Happy __ Birthday, big sister!

Happy Milestone Birthday to my big sister!  You are beautiful inside and out.  I couldn't ask for a better "dintie" to my kids!  You parent with patience and love.  You support and encourage your husband. You love Jesus.  You are generous, kind, thoughtful, and encouraging.  We love you! 

Fourth Anniversary

For our fourth anniversary we took a quick trip to Long Beach.  Since Malcolm is still breastfeeding full-time, he tagged along.  We had a great time walking on the beach, eating tasty food, and generally enjoying one another.  Isaac also taught me how to fly a two string kite!  There's definitely a learning curve, but it's so fun! 

Walking on the beach... 

Thinking about our girl while we were away

There's this thing called HOT COFFEE. I have forgotten how to drink it, and burned my tongue at least three times.  

Isaac's parents rented a condo for us to stay. So relaxing, as always! 

A fresh set of crosswords is a getaway must!

Malcolm discovered his toes on our trip! 

We are kitists now.  What a BLAST!  It took us a while to get going, then we reeled the lines out quite a bit.  Malcolm was just along for the ride.  As long as every inch of him was sheltered from the wind, he was a happy guy.  

Before we realized he was being pelted by sand...  He was NOT a happy guy.  

Much happier. 

On our way home we did some further exploring.  There was a lighthouse at Cape Disappointment that I knew I'd be disappointed if I didn't go see it.  (ohhhh!  And yes, that was a horribly constructed sentence). 

The Secret Garden? 

Isn't he the cutest?! 

Welp, it's a lighthouse.  What we didn't expect: it STANK up here. Like reeeeally stank. 

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Woody

Many years ago (I won't say just how many), my Uncle Scott bought me a Woody Woodpecker plush.  My mom told me years later that she thought it was odd because it's not cuddly. I mean, it's got a hard plastic beak protruding from his face.  Clearly, I loved it in spite (because?) of those plastic hands, feet, and face.  Now as a mama, I get it.  I've found myself wondering the same thing. That thing is NOT snuggly.  Why does my daughter love to sleep with it?  And yet... 30+ years later, he's still around, still being snuggled, chewed on, and loved!

Beware the Frog! He's Gonna GET YA!

Lucy:  "There's a frog in my room."

Isaac: "There's a frog in your room?"

Lucy: "Yeah."

Isaac: "Um... what does the frog do?"

Lucy:  "Yeah. (whispers) He gets me." 

(Takes a bite of oatmeal)

Lucy:  "He's gone now."
(Takes a bite of oatmeal)

Later that morning: 

Me:   "Tell me about your frog"

Lucy: "He comes in through the door when my sleeping." 

Me:   "Is he nice?"

Lucy: "Yeah. He nice. He gets me. He come in the door in my room. He is home now. He go to his home." 

At dinner: 

Me:     "Tell me some more about your frog. What does he do?"

Lucy:   "Uhhh... It come in my yoom and kill me." 

Me:      "!!!!!!!!"  Meanwhile, Isaac is having an absolute conniption trying not to laugh, and we're BOTH trying to figure out how she learned about murder! 

So either there's a murderous, but also genial frog on the loose, or Lucy remembered her first dream, OR we have a new and slightly disturbing imaginary friend.  Cootie Ca Ca he is NOT. 

How I Spent My Fourth of July

How I spent My Fourth of July

A Photo Essay by: Katie McPhee

I started the day by scrambling to find 4th of July-appropriate clothes for my kids.  I always skip over the cutesy holiday-themed clothes at the store only to find myself wanting to dress my kids up the day of! ha. I guess I should learn. Then I had to take the traditional "Happy Independence Day" picture of the kids.  Now, this is no small feat with a toddler; add in an infant and you have a recipe for hilarious outtakes!

Close enough: one kid is smiling.  Mission accomplished! 

Outtake: When she's done, she's DONE.
We're working on things like "don't throw brother when you're done holding him" right now. 

It was also Malcolm's two month birthday, so I had to take the token shot of him.  This was also filled with digging around for pictures of Lucy on her two month birthday to compare.  Turns out I didn't think this was something worth photographing, but I did have some horribly lit videos.  I managed to snap photos of Mal, but skipped the video.  He coos.  He smiles.  He drools.  It's adorable, but makes for a very slow video as he does none of these things on command.  

A word on this flag: I got this flag when we drove to southern Georgia to surprise Seth when he returned home from his second deployment (to Iraq).  It's a great reminder to me of the sacrifice of many (all gave some, some gave all), who keep our nation free. 

Naturally big sister had to photobomb! 

 Naps were taken.

Naturally there were naps.  This guy is a sleeping champ! 

Daddy felt sparklers were in order.  Perhaps we should have warned our child that she'd be holding a stick of fire, and that sparks would shoot off of it (hence "sparkler"), but we didn't. We stuck that stick in her hand, lit it, and laughed at the look of shock and utter terror that flickered across her face, good parents that we are! 

"Hey, this will be so fun!"

The smile before she realizes what she's holding. 

And there it is!  Probably should have warned her. 

Okay, maybe I can do this... 

Nope, still terrifying after all. 

She'd rather take care of brother than play with sparklers 

She sort of warmed up to them after a while. 

She got smart and wouldn't hold them any more. 

Still pretty unsure. Had to hold onto dad for reassurance. 

I stopped to capture the magnificence that is the hydrangea in front of our mailboxes. 

Then berry-picking was in order.  Blackberries.  On the fourth of July.  Tons of them.  Let that sink in for a moment.

A blackberry crisp was concocted by my wonderful husband (no photos because we dug right in), and we settled in and prayed our children slept through the explosions going off all around our home.  I'm not going to lie, we contemplated being "those people" that called the cops to report the illegal fireworks (they're banned in Renton), but turns out our kiddos slept right through, so we avoided crotchety neighbor status for another year.