Summer is coming

I could almost feel the summer sun coming in Seattle.  For the past few days the temperature is rising to 60 - 70!!!  The kids could not wait to go to the park and ride their bikes!   The other day, they contend themselves by riding their bikes on the street outside our house.   Andi is learning to ride her bike too!  She is so amazing because she is trying to hard to paddle and synchronized her feet by circling round and round.  She almost got the hang of it.   But if she gets tired pedalling, she would ask me to pull her bike, and it was exhausting.

Look at her, who could tell that she is just 2.5 years old?  She is growing so fast, I can't hardly enjoy each passing moments. 

It is so true when they say that as a parent you should enjoy and treasure each moment you spent with your kids, because they grow so fast and the next moment you will realized that they are already grown ups.   And they will live their life on their own terms. 

Getting some additional TECH

Guest written by our friend Mason Abbott

I’ve recently been reading all the hughesnet reviews online and I’m starting to think we need home internet. I’ve been able to get by without it the last couple of years but geez, wouldn’t it be nice to online shop or even to confirm my dentist appointments via email like all my friends. Plus I’ve gotten a lot more into Facebook recently and it’s annoying when I hear someone has new pictures up or something and I can’t check at home…I’ve always been kind of a lagger when it comes to technology but you know, I think it’s clutch to have internet if you remotely want to stay with the times. I mean, I’m not 70 years old, I’m barely a mom, and I’ve got keep abreast of what’s going on or I’m going to get totally out of the loop in another couple of years. Who would have thought I’d be the last one to get internet in my neighborhood full of old fogies? I certainly wouldn’t have said it’d be me!

Someone is not happy :-(

She was not so happy and I don't know why !   She just sit at the bottom of the stairs and cry.  She does not even want to tell me why.  She does that when she wants something and she could not have it.

She looks so miserable and cute.  I would say that Andi at her age is very smart.  She has more vocabulary than any other two years old.   She talks like a grown up!  Sometimes, she surprised me with her words, phrases and I start to wonder where she learned it.   There was one instance when we were having conversation in the car and she told me that she does not like one of her friends because she said that the girl does not know how to talk yet.  And that she could not understand her at all!  That kid she was referring to is a month older than her, but she mostly bubbles and true enough that you can't hardly understand or make sense of what she was talking.  That was the only time, I was able to figure out why she does not want to play with that kid and would prefer to play with her big sister friends (which are older kids).  She mostly wants to play with older kids and seldom seen her play with kids her age.

I guess, she is just a little bit advance compared to kids her age.  She is sassy, funny, smart and most of all very sweet.  

Putting on my annual spring yard sale

Guest post written by Brit Evans

I don't understand how people can stand to put on more than one yard sale a year. I do one every spring and it about kills me! But it's because I only do one that I like to make sure that I go all out for it and sell as much of my stuff as possible at it so that I don't have to do a repeat in the summer or the fall.
The key to selling a lot is getting the word out as much as possible. So I looked up some cool signage ideas to make and when I was doing that I saw the website debtconsolidation.me and thought it could come in handy for our family's financial situation.
I got some really good sign ideas and painted them on some scrap wood that my husband had as a way to avoid spending any more money. Plus, we'll be able to reuse those signs in the future, which is even better for our budget and the environment! All around, it's a win-win situation, especially if the signs attract even more customers to our yard sale.

Inside the Jellyfish

This was one weekend when we got bored and decided to have a stroll at downtown Seattle  and end up at the aquarium.   We have been there many times, but for kids they act as if it was always the first time.  How I wish we grown up will have the same enthusiasm as they have.  Andi was having a great time and love to have pictures with everything.  Unfortunately, that was the only time when we does not have any camera with us.  So we settled for what we had, my lovely phone!

Here are some pictures of Andi:

She had a blast in the Jellyfish.  She kept coming back to have her pictures taken and after you took her picture she would asked if she could take a look at it.   If she was not satisfied, she would go back and have her picture taken again!!!

It was a fun day, sometimes the day goes great when out of the blue you just go out there and see what surprises the day will bring.

Have a great day everyone !

She is sleeping with Big Sister!

It has been four days now that Andi has been sleeping with her sister.  We are trying to encourage her to sleep with her sister, and once she get used to it, we could buy her big bed and could share a room with her sister! Tonight, she wanted to sleep with us but I bribed her with a princess sleeping bag.   I told her sister that they could practice for our next camping trip.   Andi finally gave in but with the condition that I lie down in the middle until she fell asleep.  Fair enough, and in less that five minutes she was fast asleep.

Here they are cozy in their sleeping bags and of course their pillow pets as well.

Hoping that she is taking the next step and hopefully no turning back!!!  I will be so happy if we will succeed.  Next step is taking her baby bottle!  I think that will be the biggest challenge of all.

How is Andi now?

You will probably wonder how is Andi doing now, how big she is and if she could talk straight or converse with me in sentences.   I will probably tell you that she is quite bubly and ask more questions than I can handle.  her latest achievement was to participate in her big sister Barbie fashion show birthday party.  She wanted to change her clothes, wear make ups, accessories and carry her own purse and walked and pose!  Here is the sample picture of Andi in her casual wear!

Here she is with the rest of the girl posing for their sports wear.  I could not find the one for evening gown.    She was the only two year old who knows how to participate.  There are three of them of who are supposed to join, but the two bailed out as they still doesn't know what is really going on!