Kennedy couldn't have been more happy to have gum whenever she wanted. I don't know where she would have gotten that from...And the bottom pic happened when we were cleaning and Aly found this duster and it was the perfect size cane for her. She strutted around all proud of herself for at least 5 min! :)
We have been crazy busy trying to get all of our visiting in! We started out with the Idaho River Stampede Saturday night with our favorite babysitter Maddie (our neice) taking care of our ecstatic kids. The rodeo was a blast as usual- though the security lady who found Harry Potter in my purse was like, "You aren't gonna be reading that at the rodeo are you?" ummm, yes?! But I didn't really read that much. Too busy enjoying one of the great traditions of the West. Monday Kohen 'worked' out in the yard with Papa John and later we had a BBQ with our dear friends the Whitworths, Kirkhams, and Jensens (Nathan's brother Taylor and Kysa) who we used to do a dinner group with for well over a year. Between all of us there are now 14 kids and they were all excited to get back together and play. Wed. we went to a work BBQ with the Furni and the girls got their faces painted and Kohen was thrilled to find that there was candy. And finally we had a nice dinner with my Mom and Dad, and Ashley and her fiance Shayn at the Cheesecake Factory. What is the common thread of all of our fun so far? As always, food.
This was Nathan in August of 2005 after he had surgery to break and expand his palate in preparations for getting braces on for the second time. His first surgery wasn't 100% successful so he actually had to endure a 2nd one that was successful- as seen in picture #2. After almost two years he finally got his braces off this week!!!! He was so excited to eat corn on the cob for the first time in years he could hardly stand it! The braces weren't for cosmetic reasons- he has always had a nice smile (at least I thought!) but he looks and feels great which is what matters right? A quick shout-out to Gold Orthodontics in Meridian Idaho! Mike Gold is an AWESOME orthodontist and we are grateful he was able to fix Nathan up. Congrats Honey!!!!
As I said before, we made it! But with the two hour time difference and being up until about 3 am our time the night that we arrived, it took all of us a couple of days to get on schedule. But with lots of patience and naps too we are feeling better! Time to play!!!!
This years garden has been a lot of fun because the children have participated and watched with anticipation as it blossomed and grew. I was feeling a little sad because we leave for over 2 months tomorrow and so much of the garden remains too young to be...I guess harvested is the term I am looking for. But I caught the top picture of the butterfly on our Giant Sunflower and ended up doing a photo shoot of the whole garden like a total geek. My favorite by far is the peas; I loved how when the sun shone through the pod you could see each little pea growing inside. We picked a few peas and some snap beans and the pictures of Kohen are him so excited to learn that we can actually eat this stuff!?!!! Now he is a huge fan of the garden. And Kennedy being the ever-clean girl that she is, promptly slid the chair over to the sink so that she could properly wash the snap beans before she tried them. I am so glad the kids got to at least try some of what they grew!
For the first time Nathan and I have a little climber baby. We have had other friends who have had such children and always wondered what that must be like- and lucky us, now we get to know! She climbed into the lawn chair all by herself and was quite pleased with herself. She climbs up out of her high chair and we have turned around to find her (all mothers brace yourselves) standing on the tray! Thereafter she has been buckled in but she must have apprenticed Houdini in another life because just yesterday I buckled her in and a few minutes later found her standing in her chair, with the straps still buckled laying impotently at her feet. The other quirky thing is that she loves this little purse my mom sent my b-day present in. Whenever she finds it she will hold on to it and even crawl with it in her hands. I find it interesting because this is the first girly thing she has really ever paid attention to, preferring Kohen's cars and trains. Like our other children she has come of age and discovered the kitchen trash. Kennedy and Kohen would haphazardly grab at the lid and shove it off onto the floor in their eagerness to get to the goods but also alerting Nathan and I to what they were up to. Alyssa however, gently lifts the lid and using her mad crouching/standing/balancing skills, gently and quietly sets the lid on the ground. She is then free to dumpster dive (albeit on a smaller scale) until I happen upon her. I'm not gonna lie, it is a little tough on the self-esteem to be outsmarted so regularly by a 1yr old!
The first picture I happened to catch after Kennedy started playing princess after finding the tiara she wore at her Aunt Natalie's wedding. We had to have an impromptu crown-making session so that Kohen would have something to wear too. He didn't seem to mind being called 'King Kohen'; I guess it does have kind of a ring to it. Anyway I found them both smothering Aly and to my surprise they were smothering her with tickles and kisses and she was squealing with delight...not frustration, which was a nice change!
July is a very busy birthday month for our family and friends but most important to me is July 9th, Nathan's birthday! This year he is a whopping 34 years old. And yes, he is older and wiser...at least than me :) The Bell's and a couple of friends came over to help Nathan celebrate and have some cake and ice cream. Both Kennedy and Kohen waited all day for that last part! Happy Birthday Nathan!!!! Buhboo.
What do Smeagol and Alyssa have in common in the top pics other than their respective loin cloths? Their hair. When parents refuse to cut their babies hair, even when it grows in all unevenly and you start having really long pieces, Nathan and I call those long hairs "Smeagols". Now, Aly may not have much hair but as you can see in the first picture she was starting to get some stragglers and as much as I love her sweet baby hair I cannot support the growth of 'smeagols'. So we sat Aly down for her first haircut and trimmed the back (where she was well on her way to a baby mullet) and the top just a bit to even it out. All things considered she sat fairly still and was a good sport about it. And I think the end result turned out quite nice. Hmm...do you think it would be misleading if I add 'Smeagol Slayer' to my resume?
After our BBQ we loaded up our children and headed downtown to see fireworks in the Nation's Capitol. It was supposed to storm, there was a tornado watch (huh?), supposed to be hordes of people etc., so we felt like we were really rolling the dice on this excursion. Against all odds we were able to find a good parking place after only a few minutes of searching. As soon as we parked the skies opened up and the storm began. Undeterred we put on a video for the kids (a rare treat), Nathan took a nap and I read a book in the van. 45 min later the storm had passed and we headed down to the National Mall with about a million other people. It was still hot out even though it had rained and it felt exactly like we were in a giant outdoor sauna. I thought of my brother and cousin who are both serving in Asia and deal with this regularly...ugh. Anyway, the second pic is of all of the people, look closely around the base of the Washington Monument, those are all people- can you believe it?! We were right next to the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial and by the end of the evening there were crushes of people all around us too. We had a fun time though; ate pb&j for dinner and hung out together. I love the picture of Aly playing with my phone, she looks like she is texting or something. A real baby of the 21st century lol! As usual it was surreal to be in D.C. for the 4th of July watching fireworks explode above the Washington Memorial and Capitol Building. You can't help but feel patriotic and extremely grateful when surrounded by all of these memorials designed specifically to help us remember our countries past. It was not only a good reminder of the past but also to be grateful for the present. Happy Independence Day!
This 4th of July we had some of our friends come over for a BBQ. In the first picture from left to right are Joe, John, Ari, and Nathan. And in the second picture it is Betsy (Joe's wife), Kelly (who brought her friend John), and yours truly. Joe, Ari, and Kelly are some of our most favorite people and we were so glad to get together again with everyone. The food was great- the boys thought they were funny 'surprising' Betsy and I with a 'Salsa-off' which meant that both of us made ours and the boys declared it a competition at the BBQ. Betsy and I weren't fazed seeing as they were both quite different types of salsa and therefore it would be like comparing apples and oranges...good try boys. Then we put our kids down for naps and hung around chatting. Eventually the temptation to jump from our deck to the trampoline proved to be too strong and the trampoline got quite a work out for a little while before we decided to break for dessert. I always break for that....
If you haven't already read the first two blogs under this one, you need to because there is an important disclaimer/warning you need to read that will explain what all of this is about. Friday night after dinner we went and walked around in Times Square. There were just crushes of people everywhere and I had as much fun looking at the people as the bright lights! On Saturday we headed to Central Park where Nathan got his hiney whooped by an internationally ranked chess player (the guy was really cool, he teaches chess too so he kind of gave Nathan some pointers as they went- like, 'Um, I wouldn't do that if I were you.' :) ) and then Nathan rowed me around this little lake, which I was all excited about and tempted to act out the scene from Anne of Green Gables where she is pretending to be the dead girl in the row boat and then the row boat starts sinking- I love that part. As we left the dock the lake was kind of crowded with row boats and as we slowly tried to maneuver through the traffic jam Nathan assured me with, "Don't worry honey, I will get up to ramming speed!" which had me laughing picturing what that would look like. We spent a little time walking around SoHo before going back to the hotel to get ready for the finale of the trip. We were going to see Phantom of the Opera!!!!! I had never seen it before but have always wanted to and so I was, and am, so grateful that he would take me to see it. It was of course, unbelievable.
...Two If By Sea is the name of the restaurant we ate at Friday night. It was the most romantic place I have ever eaten by far. There were red roses on every small, intimate table and a single candle lit, setting a soft glow on your loved one...I swear it was so romantic that the whole place kind of seemed hazy like you were looking through a lens that had fogged over. It was very nice but not pretentious. We didn't feel uncomfortable or out of place though I did have a small moment of panic when I first sat down and saw 3 different sized forks lined up next to one another by my plate. I felt a little bit like Goldilocks with so many choices and thinking, 'that middle fork looks juuust right!'. Don't worry, I know you just use the silverware from the outside in. Anyway, there was live piano music playing love songs softly and we had a corner table right next to a window that looked out on this little area where there were vines and flowers covering the walls of the building next door. The building itself, The Carriage House at 17 Barrow Street, has history enough for a book. A few of the highlights? In the 1700's this original carriage house is where George Washington housed his horse for a time. Then it was purchased by Aaron Burr (who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel), it has a tunnel underneath it that helped slaves escaping via the underground railway. Later it was turned into a house of 'ill-repute' among other things before becoming a restaurant. The name of the restaurant is 'One if by Land, Two if by Sea' referring to Paul Revere's Ride, if you remember Longfellow's poem:
