9 Months

As you can see, Emmett no longer tolerates my photoshoots.

Big Baby Emmett celebrated his nine month birthday on the 16th and I was real emotional.  In the last month he has gone from gigantic helpless infant to gigantic mobile monster.  He's no toddler, he's just a ferocious mobile machine.  He no longer likes to cuddle.  Sigh.  He grew out of his swing and does not like his jumper anymore.  Instead, he sets his sights on an object and will literally destroy anything in his path to get said object.  Lucky for us, he is the friendliest monster you'll ever meet.  He still loves to laugh (I'll never get tired of saying that) and has added an adorable scrunch face and snort to his happy face.  Could he be more perfect?  I think not.

Scrunchface.

He has a total of three teeth.  His bottom two front teeth came in and then...a top fang?  I mean really?  A fang?  Where did this come from?  Well, it's there now.  I think it is technically called an incisor but to be honest, I am too lazy to look it up.  I keep checking to make sure it's not his front tooth with a HUGE gap.  That would be one heck of a dental bill.  So, hopefully his front teeth will join soon and calm my fears.

Teeth!

In the last month he progressed from random yoga poses to hopping on his knees to cammando crawling to real crawling and now standing.  So, if the progression continues he is going to be walking in no time.  Well, if I have anything to do with it I will delay it as long as possible.  I'd love to keep him "small" like Bonsai kittens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonsai_Kitten) or Chinese foot binding.  Totally normal I am sure.  As he grows we keep giving away our baby stuff cause we are done.  I know we are done because of the picture below.  We don't have the sanity for more kids.  But, it pulls at my heart strings a little that Baby Emmett is growing so fast and won't be a baby for much longer.  Big sigh.  Wipe tears.  Move on.

Chaos.  Pure chaos.

Okay, the stats.  I know you have all been waiting patiently through my emotional rant.  We switched pediatricians and met Dr. Low for the first time and loved her.  So much better than our old office/doctor.  Thanks for the recommendation Maureen!  Emmett weighed in at 26.8 lbs. is 31.5 inches long and his head circumference is 19 inches.  So that is 99% for weight, 100% for height and 99% for head circumference.  You heard it here, he is back on the charts!  Yay for baby Emmett.  He is normal?  Okay, not normal but at least he has a percentage.  No shots this time around but shockingly he's anemic.  Say what?  I think it was because he had the stomach flu the day before (yep, the stomach flu visited our entire family AGAIN) or maybe it was because he hates green veggies.  So, we have been better about giving him little bites of everything we eat but he chokes on everything just like Big Bro Jameson.  Frustrating and scary.  Luckily he seems to be getting better at "chewing" with his three teeth each passing day.  :)

As you can see, he "chewed" my awesome sign on both corners.

So, this month, through tears, I would like to tell all new Moms, heck all Moms out there, to kiss your kids, hug your kids and tell your kids you love them as frequently as possible.  And, take as many pictures of your kids as possible.  I am sure it is because Emmett is our last but these things have hit home lately.  Especially pictures.  I take a lot of pictures but this month specifically I kept telling myself to record Emmett's yoga poses on camera and low and behold...he no longer does it and I didn't get it on video.  So, I took it as a lesson to slow down and when I think to do something, just do it!  Even if Brooklyn is yelling from the bathroom and Jameson has climbed up the wall, just stop and take a video of Emmett.  There you go, a self lecture.

Does this diaper make my butt look big?

Happy nine month birthday my big, blonde, blue-eyed, beautiful baby Emmett!        

We Are Family

First of all, I would appreciate it if you would sing the title of this post and the rest of the song it belongs too.  Then, it will be stuck in your heads too!  Yay!

Second of all, this is another segment of the longest vacation post ever.  But, I promise you, it is the last.  Whew.  On Saturday we headed to a mini-family reunion on Brett's Mom's side of the family.  We all met up at a park right on the water out in Hood Canal.  In Hood Canal?  On Hood Canal?  I don't know.  Someone correct me if they care to. 

It was a blast!  We met lots of cousins, second cousins, great uncles, aunts, etc.  The kids had a blast running around in the park, collecting oysters on the beach, walking out on the dock and eating.  Man they love hot dogs.  Jameson also loves chocolate and snuck some at every opportunity.  He already knows how to work over strangers with those big blues and somehow ended with a belly full of chocolate treats.  Emmett was exhausted and took a nap, wait for it, in my arms.  Awww.  It had been long while since he let me cuddle him.   

So excited!

Such a proud Pops.

Digging.  Does it get any better?

Look Mom, I can eat grass!

Lunch time - check out Bink's face.  Awesome.

Cutiepatootie.

Thanks to Uncle Mike for hosting!

The Majestic Sea Barf

Wednesday night of our big va-cay we headed out to Neah Bay.  We left Bremerton around 7:30 p.m. and made it to our destination by 11:00 p.m.  Yawn.  We set up our sweet tent and realized all we had was a tent, pillows and two blankets.  Who doesn't like sleeping on tarp?  I mean really, c-o-m-f-o-r-t.  I've never slept better.  Sike.  I actually woke up in the wee hours of the morning, in the crack of the tent, laughing.  I guess my subconscious thought it was hilarious that I was sleeping on tarp.

After a few hours of sleep (thanks Dramamine!) our alarms went off at 5 a.m. and we headed to the docks to board the majestic Sea Barf.  The worthy Captain, Mr. Uncle John Krache, was ready for us to join him on board.  Just in case you haven't put two-and-two together...the boat is really named the Sea Barf.  Awesomeness.  Once on board we got the run down on the rules of the day and a tour of the facilities (a 50 year old bucket for the ladies) and we were off in to open water.

Thanks to the seasickness patch behind my ear and two doses of Dramamine I didn't even get a bit of nausea.  I was barely awake, but not sick!  Okay, so I wasn't barely awake but I was pretty sleepy.  Once we cruised passed the most breathtaking lighthouse I have ever seen, we left Salmon and Indianhead Rocks in the dust and kept on crusing and crusing and crusing.  Approx. 12 miles out into the big blue sea.  So far out that all we saw for miles was, you guessed it, water.  A bit overwhelming at times, but I toughed it out.  We did see seagulls, freightliners and SALMON!  Yay for salmon.

I hadn't been salmon fishing in many, many years and I am pretty sure last time I went someone else reeled in the big ol' fish for me so it was a welcomed challenge that I soon found out to be exhausting.  Man those fish fight.  Especially if you catch them in the tail.  Ugh.  But, we loaded up the cooler with salmon by 3ish and then headed back towards land (hello land!) to bottom fish.  So fun.  I highly recommend bottom fishing because it is such a unique experience and the fish are so beautiful.  Bright colors, bug eyes and huge,  featherlike fins.  I seriously can not put in to words how amazing it was to reel up from 150ft below and find a bright orange or purple crazy looking fish on your hook.  Wow.

Big ol' orange bottom fish.

So, you'd think the fun stopped there but no, our Captain pulled out all the stops.  Two words, sea cave.  What?  Have you not been in a deep, dark sea cave IN A BOAT?  ON THE WATER?  Yep, I am shouting that at you.  I was totally freaked out and equally amazed.  The clearest water under us and amazing sea creatures all around us.  It was so picturesque and of course, I didn't have my camera.  Dang Dramamine made me slightly (just slightly) foggy.  UGH.  But, it is burned in to my big ol' brain for ever.  It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen/done.  Thank you Uncle John!

So after 10 hours in the Sea Barf what does one do?  Well, drive back to Bremerton of course.  I was such a worthy co-pilot as I snored in the seat next to Brett.  What?  Salmon fishing is exhausting.  Thank you Brett for getting me back safely!

If you can't tell, I had an absolute blast and look forward to joining Captain John Krache on the Sea Barf in the future if we are lucky enough to get an invite back.   

Jameson's face is priceless.

Clearly so is Brooklyn's.

Proud fisherman.

What?  You expected to see a picture of me?  Not a chance.  CIA Agent people.

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N spells vacation.

Yep, we took a vacation.  It was by far the manliest vacation I have ever been on...but I had a blast!

I am sure you remember the subfloor post.  I mean, how can you not?!?  Well, Brett and I headed back out to the beautiful slice of heaven that is Maggie Lake for a week and got right back to making that subfloor in to a full blown cabin.  My lovely in-laws spent the week with the kids.  Thank you Corky and Lynn! 

This time I was better prepared.  My Foreman/husband gave me a sweet toolbelt to top off my work uniform consisting of cut-offs, homemade sleeveless t-shirt and Romeo's.  It was ridiculously manly.  I know you all want photographic evidence but truth be told, I am rarely caught on camera.  You'd think I was a CIA agent.  I am always behind the lens so, again, you'll have to use your imagination.

After we finished laughing over my uniform we started swinging bammers.  At the end of the first day, Cabin Project 2011 looked like this:

 
Day two we sheeted.  Which brought so many hilarious jokes from me.  I am sure my Boss was entertained even though at times he didn't laugh.  It's okay though, I thought I was hilarious!  I mean, how can you not laugh at things like, "That's some crazy sheet!" or "That sheet is whack!" or "This sheet is scaaaarrry."  Okay, it was corny and we had been slinging bammers all morning.  In fact, after getting one sheet connected to the cabin frame by slinging bammers I told Brett to get in the car cause we were going to buy an air compressor to replace the one that broke that a.m.  There was no WAY we would ever finish if we had to hand nail the ENTIRE thing.  And, there would be a lot of whining.  I think that is what sold him.  At the end of day two, and a ton of sheet (ha, ha), the cabin became:

Cousin Mark joined us for the afternoon/evening and convinced us to close shop up early to go out in the boat and try to fish for salmon that "people" had been reportedly catching.  We didn't catch any but we saw two dozen or so catching mad air i.e. jumping.  It was spectacular!  Huge salmon getting their entire bodies out of the water.  So, we puttered around and watched them until the sun set and then headed back for a campfire and barfing.  Well, Mark did all the barfing.  Stomach flu and camping are not a pleasant combo.  We felt so bad but I am so thankful he made it out earlier that day to hang the high sheet.  Thank you Cousin Mark!

If I learned anything this week, I learned that construction is tedious, back breaking work.  In the evenings we would hit the water (either lake or sound) and just veg out for a few hours and then hit the hay...by 10 p.m.  We were spent!  But, we did sleep like babies which was great because each day we had work to do.  Day three was beam day.  We had to hang the beam that the trusses would rely on.  It was way up high and all we had were ladders.  So, after a lot of math and design work, Brett came up with a plan and we had the beam hung and gables built by the end of the day.  I didn't get a picture at the end of this day because we were so excited to go see the kids.  You see, after we packed up the work site we went to Brett's parents to visit the kids, tuck the kids in to bed, shower off three days of bug spray and then drove to Neah Bay.  Salmon fishing break!  I'll get you up to speed on our salmon fishing adventure in a separate post cause this one is gettin' long folks.

Back from fishing on Friday, Brett designed the trusses and then we stepped back and said to ourselves, "Wow, that is one steep roof.  Well, let's get to work!"  Day four was spent on ladders.  Rickety, bendy, ladders.  I am a great ladder footer.  Brett hung all the trusses.  By mid-day the neighbor had clearly been watching our riskly ladder maneuvers and offered up scaffolding.  Yep, I got to monkey around (literally) on scaffolding.  I told you it was a manly vacation.  The scaffolding helped us a ton.  Thank you neighbors!  At the end of the day we accomplished:

Saturday morning Brett finalized the gable ends (he is probably going to cringe at my incorrect labeling but just go with it) while I got camp organized cause after a family reunion the kids were going to join us for a night of camping!  This is the last picture of the cabin I have because after the family reunion we drove the kids up to the camp/cabin work site and immediately realized that it was a horrible combo.  Nails, powertools and wood scraps do not mix well with young kids.  So, we all hugged Brett goodbye and headed home.  Brett stayed a few extra days and kept on workin'.  Brett's Mom captured these photos after we had gone home:

Gable ends, check.

Roof sheet, check.

Brett was able to finish the roof, install the door and weather wrap the cabin before heading home on Monday.  Now we can finish up the rest piece-by-piece but it is ready to brave the winter as is.  When we head back out to Tahuya, I'll capture a pic to share.

We had so much fun building this together.  I know I have mentioned it before but we really do work well together and enjoy it.  I learned so much from Brett and was so impressed with his knowledge.  I mean, I knew he was smart but it was so amazing to see him come up with a plan on his own and transform a pile of wood and nails in to a cabin.  Whew!  I am one lucky lady.  Cheers to one productive vacation.

Cheers to the Bride!

Today we toasted Jessica and Brett's upcoming nuptials.  With Jessica's directions in hand, we pulled off a wine tasting bridal shower. 

The wine!

It was actually a really great idea.  (No surprise there, she is extremely creative.)  Jessica wanted the shower guests to choose the two wines that they would then serve at their wedding on 9/10/11 (one red, one white).  So, Brett and Jess picked out a variety of wines for the panel of "judges" and we tasted away.  Fun!  In between wine samples we noshed on delicious food and Jessica opened some fantastic gifts.  We had a great time showering Jess with love!

Some alternate beverages.

Pink Champagne Cake Balls!

Dirt Cake "Martinis".

Mini Angel  Food Cakes w/Marshmallow Frosting.

The spread.  Mmmm.

What?  Did you expect to see pictures of people?  Nah, I like to keep the focus on food.  Fine, here is a picture I stole off Jess' Facebook of the group.  :)

Subfloor

What?  Didn't you expect a post about a subfloor at some point?  Me either.  This is a subfloor:

This is a little beauty that Brett and I built.  I know, awesome. 

Digging holes, slingin' bammers (Jameson's term for hammers), speed squaring, leveling, etc.  Whaaaaat?  Well folks, we (yes, we) are building a cabin for his parents at their property on Maggie Lake in Tahuya.  I am loving it!  Building with Brett is actually super fun because he is patient enough to answer all of my annoying questions and has a sense of humor when I dig one hole in the time that he has dug four.  It was some rocky, hard dirt.  Fine, I am not good at digging.  There, I said it. 

I am a great bammer slinger and really did help when it came time to build, not dig.  Subfloors are crazy tedious because you have to constantly speed square and check the level.  Speed square, check the level.  Speed square, check the level.  You get my point.  After many hours of that process we achieved a level, squared, subfloor!  Yahoo!  The lumber package arrived today for the rest of the cabin and we arrive on Sunday for a week of cabin building, crabbing and salmon fishing.  Wish us luck!

Cooking Camp

Cute camper in her food hat!

The week of July 25th was Brooklyn's favorite of the summer so far.  Cooking camp finally arrived!  She was so excited to chef it up.  So, you can imagine the earful I got when I picked her up on day one and they cooked, wait for it, salad.  She went on and on about how making salad is not cooking.  I reassured her that it would get better and they probably warmed up with salad because there are some younger kids in the group.  Well, day two rolled around and they made...fruit salad.  Darn them!  Luckily day three brought pancakes.  The excitement for camp was back in full force.  In addition to pancakes, she learned how to make pigs in a blanket and pasta.  She loved every minute and would pout when it was time to go home.  She made a ton of art projects and made lots of friends, mainly the camp counselors.  I attribute this to the fact that she is a teenager stuck in a four year old body.  All in all, cooking camp was a great fit for our aspiring chef! 

Getting her last day art project packet.

That face is priceless.