William is One!

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William is one today!

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The Monkey Cake

Hair cut and no sleep

William got a hair cut this week.  He no longer looks like a baby, but a little boy. 

Isn't he about the cutest thing ever? 

It is a good thing too, because he has been the hardest baby ever.  And it all comes down to one thing:  SLEEP.  This baby will not sleep.  He will not go to sleep.  He will not stay asleep.  He refuses to sleep in his crib.  He doesn't sleep in the day and he doesn't sleep at night.  Yesterday he took the longest nap of his life--at two and a half hours.  It was amazing!  I got so much done.  Of course he took it in the garage in the stroller where he had fallen asleep.  You would think after five babies I would know how to get them to sleep, but this little man is making me crazy!

16 years and an update

Well, it has been 16 years since I married the man of my dreams.  Wishing he were here to celebrate with.  But that's okay, since I'm planning on spending forever with him.  He sent me a beautiful new necklace and earrings that I got to open today, so I really can't complain.  Only about 2 more months until he gets to come home.

I'm way behind on posting and have oodles of pictures of our trip to Utah, but blogger has been giving me grief and I've had to start my post over and over, so I just decided to give it a break.  I'll try again soon.  I know you are all on the edge of your seat waiting to hear about my trip.

I've been really sick this week and am finally feeling better--just in time for William to get sick.  He has another unexplained fever.  I took him into the doctor today to see if he had an ear infection, but all looked clear.  So hopefully he will get better soon.  We all need some sleep around here!  But the up side is my super strong biceps from carrying him around constantly.  Oh yeah...and the crick in my back....

The rest of the kids have been busy with swimming lessons (everyone), soccer (Rachel and Ben) gymnastics (Kate) and lots of playing with friends, jumping on the trampoline, watching Gilligan's Island, eating peas from our garden, late nights of Scattergories (Kate has been coming up with the most hillarious answers) and an unsuccessful attempt at sleeping on the trampoline (I felt better when they were all in their beds anyway).  Rachel has been sleepwalking like crazy--actually more like sleeprunning--and Ben has had nightime episodes of growing pains.  We've done school supply shopping and new shoes for everyone, plus a trip to the mall with just the big girls (and William).  Kate got her own new pink backpack and matching lunch box.  She was so happy and excited, but it made me want to cry.  She is counting down the days until school starts. 

Still to come...braces, end-of-summer sleepovers and parties, meet-the-teacher night, middle school orientation, etc.  Phew!

More summer fun

Here are a few more pictures of things we did with family and friends in town. 

Karen and kids at Point Defiance Gardens

Flower gardens

Point Defiance Gardens:  We tried to go to the zoo, but it was CLOSED.  Very random on a Friday in July, but they were having their big fundraiser.  So we went to the nearby flower gardens instead.  They were beautiful!

Then later we headed to nearby Kopachuck state park to play in the tide pools. 

Abigail found some cool shells to take home.  And William loved eating the rocks.  One for each hand!

We also spent a day at Northwest Trek.  It just so happened to be their big birthday celebration (35 years since it opened) so they had all sorts of games and activities (hence the crowns the kids are wearing). 

The Play

One of my kids' favorite things to do when cousins come to visit is put on a play.  This year's production was "Once Upon a Princess."  Things went big time this year--costumes, long rehearsals, a written script, and even a program for the performance.  The actual play was about 45 minutes.  Sarah and Abigail wrote it, with imput from the others.  They practiced for days and hammered out the plot as they went along.  Surprisingly, only a few disagreements (aka fights!) broke out (they often start out doing a play, but can't agree on portions of the story, so the whole thing gets thrown out the window).  In the end, it was a wonderful production.  And the best part--they were having so much fun--they kept breaking out into giggles during the show.

This play had it all--dragons and knights, kings, queens, knights and princesses, tragedy and romance, and of course a good battle scene. 

The play began with the death of the King.  The Queen could not rule alone, so the princess must marry a prince who will inherit the kingdom.

In this picture the Queen is interviewing possible suitors as the princess (and the maid in the background) look on.  (Doesn't their food-color-dyed water look a little bit like something else?...)

Here, the princess, on her wedding day, is having second thoughts about her future husband.  Hmmm....I wonder why?

Sarah loved being the evil villain, who charmed the Queen into choosing him as the future King, but was only in it for the power. 

The princess backs out at the royal wedding.

Luckily, the knight (who used to be a peasant, but had slain the village dragon and earned knighthood, and also happened to be the love interest of the princess) came to save the day.

 

A battle ensued.

The knight was victorious!

Then of course, the Knight proposed to the very surprised and happy princess.  And, as they said in the last line of the play, "True love has no ending."  (Happy Sigh!)

After the Knight is crowned king, the entire cast posed for the audience and cameras (all two of us).  Aren't they fantastic?

Museums!

While my sister and her kids and Sarah's friend were in town, we spent one day going to museums in downtown Tacoma.  We first visited the Washington State History Museum.  It was a great museum with a lot of interactive exhibits perfect for kids. 

 

McKenna holding William

Next we walked across the Chihuly Bridge to the Museum of Glass.  The bridge itself is a masterpiece.  These pictures were all taken on the bridge.

The kids had fun waving to all the cars on the freeway as we crossed over.  I was surprised at how many people waved back.

These fountains outside the Museum of Glass were a big hit.  The kids had a great time running through them and playing. 

I didn't take any pictures in the Museum of Glass.  But it is a cool museum where we watched them make glass and checked out a bunch of cool things made out of glass.  Fun museum!  And the best part--it was the third Thursday of the month, so entrance to both museums was free!  Love it!