Texas: Take 2

When we flew in, my dear friend, Tricia, picked us up from the airport and we stayed with the Dealy's before heading to Nana's. We got to meet Baby Myla, only five weeks old!

Thankfully, so far Rooke doesn't seem to mind if I hold or show affection to a baby. I'm hoping this quality stays after Baby Girl is born! But he wasn't too happy about Nana holding Myla and wanted her to sit with him! She didn't mind.

Andrew was Super Dad, taking care of Rooke and Myla (in the sling) at the park while Tricia and I talked. Rooke still says, "I love you, Andrew".


Grammy Deb and G-Daddy drove down for a visit!

G-daddy and Rooke playing the "drum" at the park

Thanks, Grammy Deb, for the hat!

This new bubble machine was a hit! We've been playing with it all week.

A Terrific Trip to Texas

Earlier last week, Rooke and I boarded a plane and flew to Texas! It's my last trip before our baby girl comes, and Rooke's last trip for free! We've been having a wonderful time, hanging out with friends, a special visit from G-Daddy and Grammy Deb, and spending lots of time with Nana. I couldn't get the pictures to upload in the order I wanted them in, and am too tired to figure it out now, so here are some random shots from the first few days of our trip. More to come later.

We spent the morning at the zoo with Nana and this was probably Rooke's favorite part: riding the 5-minute train from one end of the zoo to the other!

Checking out the flamingos in honor of our Bradford friends!

How long until he realizes that if you put money in these things, they are way more fun?!

We took a trip to the local library to stock up on books for our stay. Nana never moved from her chair and, as you can see from the table, Rooke was busy bringing books for her to read!

We took advantage of Coldstone's free icecream night! Rooke got his own bowl, and my name was drawn in the raffle for a free t-shirt prize!

I love this picture. Rooke thought it was funny to kick his feet like Nana. Precious.

Motor Mouth

I thought I'd share some of the more recent conversations we've had with Rooke. . .

While driving:
Me: "Rooke, look at the ambulance!"
Rooke: "That's firetruck!"
Me: "Well, it has sirens like a firetruck, but it's an ambulance."
Rooke: "That's firetruck!"
Me: "Nope. It's an ambulance."
Rooke: (hesitating after a slight pause) "Mmm . . . kinda firetruck"

This morning, while Ryan was pouring his coffee:
Rooke: "Coffee, please"
Ryan: "You want some coffee?"
Rooke: "Like Daddy, drink coffee!"
Ryan: "Ok, have a drink"
Rooke: "No, no, no, no, Daddy drink."


If he likes someone/something, he'll say, "Hi, Daddy!"
If his feelings are stronger, he'll follow that with, "Good morning, Daddy!" (any time of day)
And if he's really wanting to show affection, he ends with, "I love you".
While taking a walk the other day, he pointed to a leaf and said, "Pretty leaf. Hi, leaf! Good morning, leaf! I love you!"

His first real sentence, while "helping" me fold clothes . . . . I held up one of Ryan's t-shirts and asked Rooke what it was. He replied, "That's my daddy's t-shirt." What?!

The beginning of the week

Our week started with a walk downtown (yes, we now live close enough to downtown Seattle to walk around!) to a new toy store. Three moms with five kids in tow heading to a fantastic toy store! I was about to pay for a little bus that Rooke found (wishing he had found something else because we have SO MANY WHEELS in our toy box) when one of my friends pointed out a little basketball hoop. Memories of our buddy, Corbett, playing with the same toy a few years ago flashed in my head and I was sold. After Rooke's nap that afternoon, we busted out the new toy and had so much fun! Big Daddy will be proud of his dunking skills!

Then Rooke decided I needed to lay down on all the pillows he could find.
"Lay down, Mommy, lay down. One more pillow. Lay down!"

Rooke and I headed to a park to give Ryan a chance to study without 3-foot-red-head interruptions. It was a beautiful day for burning some energy.

Catching his breath after all the running. Can I just say that I think my son is adorable? I do. Even with his dorky-looking blue socks and shorts combo (he's outgrown his summer sandals!).

And yesterday we spent the afternoon with James and Averie (and their moms!). I've always said that Rooke is not very aggressive, but I have to qualify that statement. When food is involved (his love language), he's like a bully linebacker. Any time I turned away during "snack time", he was gobbling up the other kid's crackers.

Sweet friends: Jessie (with brand new Saisha Jane) and Jaime. We put the kids down for naps and munched on cookies while watching a movie - so fun!

New Table

I have done a horrible job of taking pictures this entire week. I either forgot my camera or just didn't think to capture the moments. We went to the zoo with some friends, walked to our "new" park with Daddy, spent a morning at the library (Seattle's Central branch is one of the coolest libraries I have ever seen!), hung out with the Porters, and today . . . I finally took a picture of our deal-of-the-week: a table for Rooke! He thought it was pretty cool that he got to eat his post-nap snack at his own table!

All Work and No Play . . . does something we are trying to avoid!

While there is lots to do in our still unfinished apartment, we've found plenty of time for fun this week. Rooke and I walked down to Pike Place to meet Jessie and James for a morning treat. Our mission: to sample the famous daily dozen doughnuts. All "six" of us enjoyed them! (Jessie has since given birth to her precious daughter - welcome little Saisha!)

Putting some of the empty boxes to good use:

On Friday, we took advantage of the Kid's Quest Museum's free admission night! Some of our favorite activities included the magnetic gears (AKA "wheel wheels"),

the largest, most elaborate train table I have ever seen,

and the tub of boats. Good times were had by all!

The Move: we're official

Gearing up for our big move, we took one last walk down the "main street" of our neighborhood and were excited to see the door to the fire station open! Rooke was pretty excited. After receiving an official "badge sticker" from the firefighter, he was allowed to climb up in the driver's seat and check out the "wheel wheel"!

Now onto the move . . . Rooke discovered the joys of tools!

We were extremely blessed by the help of friends on Saturday. Jaime kept Rooke entertained and out of the way - one of the biggest jobs of the day! =)

Thank you, thank you, friends! There were three more guys not pictured who pitched in as well.

After getting everything in our new apartment, what did I decide to do first?! LAUNDRY! It was so exciting!! This is the first time since moving away for college that I've had my own washer and dryer! If you time it right, I'd probably do your laundry for you!

Now off to eat some cake(!) and unpack another box . . .

Like Father, Like Son

I didn't have anything to do with this, but I admit that I think it's pretty cute. They made their first look-alike appearance at church this past Sunday. Ryan's words: "My dream has come true."

And now, for your listening pleasure, Rooke will sing his "ABCD"s (complete with hiccups):

Taking a Break

If you hadn't already noticed from the previous post, our apartment is quickly filling up with boxes. In just ten days, we are moving! No, Ryan is not dropping out of law school. We just thought there wasn't enough going on in our lives, so we've decided to throw a move into the mix. It's a great opportunity that was kinda dropped into our laps, really, and we are excited to be moving to an apartment that is just a 5-minute walk to Ryan's school (as opposed to a 20-30 minute drive), four doors down from dear friends, and closer to our church and community group. So here is what we took a break from today:

And we went kayaking!! Ryan had the day off, so we took to the water for a bit. Yes, Rooke is holding a "wheel". Never leave home without one. Ryan and I actually had a lot of fun trying to maneuver the kayak in order to snag the floating car after it fell overboard!

We stopped for a bit to watch the sea planes land and take off!

No, Rooke is not about to throw up. He was trying so hard to stay awake, but couldn't help himself!

And he finally let his head drop right as we were docking. He did great in the boat and even tried to help Ryan paddle a little!

Hosanna

Rain kept us inside on this particular morning. Rooke kept asking to "go play, go play", and eventually pulled his stroller to the window, climbed up inside, and chilled out for a bit - probably hoping the rain would stop.


"Helping" Daddy do his exercises . . .

Rooke is starting to sing more. His current favorites are the ABC's (leaving out T, U, and V), Jesus Loves Me, and this one: