Family Fuller

My 5 or 6 days of making Colin write (for about 15 minutes each day) paid off and today he wrote the whole alphabet, well first he wrote “Holden” and then the alphabet. He got a few things mixed up but did a good job - a bit sloppy at the end, but I will let that slide. The best thing is that he is enjoying it, which helps. He was being so cute while he was sitting on my lap, talking to himself “Hum…what’s next, F … wait, wait…no E first. One line down, then over.”

I also asked him to write zoo - without telling him how to spell it - see the bottom:

The other night he asked for some crayons and paper so he could write in his room before bed. He produced the following:

Which I thought was great until I went into his room and saw that he had been “practicing” all over his walls. The crayons have been removed from his room for the time being.

Sunday we went to the Microsoft company picnic. It was crazy. I cannot even explain how much was going on there, food, games, about 40 bouncy tent things, pony rides, hay rides, beer gardens, bands, casino, rock climbing, etc and it was all free. It was held on a farm about a half hour east of Seattle, right under Mt. Si. Beautiful, really fun and huge - Chuck didn’t even see one person he recognized all day. We spend over 5 hours there and as a bonus Colin was wearing underwear and was accident free all day!

Here are some pics:

Mount Si in the background:

Ice cream boy:

Ice cream boy #2:

The crazy motorcross expo:

I just had to do a quick blog to post the forecast for Seattle:

After months of rain, this is what we live here for - summer sunshine. We have been out and about enjoying the weather. Just went down to the block for a little happy hour with some of our neighbors, including one of Colin’s preschool friends. The boys had a great time running around, while we had a couple beers and ordered some pizza.

We don’t have any plans for the weekend other than being outside to enjoy the weather and of course there are always house projects to be finished. We are almost completely done with the sandbox, patio and planters, although I am now questioning my logic on having a huge sandbox so close to the house - it is like living at the beach. More sand ends up on the patio, grass and in the house than anywhere else.

Tidbits:

Over Memorial Day Weekend I went away for the first time since Colin was born. It has been almost 4 years since I have slept someplace without kids waking me up in the middle of the night. I have never left Holden for more than 5-6 hours and Colin was only apart from me while I was in the hospital having Holden plus one night while in Arizona. So it was well deserved I would say.

I left on Thursday night and flew down to San Francisco. I was meeting friends (Colleen, Tracy and Emily - friends from college) the next day but I wanted one night all to myself. I almost started to cry when Chuck dropped me off at the airport - and actually missed the boys when I saw other kids on the plane, although I didn’t miss having to entertain a one year old on a flight. I stayed in a hotel downtown, ordered room service, took a bath - but still had a hard time sleeping because it was kinda noisy. I also woke up at 6 AM anyway - the whole weekend actually. It stinks when you don’t have to get up at 6 AM but you still wake up.

Friday I met Tsinclair downtown and we shopped a bit and got lunch while we waited for Colleen and Emily to arrive. Once they go there we drove north to Healdsburg in Sonoma. The traffic was really bad and it took over 3 hours. We unpacked at our rental house and went out for a drink and to dinner at Scopa, a new italian resturant in Healdsburg. It was great to all hang out together without kids, etc.

On Saturday we hung around town in the morning and then we had hired a driver to take us to the wineries in the afternoon. Our driver “Jay” arrived at 1 PM and the tasting began. Colleen had the map and a plan. She kept us on a tight schedule, trying to fit as many tastings in as possible. As a result we went to 7 wineries in 4 hours - tasting about 5 wines at each one. You do the math - anyway you calculate it equals three sheets to the wind by 5 PM.

We had brought some bread, cheese and olives to eat along the way but never had any of it, so when we got home we sat outside and finished it all. We had dinner reservations at 9:15 at this really nice restaurant. We made it but never should have gone. I don’t think we said more than 3 words to each other, no one finished their drinks and barely ate the meal.

Sunday we had spa appointments and then went to one other winery on our way to a little hike in the redwoods. It was a beautiful day, the spa was great and the hike was nice. We went out to dinner again and afterwords we had to get a little pool in for old times sake.

We all went home on Monday afternoon. I had a great time, I missed the boys but it was a nice break. I have to say time goes much faster when I am with Colin and Holden.

When I got back Chuck and the boys picked me up at the airport and even had flowers for me. Holden didn’t know who I was for the first minute or two, until I picked him up and then he wouldn’t let go. Colin took it all in stride. Chuck did a great job with them over the weekend. It is nice to know that they don’t need me all the time and I can go away without worrying. You will have to ask Chuck how things went while I was gone and what he thinks of watching them full time for 4 days.

Hello loyal blog fans. Apologies for our absence, it has been a trying few weeks on the health/wellness front for Holden, but I’ll leave that for another posting.

For this one, I wanted to ask a small favor. I signed on to run the Beat the Bridge 8K in May, and as the race has as its core purpose the raising of money to fight juvenile diabetes, I’m coming to you hat in hand to see if you might chip in a few bucks toward the cause. If you’re feeling charitable, please make a donation here.

I’ll be sure to post pics after the race - for background on the name, there’s a bridge at the 2 mile mark of the race, and it gets raised 20 minutes after the starting flag goes up. Go slower than a 10 minute mile pace, and you get to sit and wait for a few minutes while it goes up and down (and people laugh and taunt you - that’s probably not true, it’s just how I imagine it would go down).

Thanks for the support!

I finally finished my built in bookshelves (minus the cabinet doors) in the living room. They turned out better than expected and since we got everything set up our living room has been a joy Here is a quick before and after:

Another view:

After looking at the pictures, seems like they don’t do it justice. The whole feel of the living room is different - I guess that could also be because it is clean now too.

When I began this project I had no idea where to start. I searched online to find some examples of built in cabinets and it was really hard to find anything. Therefore I am going to summarize what I did so if anyone else is searching for examples hopefully they will find mine.

I started designing the cabinet just on paper. We knew we wanted to be able to fit our TV inside. We also needed a place for the electronic equipment below the TV. We only have one bookshelf in our whole house so we definitely needed bookshelves too. I measured all the parts, figured out the largest of our books and the average size and made the design around those measurements. The cabinet ended up being 30″ high and 20″ wide. Each bookshelf is 11″ wide (due to what boards you can buy). The bookshelves vary between 11″ high and 13″ high.

I first framed the bottom cabinet using 2×4s. I put the 2×4s together with deck screws (they don’t strip) and then attached the 2×4s to the wall where I could find studs. The bottom, sides, shelves and top of the cabinet are all made of MDF. I used MDF because it comes in large sizes, is smooth and inexpensive. The only downside is that it isn’t very strong and tends to chip out. I just left the 2×4s exposed on the inside of the cabinet because I knew I was going to paint them anyway.

The shelves on top of the cabinet are all made of MDF boards. The lumber yard ended up giving me pre-primed wood even though I didn’t ask for it - but it was nice to have. I used a router to route out part of the counter top to hold the vertical boards and then routed out a place for each shelf. I decided to make the shelves permanent (instead of adjustable) because it looked nicer and matched the rest of the house better. I glued all the shelves together and screwed the vertical boards into the wall. I had to do a lot of shimming due to bowed walls.

Then I put trim up on everything. The crown molding was a TOTAL pain. I had to buy a new piece because we couldn’t get the old trim off. The new piece was just slightly off so it was hard to figure out the angles. Plus on the one side I had to shape it to fit the existing molding that was already up on the wall. I was glad when I got that done, but then the ceiling (not to mention every wall) was not square. I used an entire can of spackle to finish things off.

Chuck and I both painted it - Chuck probably did the majority of the painting. On Valentines day while Chuck was working, I managed to get the whole living room cleaned, mount the TV on the wall myself (that was HEAVY) and get the new carpet in. It was a long day.

I still have to finish the doors. We got some antique glass from a second use center, but making it work might be tough so I haven’t started the doors yet.

Overall it came out better than I thought - I am sure in part because I bought a new miter saw and a new router. You have to have the right tools for the job as they say. See Dad and Ed - remember a long time ago when I asked for tools for Christmas? I meant serious tools Now it is on to the patio in the backyard.

Here are some more pictures of the whole thing in progress - along with the boys “helping”

Me outside with the router:

Colin helping put the base cabinet together:

Alright we stink at posting on the blog lately - but I have a good reason. Colin hasn’t been taking naps and the computer is in the basement, which flooded and is messy and cold, so I haven’t had much time down here.

Colin and Holden have been getting along great lately, even with Holden into all Colin’s stuff. Yesterday we went to the zoo and Colin said “Holden sits right next to me mom” and last night Colin said “Holden is my best friend.” It was very sweet although I have to admit that Colin has a different “best friend” every day.

Holden turned 11 months yesterday. I can’t believe he is almost a year, it went so fast. He is still cruising, not walking yet. Babbling, mostly saying “dada”. He loves to brush his hair, mostly with the brush but also with a spatula yesterday. He is a pretty good climber, up on to top of the train table and a couple weeks ago I found him up on top of the toilet. He is a good eater, although he doesn’t really like us to feed him with a spoon much anymore. He also does this super cute thing when you ask if he is cozy he will lay his head down on something soft and go “awwwwwwh”. He got pretty sick over the weekend, had a fever of 104.3 and we basically held him for 72 hours straight. I felt so bad for him, he was moaning and everything. When the fever would come down he would get down and play but over all it was rough.

Colin is doing well. Very much into preschool now and loves to go. He has made lots of friends and is always asking to have people over - everyday he tries to arrange something. He goes up to his friends parents and tells them he is going to come over to their house. He is also such a funny guy at home. The things he says and does just make us laugh. He sings all the time. A couple of days ago he wasn’t listening to me so I said no TV all day. He kept begging, but I said no, so at lunch he started singing to himself all sad “I wanna watch TV….but mom said no….daddy would say yes….” I said are you singing blues?

As far as Chuck and I go, Chuck has been hard at work, although I have to admit, I don’t know at what Seems like he gets home, we eat, play with the kids, get them to bed, clean up and then we go to sleep. I never get a chance to talk to him about work - so here I publicly apologize. We have a babysitter this weekend so hopefully we can catch up then - having kids is a bit time consuming.

I have been working on a built in shelf in our living room. I have the bottom base cabinet in and hopefully will get started on the bookshelves/TV unit this weekend. It takes a long time when Colin is “helping” me. Chuck and I have agreed that we feel like a lot of the home organization hinges on getting this thing done. We have no bookshelves or good storage places right now so we can’t wait to get this settled.

Alright before I go I will just leave a few tidbits over the past month or so since we haven’t blogged in so long:

• On the plane to NY I said to Colin “are you going to give Grandma a big hug when you see her?” Colin replied “No, I only give hugs to Tracy. Tracy likes hugs.” - How do you like that TSinclair?
• Also for TSinclair another poop story - The other day I had to change a diaper and Colin’s poop was bright, I mean bright, green. I thought he was sick for a minute and then I remember he had eaten a cupcake with a huge frosting Christmas tree on top.
• Here is a video of Colin and his cousin Curt dancing: Dancing video
• And a video of Colin and Curt looking through a toy train brochure and getting excited about trains: Toys Video

Hello faithful blog followers - we know it has been a while since our last post, but with the move and me out of town and people coming into town this weekend…well, you get the idea. Plus we didn’t have internet access for a few days there, so Jess at least has that excuse.

But things are beginning to settle down. Boxes are getting unpacked and removed (although not all), and the house is starting to take shape. Now if we could just get a bigger kitchen, but I suppose that will have to wait.

To make up for the galley-style kitchen with little storage space, we put pot racks up along one wall to store big items and to hang our pots and pans from. It’s a huge space saver. In the course of putting up the shelves, Colin was inevitably ‘helping’ us, mostly by playing with the hooks that hold the pans and asking questions. While playing with said hooks, he asked Jess “What do you do with these hookers?” You can’t make this stuff up. Anyway, we’ll be back to full blogging strength shortly.

We had the inspection on our new house and a few minor issues came up. There are other issues we already knew about - knob and tube wiring, old plumbing, etc. We are getting some estimates to fix the problems but we don’t think it will stop the sale of the house or anything.

The house is located in an area called Loyal Heights, which is just north of Ballard in North Seattle. It is just a couple blocks away from Colin’s preschool and elementary school. It has 3 bedrooms/2 baths, with a partial basement and great yard. Here are some pictures:

This is looking down the street facing south. Our house is down across from the white car.
;

The front yard (I just realized I didn’t take a picture of the whole front of the house)

The front porch and side yard

The living room from the front door - notice the mirror over the fireplace, just like in our A2 house.

The dining room off the living room

The kitchen - kind of an awkward, long shape - but it has a dishwasher!!!

Basement family room. The water heater and washer/dryer are to the right.

Basement shop/storage room.

Colin and the backgammon game.

Colin’s room/office off the kitchen. We are hoping that Colin and Holden might want to share a room in a little while, then we can have an office.

Hallway that comes off Colin’s room.

The boys bathroom

Holden’s room

Hall to our room

Our room

Our bathroom

Backyard and garage - I didn’t get to take any more pictures because the boys were falling apart at this point in the inspection (see next photo after the backyard)

They were both so tired by the end that they both fell asleep - Colin right on the floor

We are very excited to move in - probably in mid/end of October.

We just upgraded to a new camera - and by upgrade, I mean technically a downgrade, sort of. We got a Canon Powershot D800 (I think it’s called) - it’s much smaller than our previous camera, but the image quality is fantastic thus far, so hopefully we should have much better photos going up here in the future (might have to do a side by side comparison to see who wins, Nikon or Canon).

I also wanted to follow my first post in a while by adding in a couple of quotes I’d written down from Colin in that same vacation timeframe, but never posted:

• When we asked him what he wanted for lunch one day: “I want to go to Mexico”
• And upon completely demolishing a piece of watermelon: “I’m a juicy watermelon boy!”

I don’t know where he comes up with this stuff.

We took back our offer after the inspection on the last house. We said we would be willing to buy the house if they reduced the price significantly (by 20%) - of course we never expected them to do that. They said no way, but have since called us back to see if we wanted to negotiate. We don’t - there is so much work, we just can’t imagine paying nearly as much as they want.

We have seen a couple more houses with potential, but the big drawback for me is that in each case there are two bedrooms on the main floor of the house and the third is always in the basement. I really don’t want to be so far away from the kids and I also don’t really want to sleep in a basement. We are slowly learning that if we wanted to have a second floor or a big enough first floor we would have to make a significant increase in our max price. The other option is to have Holden and Colin share a room. We might just have to wait a bit to see if we can find the right house - but it is hard to be patient

We saw Colin’s preschool on Friday, it is very nice - so much to do and learn. If I was Colin I would love it. It is a co-op so I will be working one day a week in the class. I told Colin that and he replied “I want you to come everyday” so it will be hard the first few days I have to drop him off.

Mozart is Colin’s music of the moment. We listen to it EVERY time we get in the car. He keeps humming the first song and asking to hear it over and over. He also likes some of the opera on the CD. He plays his violin all the time at home - with a pen as a bow because I broke the real one. One string also popped off. He gets his little chair and sometimes puts it up on the fireplace and pretends to be in an orchestra. He is always very serious when he plays.

Holden is becoming quite a mover. He scoots and rolls all over the place. The other day I was IM’ing Chuck and Holden was rolling around on the floor when I noticed a missing Sponge Bob sticker. I said to Chuck “I think Holden just ate a Sponge Bob sticker” - joking. However the next day I found the perfectly preserved sticker during a diaper change - so he did in fact eat it. Later that same day I caught him with a big chunk of Sevi fur in his mouth - gross. Baby proofing will be soon.

Mom - this is the picture I thought looked like me when I was little.