my never ending to-do list

I knocked off a big chunk of my to-do list over the last few days. It feels good to have it done but it's a bummer that the only reason it got done is because I didn't workout. It's so hard to fit it all in... Luckily I was able to have a nice mix of chores, fun and exercise today. Booyah!

Haircuts. Check. 

A trip to Build-a-Bear so both boys could cash in on their rewards. Check.

Time to play outside so the boys could bike/scooter and pick giant tulips. Check.

holy milestones batman

What is going on in my house right now?!

This morning, Mason told me he didn't need his paci anymore. Out of the blue, no real talk about how we need to get rid of it soon or anything. So I asked him if he meant he was all the way done with it and wanted to throw it away and he actually said yes!! I thought about pretending to throw it away so we'd still have it (assuming he'd change his mind at bedtime) but then I realized this was as good a time as any and we went for it.

It happened so fast... I grabbed my phone on the way to at least get a picture. : ) Then, after he threw it out he told me he wanted to wear underwear and that he'd use the toilet.

I was trying to make a deal out of his decision to be a big kid and he showed me how big was. That's as big as he could get his arms - he was trying to show that he is very big!

And. On Friday, Andrew will be going to his first (non-family) slumber party.

And just in case you missed it, Andrew learned to ride without training wheels yesterday! It's too much for one week. Don't they know I can only take so much...

day 2

Andrew was ready to get outside and ride his bike first thing this morning. As I was helping Mason get started I noticed an old beehive and when I went to show Andrew he was already off and riding - no reminders, no help getting started. He's a professional now.

2 wheels!!!

On the way to school this morning, Andrew asked if he could learn how to ride his bike without training wheels when we got home. We've been waiting for a good day to do it so it was perfect timing. I was a little worried that he would give up if he couldn't do it right away and Matt was worried that if he fell and got a little scratched that he might be too nervous to try again. We both gave him our pep talks to try to convince him he can do it and then headed out. He hopped on, and after Matt explained balance, he literally got it on his first try. Matt pushed him and let go and Andrew kept going. Crazy. After he got a little more comfortable we headed to a park so he could have more room to work on starting on his own and turning, etc. He's officially a two wheeling machine. It was a pretty exciting day.

To make sure Mason's life rocked too, we brought Andrew's scooter for him to try out for the first time. It's not that he couldn't do it before, he just never seemed to want to. We figured by making it a big deal, he might be more into it. Our plan totally worked. He loved it!

SLR + the park = super cute

I was able to bring my SLR to the park today! I haven't used it in a while so I had a little too much fun at the park today...

I love his dirty little hands.

This was unexpected cuteness - just ignore my toes...

Mariners vs Twins

We had our annual M's vs Twins night with the Gamradts on Saturday. It was a beautiful night and the M's even decided to win a game!

Yep, still funny... We did this last year and it was just as hilarious this time! : )

teatro zinzanni

Thanks to Andrew's friend Sam, we got to enjoy Recess Monkey at Teatro ZinZanni on Saturday! It was a concert/circus mix and I think I had just as much fun as Andrew did! And to top it all off, we had front row seats! (Hopefully I'll be back for a real show at Teatro ZinZanni some day, but this was pretty cool!).

it's for a good cause

Week 6.

Nothing too exciting to report this week. I'm on track and even kind of wish I would've pushed to 4 1/2 miles on Sunday, but my training schedule had me repeat 4 miles and I'm a rule follower. : ) Only a couple weeks until my run! I'm not too worried about running the 5 miles - unless something crazy happens, I'm sure I'll be able to do it! I am a little nervous about beating the bridge, but we'll deal with that later...

As I've mentioned here before, I am running this race for our friend, Zane. I would love to be able to raise some money to support the research to find a cure for juvenile diabetes. Please check out my personal fundraising page for more info. And if you are able to donate (even $10) it'd be awesome!

Thanks for following me. I realized you were forced to if you check my blog, but it's still cool. I think my plan of being held accountable by posting on here has more than done it's job!! Only a couple weeks to go and I'll be done with my weekly updates and inspirational running quotes. (you're welcome).

opening day (and some other stuff)

We went to Bellingham this weekend so my parents could take some truckloads of stuff to the dump. It also happened to be opening weekend for fishing season and Matt likes fishing at Toad Lake near my parents' house so it worked out perfectly.

Mason loves to pretend he's driving. I love the expression on his face in this picture.

I went to pick up Andrew after he was done (he caught two fish!) and couldn't resist some pictures of them out on the boat.

Then we headed to meet my aunt and her 2 girls at Rocket Donuts. I'm sure you're not supposed to climb on the rocket, but there was no sign, so we took full advantage of it and climed all over it.

photography

Mason was having fun with my camera while we were at my parents' house. I always find it interesting to see what kids like to take pictures of...

No time with the camera is complete without a nice self portrait. : )