Princess Kivi the Sweet's Royal Celebration

Our little princess turned 3 on July 14, 2008, however we didn't celebrate her birthday until August 9th.  But such a royal tadoo was made over her that I think it didn't matter at all, that and the fact she's only three. We decided to have it in August so my family could join us too. And what a celebration we had!  Everyone made it so festive by dressing up in costumes. Girls were princesses, guys were knights or jesters, although, I think only Poppie and Jasper were jesters. Nonnie did Kivi's hair and got her all ready for her big day. She felt so special and beautiful.

Dada and Mama with our sweet little 3 year old Pea.

Dada made his own crown and made Mama happy by wearing a great king outfit.

Cooper gave her the sweet pea flowers, isn't that perfect!

A group picture. Although everyone wasn't there yet, we didn't know when we'd get the chance again.

We feasted on royal yard bird, cooked carrot spears, royal rolls and princess punch, medieval style (without silverware). Some knights fought throughout the feast. 

Three little princesses. Opal, Peyton and Hannah.

The knights fighting the dragon with arrows. "Don't worry, Princess Pea, they'll save you!"

Jester Poppie amazes the crowd with his jesterly act of what we think was magic, sword swallowing and juggling?

The princesses dance! (I like how King Peter is slaying Knight Logan in the background.)

The dads perform a pyramid for the princess.

The Royal Castle Cake! Which almost everyone in our family, minus Dada and Poppie, had a hand in making the day before.

Kivi blowing out her 3 candles. 

Present time for the Pea! Thank you everyone for all the gifts.  Right after opening the presents it started to rain, thus the party came to an end.

Princess Mashel stayed after to take our family portrait, under the deck, since it was raining.

Kivi and her loving, fun-spirited family, who are such good sports dressing up and doing the crazy things I plan.

After nap, the first thing Kivi said was, "Mama, that was a wonderful party!" I'm glad you liked it little Sweetie Pea, cause we love you so much. You are our little princess and more importantly, you are a part of God's royal family. Dada and I are so blessed that He chose us to raise you, teach you about Him, and watch you grow to live for Him.  Always remember that He is your King and loves you more than anything!

The Museum of Flight Gets a "C"

On August 7th, our whole clan plus Grandma and Grandpa met the Hall family at the Museum of Flight for a night of free fun. It's free on the 1st Thursday of the month. It was way huger than I thought it would be so none of us actually ended up going through the museum together. Everyone went their separate ways to divide and conquer. 

Kivi and Bubba get to fly on the way there.

This is what Opal looked like the whole time on Mama and Dada's back. She tried to eat the carrier the majority of the time, that's the gross slobber part.

This was in the kid section of the museum, there were two little planes for the kids to get in and levers to pull and a balloon to make go up and down.  But it was the smallest part of the museum.  The rest of it was definitely geared toward older kids and adults.  The whole time I was thinking, "I don't know anything about planes, but man, I could've come up with a whole building of way cooler stuff for little kids to do to teach them about flight." But oh well, it was free.

Like buttons, kids just like pushing buttons. These ones were just stickers, but Jasper liked them anyway.

Our little family in the red barn, where Boeing made their first airplanes.

So all in all, it was fun, but I realized, while airplanes are cool, I'm just not that into them.  Maybe if there had been tons of "hands on" exhibits it would've got my attention more, but it was mainly a "look and read" kind of deal. So, I give the Museum of Flight a "C" because really I'm just a big kid, and I want to play.

We're Going to the ZOO, ZOO, ZOO!

Our summer girl's Bible study went to the zoo on Aug 6th, and thanks to Mashel and her awesome zoo pass my family was able to go for free (my favorite way to go). 

Mimi, Nonnie and Buggy with the kiddos on the wooden bear at entrance to Point Defiance Zoo.

The new kid section that was just added is great! Giant birds nests, spider webs to crawl on, sea turtles (not real ones) to find in the sand and real animals to see. Here's Bubba as a big snail. 

I just love this pic of Kivi's crazy tuck her lip under smile and those sunglasses! I think they're looking at a frog.

Our whole gang! Actually, my fam probably takes up half the group here. But we only account for one of the strollers. Where's the elephant?

Cutie Opie and Nonnie!

All the big boys (minus Jack) and one girl on a seal.

My Fun Family

My family came and visited from August 3 - 17th.  We had two weeks of sun and spent a lot of the time outside, in the lake, on the trampoline. The first week they were here we went to a luau and the zoo, walked around the lake, my Aunt Sherri came to visit, my Mamacita painted the girl's room pink and Peter put up wainscoting, went to the Museum of Flight and of course we celebrated Kivi's birthday (more on all these later). 

On our way to our neighborhood Night Out Against Crime luau.

The Big Kids Go Camping

August 1-3 Eben and Kivi went camping at Ocean Shores all by themselves. Ok, so Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Tonya and Uncle Chris and cousins were there. But we weren't. They had so much fun flying kites, walking on the beach, and finding treasures in the sand. 

Eben, "This is the thing where Grandpa took a totem pole"

Kivi, "I rolled my pants up."

Kivi giving Auntie Tonya a lesson in motherhood.

Eben and Uncle Chris hanging out.

Kivi flying her kite.

Eben in his favorite part of the trip; "the hole".

While they were here, we stayed at the awesome Metcalfe cabin on Anderson Island, but sadly forgot our camera. We had a lot of fun though, playing games and eating Crystal's amazing burgers.

Crowded Tub

There's too many kids in this tub.

There's too many elbows to scrub.

I just washed a behind

That I'm sure wasn't mine,

There's too many kids in this tub.

    by Shell Silverstein

Opal Holds and Eben Rolls

Well, first of all, we must acknowledge the Opes, and her amazing toy holding. Horray for Opal!  On July 26th, I realized, this girl is growing very fast, she can probably play with stuff now. So, we got out the little baby toys, gave her one and "voila" she holds a toy - another first for the amazing growing girl!

Also on the 26th, Eben said goodbye to his training wheels! But sadly, I had no camera to prove it. Actually, and this is horrible for a mother to admit, but, I didn't think he could do it! I thought "Sure, it'll be great to get him out there and feel the bike without his side supports and Peter will just hold on to him the whole time." And then, Peter let go... and he was still riding... by himself! Then he ran right into me and I caught his handlebars. We're still working on starting and stopping, but he's got the in between down.  Now, I know some kids start riding their bikes at age 2 - but hey we're really proud of our 4 (almost 5) year old. Way to go Eben!

Eben on July 28th. I brought my camera!

The other bikers.

We rode around Lakes H.S. where they are doing construction projects.

 So we played on the gravel hills

and played in the manholes before they went in the ground.

And now, the riding proof! Drum roll please..... (now you have to push play on the video)

Eben's Trip to the IMAX

On July 25th, Eben used his Special Helper Rockets to take Dada on a trip to the Seattle Center to see the IMAX movie - Speed.  

Here's Eben's blog on his special day, "Dada and I took a bus ride to Seattle and we got hot cocoa, then we saw a pool that we could swim in on a hot day, and we saw the Space Needle. And I got to do a water thing. I got to see a movie called Speed about race cars. I liked how it was too big to be a movie screen  - it could be a wall!  We went through a maze, we played tip tap toe against a robot. I got to sit in a big chair, and I played instruments. And I went in the butterfly room, and I did a big zipper. Because I had 6 Special Helper Rockets. Thank you Dada for bringing me to Seattle."

This is a picture of me listening to music on the bus.

This is me and Dada playing tip tap toe against the robot.

This is me looking at a butterfly. I liked how I saw

This is me in a space ship. I pushed buttons and levers.

This is me having a big head. Because I was in a funny mirror.

Opal Eats Food!

On July 24th, 2 weeks before she turns 6 months old, Opal tries her first solid food. 

Rice Cereal - Yum!  (I've always waited until 6 months, but this girl was hungry!)

She doesn't know what to think at first. 

But soon she realizes it's a good thing. She really loves it but can't figure out how to get it in her mouth. So she sucks it off the spoon. 

It's taken almost a month for her to figure out if she opens her mouth, she gets more food in there.  She is now experimenting with squash, peas, carrots and prunes. Carrots, so far, are her favorite.

Dora The Explorer Camp

July 22-24 Eben and Kivi went to their first camp all by themselves.  It was a gift from Grandma for Kivi's birthday. Kivi was a little scared at first but soon realized that "Eben and Grace will take care of me and not leave me right?" They had lots of fun making all sorts of crafts. Eben liked making maps and Kivi liked making her mask the most. They both really enjoyed following the map to their own special treasure box.

Each morning before camp started we would play at the playground at Fort Steilacoom Park.

Eben and his mask.

A group shot of the little campers.