The Year is About Over

*week of december 28*

Jacob decided to go shopping on the day after Christmas, on one of the busiest days of the year. At least he knew what he wanted and really didn't take that long. In the meantime I continued to shop for the home.
Once I was done I texted Jacob wondering where they were and he said they were waiting in line at Auntie Anne's for some mini pretzel dogs for Riley. I should have guess.. Riley was mesmerized watching this girl make pretzels. She would look over at him and smile. Made me laugh.

Jacob bought a massager. We tried it on Libby thinking that the noise or the vibration would scare her but it didn't. She loved it, surprisingly.

On the Sunday after Christmas I decided to put away all my Christmas decorations. Once Christmas is over I feel that there's really no need to keep the decorations or tree up. Besides, I like to keep Christmas in my heart by listening to Christmas music year round.

The one area where I believe Jacob and I have laxed a little with Riley is his bedtime routine. I was talking to Jacob about when Sydna was five and what time we would put her down for the night but we couldn't remember, lol {it's been that long ago} but with Nathan I do remember. When Nathan was a baby and into his toddler years he would go down for the night at 7:30 pm and be asleep shortly there after. When Sydna and Nathan where in elementary school they would both go to bed at 8:00 pm and be asleep before 9:00 pm. But, with Riley we've just really been going with the flow since Sydna and Nathan are older and we no longer have a strict bedtime routine for them so because of that Jacob and I go to bed at any given time and Riley is usually hanging out with one of us.

I obviously want Riley to have more structure in his nighttime routine. It's obviously a healthy thing to have in place since he's a growing child and just as important because of when the time comes for him to start school. So, I talked with Jacob about instilling a new bedtime routine for Riley. Jacob is the one that says prayers with him so he's taken that responsibility to put him down. Riley has been going to bed at 8:00 pm for about a week now. It's been hit and miss on some days but it's still pretty darn close to 8. This new discipline that we've put in place is really for the three of us. We gotta be sure that we're home and relaxed and hour before 8 pm that way we're not rushing to get our nightly routine done. Because, if there's one thing I dislike is being rushed. I actually hate it!

Last week we went to a different library than the one we usually go to. I just thought it would be good to change things. It is slightly smaller than the one we frequent but I like the layout and I especially like that this particular library is right next to a large park and a gymnasium that offers a variety of activities including an indoor playground during the winter.

Riley spent the entire time of our visit playing computer games while I looked for a variety of books to read to him.

This sight doesn't happen often so when it does I make sure to capture it.

Since we're not party going people we spent New Year's Eve at home, like every year. For us, the New Year's Eve celebration has never been a big deal. I like Valentine's Day a whole lot more than New Year's.
This time we didn't even watch any of the celebrations on tv. We had cartoons on while we played Candy Land. Such a fun game to play with Riley.

Just before going upstairs for the night, which was at 11:30 pm, I took this picture. This was my way of ringing in the new year.

Vanilla spice eggnog is super yummy! That's what I had instead of an alcoholic drink.

Once it struck twelve there was non stop fireworks going off and that scared the heck out of Libby. It's so weird because in past years it hadn't bothered or scared Libby but this time she was running from room to room trying to hide. Finally, she felt the safest in my closet. That's where she stayed for the rest of the night. Poor thing.

Moderately Humming Along

The weather began changing last week. It's a lot cooler and we've had some cloudy skies ... and because of this change our grass is no longer dead looking. It's back to green again, lol.

Nathan will start school next week so I've been trying, and sometimes succeeding in waking up before 8:00 am {for starters}. I go to sleep pretty late, usually around 12:30 and sometimes as late as 1:00 am. I've always been a night owl but I hope to brake out of this habit. I want Riley to also begin to wake up at least by 7:00 am just in case we do place him in a daycare a couple days a week. Since he has a late birthday he'll be starting kindergarten next year. I hope that in a couple of weeks from now I will be waking up at 6:30. The key is to go to sleep by 10:00 pm. For me, that's always hard to do.

We like to visit the library. I enjoy picking out books for Riley. I've been getting him less dinosaur books and more of everything else. He has enjoyed all the books I've been getting him so far. He loves to check the books back in when we first arrive and this last visit I let him check them out. He still needs a bit of help holding the book steady to be scanned. Without my assistance I'm sure we would have been here for fifteen minutes at least.

The most recent Pinterest recipe we've tried making {or should I say, Jacob made} was this cucumber avocado and feta salad. I paired it with my breaded chicken strips and oven baked fries. I have mixed feelings about the cucumber salad. The dill flavor didn't really bother me what bothered me was the feta cheese. I think the recipe calls for too much of it. I do like feta but for some reason I wasn't really liking its flavor in this salad. I told Jacob that next time he makes it that he shouldn't add feta cheese to the entire bowl when he's mixing it all together, just only to his portion.

Have I mentioned that Riley makes friends fast? Well, he does. Every time we go to a park he quickly finds some kid to play with. I love that about him. In some things he could be shy but he's definitely not shy when it comes to talking to other kids. The look on his face had me laughing. He was having a great time.

Of course, a ninja move is constantly being practiced no matter where he's at, lol.

Nathan had a scrimmage game last week. Since I knew this wasn't a "real" game I wasn't nervous or worried for his safety at all. It was nice seeing him out in the field. Riley, however was a different story. He wanted to run around on the side of the field ... obviously I didn't let him so he kept going up and down the bleachers for like half an hour.
Nathan is number 18.

And my sweet from last weekend was this yummy looking donut. This looks similar to the donut I got at Voodoo Donuts in Portland. We like to get our donuts from Legendary Donuts and unfortunately they didn't have a donut exactly like the one from Voodoo but Jacob had them make me one exactly like it. I thought that was awesome. It's a glazed donut with vanilla frosting and crumbled oreo cookie on top. It is SO tasty. I don't crave donuts often but when I do I'm sure I will be ordering one of these ... or a glazed froissant {a croissant-doughnut pastry} from Frost.

Learning

Yesterday, Riley woke up wanting to work on his preschool workbook. As you can see from the picture he still can't quite get a good grip on the pencil. I think I need to get him those training pencil grips to help him facilitate grasp the pencil.

He catches on fast but he doesn't find tracing and coloring interesting at this point. I constantly tell him that once he starts school that he's going to have to color, dance and sing along the other children {he doesn't like to dance and sing in front of strangers}. That he has to do what the teacher tells him what to do. He just listens to what I say but then changes the conversation. I'm so apprehensive on having him go to daycare because of the horrible stories one hears in the news and also because of germs ... however, I also know that it's important that he has contact with children his age. I'm just torn. I was thinking that if I do have him go to daycare that it'll only be two days a week and for four hours on those two days.
Sydna never went to daycare and she never got an ear infection or pink eye and hardly caught a cold as a child. Nathan did go to daycare when he was four and he got pink eye about three times and several ear infections and would get sick with a cold several times a year. That's why I say I'm torn.

A couple of pictures came out blurry, sorry. This little guy sometimes moves too fast for me to get a good picture.

It had been a while since we last visited the library. It was probably towards the end of October or the beginning of November that we were last here. Whenever we drove past the library Riley would say, " there's the library, can we go get dinosaur books?" I just kept putting it off and so I finally told him that we were going and he got super excited.
He always ONLY wants to get dinosaur books and I always tell him that we need to get learning books and story books and once I do and bring them home and as he's looking at all the books he'll say, "this isn't a good one" if it's one that I chose so he makes two piles. One pile is for the "good" books which are obviously the dinosaur books and the other pile is for the "not good books" which are the ones I picked, lol. But the funny part is that he enjoys it when we read him the books that I picked out. He's just so full of it.

During another one of our quick visits to the grocery store, Riley again asked to help me with the groceries. He wanted to hold the basket. As we were walking through the produce section he would ask me about certain vegetables that he was curious about and didn't know the names of. Always learning. At the time I took this picture I didn't noticed that he was touching the red cabbage. It wasn't until I saw this picture at home that I became aware of it.

Poor little guy. The basket was too heavy for him to carry but he kept saying he wanted to carry it himself when I asked him if he needed help. I only had cilantro, two limes and celery. I guess for a little guy that is a bit heavy. He carried it almost the entire time we were at the store and finally, as we were walking towards the register he handed it to me.

While we were waiting in line he noticed the french bread basket next to us and asked if I wanted one. I didn't need one so I said, no thanks. Then he said, "yeah you do". I told him that I only like to buy french bread if I'm making pasta {which I wasn't}. That made me laugh.

And every day, when Nathan or Jacob get home from school/work he greets them like this and says, "I missed you so much".

My boys.
Nathan can be very sweet to baby brother. I love that neither one is shy to express their love for one another.

At fourteen Nathan still likes to sit and lean next to me when we watch a movie. He still comes close to get hugs. He still likes for me to do the sign of the cross on him before going to bed {it's a Catholic thing}. And when Jacob tells him he can't do something he then comes to me and asks me the same thing hoping he'll get a different response. But both Jacob and I know that if one of the kids comes to either one of us asking for something that we need to verify with each other first before we make a decision. Kids will always try to be sneaky.

Hello July

The 1st of July set a record high of 87 degrees.
It was very warm ... according to Seattleites it was straight darn hot.

Back at the library and this time brother and sister came along. Sydna helped pick out a few books.

It had been a while since we've been to Panda Express. The orange chicken was as yummy as I remembered it to be. Mmm! This guy only ate rice and noodles, lame.

The first half of this week looked a lot like last week. Riley played with his water table again in the evening.

The temperature dropped a bit on Tuesday. Not having the hot blaring sun coming in through the windows in the morning made a huge difference. Glad for the clouds. It was actually a pleasant day.

Yesterday I finally got Riley a table and two stools for his new playroom. I'm getting two more furniture pieces for the playroom and that'll be it. I don't want to crowd his space. I also don't want this room painted. I'll just add color to it by adding colorful accents and wall art.

Earlier today I made chocolate covered s'mores, chocolate covered strawberries and pineapple. It was my very first time to ever make something like this so naturally I was super excited {and still am} and totally looking forward to eating these yummies tomorrow when we're out celebrating Independence Day.

I accidentally deleted the original picture so I had to post the one I posted on my Instagram.


For the past couple of days this kid has been quite naughty. He's been getting in trouble and even after he gets told not to do whatever dangerous thing he was doing he will try to do it again. Gonna have to start spanking him every now and then and definitely more timeouts will have to happen for this one in order for this child of mine to start listening.

Stopped by McDonald's this evening for a chocolate covered cone {Jacob and the kids got one, I wasn't in the mood}. Jacob's a huge fan of those chocolate covered cones. We go to McDonald's just to get these cones about every third day. I would prefer a bear claw but, you know I haven't seen any around here now that I think about it. Gonna have to google and see where I can find them ... and if only a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store wasn't so far I would totally buy a caramel apple about twice a week.

Right now I'm watching "I still know what you did last Summer". I really miss watching my scary/suspenseful movies whenever I want to. Now I have to wait until Riley's asleep.

Well, tomorrow is July 4th. We have always either spent Independence Day at the beach or out somewhere celebrating it. Partaking in all that fun exhausting waking up early to finish with the preparations stuff and sometimes chaotic moments is all part of the experience. This is the one holiday I will not spent it indoors or at home. I love to be out on Independence Day and see parades and watch people dress in their patriotic best. It's just so fun and I truly am proud of being an American. I love the U.S.A {just not the current president, lol}. Whenever I hear all the patriotic music I get all teary eyed with goose bumps and all, seriously! I would have loved to have been a Coast Guard but you know ... life happened. God had other plans for me.

Hope you all stay safe and enjoy this awesome holiday!

Happy Independence Day!!! 

Last Week Of June

The month of June seemed to have taken its time ... to me.
Maybe it's because the kids didn't get out of school until middle of the month or maybe it's because the anticipation of moving into a new house is becoming hard to resist, it's just exciting!

Since the kids been out of school Riley hasn't been going down for a nap at his usual time. I guess he's just so happy to have big brother and sister around and doesn't want to miss out on anything. I have had to rock him to sleep lately ... something that I hadn't done in a while since he would always fall asleep in the truck on our way to pick up Sydna but something that I miss doing. I love{d} rocking him to sleep. It's a precious thing.

We were wearing hoodies and cardigans still last week. We even had rain last Monday. We were loving it!

Library visit.

Daddy makes for a comfortable toddler pillow.

On Tuesday, Sydna had her yearly physical. While we waited Nathan was keeping Riley entertained. Sydna got two vaccines that she was due for. Made me realize that I'm due for my tetanus shot. Hate needles!

It rained again Tuesday afternoon and what was cool was that we had a mini thunderstorm. It rained so hard, the wind was blowing and we even heard thunder! Totally reminded me of a monsoon.

There's a feed store by our new house so on Wednesday we stopped by to check it out. I love that they are very well stocked ... have free popcorn for their customers ... have a free dog park {good to know for when we ever decide to get a dog} ... will be opening a vet clinic soon ... I especially liked that they have cats for adoption which I'm thinking about getting another cat to keep Libby company. We also saw a kitty just walking around in the store. Thought that was neat but the darn thing disappeared as we tried to get closer to pet it.
Riley even helped pick out a catnip toy for my girl Libby.

After the feed store we went to Target. I wanted to get Riley more beach toys and finally picked him up another pail because I have no idea what happened to the one he had. Nathan probably accidentally broke it and threw it  away.

Riley loves it when someone colors with him the only thing he doesn't get is that he's not suppose to color on the same page as the other person. He thinks that no rules apply to him since it's his coloring book. He also has to learn that he can't just take away the crayon that the other person is using because he wants to use it too. He has to learn to wait. We've been working with him on that.

On our way to see our house. We went mid week. Jacob is becoming more anxious about seeing the progress on the house more than I am. I would rather not see it every week but he wants to.

The kids were singing and dancing.

All the light fixtures were up as well as the kitchen cabinets and by the end of the week the wooden floor was going to be installed. All the doors to the house are locked so we can no longer go inside unless we happen to go early when the guys are working on the house.

I woke up early on Friday. Since I couldn't go back to sleep I turned on the tv and began watching a movie. Robert Downey, Jr. and other famous actors were in it. I watched it all and I liked it and wondered why the heck I hadn't known about this movie since it was an old one. Robert was so young! It's called Only You. Such a cute movie and one that I hope to find online so I can buy it.

I love coffee. I really do. My dunkin donuts original blend coffee. I especially love it when I drink it in the mornings when the kids are still sleeping. It's just me, my thoughts, and coffee ... and thanking God and my husband for allowing me to be a stay at home mom.

The weather here in WA changed overnight. One day it was cloudy and cool and the next it was mostly sunny and felt a bit muggy. Summer was ABOUT to let its ugly self be felt. Imagine Kevin McCallister screaming and raising his arms while running in a circle. That was me.

Friday after dinner we went to W Seattle again. Just wanted to be by the water.

At about 9:30 pm Jacob said he was getting cold ... pshh! Not even. The cool breeze felt great. I was loving life again. If only I could have slept in a hammock by the water. That would have been awesome!

This little guy loved playing in the sand ... even got some on his head which I tried to scratch away but really couldn't. He needed a bath.

My truck got new spark plugs on Saturday. Who knew that they should be replaced every four years? I sure as heck didn't.
I just realized that I hate car maintenance just as much as I hate going to the dentist. Why? Because it's a total waste of time but unfortunately it's something that needs to get done. So half of my Saturday was shot. Son of a gun. But we did see a fireworks stand so we stopped to pick up some colored sparklers for the 4th of July ... which is one of my favorite holidays for sure!

It got up to 85 degrees on Saturday and we would continue with the very warm almost hot weather until Tuesday. And although PNW summers are usually temperate a few unpleasant days are really not bad. Yes, hot days suck but what gives me comfort is that this type of weather will not go on for days on end like the ones I've experienced before.
And let me just say that the hot days didn't give me headaches and I actually took them better than Jacob and the kids. That was such a reverse from our Tucson summer days and very surprising. I even surprised myself.

We made a night run to Baskin Robbins.

On our way to church. Riley wanted Woody to wear a seatbelt so he had Sydna place him in front of her. That's just too funny.

After service was over I walked over to the nursery and peeked at Riley. He was playing and running around. Made me happy he felt comfortable. Almost looked like he owned the place, lol. Once we was allowed to leave he ran down the hallway with Woody in hand. Looks so cute.

We were all hungry after church so we had Dickey's for lunch.

He finally fell asleep in the car.

Every night when I go to bed and say my prayers I pray for our country. But it seems that every day another negative issue is revealed. We should all be praying for our country. For her to get back to her former glory days. How things used to be. Some things are better left alone. There wasn't anything wrong then.
All these social issues that have taken place completely disgust me. I worry about my children, all children, and the pressure they will go through because of all this nonsense. And lets not forget about the economy, military and veterans.

I pray that the next president is a man of strong Christian faith and runs the United States as it should be run.

A New Season

School is finally over. Summer is here. Time for late night movies and summer fun activities. And so far we are totally loving summer in the Pacific Northwest!

I'm still sleeping with the window open ... even when it rains.
I'm extra happy when mornings start out cloudy.

Listening to the birds chirp in the morning is the best! but before I get out of bed I make sure to thank God for another day and thankful for all His blessings and protection.

We've been to the library quite a bit. Once we attended story time but Riley wasn't really interested. All he did was walk around and play with puzzles and likes to talk nonstop. Even though he loves to be read to at home he's more of a hands on kinda kid when we're at the library. He still becomes shy when people look at him and when someone talks to him he still covers his face or hides behind me. This is another reason why we've been to the library more often lately ... I want him to get used to being around people and to learn to say hi and become more open.

Nathan's {and Sydna's} last day of school was last Wednesday. I attended an assembly at his school. Yes, that tall girl is in Nathan's class -6 grade. I wonder how much more she's gonna grow.

It had been a few months since I stepped foot inside a mall. I finally decided to go because I realized that Riley didn't have swimming trunks. It was a great thing I went too because all the children's shops that I went into were having awesome sales so I ended up getting him a few other things.
He was asleep when I was shopping for him so he didn't see what I got him until we got home. I knew that the Woody and Buzz shirt I got him at Old Navy was gonna be a hit and sure enough once I showed it to him he smiled and kept saying "woody and buzz shirt -put on". He laid on it, somehow thinking that by him doing that he would be wearing it, lol.

Jacob made pizza on Thursday ... came out good as usual. We watched game 7. Unfortunately San Antonio lost. I'm not really a Spurs fan but I wanted them to win instead of the Heat. I changed the channel as soon as the game was over ... didn't care to see any of the celebration junk.

While we watched the game Riley watched Little Einsteins on Jacobs phone.

Friday was Kids Day at a park in the city that we'll be moving into. What a great way to welcome the 1st day of Summer.
This was my first time going on an outing without Jacob in a very long time. I didn't like it. I hate that he missed out on a lot of Rileys cuteness but I tried to capture them all in pictures for him to see later.

At first Riley didn't want to go inside this inflatable because the air that came out scared him. Nathan was having a hard time getting him inside so I had to help ... I may have pushed him in a little, lol.

Once inside he was fine and smiling. Nathan had to hold him and helped him out along the way.

This picture cracks me up because Nathan was laughing hard ... he was having a hard time lifting Riley since he was on his knees. Then Sydna noticed that Riley was missing a sock so she went in to get it. These kids are so goofy and constantly crack up when it comes to helping out with Riley. I have to sometimes tell them to behave because then Riley starts acting silly too then it's nothing but chaos.

There were so many booths that I really didn't know where to begin. There was this cool gorilla/dinosaur inflatable for the older kids but Nathan didn't want to go on it. I think Nathan may have a fear of heights.
While we walked around I was searching for a booth that was giving out balloons ... because little kids love balloons. The day was cloudy and in the mid 60's, perfect! Got Sydna and Nathan Hawaiian shaved ice. I gave Riley some but he didn't care for it, weird.
I finally spotted a booth that was giving out balloons. Riley chose a red one.

And about ten minutes after he got it the darn ribbon that was tied to his wrist became lose and it flew away. Surprisingly Riley didn't make a big deal of it. Wow! Probably because he was starting to feel tired.

Of all the booths around the kids decided to be hands on at a gardening booth ... where they had WORMS! I hate worms and anything slimy or that slithers. Totally the most disgusting things ever!! Nathan purposely kept calling me and showed me a disgusting worm. I had to walk away. I'll get them back. Sydna has an insect phobia and they're both scared of spiders. They should know better than to mess with their momma.

Saturday morning we drove by our house. I didn't take a picture. The front porch and driveway were done. More progress. That was nice to see.
Saturday was also grocery shopping day. Loathe.

Got home, ate lunch, then put the groceries away. That's another thing I don't like ... having to bend down to put stuff away. It's annoying.

Any changes that goes on in our day messes up Rileys sleeping routine. He used to fall asleep on my way to Sydnas school but since I'm home during that time now he hasn't and when I tell him to lay down and go to sleep he whines. He's stubborn. If he's completely exhausted he'll fall asleep on his own but typically we have to rock him to sleep which I really don't mind at all.

He's such a crazy sleeper. We lay him one way and when we check back on him he's moved ... legs hanging from the couch ...

... or completely on the opposite side.

It was mostly sunny on Saturday so around 5:30 pm we left and headed over to W Seattle. In my opinion that's the best place to see the Seattle skyline, on Alki Beach ... such gorgeous views! And the feel of W Seattle totally reminds us of back home. It was crowded as it would be expected on such a sunny gorgeous summer day.

We found parking just a couple of blocks from Tully's Coffee. I was in the mood for Tully's and the only one in W Seattle was smack in the middle of where all the tourists were. We got out and first walked a little.

He threw a few rocks then we walked across the street to get coffee.

We then drove to Lincoln Park. It's away from the touristy area so the park wasn't crowded at all. We've been to this park before. Nathan likes it because there's a zip line. Jacob and I like it because the "beach" area is just down the hill. The atmosphere is very relaxing and of course the view.

He was laughing because he thought he was being cool holding on with only one hand.

After he had his fun we walked down to the water.

Nathan and Jacob are always trying to perfect their rock skipping technique and the first step to skip rocks successfully is finding the smoothest flattest rock possible ... or so I'm told.

Riley's not interested in perfecting anything. All he cares about is throwing rocks in the water and hearing a loud kerplunk.

Sydna was letting me know that she counted eight jellyfish.

It was crazy because when we first arrived we didn't see any but as soon as 9:00 pm came around we began seeing a large amount of jellys. The sizes varied ... there were some as big as large plates to golf ball size jellyfish. And since jellyfish can't swim the tide moved them towards the rocks where they became stuck and eventually died.

Gross.

These next three pictures are cute.
Riley threw a rock and he got happy when it landed in the water. Then he gave his daddy a high five. So sweet!

There were clouds but it was clear enough to see a gorgeous sunset over the Olympic Mountains.

I'm still in awe at how bright it is at 9:15 pm. It becomes dark just before 10:00 pm. I don't mind it at all. It makes for fun summer nights.

Sydna took this picture. Not bad.

I couldn't get a good shot of the super moon on Saturday but I got a pretty picture of the night sky while on the freeway.

We have been wanting to go this church for a while but honestly we've been too lazy or I make other plans that would have otherwise taken place at the same time as going to church but on Sunday we finally made it a priority to check this church out.
It's a small Christian church about two minutes from where we live now. They just moved in to the building in November.
We arrived about fifteen minutes early and there were hardly any cars in the parking lot. That made me a bit hesitant but when there was about five minutes left we got out and walked inside. We were greeted and one of the greeters asked us if it was our first time since he hadn't seen us there before. He introduced himself. He saw that we had kids and immediately informed us about the childrens ministry and nursery and introduced us to a lady that walked us over to the nursery. Sydna and Nathan wanted to stay with us in the sanctuary but we did register Riley. He was the only toddler there at the time. I sneaked out ... Jacob stayed in with him for a little while longer.
I believe it was meant to be for us to attend church on Sunday. The message really cemented teachings I constantly talk to my kids about. The pastor felt genuine and used the proper words to get the message out. Kept us all interested. I could tell Sydna and Nathan were soaking it all in. Both Jacob and I felt at peace with this church, we felt comfortable. I was also happy that Riley did so good at the nursery. Once he realized Jacob was gone he didn't cry and he began talking with the teacher. There were also more toddlers so that made me comfortable knowing he wasn't there alone. I just hope that as we continue to go and the kids become comfortable with the people that Nathan will also attend his age group class and Sydna as well.


Jacob better get going on mowing a.s.a.p. before these dandelion flower heads turn into the seed heads that cause so many allergies and look like snow flurries.

Happy week to you all.