Camano

Did you know that 10:30am is the universal time for feeding cows? :-)

The Potty Update

So after all the bribing, encouraging, & pleading that we could come up, I think (dare I say it?) Kaylie may have decided to be done with this whole potty training thing. Friday morning she came down the stairs carrying her piggy bank (that is actually a bunny) and said, "If I stay dry all day long, can we go to McDonald's tonight?" I said, "Of Course!" and guess what - SHE DID IT! Not only did she stay dry all day, including through her nap, but she's been dry ever since - even overnight last night. She is 100% a pantie girl. To be honest, she did have one accident today, but we'd been in the car for 3+ hours and she was asleep, so I totally don't think that counts. Oh, and she used a port-a-potty for the first time "Ewwww! Yuck!" I don't think she'll be asking to do that anytime soon! Keep your fingers crossed for us! (Oh - and how funny is it that SHE bribed US to go to McDonalds?!?)

I Packed My Bags To Go To Grandma's

And in it I put:
Apple laptop, beach bag, coffee, donuts, everything, flip flops, (my) girls, hair products, ice cream, Josh, kayak, lemon bars, magic, Nano, ostrich, purse, Quizno's sub, Range Rover, smoothie, tanning bed, uniqueness, vagina, wonderful wife, xerus (swishy tailed), your car, & zedonk.

Goodbye Summer!

I am soooo looking forward to fall. I think I'm officially done with summer. Done with dirty barefoot feet, sunscreen, and kids up at 5:30am just because the sun is up. Today was the perfect teaser for fall... cool and crisp, a few rain showers, a little sun. Tonight we have a fire burning in the living room (ok, in all honesty, we are about to open the doors because it's getting really hot in here), I'm having an absolutely lovely glass of red wine (a super juicy full Malbec from Argentenia), and we have our "fall" music playing (you've gotta love these: Beth Orton, Jamie Cullum, with a little Louis Armstrong thrown in for good flavor). Mark is tucking the kids in bed (after blow drying Malia's hair - what a good, good Dad!). Chances are we'll play a few rounds of Dominoes tonight, because that is our official "sport" of fall and we are pretending that she has arrived.

Other fall favorites:

1. Walking Bainbridge Island, window shopping, kicking the leaves on the streets, stopping for hot apple cider and lemon bars
2. New dark wash jeans, boot cut, with just a touch of stretch (nice & long of course), a cozy chunky knit sweater, & new fall foxy black boots with a great heel.
   
3. Evenings at home with wine, a crackling fire & dominoes
4. Children asleep by 8:00
5. Rich pasta, soups, & more wine
   
6. Our wedding anniversary (it's no accident that we got married in the late fall)
7. Catching up on books - summer is just too busy to read all those books that are stacking up on my nightstand.
8. Knitting - it's time to start knitting scarves!!!
   

So Goodbye, Summer! You've treated us well, but we're ready to say goodbye... Ciao!

She's growing up!

This morning Kaylie packed her own backpack to go to "school". I have no idea what she packed in it, but I'm sure it's a fine assortment of animals, toys & books. She also picked out her shoes and put them on (the wrong feet, I noticed later). It just made my heart skip a beat when I realized how fast she's growing up. She is so strong and independent and so little, all at the same time. I wish I could keep her at this age a little longer.

Duuuude! Check out Josh and his totally rad faux hawk (and the gnarly bruise on the forehead to go with hit!)


And SBK's lovely Goldilocks. Did you know that she gets her curls from Mark? He used to have one seriously curly mullet. How hot is that?!?

Putting Our Lives in the Hands of Carnies

Saturday we went to the Hydroplane races in Silverdale. Unfortunately due to the weather (high winds, and later rain) the hydros never even made it in the water. We did, however, throw all caution to the wind and handed our children over to the grinning, toothless carnies and their rickety death trap rides. (I'm sorry - that's rude. One of the carnies had a few teeth)




Check out SBK's grin as she goes on her first motorcycle ride (And her last, says Mark!)

Cotton candy was the snack of choice, of course. Nobody could determine which was better - the pink or the blue. It's all good!




For ride #2, Malia chose "The Octopus". It was a very brave choice.. perhaps too brave. A few times around and I had to ask them to stop the ride so a very shaken Malia could get off.

And then we played at the park for awhile before the rains hit. (Hard to believe that it was raining sideways 20 minutes after these picture!)

Last week when we went to the park, Malia went across the monkey bars 30 times and came home with blisters on both hands. She toned it down to 6 crossings this time.

We ended the day with a carnival theme dinner at home: corn dogs, nachos, and root beer floats. There will be time for veggies and hummus tomorrow.

A great Malia picture

Malia is going to be NINE in September - I can't believe how fast she's growing up - or how gorgeous she is!

House Update - Painting is almost done!

So here she is! She's not finished, but we're getting there. Can you believe how much of a difference paint made? We still have a second coat on the trim, then the porches and the garage doors to paint but we can tell our little old house is feeling pretty!

A not so good idea

I heard from someone (who will remain nameless) that sometimes it helps encourage kids to potty train if they have to clean up their pants when they have an accident. Hey, I'll try anything once if it might help the cause... here is how it went down:

Last night SBK was outside in her bikini, playing in the water and running around. Sure enough, I hear "Moooommmmy!!! I need to be cleaned up" - a sure sign that she has poopie panties (or bikini in this case). So we march into the bathroom and I explain to her how she is going to clean up and wash out her swimsuit bottoms. (I know, just writing this I now hear how ridiculous this sounds.) We start out great, she takes off her suit and tries to shake the "stuff" into the toilet. No go. She shakes harder. No go. It's like a slingshot at this point and I'm getting scared. I asked her to slow down and try to shake out her suit into the toilet a little more carefully. This is when she grabs the suit and is holding the "stuff" in the palm of her hand (it's still inside the suit, so she's not actually touching it). In slow motion she looks at it closely.... then closes her hand into a fist... squeezing the poo everywhere.

I'm pretty sure I'm losing my mind.

Planning Ahead

Yesterday there was a catalog in the mail that had some Halloween costumes in it. The kids got to thinking and this is what we have so far:

Joshua - "An Imperial Storm Trooper"
Kaylie - "A beautiful butterfly"
Malia - "Too soon to decide"

I'm guessing this will change no less than 47 times between now and October 31st... we'll keep you posted.

The Painting of the House

It's coming along beautifully! Thanks to Jason, Bryan, Robert, and especially Marty (the paint pro who has been putting in overtime at our place)! The house is looking great... the body is finished and the trim work starts tomorrow. Mark is exhausted, today was a 6am to 8pm day, but there is an end in sight.

Thanks Lisa for loaning us your husband! We love you!

We'll post pictures tomorrow!

Monkeys in the Sun

Kaylie and Little Avery in their matching dresses.


One Eyed Packarooster - the day before his 10th birthday

SBK wanted to surf so bad but her mean mommy wouldn't take her down to the beach, so she made do with the puddle in the driveway. My girl rocks!

Flowers & Love

Today Mark brought me a dozen gorgeous white roses - the same flowers that we had at our wedding and it got me thinking of our wedding and our vows. Just thought I'd post them because they make me happy.

Mark:
"I take you, Leslie, to be my wife,
My partner in life and my true love.
I promise to love you unconditionally,
To be your best friend,
To respect and support you,
To be patient with you,
To work together to achieve our goals
And to dance with you when we are 100.
With this ring, I marry you
I am honored to be your husband."

Leslie:
"I take you Mark, to be my husband, my partner in life, and my true love.
I promise to trust you and respect you
Laugh with you and cry with you
I will support you, and love you unconditionally as we continue our life together.
I promise you my friendship, my heart, and my love from this day forward.
With this ring, I marry you
I am honored to be your wife"

Lovely.

We've decided to keep her

You may have been one of the lucky ones that did not get a phone call from me last Thursday. But if you were not so lucky and you received my tearful, "Kaylie's gone mad - I think we're going to have to send her to boarding pre-school" call - then I thank you. Although nobody had any real answers on how to make it through the day with this edgy child, we did survive and I'm pleased to announce that we have decided to let Kaylie stay in the family. By the way, when I called my dear, OLDER sister for motherly advice - all she did was laugh. In fact, I believe her comment was, "Thank God it's not just my kids!"

Kaylie must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed. Or maybe the wrong side of the room... she was cranky from the minute the sun came up.

A little history: nearly every morning, Kaylie comes down stairs and asks for hot chocolate. Nearly every morning we say yes and she curls up on the couch with her blanket and "cocoa chocolate". Then my charming child finishes her drink and hucks the cup under the couch. (Honestly - we didn't know this for the longest time. Where are all the @&# cups going?!?! I think it may have been Mike that looked under the couch one day and found them. The old hot chocolate cups, the stinky chunky milk cups, a kids plate... it was all there. Seriously, this is why I could never have worked as a house keeper. It just doesn't cross my mind that there might be dirty dishes UNDER THE COUCH!!!

But back to the point... Thursday morning, Kaylie had her cup of HC and I reminded her that if she didn't bring her cup into the kitchen and put it in the sink when she's done then she won't get HC the next day. She gives me the "OK Mommy!" and trots off to the living room. I gave her a minute (she does drink like a true Hughes) and go check on her. Her cup, of course, was upside down on (not under) the couch. I asked her to take it to the kitchen and she growled (really - a growl!) at me as she picked up the cup. Apparently this was NOT the wisest time to inform her that she wouldn't be having her beloved HC the next day, because my dear, sweet, loving child then looked me in the eye and threw her cup right at my head. Luckily I'm tall and she's only three - she missed.

And it was all down hill from there...

After too much time and too many tears (both mine and hers) battling this child, and with Malia and Josh literally hiding from her in the basement, I realized that we needed a serious change of scenery. I packed up all the kids and headed to the park. I figured that either a) she would run hard and work out all of her aggressions or b) the other moms at the playground would intervene if I tried to kill her.

I honestly saw her worst behavior that day. It was downright ugly and horrific like something off The Super Nanny where one might watch and think, "That poor dysfunctional family - get that kid some meds!" (What kind of mom does this make me?) But... we have managed to make up and for some reason, she's been a perfect angel of a child for two days now. We are all getting along beautifully, she's listening & following rules & being polite and nice. I think we'll keep her after all. (And no, she has not had any more hot chocolate as she is on hot chocolate restriction until next Wednesday.)

Wish us luck with this girl... we're gonna need it!