++A visit from the ice cream truck++

Really it was just two guys in an old white jeep with some rigged up sound system that played those tinkling ice cream truck songs we all recognize. The kids were thrilled. Claire had a nice outfit on so I stripped her down. Clearly that was a good call. And for the record, Claire's ice cream was Tweety Bird, not some scary looking scull. I'm not that bad of a mom.

++Sweet Sixteen++

Meet crazy Claire at sixteen months. Sassy, silly, cute and DETERMINED. She has her Daddy so wrapped around her finger that we are sure that this car isn't the only one he'll buy for her (and we didn't even buy that one, it was someone's trash...remember?)
She is full of ideas. Including lining up the chairs for some sort of seating. Including one for baby.

She also gets herself into all sorts of trouble that her brother never got into. Not sure whose idea this one was. I wouldn't put it past being Claire's.

She is into belly buttons these days. Beware. She will show you hers, but in turn will ask to see yours!

She is full of gestures and jibber jabber and more and more real words. We definitely don't have a wallflower on our hands.
She's just a little thing. So much smaller than Wyatt was at this age. But she has really shed almost all of her "baby". That's why I love this shot...it still reminds me that she is a baby. Butt up going backwards down the stairs.
Speaking of babies. She loves them. Real ones and dolls. She loves them all. We spent some of her birthday money and bought her a new baby. Lucky for me, if it wasn't bad enough that we have to keep track of stash of loveys for each kid, now we bring baby along too.

I have alluded to it before but we have a major shoe girl on our hands. Who knows, maybe this is just girls. She talks about "shz" all the time. She is infatuated with her hand-me-down Crocs. I have resorted to hiding them when I want her to wear something a little more attractive. I honestly think she is better than Wyatt is at getting shoes on her own feet.

A couple of other favorites from her sixteenth month:
A few other notes:

Loves: to play outside, bubbles, dancing, music, digging in our drawers, fruit, ice cream, dogs, cats, ketchup, pestering her brother, tickles, coloring, stories, and DADDDEEEEE.

Doesn't love: not getting her way, not going outside, sleeping in, long naps, staying in the shopping cart, most food, coloring only on paper, and staying awake in the car when we are rushing home for nap time.

++More++

I had so much fun taking pictures during the Dusoskys' visit. Not only did I have more subjects but there were always plenty of hands to watch my kids as I played paparazzi. Here are a few more favorites...

++Friends++

We are so blessed to have our wonderful friends the Dusoskys in our life. We are even more blessed that they like to travel and have come to visit us in every city we have lived in. We did our best to show them a good time. I took way too many pictures. Hold onto your hats. Our weekend in photos:

All trips to Seattle should start with a trip to the Space Needle.
Next, a trip to Pike's Place market. (I'd like to make the note that Wyatt clearly taught Meredith how to pose in family photos...it's nice to see he's not the only one.)

The time change and activity caught up to Meredith.

Finally a stop for some rides at the Seattle Center.

Wyatt was very into Emily and not so thrilled that we made him sleep in his own bed.
Next we made an outing to the Puget Sound at low tide. Despite the fact that it was June, it was COLD. We channeled our inner-Minnesotan and toughed it out.
Creature finding was a highlight of the trip for the kids.

We also enjoyed watching the train go under the bridge. (note: thanks to Susan and Brett for showing us this Washington treasure)I think it looks like they were having fun...

Day three started with a stop at Snoqualmie Falls (are you tired out yet?)

And continued with lots and lots of fun at our favorite little find, Remlinger Farms.
Even the grown-ups joined in on the fun.

This photo cracks me up. The roller-coaster was not a hit with the younger kids. Wyatt is as white as a ghost and Meredith is crying. Needless to say, they didn't do for a second time.

Wyatt hasn't stopped talking about his friends since they left. He can't wait for them to come again. We can't either.

++Summer is here!++

We think...finally...it might be summer in Seattle. There was sunshine and temps pushing 70 so we had to get out the pool.
It's funny to see the antics that you can accidentally capture on camera. Did I mention that the water wasn't very warm?

She was a good sport about that soaking. Had the tables been turned, Wyatt would have been out of the pool crying for sure.

Dad was supposed to be supervising.

Claire's current form of pestering usually involves hair pulling. Perhaps she is noticing that his hair is still dry.

Finally, he gets what he is due!

My happy swimmer.

Blue swimsuit+blue eyes+blue water=one handsome dude!

Things are just a little more fun now that summer is here!

++Meet our newest houseguests++

This is Ruby Cocoa Puff. Her husband is Max. She has three babies: Huey, Dewey, and Louie. We watched her build her nest and sit on it and then one day noticed the activity picked up. We perched our ladder in the dining room window and have a great view of nature at it's best. I've googled so much about the whole nesting and hatching process of Robins I feel like a homeschoolin' mom.
They are getting bigger every day. I am guessing they will leave their nest sometime next week (my research said they stay for about two weeks). I think Wyatt and Claire will miss them.
And I will leave you with one final interesting fact. I kept seeing the mom (or dad) leave the nest with something in their beaks. At first I thought it was a baby that didn't make it. Today I was for sure I noticed something white. So, I googled it and discovered that baby birds poop in sacks that are all packaged up for their parents to carry away. Isn't that nifty? Why couldn't my babies poop in sealed sacks? I can't believe I have never heard of that before. The best part is that my research led me to a site that featured Jim Gilbert. I have no idea how many of my readers hail from Hopkins but I know a few of you do and I'm sure you remember him. Tonight I told Mark the story of the deer scat necklace. Lovely.

Ok, my nature talk is over. Back to my suburban life.