Day 977

A crazy week of month end at work and the impending Labor Day camp out meant that was Amazon.com for school supplies at our house.   Parker sat with me on the computer and picked out his Transformers backpack and shark pencil box.  We couldn't leave Kaitlyn out, she got to pick out a purple Disney Princess backpack.  Thankfully all the supplies arrived before he actually started school.

Day 976

Parker was sent home form daycare with complaints of an earache.  Les was fortunately able to walk over to the doctor's office and get an appointment right away.  Parker had a slight ear infection and LOTS of waxy build-up.  So the cleaned and flushed his ear out.  Parker did very good at sitting still for the entire procedure.  (Once again kudos to Les for snapping the great photo).

Day 975

For Kaitlyn's reward on Saturday, she picked out a potty chair for her baby.  Kaitlyn as been so cute explaining to her Baby Abigail all about the potty and praising her when she "uses" the potty.  Kaitlyn is also quite good at scolding Abigail when she makes a mess in her diaper. 

Day 974

As a reward for good behavior, Parker got to pick out a toy at Fred Meyer's Saturday after dinner.  He picked an Optimus Prime Transformer.  He spent most the day Sunday perfecting the transformation from tractor trailer to robot.

Day 973

It was scrapbook day at Annie's house - She, Genevieve, Liz and I got together and powered out some scrapbook pages.  I was working on Kaitlyn's Year One Album (yes I know she's almost four . . .).  After the work that I put in, I am about halfway done.  Here is her St. Paddy's day layout.

Day 972

Friday night is poker night for Les . . . look at all those chips.  He must be doing something right.

Day 971

I was clearing off Les' iPhone when I found this picture of a heart-shaped wing from Buffalo Wild Wings.  When I asked him about the photo, he said that he'd taken it just for me.  Pretty sweet guy I married, right?

Day 970

Parker for some unknown reason refused to carry his backpack this morning; fortunately for all our tempers,  Kaitlyn stepped up and volunteered to carry both backpacks out to the car.

Day 969

The kids and I grabbed Subway for dinner and headed to the Little Park to get in some play time before dark.  Parker still hasn't quite gotten the hang of pumping on the swing, so I still have to try to push them both and take pictures at the same time.

Day 968

Kaitlyn wants to be just like her brother and has been practicing writing her name too.  This is about the usual for her: the tail of her "a" gets away from her, her "y" is usually backwards and the "n" looks suspiciously like an "h."  But when Parker was learning his name it was the "k" that gave him the most trouble and Kaitlyn has that down perfectly.

Day 967

Getting ready for bath time is now also known as "jumping on my bed in my underwear" time.

Day 967

Saturday morning we piled in the Traverse, hooked up the Jet Ski and drove up to Chehalis, Washington.  Les' family was up there camping (both the Deemers & the McIntoshes), so we traded rides on the Jet Ski for a delicious dinner and s'mores for dessert.  We had glorious sunny weather and well behaved children on the long drive home.

Day 965

Jan and I threw an office baby shower for Suzanne - complete with "guess the melted candy in the diaper" and a Costco cake.   It was a smashing success and I think Suzanne was tickled.

Day 964

Les and Job got tickets to the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony where they honored Arvydas Sabonis of the Portland Trailblazers.

Day 963

Last week my point-and-shoot tried to take a bath in the Willamette River - which unfortunately was not a very good idea.  However after a week in a bag of rice, all of the parts dried out and the pictures came out clear and crisp as ever.  Thanks Internet for the great suggestion.

Day 962

It was crazy hat day at school day. Although I didn't actually get the shot with the hat on her head . . . I am pretty pleased with how adorable she looks in this photo.

Day 961

I love morning when the Parker looks so cute and then cooperates when I asked him to smile for me.  Love this smile.

Day 960

Oh, for the life of a cat on a lazy Sunday morning . . .

Day 959

The kids were giving some hand-me-down books from Pam at work.  Their favorite was the "I Spy" Little Mermaid book.  Parker was being quite a good big brother, he went though and find all the items first and then helped Kaitlyn find them - he did really well at giving her hints that she could understand.

Day 958

The boss on vacation and a sunny afternoon means that it is once again time for a sing-a-long after lunch.  I know that I can hardly carry a tune, but the let me sing along because I usually know all the words. 

Day 957

As a reward for a great month, the Sales Team had a fun day and as part of the support team, I was invited along.  We started with breakfast at Biscuits, then boating on the Willamette, picnic lunch and more boating.  The weather the fantastic and I managed to get a horrible sun burn.  But it was worth it for a day on the water.

Day 956

Although Kaitlyn still has trouble getting her letters facing the correct direction, her drawings are becoming more and more detailed.  She spent a long time getting this rainbow just right.

Day 955

Almost a whole month after we turned in the Enclave, we finally got our new car - a 2011 Chevrolet Traverse.  It has all the features we wanted and fit ino the budget too (barely).

Day 954

With Parker starting Kindergarten soon, he has been practicing writing his first and last name at Kindercare.  He's is really excited about starting at his new school. 

Day 953

With her matching nightgown and slippers, Kaitlyn gives me her best America's Next Top Model pose . . .

Day 952

While Mom slept in a bit Saturday morning, Dad and Parker played trains.  Parker has recently been only wearing shorts for pajamas, because Daddy never wears a shirt to bed.

Day 951

A week or so ago, I found this great new product at papercoterie.com called a Memory Keeper.  It's a 9x11 box that's about 2 inches deep to hold memorabilia.  The best part was I also found a coupon and only had to pay for shipping.  Mine arrived today!  I adapted a design to make a box for all of our wedding mementos.  I love it and am going to make once for each of the kids to put their baby stuff in.

Day 950

We grabbed a picnic dinner and headed over to Midhill Park for some after work playtime.  Parker was helping Kaitlyn on the balance beam and said to her: "If you start to fall, don't worry - I will be here to catch you."  So cute!

Day 949

Did you know that if you scratch gently in a banana with a toothpick, by the next morning you can get secret messages from your bananas?

Day 948

New summertime art hanging in the kitchen . . .

Day 947

After a family walk around Luscher Farms, we took the kids to 7-Eleven for the very first Slurpees.  They both loved theirs - each of them got to pick their own flavors to mix.  Kaitlyn got banana/blue raspberry and Parker got cherry/blue raspberry.  Slurpees are my favorite summer treat - Linsey Calhoun and I used to walk to this very 7-Eleven every day in the summer to get Slurpees.