new digs

September 2014

 

After Labor Day, Zane and Caden started at their new building.  One of the new playground additions included this fun airplane teeter totter.  We will need to get used to it and get our drop off and pick up routine figured out again.  The four younger classrooms were converted from one bedroom or studio apartments, and the two older classrooms were converted from a dentist office.  So while there are some pluses, like every classroom having it's own bathroom and kitchen, they're not all down one central hallway like before.  Here's part of Caden's new room.  

 The first weekend of the month was Daddy's annual US Open trip, and then he was home for a day before taking off to Germany for a work trip.  The boys and I had a lot of quality time together!  We finished off some ice cream cones,

 made play dough cookies,

and were generally silly!  They also both started a new session of soccer classes.  This was the first time Caden's gotten to play, and he seems to like it.

 We had taken advantage of the Labor Day sale at Ikea, and we picked out new twin beds so that the boys could share what was just Zane's room.  Since Zane thought it was entirely unfair that we share a room while he had to sleep by himself, he had been asking to share a room with Caden for a while.  Caden still has some rough wake ups in the middle of the night from time to time, so we had been holding out on it.  Now seems like as good a time as any to make the move since the new baby will be going into Caden's room.  Zane had an old queen size guest bed as his first big boy bed, but that didn't leave any space for Caden to have a big bed when the time comes.  We worked together and put Zane's new bed and nightstand together.  It turns out Zane's pretty handy with an Allen wrench, and Caden is learning to use a screw driver.  Once it was together, Zane gave it the jump test.

I took Zane's old bed apart, and once Daddy was back home to help move it to the basement, we took Caden's crib apart and put it back together in their new room.  They were very excited to be roommates!

We even managed to finally do one of the projects Zane has been asking me to do for quite a while.  One of the activity ideas at the back of his magazine was to make a bird sandwich.  It turned out cute and was one of our craftier moments, so I had to take a picture!  

We even had a fun visit from Tal, Kimberly and Leora this month!  The boys were pretty excited about having a baby visit, and they even helped clean some baby toys for her to play with.

One weekend we had a fun birthday party for one of Zane's best buds, Eamon, at Lincoln Park.  Both of the boys had plenty of friends there, and they both had a lot of fun.

 Zane has been really excited about putting puzzles together lately, and he has gotten a lot better at it!

 Sometimes Caden uses an L sound in place of a Y sound at the beginning of words, like yellow sounds like "lellow."  I find it particularly amusing when he says "Ew, lucky!"  One night while getting ready for bed, he was rubbing lovey on his belly and kept saying "Lovey tickle me!"  It was pretty cute.

At the end of the month, we also got to have the fun second trimester anatomy ultrasound to check out our tiniest munchkin.  Since I turn 35(!) this year, I was able to do the new extracellular fetal DNA test, so we found out while we were in Denver that it's a girl.  The ultrasound confirmed that it is a little girl brewing in there.  We even got a picture of her waving hi to the boys!

family

August 2014

The first week of this month we had a fun visit from Uncle John who was in town for work. The boys got to talk to their cousins, and then they worked hard keeping him entertained.

 Throwing rocks in the water and watching ferry boats...

 Pushing them on swings at the playground...

 and checking out Snoqualmie Falls.

 We didn't lose anyone on the trail, despite Caden's best efforts to stop and pick up every tiny pebble along the gravel path.  There were a lot of tiny pebbles to inspect!

 On our way back home from the falls, we stopped off for dinner, and Zane pointed out how cool the sky looked when we were walking back to the car.

The boys can definitely push each others buttons, but they can be very sweet with each other too.  One day Zane got an owie (a common occurrence around here with two little boys), and Caden said, "mooch it, mama!"

We also broke the news to the boys about the new baby on the way, and we made sure to explain that we didn't know if it was a boy or a girl in there yet.  Zane was excited that we were going to be a family of five, or six with Molly.  They were both excited, and they gave my belly a few smooches and some tickles.  The Monday after we revealed the exciting news to the boys, Zane shared it right away with his class at morning meeting.

Caden's counting is also evolving, and he now says "2, 3, 4, 5."  Someone else can get it started and say 1.

We set off on a fun adventure to Denver to meet up with Uncle John (twice in one month!), Aunt Ginger, Matthew, Lena and Mary before they all started back to school.

 Zane really wants to go back to the same hotel we stayed at because it had an indoor pool where Mary was teaching him to swim. :)  One day we walked to an amusement park, Elitch Gardens.

 Zane was tall enough to ride his very first roller coaster!

 Caden and I hung out on another ride, the crazy bus, while we were waiting on everyone else.

Afternoon thunderstorms gave us an excuse for some face painting.  Zane wanted to look like a cheetah!  Caden was snoozing through it all thankfully, since I don't think he could have stayed still long enough for it.

 We also checked out the cog railway up Pike's Peak.

 Despite our shorts and tee shirts, it was really cold at the top!  It even flurried a little while we were up there.

 The views were pretty amazing.

 And we got to ride on a train... does it get any better than that?

We all had a great time on our first ever joint family vacation!  On the way home, it was just Zane, Caden and me, and Daddy had a last minute change in plans to take a flight to San Francisco to be deputized for another adventure later in the month...

 The boys did pretty well on the flight (I only had to recover Caden's lovey from the aisle about 10 times!) and were pretty excited about getting their own snack boxes.  All three of us even squished into the tiny restroom together a couple of times.  Go team!

 Miraculously, all three of us made it to the car with all of the bags... one giant suitcase, the car seat back pack, Caden on my front in the ergo carrier, the diaper bag, my work bag, two little backpacks, and Zane holding one hand... whew!

 Zane and Caden both were out cold when we made it home.  It was pretty cute!  I was also clearly frazzled because the headrest from behind Zane's seat never made it back into its spot and just rode around wedged in between their seats... thankfully it stayed put the whole drive home.

We settled back into our usual, much less exciting, routine at home.  We did get to go to a really fun birthday party for one of Caden's best buds and his big brother.  They loved the fun dinosaur egg hunt!

 We also gave the boys their long overdue haircuts.

The boys got to celebrate their last day at their old school building with a pj day.  Pajama days are the best because they mean no battles when getting dressed in the morning!  The boys were home for the rest of the week during the annual closure, and Grandma and Grandpa came to stay with the boys Labor Day weekend.  We left them for the first time ever for a weekend trip to San Francisco for two weddings.  It was weirdly smooth traveling on our own, although we missed our trouble makers something fierce!  They had a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa, and Daddy did a wonderful job officiating Kevin and Amy's wedding!

 On our way home, we had this fun view of Rainier, and I was able to take a picture to show the boys since we weren't busy entertaining and distracting anyone.

2 year old!!!

July 2014

We had some amazing sunsets this month, so I had to share at least one picture!  We celebrated the 4th of July by walking in our neighborhood kids' parade, and then later on we went to a barbecue at a friend's house.  Caden looked particularly patriotic sitting in this chair.

Since our friends are expecting their first baby, Zane must have felt the need to highlight potential baby proofing ideas around the house. :)

One weekend when we were pressure washing the patio, the boys made this awesome chair and cushion fort.  Caden also started counting this month, and his version of counting is saying "2, 3, 2, 3."  It's pretty cute!  Since he has a cold more often than not, it's not surprising that one of his new phrases is "I want see booga."

 Zane has become interested in practicing writing the alphabet, and his letters are getting more and more legible.  After learning that paper is made from trees, his class was working on a paper making project that he was super excited about it.  For a few days at pick up he would drag me over to where the paper was drying to take a look at how it was doing.  It was cute!

I also realized how much more I pay attention to different types of vehicles than I ever have before.  Like when I was heading to the bus stop after work one day, and I was compelled to take this picture of one of metro's tow trucks pulling a bus!  Zane and Caden were excited to see it. :)

 We had a few playground adventures this month, including a couple visits to the wading pool at Lincoln Park.  Playground trips usually involve plenty of time digging in the sand.

 We also watched our favorite summer parade, including the boys' favorite part, the police motorcycle demonstrations. 

The Seafair pirates are also a key part of the parade.  Police officers, motorcycles, pirates, music and candy... what more could these two ask for?

That same weekend, we got to watch Zane's friend Elsa's mom, "White Collar Brawler," at her roller derby match.  It was a lot of fun! 

 The boys worked together to build a few box forts and homes. 

They agreed on the main decorative element for the exterior of their structures, lots and lots of stickers!

Caden turned 2 on the 23rd!  It's hard to believe that it's already been two years.  Caden is very much his own sweet, funny and passionate little person.  It is fun seeing his personality develop. 

He took cupcakes to school to celebrate with his friends, and we had some fun cupcakes to celebrate at home with.  The boys each chose a cookie monster cupcake. :)

He got his very own chair, just like Zane's, which he was pretty tickled about.

 He also got his first lego set,

and a scooter!

He worked really hard on blowing out his two candles, and it was so sweet.  He also worked really hard on eating all of the frosting!

 Here are my very best efforts at capturing his two year old pictures.

 

Zane had to get in on the action too!

 

That weekend, grandma and grandpa came to visit, and we had a birthday party for Caden in our back yard with a few of our school friends.

The birthday boy had a fun time!  We colored with chalk, played with the bubble maker, and threw water balloons.

It's quite convenient that some of Caden's friends are the little siblings of Zane's friends. 

Now that he's two, I turned his car seat around so that he is forward facing.  He stretched out his legs to show me how big he is now!  

Caden's two year check up was the Monday after his party.  After we dropped Zane off at school, we stopped by the playground to burn off some energy before his appointment.  Caden weighed in at 28 lbs 6 oz (55%) and measured 35.25 inches long (80%)!  His doctor was happy with how he's doing, and Caden was more than happy to show off his jumping skills.