Impromptu Visit To NW Trek!

Earlier in the month of January I was adding as many things to the calendar as I could...just planning things out. I noticed that the kids had the last Friday of the month off for Semester Break. I texted Ga-Ga and asked if she would keep the kids that night for us so Michael and I could go on a date. She was of course willing to watch the kids for us. I figured it might be fun to head down south earlier in the day so we could have a chance to hang out with the Kuch's for a bit. I contacted Christina and she was all for it. 

On the actual day of us hanging out I took advantage of us going south for another reason....getting my oil changed. The Honda dealership we bought the van from is down in Sumner and I still like to take it there. I made an appointment to drop it off and Pa came to pick the kids and I up so we could hang out at there house before it was time to go hang out with Christina and the kids. While I was waiting for it to be the time for us to go to their house...she needed to finish up a bit of homeschool stuff...I got a text from Christina asking if I thought it would be fun to drive out to NW Trek and let the kids play at the Kids Trek play area. This particular day it was gorgeous! The kids had actually wanted to go outside and play at Ga-Ga & Pa's, but for about half of the year their backyard is a swamp so it was a no go. This was a perfect solution! I was so happy she mentioned it. We've used out Point Defiance Zoo pass many many times, but the NW Trek one doesn't get used as often mainly because it's really far south for us to travel there on a whim, but since Christina's house is only 15 minutes away it was perfect!!! 

We first met up at their house and the kids got to play a little and then we were off. The girls decided that all the girls should ride in one car and all the boys in another. Christina got the girls and I got the boys. 

Jack and Zeke had to have a picture right away when we got to the Kids Trek! 

The weather was so gorgeous....it was actually over 50 degrees out. The way the sun is right now though it doesn't rise over the big tall trees completely. Everything was wet so Christina and I had to stand and chat the whole time. I wasn't obviously thinking of coming to NW Trek when the kids and I left the house that morning. Christina was so nice to let the kids borrow vests or even lighter coats since they were running around getting all hot! 

Jump Spiderman! 

  

Addison you adventurous girl! 

Jack and Caleb are buddies! It's so fun to hear them talk together and have common interests. When we were driving in to park Caleb was trying to plan out how they were going to play. He said, "should we play army soldiers?" Jack thought about that and said, "I can be Captain America...he was an army soldier!" Then Caleb said...."do you want to play Super Heros!" Not sure exactly what they ended up playing, but they had fun nevertheless! 

Zeke the bear! 

For the most part I didn't even see Owen. He was off on adventures. The nice thing was there were probably only 2 maybe 3 more families there. 

 These girls just played and played. When Christina asked if we wanted to go to NW Trek I did consult with the kids about it. The boys were SO for it and Ella was bummed. She loves going to peoples houses and playing with them and their toys. I asked if Ella could come back to their house when we were done so she could play a bit more with the girls. Then Pa would come pick her up later....since I needed to drive home to go on a date with my man. Christina was all for that. Jack ended up wanting to go back so she had a full vehicle on her way home. 

Run Jack...

Owen's gonna get you! 

Zeke the beaver! 

Zeke with his otter friend! 

  

This boy is still in the mommy watch me phase! 

Mommy take a picture! 

Mommy watch this...

Jump! 

Taking time to hug his beaver friend! 

Look at Zeke....he still doesn't even have to bend over in the tunnel! Cute little shrimp! 

It was such a great time and I'm so happy Christina recommended it. We are actually trying to figure out a date in February to the same thing again. 

Knitting!

On Friday January 20th Kim invited us to come over for dinner. Well actually I kind of invited us....see Owen was invited to hang out and have dinner with Kaegan since Kaegan couldn't come to his birthday party. Well once Jack heard this he wanted to play with Andrew & Josiah and then Ella wanted to play with Caitlynn. I asked Kim if Jack and Ella could come play and then she said that we could just all hang out. When it got closer to the day she just said that we should stay for dinner as well. 

Once the kids ran off and played I asked Kim if she would teach me to knit. She's been knitting for about 5 years now and I always knew I wanted her to teach me, but I also knew that once I could do it I would go crazy because I'd love it. So I've put it off, but now I really wanted to learn. 

She showed me how to cast on and I just sat there and did that over and over and over again...probably 20 times at least. Then she taught me to do a knit stitch. So then I just started knitting and knitting. She told me I could take the supplies home that I'd been working on so I could practice. 

Here's what I did a couple days after she taught me. Of course I messed up a stitch here and there, but I was just learning. I would knit a bit and then unravel it, cast on and then knit some more. I wasn't actually making anything. 

I had told Kim I would give back her knitting stuff at the next MOPS meeting which was coming up that Tuesday. I really wanted to keep practicing, but since it was getting close to the end of the month I didn't have any funds left to go buy the things I would need. That's when I thought I'd give it a shot and post something on the Des Moines Buy Nothing FB page. After just a couple minutes this super amazing lady in our neighborhood posting that she'd gotten a knitting kit for her granddaughter and she actually had 2 of them and the second one was mine!!! 

I went and got it right away and then snapped this picture and texted Kim. I was so excited! This kit would have cost $30 if I had bought it at the store!!!

The kit came with 3 skeins of yarn, 2 wooden size 8 knitting needles, a crochet hook, a plastic needle, a button and an instruction book. It was just what I needed to move forward with what Kim had already taught me. 

I got right to work playing around with it. After playing with it a bit I decided to just get to work on one of the 3 projects listed in the book. On January 29th only 9 days after learning to knit I finished my first project. 

A scarf! 

And seriously maybe a minute after I took this picture of Ella she came over with her tooth in her hand. She had yanked out another one! 

She's now lost 8 teeth altogether! 

I got started right away on the next project in the book and I think I finished it on the same day. This is a cellphone sock. You can loop it around your backpack and then stick your phone inside. Ella wanted it for her play cellphones. 

The next and final project in the book was a sunglasses case. I made it, but I don't see myself using it for that. It's actually on the kitchen counter and I used it the other day as a pot holder to get something hot out of the microwave. I wouldn't dare use it to get something out of the oven, but the microwave would be okay. It just fit on my hand like a thumbless mitten! 

After that I didn't know what to do. I really wanted to keep up on my skills though. I asked Kim and she said to sign up for free for a Ravelry.com account. I did and I looked around, but I don't have a lot of supplies yet and it was confusing looking at it from my phone. So I headed over to good ol' Pinterest. 

I found some cute dishcloth patterns that I thought would be fun. When I had been making the projects from the book I learned how to do a purl stitch as well. It's been fun doing rows of stitches where you use both knit and purl in different combinations. 

Here's my first dishcloth. I've just been going through yarn that I had leftover from other projects. 

Here's my second dishcloth. It's bigger than the first one. It could almost be a hot pad, but I don't think it would protect the table very well from something right out of the oven. 

Right now I'm working on another scarf. Just using knit stitches. Jack wanted a red and blue one...it looks like spiderman colors. I was knitting during most of the Superbowl at a party they had at our church and someone asked if I was knitting a Patriots scarf.....um....NO! 

This weekend is girls weekend at my parents and I think Kim and I might need to head down to the store so I can pick up some more supplies to feed my newest obsession. Thanks for teaching me Kim!!!

Owen's Actual Birthday!

We waited to give Owen his birthday presents until his actual birthday. 

We don't normally get the kids two presents from us, but the first present I got on Black Friday for free! 

Owen loves chess! He saw this set at the school's math night as one of the prizes and he wanted it so bad. On Black Friday I bought a game at Fred Meyer's and got one for free...this was the free one! 

His next gift was a major score due to Ga-Ga's eagle eyes on Offer Up! 

Owen got the Volcano Lego Set for Christmas, but the part he didn't get was the Helicopter. It was normally almost $60, but Ga-Ga found it on Offer Up for only $30. I contacted the lady I think it had only been posted for a couple hours. She lived up north, but had to come to Renton to go to Sam's Club so she agreed to meet me there. I told her that she was making a 10 year old boy so happy! 

Getting right down to business!!! 

The board is good for both chess and checkers! 

I made a homemade chocolate cake and frosting! 

Make a wish my big boy! 

It was a nice quiet celebration at home with just the 6 of us! Love this guy!

Owen's 10th Birthday Party!

So it's almost a month after Owen's birthday party and I'm just now getting around to posting about it....oops! I honestly haven't been much in the mood to actually sit at my computer and type out my thoughts. Feeling lazy or writers block I don't know, but here I go! 

The kids' 10th birthdays are special not just because they are now 2 digits, but because this is the first birthday we will actually pay for the kids to go somewhere. For Owen we knew that going to a video arcade place would be great so we chose Game Works in Seattle. I found out through a friend that they have a screaming deal on Thursday nights so we decided it was such a good deal that we would be unusual and have our sons birthday on a Thursday/school night. But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Thursdays are the day I volunteer at the kids' school so I bought cupcakes for Owen to pass out to his classmates and we all sang Happy Birthday to him at lunchtime. 

Since I'm volunteering that means that Ga-Ga & Pa are watching Zeke. They had Owen's gift all ready for him to open after school.

Ga-Ga with her Sugar Bear! 

Michael got off work early so they could get to Game Works by 5pm. 

Of course Owen got $10 since he's 10 years old. 

Ga-Ga and Pa had actually picked up Owen's present at The Victorian Country Christmas Expo and she had forgotten about it. A couple weeks before his birthday Ga-Ga actually told me she didn't know what to buy Owen for his birthday. Owen was in the room and all I said was Victorian Country Christmas and then it dawned on her. Michael was in the room as well and he was looking at me like I was a freak. I explained later and it made sense. 

They got his this cool mini drone. The guy was playing with it in one of the barns where they sell things. It's cute and it fits into the controller when you're not playing with it. 

Michael and Owen went right outside to give it a try. 

While they were outside Jack and I used the same gift bag and wrapped up Owen's present from him. 

Sweet brothers! 

The youngest brother didn't want to be left out! 

What's in there?

He finally read what it was! 

It's an Ifart Shuffle! It has 15 different fart noises that it shuffles through. Perfect gift for a 10 year old boy! 

After presents we waited for the other party goers to arrive. Since it was a Thursday night that meant that not everyone could come. Owen's friend Kaegan from school wasn't able to make it. There were 6 people that went to celebrate with Owen.....Daddy, Pa, Uncle Ry, Jack, Hansi and Hansi's Dad Hans. 

Since the boys were gone having fun I figured those of us left behind...Ga-Ga, me, Ella and Zeke could have some fun as well. I went to the Redbox and picked up 2 movies. I got a Barbie movie for Ella & Zeke and The Finest Hour for me and Mom. While Mom and I were making dinner the kids watched the Barbie movie. They also got to watch the other movie with us....it was really good. During that movie Ella said, "Mom do you think it's time for my tooth to come out." It was really wiggly so I said, "yeah it should probably come out or you're going to swallow it." Ella went over to the mirror and yanked it out. 

I texted this picture to Daddy to show him! 

Speaking of texting I'm not sure if I mentioned that we got the kids a Gizmo Gadget for Christmas. 

When I got myself a new phone for Christmas I also picked this up for the kids. We had already been toying with the idea of getting Owen a phone. He's now old enough to stay home by himself for small periods of time. It worries me though because we don't have a land line. I really didn't want to get him an actual phone I thought maybe a flip phone, but most definitely not a smart phone. 

While I was shopping for my phone the lady told me about the Gizmo Gadget. It's a watch and the kids can call and text 10 different numbers. They have to be set up though so they can't just call anyone they want. There is an app that Michael and I can control the settings. I even have it set to auto answer so they can't ignore their mother! It has GPS so I can always locate where the child is who's wearing it. There are fun features like activities for them to do such as jumps, it has a compass, a stop watch, a timer, a to do list. It can keep track of their steps and the best part it has a voice changer. 

When it comes to calling that's pretty basic they push a button and it calls the person and they talk into the watch. It's super clear on both ends...I was worried about that. When it comes to texting there is no keyboard. There are preset responses such as yes and no or I love you or on my way home, but when you want to make your own message you have to do a voice text. After the kids make their message they can send it as is or they can change the voice to sound like Darth Vader, a squirrel, a helium balloon or a robot. This is beyond the best thing in the kids eyes. 

My favorite this is the control features....no access to the internet and they can't just contact anyone they want. Also it's cheaper per month than a phone. A phone is an extra $20 a month, but this is considered a connected devise so it's only $5 a month. 

All that to say we had Jackson wear it to Game Works since he's the one we almost lost at Disneyland. He was having so much fun calling me and keeping me updated and texting me cute emojis. I loved it! 

So far we've only used it once for when Jack was at a birthday party and quite a bit at home when I've just needed to run up to the school to pick up a kid from art club or lego club. It's been amazing and I'm so glad I bought it. 

The reason we chose going to Game Works on a Thursday is because from 5pm - 10pm you can get a $10 unlimited game card per person. This is awesome! The next thing that was great was happy hour from 3 - 7:30pm. We paid for everything....the game cards for all the guys, the food and the parking and Michael came in under the $160 budget that I gave him. Awesome!!!!

The first thing the guys did was stopped at the restaurant and eat dinner. Michael figured that once they got playing on games getting them to stop would be difficult.

He was right of course! 

Michael said the 3 younger boys spent at least 2 hours at this motorcycle game. 

There were actually 4 bikes that could play together so the 3 boys kept on playing and then other kids would come and play for a bit on the 4th bike. Thankfully it was a Thursday night so it's not super busy.

Michael hadn't been to Game Works since we went there when we weren't even technically dating yet.  

Since it was so inexpensive I can see this being something Michael takes the boys to a couple times a year. 

Uncle Ry had fun going around with Jack and playing some games. 

This was the perfect celebration for our game loving boy. I know there wasn't a lot of kids present, but really that's okay for Owen. He had the people in his life that love him and that's what matters.

Owen's 10 Year Pictures!

The day before Owen turned 10 years old I took him to JCPenny's for his yearly birthday pictures. As always he was super easy to get pictures of. 

Seriously when did he get so tall?!?! That tall upper body and those long legs. Sheesh!!! 

My ten year old that picked out his entire outfit for his photo shoot! 

Such a handsome dude! 

I'm so blessed to have this guy in my life!