So the boys came up with a plan to have a Minion birthday party, but when we were talking about the cake she was very clear that she wanted a RAINBOW cake.  I think you should get the cake you really want for your bday, so off to Pinterest I went and found this one.  Pretty easy to make, although it was too heavy for the frosting (I know how to fix the issue in the future if I decide to do it another time) and I had to put in supports and do some refrosting in the morning.  I think it turned out pretty cool and she loved it.
We had just our immediate family on her actual birthday because I had the flu the day before and we couldn’t expose the rest of the fam and friends to that.  Celebrated with Nana and Papa, Mary and Alice and Godma Kris and Godma Ann last night.  Fun to hang out in the garden and chat, then enjoy a tasty BBQ dinner and watch the girl open her presents.
All in all, I think turning 2 was a good birthday for her!

Here’s a link to our “wedding annoucement” on Inside Bainbridge!  Yay for love!

More pics and all on the wedding to come…

So yesterday after a “run and grab something for the kids to take on the ferry and eat” trip to Safeway (which are ALWAYS relaxing!), I was trying to get the kids back into the van and it wasn’t going all that well.  Erin has decided she is now a big girl, and always climbs in and buckles herself into one of the boy’s booster seats and refuses to get into her carseat.  That was happening, but she was also screaming at Trey because he was sitting in her carseat and she didn’t want him there.  Levi and Carlos were highly embarrassed that this was all going down in the Safeway parking lot, where someone might see.  I had no choice but to open the sliding door and climb in and try to move Erin.  I admit, I wasn’t so calm at that point and expressed my frustration at Trey and Erin while I was helping them get buckled into their proper seats.
I climbed out of the van to find a man standing there watching me, somewhat flustered, and a couple standing behind him also watching.  I figured they had never heard a mom raise her voice in frustration (there were no put downs, swearing or anything unreasonable for the situation) and were waiting to call CPS or something, but wow was I wrong.
I asked the man  if there was a problem and he said, “Well, you were bent over in your van and I was watching you and backed into this other car.”  It took me a minute to process but HOLY COW, really?  Yeah, the guy was perv enough to admit he was gawking but I have to admit I am taking this one as a compliment.  I feel badly they had to exchange insurance info and deal with that mess, but it made my day!

I can honestly say that I have never had an experience quite like this afternoon when Dee and I cast our wedding rings.  Things are getting real.  We have been together for 13 years, had a small ceremony 11 years ago in Vegas and we have been “married” for a long time.    We are pretty much married, right?  

What a treat to be a tourist on the Seattle waterfront today with Nana and Papa.  It was really crowded, but the weather was incredible.  We took a ride on the Seattle Great Wheel and got some great pics.  It is amazing to see the city from that viewpoint.  I wish they would have made the ride a bit longer, though.
Here are the pictures!  We didn’t get pictures of Nana, Papa, Luca and Levi because they were in another car.

 During the photo shoot, I wanted to be sure that I got a picture of me with each of the kids (and Dee with each of them as well!).  I know some of my most treasured pictures are ones with just me and my mom, me and my dad or me and my brother.  Hope our guys feel the same way someday and if not, they have great pics to throw darts at, right?!

 These are the more posed shots – still capturing the kids in the moods they were in (Carlos is never going to live his snarky attitude pic down!).

Random family pictures from our photo shoot with Cameron Karsten.
Love that he captured the kids in action!

We have been so busy with baseball and school events this last month, that the poor garden has been neglected.  Have I mentioned that our garden space is bigger than both our house and Mary’s house square footage put together:?!  Yeah, it’s that big.
Yesterday we set aside to work, work, work and I am proud to say that it now looks fantastic!  After repainting the decorative ladders, replacing the bird netting to cover the strawberries, restringing the peas and reweeding all of the beds (boys each took on one) we now have peas, carrots, lettuce, strawberries, beets, celery, 2 kinds of pumpkins, 2 kinds of zucchini, artichokes, 3 kinds of tomatoes, beans, fennel, dill, cucumbers, tomatillos, rosemary, raspberries and a million flower seeds and bulbs.  I can’t wait to see it all grow and look forward to the hours of playing in the dirt and just sitting in the amazing space.