Friday, November 8, 2013

Oli is going to the Championships!


Background – all Oli's buddies had qualified for the upcoming championship event.  Oli was just 3/10th of a second short on his 50 freestyle in order to qualify.   Apart from the power outage during last week's swim meet (his last opportunity to qualify), he knocked nearly 2 full seconds off his time & qualified for the championship.    He also did really well on his 100m Individual Medley  (as Brett would say apart from his fly to back turn! J).  
 
Oli will be swimming at least 2 events (hopefully 3) at the Championships on Nov 23rd and 24th. One of the events will be his first 500m freestyle race (no typo there...an extra 0). 



 


 

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

A Fall Day

A typical Monday...
Julia and Oli walking home from Oli's bus stop together.  Catching up after a weekend apart; both excited to see each other.
 
 
Trash Day!  Tyler likes to go with Dada.  Today was extra special since Brett's friend the eagle is back.  He tends to sit in the top of the huge tree in our yard and Brett loves him.  He is around much of the fall and the spring.  We hardly see him during the summer so Brett was reconnecting with him here.

He looks at Brett too, just not sure the feelings are mutual.


Today, like we often realize, he prefers to be outside running with a football or making spears with the bamboo shoots than having screen time.




Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Halloween 2013

Halloween was a lot of fun for the kids this year.  Each of them had a classroom party (Tyler at Toddler Group, Julia at preschool and Oli in 4th grade).   And of course, we did some trick or treating in the evening. 
 
Julia is old enough now to be scared of scary things.  Last year, she was oblivious, just following her big brother wherever he would take her.  This year, she was going up to a house with some crazy decorations, including a 10 ft tall inflatable cat that turned it's head and hissed at her.  At that point, she said, "Daddy, I think this house just ran out of candy.". 
 

The classroom treat I made for Oli's classroom party. 

Oli and his teacher, Mrs. Ishii.  Her costume was apt since science is her passion. 

A classmate of Oli...best costume I saw this year!

not sure what to say about this...

Monday, October 28, 2013

Kirkland Halloween Parade

One of the neighborhood events that I help to plan is the annual Halloween Parade into downtown Kirkland.  The Kirkland businesses are stocked up and ready for the kids to trick-or-treat.  We have made so many good friends in our neighborhood that an event like this is as much fun for us as it is for the kids.

Julia is Doc McStuffins (from Disney Jr).  Pipe cleaners in her hair made the braids mimic Doc McStuffins hair style.

"You're gonna pay for this one day, Mom"

Oli has a crush.  And it seems to be mutual.  More documentation below.  (BTW, he is some sort of zombie...the selection gets smaller and smaller for his age)


That look on her face screams, "I feel special right now". The next pics prove how special and happy she was, dancing and singing out of the stores.




 
 


"Wait up for me, guys!"  Julia this is the first time you had to share your brother's heart to another girl.  Afraid it will be the first of many.

She still loves the flag duty.

A waterfront stroll.  Man, the teenage years are going to rough.


Sunday, October 20, 2013

Tyler's Sleep Study

I normally don't blog about medical stuff but here goes...
 
Tyler has always had a rattling/wheezy style of breathing, he stops breathing during sleep, he often breathes through his mouth, etc.   All leading to a hypothesis of large adenoids that may need to be removed (Oli had his removed when he was 8).   The hypothesis is confirmed by an overnight sleep study at Children's Hospital.  We were scheduled for Feb but they called with a cancelation last Thursday at 4pm and we checked in at 7pm. 
 
It was brutal.  Check in at 7pm, start the hour long set up 8pm.  By 8:20, Tyler had run out of patience. At that point, still had nearly 30 wires to be attached (head, body, neck, etc) - 50 total.  He really lost it when they put an oxygen and CO2 sensor up his nose.  I've never seen him so angry and for so long.  And all I could do was hold him and restrain his hands from reaching up and yanking out the wires while he was thrashing about and inevitably, pulling out some wires and making one tangled mess.  2 hours later he finally slept.  Brutal.  While I am not one to quit when the "going gets tough"...part of me really thinks I might have walked out had he not been leashed to a bunch of machines. 
 
Results in one month.
 
My hope is that we confirm the hypothesis (avoiding any more tests) and that it isn't a severe problem so that we can wait until he is older for surgery (to remove adenoids). 
 

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Pumpkin Patch 2013

An annual tradition I love is to go to the pumpkin patch at Dr. Maze's Farm.  It is close and has a great fall setting and we just happened to have a free afternoon and the sun came out.  We got lucky!
 

Just like the story, Julia wanted a bumpy, little, pumpkin.  I was so proud.  She found this one and immediately fell in love with it.  

She took such great care of this pumpkin and none of the perfect pumpkins we continued to see caught her eye.  This pumpkin was coming home with us.

She insisted on carrying it. 

If it was in the wheel barrow, she had to keep a close eye on it.
"I found the perfect pumpkin!!!"




"Darn, wish I could have settled on a smaller one."

"I got it Daddy, don't worry."

"Uh Oh, Daddy....it fell over!"  Oli was first to drop what he was doing and save the bumpy little pumpkin.  Brett wasn't phased...he was still hunting for the perfect one.


Saturday, September 14, 2013

Neighborhood Picnic

In my spare time, I worked with a neighbor to plan our neighborhood picnic...picture it.  250 people, clowns, bouncy houses, face painters, live music, BBQ, sno cones...all put on by donations alone.  HUGE effort but great return.  Not only a fun time had by all, but by our family and a great way to get to know our neighbors.  We have an amazing community. 
 

Tyler is behind the balloon.


The firemen came and had a good time too!  I've taken the kids a couple of times to the fire station and it is slowly becoming our favorite thing to do. They get to climb in the trucks and one time, they got a call when we were there so we got to see them zoom out of there with sirens and all. 

Sunday, July 28, 2013

My Mini Me

While I've not been blogging we've been doing incredible things like COMPLETING THE HALF IRONMAN - yes, we did it! Another post on that soon.

However, this link is just too easy to post and something I just had to share.  My sister, Karen put this together to show the resemblance of me to Tyler and her to her daughter, Caroline.  Check it out.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Boating!

The afternoon was sunny and available.  To the 'yellow boat' we went.  Last summer Julia was scared of the yellow boat so Brett was apprehensive that this first 2013 outing would be fun.  But as in many aspects of a preschooler, last year was a phase and this year she is loving it.  Especially paddling around in the 'blueberry' boat...named by Oli when we was closer to Julia's age.

 whats cooler, Julia's glasses or Oli's hair?

 Looking like she's been driving for years.
 Driving like he's been driving for years.

Oh you didnt just play a double Zebra hand on Snap did you?

Oli getting his workout in for the day, Julia just happy to be along for the ride.


 "I'm a good driver.."
 "I've got a cool guy reputation to keep up"
We never leave the dock without a deck of cards to play card games in a quiet bay.