Memorial Day Weekend!

We have had such an enjoyable and relaxing weekend! On Saturday, we drove up to Bothell to see baby Emilie~ Dave hadn't met her yet and the girls were wanting to hold her (they had been to nervous at the hospital to do it there). My mom, Katie and Tim ended up coming over as well so we ended up having a great visit and a fun barbecue together! The girls ended up hanging out with my mom for awhile so that Dave and I could go and check out a few different furniture places. We are on the hunt for bar stools, a nook table, a dining room table and a desk. We didn't find anything that stood out so we are still on the look out. It is so exciting to actually be at this stage- I never thought this time would arrive :)

Uncle David meets Emilie!

Taylor holds Emilie for the first time! (Maddie is still not so sure about all this!)

While at Nana and Paul's house Taylor found a caterpillar. She named him Belle!

Sunday we spent the day at the house catching up on laundry (it is never ending!!) and cleaning up all the dust from the work our trim guys have been doing this past week. Taylor has been fighting a cough, running nose and fever so we ended up watching 101 Dalmations and eating popcorn in the middle of the day!

I forgot to mention that we went to IKEA on our way up to see my sister- Taylor played in the play area but Maddie came with us while we were shopping- she found these "princess castles" and thought she and her sister needed one! Dave and I thought that we would hang them in the new house but the girls thought they needed to be hung in both the old and the new house :)Needless to say, they LOVE them!!

Monday morning Dave worked at the house and Taylor and I started working on her "fancy" bowls for her Fancy Nancy birthday party that she is having this coming weekend. Afterwards the family headed into town and we went to the Macy's furniture warehouse where we ended up purchasing a new dining room table set with a buffet table as well! It was one of those things where we walked in, looked at and fell in love with it! So, we can now cross that off of our things to buy.

I hope everyone is having a great start to their week! ~HM

The Rest of Our Weekend!

We had so much going on this past weekend that I have to share but the arrival of Emilie kind of put all the "reporting" on the back burner! And right now, I really should be working on my master's assignment but....here I am doing this instead!!

Saturday afternoon we drove to Everett to celebrate Dave's sisters 30th birthday. We had so much fun! It was so nice outside that the kids played outside well into the evening. We enjoyed some delicious barbecue ribs and it really felt like it should be summer!





Here are Drew and Taylor enjoying birthday cake and ice cream!



Also pictured is our nephew Luke! What a cutie!!


After the birthday celebration Dave and the girls drove back to Olympia and I drove to my mom's house to get ready for the arrival of Emilie. Little did we know that we would have to wait two more days! My mom and I got up at the crack of dawn (literally- 5 a.m.) to go work at the annual Beat the Bridge event in Seattle that supports Juvenile Diabetes. Nordstrom's is host to this wonderful event and my cousin Katie is the Children's Clothing Department Manager at the Alderwood Mall Branch (if you need cute kids clothing be sure to head her way!) and she needed a few extra hands so we offered to help. We ended up volunteering at the family 4 mile walk and it was truly amazing to see so many people out supporting such an important cause. We decided that we, as a family, would walk the event next year!

Once the event was over, my mom and I went to the outlet malls and did some shopping. Wow! It is so nice to shop without little ones hanging off of you! What a nice time we had just visiting with one another, shopping and eating lunch together. Thanks Mom!

We then headed to my sisters in Bothell to check in on her and ended up spending the rest of our day and evening with her. We played cards, watched t.v. and spent time laughing together. We headed home to get some sleep because we knew the next day would be a busy one!

I headed home late Monday night and went to work for a half day on Tuesday. I ended up going and picking up the girls from daycare and driving up to the hospital so that they could meet their new cousin. When we arrived at the hospital they were very quiet and you could tell that they were nervous about their surroundings. I don't think they liked seeing their Nana in a hospital bed! Neither one of them would hold the baby and Maddie wouldn't leave my mom's lap for anything- well, until my Grandma offered to get her some M& M's from the gift shop :) Taylor eventually touched Emilie but said she wanted to hold her when we got to Nana's house. Both the girls were very concerned with the umbilical cord! Maddie even ended up lifting up her own shirt to check out her belly button! In the car on the way back to my mom's house, Taylor grilled my mom about why Emilie had that and in the end she asked my mom this question: " Nama, do I have to have a baby when I grow up?" When my mom answered that she didn't, she said, "Okay, good" and promptly fell asleep! I leave you with a few pictures of the girls with Emilie (and of course one of just Emilie!). Sorry this is so long. I hope everyone is having a great week! H

Pictures of Baby Emilie!

As promised here are some pictures of Emilie right after she was born. She looks so much like her dadddy! The dark hair and curls are so totally him! Emilie weighed in at 7 lbs 15 ounces and was 20 3/4 inches long! Her fingers are very long and her feet are as well! She is a very good baby who LOVES to eat! The family is doing well and are adjusting to life at home. More pictures to come soon!

Welcome Baby Emilie!

It's official!! Emilie Heather was welcomed into the world today at 4:30 P.M.! Both the baby and mom are doing well! I will post more tomorrow- I have some great pictures! However, I am exhausted! What a long but wonderful day! I can't imagine how tired my sister must be! Look for pictures soon!

Love,

Auntie Heather!

Kids!

The end of the school year is our busiest time of year. Dave has some kind of event at the middle school almost every night until the end of the year. Tonight was one of those nights~ He literally just walked in the door and it's 9:45! The girls and I always try and do something when he's gone and tonight we chose to go to a local park in our neighborhood. It was later in the evening and we had the whole park to ourselves. Taylor and Maddie experienced their first underdogs (I think that is what they call those!) on the swings and I am hoping I can move my arms and back tomorrow :) On the way home, Taylor shouted out : "Mom, Mom, it's the sunsetter!" Maddie is of course repeating exactly what Taylor has just said in her own version: "Suntetter, hmm, des, des, Suntetter" Sure enough I looked out side and what did I see? The sunset! Too cute! I had to write this down because I don't want to forget these sweet precious things they say!
I hope everyone is having a great week!

By the way....still no new niece or cousin for our family....we are all still waiting! (somewhat patiently at this point)

Heather

Mother's Day Weekend

Phew....What a busy, but fun weekend we had! On Saturday, the girls had two birthday parties to attend; one for Logan who turned 2 and one for Brooks, who turned 5. Logan's party was a lot of fun! They had a barbecue and the kids all played outside on the swing set for hours! They have a huge backyard so the kids took full advantage of that! Brooks-o's party (as Taylor likes to call him) was a fish themed party- they "fished" for apples, painted a wooden fish, played tag with blown up fish and ate a very adorable, home made fish cake! The kids left with their own fish- yes, they were real. Dave and I were not super excited about this- but the kids sure were! So....we now have 2 fish named Fancy Nancy and Cinderella.


After the parties, we were off to meet up with Dave's family for his sister, Mindy's college graduation. Mindy received her B.A. in Education with an endorsement in Special Education and Social Studies. We are really proud of her for going back to school! We got to the restaurant just as everyone was leaving- so Dave's dad, step mom and sister Amy came out to look at the almost done house (smile and deep breath Heather!) and to visit with the kids. They ended up leaving around 10. Needless to say the girls fell into bed and were very tired on Sunday!


Mother's Day we ended up hanging around the house for the simple fact that the girls were exhausted! I know that Mother's Day is supposed to be glamorous but yes, I still did laundry and I even made spaghetti dinner for everyone! (I volunteered because I do like to cook when I don't have to work all day!). The girls gave me some new summer jammies and some capri pants- my favorite! Taylor told me as I was unwrapping the gift that "Mom, these are your favorite kind of pants-not long ones, but the kind of short ones that you like". She knows me too well!


We are still waiting for baby Emilie to arrive. My sister goes into the doctor tomorrow for another check up. She is 2 days overdue right now....and not extremely happy about it :)


I think that is it for now- I will leave you with some pictures of the rest of our weekend. I hope your week is off to a great start!

Mommy (it's a good thing she got new jammies!), Taylor and Maddie

Grandma Lynette, Papa, Drew and Taylor






All the girls at Logans party~ The Gentrys, Kruses and Myers Girls!

Finally....A Nice Day Outside!

Yesterday was the first day in a LONG time that the sun was out and it was somewhat warm! The Myers family took full advantage of it too! The Boston Harbor Marina (which is right down the road from where we live) was having a BBQ and beer and wine tasting night. Our kids LOVE going to the beach so we headed down after we got off work. It was packed when we got there. Taylor headed straight to the beach while Dave, Maddie and I got in line for our food. They had lots to choose from~ hamburgers, hot dogs, shrimp, chicken kabobs, grilled veggies and strawberry shortcake for dessert! Yum! We ate (and of course sampled the beverages!) and then headed down to the beach where a group of kids decided to make a mud pie with Taylor, Maddie and I! Once the pie had been "baked" all the kids started taking the pie and flinging it across the beach. They got the giggles and couldn't stop- it was darling! Our night ended with a tub filled with sand and two very tired girls. I love these kinds of nights where we are altogether as a family just hanging out with nothing else going on!

An Early Grandmother's/Mother's Day!

My mom came to visit this past weekend! She hasn't been to Olympia for awhile because of all the baby showers that have been taking place in Everett so the girls were thrilled to have her spend the night with us! On Saturday, we ran errands together and then came home and we worked down at the house. My mom (who is notorious for her cleaning skills!) cleaned out our two bath tubs that have been filled with all different contractors extra scraps and dust. It was gross but the tubs are sparkly clean now! On Sunday, we decided to celebrate Grandmother's Day and Mother's Day a week early. We are hoping that we will see each other next Sunday anyways at the hospital if baby Emilie decides to cooperate! We started our very sunny day off by walking around Capital Lake and heading to one of the girls favorite parks downtown~ Percival Landing. We spent over an hour playing at the park and then continued to walk along the water to the local Farmers Market. As you can see from the top pictures Taylor and Maddie enjoyed having a ride in the stroller and also picked out yummy Fuji apples to snack on. Both the girls sat and listened to an all female band play lots of fun and interesting songs. After the market, we decided to walk back down past the park and eat lunch outside at a local restaurant. Across from the restaurant was our next destination; the Fountain! The fountain is a local favorite that shoots up water in all different parts of the park. Kids and adults alike have lots of fun on hot days here!

Taylor and Maddie thinking about going in to the Fountain!

Taylor checking out one of the holes! Maddie girl running from the water!

A beautiful day by the Capitol!

We ended our day with a trip to the local nursery where Grandma got to pick out lots of flowers as a special treat! As you can see by the pictures one of us stayed in the car for a little cat nap!

Happy Mother's Day and Grandmother's Day! We love you lots Mom and "Nama Taffy"!

Canned Food Drive!

It's springtime and any teacher out there right now knows how LONG these days can be! Kids are squirming, talking all the time and doing things they haven't been doing in months! Today, however was a day that simply rejuventated me and reminded me of why I have chosen this profession! For the past two weeks the school that I work at, Horizons Elementary, has been holding a canned food drive for the Thurston County Food Bank. Each grade level was in competition with one another for who could bring in the most canned food items. The winning team of each grade would get to go to an assembly to make our principal and school counselor into human ice cream sundaes! The kids (and teachers) really got into the competition! I am proud to say that my first grade class brought in 686 cans in two weeks and ended up winning the competition for our grade level! But best of all, my students willingly helped out those in need which makes my heart very happy! When the announcements came on today to say that we had won at our grade level the screams of excitment were contagious! And best of all because the school surpassed our goal of bringing in 6,000 cans EVERYONE in the entire school ended up getting to go to the assembly! The assembly was filled with lots of screaming, cheering and whipped cream; something I know my students will not forget about for a very long time! In the end, our school brought in over 10,000 canned food items in two weeks! WOW! Way to go Horizons!

In a time where our world is changing this made me feel warm, happy and safe! I leave you with a story from one of my parents who came to visit our classroom this week. "My daughter was begging me to send in some more canned food this week. I told her that we had already sent food in last week and that this was the amount that I had wanted to spend on this. Finally she said that her daughter came back to her after a few minutes with some of her own money. She asked her mom if it would be okay if she could drive her to the store so that she could spend it on some more food for the canned food drive." Powerful stuff.

Have a wonderful weekend!