Happy 8th Birthday Christian!!!

Well, we were warned that it passes by quickly and boy does it pass by quickly. It really feels like maybe 2-4 years ago Leelee was a newborn and we were wrestling with some sleepless nights and some very curly hair. hahaha. And now he is 8!

Today was filled:

School
School bday celebration
Piano
Science
First baseball practice
Fujiyama dinner
Home for cake

Legos as far as we could see. He loves his Legos. And a new bike, from Target! :)

School celebration. Kids ask questions about his photos that he brings. One person asked "who is that adult guy in the photo?" and Leelee points to Dae and goes "Him?" and the kid says yes, and he says "that's my dad" and the kid goes "oh". And that was that. Kids are so funny.

Playing heads-up 7-up

We love Fujiyama. (and finally, for the first time, I was not nauseous after dinner here. I think they finally took it easy on the  salt)

The bday clan. Gong Gong came over and even partook in a sliver of cake!

Rollerblades!

March Madness

March Madness is here!

1) Mini Cooper got hit last weekend at a gymnastics birthday party parking lot. The lady in the Jeep was backing up and didn't see it. Poor little Mini. Operative word being "little". As in, nobody sees it.

2) Alex got an elbow to the eyebrow, got a deep cut and needed stitches, but they are in between insurances (we got a good laugh about that one!) and didn't really want to go in to the ER. Dae got to work in the family room stitching him back up. The patient was very well-behaved. Dae, while very efficient and good, was in my opinion not gentle. haha! (I cater to my patients and make sure they are comfortable...Dae don't care. Ha!)

3) March Madness is on and Zags have made it to the Final Four! Here we are on Sunday. Dae is watching NCAA on TV. Leelee and I are playing Uno. Olin climbed up and played Chess (against himself) for 30 minutes. I was surprised he could play himself, and stand up there, for that long.

4) We haven't been in town for the past few birthday parties the kids have been invited to, but this past weekend seemed to make up for it with three of them. Firstly, Jo turns 10 in April and they celebrated early with bowling and Chicken Shack in West Richland (where the chicken strips/tenders are absolutely delicious...)

Olin kept going on to his toes like he was en pointe (ha) and then telling me to look. He looks like he's about to fall over but he miraculously didn't really fall...at least not that much.

Popp animal shelter. We met with a couple of their friends from school to drop off some dog treats. It was spay and neuter day so they got to see all these cats that were super drowsy from being sedated.

Gong Gong, Auntie Ev, Mal and Didi

Ev, Mal and Didi rolled in to town last weekend and it's always a delight for my kids and us. Luckily Gong Gong is still here doing contract nuclear work for Energy NW so we all got to hang out and do nothing and everything over the weekend.

Can you tell it's St. Patty's Day?

All 3 boys, after playing quietly and without incident for hours with Gong Gong (while Ev, Mal and I trekked to TJ Maxx, Costco, Target, and two more stops, can't remember) finally got to get on the iPad. And iPad they did!

Alaina took all the kids to Baskin Robbins after school for a scoop. I noticed that all their scoops (except 1) were green on St. Patty's day too!

Spudnut, of course. I think Ev goes to Spudnut every visit. 

I rarely sit in back with the kids, so when I got to sit next to Olin we took a selfie. And he smiled - it's a miracle!

Granny's Buffet...something for everybody...especially Gong Gong's restrictive pre-diabetes diet.

Apple Watch 2! Early 40th present from Ev! I am always a late or reluctant adopter of technology but after having worn it for a week I find myself extremely excited to put it on right when I wake up in the morning...

And of course I am already obsessed with new bands and face configurations.

And, early 40th present #2 came a few weeks ago in the form of these beauties, Mahabis, from Kel! Love them!

Straight Shreddin'

I got a shredder a year ago but never removed it from packaging until last night when we needed to shred some old home documents. Kids love it of course.

Olin put on Leelee's little league hat from last year

Olin riding Leelee's bike which used to be Didi's bike. It fits! Good timing since we're probably getting Leelee a bike for his birthday.

Testing out these earmuffs I brought in the car because Leelee always complains that Claira and Olin are too loud. So we were shouting at Henry and asking if he could hear us. :)

Teaching him how to crack open a cold one

Blue C Sushi with mom at U-Village for Leelee's early birthday lunch

We trek all the way out to U-Village to go to the Blue C that has this train delivery

Cake, Balloons and gifts

Excitement!

Dinner with Megan at a yummy fish restaurant in Fremont (I think?)

Meeting up with sorority classmates for a slumber party at Cathy's house

Shopping at West Elm with the kids. 

Ponds, Valentime's Day, & Beco Carrier is the Bane of my Existence

In seattle. Our hotel was about 1/2 mile from PP Market so I brought the Beco, and thank goodness I did! The whining and slow walking are very tiresome...more tiresome than carrying him on my back. Dae and I thought for SURE we would not bring the Beco to Europe but now I think we are reconsidering, for our own sanity. 

Leelee made the front page of the Tri-City Herald on Monday. They get so excited about these fun after-school programs and there have been some really cool ones (geology, engineering, computer science, yoga, dance, rock painting, knitting, mountains, fish, soil...)

I wrote earlier about Olin always looking out of the corner of his eye. He always turns his head to the right and looks to the left.

Every day I do pick-up, I pick up Olin and Claira first, and they climb around and laugh and play and yell in the car while we wait for the older boys' pick-up. When it's sunny they stick their heads out of the sun roof. 

Funny things:

Olin says "ponds" for chess "pawns" and ValentiMe's Day instead of ValentiNe's Day.

Christian told me that "Broc at school is the oldest person in our class. And, his thighs are this big." as he creates a big circle with his hands.