June was here and now it’s gone. After the hellish month of May, it was a nice change to just take it easy. June saw the kiddos’ recital, their last day of school, Saige turning nine months, family hikes, final house upgrade selections, more packing, and many at home days spent out back.
Let’s just get some Saige pictures out of the way. She turned nine months on June 17 and being an ever-changing baby, she naturally gets the most pictures taken.
She started standing which is now an over-confident, one-handed cruising along furniture and walking with the toy walker. And there is photobomb Laine, such an awesome big sister. All the new skills tire a baby out…
New in June: big girl baths and sleeping on her own (naps only, she’s still a bed sharer at night).
Post out back play, dirt girl.
It was HOT so she sported just a pair of bloomers for once. And bedhead hair.
Enough of Saige only… (although she’s super cute). The kiddos started ballet back in January. Technically, Laine started and Blaise joined. She had asked to take dance class last winter so when I signed her up, I asked Blaise if he wanted to take the class also. He said no. Fast-forward to the first day of class when he had to sit in the waiting room with Saige and me, he immediately asked to join the class. I think he liked it better than Laine did.
The class ended in June with a studio-wide recital… costumes, make-up, and all. Blaise was hot stuff as the only little guy, front and center in their performance. It was pretty cute watching them. I don’t get teary eyed much but I was so proud of them. Laine knew all the moves by heart; Blaise stood sideways while he performed mimicking the teacher off stage. It was a cluster of a performance with each kiddo doing their own thing but it was adorable and they all did a fantastic job. Times have changed since I took dance. The requirements are down to the color of lip gloss the girls were asked to wear. And spendy: recital tickets and DVDs, and flowers and, and, and. They had a blast and we’re signing them up for the next dance class as requested by the kiddos.
The big kiddos wrapped their first year of school up the week of June 8, with a BBQ on Tuesday for all of the families. We met them there at 11:30am for hot dogs, marshmallows, and a mini-performance of their Oats, Peas, Beans, and Barley Grow song. We’re in love with their school. What an experience to have playing outside on the farmland and being able to be a kiddo instead of sitting inside practicing handwriting or whatever they do in brick and mortar preschools. (I’m biased and generalizing, I know.) They start back up in the fall and are already anxious for the harvest from the seeds they planted.
The BBQ was on Tuesday and Thursday was their last official day, pictured below. Saige and Mayah prepared for the impending summer by napping. Between the last two school days, I had the chance to select all of the fun stuff and upgrades for the new house. All of the flooring, counter tops, tile accents… my cup of tea.
After picking the kiddos up from their last day, I took them to Target to start the summer with a new toy for each. Blaise had been asking for the fire station LEGO kit (shocker) for a while and Laine is obsessed with horses, so a stable and horse were in order. Saige and I actually went to Target before picking them up and were able to score Laine’s items but the Redmond Target was out of the LEGO kit. Issaquah had it in stock so I bought it online for store pickup which is why we had to swing by after school.
Blaise found a deserted dollar on the ground at the dance recital. When we picked up the LEGOs from customer service, he told the checker that he found a dollar so he bought the LEGOs (I added that we pitched in a little). He was pretty proud. We picked up a few other things since we were there… this is how to Target with three kiddos and no “twosie cart” as we call them.
Blaise had the LEGO fire station and trucks put together by dinnertime. The kid is obsessed with LEGOS and I rarely see the dining room table anymore. One of the things I’m looking forward to in the new house: a LEGO room. Laine took to her horse and stable right away. And of course, she wants a real one. Blaise is saving all of his and her money to buy her one.
We used to take the big kiddos hiking all the time until I got pregnant with Saige and was walking death for months. Then I was too pregnant to enjoy hiking. And then Saige was born and winter came next… hiking just wasn’t happening. I did take the kiddos back in February (it was Saige’s first hike). Since Brian missed out on that one, we decided to do the same hike again. Coal Creek Falls. Score, Saige is now big enough to use the Dueter (one of our favorite kiddo purchases). It was a nice hike although the waterfall wasn’t nearly as waterfally as it was in February. It was more of a trickle. We packed lunches, shovels, and water squirters for when we made it to the waterfall. Saige was sure to hold tight to her fireman the entire time. She thought she was hot stuff in the Dueter; looking around with a smile on her face the whole time. Toward the end she gave in to her tiredness and fell asleep the last few minutes. It was a nice hike and quality family time. After we packed the van back up, we treated ourselves to Baskin Robins. Brian likes to take the kiddos each weekend to enjoy a cone on the bench outside. Once we were home, the girls were toast. Actually, everyone but Blaise was toast. We all took a nap while he LEGO’d at the kitchen table. That kid NEVER stops.
A few random pictures from Sunday: Mayah was rocking her tongue out and Blaise found a LEGO buddy at a wedding celebration. I took just him and a box of LEGOs.
Okay, not enough Saige. Another picture… she does this nose squish thing when smiling and I happened to capture it during the multiple snaps I take in hopes of getting a good one. Earlier that morning we cleaned out her clothes and I found a purple headband I bought as part of an outfit to gift a friend that I never got around to sending. The big kiddos put it on her and she seemed to like it.
During the too hot to be inside days, we played out back. Despite the heat outside, it was cooler than inside (even with fans). The boys from a few doors down came over and they were making mud and painting the rocks (and their faces and bodies) with their muddy hands. I love how kids don’t even notice weather. It can be 100 degrees or 20 degrees and they just keep on going. I don’t remember the hot or cold from childhood either… it’s a sign of getting old when you notice. Next up, talking ailments over coffee at Denny’s.
Another hike happened on Father’s Day. It was another hot day so we headed out early Sunday morning to beat the heat and crowd, although I’ve yet to ever see a crowd at the Redmond Watershed. I swear all the places I love are always dead. There were maybe five other cars there if that. It’s such a great area, mostly flat with wide trails (stroller-friendly). The best part of taking the stroller is that it holds more than just Saige. We packed our lunches and a cooler for a picnic to enjoy mid-hike… which actually turned into a picnic and then a hike. At home the kiddos are never hungry but as soon as we’re out and they know we have food, they are magically starving. We ate and then set out on what turned out to be just over a two-mile hike. And bonus, we found our first geocache unintentionally. (It’s on our list of things to start doing.) It was a nice way to spend the day.
I don’t really remember the rest of June. It was hot. Too hot. I’ve acclimated to the cooler northwest weather; my hot California summers are long gone (and good riddance). And without air conditioning, it sucks. All I can say is Amazon is the best. Same day delivery of fans. We now have eight (and probably a high electrical bill). Of course kiddos never notice the heat (good for them!). We have a great little neighborhood with kiddos around the same age, and there are days when they all end up somewhere together. One of the hot days they all ended up here painting.
The month of hotness finished with even more out back play. Blaise and one of the neighbor boys love to play cars in the dirt. They’ll sit out there forever making roads and race tracks.
And that was June. On to July.
Jumping Raccoons 