First kettle corn

We started the weekend off right with a quick trip to the opening night of aquafest.  Tova's first kettle corn experience.  She likes it to be sure!

Summer Fun

We've been having some crazy fun this summer.  Crazy because that's just who we are and fun because the sun just doesn't seem to be going away.  It's hard to fit everything in on the weekends but we are doing our very best.  Here are a few pictures that I don't believe have appeared in previous blogs but I can't leave out.

Up close and personal, Tova showing she knows what a camera is for.

This is how we are able to get Dev to move at least a slow walking pace as apposed to a snail pace on our walks to town.

Tova loves to take "notes"

My goof balls fresh one morning before school.  Some days I am so amazed I was able to actually get them dressed in the morning in a timely manner that I waste even more time to take a picture so I can remember "that one time" I actually did it.

Tova's Anne of Green Gables look at the Brew Feast this year.  Hmmm that sentence doesn't seem to add up well.

Cute Cute Cute at the Brew Feast this year.

May have to frame this one.

Tova hamming it up on a walk in Everett in June.

Deven's rendition of "People Are Awesome"  You Tube it, you won't regret it.

Swinging.

Dev's new Roman Soldier hat to dress up at a super hero party.

She is looking so big.  It's hard to see but she has her first piggy tails here.

Needed to capture her ability to carry a purse since practically birth, which is remarkable because I basically never carry a purse.  Nature 1: Nurture 0

Walk along the Everett Marina waiting for the farmers market to open.  Seriously it doesn't open until 11 am.  We'd been up for 5 hours already so it got a little nuts.

Attention right where it should be.

Tuckered out during my stay at home mom week watching Dev learn how to listen at soccer camp.

First fourth of July picnic and also first time she "fed herself." 

Tuckered out again.  Waking up at 6am means your day must end at 6pm.  Nigh Night.

A Zombie Birthday

Yes, this was all Deven's idea.  Deven has been requesting a Zombie party since January.  I have no idea where this idea came from, we don't watch zombie anything and before he mentioned it...well Nick and I had never actually mentioned the "existence" of zombies.  But living with Dev this sort of discovery is par for the course.  So a Zombie party.  In pictures.

Lovin' on Daddo a couple weeks before his birthday.  Making sure he stays on our good side.

Practicing for the big day.  Yes, I busted out a face painting station.  Thankfully the nearby beach offered way more entertainment and not too many kiddos were interested.  Best to keep my art to myself.

Keeping with the a kiddo Zombie theme Zombie Teeth, aka White Chocolate

Nick and I cut up black licorice to resemble zombie hair.  I think it worked.

 

 

It felt like master chef in our house except we were the fools that planned too much and there were only 3...2...1 minutes left before we had to pack everything up and get the heck to the park.

But they turned out freakin' fantastic.  Kiddos loved them but either grown ups were trying to watch their figures or these awesome jello eye balls with edible food paint just grossed them out.  From scratch peeps, from scratch.  That's just how we roll.

 

Dev in his zombie/monster face paint with buddy Myka who just loved playing our ring toss game (six pack of root beer using canning lids for a ring).  She kept putting the prize back so she could play again. 

I didn't get a proper picture but I had my mom and sister make up the Zombie Goo aka., red jello with strawberries cut to resemble blood cells.  Yes.

We got some cheep (not powdered) plastic gloves, put water in them and used them as ice cubes for the Zombie Juice.  Some of the fingers fell off but this just added to the "ambiance."

A creole recipe using fingerling potatoes for zombie fingers.  Was so good but again...I think it grossed people (grown ups) out. :)  I didn't get a picture but Nick grilled up some Muffaletta sandwhiches to go along with our attempt at a New Orleans food theme.

Frank has been with the family since Dev was about two but he certainly helped with the deco like never before.  I ordered the tape along with card board signs pointing people to various disgusting zombie places.

This was one of the invites we sent out.  I ordered from a gal on Etsy.  I had to print and cut them myself but...it was totally worth it.

 

 

Post party relaxation with his new football gear.  Such a Johnston.

Next morning all kids let us sleep in until 8am.  This may sound entirely too early for a Sunday but I am here to tell you it was a treat in this early bird house.

I hope he remembers this epic party.  I'm not sure Nick and I have it in us to do something this big again next year but I'm sure TMG ("the mama guilt") will get to me once again and we will end up doing something equally as awesome.  Happy fourth birthday Deven.  We love you - a ton.

Deven - four year check up

 

 

 

 

So Deven is 9...I'm mean 4.  Sorry, I'm easily confused these days since Dev is fast becoming a "big kid".  He says he's going to be sad when he doesn't live with us any more.  Where will he be living you ask?  We asked the same thing.  According to dev when he's a grown up he will be living at the fire station as a fireman.  Please note the picture of deven in his new fire suit to replace his out grown one.  Sleep easy folks our super hero fireman is on the job.

Seriously though deven has grown physically and mentally by leaps and bounds this year.  As always he continues to challenge our perception of when a boy his age should be doing or should be talking about or should be interested in.  Who knows any more.  All I know is this kid recognizes music artists from Hendricks to Macklemore.  He wants to know about any subject which is generally sparked by him hearing a word he hasn't heard before; only a true and full explanation will do.
Is he afraid or nervous to talk to you...or anyone for that matter?  Absolutely not.  In fact he wants to capture your attention so much and is thinking so hard that he will stumble over all of his thoughts colliding in his brain.

Speaking of his brain, he will lose it occasionally...or more than occasionally.  We look for it and call for it to come back frequently.  On it's way back it will stop at Starbucks and bring us all back coffee...a hot chocolate for dev...sister is to young for coffee treats so nothing for her.
We love our crazy, challenging talkative, hard working little man.  But boy is it nice when he takes his two hour naps on the weekend when we aren't running around town.

Happy Friday

Daddo Day (posting a month or so late)

You know a guy loves you when he pretends to be interested in Etsy just for you.  Seriously it took a good three hours for me to realize he was likely just humoring me - he was that convincing. 

Anyhow, again and again I go back to this post in 2011 and if for some reason I don't remember how great Nick is as a husband or a father this helps.  Our past year or so has been tough...I mean tough.  I think I may look back on it (oddly paralleling Tova's first year) as the top three most challenging of my life.  I'm almost positive Nick would agree.  Nick sticks with my crazy with the patients of...a saint...yes, that's the closest description. 

So other than the hugs and kisses he is attached with on a daily basis, Deven and I decided to show our undying love and gratitude for his presence in our lives by getting the man a new grill.  I had one all picked out ahead of time when Dev spilled the beans letting Nick know that we were planning to go get the grill the following week.  "Surprise daddo," is how I followed Deven's revelation! :) 

Nick and Dev did the final research and picked it up a couple weekends before father's day. We are pretty close to vegetarian eating these days (out of laziness) but I think we grilled meat 5 out of 7 days that week and the other two days we grilled veggies.  So delicious.

Thanks Daddo...Nick.  We love you.

Date day

So last time we tried a date day we got called back to pick up some sick kiddos.  We thought we'd try again. 
We started at top pot for donuts and coffee...ugh so good.  We thought we'd try our luck with a sailing tour company called Let's Go Sailing.  Nick's been before but in an effort to convince me that we need a boat in our future life he wanted to get me aboard.  There were plenty of day-of spots left so we ran up to the market for some wine and set sail for an hour and a half.  It was so awesome.  We finished with a late lunch at The Fisherman (the restraunt closest to the new Farris wheel). 
Once we were totally relaxed watching other mamas and daddos negotiate a Seattle outing we figured it was our turn to head back and see how our kiddo's days went.  After leaving dev at school mid tantrum you can understand that we were hesitant.  Of course though, he was a beaming white haired little man (no traces of his 7th consecutive day of intense tantrums to be seen) and Tova was a little sleeping beauty, so almost all guilt about leaving them at home while we had a freakin' blast was gone. 
We definatly recommend the tour.  You can buy tickets online except on the day of but Nick and I had no problem grabbing tickets an hour before we sailed.  Here is the web site: www.sailingseattle.com.

15 months -Tova

Tova's 15 month check up was yesterday.  This chick is tiny and is even smaller in weight than last time.  I'm calling it ok though because she still has rolls to spare.  She and I took this week off to hang out with deven at soccer camp.  Tova has been a trooper but the heat has been getting to us all per Tova's crazed look.  
Fun stuff since the last check up:
*signing (please, more, eat, milk, book),
*words (thank you, and more consistent use of mama and dada, that),
*pony tails using bands her school used because I keep forgetting to get some at target,
*high pitched screeching both in joy and anger,
*using utensils - she loves it loves it when I just let her feed herself. This week has been awesome because i don't have to worry about getting messy and having to change cloths again before work,
*ice - she loves to crunch it in her 8 teeth,
*waking up deven in the morning for school,
*strawberries - any time all the time...a hit,
*raspberry blanket - everywhere an instant calm comes over her,
*Books, but closes them 3 pages in and then wonders why you've stopped reading,
*hanging out with mama at 12am and/or 3am - still not out out these woods but so much better that this mama can hardly complain...hardly,
*sitting still is not on her list of priorities - she's a go getter, your Lord help you if you get in her way,
*being held all the time, this is nothing new but the fact that she's letting daddo share this job with mama (OCCASIONALLY) helps out.
Baby girl is not such a baby any more, which has meant we've gotten to be a lot more social without 6-wake-ups-a-night consequences.  We may be joining the land of the awake again just in time for summer!  Knock on wood...please.