The Big Three-O (gasp)

 I remember back in the day when my parents were in their 30s. Man were they ever old. Now somehow I'm there too which is totally unfathomable. I mean, when my parents were in their 30s, they were so official and always seemed to know what they were doing when it came to parenting. Now that I've reached the milestone, I'm in on their secret. Us 30-year-olds, we may look like we know a lot to our kids but the reality is that we're totally faking it and have absolutely no clue what we are doing. Sorry kids.

 

Anyhow, though I may be faking it now, I hear the thirties are really good for women so I'm excited to see if I agree. I have to admit, they've taken a turn for the better now that I've finally almost kicked that never-ending cold I caught camping. They got even better on Sunday when my dear sister-in-law planned and organized a make-your-own-personal-pizza-bar birthday bash in my honor. My parents and sister and her kids were able to attend along with the local Croziers. John is a pizza mastermind and made sure no one went hungry.

 My wonderful sister-in-law Tash who knows my love languages and went out of her way to make sure I was well celebrated this year.

See what I mean? She even coordinated this banner with pictures from my childhood.

 Some of the party-goers

 Do you see what's behind me here?

Ah yeah. That would be 24 ice cream toppings for our second course: an ice cream sundae buffet!! I definitely wasn't the only one in heaven!

 We had fun. A lot of fun. Some of us maybe even too much fun... 

Thanks to Tash in particular but also to my wonderful families for making me feel extra loved this year!

Jack 10 Months

 If Jack could talk (and he's getting close), he'd probably tell you this hasn't been his greatest month. At the end of July, we took him on his first camping trip out of the womb - The Young Family Campout. Unfortunately he timed the start of a nasty virus perfectly. We had a blast but he was a bit out of sorts with goopy eyes and general malaise and spent most of the trip in arms or in my mummy bag with me. Needless to say, not much sleep happened! 

 

He still wasn't 100% for our second camping trip the following weekend (which I already told you about), but at least he slept better. He loved the sand at the beach and the wind in his hair made him laugh.

He cries whenever I enter a room (he's a mama's boy through and through) and is really such a generally cheerful, laid back kid. I think if you (or more accurately I) held him all day, he would never cry.

 

He's absolutely stationary still and doesn't seem to see much reason to get up and move. Grandma C says she found him sitting up once in the crib so he's somehow managed to get from his belly to a sitting position a time or two.

 

He LOVES blueberries and has to be rationed (trust me). He also really likes string cheese and raspberries. He hates Cheerios and cries if ever you give them to him. I've never encountered this "problem" before!

His favorite book is his bright baby animals book and he laughs when you show him pictures of all the animals. He loves playing the toy piano, beating spoons on pots and making all sorts of sounds (musician in the making??)

He's totally self-sufficient with the sippy and thinks he can fly solo with lid-less cups too (he can't) but he has managed to figure out a straw. 

He's starting to mimic sounds you make and has mastered Da-da, Ya-ya (which I'm choosing to believe is Mama), Isla and Yeah. For whatever reason, when I first taught him Mama, I rocked my head from side to side so now he does that every time which is a riot.

 

I had to laugh one day when Isla came inside yelling "Mommmmmm! Emma's giving Jack all the mint!" I came running outside, envisioning him not breathing with a mint leaf in his throat, and found him cheerfully throwing the stuff like confetti. When I asked Emma to stop giving it to him, she said, "But Mom! He LOVES mint!" Lol

He's down to 2 naps with an occasional 3rd cat nap if one of the first 2 are short and he can sleep in his car seat or stroller when we're out and about if need be.

 

Not many people can say they look good when they sleep but baby Jack can! Oh my word I could kiss and squeeze his cheeks all day! These jammies don't help matters either. I bought them in a larger size because I loved them so much.

He's finally developing more of a fondness for pools and the bath. He's learning the art of splashing and had a great time at our last visit to the Greenlake Peanut Pool (as us Croziers call it for some reason).

I'll end with this awesome clip of our little morning person. He wakes up bouncy and ready for the day! :)

 

Wilson Family Camping Vacation

Back in the day, we used to vacation together in Mexico but times have changed a smidge (read: there are a LOT more of us) and so now our trips have morphed into extended camping adventures, which is practically the same thing. ;) This year was our second annual 5 night camping trip with my family (though I've somehow managed to never make it to the full 5 nights but that's beside the point...) and, after a last minute change of location due to a fires burning our original plan (literally), we settled on Twin Harbors State Park. Oh my word I'd nearly forgotten how much I love the coast! This beach in particular is awesome with soft, fine sand and the tall grass is to die for. I mean, when you closed your eyes and imagined yourself 20 degrees warmer, it was exactly like Mexico, minus the vendors selling jewelry.

 In all seriousness though, I LOVED IT HERE. The park is just a short drive away from the fishing town of Westport, where we ventured on a couple of occasions for fishing and crabbing and ice cream eating.

 Dad caught a crab, but not in the most traditional fashion... 

 It just so happened that our trip fell over my 30th birthday so I requested breakfast out to celebrate and then we dinked around some more in Westport.

 My sister and I called each other and bore these 5 cousins, one each year, over the span of 5 years and 49 days to be exact. We successfully prevented my parents from taking their long-desired late-summer Italy trip for 4 straight years... They finally got smart and requested NO BABIES IN SEPTEMBER OF 2013!! We obliged and Jack was born on October 13th, 2013. :)

 My kids know how to kick it on the beach... 

 Though a lot of these pictures capture our in-town adventures (when I opted to pack my camera), we spent a good chunk of time on the beach (where I chose not to pack my camera).

 Seriously awesome!

  Most unfortunately, I was ill the entire trip. What started as a bad sore throat soon morphed into a full-fledged awful head cold that made for many joyous nights and lots of naps during the days. I felt extra old as I rang in my 30th year with pounding sinus'. Graham says I get another birthday when I'm feeling better... 

 My birthday dinner request was for fresh crab and Michael pulled through and caught enough to feed us all! None of us brought crab cracking tools so the boys used "natural" things like sticks and rocks.

 It may feel as though this post is ending rather abruptly and that's probably because our trip did too. The forecast for our last day and night was for rain and thunder showers and some of us weren't too excited about sitting under tarps all day and re-setting up wet tents when we arrived home. When the thunder started booming during breakfast on day 5, we scrambled to pack up our tents and made it just before the sky started dumping. We may seem like fair-weather fans and maybe we are, but I was sick and exhausted and though it was a real bummer to cut our vacation short, I was ready to get home and rest. And it's a good thing we did too because our eldest up and puked on the drive home. I was SO GLAD to be home with a clean, dry, non-puke-filled tent!!!!

 

The end.

The House Hunt

Gah.

 

This post is long overdue but even just pulling up these photos unearths waves of emotion that I'm not sure I care to revisit. I want the process documented, however, so here goes.

 

Well, if you want the short of it, we've put down 1.87 offers so far over the course of our 55 day search which means we're averaging about one home a month that we can see ourselves living in. Alas, I have already lost track of how many homes we've actually toured. I didn't realize at the beginning of all this that I should keep a tally on the rear view mirror of our van!!! Let's just say it's been a lot. Like maybe 20 times more than we've actually put offers on. Anyhow, as anyone who's ever bought a house before knows, there have been MANY highs and lows already and I'm pretty sure by the end of all this our prayer life will be at it's strongest!!!

 

This is the first house we fell head over heals for.   

It was in Kenmore and we both just loved it. My father-in-law keeps telling me when it's the right house, you'll walk in and "just know" and that's definitely what happened with this place. I was literally giddy and could not wipe the grin off my face as we toured. When I saw the raised beds out back, the contained blackberries, the Asian pear and apple trees and the FIG TREE, I was sold. Hook line and sinker. It definitely needed a lot of work and some major updates but the bones were right and the price was low enough that we'd have enough money to do the desired remodels. We put an offer down that afternoon with an escalation clause that brought us 14K over asking price and still were outbid. It was a tough pill to swallow and we learned quickly that we dove too deep too fast and that we need to try to keep a safer distance the next time around. Ha.   

 

The house is still pending and we've joked often whether it is wrong to pray that a buyer's financing falls through... Until the deal closes, we're watching this place like HAWKS!

 

The next wonder was this beauty just blocks away from downtown Bothell.

When it first listed, there were no pictures and I read the description and called Graham and told him "I have no idea what it looks like but I think I just found our house!" We were there touring an hour after it hit the market and sure enough, when I pulled up I about died. THAT PORCH!! It was a registered historic home built in the 1920s and moved up the hill 47 years ago. The owners were a sweet elderly couple who had been there all 47 of those years and they seemed to light up when they saw we were a young family. After giving us the grand tour (yes they walked us through the place), they sat on the front porch while we deliberated. The home had more charm than words can summarize and even more work than that. Still, the huge dining room, 12 foot ceilings and 3700 square feet were hard to pass up. After flip flopping back and forth all night, we opted to low ball them an offer the following morning, accompanied by personal letter sharing our financial constraints given our desire to purchase a home on one income. We figured if they took our crazy low offer, it'd be a miracle and sign from God that this was the place was for us.

 

We waited all day and took off for our previously-scheduled camping trip late that afternoon. We finally heard from our realtor around 4 PM and he informed us that they were still reviewing our offer but we'd hear from them shortly. He said this was good news, indicating they were giving our offer good consideration as they hadn't rejected it immediately. We were headed toward Rainier National Park and were on the brink of losing cell reception and so pulled over to discuss what we should do. We'd been having cold feet throughout the day, uncertain whether we wanted to take on a 10 year remodel project. Even with our low ball offer, we'd be at the upper end of our price limit with only a 10K cushion to repair the never-ending list of items that could break at any moment. But the house!!! Would we ever find anything with this much character in such a great location? We deliberated some more (as if we hadn't already been deliberating on our 2 hour drive so far!!) and it was Graham who finally picked up the phone and called our agent to rescind our offer.

 

I cried for the next 30 minutes as we continued on our way out of cell range and toward the campground. I knew deep down, that at the current price point, it was the right choice but I was so disappointed. We needed to say no, for the sake of our marriage and for our family. It just wouldn't be wise to put ourselves in a situation with such great financial risk. But still, man was it hard!! The house is still on the market and I'm keeping tabs on it in case they decide to lower the price significantly and if they do, we will once again have to weigh heavily whether we'd be up for such a huge project.

 

So, this more or less brings you to the present. As I said before, there are certainly highs and lows to this process but we are slowly honing in on what we do and don't like and we're getting some great interior design ideas besides! (Trying to keep it positive here!!!!)

 

 

Emma 35 Months

I swear this girl has grown three times as tender overnight, if that is even possible. Out of nowhere she coined my very favorite phrase ever: "I'm so glad you're here!" You don't have to be doing anything special. Usually she'll just look at you and say it excitedly. Then the only thing you can do is melt. My other favorite is "Mom! You're back!" Whether I return from an errand or simply join her in the same room, she's as thrilled as ever to be reunited with me.

 

Her big news this month is that SHE'S POTTY TRAINED!!!!!!!! -ish. Or as Graham put it, "She's wearing underwear" which is a positive way of saying we're still ironing out a few kinks.... It came about all of her own accord (as everyone always says it does) and I knew it was time when she began sneaking upstairs, discarding her diaper, putting on underwear, all unbeknownst to me. Until she had an accident of course. Then this would repeat over and over and over. All day. Of course she would refuse to go in the toilet which made things complicated.

In a random stroke of genius, I got out a couple of bowls and gathered a few rocks from the yard. I told her each time she used the potty, she could move a rock from the full bowl to the empty one. Once all the rocks made their way to the 2nd bowl, then we'd shop for a special toy. Not a moment after explaining all this to her, she walked over to the potty and peed. Children are strange creatures, I'll tell you what! Lest I lead you to believe it was magically easily from there on forward, let me assure you we've had our fair share of challenges, including learning to go #2. I've fished more poop out of underwear (and the dryer...long story) over the past month than I care to remember and it's super fun when you have to take her to the potty 12 times in the course of an hour to try to do her duty (which happens every time, by the way). It's really fun when you're on a road trip. Or camping. But overall, she's doing GREAT and successfully wearing underwear at naps and bedtime even. We are quite pleased!

  Enough already with the potty talk, am I right!? Other things about Emma I've forgotten to mention are that she's now in a big girl bed (this happened mid-June when we moved to Grandpa and Grandma's). She does great staying in bed, as long as big sis isn't in the same bedroom, which she was for the first 1 1/2 treacherous months...

 

She's very independent these days, serving herself at mealtimes, putting jam on her toast and dressing herself...usually in Isla's clothes or my shoes. She's developed a little bit of an attitude and likes to contradict us. We hear a lot of "Yes it is!" when we tell her "That's not yours" and the like. She also has noticed when we're preoccupied with our phones or something and she'll yell "You're! Not! Answering!" when we are non-responsive. Busted.
 

She sneaks blueberries like candy (she literally stuffs her face by the handful if you leave them in reach) and raspberries too and of course pasta pasta pasta remains a favorite. She doesn't like butter on her toast and she dislikes eggs and cheese. We recently discovered she likes crab as she proceeded to put the whole thing in her mouth, shell and all! 

She loves Winnie the Pooh and all she wants for her 3rd birthday is a Winnie the Pooh cake like her cousin Canon had. She has a new stuffed Pooh bear (her potty training treat after she moved all 5 rocks!) that has dethroned her Mickey at bedtimes.

 

We are hopeful she has some musical tendencies brewing. She can carry a tune and we've often found her in Grandpa and Grandma's bedroom, headphones on, sitting at the keyboard, just like Daddy. She's also a great dancer and we hope to get her in a class once she turns 3.

 

Emma is easily excited and can be convinced to try most things though she usually has to overcome a bit of fear first. She LOVES boating and successfully sailed all the way across Lake Washington with her big sis, Daddy and Grandpa!

 

She's figured out how to climb ladders now and that seems to be her favorite pastime at the park these days (that and swinging!) She is also obsessed with the van and gets in the driver's seat and resets all the buttons on the dash if we don't keep a close eye.

 

She loves her baby brother and likes to try and pick him up or feed him when we're not looking. Fun times always over here! :)