Happy 4th of July!

All ready to go to the park festivities across the street-Hobbes and Bray played some real baseball at the park yesterday, so Hobbes came equipped with his mini-bat and ball today.:)

I don't know about you all, but we had a fabulous 4th today! Since we live right across the street from a major park/lake, we got to enjoy all the festivities minus the terrible traffic! They started having free bouncy castles, face painting, food booths,etc. at about noon, so we let the kids wear themselves out on the bouncy slides, and then put them down for naps while I went to work (holiday pay!:)). When I came hom at 7:30, Bray and I broiled burgers, and we all ate ice cream outside on our little patio. Then, at 9:45, we walked across the street with our lawn chairs, and watched the wonderful fireworks show over the water! It was great-the kiddos were home and in bed by 10:30, and even though the finale ended with a Michael Jackson song being played in the background, it was a great evening! Hobbes kept shooting all the fireworks, and saying BA-BOOM, BAA-BOOOMM! So, until next year, Happy 4th of July!

Madeline chose these hair things on her own-she went and got them out of her hairbag! And the cute part is, I wore these in my hair when I was little!
Wouldn't it be nice...to have this sailboat on the 4th of July?
Walking at the park/lake across the street.
They had free bouncy slides/castles and obstacle courses-FREE! YES!
Bray and the monkeys going down the big slide!
At the bottom of the HUGE bouncy slide-it was fun!
After his 20th go or so...
Happy 4th of JULY!
What a great day!!
Flying down the bouncy slide-this lasted for at least a half an hour!! He was red-cheeked and sweaty by the end!
Cheering for Hobbes on the bouncy slide!
4th of July ice cream, with 4th of July sprinkles!!
ICE CREAM!!!

It's a small world.

I believe I mentioned in a previous post, that Bray had made some new (Christian!) friends in the musical. One of them, the other lead, Aaron, is married and has a little girl that is nearly 3. They helped us out when my purse was stolen, and they invited us out for a bbq and a jaunt to Alki Beach (in West Seattle) last weekend. The 3 kiddos do pretty well together, and we had a lovely day. The tide was wayy out, and the kids could wade out pretty far, and watch all the ferries and cruise ships go by.
To make this new friendship even more interesting and fun, the day after our bbq, I got a text message from Abby, Aaron's wife, saying that I should tell my mom that her mom was Grace Larsen. I knew who Grace Larsen was-she was one of my mom's best childhood friends, and they had grown up together in Moscow! So, now I am friends with one of my mom's friends' daughters-and the picture above is of our daughters, Madeline and Mackenzie, playing together at the beach! What a small world, eh? We shall have to get all 6 of us together and get a 3 generation picture!
Just filling buckets with rocks.:)
Alki Beach, with the tide out. Aaron, Bray and the kids are down by the water.
Watching ships and enjoying the weather!

Cannon Beach

Rabbi Bray

These are a few pictures from Bray's musical Generations. This was after the show, and although Madeline enjoyed sitting through the whole thing with me, she wasn't so sure about Bray with a beard and makeup.:)
The Rabbi, Simon and a car calendar a fan gave them.
Bray with Aaron, the other lead in the show-they sounded great together!
The guy who played Levi, Tommy, was really funny and sweet. I think he needs to play Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof!

Top Pot Doughnuts!

A few Sundays ago, we decided to grab a doughnut before church. We had heard that Top Pot Doughnuts, in Bellevue was pretty fantastic, so we decided to try it out! It was really cute, amazingly rich and delicious, and hopefully we can do it again soon!

Cheers!

Off to Oregon!

Sorry for the lack of picture-posts lately, but things have been just tooo busy! We are headed to Cannon Beach, OR for the 1st time in 5 years tomorrow, so I will make sure to put up lots of pics when I get back! Hope you all have a fabulous week!

Watch Bray online tonight!!

As I have mentioned previously, Bray is currently singing in a musical here in Seattle. Tonight is their last performance, and the church's website is doing a live simulcast of the show!
If you'd like to watch, I highly recommend it, (especially the 2nd half as Bray is featured more:))
the website is www.cedarpark.org, and the performance begins at 6pm, Pacific time!

There should be a button that says something along the lines of live/simulcast performance of Generations that will come up around the beginning of the performance!

Mini-date time!

Between Bray's rehearsals and me working, we haven't really had much of a chance to see each other! The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here lately, especially in the evening, and the other night, I got inspired to do another 'mini-date.' I had picked up a bottle of wine at the store, and set up our 'picnic' table outside with tealights and the flowers Bray got from singing for a church! I didn't have time to make any elaborate dessert, so we just had chocolate pudding with cool whip and sprinkles-but hey, that's one of my faves! I had to wait till Bray got home from rehearsal, so it ended up being a moonlit/candlelit date-but it was relaxing and fun, and the perfect break from all the chaos!

the ambiance.

Pool Time!

The pool at our apt. complex finally opened, and so we have been having our (nearly) daily pool time! I got Hobbes a flotation device that is supposed to help with learning how to swim, and I have been teaching them both the basics of kicking and blowing motorboats, etc.. Hobbes has been doing really well, and although he's not quite as good at floating as Madeline, he is very independent, and wants to try 'moving' on his own! Hopefully we'll have some basic swimmers by the end of the summer!
Taking off with his kickboard (he calls it his boat).
Moving along, slowly but surely!

1st Jammy Ride of the summer!!

Goin-on-a-jammmyyyy-ride!!
Cute face!
Sugar-face!
Focused on the task at hand.
Sharing with Daddy=ice cream on the nose!!
Wiping off all the remaining ice cream...
Hobbes wanted to taste everyone's-even though they were all the same!
after the ice cream=literally climbing the walls! :)
we did it to ourselves.

Oh no she didn't!

Yesterday, while I was making dinner, I suddenly had a feeling that someone was into something...normally, when it's quiet, my kids are actually being good. Hobbes is usually playing with cars, and Madeline is 'reading.' Last night, however, this was not the case. I caught a glimpse of something white, and when I went to the bathroom, this is what I found:
When I first happened upon her...
...the realization...
...the moment of truth.
This one I'm not sure about-appeasement? Bargaining? I just had to document!
Little troublemaker.:)

Workin' hard.

They've been back at the Play Doh again lately...it's their 'sit and focus' activity. (boy, that makes me sound organized...maybe there's hope after all!) :)
The faces I got after I said, "Say cheese!" Right.

Summer.

The KAJSA line....at IKEA!!!

Yes, that is my name on the line of home bedding at IKEA. No, I did not design it. Yes, I was very excited. Probably too excited. So I took lots of pictures, and I could have taken more...it was like a treasure hunt for the KAJSA line....but I will just give you a taste. So, if you decide to buy something from it, feel free to mention that you know the person it was named after.:)
I suppose it's possible that there are other Kajsas in Sweden.:)
Rachel, showing off a bedspread that she ended up buying! Way to go, Rach!
Kathryn,showing off the curtains...

I really liked these curtain/window panels...I would've bought them if I could!
The first 'KAJSA' item we saw...I did a double take, I'm not used to seeing my name in print!

Asa time!!

To continue with our visiting family parties, Mike, Kathryn, Asa and our good friend Rachel Ryan came to town last Thursday. They haven't been back to Seattle since before Asa was born, so we were all excited to have them come!
Hobbes and Bray, sitting on the Pike St Market Pig!
Asa is such a happy boy-always has a big smile for everyone!
Cute boy, chilling in his car seat!
Rachel and Kathryn, ordering crumpets at The Crumpet Shop!! Yum!