Babysitting at our house!

We've had a busy week of visits, starting with my parents coming for dinner last week, Matthew, Terri and the boys on Thursday, Kevin's parents on Friday, and today we babysat for Jackson and Nate while Matthew was off at a wine tasting party and Terri was home sick. We love having people over here, there is so much more room to enjoy company, and we can actually sit at the dinner table instead of on the couch and floor like we did at our apartment!

We've made a lot of progress in the house unpacking, putting up pictures, and figuring out how we want to live in it! We've got a pretty good list going of all the things we want to change and fix and rip up and replace hanging on the fridge, and I am looking forward to getting some projects under our belts! For now though, we are just loving being in our own space, and really loving having people over all the time!

And now, some gratuitous nephew photos. Nope, you don't get to see the house yet, I haven't gotten around to those photos! :)

Jackson loves this puzzle I got him awhile back, and is starting to figure out lots of the animal noises. Today we worked a lot on pig and cat sounds!

My handsome boys! Nate and Jackson are so much fun together! They just love each other so much!

We headed out to the park for some whiffle ball, and while I tried to play on the playground with Jackson, he was much more into playing ball with the big boys!

Awwww :)

Getaway with Nate the Great!

This last weekend, Kevin and I held our oldest nephew Nate hostage and took him out to the cabin on Vashon Island for a couple days. He has had a very full summer, including a month in Illinois visiting relatives on his dad's side of the family. He just got back last week, and has subsequently spent very little time with his parents since all his aunts and uncles and grandparents missed him so much! So after spending a few days with Grandma and Grandpa D on Bainbridge with his friend Avin, I picked him up on Friday from Bell Harbour to begin our adventure!

We got a sort of late start on Saturday morning after a breakfast of Froot Loops. I haven't had those since I don't even know when, and let me tell you, I finally get why adults don't eat cereal like that. It was nothing but poofy sugar bits! And yet, delicious. But we still have nearly a full box that I don't know who will eat!

Kevin's mom had stayed the night at the cabin on Friday, so she was there to greet us! Nate almost immediately headed to the awesome rope swing, and I hit the hammock!

Kevin tests out a sweet ride...with flat tires.

Of course there were Horse Shoes. And Bump. And Wiffle Ball. I was very sore after this weekend! Keeping a 10 year old occupied can be a little taxing when he wants you to do everything with him!

The boys went for a boat ride while I caught up on some reading.

We had awesome basil burgers and grilled squash for dinner, with cookies for dessert. We hit the sack pretty early since we played so hard! We woke up late, having slept a full 12 hours!!! This was the gorgeous sight that greeted me.

Don't let the pout fool you, this kid was ecstatic to eat bacon and eggs for breakfast!

Had to show Nate the bike tree!

After playing some more bump and wiffle ball, and having a nice lunch, we cleaned up and packed up to head back to the city. Matthew and Terri invited us to dinner at their place, and we enjoyed spending the evening with them and getting a little Jackson time in!

Those curls are just too much! So cute!

I was the recipient of Jackson's first kiss! Gotta teach him that tongue is not appropriate at this stage in his life, but it was exciting that he is giving them out now! But apparently only on his own terms, as seen above!

A great trip, and we can't wait to spend more time with our little men!

Weekend Update

Whew, what a weekend! We had an awesome time celebrating the nephews' 1st and 10th birthday on Saturday. Lots of people there, including Terri's mom who flew in from Baltimore! We had yummy burgers and awesome cakes and cupcakes, and enjoyed seeing our little men being celebrated and opening presents and playing games. Here are my fav's from the party.

I made Jackson's cake, vegan chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting! Yum! I was really excited to make it and have his first cake not be full of crazy yucky ingredients, and this seemed like the best cake for the messiest possibilities.

We also had this gorgeous cake from Blackbird Bakery, and also really awesome cupcakes, which Kevin and I were the designated owners of after the party...still have one left!

A future croqueter!

Yummy homemade pizza made by Uncle Nick!

The lovely Emma Anne came out for the party! And that husband of mine looks like he would make a good daddy, eh? :)

Jackson burst into tears when we sang Happy Birthday, but recovered quickly and starting testing out my cake. He was quite discerning! Slowly but surely, though, he got into it and got a little messy!

Nate couldn't resist have a cupcake mashed in his face by Auntie Lo!

My favorite cake picture!

Lo gives Jackson a hand!

The aftermath! Lots of others couldn't resist nibbles, he didn't eat all that!

Presents!

Uncle Joe was super stoked when Jackson took an immediate liking to the skateboard! He loooooved riding it!

Overall an excellent birthday party! It was fun to have so many people around who love Jackson and Nate! They are awesome guys!

Sunday morning, we headed back to Seattle, and I headed to meet my friend Danielle for the Seattle Cheese Festival. We try to go to this every year and always eat way too much and have tons of fun! There are just rows upon rows of free cheese samples, which as everyone probably knows is perhaps my most favorite thing in the world. MMMMMMM, cheese! So we stuffed ourselves silly, armed with crackers and water to pair with the cheese. We ate for like an hour, and then called it quits and decided to go for a little walk to offset a couple of samples in our bellies.

Well, Danielle and I are known for going on epic walks together, and this was no exception. What began as a walk to the Sculpture Park north of downtown turned into a 10 mile trek across Queen Anne's western side, up to the top of the Magnolia Bluff, down into Ballard, and back up to Phinney Ridge! In flip flops! Yikes! We are both a little sunburned and have tired feet, but it was really fun walking through all the different neighborhoods and burning off some of our gluttonous morning! We stopped for cold beer and sandwiches in Ballard and then parted ways for the day.

After I got back up to our house, Kevin wanted to go for a walk around Green Lake, and somehow that seemed like a good idea. So 15 miles walked yesterday! I have incredible blisters on the balls of my feet, but I feel good too!

Now we are about to sit down for some delicious smelling slow cooked beef stew! Mmmmm mmmmm!