May! And everything in it.

It was somebody's birthday in May. 

Nory turned... FIVE.

Wow.

She is so much... everything. So much fun, so much work, so much joy, so much love, so much noise, so much personality.

She is such a great sister. I wouldn't exactly say that she is all the time every second kind and patient... but she is a fun and constant and loving friend and sister to Elliott.

She is in an extreeeemly annoying phase of comparing EVERYTHING. She even measures vitamins to make sure she gets the "bigger" vitamin.

And even though I tell her a hundred times a day that "fair" in our family means that everyone gets what they need, she continues to believe it means that she gets the slightly bigger/better/faster/first thing.

Five. Woah, five. Loose tooth, check. Reading and writing, check. Starting kindergarten in the fall, check. Preferring her friends over her parents, check (silent tear here). She still loves to have our attention and will still enjoy a game with us, but mostly we hear "watch me" while she does some crazy monkey climbing swinging cartwheeling hula hanging thing from our gymnastics bar. Or rides her bike from the top of the street to the bottom (we live on a very steep hill) "with no brakes." 

I'm feeling a little emotional over the concept of FIVE. I celebrate and dread her independence. Nory is very trustworthy and we give her a pretty long leash. She's always been a good rule follower and has good respect for authority and other adults.

We love her. She's an amazing kid. I feel so blessed that she is OUR Nory.

* * *

Other May Happenings

Lots and lots and lots of time with Jillian, two-houses-down neighbor.

Had a birthday party for the kids. Abby made it there with her two girls and 8 day old baby. Caleb came too, but still, you have to admit this mama is amazing.

We went to a Sounders game. We sat in the peanut gallery, in the rain. But it was still fun.

I broke Nory's gum ball machine (BUT I replaced it! And joined Amazon Prime for the occasion!)

I let the kids decorate the cake for Nory's birthday. The ugliest cake I've ever seen.

I got a hair cut. I usually don't put pictures of myself on the blog, but what if I don't remember what I looked like 30 years from now and I check the blog? Might as well have a photo of me on the day I got a good hair cut, right?

Mother's Day (Dan's pictures)

We went on a run/bike/picnic.

Look ma, no feet!

(Back to my pictures)
The boys made dinner!

Nory and Elliott's Gym Jam

Preschool photos

Field Trip to the Reptile Museum

Sunglasses, matching
 

We drove to California for my cousin John's wedding. It was at the top of California, but even still it was about a 10 hour drive and we decided to drive both ways overnight to make it easier on the kids.

We stayed in a lovely cabin by a river with this view out our window.

Boys at the wedding.

Kids, taken in the first 5 minutes after arriving. I can tell because they aren't covered in dirt yet.

Brothers

It was beautiful and full of love.

John and the new Mrs. Emma Linkhart

When we weren't at the wedding, we were... biking.

On the way home we stopped for a Sunset detour at Crater Lake. Amazing to get out of the car and see snow and be freezing an hour after being in 95 degree weather.

In other news, our shoes exploded.

We've had an amazingly warm and sunny late-spring this year. Outdoor swimming weather.

I think I may even post MORE THAN ONE BLOG ENTRY for June so... Stay Tuned!

April: in which I cave on NOT waiting for Dan's good pictures before posting a blog

I will come back and post the kids' birthday pictures when Dan has time to go through them, but seriously, it's June now and April is going to be ancient history soon. So without further ado...

Vancouver Aquarium Jellies

Hiking North of Vancouver

Bribing Elliott to stay in bed all night

Watching Dan's Soccer Team

Abbey Road HOA: Where you never have to watch or feed your own kids, and there's always plenty of wine!

We inherited an Xbox.

Outfitting an Apartment for a single mother at the YWCA House 

Visiting Nana and Papa's Brand New Amazing Better-Than-A-Magazine Home

With Mud!

Lots and Lots and Lots of MUD.

Wine Tasting

This little boy learned to ride his bike without training wheels, a week before he turned three.

OH YEAH, DID I MENTION THIS AMAZING KID TURNED THREE?

And he pretty much has only stopped riding his bike to eat and sleep since then. Under protest.

Bocce ball at the winery

Wine. And friends and family.

Biking - did I mention Elliott hasn't stopped biking?

I won mariners tickets at work and Dan and I went and had a lovely date night. And they won, which, you know, was a small sort of miracle!

Finally retired the old light in the dining room and hung this one. Cute, huh?

A few words about Elliott turning 3, before I forget what he was like way back in April!

I'm pretty sure he's a better athlete than me. He can bike, ski, throw a football with a spin, throw a frisbee perfectly, dribble a basketball, (okay he loves throwing pretty much everything indiscriminately, this is a known bug but we're working on it), he is rocking swimming and gymnastics, his soccer skills are incredible. Pretty much anything he can do to keep up with his sister.

And... he is still a total snuggle-uppy-mama's boy. Loves to cuddle. Loves to run over and give me a kiss. Loves to hang on to his daddy's neck like a monkey. Still asks me to crawl in bed with him around 6am every day and I do because I am a SUCKER for the extra hour of sleep it buys us.

His speech is still pretty hard to understand. He didn't talk much until he was past 2, and he wouldn't talk at all if Nory was around until he was almost 2 and a half. He does talk a lot more now, but if you want to know what he is saying you need to know the context and have patience. I imagine that he put all of his growth into large motor development and is approaching speech as an afterthought. Although he is very easy to understand when he says (after being scolded for grabbing Nory's jump rope out of her hands), "sorry poopoo head Nory!" (ah, the joys of the younger sibling vocabulary).

He. Eats. Everything.

Here is a list of some of the things Elliott loves:

hot sauce

mustard

blue cheese

pepper, sprinkled on everything

salad, all types

nuts, all types

beans

olives

mushrooms

bagels

fruit

vegetables

yogurt

milk

cheese

actually pretty much everything, except meat which he is hit-or-miss on

Dan and I measured him this week, and looked up his growth % on line, where he showed up in the 7-10% for height and 47% for weight. The funny thing is that he has skinny little arms and legs and a HUGE, are-you-expecting-twins, belly. Possibly the cutest toddler belly I've ever seen. And let me just say that with such an appetite, it's a good thing he's potty trained and leave it at that :).

Love this little guy. Happy birthday Elliott!