The Birthday Girl!

How did the last two years fly by so quickly??? G is now 2! And what a big girl she is: she's talking in occasional sentences, playing with Q and friends (side by side and together), and is learning to dress herself. She's even showing interest in being potty trained! Here's the birthday girl watching her new Noodlebug DVD (from Nana and Papa), holding her new baby doll and duck (from Gm'a Jeanne and Gp'a Tom), is wearing her "worm" and standing on her "rocking" monkey (from us). She's still learning how to balance on the monkey, and is therefore holding onto E's hand. Thanks for all the great presents!
Cute kid stuff:
- Yesterday G picked out a pink dress to wear. Q's said "Mama, she looks like a princess!"
- G's favorite toy to sleep with is her "bear in pajamas" (Q's name for it): it's a bear head sewn onto the middle of a pink blanket. She calls it her "bee-or."

Kids

A quick photo update of the kids. I'll post more at some point - I promise!!

September
Sarah and McKayla came to visit.
Wearing Dada's shirt.
Reading to the bear.
Happy girl!

G's new hat.
October
Let's read!
Sitting together.

The first family movie/pizza night. Enchanted anyone?
Yep. He's his dad's boy: he hates getting his hands dirty! Mama had to do most of the work....
November
Tired boy.
Playing together.
A masterpiece of creative preschool art!
December
Decorating cookies! G was much more interested in licking the icing off one cookie than she was in eating the cookies. Q was VERY into decorating and then eating cookies.
January
The Birthday Boy! (It took a couple of tries to get all 4 candles out....)
Playing with Mama's rocking horse.

House pics

So it's been a while since I've blogged.... Yep, what was that date? Oh, yeah, 5 August. Oops. It's been a tad busy, and we're still not completely unpacked. I took pictures the first day we moved in, but due to a packing oops, managed to pack my camera cord in a box. E has saved the day by finding a cord that works with the camera (thank you for saving me from my nagging, um, helpful parents!), so hopefully I'll be blogging more. However (and this is a big one), I've decided to sit the PE exam this spring, so my time will be limited. For those of you who don't know what the PE exam is, imagine an 8 hour test which takes about 300 hours to study for, and that's the Professional Engineer exam. Oh, wait, you don't have to imagine it, that's what it is. Most people don't pass the first time, but I'm hoping I'll only have to sit through hell, er, the exam once. The pictures that show empty rooms were taken the first day we were there, and the rooms showing stuff/clutter have been taken since we moved in. Ok, enough chat, here's the photos!

Quin's room. Quin likes to tell people that he picked the green room and Gretchen picked the orange room. Very true. We drove by the house one day before closing, and the previous owner was there and gestured us up to look at the house. The kids were able to run around the empty house and pick their rooms; we were quite happy that the kids didn't both want the same room. Quin's room is at the end of the hall. Nana painted the two murals when she was up helping us move in August.
Gretchen's room. Gretchen's room is actually the master bedroom, and therefore has an awesome closet. I'm formulating plans to add two bedrooms over the double garage so that E and I can move up to the master bedroom at some point.... This picture was taken from where the bookcase is, and the window (and crib) are to the left). The two tone colors really show up in Gretchen's room, although Quin's room also has one wall darker than the other walls.
The upstairs bathroom. This is across the hall from Gretchen's room.

The living room. Our view faces west, and it's considered a partial view due to the trees. The first photo was taken from the dining room, and the second photo was taken today and has crepe paper up for Quin's birthday.
The dining room. Yes, that's baby-puke-green on the wall. I'm planning on painting this summer when I can open up every window and the sliding door to air out the fumes. I'm still hoping for a blue, but I think it will be a brown that matches the floor and cabinets. The kitchen is to the left, and this picture was taken from the living room. Oh, and yes, we have added our dining room table.
The kitchen. This picture is taken from the stairs (it's a split level); the living/dining room is to the right, and the kids' bedrooms and the upstairs bath are to the left. It's rather hard to tell in this photo (the baby-puke-green wall overshadows it), but the counters are a terra cotta color. One of the reasons I want to paint the wall blue is to mute the orange in the counters, but the color has grown on me. The counter wraps around to the dining room, and having counters in the dining room is awesome! Oh, and I don't think I'll be able to go back to a single oven... our oven has a small one on the top and a little one on the bottom! Love it!!
The family room. No, you don't get to see it with stuff in it; it's currently a mess (due to the massive amount of toys), so I don't have any current photos. E's desk is in the corner, in front of the window, and I'm on the opposite wall. We have a TV (gasp!) on the wall next to the window, and the rest of the bookshelves are on the wall to the right of the doorway (where I'm standing for the photo). The family room is located downstairs, along with our room, the downstairs bath, the laundry/mechanical room, and the two garages.
The downstairs bathroom. I love the robin's egg blue on the walls and ceiling!!
Our bedroom. Once again, you only get to see the empty photos. :)
As soon as I figure out where I put the CD with pictures from Nana's camera, I'll post those; she took some great shots of our yard (we have a half acre), and apparently I didn't. Keep checking back, and I'll try to post them before another five months passes.

It's ours!!

Almost - the house deed will be recorded tomorrow! I have the car packed for our first trip over (around 10:30 in the morning), and am looking forward to letting the kids play in the house. We have a bit of a wait there tomorrow, as the local cable/internet/phone provider is sending out a tech to install an extra cable jack (or two or three... we can't remember what the cable jack situation is). I'm hoping to get in at least one more car load before we have to wait for the cable guy, but the timing will be close, and the kids may refuse to wait in the car while I unload the first, load the second, and unload the second. I guess I'd better go pack some more just in case I can squeeze in a second load!

I will try to remember my camera and take pictures and post said pictures within a reasonable amount of time. ("A reasonable amount of time" is at my discretion!)

For those of you who are looking at buying a house with another person: do NOT allow them to give you a power of attorney for closing!! Signing for a house is tedious enough. Signing "First MI Last by First MI Last, attorney in fact (AIF for most documents) AND THEN adding your signature is a royal pain. E is gallivanting off in the wilderness (legitimately for work), but somehow the timing of it all just sucked. For me.

And here's a link for parents and kids: Tinkering School.

July

Gretchen loves walking around with my Crocs on her hands. I have no idea why, but she's always so proud of herself!
I think Dada may be a tad color blind....
Our friend, Sean, decided to go to the local water park for his birthday (his 38th...). We all had a great time, although both kids were a little scared of the water splashes at the bottom of the toddler slides. Quin and Gretchen both enjoyed splashing in the water, and Quin adored playing on the pirate ship. Gretchen became tired rather quickly, and cuddled close as we went around the lazy river again and again and again and.... She went around with pretty much everyone, and got to the point of exhaustion (and being overwhelmed by the sounds and sights of the indoor water park) that she didn't even bother lifting her head to look around, but instead just laid her head on a shoulder and sucked her fingers.

Gretchen had her choice of bathing suits, and continued to chose this one, regardless of how many I showed her. Quin, on the other hand, immediately picked one out, and stayed with it, giving me looks of "Mama, I already have one, see?"
Quin and E at the bottom of the slide; a random child wanted to get splashed, and jumped in front of my two boys. Humph.
An unfortunate experience. Yes, she was stuck, but she wanted a particular toy so much that she continued to get stuck in her quest to reach that toy.
Gretchen's first puddle stomping experience. No rain boots in this shot, but she has some now. Due to the lack of availability, both kids have the same boots. It should be an interesting autumn for puddle stomping and getting boots mixed up.... Gretchen loves puddle stomping as much as her brother!!Spending time with Dada.

"Gretchen, you ride the ladybug and I'll ride the horse."
Art time!
Eating at the table like a big girl. (Ignore the phone book....)

Camping

We went with friends to Hatcher's Pass on July 3rd. (I'm now a firm believer in camping with other people - one preschooler and one toddler to six adults was perfect!) It was the first time the kids had gone camping (we had an abortive backyard/trial attempt last summer when we first bought the tent, but we ended up sleeping in the house). Gretchen enjoys walking on uneven surfaces (she loves to walk on people when they're laying down), so the squishy tundra was a HUGE hit with her! Quin was enthralled with the idea that he didn't need to pee on the potty (although we had his little one, just in case).

Paul and Robin found a great campsite, close to the river but off the road, that fit three tents and a screened shelter. Luxury camping at its best!
Due to the last minute nature of our departure, we managed to forget some items, like jackets. Gretchen wore a silk-weight shirt of mine for warmth, and was quite cute!
Sean "allowed" her to try on his hat - stylish!
Dinner was a unique affair, as the kids aren't used to eating while standing up. Gretchen wandered around with her vegetarian hot dog, chirruping at everyone, while Quin mostly stood in one place until he'd finished eating one item, then wandered around between "courses." "Marshmelons" (aka marshmallows) were a huge hit with both kids.

Quin loves sleeping in his sleeping bag, and had no problems going to bed in the tent. Gretchen, on the other hand, had a difficult time sleeping. She cuddled with all six adults throughout the evening, but was happiest on Dada's lap. Around 11pm we decided to try to go to bed; I say try because "she-who-always-falls-asleep-by-7pm-at-the-latest" was still wide awake. By midnight, I gave up and took our darling baby daughter (not the words that were used at the time...) to the car to go to sleep. I love our Prius, but it is NOT a good sleeping place! I made a blanket nest in the back of the car, put Gretchen in the back, climbed into the passenger seat with my sleeping bag, and proceeded to watch her play happily for about 15 minutes before passing out. She just needed to have some quiet alone time before going to bed. She woke up several times during the night, but was easily comforted back to sleep.
Our plan of pancakes for breakfast was a flop. Do you remember me saying we had a hurried departure? Well, we managed to forget several items, like the griddle top for the stove. Oops. Fortunately we had leftover hot dogs.

After breakfast we walked down to the creek. Quin loves playing next to rivers! E stayed with Quin and Paul played with Gretchen while I took some photos of the scenery.
We then packed up our stuff and figured out who was riding with whom. The kids and Eric were exhausted, whereas the rest of us were interested in hiking, so I caught a ride with Paul and Robin. Unfortunately, we didn't find any good hiking trails on that side of the pass, and we didn't want to turn around, so we headed home. I got the best end of the deal: I didn't have to drive, and I didn't have to be in the car with two exhausted kids who took the best naps of their lives that afternoon.
We had a fantastic time, and I hope we can get in at least one more camping trip this summer!