Caleb is now 5. Can't believe what a big boy he's becoming! We had a great birthday party for him, even though we were all melting in the heat. Our neighbor Claudia baked him the most delicious green Lego cake, he was the lucky opener of the pinata, and he loved all his presents! You can't ask for much more than that.
Posted in: on Monday, June 30, 2008 at at 8:41 AM 1 comments
We got a kiddie pool to put in the backyard for Caleb's birthday party this weekend, and the boys tried it out first. They had such a great time! It's a good thing, too, because on the actual day of the party none of the boys would go outside because it was too hot for them. I guess they've inherited my low tolerance for heat. In their defense, it was 100 degrees! Maybe we'll try it out again now that we're back to the nice mid-80's...
Posted in: on at at 8:37 AM 0 comments
We went strawberry picking on Tuesday - it was a perfect day for it! Caleb and Andy were awesome pickers this year. They were so determined to pick the biggest, reddest berries they could find! Jakey, on the other hand, was quite the troublemaker. He ate lots of dirt, a few strawberries, and managed to lose my keys in the field. Fortunately Uncle Joshua found them so we could drive home! It was a fun time.
Posted in: on Thursday, June 26, 2008 at at 10:18 PM 0 comments
Andy and Jakey have been sick all week, so we've been spending most of our time at home. In between the being sick part, we have been doing our best to have some fun. I took all the blankets in our house and made a big "bed" for them in front of the tv. They thought that was so great! 
Jakey has definitely been the worst. Lots of crying with no resolution. Poor kid. He did manage to have a good time hanging around on the couch, though.
I sure hope they get better soon. We're in for a nice run of good weather!
Posted in: on Saturday, June 21, 2008 at at 3:35 PM 1 comments
My kids worked hard today. Caleb earned some money by watering plants and getting the mail for Grandma and Grandpa while they were away, so he had some cash to burn and was itching to get to the store! So we went to Fred Meyer and he picked out a Lego set. Of course. Andy was his "assistant" so he got a little cut of the the money, so he got to pick out something, too. It was Legos again. We got home and they immediately set out to build their prize. Caleb has always had this amazing ablility to concentrate on any task that interests him. He has been know to sit at the table for HOURS building Lego sets. Andy, on the other hand, not so much. He's your typical three year old, so I ended up building his set for him. But he tried!
Jakey has all of a sudden discovered the Wiggles. He brought the DVD to me the other day, so I popped it in. He was instantly mesmerized. I guess we're not done with Wiggles concerts yet!
Posted in: on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at at 9:15 PM 0 comments
Paul and I ran the Helvetia Half Marathon on Saturday. It was a wonderful day for it; clear and sunny, around 55 degrees. I felt really good the whole race; ran it in 1:56:48. My first sub-two hour half marathon since having Jakey! Paul did very well, too, running a 1:41:20 race. He said he had breathing problems until mile 10, so it's pretty amazing that he was able to post a time like that!
Our next scheduled race isn't until the Portland Marathon in October, but I'm sure we'll do something else before that...
Posted in: on at at 12:46 PM 1 comments
A few days ago, we noticed a robin trying to build a nest on top of a post on our front deck. We had watched a naughty blue jay get involved by knocking it down, but every time that happended the robin would just start over. Caleb and Grandma put a few colored feathers from the craft box on the porch for the robin to take, but she wasn't interested. Only wanted to do it her way, I suppose. We were convinced that she would eventually give up and move on, but to our surprise, there was a well built nest there in the morning! Today we climbed up a ladder to see if there was anything in it. Lo and behold, three little eggs! The boys are having such a great time watching this mama bird. Even Jakey runs to the front window shouting, "Ba! Ba!" every time we talk about it!
Posted in: on Saturday, June 14, 2008 at at 9:47 PM 0 comments
One thing we learned on this trip is that our boys are great travelers. Within reason. We ended up having a five hour layover in Denver on our way to Boston, and they did a great job. We didn't get to our hotel until 2AM but they were such troopers! The toughest part was the time between getting off the plane and getting to the hotel. I had Paul race off to get our rental car, but that meant I had to get all our luggage. It wouldn't have been so bad except we had the three carseats. The boys were tired and whiny (and who could blame them, after traveling for 12 hours?!) and I was trying to drag this stuff all around. There were lots of nice people around that took pity on me, though. People are sure nice when they see a woman with three kids and five pieces of luggage!
The return home was shorter, but no less dramatic. We only had a three hour layover in Denver, but our departure involved a lot of turbulence. Andy was already not feeling well due to an incident of his head meeting the hard floor of the airport, but the take-off did not sit well with him. He cried off and on the whole trip saying his tummy hurt, but as we descended, we thought we were home free. We were wrong. With literally five minutes left on the plane, he chucked up his macaroni and cheese lunch all over himself, his seat and most of Paul's arm. Needless to say, I felt very sorry for all the people around us. Fortunately I had an extra change of clothes in the backpack. *whew!*
I've decided the that memory of traveling with small children is like the memory of labor; it's so horrific that you forget about it quickly. After this, our next trip to Legoland will be a piece of cake! :)
Posted in: on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at at 10:10 PM 2 comments
We had a free day after graduation, so on Friday we went to Harvard's Museum of Natural History and Boston's Children's Museum. The boys all enjoyed the Museum of Natural History - there were all sorts of stuffed animals there and Andy especially enjoyed the rocks. Maybe he'll be a geologist one day? The Children's Museum, though, was definitely their favorite. I only wish we had a museum like that here! They pretty much went crazy. They all, especially Jakey, loved the ball raceway exhibit. 
Caleb and Andy's favorite exhibit was a digital dodgeball game on the floor. They wore themselves out running around on that! 
There were lots of other fun exhibits there as well. It was a great time!
Posted in: on at at 10:01 PM 0 comments
We went to Boston last week to attend Samchoon's (Uncle Joshua) graduation from HARVARD! Caleb and Andy were so excited to for the trip, and for the most part, were awesome travellers (more about that later). We had a layover in Denver, both to and from Boston. Let's just say we didn't have a very good experience with layovers. The boys were wonderful on our first leg. Then we got to Denver and our flight got delayed... and delayed... and delayed. We ended up spending five hours there and finally got to Boston around 1AM. Jakey was completely wired and a crazy man on that flight. He passed out as soon as he got in his carseat and we all finally got to sleep around 230AM. 
The next morning, we hopped in our rental mini-van and headed to see Samchoon. He was all dressed up in his cap and gown! We headed to the T and took it to Harvard Square. Got ourselves some Dunkin Donuts coffee on the way to graduation. I have to say, east coast coffee is weak! Oh, well. Beggars can't be choosers, but I was so happy to have a real cup of coffee when we got home! Anyways, graduation was great. It was outside under a tent, so the boys ran around in the back while the ceremony took place. We lined up to cheer and try to take a picture when Samchoon walked out, then we tried to sneak our way to the front when they called his name and he got his diploma. 
During the ceremony, we explored the Kennedy School of Government where Joshua spent most of his time. We found proof that he really went there:
Paul took Andy and Jakey for a walk to the Coop and got all our boys Harvard shirts. Andy particulary thought he was cool stuff. 
It was a great time and we were so proud of Joshua. There were so many people that came up to us to tell us what a smart and nice guy he is! And they all mentioned how much he eats, which we thought was very funny! 
Posted in: on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at at 10:20 PM 2 comments
We continued to enjoy that really hot weekend at home by spending some time in the backyard. There was fun to be had at out playground and with the sprinklers!
Posted in: on at at 9:52 PM 0 comments
I'm going to try and catch up on some posts; it's almost been a month already! A couple of weeks ago, we had crazy hot weather (for us!) so we decided to head to the beach for a day on Saturday. The weather was perfect at the coast - mid-70's to 80's and a light breeze. Can't ask for much more than that on the Oregon coast! It was Jakey's first real experience at the beach and let's just say he likes the sand. Playing with it, throwing it, eating it. 
A wave snuck up on us as we were sandcastle-building and got some of our things wet. That really freaked Caleb and Andy out, and Andy spent most of his time after that with a concerned look on his face: 
Caleb recovered enough to chase some waves with Daddy and resume his castle building. 
Jakey, of course, decided to go after Caleb and Daddy and wound up getting knocked over by a wave. I didn't get a picture of that because I was laughing too hard. Mean mommy, I know, but it was funny! We were joined by our neighbors, Claudia, Christian and Camille, and the boys and Camille decided to try to take a nap. It actually worked quite well, until Jakey decided to get in on the action.
After that, we realized that the boys were probably trying to take a nap for a reasone, so we packed up and headed home. It was a great beach day!
Posted in: on at at 9:38 PM 1 comments