this is one of my favorites. he was sitting on the rock in the middle and I asked him to pose and this is what I got. lol
What is it about little boys chests that are so endearing? is anyone understanding what I'm talking about? Boys by the water in swim trunks with bare chests; completely encapsulates the wild energy of childhood and I just love it!
A little weeknight evening fun. It's been a while since they had hats out so we had to go for that. Early in the month we spent an evening at Daddy's office. Jeremy had to release some changes beginning at eight in the evening our time so we brought him pizza. The office has purchased an old school Atari system that has all the old games loaded on it so the boys hung out playing it while he worked and Trin and I ran an errand at the mall. They LOVED their office night with Dad. lol
Trin tried a hat on at Anthropology. I got that glimpse you know you parents get occasionally, where you can almost see them at 23? yeah, that. So. . .Jer was introduced to this place called Mox in Bellevue. It's a board game store/restaurant/gaming central. You can eat and take a game in and play it while enjoying your meal! They have a full menu of craft beers and its so fun to check out the tournament room where they have tournaments of Magic the Gathering. We will DEFINITELY go back. It's great double date material.
The game wall you can take games to play from. They even have "experts" that will help you if you are not understanding rules, etc. Beneath this place there is a piano store and a costume store. Trinity and I are going to check those out today as a matter of fact since I am still trying to finish my LAS VEGAS SHOWGIRL costume for my sister-in-laws murder mystery dinner party in November. The kids were thrilled that the park up the road got revamped with a MASSIVE playground. They had been itching to get on it and this was the month they got to.
Blake was trying to carry him home =)
Sasha and her guinea pig. Sasha's family has just moved to Latvia to do missionary work. What a difference a few weeks make eh?
Tamsyn is an I-90 buddy that lives close to the park as well.
Last but not least we have Mom's visit. Wahoo!! Trinity was upset that we were out and about most of the time, sometimes leaving her with dad but when the Nee' Nee' visits we don't mess around. We get our shopping/sightseeing/walking/blissspa shoes on and we don't stop until she walks out the door to go home. I'd had on my agenda for a mom-visit to cruise the main street of Enumclaw as our family had driven through it once and I noticed cute antique shops. We had a blast and were totally freaking out over Bridgette's Boutique!! I scored some great designer jeans at very reasonable prices at a consignment store as well.
isn't her store AMAZING?? she obviously revamps furniture as well. Somehow I missed taking a photo of one of the coolest pieces I have ever seen. A curvy low boy dresser that was painted an Annie Sloane turquoise. It was gorgeous.
This was the main antique mall that is in town and it is SO well done. We really had fun perusing it's two stories of goodies. Then we had lunch and coffee at the "Mercantile". In the pictures below we walked up the forest path to the park instead of up the main drag.
Mom brought these cards up she had kept since I was a baby. They were all there from age 1 to about five. It was pretty sweet to see signatures from a few great grandparents and godparents that didn't live much beyond that. Kind of a blast from the past.
They also added ziplines at the park since we were first able to enjoy it.
Part of what contributed to the craziness of Sept. and why I never got around to blogging more often was of course, school. We began homeschooling Trinity and Isaac this year. We are doing a program called Classical Conversations. We use Life of Fred for math and Apologia for science but everything else is at CC. So on top of Isaac getting five hours of therapy a week we now have all of Tuesday devoted to our CC class day. Trinity is already making friends there so I am very pleased. The system also seems to be working well for us though this is still pretty much a first impression. The last few weeks have been a bit of a crazy learning curve. I am trying to find fun and cool things to supplement the straight memory work and that can be challenging/time consuming but it makes it less mundane for the kiddos. Most of the memory work is to songs which the kids really pick up fast. Still we had one day where Trinity really needed to accomplish a lot in one sitting and all those old "focus" issues were obviously still there. I realized that while homeschooling is awesome for the flexibility it gives I will still be challenged to train Trinity to put effort in and stretch her abilities.
Then there was the painter fiasco. I had set up to have the house painted in the spring with a woman my mother-in-law referred. She was mid-range as far as her bid so I was okay with that and we settled that she would get around to it late June. Well then we had incredible heat for this area for like three weeks. They couldn't pain and she got backed up. Called me in August to say they would get started but it was the week I went to mom's and she didn't want to do it when I wasn't home so I said I would call when I got back. I did. Didn't hear from her for two weeks then she texts me and asks for my address and the bid from last summer (that was when I originally contacted her) so I sent it to her. Three more weeks and I sent multiple texts, emails, and left messages on her phone. Nothing. Apparently she just didn't want to paint the house and didn't have the decency to tell me I'm out of luck. So those three weeks of trying to contact her were wasted, it's pretty much October, and I have sample colors on my columns. I tried several other companies all of which were booked out until spring except this one guy who said he could do it because it's his side job to his marketing business. His bid is as high as the highest I got but I feel stuck because I'm desperate to have the house painted. This was the one thing on my to-do list house-wise for the entire year. He starts Monday. I'm excited to have the house freshened for the holidays but pretty cranky about how everything went down.
These last few weeks of school Blake has come home having used up all his good behavior. It's a little crazy how testy, emotional, and stubborn he is. I have been trying a new thing where he has a checklist to do before school and when he gets home from school and if those aren't checked he doesn't earn screen time. It has helped IF I STICK TO IT. However there is still a crazy amount of telling me "no" and whining. So I was doing some research and I came across a ticket system. I think I need to customize it a little more before I implement it but the idea is that it takes all of the warnings and threats out and it's a simple "you did ______" so you lose x tickets or "you did ____" so you get x tickets. Then the tickets can be turned in for date nights with parents, things they want, etc. I happened to score a massive lot of TRIO blocks that are discontinued. The boys LOVE them and I've been wanting to add to their collection. Now I have a massive box of Trios all put into sandwich bags and the boys can trade in tickets for one bag at a time. I never enjoy feeling that I am at my whit's end with a child and that nothing I do works. It's depressing to say the least. So that is always stressful.
To be friends with certain people is interesting to say the least.
We were given a deal we couldn't refuse from James' breeder for a puppy from one of her litters. The momma had 9 puppies! We had a little puppy meet and greet with her last four girls available and sort of fell for a white one with some light caramel brindle. We asked to have her and she said sure for a fraction of the cost and some help from me on weekends she travels. A few days before we were to get her she called to say that a friend had noticed some interesting things about that puppy and that really she should keep that one. So we received a call that our puppy was no longer available but she would give us the one she had been thinking to keep before she changed her mind. This took some explaining to the children. She dropped off our new puppy which we named Jessie. Can I just say that I LOVE getting slightly older puppies? All the basics of their training are there already. So we adjust to the idea of Jessie and we really all begin to bond. Even Trinity who struggles mightily with change-ups was enjoying her. Then we get a cryptic message from our friend. I instantly know. She made a mistake and wants the dog back. Trinity is devastated. Blake is sad but wants a puppy so is a little more adaptable. Isaac just keeps a running commentary on the puppy version of musical chairs; asking which one is here now, which one is ours, which one is gone. . .lol
So today we make the trade for the original one Trin and I wanted. I can tell immediately why she decided against keeping her. It's funny how in the little time I have spent with my friend I have gleaned really good dog confirmation points from her. This sweet little one has a wonky ear and a very stocky body with a delicate skull. Still an excellent dog of course. She is sweet but we have been through the ringer and honestly, I'm missing Jessie. So I don't know what the outcome of this will be. Trinity expressed it well when she said it was like the movie Bolt when they paint the other dog to look like him but it's not him. I will give it a few more days before making a final decision. The bottom line is we weren't really in the market for a puppy so I think it's a reasonable option to return to our previous status. Quite the dramatic end to the month.
and if you read all that, God bless. For reals.
These last few weeks of school Blake has come home having used up all his good behavior. It's a little crazy how testy, emotional, and stubborn he is. I have been trying a new thing where he has a checklist to do before school and when he gets home from school and if those aren't checked he doesn't earn screen time. It has helped IF I STICK TO IT. However there is still a crazy amount of telling me "no" and whining. So I was doing some research and I came across a ticket system. I think I need to customize it a little more before I implement it but the idea is that it takes all of the warnings and threats out and it's a simple "you did ______" so you lose x tickets or "you did ____" so you get x tickets. Then the tickets can be turned in for date nights with parents, things they want, etc. I happened to score a massive lot of TRIO blocks that are discontinued. The boys LOVE them and I've been wanting to add to their collection. Now I have a massive box of Trios all put into sandwich bags and the boys can trade in tickets for one bag at a time. I never enjoy feeling that I am at my whit's end with a child and that nothing I do works. It's depressing to say the least. So that is always stressful.
To be friends with certain people is interesting to say the least.
We were given a deal we couldn't refuse from James' breeder for a puppy from one of her litters. The momma had 9 puppies! We had a little puppy meet and greet with her last four girls available and sort of fell for a white one with some light caramel brindle. We asked to have her and she said sure for a fraction of the cost and some help from me on weekends she travels. A few days before we were to get her she called to say that a friend had noticed some interesting things about that puppy and that really she should keep that one. So we received a call that our puppy was no longer available but she would give us the one she had been thinking to keep before she changed her mind. This took some explaining to the children. She dropped off our new puppy which we named Jessie. Can I just say that I LOVE getting slightly older puppies? All the basics of their training are there already. So we adjust to the idea of Jessie and we really all begin to bond. Even Trinity who struggles mightily with change-ups was enjoying her. Then we get a cryptic message from our friend. I instantly know. She made a mistake and wants the dog back. Trinity is devastated. Blake is sad but wants a puppy so is a little more adaptable. Isaac just keeps a running commentary on the puppy version of musical chairs; asking which one is here now, which one is ours, which one is gone. . .lol
So today we make the trade for the original one Trin and I wanted. I can tell immediately why she decided against keeping her. It's funny how in the little time I have spent with my friend I have gleaned really good dog confirmation points from her. This sweet little one has a wonky ear and a very stocky body with a delicate skull. Still an excellent dog of course. She is sweet but we have been through the ringer and honestly, I'm missing Jessie. So I don't know what the outcome of this will be. Trinity expressed it well when she said it was like the movie Bolt when they paint the other dog to look like him but it's not him. I will give it a few more days before making a final decision. The bottom line is we weren't really in the market for a puppy so I think it's a reasonable option to return to our previous status. Quite the dramatic end to the month.
and if you read all that, God bless. For reals.
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