Day 2: At the Zoo

Our little family, ready to start our day at the Woodland Park Zoo! One of my favorite pictures... Tyler and I both just LOVED spending an entire day devoted to hanging out with our kids. No rush, no hurry, no agenda.
We wanted to experience feeding the giraffe's, so we did! I was amazed at Wayne, he wasn't afraid, and even told the zoo-keeper "more please" to ask for more food to feed them. They just kept eating and eating... There was no time limit, so we were up there for awhile. Eventually, I had to put Wayne down, and even then he continued feeding them all on his own. Their tongues are like, 12 inches (at least!) long, to which Wayne replied, "yicky!"
How cool is this?
Weston... what a trooper. He never left the stroller in 5 hours (oh, except once to be fed... that's hard to do with him in the stroller! ;-), never cried once, and was just a delight. He loved all the changing views of things, and played with his toys.

Tyler and Wayne...
This is the pond over by the bears. Wayne thought the bears were neat (rarrr!) but was really fascinated by the fish swimming in this pond. We stayed for quite a while, while Wayne ran back and forth shouting "fishies!"
On the carousel. This thing is like the Lynden fair on steroids! I should not have gotten on it, I get waaaay tooo sick on things that move!
Okay, we went 2 hours away from home, spent the night at a hotel, all to see fascinating animals that we can not see at home, right? Oh, we are silly parents. We should have known that Wayne's favorite thing would be the cows!!! In our defense, his second favorite was the elephants (he got a stuffed one at the store, and has been dragging it around ever since!)
And that, is our day at the zoo! What a wonderful time of family fun bonding! :-) I'll leave you with our recommendations for your trip...

1. Bring lots to drink
2. Be prepared to stop at a lot of bathrooms!
3. Bring a stroller or wagon
4. Have your kids save their own money to feed the giraffes! ($5)
5. Don't rush
6. Bring extra camera batteries, and your video camera!
   
   

Not a "staycation", not a "Daycation," but a VACATION! Part 1

Okay, so by my own definition, a vacation is being away from home for one night. It's not a day trip, or just taking the day off of doing work and projects around the house. It's leaving home, doing something fun, and spending the night somewhere else. WE DID IT! On Sunday night we decided that we would head down to Seattle on Monday afternoon. Pretty spontaneous for me, I know. I am a huge list maker and planner, so this was quite spur of the moment. Add to that the fact that I WORKED on Monday from 8-2:30, and you'd almost thing I'd gone nuts! Tyler is AMAZING. He did laundry, and had everything pretty much packed, boys included, and we pulled anchor about 3:45pm. We drove down to Marysville, where we first went for dinner at Applebee's (Wayne can say "Apple" so we got some word practice in!) Next, we went to the Tulalip Outlet mall and did some shopping. It was actually really fun to weave in and out of all the stores, shopping separately and then meeting up again (we had a lot of ground to cover in only an hour or so!) We got a few things (a few t-shirts for Tyler, clothes from Carter's, and new frying pans for me!) and then went to our hotel. We stayed at the Holiday Express there, which was GREAT! Seriously, can you imagine I am saying "GREAT" about a hotel!?! They completely gross me out usually, but this one was so clean, I WENT BAREFOOT! Shocking. And I didn't even cringe when Wayne sat on the floor. Best of all, there were no "bedspreads" (or whatever you call those.) Those things are nasty, because they don't get washed between guests. Anyhow... the hotel was great! We settled in, then changed into swimsuits and went swimming all by ourselves for 45 minutes. The boys just loved the water. It was great to each have a boy, and have so much fun. We couldn't believe Weston... he never stopped kicking!

Wayne was all excited to see the pool.
Tyler's favorite part... Wayne holding on to him tightly!

What's more fun than splashing?


The Silves Boys

Stay tuned... Day 2 of vacation will be coming later!

Stay tuned...

We just got back from an ~OVERNIGHT~ family fun trip to Seattle. However, my head hurts too bad and I am WAY beyond too exhausted to tell you much more than that we had a fabulous time, and I can't wait to post pictures for you. Maybe no more than 4 hours of sleep the last too nights are the reason why I have double vision and a monster headache, but I'll figure that out later. For now, I'm going to bed (and yes, I do know it's not even 9 yet, and no, I don't care!)

Ebay Boy is at it again...

Hmmm.. Imagine my surprise to receive a package today... I hadn't ordered anything! As many of you know, there is a certain grown man in this house who likes to peruse E-bay to see all the wares it has to offer. This someone was very excited to know he got a package. Almost as soon as he got home from work, he disappeared with Wayne, only to reappear with Wayne in a new shirt. The little birdies around here say it's a Locker jersey, for the Huskies. I must admit, Wayne is darn cute in it! Oh, and why is it soooo hard to get a two year old to pose?

Approaching Graduation

Wayne is approaching graduation out of speech therapy! He has been going every other week for several months now. His progress has been OUTSTANDING, his teacher just can't hardly believe how quickly he is progressing. Each session she is working on more advanced skills, and he is rising to the challenge. I have sat in with him on almost all of the sessions, and I love to watch him learn. He is such a good boy, is absolutely darling, and is so cooperative with Megan. She often comments on how hard he tries! We have been working on things here at home, (a lot!) and so that has helped him progress quickly too. She is going to see him through August, and then will probably drop the sessions and just keep in contact to make sure he continues to progress on our own. I am so grateful that we were able to get him into this program, and that he has done so well, so quickly. Megan said that children with a delay like Wayne's are usually with her for at least twice as long as he will be, so that is great to hear! He is really using his words on his own, realizing that they get him pretty much whatever he wants. Hey... gotta show him they have power! We pulled up to the drive through window at the bank yesterday, where Tyson's girlfriend works. Wayne pointed at her, and then said, "Oh!!! 'Yson!" Too funny. He also now says Mommy or Mama, and Wesson all the time too. He is really improving on 2 and 3 word phrases, as well as 2 and 3 step directions (we work on expressive and receptive communication skills... I know, I am so savvy now in the lingo! :-) Wayne buddy, you are our sunshine!

The Most Wonderful Little Boy in the Whole Wide World is Weston!

The most darling little boy in the whole wide world! So handsome...
And a goof too!
Mr. Serious

Here are some of Weston's 6 month pictures... if you see me, ask for them, I have a ton to give out!

"Doesn't matter if you win or lose, only that you don't get hurt"

Friday night and Saturday was the 3 on 3 tournament in Lynden. Our family has talked about having a "brother's" team for years, and this year we made it happen! Ryan, Tyson and Tyler played, and then we also picked up Phillip Silves too (a genius addition if I do say so myself!) Todd is working in Cheyanne, WY, so he couldn't make the festivities. It was a lot of fun watching guys who we haven't seen play since high school all get together and "hoop it up" on the court (Tyler's going to make fun of me if he reads that!) Their team did really well, losing out in the game before the finals (the team that beat them went to the finals.) That was okay by us, because the guys were dog tired, and they would have had to play the Burger's boys, which we had already lost to (the Burger's family is tall and GOOD at basketball!) It was fun to play them though, we called it "family feud." :-) Tyler actually did pretty well, especially since it's been so long since he's played, and he still has all the hardware in his elbow. He was sore, but nothing a little ibuprofin didn't take care of. And hey, he did hit a game winning 2 pointer (they played by 1's and 2's) :-) The boys did AMAZING, and Wayne actually sacked out for a nap from 3-5, for which I was soooo thankful for. It was hard for him because all he wanted to do was to go and shoot with the big boys! Weston was amazingly great. He loves to be "out" and just watch all that is going on. When we went to DQ after the game, I overheard my favorite comment of the event, coming from a 3o something mom of 4... "And I told my husband, it's not if you win or lose at this point that counts, it's just that you don't get hurt, because you've got to go to work on Monday!" The first night, Mom took Wayne out of his stroller so he could watch the big boys. He was in AWE of the full size hoops!
Tyson making a lay-in.
Nana, Mom and Tyson's girlfriend, Breanne.
Mom, talking to Ryan's mom, with Breanne's mom in the background!
Breanne was so great with Wayne, she played ball with him, and took him for walks to get 'nacks (what else? Raspberries!)

The team, Tyler, Phillip, Ryan, and Tyson
We went to DQ after the game on Friday, and Weston ate his first french fry.
Wayne eating a 'nack with Breanne and her sister.
Tyler holding Weston between games.

Papa and Tyler out in the sun on Saturday.

Phillip taking the ball in.

The fans... too fun to watch your grown-up boys play again!
We ran into the other Silves clan a lot... Laurie held Weston for awhile for me.
Papa and Weston were quite the buddies. Weston thought he was funny, and was sooo easy to smile!

Family Fun Day

Friday was family fun day. We had planned to go out to Larrabee state park, but the weather started out not too warm, so instead we went down to the outlet mall together. We hit Gap, Carter's, the Kitchen store, and a few others. Then, we went to lunch at the Olive Garden. We love it there because they have coloring for Wayne, and the food comes quickly! Then, we zoomed on home where both boys went down for naps, and I went outside to paint the front of the garage. Two hours later, and I hustled inside to get ready to go to Tyler's first game of the Lynden 3 on 3 tourney. Whew! What a day! It was really fun to spend time with our kids together, after such a long 3 weeks of Tyler working almost every day. They are darling little boys, and we love them to pieces. Wayne and Dad fed the horse lots of quarters.
Absolutely exhausted on the ride home. We carried him to bed and he finished his nap there!
Even Weston tired out on the drive home and fell asleep. Shocking! :-)

Live Report from the Battle Front!

Okay, Wayne slept for an hour this afternoon, and Weston went down for 45 minutes. Remarkably, neither was too crabby tonight, and both were in bed and sleeping by 8:45!!! Woo-hoo! I will win this battle! :-) Tyler brought home a crab from work (one of his buddies goes out and brought some back for him) We just finished stuffing ourselves with it, and boy was it GOOD! I love summer. Now, I only need corn on the cob.

Scrapbooking report... I have 1 1/2 pages left to finish by Sunday, and I'll be caught up. I'm shooting for bonus pages this week! (bonus pages occur when you do more than budgeted. These can not be applied to the following week's budget, they are BONUS PAGES!) :-) Seriously, I am a freak. How do you all put up with me? It's the crab and butter talking!

The Nap Wars

We are battling the nap wars. Not only do I have one child who doesn't want to sleep (or at least sleeps very little,) I HAVE TWO! Oh my, oh my. Weston is good for 45 minutes, and then is up for 3-4 hours before he crashes for another 45 minutes. Wayne... Wayne just fights it and fights it. He skipped napping yesterday, but today I put my foot down because he was tired and crabby. Why is it that when we are young we don't want to nap, and when we are old, we want to nap but aren't able to? Odd. Anyhow... I am a big believer in the schedule. We have NAP TIME in this house, and that is how it goes. I don't even really care if they sleep, as long as they are quiet and resting. I need that time to do a few things, clear my head, go outside and garden, whatever. It must happen! I will not give up! In this house, WE NAP! Okay, now that I am convinced, and you are all convinced, who wants to convince my boys?

Weston is 6 months old!

Weston turned 6 months old on Monday. Can you believe that? I sure can't! Where did the time go? Although I will admit that for the first 3 months, time couldn't go fast enough. He screamed A LOT. It is so far from his temperment now though... he is a delight. What a cute, precious little guy he is. He thinks Wayne is hysterical, and everyone else is funny. He is quick to smile, loves to eat, and is not a fan of sleeping. He is still swaddled before bed, but he is getting to the point where I don't know how much longer even my "iron man" swaddles are going to hold. He still LOVES his soft blankies... that kid is NUTS for them! They are very soothing to him, and almost always work to calm him down or put him to sleep if he's almost ready. He still spits up a ton, but the projectile portion of it all has subsided. He is still nursing, although we do use formula on Mondays when I go to the office for 6 hours or so. At his well-child check, he weighed 16 pounds and 10 ounces, putting him in the 40th percentile (the nurse commented that that was no wonder, since he never stops moving!) His head was 43 cm, again in the 40th percentile, and his height was 28 inches, in the 95th percentile (way to stay on the charts Weston!) As compared to Wayne.... he is 3/8" shorter than Wayne was, and roughly 1 1/2 pounds lighter than his brother at 6 months. Weston is just starting rice cereal, where as Wayne started cereal by 4 months and was eating lots of other food and french fries by 6 months... I know, we'll get there again! Feeding babies is a bit of work and a LOT of mess! Look forward to Weston's 6 month pictures, I'm going to try to shoot them this weekend. So long, we're off to enjoy this BEAUTIFUL day!

One A*M*A*Z*I*N*G baby shower!

We had a delightful shower for Tara on Sunday, hosted by the DeGroot aunt's. My Aunt Shelly went OVER THE TOP with her decor items, including dyed epsom salts, candy binky's, and a "build your own" candy bag for guests! Thank you so much for a WONDERFUL time!
Just visiting. The drink table... get a load of this punch ring!

Brenna (age 14) made this blanket for baby girl Bajema.... I can't even sew that well!
Tara loves a good card!

Seriously... candy binky's? Too cute!



A ladies tea... sooooo good! Who knew you could stuff yourself eating "ladies" food? The DeGroot's never fail in the food department... those women can cook!