Off to Explore the Seattle Aquarium...




Its so nice to have a family day, no other obligations, no work, a daddy in town, the cleaning can wait...this family needs some fun!

Dave and I have been wanting to take the kids to the Aquarium for weeks now and finally we have the chance. They were so excited, Harry more so about seeing the octopus and touching a live crab (fingers crossed he will experience both today)

We headed in to town on a horrible Seattle day. Gray, wet, rainy, bad drivers...what a bla day. It really is a good day for sleeping in and staying in your pj's. But never the less, it we were going to get to the Aquarium, we had told the kids and there was no backing out now!

First stop was lunch, boys were getting grumpy and it was close enough to lunch, we thought lets look at fishies on a full tummy! So we headed to Red Robin for the some yummy steak fries and burgers. It was great eating out as a family again, watching all the boats going in and out of Puget sound, even though wet and gray, there is something about being indoors, looking out of the water, eating hot fries!

The Aquarium held quite the drama on arrival. After waiting outside in the freezing cold for 15mins or so to get in, the line finally made it in the doors. Only to see a little boy about Thomas's age, distressed and crying at the door. It was very clear that he was lost. My mommy instincts clicked in straight away and my heart went out to this little boy. The boys and I took him over to the counter so we could let a staff member know. We stayed with him and the boys talked with him. A few mins later a very upset and emotional mom came and claimed him. What a reminder for me and the kids to stay close and not go off without us. I gave my boys a little talk and we were off to explore, Dave with Thomas and Harry with me. It was soooo crowded, it was not the place to get lost!

Harry's favorite thing today...The star fish and touching a real live crab and not getting bitten. They have wonderful rock pool areas where you can touch crabs, starfish and lots of other cool things I'm not even going to try and spell...lol!
Harry's least favorite thing today...The "dead" sleeping eel in the bottom of the tank. He did not believe us that it was just resting, it really was! He was convinced the eel had died from eating something bad.

Thomas's favorite thing today...Having a small Nemo painted on his face and watching the waves wash in through a hole in the rock pool wall. The anticipation for him was great

The Grass is getting greener and the plants are budding...but where is the SUN?

I am so excited for gardening season to return. I have been spending my days at home with sick kids, out in the garden while they sleep. Its been so nice to have a little escape and time out for me to enjoy the garden, there is no place I love more on a sunny day. Oh hang on, where is the sun? Its still nice to be outside without rain.
Love this pic of Dave, Thomas and the little yellow safety man. All working hard in the back yard!

March is the perfect month for pruning back shrubs, transplanting and deadheading plants. Seeing what survived and didn't survive the cold frosty winter. Most plants made it, although there are a few that need some lovin!

Spring is finally here!!!!


And its time to get outside and play!
The sun is shining, the sky is a brilliant blue, the breeze is still but there is still a cold winter crispness to the air...ahh spring!

This year is already to be proving so different, the boys are older and so much more independant. They really are growing up!

Harry is at an age now where I remember going outside to ride my bike and play with the kids in the street. He's riding his scooter around the block by himself, such a big boy! He is actually really good at it and is starting to do tricks, I'm sure he'll be wanting a skateboard next.



Thomas is happy to stick to his trike, but will usually go for the scooter if Harry is still at school.
Dave is excited to teach them both how to ride a bike this spring/summer, can't wait to go on some family rides together! Bring on the sunshine and playing outside...woo hoo!

International Night at Bryn Mawr Elementary March 09



Harry's Kindergarten class took to the stage to perform the first song of the evening "He's got the whole world" Gosh what a bunch of cuties!
To kick off the International and Diversity theme the school is promoting they invited the families to a night of songs, acting, food and exhibits from all over the world.
The kids where each given a passport to have stamped at each of the continents they visited as they walked around the halls and visited the different displays.


Here are our proud Aussie boys in their Aussie tops, visiting the Australian exhibit. They even had Vegemite, which most people were to scared to try...lol! Notice the band aid on top of Thomas's head, he had an owie and insisted he get a bandaid for it. It was not fun pulling that thing off!

Snow in March...crazy!

It was so pretty though. Falling so lightly and just sticking to the areas that you don't mind. The road and driveways were too wet, so it melted on touching. It stuck around beautifully on the rooftops and tree branches. School was still on and we still got out and about in it!
Here are some pics from the house today....

Here is my toothless boy!

Less Traumatic second time round!

Its seriously hanging on by a thread! Any second and the next tooth is ready to go...
A few days have past since our first "ordeal" with losing a tooth, now just waiting for the next.
We have talked at length about how it will happen again, we have showed Harry pictures and taught him all about teeth! Fingers crossed all this will help in avoiding a repeat of the other night!

Friday afternoon, Harry gets off the school bus, very excited and in a great mood! He flashes a smile at me and straight away I see the toothless gap has grown. In his hand was a tiny little baby tooth. He had been holding on so tightly on the way home, he had an imprint on his palm, it was like he had been bitten by it!
"Look mommy! I lost another one! Will the Tooth Fairy come? Do I get another quarter?" All I could think was, hurray! We didn't have a repeat of the other night. His little toothless smile is so cute and to listen to him talk is precious! I will be getting some video of it sooooon, so check back =)

The Tooth Fairies first visit!

The sound! The blood curdelling scream from the bathroom! Oh my goodness, you would have thought he lost an arm...."Mommy, Mommy my tooth is hurting and its moving!" said Harry.

6pm - The sign of his first wobbly tooth....scarred and not sure what was happening, comes to me in tears, wobbling his tooth furiously with his tongue!

6:01pm - Finding out this is normal for teeth, that it will fall out and an adult tooth will grow in its place. (Scream) And apparently the world is going to end too! Seriously he thought all his teeth were going to fall out and he would never be able to eat again. He wanted me to fix it, take him to the hospital, do something! (Not to mention his other concern, Mommy if my adult teeth come, does that mean I will be an adult and get married and move out? But I don't want to be an adult yet, I'm just a little kid! Hahaha, the things that stem from a wobbly tooth...Oh my!)

6:10pm - What felt like hours of explaining what was going on, not to mention tears and over reacting. Harry started accpeting that loosing teeth is totally normal and he finally calmed down.

6:20pm - After looking at his tooth in the mirror again for the 20th time. Wobbling it with his tongue, playing with it, really who can leave a wobbly tooth alone?
(Scream! Tears!) "Mommy it fell out! It fell out! And I'm bleeding everywhere!" Again, the world was going to end....sigh! This was a hard thing to explain to him, we had no warning he even had a wobbly tooth, I was not prepared. Part of me was finding it hard and emotional that my little boy was growing up, not to mention scarred! The other part of me was finding it a little amussing due to the over reacting to the situation and the comments he was coming out with. I guess as an adult we know whats happening! Its just a wobbly tooth, right!

6:30 - Finally calming him down I was able to explain to him that there is a perk to all this.
The Tooth Fairy....Whooo Hoooo! Everything was going to be alright...lol! And for the first time I saw his new toothless smile. All tears ceased! He asks if the Tooth Fairy will bring him a power ranger? I said the tooth fairy brings money. Oh now I've done it I thought, he'll expect $20 or something. "Will she bring me a quater?" Harry said. "Sure, she can bring you a quater, you lucky boy!" Yay, a cheap tooth fairy...ahhhh!

We wrote the tooth fairy a letter and thanked her for coming to visit! I can not wait to see the look on his face in the moring when he sees the shiny quater left under his pillow...ah the inocence of believing!