science party for tagg's ninth birthday

tagg is constantly begging me to look on pinterest for kids' science projects ideas so i decided to kill two birds with one stone and do a science theme birthday party.  

it was a blast gathering up science gear and reinventing it to work for a birthday party. 

i especially couldnt get enough of the jello petri dishes. ha.

i put craig in charge of making the atom balloon situation and after a few quiet tantrums he figured one out. :)

personalized lab coats/badges and our new skeleton friend. 

as soon as the boys arrived, i put them straight to work. first up, lava lamps. so fun and easy. 

next, they made homemade flubber. 

freaking cute scientists. 

our last "experiment" was the magic shell ice cream sundaes. my kind of experiment.

birthday boy with his beaker cake.

as always, we had the polaroid camera out to take pictures for the boys to bring home in the frames they decorated. 

science favors. 

i have so much fun putting these parties together. its the best seeing the smile on my kids' faces when it all goes down. 

on tagg's actual birthday night he requested dinner at red robin. its the only place around here where they sing "happy birthday". :) i love how he wanted to be sung to sooooo badly but then acted like he was over it during the actual serenade. 

birthday sundae with mom and ga. 

tess' face. happy birthday, tagg! a wonderful week, celebrating our wonderful boy. 

january

craig has taken the boys skiing a couple times already this winter and they are loving it. 

i looooooove watching them learn a new skill. 

especially via pictures while i am warm, shopping and eating with my friends in bellevue. :)

for christmas, we gave the boys piano lessons! they started the first week in january and loved their first lesson. 

they have been begging me to learn how to play so lets hope that translates into enthusiasm for practicing! 

sully lost his front tooth! he was such a brave boy about it. 

our beloved seahawks are in the playoffs so craig and i went to see them play. it was suuuper cold but very fun. nfl games are very different from mlb games. the fans are so intense. :)

back to school

the target dollar section had a bunch of super cute school related items a few months ago. i bought a few and threw a 'back to school' lunch for the kids the sunday before school started.

milk and cookies for dessert!

right before school starts each year we take a few polaroids so the boys can put them in their binders. the goofy ones are always my favorite. 

first day of third grade. how is tagg already a third grader?! it is blowing my mind. 

on our walk over to drop tagg off. 

a few days after tagg started, it was KINDERGARTNERS' turn! sully attended preschool for three years so he was more than ready to start 'real school'.

my BIG BOY.

i only got a little misty eyed when we said goodbye. i was pretty proud of myself. he has loved every second of school so far but still runs as fast as he can towards me at the end of each day with THE biggest smile on his face. 

and we are waiting with open arms for a big hug! :)

end of the summer

it took awhile for seattle to heat up this summer but once it did, we enjoyed every second of it. tess and i frequented our favorite splash pad often. 

tagg and sully had soooo much fun at their first skyhawks sports camp. 

tess and i had sooooo much fun eating at molly moons. a lot. 

we went camping with our friends one of the last weekends in august. it was fantastic. out site was across the field from one epic slip and slide. 

dangerous (i was waiting for someone to knock a tooth out) but fun.

in the morning, we went tubing down the river next to our campsite. it was very exciting. 

and right before we packed up to head home, the moms had a turn down the slip and slide. not as cute as when the kids did it.

we enjoyed star wars night at the mariners game. the weather and junk food was amazing. 

after the game craig and i drove over to kerry park. neither of us had ever been before. which is shocking. the park has a gorgeous view of downtown. 

one last trip to the splash pad for the season. rocking that neon yellow!

at the last second craig and i took a little trip down to portland (sans kids) to visit brady and jocelyn. we had a great time staying up way too late, sightseeing, getting in fights with strangers and eating at fancy restaurants in cut offs and scrubs. 

grandma cheri and grandpa rod took the boys to race track one day. the boys had a great time getting geared up and racing each other.

more molly moons.

kaitlin, my mom, amy, brooke and i saw gwen stefani in concert! she was an amazing entertainer (although no one was as entertaining as the inebriated "girls" behind us) and we all had a super fun night.

anna left for HARVARD LAW. she is such a beautiful person, inside and out. we are all very proud of her.

we paid a visit to the fair on labor day. we saw suuuuuper cute bunnies, smelly cows/pigs and ate one delicious elephants ear. a good time. 

and the boys had the time of their life in these floating ball things. :)

tess went to back to school shoe shopping and was really feeling her new boots. 

my favorite three humans had a wonderful summer. ready to get this school year started. 

summer stuff

we went with the gessels to see 21 pilots. holy crap that was a great concert.

i looooove their music and they put on such a great show.

out of body dancing!

i had custom stamps made for our eggs/cartons. i love how they turned out. (guess i named our situation 'plum tree farm'. we do have plum trees..... :) )

 

i found tess chomping on an apple that had fallen from our tree. hope it was worm free! 

megan came in town just in time for kaitlin's bday. we went downtown for hello robin, saw a naked man in a window, "borrowed" an old wood door and watched the bachelor back at my house. pretty much a prefect night. 

dahlias from our yard. how much longer do you think i will be able to make them take dumb pictures like this?

she loves the swing!

and the boys loved their week and skyhawks sports camp. 

weeeeeeee weeeeeeee!

can i eat her?