Putting On The Pounds

It may not look like it here, but Amelia has actually gained some weight!  She now weighs 17.1 lbs,

Mountain bikin'

Shawn had the day off today, so after dropping the kids off, we packed up the bikes and hit the trails.  I haven't been able to ride my bike on any trails since getting up here.  So, it felt great to get outside, ride my bike and spend some quality time with Shawn.  My legs, however, did not feel so great:o)

A Little Velvet

Anyone Up For A Hike?

The Wonderland Trail.

It's just a small hike around Mt. Rainier. 

 Shawn made his first visit to REI last night.  He researched some of the gear he's going to need to purchase and he picked the brains of a few of the employees there.  This morning he pulled out his sleeping bags only to find that they just aren't going to work for him and he'll need to buy a new one of those too:o)   

 I just realized I didn't mention how long the hike is.....

.....wait for it.....

.....it's a mere 93 miles!!!

(and it will probably take him just under 10 days)

New Blog

I am used to and often like change.  But when technology changes, I'm mad. They changed the way I can do my posts and after trying to update it last night, I shut the computer and "nicely" placed it on the end table.  I am going to try again with some patience and see where that gets me.  Until then....

Mindless fun

This week has been....well....let's just say, it's almost over!!  Last night Caleb and Amelia found that playing in the grocery bags was pretty fun.

 Notice Caleb's mouth is at the eye hole:o)

Caleb put these on and said he was a doctor.

I like that he added the ear muffs and then put the glasses on backwards.

This is our guest room.  I decided to make into our playroom as well.  They can mess it up, I can shut the doors and behold, the mess disappears.  Amelia still had birthday money to spend and he told me she wanted to contribute to the organization of the new playroom:o) 

 We are loving this new playroom.  Now all we need are guests!!

Groundhog Day...a-g-a-i-n.....

I don't know what else to say other than, yes, it's Groundhog Day for us yet again. All the schools are closed and Shawn had a three hour delay. We were supposed to have date night at the church tonight (they watch the kids once a month for three hours), but that's also been canceled. Yesterday we made some sort of homemade soup with a little of everything and it turned out to be really good. Then we made some crunchy peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chip cookies. We had biscuits and gravy for dinner. I worked on some kitchen plans for some friends of ours. I've been doing a lot of reading (The Hunger Games Trilogy). We've been making fires, playing in the newly rearranged playroom/guest bedroom and WE-ARE-STIR-CRAZY!!!! GET US OUT OF HERE!!! But it is raining today and it's supposed to get up to 41, so I think we may be able to get out this weekend.

Until then we'll keep playing and having fun.

This was also the perfect opportunity to do a little potty training. It's been a struggle with him for awhile, but it's almost like a switch was flipped and now he's getting it. When he's playing he doesn't want to stop to go to the bathroom, so I'm not sure how that's going to play out. But this morning, he's been dry since he woke up. He's been telling me everytime he has to go. And he's been getting "special treats" everytime he goes too (hence the Twizzler in the last picture - I need to find something better:o). We don't have any other plans this weekend, so even though we desperately need to get out, maybe we should just stay in and get this potty training thing taken care of!

(Don't ask me what's wrong with my kid. It's like 67 degrees in our hour and he for the last two days, he doesn't want to wear any clothes:o)

Another Snow Day

Well, we got another 2 inches yesterday, which closed all of the local schools and the base. So, we have been cooped up in this house since Saturday. Shawn went to work for a few hours on Tuesday, but other than that....we've-been-here! Caleb was going nuts on Tuesday and there was no way he was going to stay sane yesterday if he had to stay in the house one more day. Luckily, Shawn was home and could take him outside to play.
They rebuilt the fort that had fallen the night before...and went for a long walk...and shoveled some snow...and basically just tried to wear him out:o)
Amelia and I stayed in where it was warm.
This morning we decided to eat breakfast and watch a movie.

Notice Amelia trying to pack the Army Ranger guy into her picnic basket:o)

We'll let you know if we make it out tomorrow. We have plans tomorrow night and it would be nice to be able to get out of here!!

Snow Day Whidbey Island!

This morning we woke up to 5" of snow on the ground! Around here, 5" pretty much shuts everything down, so church was cancelled (which was fine with us because we wanted to get outside and play:o).

We didn't waste anytime getting outside. We ate breakfast and got on our gear.

We went to the backyard first to test it out.

Then we headed out front to the street for a little sledding.

Caleb learned that throwing snowballs was a lot of fun.

And he learned that eating snow is fun too! (Look at the mini snowball he put on Amelia's head :o)

Now he's giving her a taste.

We decided to take a walk to see if the main roads were cleared off. It's about a mile there, mostly downhill.....which means it's a mile back, mostly uphill. Shawn pulled Caleb on the sled and Amelia got the good seat in the backpack.

She fell asleep about 10 minutes before we got home.

Our friends, Mike and Averi called to see if we were out playing in the snow and if they could come over and play with us. They live about 20 minutes away, over Deception Pass Bridge, and they didn't get snow at all. They brought over Sheppard's really cool sled, that all the kids wanted to ride. We picked up a couple of our other friends on the street, Tim and J.D. and headed to where there was a little slope in the street.

Then it was back to the yard to build a fort.

Every fort needs a roof, right?

Once the fort was built, I guess the kids lost interest, so Mike decided to show them what the fort was used for!

Then they bombarded him with snowballs!

Thanks Shawn and Mike for building a really cool fort!

It was an awesome day playing in the snow and playing with good friends!