Nature Amazes Me...

This picture is from Makylie's SPRING field trip last year, for preschool.
They went to The Farm, and got to plant pumpkin seeds and plant a teeny tiny Marigold starter.

She was very proud of herself.
Wait, what? You can't see it?

Still can't see it?
I said it was TINY!
Here she is writing her name on her stake.

BUT...
LOOK
AT
WHAT
IT
TURNED
INTO!!!!!

So now, we are in the next year of preschool.
Makylie is just about to go BACK to The Farm, to pick the pumpkins that only a few months ago, she got to help plant.
So it got me to thinking...I should post what her teeny little starter turned into.

Proud doesn't even begin to describe how she was.
She was very protective of her plant.
She watered it, and helped daddy feed it.
It was HUGE, and beautiful!

And here she is....With the October version of her little starter she was given...with the same stake that she wrote her own name on back in April.

Nature truly is beautiful!

My Soccer Star

Keeping with the norm...Ty still LOVES soccer!

We decided to put him on an actual league this year. The idea is that they start young together, and then stay together, year after year. It is meant to develop a sense of team, sportsmanship, and friendship, and to develop each child's natural skills, until they get to the age, where there are actual positions played.
This is his first year in an all boy team.
The Blue Dragons!!!
It is also the first year, that he has been on a team, with people from his school.

He is so fun to watch.
I envision that he looks a lot like Kevin back when he played.

(This was right after he scored a goal!)
He is GOOD! I know I have said it before....but he is! I mean, really really good!
Right now, they play all positions, but in time...I know he will play a forward. That is his skill set!
Every season, he starts out a little timid...to the game, and the people...
Once he figures out that he is an asset, and really remembers what he is doing, and stops being what we call "soft", meaning he plays with some aggression....
He is AWESOME!!!!!
It is sun now, because he is really learning the rules, and the "art" of the game too.
He is just starting to understand that you are supposed to play as a team...making plays, and carrying them out.
I imagine next year, will be the best season, so far, of that sort of thing...because hopefully, as skills improve all around for the kids....their love of the game will develop even more, and they will really learn to play to each others strengths...yet the fun part is, still be innocent enough to really just love the game for what it is....A GAME!


I think it will always be fun to watch the team become cohesive!

_______________________________________
And this last picture...
I feel like it is a futuristic picture.
I envision, seeing this exact same picture when Tyler is, say, 15.
Walking off the field, with his teammates...
Feeling like they just conquered world.
But...
Far too cool to smile at mommy with a camera.

The Boy Loves His Legos

I don't know what would happen if Legos had not been discovered around here.

So many hours have been spent building and breaking, and re-building.

Massive amounts of hand-eye coordination have been discovered.

The creativity and imagination have been worked and re-worked, and continue to develop daily.

Ty, can literally put a 700 piece lego set together in an hour.

He is amazingly fast...

And then he is so proud!

He has been trying to get into the lego magazine since his last birthday.

You build sets, and then take pictures, and send them in, and if you are lucky get featured...

It hasn't happened yet, but I can tell you how many Lego pictures I have taken...

Of

My son.....

AND his Legos.

Loves...

These kind of pictures....

Just make me smile.

Tyler can read now, like no other.

I don't even know how it happened. I blinked...and he got big. FAST.

How is my little boy, my baby boy, able to read. And do math. And function as a logical problem-solving little person.

He is smart.

SMART

And it is rubbing off.

Makylie is Smart too! In a way that just blows me away all of the time.

I am certain she will pick up reading in kindergarten. She knows all of her alphabet, she can count to about 130, and she processes logic in at least a first grade manner.

This little girl who almost literally didn't talk until she was three...is certainly making up for it now.

Mariners...

We went to our first Mariners game since Tyler was born. It was a lot of fun.
We went with our friends and watched as they lost.
Still, it was fun!

The game was fast. Inning after inning...no edge of your seat action...
because well....they lost.

The kids had a great time though.
It was just HUGE to them.
We have gone to minor league games...and of course it is nothing in comparison to this...


Everyone laughed and smiled...
And had fun.

Tyler was amazed at the lines on the field
He couldn't stop talking about them...

(I kinda like him)
______________________________________

The little kids brought their Build a Bears.

We used baby clothes to dress Makylie's in Mariner gear!

And Makylie too of course....

Ty's Build a Bear actually has Mariner clothes because that is what he picked when he made it.

The kids ate hot dogs, and licorice ropes!

Karman has been to games when she was younger...but it has been a long time.

Max was one of the CUTEST cheerleaders!

Ty would have liked to go down and play with them.

The field really is gorgeous. We were lucky enough to get a beautifully perfect warm and sunny day, so the roof was open...that was to be able to enjoy.

This was on our way out.

I came home and uploaded my favorite pictures here...waiting to have time to write on the blog, I simply saved my pictures. I was so glad I did...because my SD card for my camera decided it was going to freeze up on me, and as far as anyone can tell...the pictures are not retrievable.

So these are the only picture memories of that day. I had saved most of what was on that disc, but not this game or anything after....

So, I was very happy when I remembered that I had already uploaded these to the blog!
I did lose a couple of Ty with his friend Sean....but at least I have some!!

After the game we all headed over to Dicks.

We got dinner.....

And....well...

Ice cream!!!

Karman got maple nut, Ty got mint chocolate chip, and Max got chocolate.

**********************************************

Good Day

Good Friends

Good Times!

What?????!!!!

So, I took Karman shopping for school clothes.

While we were gone, I got a text.

It was from Kevin and it said simply this...

"Makylie says it smells like kangaroo in here."

Ummmm....WHAT?????
He said she was COMPLETELY matter-of-fact about it too....and it was completely out of NOWHERE!

We are wondering when the last time she smelled a Kangaroo was...
We are still laughing everytime we talk about it!

Just a day...

Monday, August 30th, we were on our way to the Evergreen Fair.

We were discussing whether to stop and get pre-paid tickets, or to use a coupon that we had and which would be the better deal...

I turned to Kevin and said, "well at least Makylie is free..."

She then said...VERY matter-of-factly, and little bit irritated....

"I am not "free", I am FOUR!!!"
___________________________________________

That little girl...
She is so smart and opinionated!
She is such a sasser!
She is such a thinker! She spends her time processing things all of the time, and then says something...and you just wonder, WHERE it came from! Then you realize she is putting her thoughts on a conversation that finished an hour before. She just spent all of that time thinking about the whole thing. Usually, her comments are really smart too. Things that actually took that processing time to come up with.

This was the same day that she told us that it would be scary to die.
WHAT???? Where did that come from?
We still don't really know...but it was a complicated thought for a four year old, in my opinion.

Her mind is funny. Her little thoughts and opinions that are making her such a whole person.
It amazes us every single day.

We laugh and marvel about who she is evolving into.

She keeps us guessing.
She certainly keeps us smiling!

Kids...
They are a phenomenon...
How they make their mark on us, long before we ever meet them...
How they surprise us with their remarkable way of growing into functioning little people.
How, even in their worst moments, you just simply, IN NO WAY, can imagine your life without them.
*****************
I wouldn't trade FOUR for anything!!!!

Happy Friday!

My Little Entrepreneur

Seriously cute!

We had a garage sale, and Makylie decided she should work too.

Kevin was in Bellevue helping his parents with a project, and Tyler went with him, so it was all Makylie.

At first she was so quite and wouldn't talk to anyone...but once she warmed up, and realized people were actually going to GIVE her money....she opened like a little blossoming flower!

She helped make the sign, and wrote lemonade all by herself...

Lemonade was 25 cents. Most people gave her more.

Some older couples just wanted to talk to her, and make jokes with her, and then gave her money...but didn't want lemonade.

She loved that because it reminded her of her grandpa.

She looked so cute.

She was so hot, and tired, and actually pretty bored in between customers, but she kept at it.

She did most things alone, but isn't quite big enough to handle the lemonade, so I helped her pour.

Seems that I should have put out a whole bake sale for her because people were just buying left and right. We went through almost all of the lemonade that we had.

Everytime she got another quarter, or dollar or anything...she would whisper to me...

Mommy, how much does that make do you think?

She just melts me.

All told, she made $14.83. (We don't quite know how that happened)

She shared a little with her brother, which was adorable...

and then stuffed the rest in her piggy bank!

Love my little Entrepreneur!

One Gigantic Cookie

I made this AMAZING....GINORMOUS COOKIE

It was as big as a pizza! It cooks perfectly!
I have tried to make big cookie before...and they are always over done on the edges and undone in the middle. But this recipe....let me just tell you...sooooooo good! So perfect!

I made them as gifts...and they were so perfect and LOVED by everyone!
They fit perfectly on 12" cake rounds that you can buy at Michaels...and then you wrap them up. I am telling you...I will make these every single year for teachers and if there is an event where I need to bring an item!
It is the talk of the table if you do.
***Add a pizza cutter and you just have an AMAZING gift for someone!
Plus, it really is easy to make!
Try it out....you won't be disappointed!!!

This is the recipe that I found HERE

Recipe makes one Giant Cookie

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter (melted and then cooled)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
*************************
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 butterscotch chips (optional)
You could also add nuts, or m&ms, or anything else you wanted
*************************
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, cream together the sugars and the butter. Add the egg and vanilla and cream again. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Line a large baking pan with foil and press the cookie into about a 9 inch circle...it will spread to 12 inches as it bakes.

Bake for 13-16 until the cookie is lightly golden brown. The trick is to NOT overbake.
Let the cookie cool completely on the baking pan so it can have time to stabilize and set up.
Once cool, gently use the foil to lift off of the pan.


Raelyn

Introspection...

I have been re-evaluating things lately.
More then I think anyone around me realizes.

I have been in kind of a "funk" and have been trying to figure out what is wrong, or what needs to be fixed in order to come out of it.
I still don't think I really know...but one thing is for sure today, as it has been for years...I am not happy with my body.
I worked so hard, for so long and did really well. I had great results.
THEN...I started losing very little if any and it got very self-defeating. So I slowly started moving back toward my old ways, my bad habits...and
it seems that now...those old habits, have become new again.

So I am getting back on the horse.
I am setting some new goals.
I am quite mad at myself, because now I have to RE-lose some of what I already lost..
but I am going to do it!




It is funny...with the few pounds that I have put back on...how different I feel. Mentally, and physically.
Before, I felt like I could take on the world...

Now I have lost confidence again, I feel like everyone is staring at me, and mentally, that I am starting from absolute scratch.
And, it is literally a few pounds.

Definately a big part of my "funk" that I know I am in.