Cloudy day

Nothing much to report on last week, other than Ted was in Utah doing field work (as in stopping at hot springs and breweries, and using the latest technology to scan rock landscapes) while I got the flu here at home. Thank goodness for friends and babysitters. I feel blessed to be surrounded by such caring people who brought me food and took the boys out while I was stuck in bed. Thank you!

Over the weekend we re-seeded our chicken run and filled our compost hopper to the very top. All of the neighborhood kids have been climbing the compost hill and think it's the best thing ever. Our peas are in the ground, and we are in the process of fixing up our herb garden. The lemon balm is now under control, and reduced down to 1 mound. It's nice...but seriously, there's only so much you can do with lemon balm.

I'm busy planning a very important birthday surprise for my hubby who turns 30 on Friday! It's going to be great!! I'm determined not to spill the beans until it gets here, so I won't say any more. Blog update to follow :)

And now, what you really came here for....some pictures of our adorable spawn:

Max actually looks small again

Cruising town with these guys

Max is loved

Spring Time 2015

Spring has arrived, and that means it's time to do EVERYTHING! Just a list of what we've been doing this last week in the nice weather:
1. Laying outside every single day on a blanket
2. The boys playing outside in the yard rather than me figuring out where to take them to play indoors to get their crazies out
3. Hanging clothes on the line to dry. I actually get excited to do laundry because of this reason.
4. Biking around town
5. Planting seeds in trays
6. Raking the old leaves off of the garden beds and seeing green foliage popping up underneath
7. Fiddling outdoors in the sun
8. Grilling
9. Reading outside
10. Dusting off the fairy/gnome garden accessories and making new homes for them

I went to a plant nursery yesterday, and came home with a few more succulents that are going outside in the gnome gardens. I hope the boys are a little less destructive this year, but probably not.

Max turned 2 months old this week. He's weighing in at 13 lbs. 10 oz. His cheeks and chins are looking good. Now he's working on chunking up those legs.

I turned 29 this week. No big thang! Just my last year of my roaring 20's.

Briggs busted his arm. Broke it in 2 places. He's in a purple cast, and has several signatures on it.

Target Practice

One shoots arrows, the other stacks cups. Entertainment for hours!

First family trip

Like the title says, we took our first trip as a family of 5 last week to Seattle. Surprisingly, it was probably the best trip we've had so far! Everything, including all plane travel, went smoothly. There wasn't any travel anxiety, which is usually what happens when we all try to go somewhere that we're not familiar with. I think the key was going without any kind of plan. Here's a few highlights and funny memorable moments from our trip:

1. Briggs got wine spilled on his head on the flight into Seattle. By this time though, Ted had consumed about 3 free drinks, and I had at least 1, so we were feeling pretty relaxed about the whole thing. The flight attendant went ahead and gave Ted another free drink to make up for our clumsiness.

Up early enough to see the sun rise

"Hooked up"

Holding some precious cargo

2.  Beer toured at Pike's and Fremont breweries. We were captivated by Fremont's atmosphere. Super laid-back, kid friendly (they even had a toy box), free pretzels and apples, and enclosed by barrels that were turned into planters. We loved it so much we took home a couple really neat pint glasses and a growler.

They gave us like 20 of these stickers

Belgian Tripel style

3. We got to hang out with old college friends, and really got a feel for what it's like to have a puppy in the house. We also were sold on getting a new couch from Ikea, and plan on doing that the next free weekend that we have. And Portage Bay had an amazing breakfast!

4. Mesmerized with all the green glowing grass and moss. It was refreshing to see things so alive compared to what we have at home.

5. Lucy and I spent an afternoon at the coolest spa ever! I'm so going back again the next time we visit. There were different rooms made entirely out of elements. For instance the Salt room, Mud/Jade room, and the Charcoal room all had properties that were good for the skin, body, mind, etc... Elven stone seemed to line everything in the pool area and shower heads. 4 different temperature pools. A hot steam sauna, and a dry one too. An area where we got our entire bodies scrubbed to perfect cleanliness. And finally, we both got hour-long massages. We both walked out of there feeling fuzzy-brained from all the pampering.

6. Got to play on a cool playground, equipped with a couple zip-lines that the boys and the adults were able to ride on. This Kompan company really knows how to make a playground seem like a challenge course for kids. Very weird ladders, rock-climbing walls, and things to slide on.

7. Hiked 4 miles on Rattlesnake Ridge with the boys, uncle J, and aunt L. I wore Max in the Ergo and he slept most of the hike. Ted wore Finn in the backpack carrier, and Briggs walked by himself. Everyone was completely exhausted by the time we arrived home that night. So we stuffed our faces with pizza and watched Howl's Moving Castle.

Chillin' with 100 other hikers at the top

8. Explored the city on our own the day that L and J had to work. We found several parks that we had never been to. Gasworks was a neat place and also houses all the homeless, as we discovered several "camps" in between the metal sculptures. The sky was so clear that day, and juxtaposed against the bright green grass made for a beautiful picture (see below).

A bunch of metal things

Mardi Gras 2015

I'm feeling like every day we have a full schedule ahead of us. This morning we woke up to a blanket of snow covering everything.Very pretty and super quiet outside this morning! Like usual, we rushed to get Finn ready for school. In addition, I decided that today I was going to start running again, so I had to load up the other boys too. After dropping Finn off, we went to the gym and M and B stayed in the newly remodeled day care. It's nice! I can't remember when exactly I stopped running, but it was at least back in September sometime. I got a (slow) mile in, but I was satisfied with that. I'm going to try to go on morning school days since we're already out anyway.

At noon there was a large group of Lawrencians that made their way down Mass Street for Mardi Gras. Most were wearing wigs, costumes, and playing an instrument of some sort. Others just danced and handed out beads and candy. It was something to see!

My fiddle lesson was cancelled today due to the weather. So instead, I had a relaxing trip to the grocery store to load up on fruits and veggies. All this cold dead weather is really making me crave fresh garden food. Also, I'm really sick of soup...

Ted took the boys swimming this afternoon. Finn swam a little bit without a life jacket on. And Briggs did a running jump into the water. It seems like they are both getting more comfortable.

Today I asked Briggs what he would like to do for a job someday. He told me he wants to make swords that can chop a lot of wood.

Isn't this little dude awesome?

Valentine's Week 2015

It has been a pretty uneventful week so far. It mostly consisted of driving kids back and forth between home and school. We did manage to have an awesome Indian night this week for dinner, and made 2 types of curry and garlic naan.

Yesterday Ted and I were participating in Finn's classroom. It was their Valentine's Day party, so I planned the snack around red and pink colors. Putting the trail mix in separate little baggies for each kid seemed like a good idea...until every single one of them dumped the bags out on the tables, and all of the contents were crunched all over the floor. Giving each one a smoothie in a little dixie cup also seemed like a good idea...until they all squished their cups so hard that somehow it all landed on the floor too. It was a crazy morning, and I came home pretty frazzled and had to lay down for the rest of the afternoon. Surprisingly,  2 1/2 is one of my favorite ages...but managing 18 of them at the same time seems insane to me!

I witnessed a very heart-melting moment this morning. We were driving home from the grocery store when I looked in the rear view mirror, only to discover all three boys were sound asleep in their carseats:) Which is why I decided to keep Briggs home from school this afternoon so that he could take a proper nap. We're going to stop by the school after he's awake so that he can drop off his Valentine's, and collect his envelope of cards.

I still need to get some fiddle practice in today, so that is what I have on my next to do list.

Fare Thee Well,
jaylyn

Friday night

Today I made a breakthrough with my fiddle playing. I adjusted my left thumb and it made all the difference:) I still have a long way to go, obviously, but being able to get that clear tone because my fingers were on the strings better really made me feel good. I am also playing around with adding fun little "fiddle sounds" at the end of songs...you know, the little diddy that sounds like 'brrrrring' at the end of a song? Okay, so maybe I just need to demonstrate with a video...if I get a chance I will upload my video I made today.

Max is sound asleep in his crib. He's trying out a sleep sack tonight. He looks ridiculous, but also cute! Ted and the other boys are watching NASA channel after Briggs got his first dose of Star Trek Next Generation earlier this evening. Did I mention that we considered the name Ryker when we were making baby name lists? Haha, I'm glad we went with Max:)

I finished a new needle felted tapestry this week. It is a picture of a gnome on a swing.

I'm enjoying a Lugene's Chocolate Milk Stout, and thinking about heading to bed shortly. This weekend we have no plans. Hopefully it will be relaxing.

Fare Thee Well,
jaylyn