Thursday, April 24, 2014

Playing Catch-Up: February & March

Wow- Its been so long since I actually blogged that I almost forgot my login! After the birthdays I sort of dropped off the blog-o-sphere. Not much in a blogging mood. But I really need to keep up and journal our little family and how wonderful our kids are! We have been busy lately! 3 kids is no joke. They are constantly keeping me up at night, going during the day, and on my toes constantly. 

Shad is busy, as always with work. Somehow its seems to have only gotten worse. He works long, late days, sometimes weekends, and even when he gets home at night, and its crazy. Then our weekends always seem to fly by and are always filled with something or another! Shad is still constantly working on the backyard and we are hoping to get grass in within the next month or so! Yippee! 

Here are little highlights of February and March in the McOmber Home: 

In early February we had a snowy weekend. It started snowing on Saturday night, a lot for this area. And pretty much didn't let up. Within a couple hours news traveled that church was cancelled and we had a full SNOW DAY on our hands! Now, I HATE the snow. Really, its awful. However, when a snow day lands on a Sunday when you have no place to go. It can actually be pretty great. Shad played all morning outside with the boys, we made hot chocolate, homemade pizza and popcorn and watched movies. It was a very sweet day. And just like Seattle fashion, it melted by the next morning. Yes! 

They went out on Saturday night too when it started and made a sad little snowman! 




Me with my little snow bunny! 


Sunday the snow was much better!


They made Olaf, and he likes warm hugs. :) 


The boys have been really into helping me clean. Its adorable. And I love it. I hope they keep it up!!



Shad and I are not very big on Valentines Day. So this year was no different. I tried to get a little more into it for the kiddos and they seemed happy to keep it simple. We made Valentine cupcakes the week before for Owen's birthday. And Owen had a fun Valentine's Party at preschool; together he and I made little handmade Valentine's for his class. He loved bringing home his mail and eating his treats. Then for lunch I made heart shaped sandwiches with strawberry/pink milk. I watch my niece every Friday and it happened to be Valentines Day when she was here, so she helped me make cookies. It was an ALLLLL day process! We made TONS. But they were yummy!

Making Cookies with cousin Julia: 



The special lunch spread: 


Also in February, on Presidents Day, which Shad had off, we took a trip up to Seattle for the day. Owen LOVES Seattle. He constantly asks to go back and ride the monorail and Sounder, to see the Space Needle, and Gum Wall. He loves it there. It was a very rainy day when we went and we were wet. But the boys loved just packing a lunch and heading up there. We rode the monorail and saw the space needle as promised. But that was pretty much it. They got to shop a little with $5 they got from Grandma Rosalie and buy some fun treats like cookies and pez dispensers. All in all a win for us, because they loved it! 

The boys LOVE this water fountain in Seattle Center. 



Riding the monorail! 




Now that Kaisa is older and sleeping and eating better. Shad and I have been able to go on some fun dates together. This was on February 21, 8 years to the date that he asked me to marry him! I just love him... a lot. 


At the beginning of March Owen's preschool class took a little field trip to the local Fire Station. Owen was looking forward to it for weeks before hand. He was very excited. I decided that I wanted to go too and bring Nathan. I found a sitter for Kaisa so me and the boys could meet his class there. I think Owen liked it. He claimed too. However, his shyness and reservations came out in full force. He was so timid the entire time. He wouldn't go up to the truck, and occasionally there were some loud noises that really freaked him out. Plus the firefighter got dressed in his full gear with the mask, and I could see how that might be a little scary too. I think Nathan would have been fine, but watching how shy Owen was he was a little more reserved too. It was a little weird. We pretty much had to force Owen into the truck, because I KNEW he would be sad if he went home without going inside. After the field trip he refused to go back to preschool, he had enough and wanted to come home for the day. Such a funny kid sometimes. However, if you ask him anything about the field trip, it was the BEST thing ever and he loved it. So at least he has good memories! 

Listening to the Fireman and watching the fire truck. 


They got to touch and hold different parts of the hoses. 





Inside the truck. He was so hesitant. He liked that Miss Cindy went with him the first time. And I sort of got a smile out of him. He was seriously terrified.

This picture is blurry, but it says it all. He was so nervous about the whole situation and had this face on the entire time. 


Nathan with all the other kiddos playing in a life boat. 


Owen & Miss Cindy with his preschool class. They are a cute bunch! 



In March we finally saw some sunny nice days here and there... and we could finally come out of our hibernation! We went the park several times, played sidewalk chalk outside, and let the boys roam around the backyard in the dirt and rocks! 




One day I let the boys just play in the dirt. It wasn't even 70 degrees outside. About half hour later they came in with bright red cheeks, complaining of the heat, and wanting water! Silly boys! We are Washingtonians for sure! 


Kaisa is growing, growing, growing! This girl wants to climb, walk, crawl, and get into everything! She is everywhere. She constantly climbs the stairs, finds the toilet to splash in, eats every tiny thing off the ground, and pulls everything out of the plugs, dishwasher, drawers, and cabinets! I cannot believe how mobile this girl is... at only 10-11 months! Its insane. I try to block her in a room and she always seems to finagle her way out! She is a giggly, happy, smiley, sweet, and lovely girl. We love her to bits! She is adored by her brothers. And she loves to follow them around to play. She loves to imitate and copy everything we do and learning something new everyday. She can clap, wave, blow kisses, jump, shake things, sign more, gives kisses and hugs, motion 'so big!/touchdown.' She can also say 'night night,' 'mama,' 'daddy,' 'baby,' 'hi,' and 'Bah!' I cannot believe how fast time is flying with her! Love, love, love her!



I really should be better about being a more crafty/involved Mom with the kids on holidays. But I'm just not. St. Patrick's Day was just as lame as Valentines. The boys wore green of course, but Kaisa was really the only "festive" one. For dinner I made a "Green themed Dinner" with green pancakes, green milk, pears, and green grapes. Then we had mint brownies for dessert. I was shocked how much the boys loved it. They asked to eat it everyday for a week! Success. 

She sure is cute! 


Another fun thing we did was visit Daddy at work at the end of March. Owen loves little dates with Mommy or Daddy. Nathan wasn't feeling very good so he stayed with Grandma while I took Owen up to see Daddy at work. He loved it. It was so nice out and we walked outside a bit, saw the water fountain outside Shad's work, and had lunch together. He is eagerly waiting the next Daddy work day! I have to admit that I love days like this too. 

That is one happy boy! 


In between all the craziness, Shad and I have been working on home projects to get our home feeling more and more like ours. My parents had taken the boys overnight one Friday night in March, so Shad and I took advantage and painted the kids bathroom Saturday morning. We already had picked out the paint and had everything all ready, its was just finding the time to do it without kids running around! These pictures are terrible and don't do it justice. It turned out really great and I LOVE the color we choose. I think we will probably use the same color to paint the laundry room. 

Before: 


Here you can see some of the samples we had painted on the wall! 


After:


Shad has also been very busy working on our backyard. The weather isn't always stellar on the weekends and he has such limited time to devout back there. But he has put in a lot of work building the retaining walls and leveling the group for top soil. Oi! Its a lot of work! But its coming along. 



So that's whats been going down here in our neighborhood! Life is busy, but GREAT! We are so very blessed with this little family of ours. Hopefully I will get April up on here soon. April has been even busier! Oh man...