Mother

While doing Brooklyn's hair this morning we had this lovely conversation:

Brooklyn:  Mommy, I think I'd like to call you Mother.
Me:  Really?  Mother?  Why?
Brooklyn:  Well, it is more serious.  And you are serious.
Me:  Serious?  Hmm, interesting.
Brooklyn:  Yep, you are seriously bothering me.
Me: Blank stare.

Going with the word of the day.  I am seriously thinking I'll need heavy medication to endure her teenage years.

A Perfect Pair Indeed

On Saturday we trekked over the mountains (kidless - thank you in-laws!) to our good friend Natalie's gorgeous wedding.  It was the first hot day of the year and we felt every degree of the heat on our pleather seats, in Brett's unairconditioned vehicle.  Ew.  I feel bad complaining since it has been such an awful summer but seriously, we were sweaty messes.  Super attractive.

The view.  Can't even capture the beauty.

Grossness aside, once we arrived at our Chelan/Entiat/Columbia Riverside destination we were greeted with one of the most creatively decorated weddings that I have attended.  I expected nothing less as Natalie is one of my most creative friends.  Natalie's attention to detail was impeccable.  I would describe the ambiance as simple, elegant, romantic, airy, country cuteness.  It was picture perfect and seemed effortless.  But I know better, there was a whole lot of work into setting it all up.  I am sure of it.  I would love to share pictures but my camera died after taking four.  FOUR pictures.  That's what I get for being so obsessed with taking pictures of my kids.  Total mommy move.

The wedding was adorable and their vows were straight from the heart.  The invites had an artistic rendition of a pear and stated that the perfect pair was tying the knot.  It couldn't have been more true.  We were so happy to be there on their special day.

Fuzzy, but isn't that the cutest?!?

The beautiful bride.

A closer shot.

The reception was full of BBQ and pie.  Oh the pie.  I tried peach and fell in love.  Mmmm.  She had displayed various pies (well over a dozen) on different pedestals and on upside down terra cotta pots.  Again, picture perfect and a nice change-up from the traditional wedding cake.  After filling our guts, we danced the night away to the point of blisters and sore ankles.  When the night came to an end we sauntered down the road to the Jayco.  Our friends Lindsay and Ryan were nice enough to let us bunk with them in their motor home right down the road (Thank you!).  A perfect end to a perfect day. 

Congrats to Natalie and Casey Dundas!

Oh, Boy.

When they told me I was pregnant with a boy is in 2008, I thought to myself, I am not prepared to have a boy.  I have no knowledge on how to raise a boy.  I have no brother.  I was freaked out.  Panicked.  Jameson popped out and I thought, I can do this.  As soon as he learned how to show affection he threw it all my way.  Sigh.  Mama's boy.  I have been eating it up ever since. 

While he is still this little lover boy...he is also now danger boy.  He's always been more fearless than Brooklyn but now he is straight up reckless.  Whenever he shouts, "look at me!" I know to expect something scary.  I am trying to adapt and stop my heart from racing every time he climbs up something or jumps off something but he is pretty good at landing wrong and getting many a owie.  Lately he has been on quite the mission of destruction.  First was owie lip. 

He was attempting to display the lip while hiding.

Side view of owie lip.  Hard to capture the bruising.

Owie lip happened while playing at the YMCA.  Apparently he was chasing after a ball and caught the lip of the rug with his toe and his tooth went through his upper lip. 

Second was owie eye. 

I asked him to make an owie face.

Quite dramatic.

He couldn't hold the sad face for long.

Owie eye happened while running out of our castle/tent.  He tripped and fell on a dollhouse clock ending up with a sweet cut that we initially thought might need stitches but after a little ice and a lot of cuddling, it looked a lot better.  It has healed nicely and he only has a little bit of bruising left.  I think he got his gracefulness from me.

Here are some of his recent owie-less feats he had called for me to come and see:

My sweet pea, climbing in the sweet peas.

Why swing or go down the slide when you can climb?

And climb...

Eight Months

Baby Emmett is eight months old.  Geez.  A lot has happened in his life lately.  He has two teeth, is mobile and loves to chant Da, Da, Da, Da.  Yep, Da Da.  My brainwashing was 100% completely ineffective.  Ugh.  I really thought brainwashing from birth would make him say Ma Ma first.  Epic fail.  However, I still melt when he chants Da Da because it is so darn cute. 

He still laughs at everything and often ends up laughing until he starts snorting or gets the hiccups.  He has added a nose scrunch to some of his smiles to make them extra smiley.  It is too much for my heart.  He has a constant sparkle in his eyes that you can't help but smile at.  I catch myself staring at him with tears in my eyes...he's that cute.  I am super modest, as you can see. 

Mmm, what is this tasty treat?

This is not so delicious.

He is still growing a nice head of white blonde hair and his eyes are staying a deep blue.  Did I mention that he is perfect?  He sleeps from 7p.m. to 8a.m. consistently now and loves to eat.  He'll even eat green veggies now, which he gagged and spit out up until this last month.  I think letting him eat leaves helped.  Kidding of course.

Mid-knee bounce...

To forward plank...

To forward motion!

Male model pose/face.

He is completely mobile via a "crawl".  It's a combination of unique yoga poses (think down dog combined with plank) followed by "hopping" on his knees until he builds up enough momentum to hurl himself forward.  It is completely exhausting.  All the moving has upped his afternoon nap to three hours.  I need to video the "crawling", it is quite amazing.  I have made a mental note to do so.  He has perfected the commando crawl and uses it as a fall back.  He is trying to sit up from the crawling position but hasn't quite mastered it.  If you put him down sitting up he is completely stable until he gets bored and throws himself forward to move somewhere else.  Soooo, my days are occupied keeping him in the safe zone.  Between teething and crawling, he keeps me on my toes.  :)

Here are some outtakes from our 8th month photoshoot:

Siblings!

Oh geez...

Poor Emmett.

There they go!

And, I give up.

Zoo

For my sisters second annual 30th birthday we headed to the zoo with our kiddos and our parents.  Cause once you have kids, it's never really about you.  Just kidding.  Kids or no kids, we love the zoo.  The day was filled with counting.  One, two, three, four.  Over and over again.  Kid headcount.  Emmett was tucked safely into his stroller so no counting required.  It was a beautiful day and we had a great time.

Cute Baby Emmett.

Cousin headlock.

Stryker, Brooklyn, Scout and Jameson.

Yep, that is my Mom.  Mimi/Grammy Kim.

Cute Mom with weird grandkids.  :)

Tasty Orange Chicken

This recipe can be credited directly to my father-in-law.  He was explaining how he had read that when roasting a chicken in the oven stuffing it with an orange makes it really tasty.  So, I tried it out and I am a believer!  It was super tasty.  If you don't know how to roast a whole chicken in the oven...google it.  I don't follow a recipe so I can't share my style.  I know, ridiculous.  But, for the stuffing portion I just halved the orange and put it in the chicken cavity.  I followed that by twining the legs together, brushing the whole thing with olive oil and topping it off with my favorite spices.  Throughout the cooking process I squeezed orange juice over it once in a while.  Mmm, mmm, mmm.  Oranges are plentiful in the summer so the next cool day (probably tomorrow the way this week is going) try it out for yourself!

Music Maker Machine

The music maker machine was an amazing "help get your baby to sleep" tool for our family.  Thanks goes out to one of my Mom's best friend's daughters (follow that?) for giving us one as a baby shower gift while pregnant with Brooklyn. 

It is a simple concept, far from genius, but not everyone seems to know about this little music maker machine.  In truth, it is called a "Melodies and Motion Soother"...just in case you want to gift one to your favorite Mom-to-be.  I gifted one to a good friend of mine and promised I would explain how I use it.  Being that she is due tomorrow, I figure today would be a great day to do just that.  It is simple really.  Every time, I mean every time, we laid Brooklyn in her crib to sleep we would press the button to turn on the same song with lights.  That's it.  Seriously.  I don't know why it works but it does.  All of our kids found mobiles to be scary (I came to this conclusion by the screaming that took place when I would turn the mobile on) but loved their music maker machines.  When they were babies the music maker machine was attached the the crib.  As they got bigger, they preferred to put them in their beds.  They all still sleep with them, even Brooklyn.

I am not saying that this is the only reason why the kids finally slept but it sure seemed to make a difference.  We worked it in to their nighttime routine, which seems to differ greatly from kid to kid.  Heck, it's worth a shot if you are struggling to get your little one to sleep.  Sleep deprived Moms will try anything!

That There Clark is a TOOTH!

Houston, the tooth has landed.  Yep, Baby Emmett has his first tooth!  The first tooth is the bottom, front left tooth.  You teeth people out there can fill in the correct term if you must.  It just popped up outta nowhere.  I have been claiming that he has been teething, well, since he was born but the tooth appeared with no fanfare.  No sleepless nights, no screaming, no nothin'.  True to Baby Emmett's style.  I tried to capture a photo but only came up with drooly frame after drooly frame.  I'll spare you from the goob.  Let there be teeth! 

Celebrating America's Freedom

We had a 4th of July weekend jam packed full of fun.  We packed up our entire house Thursday morning and headed to Bremerton to invade Brett's parents house for five nights.  The car was literally packed to the ceiling which subsequently packed their house to the ceiling.  Man, the amount you have to pack for three kids is pretty ridiculous. 

After missing our ferry (wah, wah) we arrived early afternoon...just in time to catch the last of the tide being out which equals an immediate bucket of clams.  Brett wasted no time!  He sure loves to live off the land.  Did I mention Brett's parents live right on the water.  So beautiful.  The menfolk spent the evening measuring windows and preping the trusty crabbing vessel for Friday. 

Brett's parent's beach.

Friday morning Brett's Mom watched the kids so Brett and I could get up at 5 a.m. to get to the docks in time to not wait in a line.  Line?  Did you say line?  Well, there was no line.  We were the first to launch.  This resulted in prime parking and a long wait in the water cause you can't drop crab pots until 7 a.m.  Oops.  So, Brett prepped the pots and walked the Greenhorn (me) through basic boat operation.  When I graduated, it was 7 a.m. so we dropped the pots.  By 11:30 a.m. we had limited and headed back to the launch....only to find that it was an extreme low tide.  For you boating novices this means that the ramp ended WAY up the beach so we were essentially stranded.  Not to worry, Capt. Brett found a marina that served lunch so we dined in our trusty vessel (thank you Corky for letting us use your boat!) and enjoyed the absolutely beautiful day on the water.  Crab, check.  Sunburn, check. 

Oh, and not to worry, we eventually made it out of the water which was a good thing because Brett's grandparents were treating us to a seafood buffet dinner.  Yum!  I am not sure who ate the most.  Brooklyn was a contender.  She loves seafood and even tried the seaweed salad.  Brave, brave girl.  We had such a blast, thank you Don and Ginger!

What, do I have some food on my face?

Ice cream!

Food face!

Happy Baby Emmett

The hungry group!

Jameson, the comedian.

See, I crack my nose!  So funny.

Saturday Lynn and I headed to their brand new YMCA with the kids to work off the buffet.  Man, what an amazing facility.  I was in awe of its beauty and functionality.  The kids had a blast and I was thankful to get a workout in.  While we were getting our sweat on, Brett and his Dad were replacing a window on the house.  An equally sweaty job.  We all reconvened at the house just in time to shower up and head out on Brett's Uncle Mike's boat for crabbing part II.  Brett's mom hung out with the kids at the house (thank you Lynn) while the boys and me jetted out to slay more crab.  And slay we did.  By the end of the day (the most beautiful day of the year so far) we had 16 keepers in the boat.  Yum.  We were even able to collect some oysters and lounge on a beach in-between pulling pots.  Who I am kidding...I pulled no pots.  I was an excellent crab catch record updater.  It's an official job, look it up.  It really was an amazing day and I was sure to wear long sleeves and plenty of sunscreen this time around.

Brett on break from pulling pots.

My dream house.

What an amazing day!

So perfect.

Sunday we headed out to Brett's parents rental house to demo the roof on the addition.  Demolition!  When we finished up we headed back to the house for naps...all of us.  That evening Brett, myself and the kids headed out to The Sheller's for dinner.  They have two adorable little girls that Brooklyn and Jameson had a blast playing with.  It was a great way to wrap up a busy day.

Monday, we started our celebration of America's freedom by roofing the addition we had torn apart the day before.  Yep, me included.  So, if you need a roofing Greenhorn (lots of greenhorning), give me a call.  My duties were completed by noon so I headed back to shower off the tar (ew) and nap (ahhh).  The menfolk joined us just in time to take the kids on a quick spin in Uncle Mike's boat.  They loved it!  Brooklyn kept screaming, "FASTER!"  Great, an adrenaline junky.  We bundled up and settled in to watch the most spectacular firework display I have ever seen.  Whether it was being on the water or the sheer magnitude of the fireworks we saw, I was just speechless.  It was absolutely stunning.  The kids hung in until around 10pm when Jameson passed out on my lap.  He muttered something about bats and then started to snore.  So we hiked the kids back up the house and tucked them in.  Emmett was in bed at 7:00 p.m. and slept through all of the noise.  Perfection.

Learnin' how to drive a boat.

My adrenaline junky.

Ready to rock the boat!

Our trusty scout.

Tuesday we repacked the Suburban to the roof and headed home full of crab.  Such a great weekend!  I realize that this is a record breaking post but it was a busy weekend!  Hope you were all able to enjoy the beautiful weekend as well.