Moving Day!

Loading up our stuff at our old house.

Arriving at the new place to unload.  It took a 17' moving truck and a cattle trailer (plus other trucks and vans full of stuff).

GG watches Mav & Mara so that the other adults can help.

Lunch break.

Mav tests out the new gate that Heather installed.

Maverick is pleased with the new playhouse.

Brody & Mav enjoy the playhouse. 

Saturday, June 1 was moving day! It was a big success. I had no idea our 1500 sq ft house held such a large volume of stuff. We started loading up our stuff at 8am and it took less than 2 hours of load time. Then we headed to Lonsdale for lunch and unloading. Thank you to everyone that helped in some way! Everyone has their own strengths in helping and it was amazing to see them all come together to make it go smoothly. GG helped with the kids and brought some food along for the crew. Sue helped with lots of loading/unloading and then distracting (corralling) Brody. Julie helped load/unload and also helped with Brody, she is also good with taking things apart, including the heaviest desk ever. My mom is great with pulling together odds and ends like moving out our kitchen, she's also great on helping get settled by making beds, getting people fed (bringing food), and getting the important things like the kitchen and boys room set up. The guys (Barry, Steve, my dad, Sean, Josh) are great at heavy lifting, stacking and strapping the loads, and getting furniture and a swingset set up. Heather can keep up with the guys as a power house and is great at the details that I am not, like loading up all of my pictures, protecting the carpet from tennis shoe tracks, and more. Cindy had a great hand in helping load and unload and this was after driving 5 hours in the morning first. Sean helped set up the living room and I really like the result. Josh ensured the safe packing of my TVs. My dad made sure the swingset was set up and safe. Steve helped get our satellite hooked up to save us from taking 5 hours off of work. I hope I didn't forget anyone, but I wanted to thank my crew for all of their help and hard work, all of the things you did were noticed and appreciated even if I didn't mention them all! They say many hands make light work, I'm not sure we'd all agree with that, but at least many hands saved my sanity. We have lots of boxes yet to be unpacked or organized, but the upstairs is very livable and we're very excited about our new place! Barry went back to our old place to take out carpet last night. I hope all goes well for our renters when they arrive. Brody loves playing outside in the yard on the swingset, playhouse, and sandbox. He has a tough time deciding if he wants to play in the backyard or go to the park across the street.

Happy 1st Birthday Maverick!

Yay, it's my birthday!

I'm one!

And I'm "So Big!"

With my big blue eyes.

Aren't I sweet?

Maverick turns one today! He has been sick with a fever all week, but I think today he is really feeling better. Today at the doctor's office he weighed 19 pounds 2 ounces (5-10%), was 29" tall (25%), and his head was 18.75" (75-90%). He's my little peanut, light as a feather. His huge smile is contagious, even at 3am. He doesn't say any words yet, but it's clear when he wants more and he points at whatever he's interested in. He stands on his own and hesitantly takes a few steps at a time before diving into your arms. He's a fast walker along furniture or when holding a hand. He'll wave bye-bye a minute after you ask him. He loves to throw a ball and then crawl after it over and over and over again. He's starting to understand what "no" means and occasionally he decides to listen. He loves his brother Brody and his LOVES his daddy!

Water Table

This water table is our ticket to happiness this summer for Maverick.

What?

I'm excited that our new place will have a deck off of the dining area of the house too. It's so nice to have a few toys on the deck for the boys to play with while we make supper or eat out on the deck!

Maverick's First Steps

Maverick LOVES getting his teeth brushed.  He smiles the moment he sees the toothbrush.

Maverick is a water kid.  As soon as he sees the patio door open, he kicks it into high gear towards the deck to splash in the water.  It's going to be a summer spent running around the deck and yard chasing Maverick.

After two long failed attempts at getting Maverick to bed, this is him wide awake at 10:30pm playing happily and nicely by himself int he living room.  The living room was clean before he got a hold of it.

Maverick took his first unassisted steps on May 17, 2013! He'd been cruising along when holding onto things, but he finally took some steps on his own. Omi says that he walked toward Papa at the farm that day for his very first steps. Then after work he walked from the couch to me. It's going to be a fun summer for him walking around the yard and learning to run.

Mother's Day

Brody on an adventure hike.

Maverick on top of daddy's shoulders.

On Mother's Day this year I was in Washington celebrating Audrey's 30th birthday and enjoying the great outdoors out there. Barry took the boys for a hike back home though and Brody collected rocks and sticks to show me when I returned.

Bethanie in Washington

Orcas Island, Moran State Park, Cascade Falls

Mount Baker, view from Anacortes

Orcas Island, East Sound, Indian Island

Whale Watching

Minke

Steller Sea Lions

Tide Pools

Audrey at the tide pools.

I went to visit Audrey in Washington May 8-13. It was Audrey's 30th birthday and a long time since I had been to Washington! I had a ton of fun and had the chance to catch up with Michelle as well. We spent most of our time on San Juan Island. We also visited Orcas Island and went whale watching. It was a nice little getaway.

Barry in Colorado

Per Brody's direction, Barry found a mountain so that when Brody gets to go, he can climb it too.

Aimee, Zach, Eric, Barry

Barry went to Denver May 3-7 to visit his brothers and have a little fun sans kids. He even got to ski!