Spring Update

Piper Vida is now 3 1/2 years old, which is weird for me to think about because a couple years goes by in a blink, which in some ways it has gone fast, but really it feels hard to remember a time with out her in my life. We have definitely had some challenging times (I am sure nothing compared to her teenage years to come), but Piper is such a sweet kid. We have heard our share of whining, occasional freak out emotional bursts when something doesn't go her way, and times of being mean to her brothers. All resulting in time outs, but knock on wood, we seem to be in a better space where these terrible 3 offensives are becoming fewer and farther between.

Piper is at a fun age where she can do fun things. She loves to be a part of whatever we are doing. She loves helping in the kitchen, measuring, stirring, pouring... She has mastered smoothies and coffee making. She is into washing dishes, vacuuming, cleaning up toys off the living room rug and is getting better at dressing herself. The outfits she chooses always have lots of personality. Last week she went to school wearing a pair of the boys size 12 month pants that looked like capri's on her, with stripped Hello Kitty socks pulled up to her knees.

Piper's hair is getting longer again and luckily we have stayed in the habit of brushing it almost everyday. Thanks to a tip from another friend who has a daughter with long hair, we now get through this torture session with very few tears because of the use of the I Pod touch while I comb out the snarls.

We have a play group that we have been a part of since Piper was a baby(moms I met in prenatal swimming and mommy and me spinning class). Anyway, on Fridays we get the kids together and do fun stuff like hikes, parks, gymnastics etc. We also go on fun "field trips" to places like: the city recycle center, fire station, police station, ODOT, the fish hatchery, local farms and last week we got to visit KZTV and meet Bob Shaw the local weatherman. This was super fun with the highlight for the kids being watching their bodies disappear on the TV screen. (see picture below)



The boys just keep getting more and more fun, they are getting close to a year and a half which I remember being the age that Piper really seemed to turn into such a little girl. She had a lot more words, so we were communicating more that way, but the boys really seem to understand just about everything we say. They do a lot more grunting and yelling and pointing, so I guess they are getting their point across too, just differently than Piper did. =-)

Calvin and Jett get along pretty well, it is so cute to watch them interact and see their differences in personality. Jett is more of an observer, he watches how things are done, but doesn't usually try to do things himself until he has it figured out. Where as Calvin will watch you do something once, then want to immediately get his hands on to try it out himself. It is also fun to see the difference in having boys now. The other day Dave got out the lawn mower and immediately both boys were in awe. They were oohing and grunting and pointing, so interested in the "machine"! They love going to Home Depot, and of course LOVE digging in the dirt at home.

By the way, note this fancy hat of Calvin's...he has such a style of his own! For a while he always wanted to wear my and Piper's headbands, but lately it is this blue Easter Bonnet that Alice found in the dollar bin to be put in the dress up box. Calvin has attached to this hat, and wears it everywhere.



We have always said that Calvin is our cuddly one, but Jett has found his inner snuggliness and has turned out to be quite a cuddler. I love it! He loves to hold on to my neck tight and lay his head in the crook of my neck. If I ask him if he wants to get down and he doesn't, he just squeezes tighter. So cute.


For the last six weeks Grandma Alice has been in town staying nearby. This has been great for quality grand kid time. Piper has had spend-overs at Grandma's apartment every Friday night and spent lots of time going for walks, getting ice cream, painting pictures, reading books and playing games. The boys have also gotten Grandma time, taking walks to town and the library and playing toys in our playroom while listening to classical music. Grandma Alice has even taken on putting all three kids to bed on occasion so Dave and I have enjoyed many date nights during her stay. Thank you Alice for all your help and support to our family.

Dave and Alice took on the project of building a sandbox in the back yard. This was a huge success, the kids love it! I can picture this being a fun "go to" activity this summer, worth hours of entertainment. The only downfall is the layer of sand that now coats my downstairs wood floors. =-( Oh well, they aren't that clean anyway!

Finally it is Paddle Boarding season!!! This has become one of our favorite solo pastimes. It is a great way to spend an hour or two on our own, a time to rejuvenate, relax and just enjoy some quiet time outside. Sometimes we can sneak out during the day, but usually it is after the kids are in bed that we take advantage getting out before dark. It takes some concentration to keep balanced on the board and watch out for rocks just below the surface, mostly it is just a mellow time to be in the moment. We both love it!

Easter in Seattle

Easter egg hunting was a huge hit this year. Piper is a pro, she has had lots of practice throughout the year, as one of our favorite front yard activities is "hide the lizards and frogs". The boys caught on quickly as well, but mostly loved dumping all the eggs out of the bucket instead of filling up the bucket. We had a super packed fun filled weekend in Seattle, spending time with Grandma and Grandpa playing toys, going to parks, hanging with Auntie, Uncle Kevin and cousin Garret. One of the highlights was scootering out front after dinner. My dad got out my old scooter that has been hanging in the garage for 25 years (is that even possible, wow) just waiting for this very occasion for the grand kids to enjoy. They pumped up the tires and it worked great, except for the lack of breaks! Garret took it to the top of the hill and sped right down. Piper had her own mini kick razor scooter that she raced down the hill on. She was so pleased with herself that she went down the whole hill without using her breaks. She got speed wobbles, but stayed on without crashing.

The neighborhood community center, Loyal Heights, where I grew up playing peewee basketball and t-ball, had a egg hunt on Saturday that we participated in. It was was fun to revisit my old stomping grounds and funny that the gymnasium had the same smell I always remembered. The kids had a blast and I even ran into some old high school friends who had their kids hunting for eggs too.

This is a cute picture of my mom loving hanging out with her grand kids.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures because I had already filled up my memory card on my camera by Easter Sunday, but we spent the afternoon at my cousin Celeste, Tim and their new baby Mercer's new house. It was our first time meeting baby Mercer and I couldn't believe what a smiley little guy he was. So cute and fun to see all the cousins race around and play together.

Then on the way home we stopped by Shannon and Kyle's house who had a huge gathering of family, friends and neighbors. We made it just in time for their big Easter egg hunt with over 400 eggs hidden throughout their yard. By then, that was Piper's 4th egg hunt over the weekend, she was spinning from all the sugar. As always, so good to see the Tyler's!

Saturday afternoon was a beautiful, warm and sunny day. We met up with Uncle Topher and Grandma Alice at Gas Works park, it felt awesome to be outside in t-shirts! We are lucky to have Grandma Alice staying nearby us in Bend for a little more than a month, so she traveled up to Seattle with us and got to spend time with Christoper at his new place in Capital Hill. It was super fun to meet up with them and watch the kids play. We picked flowers, threw rocks in the lake, played in the sand, and slid down the fireman's pole. Piper loved the fireman's pole, she must have slid down it 10 times!

It was a whirlwind, but a really good trip to Seattle. Fun to see family and visit a big city. Feels good to be home now too, I just wish the warm weather would come and stay for the summer. It was beautiful yesterday and snowy today?!

We did get to sneak in a visit from Dan and Alyssa who were in town for Easter. We enjoyed a beautiful hike this week around Smith Rock with the Shaws and their two dabooboos Payson and Nolan. It was a quick visit, but always fun to see these guys and meet their new addition.

Around the house

So that is what it feels like to have all five of us sick over the last 3 weeks. Ugg! Piper kicked it all off with high fevers and an ear ache. It is so sad to have little ones in pain, and not being able to fix it. We did eventually get her in to see our friend a chiropractor, and this seemed to be the most helpful - Thanks Brandi! The boys followed suit and came down with something too, oh the snot that came out of these guys, non stop runny boogers, we couldn't keep up with all the goober getting. Yuck. =-(

Dave stayed strong the longest with constant netty potting, but I fell hard and couldn't believe how bad I felt. I don't think I really got sick last year when the twins were little...no time I guess with all the nursing and diaper changing, but this cold helped me regain some sensitivity to people that are in the middle of a cold. This was a bad one that kept teasing me to think I was better, then it would hit hard again and knock me out again.

Unfortunately this all hit during Piper's spring break from school, which also was a super cold yucky week weather wise. So we were pretty cooped up, it was a long week to say the least. We read lots of books and enjoyed several movies to get us through. I have to say, it was so cute and cuddly to have all 6 of us (Mango included) snuggled up on the couch as we watched the 1979 original "Benji the dog" movie. The first 15 minutes there are pretty much no words, just shots of this awesome dog making his way around the town. Even the boys had the attention span to enjoy this part of the movie. They kept pointing and saying "dog, dog"! So fun!

Here are a few random pics over the last few weeks...

Watching a movie!

This is Jett's toothy smile!

Piper's recent favorite activity...washing dishes.

Calvin loves playing dress up.

The boys watching Daddy go out for a run.

Pigtails!

After dinner fun with Piper and Hazel - Look at that blueberry tongue!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Staley Fun

Grandma Alice came for a visit and Piper had a full schedule planned...candy store, ice cream store, boat park, scooter ride, toy store and lots of stories to be read. Mission accomplished!

The boys got lots of Grandma time too, with long walks to town and lots of play time in the playroom upstairs. Grandma Alice is great with the kids, she loves the time with them and we love the break and opportunity to get out too. We snuck in 3 date nights and one daytime cross country ski and lunch date. So fun, Thank you Alice for being so strong and confident to care for our three munchkins.

Also this past week we had Piper's first Parent/Teacher conference at her Montessori school that she goes to 3 full days a week. It was fun to hear her teacher talk about what a fun, silly, well-liked girl Piper is at school. Ms. Heather gave us a better idea of some of the different things that Piper likes to do at school, which was great to hear because it is hard to get Piper to tell me about her day, so as far as I know, all she does each day is eat lunch and paint. =-) And I know this because her lunch is mostly gone and she brings home piles of artwork each day. Funny thing is that some of what she brings home are gifts from her older four year old friends that love showering Piper with attention and presents. Piper loves school, it is great to see her thriving and learning and making friends.

A cute story one of her teachers, Mr. Brian told me was that recently he was trying to get the attention of the kids so they could move on to a new project and they weren't being good listeners so he was starting to get frustrated. Piper sees this happening, so she goes right up to him and says, "Mr. Brian, do you need a hug?" He said that just made his day.

I do notice this about Piper, she is so in tune with how other people are doing. She is very caring and sensitive to the energy and mood of people around her. Piper is good at asking questions and communicating in ways well beyond her three years, so good that it is easy to forget that she is just three.

Calvin and Jett are quickly becoming "little boys", it is fun to see. Their understanding and ability to follow simple instructions like, "Go get your jacket." or "Can you pick out a book?" and they actually do it!

Calvin is pretty animated, he makes all sorts of faces and sounds. He has repeated several words, but only once each. I think we are in trouble with him because he is quick to throw a tantrum by laying on the floor whining if he doesn't get his way. Calvin is super physical, a favorite activity lately is climbing up on a big storage bin and flinging himself off on to pillows. If soccer is Calvin's sport of choice, he might be a lefty! He likes kicking balls and his left foot seems to be dominant.

Jett has the "d" word down pat. He points at everything and says, "Da da da da" or "Do do do do" or "Doy doy doy doy". Jett love burps and farts! Whether from himself or someone else, bodily functions are sure to get a good belly laugh from him. It is interesting to see the difference in sleep that the boys seem to need. We are down to one nap a day and Calvin is usually up after an hour and 45 minutes. Jett will sometimes nap for three or four hours! And the rough life of being a twin and sharing a room, if he accidentally gets woken up before he is ready, he is sooooo sad, but won't go back down. This can make for a long rest of the afternoon. =-(

Jett is a lot more timid when it comes to physically climbing on things, he is way more cautious, but slowing gaining confidence by watching Piper and Calvin climb all over everything. After all the fun we had sledding a few weeks ago, Dave set up an indoor sled hill using our couch and cushions and a thermarest. Piper and Calvin right away were all over this fun. It took a while for Jett, he loved sliding, but was unsure about getting up to the top by himself.

We are looking forward to warmer weather and all the playing that will happen OUTSIDE!! It is great that the boys are now walking and can participate in all the fun. I am happy about the stage we are in and all the stages to come. However, this past week when our friends Dan and Alyssa Shaw had their second baby. I saw the picture of this tiny little one and it made me panic a little. I feel like I can barely remember, especially Piper, but even just one year ago, Calvin and Jett being that small and babyish.

The realization that I wont experience that tiny newborn baby stage again caused some anxiety in me. Don't get me wrong I know I don't want any more kids (we already have a bonus baby), but it makes me wonder if I took it all in and was able to experience all there was to experience during that sweet beginning of life time. I am sure I did, but it all happens so fast, it feels like a blur. I don't want to stop time, but I feel very conscious of it moving right on by. I guess these feelings are just a good reminder to live in the moment, the now is right now, and it can't get any better than that. Everything else is the past or the future and just in my head anyway!