May: Part 3 - Work Weekend

We ended out May with some busy days getting our backyard ready for summer. We started out with some hair cuts, including Hunter's first. He was a little pill the entire time, which is why first haircuts always happen in someone else's chair :). Two handsome little guys, if I say so myself.

Thanks to the day-old bakery section of Walmart, we occasionally have after school treats of donuts or muffins :). The kids always enjoy them, but I didn't realize how much until I walked into the kitchen to this...Hunter had help opening the fridge, but I can just picture him pulling out the celery, trying it, then moving to the snap peas, trying quite a few of those, then deciding that the sugared donuts would be a better bet :). It's fun to get these glimpses into the little minds of the kids.

Every day after work, Alex went straight outside and stayed out until dark, or sometimes later. He worked SO hard to get everything ready for cement to be laid.

We had 3 yards of gravel delivered, which was a huge adventure for the kids, who had never seen a dump truck at work so closely. They stayed outside the entire time that it was being dropped off, which was a while because the slant of our driveway made the 'dump' feature not quite so effective.

Lunch with Alex after we got the gravel, and Hunter REALLY enjoyed his chicken strip :)

Later that afternoon we had 3 pallets of cement blocks delivered. We had to change the order of operations to do the cement first, so the blocks ended up sitting in our driveway for a couple weeks, including during our garage sale that weekend.

As the little kids get older, we have no one to save their outgrown things for, so we decided to have a garage sale to get rid of all the baby stuff (YAY!)

Olivia worked SO hard on this food stand that she and Carter had during the day. Besides a few spelling questions and making straight lines for her to write on, I had nothing to do with it. She was especially proud of her little writing under drinks :)

On Sunday night, my dad came into town to help us lay the cement patio. We were really grateful for his expertise and assistance, especially since I mostly stayed inside taking care of kids the entire time. The one thing I did do was measure and count rebar so we could have the least amount of waste possible. I didn't know that 20' rebar isn't exactly 20' long, so most of my math to get the least number of cuts was pointless, but the guy at Pullman Building Supply was impressed by my organization anyway :). He said he was definitely curious about a project with this many different lengths of rebar, it had to be a star or something similar. While not a star, the shape of our new section of patio didn't include any right angles, so the measuring and framing was an adventure.

The kids all donned safety goggles (or the closest thing we had) to help smash a cinder block. They were super excited, but not very effective with the sledge hammer :).

Alex and my dad worked all day to get the whole thing framed out and the rebar tied in place. They were ready for the cement truck the next day.

We decided to keep Olivia home while we laid cement so that she could see the cement truck, which meant that the kids had seen 3 different work trucks (excavator, dump truck, and cement mixer) for this project. This makes painting the living room and installing new flooring seem boring to them :).

It was super hot, so Alex and my dad had to work fast to get the whole thing smooth and flat before the cement dried. I took my job of bringing out gallons of Crystal Light very seriously, but didn't help with much else.

Everyone's handprints - including a mangled one from Hunter - went in the back corner, right across from the initials of the family that lived here when the first part of the patio was laid. It's SO nice to have a patio big enough for the grill, a couple tables, and chairs to hang out on. Carter has a bigger basketball court than he's ever had at home, so he loves honing up his skills, and I can sit in my chair and read while the kids play all around the backyard. It's perfect.

The last day of May was Carter's end of the year picnic at Sunnyside park. We fed ducks, played on the playground, had HUGE pizzas and walked around with all the families from Montessori School. It was a really fun day, and Alex was able to come on his lunch hour, which was a special treat. I'm so proud of everything Carter has learned and done in Preschool, it was fun to be able to celebrate with him and the rest of his class!

May: Part 2 (Hunter turns 1!)

Before we knew it, May 21st was upon us and we were celebrating Hunter's first birthday! It's crazy to me that our baby is one. All of our kids are growing up so fast, and the fact that we will never again have a baby still makes my heart sad. I was really glad that Alex's parents and Ashley came to town so we had someone to celebrate with and a reason to decorate. One fun activity was that I printed these 12 pictures of Hunter (one is in a frame, so not in the following picture) and had everyone put them in order from youngest to oldest. No one (not even me after picking them) got them all right, but it was fun to have all of these reminders of how much he has grown. You have to ignore the paint sample in the background, and the fact that I took this picture before trimming the ribbon. The kids had fun looking at all the different pictures, so printing pictures out will definitely become a birthday tradition.

Hunter has become a pro at pointing, but this made a perfect 'how old are you' picture, so I threw it in :) This sweet boy has been the perfect caboose to our family. He is super easy-going in crowds and with craziness, but doesn't forget to remind you if you ignore him for too long (which in his opinion is about 3.2 seconds). He isn't the best sleeper, and wasn't the best eater his first year, but loves human food so I'm sure as he grows more teeth he will be a great little eater. He prefers everything fresh (tomatoes over crackers, grapes over candy) and will pick out whatever produce you give him before eating anything else on his plate. He officially has 3 teeth on his birthday, but one is just a sliver on top. His only word is 'dada', but we aren't really sure if it's a word or just a sound. We are giving him less credit than we would have given a first child for sure :).

He is a super fast crawler, and starting to stand, but hasn't officially taken his first steps yet. We aren't in any hurry to get him walking, especially since he figured out climbing up and down stairs and pulling drawers out. He is already able to get into just about everything, I don't need any additional mobility for a while!

The morning of his birthday, we headed down to Hells Gate state park in Lewiston for a family hike. Our style of hiking is about a mile of easy hike, but we hope to work up to longer distances later :).

There was a little Visitors Center with some cool information about local wildlife and trails. The kids enjoyed comparing their wingspan to other birds, especially Makenzie, who was sure she was the size of every bird up there :).

On our hike, we saw a fun little stream and some deer, which was a bonus because our loud kids don't usually see a lot of wildlife out in nature :).

The state park was right on the river, so after we hiked a super short loop, we headed down to the park and water and let the kids get dirty. I was glad that I brought extra clothes for the little kids :)

After going to Zany's for lunch (a super fun family restaurant in Lewiston) we split up and Alex took the tired kids home while I went to Costco with Gary and Ashley. Costco is a necessary stop every time we go to Lewiston, because it's about a 45 minute drive and our family's eating habits have grown to Costco sizes lately.

After we got home, we had a little party for Hunter. The kids were more excited about the fact that we got dessert before dinner than anything else, and Hunter was a champ about his smash cake.

He was so delicate, just touching it over and over. I had it in the fridge all day, and I should have pulled it out a little sooner, so it wasn't so cold.

Alex and the kids were losing patience while waiting for their treats, so he handed Hunter a knife to help the process. Why we are okay giving the baby a knife, I will never know. It worked though, and pretty soon he was wrist deep in yummy chocolate cake :).

Olivia and Grandma were cracking up because they kept asking 'Hunter, where's Mom?' and he would point right at Olivia :). We will find out over the next year if he was really confused or if he is the ham we think he is.

Hunter's present from his siblings (which might have been slightly self-serving...) was a bubble machine, that he and the kids totally loved. I love baby faces around bubbles, but we need to find a higher location for the machine, he kept climbing over to lick it and stick his fingers in the holes :).

Grandma, Grandpa, and Ashley were also able to round out our cheering section for one of the kids' Tball games, which was a lot of fun. Alex and I don't spend a lot of time sitting and cheering, because one or both of us is usually helping the kids sit in their batting order, run to the right base, or field the ball (and throw it to the right person). Our sweet, college aged coach needs a lot of assistance to keep up with 12 4-6 year olds!

Tuesday morning, we said goodbye to the Casqueiros (until Black Butte!) and I took the kids to the park. They always suffer after realizing that they will only have my attention during the days again. We are lucky to have so many super fun family members who are always anxious to play with the kids and tolerant of their 'again, again' desires more than I am :).

That evening Alex and I took the kids to a big Old Navy sale (which happens to be the only clothes store within 40 minutes of us, so we do a family trip to catch up on basics at least twice a year), and we found some great deals (I love $3 shirts and $5 pants!!). Olivia is totally an Old Navy kid, who lives in her flip flops and tanks in the summer. She was also able to pick out these sweet shades for this summer, which made her a cooler kid than I was ready for. How did I get this daughter who is, unintentionally, so fashion forward and adorable?! Her fringe tank and big sunglasses just kills me. She is getting way too old.

We finished out the week with some cute Makenzie quotes that I want to share so I don't forget. One morning we were hanging out on my bed with Carter and Hunter, and Kenz was showing Hunter all the parts of her face. After she told him what they were (and poked him relentlessly) I asked her what each part was for. She said that eyes were for seeing, ears were for hearing, etc. This went quite well until we got to nose.
Me: 'What is your nose for?'
Makenzie: 'Um.....wiping?'

Yup. That pretty much describes our spring in the best way possible :).

The next day, when we were driving home from dropping Carter at Preschool (so it was Hunter, Makenzie, and me in the car), Kenz was babbling in the backseat, and I realized that she was saying thank you over and over. I asked,
'Kenz, who are you saying 'thank you' to?'
Makenzie: 'My socks!'
Me: 'Your socks?! That's silly.'
M: 'No it isn't! They are nice to me and my feet is warm!'

Who would have thought she had so much wisdom! I hope I never stop learning gratitude and simplicity from my sweet children.

We always keep about a dozen balloons around after birthdays for fun games, and Hunter's birthday was no exception. Carter was in shock, however, when he was hitting his balloon around and it got stuck on the ceiling. 'It isn't even a floating one, mom!' He repeated over and over as he was trying to figure out how to get it down :).

One fun thing the kids have been doing lately is playing soccer together in the back yard. Anytime all three of them play nicely together feels like a miracle, and they have been playing soccer a lot, so I've been taking Hunter out to cheer them on. Unfortunately, there is one too many kids to have a good team name, in Olivia's plan. I should note that every successful activity is Olivia's plan, because in her mind that is the only 'correct' way to play. Anyway, one kid, whoever calls it first, is the Beavers, and the next is the Cougars. The last one to pick a team has to be the Ducks. I have a hard and fast rule that I will never root for the Ducks, and pretty actively cheer for them to lose at all costs. I am always neutral toward whatever team we work for, so I will cheer for Cougars right now unless they are playing the Beavers. I always cheer for the Beavers the loudest and longest. These rules hold true even when it's the kids playing, so the one day I remember, Carter was the Beavers, Olivia was the Cougars, and Makenzie was the Ducks. She was SO confused at why I kept Booing her, and didn't want her to score. She probably would have pouted and left the field (in typical soccer player fashion) except her sweet older sister kept reminding her that it was OK, mom was just joking. I'm just trying to decide if I was really joking or not :).

Every evening that week I went out to the garage to get ready for our garage sale that weekend. As Makenzie and Hunter grow out of clothes, we no longer need them. Ever. For any future kid. It's sad for me, but also nice to finally be able to get rid of huge piles of clothing. Alex was about maxed out on how many bins of kids clothes I could have in the garage, so now as we add them for the bigger kids, we are also getting rid of them from the little kids. It is starting to work out, and as we are ridding ourselves of baby furniture and other things, we are both glad to see more of our garage (and floor in our house).