Adventures of a Family

Having two children is not as easy as having one. Of course no one in their right mind said it would be but I still didn't imagine that it would seem more than twice as challenging. For me it often is. Things I thought I'd still have time for, like writing for our family blog, pulling weeds from the garden or taking deep breaths seem to have been pushed to the side for the past 10 months. I often wonder if years later Jonah and Mae will read these entries and realize that many moments of Jonah's early life were catalogued here whereas Mae will wonder to herself, "I wonder if they love Jonah more than they love me." Not possible my little Mae. So many things have gone un-recorded here and to recreate a bunch of posts to relive them will not do it all justice so I have put together a bulleted list of the many things I missed posting but think about each and every day when I see my sweet little girl. You say dadda like it is the best word in the world (nevermin...

Today was Jonah's first day of our little community co-op called "Sprouts" and this is what our friend, Luke, had to say about how the kids did. Priceless. "Let's keep those tips about how to interpret and engage our kidscoming -- they are invaluable. For example we were glad to have heard from Jonah's folks that "I want a snack" usually actually means he is ready for something else to do. Because we knew what that meant we were able to keep engaging him in new activities. He asked to go home a couple times but was never very upset about it and it was not hard to get him engaged and having fun again quickly. Overall he and all the kids did great being patient and engaged and self-entertaining and were excellent at following directions and making transitions. I was totally impressed with our little guys! That's pretty much it for comments on how our kids did. They all seemed pretty happy."

Crazy us decided it would be a great idea to do a remodel our kitchen and bedroom while taking care of two little kids. One word for that: smart! So as there is no way to have a 9 month old and a 2 1/2 year old in a house without a kitchen, we decided to take off for three weeks while the place was getting a much-needed face lift. First we took off for the beach, Manzanita to be exact. Our good friends Sandra and Sean and their son Stewart stayed with us a couple days, then grandma and grandpa Clark came out, and we even had a short visit from Auntie Deanna and cousin Carter. We then took off for another beach house in Canon Beach and had our friends Elke and Byron and their little girl Skyelar stay with us. And the trip kept going!.....we then hoped on an airplane and took off for Shamu land..that's right, we visited Ivan and Elena and their two beautiful daughters Lily and Isabel. Despite the 100 degree temperatures, we had a blast at Balboa Park, at the beach (where, unlike Oreg...

Jonah just asked Mae if she wanted to play with him.