Eyes

My kids' eyes are changing.

When Maria was born her's were a smokey blue color, and over her almost 2 years (her birthday is NEXT WEEK!!!) they've gradually lightened. This past week I've noticed that they're starting to get little yellow/gold around the middle.


Cooper started off with those same smokey blue colored eyes... now his are starting to turn brown from the center out. I wish I had a macro lens so that I could capture the detail REALLY close!

Down by the river

Some of our friends have a place down by the river...

So yesterday, instead of heading all the way into Bellingham we went over to their place and walked down to the river.

Maria started off like this...
hat.
jacket.
towel.



she wanted to help my mom carry Cooper


her towel was dragged most of the way


then she decided that she didn't want to carry the blanket or have her coat on... but she wanted her hands in her pockets.


lastly she wanted the hat off...


she is so interesting...
& she definitely knows what she wants...
& she doesn't forget what she wants either...
that distraction thing we used to do.... yeah, doesn't work so much now.

Once we got down to the river she LOVED it.
we got that swimsuit on and she wanted IN the water.

Nana did the honors of walking around with her.



I have to admit that I am a water snob.
This was pretty rocky & once you got into the river it was muddy and made the water all dirty.

But Nana was a total trooper and even dug out sticks for Maria to throw around.



We've enjoyed the warm weather we've had...
but apparently summer is over here. By Saturday it's supposed to be in the 50s. Ugg!

The Swing

I've been having issues with getting Cooper to sleep lately, so one day we finally got the swing out for him. And it's helping which is nice. He enjoys the swing...

& so does maria.



Cooper loves it...



he's totally mesmerized by this little guy

Things are progressing for our move.

We sold our car.
Which is HUGE.
We put it on craigslist and basically sold it the next day.
I'm thankful that it's one less thing for me to worry about before we go, but I sure do miss it.
It was a 2003 Chevy Tahoe.
It was wonderful.
If we ever went to visit either of my brothers with my parents we could all fit in, no problem.
My parents are graciously letting us borrow their truck until we go.
Some days it's a little finicky. But it gets us from point A to point B, for which we are VERY grateful.

We also had the kids Dr's appointments (which I mentioned before). We got the Dr's OK to go... no extra shots or medications necessary. We just need to take our current medications/vitamins, and take precautionary measures against Malaria and Dengue.

We've still got a few things to do before we leave:

renew Marco's passport
go to podiatrist
gather stuff
pack stuff in boxes (leave here)
pack stuff in suitcases (take there)
buy plane tickets (figure out if we really do have to buy a ticket for Cooper)

and there are more things to do.... but I can't remember them.
'cause you know... if it isn't written down, then it doesn't exist.

and that doesn't include daily activities like:

feeding the kids
doing the laundry
showering
vacuuming
playing outside
cooking
doing the dishes
coloring with maria
cuddling with cooper
finishing up misc. crafts
reading with maria
cleaning the bathroom


which seem to take up most of the day.

We will get it all done eventually... I just hope that I don't go crazy before it actually happens.

Maraca

Today we made paper plate maracas.

Things needed:

Paper plates

crayonsstapler

& something to put inside. Today we used rice... dried beans also work great.

Step 1: color plates
Step 2: Put a handful of rice into plates.
Step 3: Staple plates together.(If you use rice your staples will have to be really close together so that the rice doesn't escape!)Step 4: Shake away!Here is the baby with his "give me that, I want to put it in my mouth" look (referring to my camera).

Blueberries

they're in season right now in the Pacific Northwest.
And they are oh-so-yummy & our current go-to snack.

Before my parents headed out to Arizona my mom & dad went to go pick blueberries... which is so out of character for my dad seeing how he doesn't like blueberries, and he's not the picking berries type.
they picked a LOT of berries.
I can't remember how many exactly, but I know it was over 20 lbs because they got the card from Boxx's that gives you a discount on any future purchase.

Now we like our blueberries around here year round so we freeze them.
(I'll share our process in just a minute)
Frozen blueberries are a great treat. Pour some into a cup, bowl, or tupperware and eat it like popcorn. Yum. and they're full of antioxidants too!!

This past year we ran out of blueberries.
So we went and bought a bag from Costco.
They're good berries... and really probably cost about the same as picking them....
...BUT...
They're all the same color.
They're coated with something... not sure what...
the ingredients on the bag don't have any funky ingredients so I'm not worried about that...

the thing that bothers me is that they are such a hot mess.
i avoided giving them to maria because she would be covered in this purple/blue mess by the time she was halfway done, which never happened with the home-frozen blueberries. with home-frozen ones at most her fingers would get a little colored.

So moral of the story.... pick your own berries & save yourselves a couple loads of laundry.

How to home-freeze blueberries.

Pick a whole load of berries.
Fill up the kitchen sink with water.
Dump a bunch of berries in the water.
Swish them around really well to clean them off.
Scoop them out with a strainer.
Spread them out over a dish towel.
Gently roll them around to dry them off.
Once dried, pour into freezer bags and pop into the freezer.

If they are clean and dry when you put them into the freezer you can just pour into your cup and partake of the blueberry goodness.

Rice Cereal

Yesterday Cooper had his first sampling of rice cereal.

I sat him up in the bumbo & gave him a couple of bites.
(which he ate right up)
The whole time I was feeding Cooper, Maria kept saying "ria turn, ria turn."
So after Cooper had finished a few bites, Maria sat down.
I gave her a bite.
She promptly spit it out and said "All done. Cooper turn."

Cooper is getting quite good at putting things into his mouth:

The kids are growing up so much...
Cooper & Maria had their 4 month & 2 year check up yesterday.
Their growth and development is right on track.
Maria is in the 90% for both height and weight (32 lbs & 36 inches),
and Cooper is in the 90% for height & 50% for weight (14 lbs & 26 inches).