photos

A Video and A Project

Feb 01 2012

Today we took the boys up to the pass to ski. Jack had a lesson and Will got to try out the magic carpet for the first time. We had no expectations on what Will would be able to do on skis, but hoped that he would be able to stand up and balance. He did great with both, but has no concept of how to stop. Jack is doing well with his lessons too and working on making parallel turns.

This year I wanted to try to take a photo each day. The photos didn’t have to be anything amazing, but would get me to think about photography each. I was doing great until I got sick last week, since then I don’t think I have taken any photos. So in an attempt to get back on the horse I am participating in Fat Mum Slim’s February Photo-a-day Challenge. I will post my daily photos on our Facebook page. Please like our page and check out the photos.

Filed Under: photos, video, William Tagged With: Photo-a-day challenge, skiing 4 Comments

Favorite Photos

Nov 28 2011

For this week’s Monday Listicles at Northwest Mommy, we were tasked with picking our favorite photos. I decided to pick mine from the last year. Some you may have seen before and others are new. Enjoy!

10. Watching Football – On Thanksgiving the boys were watching football before we left to go to friends for dinner. I heard Jack ask Will if he wanted to sit on his lap.

9. Rocker Boys – After Jack’s dance party birthday the boys loved to dress up and rock out.

8. Hiking in Hawaii – We were hiking in Hawaii near a lava tube. I love the look on Will’s face.

7. Husky Boys – This is the morning after the Husky’s big Holiday Bowl win. The boys slept with their shirts over their jammies.

6. Boat Ride With Molly – While Oliver was visiting over the summer we went down to the lake and went on a boat ride with Molly.

5. Jack at Grand Coulee – Over Memorial Day we went camping near Grand Coulee Dam. The boys loved playing on the beach. Jack looks so sweet in this photo.

4. 1st Day of School – I love this photo of the boys as we were leaving for the bus on the first day of school.

3. Reading With Grandma – When we were in Lodi for spring break, Grandma and Grandfather came over for the day. It was fun to see the boys with them.

2. Will in the Snow – Last February we got our big snow storm of the year. Will and I went exploring in the backyard while Jim and Jack went skiing.

1. Chatting – I think this is everyone’s favorite. I had so many comments when I posted this for Photo Friday. The boys were waiting for Jim to come home and parked their dump trucks like that on their own. I had to sneak up behind them to take the photo.

Filed Under: Jackson, photos, William Tagged With: Monday Listicles 8 Comments

Coming Full Circle

Aug 17 2011

On Tuesday Jackson had surgery to remove what is left of his G-tube hole. This is something he has been asking about for the last year. It was always his choice, but we and his doctor wanted him to be a bit older, which is why we are doing it now.

The procedure involves cutting out the skin cells that have grown down into the original hole when it healed almost six years ago. When we removed his G-tube three years ago (which only involved removing the tube and covering it with a band-aid) the hole closed up internally, but left a small hole/divot on the outside of the skin. So now he will have a little line scar instead of the divot that was there previously.

Returning to Seattle Children’s Hospital for things like this takes me back to the first 15 months of his life, with four overnight stays, ten procedures and to many appointments to count. But now this phase is complete.

Although this procedure is cosmetic and not required, I knew he would want to do it someday. Last night as I scrubbed him down with the antimicrobial soap I was looking at his tummy, thinking about how it would look different today. We actually took a picture just so we could remember. I remember the night before his G-tube surgery and looking at his tummy thinking how it would never be perfect again. But the tradeoff at the time was we got his cheeks back so it would be worth it (the NG tube was snaked up his nose and into his tummy and the end had to be taped to his cheek).

It is never easy to have your child go under anesthesia and I can’t say if it is easier when they are younger and not aware or older but can tell you if they are in pain. He was very nervous, but all the doctors, nurses and staff at Seattle Children’s are amazing and handled his fear and questions very well. Jim went back with him when they put him to sleep and held the mask. I did it once for his first procedure when he was six months old and realized that I just can’t handle watching them put my child out. As a mom I can handle a lot of things (inserting NG tubes and G-tubes, giving enemas, fixing wounds), but that is too much for me. Although it clearly affects Jim, luckily he can do it and Jack was very brave.

Dr. Goldin, who was actually the one who helped put in his G-tube, removed the fistula (skin cells in the tube hole) and sewed up the stomach wall, fascia (a layer of tissue on the abdominal wall) and the skin. Jack can’t swim for a week, but other than he do most anything once he feels up to it.

So our circle with feeding tubes is complete. We have gone from an NG tube to a PEG tube to a MIC KEY button to an eating boy to a MIC KEY removal and finally no more tummy hole. Now I just need to finish the book about our journey so others can learn from our experience and hopefully benefit.

Filed Under: GI, Jackson, photos Tagged With: G-tube, MIC KEY tube, NG tube, PEG tube, Seattle Children's Hospital, surgery 7 Comments

A Hairy Job

Jul 27 2011

Jack was about 18 months old when I started cutting his hair. I quickly tired of having to pay $20 or more every month to get his hair cut at one of those kids’ haircut places. Around the same time I started cutting Jim’s hair too, which is much easier (number one on the clippers.)

Jack has a funny hairline, which is actually my Grandpa Harold’s hairline. He has two cowlicks on his crown and one on the right side of his forehead. I can deal with the perfect storm, which is what we call his two cowlicks because they go in opposite directions, but the one in front is hard. And he has a ton of hair which grows very fast; he needs at least a cleanup every month.

Sometimes I do a good job, other times we just have to wait for it to grow out, which luckily it does quickly. I have tried using the clippers all over, sometimes using the scissors. For a while I had a good technique and did pretty well.

Then we decided to cut it really short this summer. The short cut accented his front cowlick even more. The first morning he let me spike it up with product, but then after that he refused. I haven’t been able to figure out why he doesn’t want it spiked anymore. A few months ago he was clamoring for it. So I have just let his hair do what it wants, spiking up in some areas on its own. This is hard for me because of my classically neat style.

On the other hand Will’s hair is much easier. He just doesn’t sit that well, but at least there aren’t any funny hairline issues and only one cowlick to deal with.

Last night I gave them haircuts again for the first time since we went short. I tried really hard to get Jack’s hairline to look good since we have our first professional family photos planned this week (weather dependent.) No matter what I did I just couldn’t get it even. I need to let it go and accept it for what it is, but so far I can’t. I am even going to take him to see the girl who cuts my hair for advice on what would be best. Those Flowbee haircutting products advertised on TV that I once mocked aren’t looking so silly anymore.

How do you handle your children’s hair? Do you cut it? Are there funny things about their hair?

Filed Under: Jackson, photos, William Tagged With: cowlick, Grandpa Harold, haircuts 2 Comments

Badges of Fun

Jul 07 2011

I recently was introduced to Family Fun magazine by a friend and neighbor. She always has great ideas for the kids, so I thought I would give it a try.

In the June/July issue they launched Badges of Fun to celebrate their 20^th birthday. During each month for the next year families can earn badges by participating in themed activities. Once the month’s activity is complete you are able to post photos on their website and be eligible for some prizes. You can also print out the badges you have completed and display them on the poster.

For June/July the badge is called backyard fun. Some of their suggestions were to camp in your backyard (hmm my bed is too comfortable to do that and the kids are too little to do it on their own), play twilight games (would love to, but it doesn’t get dark until 10 p.m. right now) and make garden art (ding, ding, we have a winner.)

One Friday night we made painted rocks for the flower beds. I found some outdoor paint in a few colors, had a handful of paint brushes and our yard has plenty of rocks. We all sat down on the garage floor and went to work. Will ended up with more paint on his clothes and hands than on the rocks (thank goodness I changed his clothes.)

We only had about six colors, so soon enough we started mixing colors to make new ones. It was a good lesson for Jack about what colors mix to make other ones; impromptu science lesson, who know that would happen.

Once the rocks were dry (a few hours later) and it had stopped raining (a few days later) we placed them out in our flowerbeds. Both boys thought it was fun to put them in groups near some of the flowers. It was a great project, the perfect balance of something Will could do and still challenging for Jack. We have our first badge complete and we checked something off our Summer Fun List.

Filed Under: Crafts, Jackson, parenting, photos, William Tagged With: Badges of Fun, Family Fun magazine, garden art, painting, summer activities 1 Comment

Red hot lava–Hawaii Part 3

Apr 01 2011

We were on a quest to see the volcano this trip since on our last trip (our honeymoon) we didn’t. Jack really wanted to see red hot lava and wondered if we would be able to see the center of the Earth. We weren’t even deterred when they told us it would be at least a 3 hour drive from our hotel, no we were ready. We had our highly capable tin can of a car, the 4 door Jeep Wrangler (I know what your thinking, that make 4 door Wranglers. Yes they do and they are all over the island.) It was 4 wheel drive.

Breakfast in the car and we set off around the top of the island. It was a beautiful drive along the coast, where it was much greener. We arrived at Volcano National Park in just over 2 hours, despite a lot of road work on the 1 lane each way “highway.” (Not sure how locals drive, but we didn’t speed.) After stopping at the visitors center we decided to drive as far as we could on Chain of Craters Road. Normally you could drive all the way to the coast and see recent lava flows, but with the new flow that started a week before we arrived and a brush fire, the road was closed at the 6 mile mark.

The end of the line was at a big lava flow from the 1970s. We were able to get out and walk around on the lava. It was hard for Jack to believe that this was once red hot lava.

On the way back we stopped at the Thurston Lava Tube, which was made when a flow came up and the top hardened when it hit the air. The red hot lava then continued to flow through the tube. We walked through a rain forest area to get down to the tube. The park was an interesting mix of rain forest and lava fields.

Then it was on to Kilauea Crater. The road that goes all the way around the crater is closed due to high sulfur dioxide levels. At the Jaggar Museum there was a great view of the crater and the steam being released from the Halema`uma`u crater, (which is a small crater inside Kilauea) which as recently as the 1920s was a lava pool. There were photos of people standing next to it. Now would you really go stand next to a pool of red hot lava, come on don’t you want to become Darth Vader.

Now it was lunch time and we didn’t have much with us, so decided to head back toward Hilo. We wanted to drive back a different way, going through the middle of the island, between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, banking that the road would have less road work, but we found a 5 mile stretch of unpaved road that they were rebuilding, oh well.

This drive took us right by the turn off to the Mauna Kea Observatory and it was still early enough in the day so what the heck lets try it. The visitors check point was 6 miles up and with big signs saying Stop and check in, treacherous road ahead. You could see the switchbacks of the road on the side of the mountain.

Jim talked to them and immediately determined we weren’t going to the top. There was a long list of people that they recommend not continuing up, including children. Well the top is 13,796 ft. It doesn’t look nearly that high. There was a short walk up to one of the cinder cones that would give us a view of both sides of the island. With Will in the ergo backpack, crying the whole way, we walked up close to the top, it was really windy. Jack was a champ, doing a great job hiking up in the wind. It wasn’t until we got back in the car that we wondered what the elevation was, 9100 ft. WOW!

Our day with the volcanoes was great, even if we didn’t get to see red hot lava.

Friday morning Jim and I got to go golfing again. Jack went back to camp and Jen watched Will again. This time we played up at the Hapuna course, designed by Arnold Palmer. It was a beautiful course that had views of the water on every hole. On the 17th hole we discovered herd of goats, some on my tee box and more down the fairway. (See the video) We finished our round early so we went and had a drink (or 3) at the Hau Tree bar at the Mauna Kea hotel. Will’s birthday was also Friday so we took the boys out to dinner, after a Husky basketball win.

Since Saturday was our last day there we wanted to spend the day at the hotel soaking up every last drop of fun we could. Yaya and Papa came over and had breakfast with us. We decided to start our pool tour at the Kohala Pool to show Yaya and Papa the water slides.

Next we headed over to the Kona pool. That was my favorite pool, even though it was just a touch cold, but much more room. We had a nice lunch poolside under our umbrella as it rained for the first time of our trip. Will and I then took the tram back for his nap and met up with Jim and Jack later. They tried to play the putting course, but it wasn’t staffed the times they tried. So they swam instead.

We met them at dolphin pool to watch them for a while and then went over to the Lagoon. I wanted to swim out to the waterfall with Will and Jack in their floats. As we were on our way some folks let us know that there were sea turtles out there. We could see them surfacing for air. Unfortunately we didn’t have masks, so it wasn’t easy to see them under the water. I tried to take some photos with the underwater camera, but nothing came out that well. We swam and played until dinnertime.

Dinner was at the Lagoon Grill for burgers where we ran into some people from Seattle that we met in the rental car line. We pushed the tables together and chatted for a while. Their son was Jack’s age, so they had fun playing.

Our last morning was a bit somber. No one really wanted to go home, because we had such a great trip. For the flight home people were nice enough to trade seats, so we could all sit together. It made the flight a lot easier. On the flight home Jim and I decided that we need to come to Hawaii every 3-4 years, 11 is just to long to wait.

Filed Under: family, Jackson, photos, travel, video, William Tagged With: Hawaii, swimming, volcano, water slide Leave a Comment

Paradise we are here–Hawaii Part 2

Mar 29 2011

After deplaning we walked through the Kona airport which hasn’t changed in the eleven years since we were there, even after 911 and all the security changes. Right before baggage claim we are greeted with leis, flower ones for Jim and I and candy ones for Jack and Will. The candy leis kept them happy while we navigated a way to long line and wait to get our rental car.

I wasn’t sure what to expect at the Hilton Waikoloa. I knew it was going to be big, but I didn’t realize how big. When I checked us in they were able to upgrade us to a nicer, larger room, but again I wasn’t sure what to expect. We took the tram (yes, they have a tram) to our tower and as we walked down the hall we saw double doors. Yes, those were ours. We had 1.5 bathrooms, 5 lanais, a huge sitting area, a big master and views of both the golf course and the ocean.

Jack was so anxious to go swimming that he practically jumped out of his clothes as we walked in the door. Will took a short nap to get him through the evening and then I took him down to the pool too. We went to the Kohala pool which has 3 water slides, 2 small ones that Will could go on and a bigger faster one that Jack loved.

I was worried that the boys wouldn’t transition to Hawaii time, but we kept them up until after 8:30 on the first night, even though Jack was almost falling asleep at dinner. They did great and slept until almost 7 the next morning.

Since this was one of our only days we didn’t have anything scheduled we thought we would go see Hapuna State Park Beach. It was a great beach that was nice and shallow. Will liked walking into the waves and didn’t even mind when they knocked him down. Jack got to try boogie boarding. We played in the sand, enjoyed the waves and tried to stay out of the sun. After lunch Jack and Jim went to explore another pool, the Kona pool with a waterfall and kids sand bottom pool. Unfortunately the waterslide was cracked and not open. Will and I joined them after his nap and played until it was dinner time.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1iVBibXV_4&w=448&h=252&hd=1]

Tuesday morning we met Yaya and Papa (my parents, who were there for a family friend’s wedding) for breakfast before swimming with the dolphins. Will and Yaya did the Wee Tots program and then Jim, Jack and I got to do our Deluxe Encounter. Yaya and Papa watched Will during our program. I have always loved dolphins and couldn’t wait for this. It was so cool. We got to touch them, kiss them and give them commands. At one point they have you float in the water and the dolphins swim back and forth underneath you. Through the mask it looked like they were going to hit you. Definitely a highlight of the trip.

After our amazing experience we had lunch on the deck at the Lagoon Grill, where the wind decided to kick up. It was like clockwork everyday at 11:45 the wind came up and it was windy through the afternoon before it calmed down again. Once we had some good burgers (Jim and Papa actually had lobster burgers) we tried out the Lagoon, a salt water fed pool that has fish and turtles in it. Jim and Jack rented a paddle boat that Jack was too short to reach the peddles and Will and I played on the shore. That evening we got to have a home cooked meal at Yaya and Papa’s condo with their group. It was fun to see friendly faces.

Wednesday morning Jim and I got to go golfing. Jack went to Camp Menehune and Will had Jen the babysitter. We needed to play quickly to make it back for our sunset cruise, but halfway through the round we got a call that they were canceling the cruise due to the wind and heavy surf. The Beach Course at Waikoloa was in pretty lousy condition. There were weeds growing in the traps and greens that were pretty dead. It didn’t help that we were behind a slow 4-some, but any day on the golf course is nice. Jack had a great day at Camp and Jen took Will all over the property.

After taking the boys swimming for a bit we got cleaned up and headed to dinner and then turned in early because we had a big trip the next day. We were headed to Volcano National Park, but that is for the next post.

Filed Under: family, Jackson, photos, travel, video, William Tagged With: dolphins, Hapuna Beach State Park, Hawaii, Hilton Waikoloa Leave a Comment

A Mod Podge Valentine

Feb 15 2011

About ten days I got an email from Jack’s teacher asking for help with the class Valentine’s Day party, because she was going to out of town at a funeral. Of course I would do the party. After an early morning meeting to get some ideas from her we were on our own. One of the other moms was helping as much as she could, but she had her older son’s party too.

A couple trips to Michael’s and some bus stop conversations later I had a plan. We were going to have 5 stations for activities/crafts and a game or reading station. Lots of cutting, gluing and copying later samples were made and the supplies were ready for 22 Kindergartners.

Our homework project was to make Jack’s Valentine box. I sent Jim and Jack to Michaels (we should really buy stock in the store) for supplies. They came home with a cardboard box, tissue paper, mod podge and stickers. If you haven’t used mod podge for a craft project you really should, it is basically making paper-mache. We used it to decorate the box with the tissue paper. Jack was funny when we were working. He hates to get his hands dirty, so he kept picking it off his fingers.

Of course I decided that getting all the stuff ready for the party and making Jack’s Valentine box wasn’t enough, I needed to add another craft to our plate. We decorated wooden hearts with red, magenta and pink tissue paper using mod podge for the grandparents and aunts and uncles. Jack’s favorite was painting the mod podge on the hearts, because he didn’t have to get his hands dirty. Will wanted to get in on the act, but there was no way I was going to take that on, so he sat in his high chair with books. I had rediscovered my love of mod podge, just wait for more mod podge projects in the future. (How many times can I say mod podge in one paragraph or post.)

Fast forward to today. The room is all set-up for the projects, cookie decorating, card making, heart lions, valentine fuzzies, paper woven hearts. The kids had fun and made it through all the projects well. I think the favorite projects were the cookies and the valentine fuzzies. The fuzzies are pom poms glued to a heart for feet with eyes and antennae. The heart lions are made of different sized hearts and googly eyes. For the paper woven hearts, the kids cut out the pattern in two different colors and wove them into a basket weave pattern. It was rewarding to see them all happily completing their projects.

Will didn’t miss out on all the Valentine’s Day fun. At Kindermusik today he got a heart stamp on his hand. I decided that it would be fun to treat the boys to the heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy’s for dinner, since anytime Will hears the oven timer he comes running in saying pizza.

Hope you all had a Happy Valentine’s Day and all my packages arrived on time. I know Auntie Jean got hers. (Thanks for the call.) I got to spend mine with my 3 Valentine’s.

Filed Under: Crafts, Jackson, photos, traditions, William Tagged With: holidays, Valentine's Day 1 Comment

Aussies in Canada

Feb 02 2011

Last week we had our annual ski trip and this year we returned to Whistler after a four year absence. I wanted to go back last year after watching the Olympics, but we couldn’t make it work. Whistler is only a 4.5 hour drive and it is such a great place.

We stayed at the Coast Blackhomb Suites, which is a ski-in/ski-out suite hotel. It worked out perfectly. We had a 2 bedroom suite with a full kitchen and living room area and a view of the pool area, swingers hot tub and ski run. They offered a complementary hot breakfast every morning. The best thing was you walked out of the ski valet back door and walked 10 feet to the ski run.

Our first night we decided to go big and took the bus (free bus that stops right outside our hotel) to the Four Seasons for dinner at Sidecut. We had a wonderful evening. The boys were perfect angels, ate their dinners and sat quietly watching movies while we enjoyed a beautiful meal, complete with cocktails, a bottle of wine and dessert.

Jack went to ski school for our 3 days of skiing. Each morning we would ski down to the base where we would meet his teacher. They would strap on his bib and a GPS on his leg. At the end of each day we would get a report card and his GPS ID to look up on Flaik.com. It would show where they went each day, how fast he skied and how far he went. Here are 2 screen shots of them.

Will got to stay with a babysitter each day. Corrine, an Aussie, from Nannies on Call, came to the suite and took great care of him. They played and rode the bus to a new place each day. He would give her hugs every afternoon when she left and look for her again in the morning.

Jim and I got to ski for 3 days, even though the weather wasn’t great. We skied in a cloud/fog most days. One day it rained and snowed most of the day. Jack did fine in the wet with his new gear. We had several breaks to warm up and dry out. The hard thing about skiing is you don’t take many pictures, so we don’t have any photos of Jack in his ski gear.

The last afternoon we pulled Jack out of ski school early so we all could ski together in the afternoon. We wanted to take him up to a play castle farther up the mountain we knew he would love. As we tried to ski down we had to go through the fog, He had a hard time not being able to see well, but we made it down.

Three days of skiing in a row was a lot and more than we usually do, but we only wanted to go for a long weekend. By the end of the third day the 3 skiers were very sore and happy to have a quiet pizza and movie night, of course after a trip to the tube park (in our haste to get out of the suite I forgot the camera.) We weren’t sure if Will was going to be tall enough, and unfortunately he was about an inch to short. The girl was a stickler and wouldn’t let him in. Jim and Jack enjoyed their time, with Jack’s quote of “That was awesome!”

The morning we left we stopped in the Village to get a much needed latte and some t-shirts. As we walked out for one last look and a few photos at the base we realized it was Aussie Day. Longhorns bar was full of people draped in Australian flags and girls wearing tank tops in 35 degree weather partying at 10:30 in the morning. I asked a girl out front to take our picture and her friend asked if we wanted the flag and how could I say no.

Filed Under: family, Jackson, photos, travel, William Tagged With: nanny service, skiing, Whistler 1 Comment

Rockin’ Birthday

Jan 19 2011

Late Saturday afternoon we had 12 5 & 6 year olds to celebrate Jack’s birthday. Yes, 12. We decided to have a dance party at home. Jack loves music and dancing, so it seemed like a natural fit. Since he got an iPod touch for Christmas I designed invitations that looked like his iPod. I printed the background stuff as a photo and the words on vellum paper so that it was easy to read.

Next we had to figure out the decorations. We wanted to make the living room seem like a dance, so we tried a couple of mirror balls, but none of them seemed to work like they do in a club. After several phone calls and a drive to Everett (for those unfamiliar with the area that is about an hour north) we had 2 rotating balls of light. With some balloons, blow up guitars and streamers, we have a party.

Now for the music. Unfortunately several of Jack’s favorite songs are not really appropriate to share with a broad audience, like Lady GaGa, Katy Perry and Alice in Chains. After some searching and help from some Kids Bop CDs we were able to narrow the list to the ones that we were all happy with.

Then we needed to get all of us dressed in rockin’ outfits. Jack wore his guitar shirt and wanted his hair spiked. Not an easy task since most of his hair naturally wants to lay down. Since we spiked Jack’s hair of course we had to do Will’s. Will’s hair gets curly when wet, so I might need to start putting product in his hair more often. Jim and I wore the Alice in Chains concert shirts that he got at show in October. Jack wanted me to spike my hair, but I decided just to channel Jon Bon Jovi by making it bigger and do some heavy eye makeup.

Jack was so excited for everyone to arrive and hand out the sunglasses and beads we had for everyone. Once everyone was here including his Godparents, Dana and Alan and my Aunt Amy (thanks for the help, especially Alan the photographer), we started playing some games, like limbo and freeze dance. I taught the kids the Macarena and the hokey pokey. We even spiked most of the boys hair. After cake, in the shape of an iPod, and presents (which Will really wanted to help open) and a little more dancing everyone got their dancing awards, which included, Best Macarena, Best Breakdancing and Best Original Moves.

We survived the 2 hours with all the kids, who had a great time, and no one got hurt and nothing got broken. It was fun, but I was very sweaty and in serous need of adult beverage by the time it was all over.

Filed Under: Jackson, photos, William Tagged With: Birthdays, dance party 2 Comments

A Mompreneur’s Chronicle Of Life With Her Boys