Baby picture comparison

I've had a lot of fun comparing the kids' baby pictures in the past couple of weeks. Anna looks a lot like Ryan -- not so much like Caitlin -- and I'm still shocked by the amount of hair she has on her head. Here's a comparison of the kids:

Ryan

Caitlin

Anna

Hiccups

Christmas Program

The kids had their school Christmas concert this afternoon. Their individual classes each sang a song and said their name and, "Merry Christmas!" Here's video of each of the kids -- Caitlin was extremely shy and never got her name out. Anna slept through the whole thing -- thank goodness!

Professional pictures

On Sunday morning, I had a photographer come to the house to capture some images of the kids. We had a great time -- and I HIGHLY recommend Erin Coffey. She was wonderful with the kids - even though all three of them were uncooperative. Here's a few shots - I'll post more later.

For Mike

Here's some video of your baby girl!

Dance Party

Last night, Caitlin was dancing and getting really goofy. She said to me, "I have to remember these crazy dance moves so I can show Daddy when he gets home." Of course, after she said that, I had to pull out my camera and capture them so Mike doesn't have to wait until March to witness her moves!

Before long, Ryan came downstairs and brought his own style.

Lil' Dragons

Ryan is participating in a weekly karate class through the YMCA called, Lil Dragons. Yesterday marked the halfway point in the class and all the students demonstrated what they've learned so far. Ryan never wants to go to karate (he complains about going every week, although I can still get him there without too much hassle), but he always seems to have a good time once we're there. It was fun seeing how far he's come in just six weeks. He was thrilled to receive a ribbon for his efforts!

Stretching before class. I wish I could reach my toes!

Practicing his punchesDemonstrating knee drives with Sensei and Shihan.

Receiving his yellow ribbon from Sensei.

Newest obsession

Ryan tends to be a bit obsessive about things...Legos, baseball, puzzles and now: football. Once he discovers a new interest, he is completely consumed by it. This is how I found him yesterday morning when I came downstairs:

Here he is wearing Mike's football helmet and clutching his new UW football from his birthday. Later on in the morning, he headed outside with his new Jake Locker jersey and played football for a good hour.

I'm curious to see what it will be next. Perhaps basketball? I'm planning on signing him up to play through the YMCA beginning in December.

Ryan's 5th birthday party

We continued Ryan's birthday festivities with a party for some of his buddies this morning at our house. The kids played for awhile, then decorated pumpkins, had lunch, played outside, and then cake and gifts. It was really nice - and Ryan had a good time hanging out with his friends. Here's a video of Ryan blowing out the candles on his baseball cake (thanks for taking this, Paul!!).

Birthday in the Jungle Room

Ryan celebrated his birthday at school by bringing treats and show n' tell. He picked out Oreos to share with his classmates. For show n' tell, he brought his Build-a-Bear dog, Jack, that he built with Mike in August. Like Caitlin's panda bear, there is a special recording from Mike in the dog's leg that Ryan can play whenever he wants to hear Mike's voice. Jack is named after Jack Hannahan, the Mariner infielder, and has his own M's uniform, complete with cleats.

Here's Ryan's class singing Happy Birthday to him:

Today he's having a small party at home with some of his buddies. The birthday celebration continues...

Catching pop flies and more crazy Caits

Ryan spent a good hour outside this afternoon catching pop flies. He catches about one out of every ten. He is SO excited when he makes a catch!

And another video for Daddy...

Backyard baseball

Ryan is absolutely positively obsessed with baseball. We went to an Aquasox game in early July with Mike's mom and ever since then, he eats, sleeps, and breathes baseball. He plays outside in the backyard when it's sunny and inside the house when it's rainy (more of an intricate imaginary baseball game including a full line-up of stuffed animals!). The most amusing part of his games is the play-by-play he gives!

He LOVES the Mariners and can tell you all of the players, their position, whether they bat right or left, etc. He closely follows the games and can tell you the pitch count, what has happened in each inning, who has hit doubles, homeruns, etc.

Ryan got in a little baseball this afternoon because of the beautiful weather. Here's a little video...plus a special message for Daddy.

4th of July Festivities

I'm trying to catch up on summer blog posts before the kids start school on Wednesday. :)

Here are some pictures from our 4th of July celebrations! We spent half the day in Lacey at Mike's grandparents' house and then went to Fall City to our friends' house for more fun and the kids' first taste of fireworks. They have finally reached the age where they are no longer afraid of the big booms!

Another little fish in the making

Ryan and Caitlin started swimming lessons this evening at the Mountlake Terrace Pool. Swimming lessons are nothing new for Ryan, but this was Caitlin's first session. She has always been a little hesitant in the water when we've been swimming, so I wasn't sure how she would feel about it. She got in the water right away and did a great job! She had so much fun and I was so impressed by how the instructor got her to do things that she would normally never try - like put her face in the water. I'm excited to see the progress she'll make during the next several weeks. I'm thrilled that both kids enjoy the water. Some of my best summer memories revolve around swimming - I want them to have that too!

Rocket ship arms and blowing bubbles with her instructor.
Waiting for her turn doing back floats.

Caitlin's class of three.

I'm so proud of her! She looked like such a big girl and did such a good job of following directions. I know she is 3-year old, but I still think of her as my little baby girl!

I'll post pictures of Ryan another week - he was across the pool from Caitlin and I couldn't get any good shots of him.

Happy Birthday Caitlin!

Caitlin celebrated her 3rd birthday on June 19. Due to Mike's schedule, she got to celebrate for a week with a couple of family parties and one with her buddies. Here are some highlights from the week!

Museum of Flight

We took a trip to the Museum of Flight a couple weeks ago, with our friends, the Axons. The kids loved seeing all of the planes, testing out the flight simulators, and sitting in the cockpit of some very cool planes, and of course, loved hanging out with Gabriel and Adrian.

Ryan and Caitlin piloting a retired Navy plane.

Caitlin riding in the Blue Angels flight simulator.

Ryan liked this Blue Angels plane much better than the real thing - much quieter!!

The highlight of the day - at least for me - was touring a brand-new Southwest jet. When we pulled into the parking lot, the 737 was parked in the parking lot and there was a bunch of people celebrating - complete with the Husky band and cheerleaders. When we got inside, we asked about what was going on and they explained that the plane was just delivered that morning and that it hadn't carried passengers yet. The plane was open for tours and then about an hour later, we watched it take off for Phoenix.

The kids thought it was pretty great because they love Southwest. Our good friend is a Southwest pilot, so whenever they see a Southwest plane (and we saw a ton of them taking off and landing in San Diego), they get very excited. They got to climb on the plane and check out the cockpit.

Ryan and Caitlin standing in front of one of the engines on the new jet.

Fun in the sun!

I can't believe we busted out the kiddie pool in May...but we did!! The weather has been incredible since we've been home. I picked up a pool yesterday for the kids to play in - they spent a good two hours splashing around this afternoon. Love it!!

Memorial Day

Memorial Day was kind of a downer at our house. The day began with an early morning trip to the airport to send Mike back to San Diego. The kids were sooo sad to see him go. This was the first time they've been so upset which makes it so much harder on Mike. Usually, when Mike asks if the kids are going to miss him, they nonchalantly answer, "No, I'm not going to miss you." This time was a different story - probably because we've gotten to see so much of him these past five months.

After getting home from the airport, I realized we needed to get out and do something, so we headed to Mill Creek's 1st Annual Memorial Day Parade. Because of our connection with the military - and the fact that we've lost friends in battle - I really want the kids to know and understand what Memorial Day is and why we celebrate the sacrifice others (including their dad) have made for our freedom. The parade was lots of fun and gave me the opportunity to explain to the kids why we were honoring all of the military personnel that were marching in the parade. I hope to make this parade - or something similar - an annual tradition for our family.

Ryan in his Navy gear, sipping on a Jamba Juice.

Caitlin in her new patriotic t-shirt. What a beautiful day for a parade.

GO NAVY!

Caitlin eagerly anticipating the horses.

The Snohomish High School Marine Corps ROTC program on horseback.

Princess Caitlin

Caitlin is totally into princesses. Here's what she's been wearing around the house lately. Her crown and her Cinderella princess dress.

One more last hurrah!

We had one more day to spend at Legoland, so we went on Mother's Day. I was feeling pretty good (I've been very sick lately), so we went for it! The day was so much fun. I felt good (until I tried to go watch a 4-D movie. ugh!).

Ryan absolutely loves Legos. He spends at least two hours a day building things. Right now, he's getting into Star Wars and enjoys building space ships and robots. His favorite part of the day was when he was able to build his own race car and race it on a track. I think he could have spent the whole day there and bypassed most of the rides!

We feel so blessed that we were able to share all of these fun theme parks with the kids while we were in San Diego! Now, the fun is coming to an end and we really need to start packing!