drill team

Here is the video of the Ahimsa drill team performance last weekend. The team consists of mostly the trainers, plus a few volunteers. I'm really disappointed in how Penny's second trick segment went. You can't tell from the video, but she was barking at me the whole time, so I cut the tricks way short. I'm pretty sure it's my fault for running her through them too many time right before we performed, so she was bored of them by the time the music came on.

outfit of the day

Here is Oliver's outfit of the day :) He has been having more of an opinion in his clothes lately. By the way, it's sunny and warm today!

siding, part 5

It's getting closer. . .
Nick took today off to get the rest of the important painting done before the rain and cold come for the season. He's been getting many comments from both neighbors and strangers walking by on how nice it looks. It's quite a change! There is some work left to be done on the front porch and stairs, and we still need to pick out a gray to paint the foundation (which isn't that pressing so it may not happen until next year). We love the front porch and door colors!

baby Aquila

My friend Szu-Yu came over with her 3-week old son, Aquila, while her daughter Rachel played with Oliver. Oliver was so excited to hold the baby. He held Aquila most of the time they were visiting, and would hardly give him up when he needed to be fed! Oliver was so gentle and did a great job holding him. I can't wait to see him with his little brother in a few months!

kissing brother

Oliver loves to shower his brother with kisses. It's soo cute to watch! He actually got mad at me yesterday for wearing maternity pants with a full panel because when he pulled up my shirt, there was still another layer covering his brother.
He gives kisses all the time, un-prompted, but as soon as we bring the video camera out these days, he stops what he is doing and is more interested in watching himself on the screen.

NICK!

When Oliver is trying to get his daddy's attention, he first tries "Dada" and if that doesn't work a few times, he proceeds with "NICK!!!" over and over again. He usually smiles afterwards because he know it makes me laugh. Here he is yesterday trying to get Nick's attention out our front window while Nick is working on painting the house.

dress-up

Oliver has been particularly interested in role playing with his baby dolls and stuffed animals lately. One of his favorite things to do is dress his stuffed animals in his own clothes. He often does this with Nick, while he is putting Oliver to sleep. By the time I come into the room, it's usually dark so I can't see their creations. This is one that I found the next morning. I'm sure uncle Evan will be proud.

he loves his frog

The shirt reads "my uncle is single, if you think I'm cute, you should see him"

sideways hat boy

On our recent camping trip,Oliver decided to try on his uncle's hat, sideways. Apparently, wearing hats this way now reminds him of his uncle, because he insists on wearing his train engineer hat the same way and proceeds to sign "uncle" the whole time.

lunch cruise

On Saturday, Boeing sponsored a lunch cruise around Seattle. Oliver was really excited to go on a boat when we told him, and I think he was a little disappointed to find out it was just a dining cruise ship. He wanted to be out on the deck the whole time where it actually felt like we were on a boat. He did end up enjoying himself quite a bit, and he got a lot of attention since he was the only kid on the boat.

family photo on the deck

Eating a bowl of blueberries in the wind. The chef was nice enough to give him a second bowl when he finished the first!

I think Oliver startled the captain when he just popped up in the window!

he wishes he could steer

family photo inside, classic finger in the nose picture

one more

I found one more camping picture on my camera that I just had to put up!

At Doris Lake.

27 weeks

I am 27 weeks pregnant today, and my due date is exactly three months away. I can't believe that I'll be heading into the third trimester tomorrow. The time has just flown by. This pregnancy has been even easier than the last and now that my stuffiness is gone, I've had hardly any negative symptoms. I am seeing a prenatal chiropractor every 2-4 weeks which I'm sure is helping to keep any lower back or hip pain from creeping up. And, despite my relatively small weight gain (just 7.5 lbs to date), I have been consistently measuring two weeks ahead. Now that two of my friends have recently had their second babies, the baby fever has hit hard! I can't wait for the little guy to be here (and to stop kicking my bladder every time I go for a walk). Oliver has been so sweet to the new little babies, showering them with kisses and nuzzling up close with them. He role plays a lot with his baby doll, and does everything from pottying, to feeding, and even putting medicine on his baby's toe after he hurt his own. I have even overheard him saying "awww" and hugging and kissing his baby while I'm in the other room. I know he'll be jealous when his baby brother arrives, but I'm pretty sure this loving behavior will continue.

27 weeks. See the dried grass behind me? Proof that Seattle did have nice summer until it promptly ended a four days ago.

Someone has been enjoying my pregnancy pillow more than I have!

CA, part 6 - camping

Here is the final part of our CA pictures. Our camping trip was wonderful and the weather cooperated as well. Oliver loved it so much that he cried when the tents came down.

blowing bubbles in "Little Eden," one of our favorite hot springs

Penny, after jumping into Little Eden (on accident, she was hoping for cold water) and then finding some mud. She loved every single minute of camping.

Oliver did a lot of this since we hiked every day.

yogurt face

pee tree!

Penny did lots of this

Where did the trail go? A river crossing to get to Edison Lake.

smile!

Family photo at Edison Lake

Oliver's favorite uncle!

hanging by the food box

matching tie-dye shirts from Bapa!

Nick's GQ picture.

swimming in Doris Lake

Zen Penny

3 generations at Doris Lake

Can we please go for a walk to see some fish??

Florence Lake with Uncle Ev

Swinging on our way to Jackass Meadows

Searching for arrowheads. Oliver got a kick out of us all playing in the dirt.

No more water bottles for Oliver, he loved Evan's Camelbak.

 Out for a walk

CA, part 5 - dirt

In the middle of our trip to CA, my dad took us camping for a week at my all time favorite camping spot, and a place that I grew up visiting every summer as a kid, Mono Hot Springs. We all had a great time and one of the many things that Oliver loved was the ability to play in the sand and dirt whenever he wanted. Here is what happened when he decided to join Penny in digging underneath the picnic table!

He copies Penny's digging style, butts in the air!

making his way out

dirt in the nose perhaps?

yep!

the finished product, and a likely Christmas card photo!

Most of the wonderful camping photos in the next few posts were taken by Uncle Evan.