Toddler Beds

We moved them to toddler beds today, or I should say Mark moved them to toddler beds because he did all of the work. Here are some pictures of them before bedtime tonight

THE most amazing grandparents in the world

Today my mom and dad spent hours at my house with the people setting up the kids new swingset, which they purchased for the kids for their birthday. To kill some time, my mom cleaned the house and folded all the laundry (like 4 baskets worth!) and vacuumed, and my dad weeded our backyard. They always do so much for us and GIVE so much to us- I am so lucky to have them!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some pictures of the kids on their new swingset, they love it and weren't at all interested in coming inside...I wonder why.

First Mariners game

Cassie went to her first Mariners game on Saturday night with daddy. She had a blast, and came home with a new tee shirt and a pink Mariner's monkey, whom she drags all over the house with her, he even went to daycare today.






As you can see in this video, she was getting her grove on at the game!

She knows her name

The kids got bored playing outside this afternoon and wanted to color. I decided to help Cassie write out her name and she really loved doing it (she's not into herself at all, LOL!). Mark got this video of us, I love how she sounds so proud of saying her own name

We had a lot of outside play time this weekend in the nice HOT weather. They really like sitting on the porch in the chairs, I don't know what it is about them but they ask all the time to go out there.

And then Cassie was sunbathing outside, no joke! The boys were running around, jumping in and out of the pool, but all she wanted to do was lay down on the (very hot I might add) cement and just relax there. She is absolutely my daughter!!!!!

Half way to 50

Another celebration this weekend was my 25th birthday, or as my mother keeps reminding me... I'm now half way to 50 years old, LOL. I suppose that's one way to look at it.

Thanks to my mom watching the kiddos this weekend, Mark was able to take me out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. It was actually my first time at this location, we went to Daniels Broiler on the Seattle waterfront. We had a wonderful dinner and some "quite" time to talk without the pitter patter of little feet and the screeches that come from three two year olds.

Then we spent Sunday afternoon at my Mom and Dad's house, letting the kiddos play outside in the pool (cassie was seriously DIVING into the water-that crazy girl) and celebrating our anniversary and my birthday. My mom even made me a delicious cake with LOTS of sprinkles!!!! I also got the gift I've been wanting for SOOOO long- Thank you mom and dad!

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend!

6 years ago today

I can't believe it's been 6 years since we said our vows on the beautiful Lopez Island in front of our family and friends. In those 6 years I've joined the Navy, we've moved to California and back to Washington, Mark graduated from Washington State University and we have 3 of the most beautiful children I've ever seen. It has been an amazing 6 years and we have been SO blessed!

No Regrets

Mark was working late the other night and I was laying in bed with Tristan next to me all snuggled up in my arm with his head resting on my chest and I remember thinking, "Gosh he fits so perfectly in my arms" (and I'm going to get all mushy on you now.... )"I am the luckiest woman alive to have these 3 beautiful perfect little children to tuck into bed every night. How amazing my life is now and my God how it has changed in the last 3 years" and I was crying as I laid there thinking about it all.

I know what some of you are thinking, "you take the kids to bed with you?!?!?!?!?!" and the answer to this is NO, we don't "take" the kids to bed with us. However, every once in a while I like to sneak into the kids room after they are asleep and pick one of them up to take and cuddle with me. Sometimes it's after I've had a rough day at work, or if I am feeling lonely because I'm home alone but mostly it's because I want NO REGRETS with my children. And I'm not striving for perfection here, but rather that when I lay my head down each night, I don't want to think back on the day and realize there are things I didn't do that I wanted to (involving my children).

I have my husband to thank for the encouragement to do this, to just go grab a baby and bring them back to bed for some snuggles. I was talking about it one night with him and told him that sometimes I just want to do that, but don't want to get in a bad habbit of having them in our bed. His anwer was perfect and was just what I was thinking, "you might as well do it, you don't want to regret not doing it when they are older". So that's just what I've been doing.

No regrets kiddos, no regrets...

Spaghetti Factory

Tonight Nana and Grandaddy invited us to dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory... it's fast becoming a tradition (which we really enjoy!!!!). Auntie Rachael and Uncle T were over visiting for the afternoon and mom and dad invited them but T had previous activities arranged. So Rach came to dinner with us and T went to play football. The kids did REALLY good at dinner, our server wasn't exactly...um, timely. He left us hanging a few too many times and the kiddos got bored and impatient, but despite that fact, they did really good for such a long dinner. Here are a few candid shots from the night.

and yes, they are in their pajamas. It was a really lazy Sunday and the dinner invite came late in the day. So we just took them in their PJ's. Hey, at least they were comfortable.

and here is granddaddy's newest invention:

Maybe safer trips to and from the car? They still don't have it down but it's a work in progress.

Attack of the cat

Every once in a while, Zain our white fluffy cat will play with the kids. If he's not busy being chased by them, or attacked by them, or having one of the kids fall on top of him (with their WHOLE body), you might find him in a position where he is slightly able to defend himself against our little busy bodies. Here's a video Mark caught the other night....sorry for the movement, he found the whole scene hillarious and had a hard time controlling his laughter.