Puddle Jumpers

Christmas Nativity

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Wed, 27 Mar 2019 14:14:00 +0000

GrannyB's Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Tue, 01 Jan 2019 15:00:00 +0000

While everyone was here for the baptism, we celebrated a milestone birthday for GrannyB. She was kind enough to share her big day. But, we carved out a little time to do a dinner, games, and a cake.

I love my mother-in-law she picked all low stress options for me. I love that even though this was her day she thought about everyone else. What a great example of enjoying the moment.

Baptism

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Thu, 27 Dec 2018 15:00:00 +0000

We decided to share the big baptism day with Susan's friend Calvin. They are great friends and work so well together; their parents really get along too. Win, win.

It was incredibly overwhelming to see how many people turned out to support these two kiddos, there was standing room only. We felt incredibly loved and it was quite the party. Here are some pictures:

Uncle Mike, he even spoke Russian to help Miss Rosie with the talk.

I caught these two in the hall afterward and they did this themselves. Truly, great friends.

GrannyB and Papa T

Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Kent

Our crew

Aunt Lacey, got the last pictures, they were a bit rowdy even the good ones look a lot like this goofy one.

Susan's Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Tue, 25 Dec 2018 15:00:00 +0000

Susan requested caramel apple cake with apple roses. It was delicious, this one was seriously good.

As it was birthday number 8, we had a week long celebration ending in her baptism. It was wonderful!

Our Artist

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Thu, 20 Dec 2018 15:00:00 +0000

I thought I had an artistic brain, but it is nothing in comparison with Miss Molly. She sees projects in everything. One day while playing playdoh she decided to do this:

Then proceeded to sculpt a new dinosaur face and detail using the dinosaur on the inside as a frame. It was clever and just where her brain went. This girl can create anything!

Frankie goes to Mom School

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Wed, 19 Dec 2018 16:11:00 +0000

In September Frankie and I started Mom School. He loves it, and asks if we can do it everyday. It has been fun, but I confess I am also a little sad to know this is the last time I will use these plans and materials with my kids.

West Seattle Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 15:19:00 +0000

We have heard for years that there is a pretty good beach in West Seattle, but we had never made it out. So, we took the chance and headed out while we still had good weather (please excuse the lateness of blog). We had great weather and it was a surprisingly great beach for the Washington coast line.

We got some sand play in.

I dug a nice hole, which Frankie climbed in.

Then we rented one of these! It was great fun, and we went rather far on it. Frankie dropped the camera in the sand so please excuse the odd framing.

It was a beautiful weekend at the beach.

Ikegami Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Tue, 27 Nov 2018 15:00:00 +0000

Our dear friends had a wedding this summer. The Ikegami's are adopted family to us. Our first Christmas in this house we celebrated together, and we haven't missed a day since. So, I was thrilled to do some flowers for their wedding this summer. As you can see it had a Japanese theme.

The bride served a mission in Tokyo with the groom's brother. So, it was very appropriate in many ways.

The guestbook

Yummy Japaneses favors, the ones on the left were tiny bride and grooms made out of candy.

The tags hanging down have Japanese characters on them for wishes for the bride and groom.

Those are hundreds of paper cranes against the wall.

Up close

Visit with Aunt Chan

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 15:07:00 +0000

Chantry came to visit just before school started. The girls were thrilled to have her, and we enjoyed spending time with her. She even joined us for a trip to the school open house. It was so nice to have help with two classrooms to visit. Thanks for coming Chantry!

Molly's Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Tue, 20 Nov 2018 15:04:00 +0000

Molly requested funfetti cake with sprinkles in her frosting. I decided to make it entirely from scratch so I was out of sprinkles for the outside, we went with Nerds instead. I was rather pleased with the end effect.

Luckily so was she!

Breakfast with Papa

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 15:04:00 +0000

Helicopter View

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Tue, 13 Nov 2018 15:01:00 +0000

For Christmas I got Shayne a helicopter tour. We finally used it this summer, it's best to wait for the clouds to clear around here. It was awesome, by far one of the coolest things I have done. The city went by so quickly

The Eastside was much easier to process. We flew out to Snoqualmie Falls and back through the city.

It was surprising easy to take off and land, really smooth.

Definitely one of our best dates.

Ice Cream Maker

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 15:00:00 +0000

Molly loves to "make ice cream." She turns her bike over and pumps the pedals., that is how you make ice cream. Then you serve it in your helmet.

FHE!

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 15:00:00 +0000

Frankie's Bear

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 14:00:00 +0000

We hit an estate sale of a stuffed bear collector. There were piles of stuffed bears. Each child selected one. Susan went for accessories and picked a fishing bear. Molly went for cuddly factor and picked a very soft white one. Frankie went for size, this bear is larger than some small dogs and definitely the most correct depiction of a real bear. He loves it.

Frankie does Mom School

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 14:00:00 +0000

It is a time honored past time in the Holmes family to do Mom School. Frankie started this year and he was thrilled. I confess I got a little deja vu of the first two times I taught this lesson with the girls and then a little teary that it would be the last time. But fun was had by all and he loves his special time with mom.

Summer Pool

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 14:00:00 +0000

Fireworks with Uncle Mike

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Thu, 25 Oct 2018 14:00:00 +0000

Bellingham Outing

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Tue, 23 Oct 2018 14:00:00 +0000

We took a quick trip to Bellingham, WA. We are slowly exploring our coastline.

The town has a free aquarium with touch pools.

Not everyone was as brave as Dad, but we all got to see lots.

Big Man's haircut

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 14:00:00 +0000

Uncle in Town

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Tue, 16 Oct 2018 14:00:00 +0000

My brother briefly came to town for work and proposed I bring the kids to his hotel to swim. Uncle Devin's hotel had an awesome pool on the roof. We had a great swim and then met Shayne for lunch.

Occidental Square

Lunch at Tat's, just say yum!

Raspberry Picking

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 14:00:00 +0000

The girls were particularly helpful this year. Frankie mostly had fun running.

My favorite birthday celebration.

Hiking with the Durrants

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 14:00:00 +0000

My friend Mariesa contacted me and let me know her family would be in our area. We tried to come up with an activity for five kids and four adults. We decided on a waterfall hike. The kids immediately hit it off. They really are close in age, just not in size.

See that girl in blue in the background, that is Mariesa. Positively one of my favorite people in the world. High school best friend, college roommate, and a kindred spirit I hadn't seen her in three years. We immediately discovered this fact when we both noticed our haircuts. Mine has been short for three years, but otherwise it has been quite long. Mariesa has always had short hair, but in the last three years it is mid-back length. It was shocking to us both. Clearly we need to visit more often.

You'd think I would have caught a picture of us. Sorry, just the kids. But a huge shout out to the Durrants, we loved seeing you.

Uncle Mike's Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 14:00:00 +0000

I feel like I am starting to get good at this birthday cake thing. Mike requested chocolate and peanut butter. It turned out awesome!

Out to Breakfast

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 14:00:00 +0000

One morning we packed up the kids and told them that we had a special surprise for them. When we arrived at a restaurant and told them we were going out to breakfast they were thrilled. This was a first for them.

Frankie got chocolate chip pancakes.

So did Molly...

Susan got fried eggs and toast. Her favorite.

Dad and Mom shared a ham and cheese omelet.

Then we played for a bit near the fountain on our way home.

Who knew the most important meal of the day could be so much fun.