days together and ventured to Snoqualmie Falls. It was a beautiful day which meant the falls were packed with people. Dad and Jess never did make it out of the truck, we saw the falls and walked back out before they ever found parking! Unbelievable. The amount of water cascading the cliff was amazing. There was quite the layer of mist in the air as well - you couldn't stay in the covered lookout very long because it was practically raining in there! Eli finally warmed up to his Great Uncle Darwin and Great Aunt Darlene and half-way smiled in a picture. Of course, now I can't find this particular picture...hmmm, I'll have to do a little searching!

I love this picture of Darwin and Eli. This family has always held a special place in my heart. When I was a kid, we spent holidays and summers together at their ranch in eastern Montana. I haven't seen them since my cousin Raleigh's wedding 5 years ago!
On our way home from the falls, we stopped at the train "museum" in North Bend/Snoqualmie. Eli LOVES trains (planes, cars, trucks, helicopters, you name it) and we saw these, so we let him look. A nice gentleman pushing his sleeping daughter in their stroller offered to take a picture for us. It's not often we get a family shot so we take what we can get!

I have a lot more pictures from their visit, but want to play with some of the pictures and adjust the exposure and colors a bit.

While we were at Gramma and Papa's house waiting for the guests to arrive, he figured out the doggy door and thought it should be used as an Eli door.


I wanted to include this picture to show Eli's big, brown eyes. Jess and I are both amazed at his beautiful brown eyes. Jess has blue and I have more of a greenish hazel. He got his Papa's brown eyes somehow!

Just checking

Does anyone read this anymore?


....just checking.....
:)

Pictures!

I have a few pictures to post, more still to come, but here is a second glance at our visit to Snoqualmie Falls on Sunday.

Aren't they two of the most handsome guys you have EVER seen!

Momma and Eli

He was begging to sit on the giant rock.

Yeah, that's me...

the wonder of the Snoqualmie Falls. Beautiful

...still more to come...

Snoqualmie Falls

Yesterday we took Eli to Snoqualmie Falls for the first time. He loved it! It was another beautiful day, so we ventured out and enjoyed the sun. We got a bunch of great pictures, which will be coming soon!

Here are a couple pictures to tie you over!

Mr. Cool, ready to go!

Stylin' with his hands in his pockets,
he loves doing this now.

We asked a really nice couple to take a picture for us.
Not too shabby.

....more to come....

What a Glorious Day

Today was such a beautiful day! It was sunny and 77 degrees out, so needless to say, we spent a lot of the day out. We ran some errands this morning, then after Eli woke up from his nap, we walked to the store, then had a great season opening barbecue. Because it was so nice, I was also a little camera happy and got some great shots of Eli.

Chasing after Daddy

Loving his corn on the cob

Mommy and Eli waiting for dinner
Hamming it up for Mommy
And my FAVORITE one...
Don't you just love his expression?

It's been a while...

It's been a while and really not a whole lot has been going on other than more of the usual. School is going well for me - I can't believe there's only 6 weeks left! This year has flown by in a hurry. I have a few busy weeks coming, other than that, summer will be here soon. We started the staining process on the deck this weekend. All three of us were out working. It was fun! We still have the rails to do and the fence around the backyard, however we thought if we could at least get the actual deck done this weekend, we could do the rest as we go. As it is, all of the deck furniture is still filling the grass in the back. :)