The Many Faces of Our Boy

Our friend, Ashley, sent some pictures she took from her visit. A disc of Ashley Ann's pictures of our kids: priceless. Here are some of Rooke. I'll post Gretchen's later.

The Mommy Face (don't ask - we just made it up!)

The Surprise Face

Gosh, I'm Cute Face

I'm Learning Something New Face

Melt My Mommy's Heart Face

Cheezy Smile Face

Showing off his muscles

She helped him get ready for life in about 5 months

New Parks

One of my favorite things about summers in Seattle is discovering new parks. A friend pointed us to a gem last week!

She loves the swing!

Look at those fantastic trucks!

On the Move

Look who thinks she's a big girl and wants to be on the move . . . she hasn't actually crawled yet, but she's doing the rocking thing. She sorta just skipped that sit-and-play-with-toys phase. Here we go!

Stuff

Just some pictures I didn't want to leave out . . .

Father's Day morning - I love their smiles!

Isn't Rooke awesome at drawing cars?!

He doesn't really like getting his hands dirty.

Cool, huh?!

My little helper - he insists on pushing the stroller by himself.

Rooke is so happy that he gets to ride up front now!

Is It Warm?

Last week, my sister and I met half-way to play. We found a great park with a splash pad! While my fun-loving niece was scrambling to get in the water, you couldn't have paid Rooke to even take his shoes off. He was so happy to watch.

Rooke did, however, end up a little wet. We all underestimated the distance of one of the sprinklers! He finally got over it and we all enjoyed a picnic lunch.

During one of Gretchen's naps, Rooke and I decided that his cars and trucks needed a bath. ONE AND A HALF HOURS later, everything (including my kitchen floor) was clean!!

Remember those verbal skills I mentioned? I'll give you one guess as to the temperature of the water . . .

Summer is Official

Everyone has their "mark of summer" . . . tank tops, swimming, sunshine . . . but since we live in Seattle, I would be a fool to wait for those things to begin my summer. For me, summer is official when we get to go berry-picking! Let the summer fun begin (even if we do have to wear jackets and it's not sunny!!) Thankfully, we have great friends who were as excited as we were to go berry picking . . .

"WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Rooke went right to work as soon as everyone piled out of the car. His job was making sure the strawberries tasted good enough to pick.

"Look, Mommy . . . I ate everything but the flower!"
If they were smart, the farm owners would have a price/pound on kids' before and after weight!

Last year, Jaime and I had to work on keeping the kids from stepping on the strawberry plants and only eating the red ones. They knew just what to do this time around. Averie was giving Rooke lessons on how to eat the strawberry in one bite!

Sarah with The Loot (tune in to my food blog to see how we use those 13 pounds of berries!)

Berry-picking is one of my most favorite childhood memories. I hope the same for my kids.

Gross Motor Skills

While Rooke is above average with his verbal skills (annoyingly off the charts sometimes), his gross motor skills haven't quite kept up. He was in rare form on this particular day and was willing to "perform" some of his "skills" for the camera. I love this guy . . .

Six Months

Our little girl is six months old today! It seems as though things are starting to make sense in our home again. It certainly was not easy for me to adjust to having two little ones at home, but life is beginning to feel a little more relaxed and somewhat predictable - and I love this precious girl! Her open-mouthed smiles aren't very hard to get, she loves watching her brother play, and lights up when she sees her daddy. She is sitting up on her own, would rather be playing with Rooke's toys than those meant for her, and always wants to stand or bounce. She's still spitting up a lot, which has kept me from trying out too many solids just yet, but is taking much better naps and is overall a very happy little girl!

I think she went to sleep praying . . .

She quickly became the center of attention for many of the kids in Rooke's toddler class

Six month stats (we have one very well proportioned daughter!):
Height: 26" - 60%
Weight: 16lbs. 4oz. - 60%
Head: 43cm - 60%

And just for fun, here is Rooke at six months: