We talk about skiing so much that our poor Harley probably feels left out. I haven’t ridden since before I knew I was pregnant with Haley… wow. I was so excited when Jim planned 2012 Date Series for June as an overnight Harley trip to Winthrop, Washington. We left Monday morning and waved goodbye to our children and Grandpa and Grandma Keene as we hit play on our iPods and revved the pipes.

We ate lunch in Leavenworth, a beautiful tourist town that is set up to be a Bavarian village. The tiger butter chocolate I got at the Rocky Mountain Factory was so good!

Then we hit the road again. Here’s my view.

We arrived in Winthrop, a western-style tiny town, just minutes before the rain really set in. We warmed up and walked down main street for some dinner.

We’ve been busy looking forward to summer and getting ready to relax. 🙂 I have been super busy with work and have just now settled down for six weeks of summer time. Now if only the weather would cooperate!

JT has been dying to assemble a new set of Legos he got awhile back. Today was rainy and we were home for the day so it was the perfect time. The problem with Legos is that they get everywhere and we lose necessary pieces. Plus we only use them when Haley’s otherwise occupied because she picks them up and carries them off. Today during Haley’s nap I had a moment of genius and made JT a Lego workstation with a breakfast tray. The Legos are contained in the tray, it’s portable, it’s comfortable, and we can fold the legs down and set it up somewhere in between work sessions. I’m fairly happy with myself!

Earlier this week we painted JT’s room. First, I painted the trim “dapper tan,” a color leftover from last summer’s renovations. JT commented that he was excited we were painting his room but didn’t like the color. I should have listened to him because when it dried it was way too dark and wasn’t a good match for his furniture. Jim was gracious and agreed that I could go buy new paint. We settled on a lovely Laura Ashley “Pale Vintage Blue 2.” I should have known better from the beginning: now the entire upstairs is painted in Laura Ashley colors. Why deviate from something good? Anyway…

The kids played while I (re)painted the trim and did a great job. They read, did puzzles, and were generally amazing while I worked. No one even came close to touching wet paint.

Then after lunch Haley went to bed and JT got out his roller. We bought him his own little roller and he was really excited about helping. I thought he might get bored and quit but he made it through the entire room. He even got territorial about his space: he started drawing a line with his roller and telling me I couldn’t paint his space. His favorite part was probably when he got to paint his name on the wall! He also painted “Haley” after that.

Here’s the finished product… we love it!

Then we celebrated Father’s Day and Aunt Jennifer’s birthday all in one. I made an Oreo Cheesecake for dessert and it was, um, amazing! The chocolate layer was my favorite part. I also put twisted-apart Oreos in between the chocolate and vanilla layers and it turned into this nice filling. Yum.

Haley’s hair is getting long! Sometimes we wear it down with a hair bow. So pretty!

We were so lucky to have some friends come visit recently – and spend the night! Liv and JT are just six weeks apart in age, and Halle and Haley are just three weeks apart, so everyone had a friend. 🙂

Playing in the sandbox

Time for s’mores!

In the morning, Haley and Liv noticed they were wearing matching pajamas – too cute!

JT and Liv supervised making breakfast

It’s easy to care for four children when you put in a movie… our friends Gracelyn and Tyson came over the other night and stayed until bedtime. After all four kids were in their pajamas, we had a snack picnic and watched Super Why. (Haley calls it Why… as in, “Why don’t I get to stay up and watch with JT?”)

Jim’s birthday was last week. I went a little bit off the wish list and bought him… a rug. I know, it seems a little strange. But Jim loves to lay on the floor and nap, watch TV, or relax with the kids. Since we have hard floors, he hasn’t been able to do that at home in almost six years. He comments on it every once in awhile and has mentioned that he’d like an area rug. I found a deal on a rug from Costco.com. It is super soft and we all love it. Jim has tested it out for naps and is very happy. 🙂

Then we went to Port Orchard so we could ski (what else?). We had three days off and spent them all skiing and eating. For Jim’s birthday dinner, we had BBQ chicken, pasta salad, fruit salad, and corn on the cob.

Becky and the Birthday Boy

Then Jim opened the rest of his presents.

(This is what I get when I ask Haley to smile.)

For dessert, I made a S’mores Ice Cream Cake from Cook’s Country magazine. It is a graham cracker crust, a fudgy chocolate layer, a marshmallow creme layer, and a chocolate ice cream layer topped with marshmallows. You broil it for 30 seconds so the marshmallows are gooey and then surround it with graham crackers. It was really good!

Over the weekend I got to host a baby shower for Aunt Jennifer, Jim’s sister. Her baby boy is due August 5th and we can’t wait to meet him!

Jennifer’s nephew, Sven, came with his mom and played with Haley. (Jim and JT were off doing man things, like getting haircuts, eating lunch at McDonalds, and running errands.) Sven is 10 months old. Haley is 21 months old. Sven is in the 100+ percentile and Haley is, well, you know. So they were about the same size. It was crazy!

The is my artsy picture of the shower favor: gerbera daisies in bud vases. It reminded me of spring!

We spent Memorial Day mostly on Long Lake. Grandma and Grandpa Cole came out in the boat with us to enjoy some chilly sunshine.

Haley conked out on Grandpa Cole in the boat. He was definitely not complaining. 🙂

But he had to drive home separately so we propped Haley up in the bow while we drove over to the launch.

Later on, Jim, Grandpa Cole, and the kids set up the trampoline. JT has been waiting to do this one day when it’s not raining at the Cole house. Haley actually helped carry the pipe and put some in place by herself!

Then the jumping began! Check out Haley’s hair from the static.

Grandma Cole even did some jumping.

Once we just took JT with us in the boat. He and I had a little snooze in the bow (he’s pretending, but it was still nice and relaxing).

Meanwhile, Haley got to do her first fingerpainting at home. Of course, she loved it. The kids were doing artwork for Great Grandma Christensen, who pointed out on our last visit that her fridge was empty. 🙂

Our friends the Skagens surprised us with a great gift: a new sandbox! Our turtle sandbox lost its lid over the winter and I was looking for a new one. Then the Skagens were getting rid of theirs… it was perfect. They brought it over and set it up – sand and all – while we were gone. It was so fun to come home to new sand!

After all that excitement, the kids were ready to snuggle in and relax at home. Haley said to me, “No pee couch.” That’s because she’s wearing underwear now!

Date Night for May was supposed to be dinner at Coho Cafe in Issaquah and then dessert on the boat while we floated on Lake Sammamish. Sounds great, right? But then it got really rainy and we went to plan B… which was really fun, too.

We went to Fondi for lunch and had their 2-for-22 special (medium salad, medium pizza, two drinks for $22). It was very yummy.

Then we saw The Avengers in 3D. Isn’t Jim funny? 🙂

Finally, we hit Ben & Jerry’s for dessert. Uptown Gig Harbor is a nice place to spend the afternoon.

For some reason we had three playdates in a week. The weather was spectacular and we had such a great time with friends for all different areas of our life. Our first playdate was with Asher, a friend from church.

Trying to be as tall as the dragon tail

Asher and Petra hiding

Favorite part of this picture? Asher feeding Haley her sippy cup.

Then we met up with Emi and Kenzi, who we know from Kinderswimmer. The teeter totter was a huge hit!

Then again, so were the swings. Look at Emi pushing Kenzi – she’s getting so big!

JT must have felt outnumbered by the women because he found some boys his age and spent some time with them instead. 🙂 I’m glad he’s friendly!

This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of both my children together. I also love how it happened…. me: “Stand with to your sister, JT, I want a quick picture.” So he does. And Haley moves away, just a step or so, so they’re not touching anymore. JT moves closer again, and she moves away. This continues until they are a full yard away from where they started, and she is getting annoyed and he is looking at me like, See, I’m doing what you told me to do! I finally had to intervene: “Haley, stand still. JT, don’t touch your sister. Just stand near her.” When I said to smile, this is what they did.

Next we met up with Asher, Abby, Gracie, and Tyson (oops, and Aren, but he’s too little to play), who we get to see the most often because we see them at workout and at their own houses for dinner sometimes. 🙂 We ate lunch and played and ran through the woods with sticks. Well, I didn’t run with a stick. I followed around six children while pushing a stroller. And I thought, how did this happen? When did I become the mom pushing an empty stroller full of sippy cups and jackets and sunscreen while I shout things like, “Stay out of the lake!”?

Haley’s favorite, still: the slide

Jim organized a Mother’s Day boating trip with us, my parents, Jim’s mom, and Jim’s sister and her husband. My parents brought their boat out, too, and we tied up together and ate pizza in the boat. Then Jim and I got to ski before we headed back to my parents’ house for some amazing brownie sundaes.

First up – my annual Mother’s Day picture in the boat! It’s come a long way since the first one… and there will be many more.

The “other” boat

Matt feeling Baby Small kick around

Watching Mom and Dad ski with Grandma Cole

Our boat

Jim, his mom, and sister

Before

Hard at work

After

Pots and flowers from Haley and JT (and really, Grandma Cole)