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Ballet

Every little girl has to do it at some point right? Even if its just for a day, so they can put on those cute leotards and dance around on their tiptoes.

Its free thanks to a wonderful friend.

And so hillarious.

Warner Week Day 5: “Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana”

Banana.
Bananas, bananas, bananas.
That is how many the boy eats in one day.
Wake up in the morning, what does he point to
"Nana"
So I give him one.
One was apparently not enough, so what does he do he cries for
"Nana"
so I give him another one.
Wake up from nap time, bring him downstairs what does he cry for
"Nana"
That doesn't quite fill him up, so he cries for
"Nana"
and I give him another one.
You do the math.
I think the kid might start growing a tail pretty soon and start swinging from trees if I'm not careful.

Roses are so high maintenance and I think I'm discovering that I don't really like having them in my back yard. But then I cut one off and put it in a vase on the table, and then I don't think I mind them so much.

Warner Week Day 4: "Deeeeets!"

Journal entry written May 18, 2010

Warner was not too happy when I put him down for his nap today. He went back and forth between whining and chatting for about half an hour. When his little whine finally turned into a full-on cry I went in to check on him. I opened the door, took one big sniff, and immediately discovered the problem. So, I picked him up and changed him. While I was changing him he gave me his classic toothy grin and said "Deeeets" in a real low voice.

Deets means thank you. He says it anytime any one gives him anything. Be it food, a toy, a kiss, but this "deets" was by far my favorite, and the most considerate I think. He was thanking me for changing his poopy diaper. Talk about a polite. Wow.

Oh my little lovekins. I want to smoosh him just thinking about this journal entry, but he is asleep, so I must restrain myself.

Warner Week Day 3: Warner Learns to Walk

Warner Walks May 2010 from Jessica Brown on Vimeo.

Warner Week Day 2: True Baller

Balls! The kid loves em. I know most babies love balls and this is nothing out of the ordinary, but truly all day everyday he finds either a bouncy ball, a basketball, or some other sort of ball and chases it from room to room. The funny thing is that, for the scrawny little 16 month old that he is, he can actually throw and catch with an impressive amount of coordination.

I'm so glad I caught that face (third picture down) for you all to see. That little face, is the reason why on some days I get very little done. I know the laundry is stacked, and the kitchen a mess, and yes there is a mashed and brown banana on the side of my shirt, but how can I resist acquiescing the plea to play when those little puppy eyes are looking me in the face? They melt me every time.

Warner Week Day 1: Sleepy

To be equal in my affections and attention to both children in this family, this week I give you one week with Warner.

And I will start it out by telling you a secret.
I adore this kid.
Whole-heartedly.
He can do no wrong.
But what 15 month old can?

To start off Warner week, let me tell you about a quest I had which started back in April of this year. I was determined to get a sleeping picture of my light-sleeping little boy. At the sacrifice of waking him up, I attempted this silly task twice, and failed miserably both times.

Attempt 1:
I snuck in his dark room, aimed the camera right at his peaceful little baby face, and realized only too late that I had forgotten to turn off the flash. Click went the flash, and up sprung Warner, right into sitting position. I didn't even know that was humanly possible to arise from sleep that quickly. In my experience of sleepiness it takes a good half hour to actually get up to moving speed after being asleep.
I gotta admit he kinda startled me springing up like that. It was kinda freaky.
In a cute kinda way.

This kid has cat like reflexes I tell you.

Attempt Number 2:
This attempt was closer. There was at least no freaky springing action, but still no luck. Had my camera clicked half a second faster I would have got him. But alas another nap ruined by a silly mom.

After my second attempt and a tired little boy, I felt really guilty and crazy for having woken up my baby to take a picture.

So, I waited a month.

And then attempted yet again.

I guess three times the charm.


Alas, a sleeping picture of Warner.

To bad I got cocky and took a second shot which woke him up from his nap for the third time in a month. What kind of mother does that I mean seriously.

Long Beach 2010

Note to Self:

Do NOT forget to turn the tempurature gage on the washing machine to COLD when washing darks, especially when washing dark red rugs that have never been washed before.

I'm so sorry about your blue shirt Jaron.

Purple. It's the new blue.

Not.

Our latest project

Our lovely neighbors David and Kathrine offered us their swing set when we moved in. "If you can figure out how to disassemble it and move it to your yard, it yours!" were David's exact words. Turns out it was a bit more of an undertaking than I originally estimated.
Here's what it looked like in their yard:

This beast must weigh a ton. Literally. Lucky for me I have a good pal who has every tool imaginable, including an electric impact wrench, no measly cordless drill was going to be able to handle the big bolts that held the thing together. I started taking pictures (to aid in reassembly) at 9:00 am Saturday a few weeks ago, here's where we were by 2:00 pm that day:

5 hours in and we've got her taken apart and moved to our yard. This also involved taking out a section of the fence that separates the yards. By 9:00 pm that night (good thing it stays light so late in Washington in the summer) it was a free-standing, level structure. A special thanks to Matt Reno who came over and was instrumental in raising the beam the swings hang from, and to Brandon Bradshaw who amongst other things de-carpenter ant-ed the top platform and helped bolt things together.
After a weekend hiatus going to Long Beach, we got back after it over the 3-day Memorial Weekend, finished a few minor things like bolting on the slide and putting on the awnings; we power-washed the beast. This took about two hours and two tanks of gas. It was also raining and I wore my chest waders that are normally reserved for things like catching salmon and surveying rivers. Jess braved the mist and took a few pictures of the washing in action:

She shines almost like new. We're officially open for visitors! Behold: