Who needs training wheels?

 Not this girl!  One push and she was off.

Bike Riding from Kristin York on Vimeo.

Not quite on two wheels yet, but plenty willing to stand on the tricycle pegs.

 So proud:

Backyard Fun

Thanks Grandma, for sending this splash pad home with us this summer.  We've gotten plenty of use, especially post-stomach bug when we're not supposed to go to the pool!  As you know, it's important to have protective eyewear while playing in the yard.

 Somehow I get the feeling taking a Christmas picture will be a little easier this year.

Splash Pad from Kristin York on Vimeo.

Maine Summer Part 1

I had grand plans on how to organize posts about our visit to Maine this summer that obviously didn't come through.  We had a great time.  Here is some of it:

Grandma treated us right.  She bought my kids expensive waffle cones and didn't even complain when most of them got tossed into the woods.

We got to see some of our Maine best boys, from left Brett, Lucy, Dayton, and Dawson.  They played in the freezing pool, jumped on the trampoline, and examined all kids of dirt or bugs or boy stuff.  Jamie loved it, though admittedly he loves princesses, tutus, make-up, and dolls.

We had a lot of fun at camp again this year.  The kids are still young enough that they love being there, climbing on the rocks, and exploring the woods.  Plus they love Grandpa's boat.

Maine Summer 2013 from Kristin York on Vimeo.

Lucy's 5

So exciting to turn 5 this year, though she thought it meant once she had her birthday she'd be going directly to kindergarten.  That was a tough one to explain.

 We started the day with opening the box Grandma sent.  Lucy was so so so excited to get presents that I made the box sit unopened in the living room.  She would have been over the moon to see the actual wrapped gifts.

 Hooray for dress up clothes from Grandma!  Hooray for presents!

Grandma skyped through the opening of her box.  It was almost as good as being here, right?

 Later we met some friends at the pool for toddler time swim with snacks and cupcakes.  From Lucy counterclockwise are Luci and Bowen (preschool friends), Howie and Gus (more preschool friends), Quinn, Jamie, Karrie, and Deacon.  Bowen, Luci, and Deacon belong to Karrie and Howie and Gus belong to Jenny who jumped out of the way as soon as I took out the camera.  Jenny told me she was keeping an eye on Gus as he has "kind of a thing" for Lucy.  She'll be homeschooling them through elementary school and apparently he's afraid about not being able to meet a girl if he doesn't go to school.  I think that is positively hysterical, but I don't have to raise him. 

 We had a great time swimming all afternoon.

 Lucy picked out the most birthday-ish cake our grocery store had.

 And Jamie was confused by his inability to eat an entire piece in one forkful.

 Presents from mom and dad!  We bought Jamie a chainsaw.  He loves it, and spends time every day sawing something around the house.  It was super funny how both with Grandma's box and the gifts we had he immediately recognized the wrapping paper that was his.  I think when we opened Grandma's box he even said "Oooh, cars for Jamie!" 

 Lucy was so excited about everything she got.  This is a purse pet.  Lucy wears it proudly to stores and announces to everyone that although they might think it's a real purse, have no fear, it's just the purse pet.  Not real.

It's so easy to buy her gifts right now.  Someone remind me of this in 10 years, ok?  When she wants a coach purse or a cell phone or something that hasn't been invented that I can't imagine that cost thousands of dollars.

And a video of cake and some gifts:


Lucy's 5th Birthday from Kristin York on Vimeo.

Lucy's Dance Recital

It's recital weekend!  We had the dress rehearsal last night which was the only night we were allowed to take photos or video.  You'll notice that Lucy tries to sparkle and shine - Miss Beth, the studio owner, made announcements on the stage before the dress rehearsal began and one was about the best way to sparkle and shine like a star was to smile.  Lucy did her best, that's for sure.

The costumes look white in the video so here you can see the actual color.  Keep your eye on the 3rd girl from the left in the video :)




Lucy's Dance Recital 2013 from Kristin York on Vimeo.

 The video was of the dress rehearsal and the photos are from the first of two recital days.  With makeup, lots and lots of makeup.  She was thrilled.

 Lucy lined up with her class.

And the routine.

Finger Paint Blues

No, really and truly I don't love finger paint.

 Unfortunately, I know someone who does!

Jamie's Animals

Jamie's got such a great sense of humor.  This video is a little long, but I didn't want to cut out any of the adorable-ness here.



Jamie's Animals from Kristin York on Vimeo.

Happy Easter

Again, we kind of live for the holidays, marking the passage of time by how many days/weeks/months until the next time we can celebrate something.  It was especially exciting to have an early Easter this year as we didn't have to wait a long time after St. Patrick's day.  It was especially un-exciting this year as we had the stomach flu over the weekend of St. Patrick's day and again over the weekend of Easter.  It seems like we've lately had to start marking the passage of time by how many days/weeks until the next time I'm cleaning up sick.  I prefer holidays.

Anyway, we got it together enough to have a little bit of fun with the kids, even if no family dinner.  I don't think either Lucy or I even ate on Sunday!

Fun Easter bunny baskets.

On the egg hunt.  Lucy got practically all the eggs I hid - Jamie didn't really catch on to the fact that he was supposed to look for them until the last few eggs were in the yard. 

He mostly just played t-ball.

Eggs, those tricky eggs.  The green grass is peeking up here!

Lucy enjoyed some t-ball as well.  She hits kind of like her mother, tee and all.  I'm not keeping my fingers crossed for a softball scholarship to college here.

We also had lots of fun on the swing.

And Jamie was kind enough to work on cleaning up the last of the snow in our yard for me.  Just like Grandpa, he's always doing something.  Shoveling, mowing, raking, sweeping, vacuuming, hammering, etc.  I'm going to have to keep encouraging this one, maybe he'll build me a house.

Our egg tree has taken a bit of a beating this year, literally.  It went up pretty late and only after our behind neighbor had asked me if we were going to hang our eggs about 20 times.  I think she really must enjoy looking at the tree she asked so many times.  Jamie's favorite pastime is to beat the eggs with a stick/broom/shovel/etc and watch them wiggle around.  Most have cracked open and have had to be glued again.  I think when we bring the eggs down I'm going to get a couple of tennis balls and hang them from our tree to let him still beat something around.

Finally, our Easter fun video:

Easter 2013 from Kristin York on Vimeo.

Jamie's 2nd Birthday

What did we get the big boy this year?  A great big helping of rotovirus, or the like.  Poor kid got sick on his birthday, so all the pics and video here are coming off some vomiting and a fever that was as high as 103 when I picked him up at the babysitter.  Still willing to smile!

 Can you see the incredibly crooked haircut?  While Lucy entertained everyone with her tale of hairy crack woe, Jamie screamed as though he was being tortured.  I sat in the chair and held him on my lap while he cried "Help me!"

 This is the cake that Jamie picked out, butter chocolate cake (yum!) with purple frosting.  Lucy was thrilled.

 And yes, poor guy, I made him make his own birthday cake.

Our little party.  We had ripped through the presents in the package Grandma and Grandpa sent while skyping before we did cake and our presents.

  Someone needs to remind me to stop attempting to decorate cakes.

 Jamie was so happy that we were all singing to him.  He must have sang at Sherry's because as soon as I took out the candles he said "Wishes!"

 Cake cutting helpers.

 I've got to teach Eric how to work the camera.  I cropped this photo down to about half the size. 

 He loved the monkey backpack!

 And you can see who was the seasoned expert at opening presents.  Jamie's helper.

Finally, us singing happy birthday, Jamie opening some presents, and the first tries on his new swing, which is not the night of Jamie's birthday that we opened presents:



Jamie's Birthday from Kristin York on Vimeo.