SEA ya later!

Best Mom Ever or Stark Raving Lunatic?

Yes.

Let me preface this by saying that Jonathan is on night shift right now, when Daddy's on nights, we don't stay in the house. So what were we going to do today?

Well, go to the Seahawks Super-Send Off with 30,000 of our closest friends in Seattle, of course.

I admit it, this was one of my most daring ventures but it was SO worth it. We decided to go last night and while I tried to recruit some help in Aunt Lorny or Auntie B, they both had plans so I was solo. As solo as one can be with their three chitlins in tow. Jonathan offered to go with us this morning, but didn't even manage to keep his eyes open whilst offering because he was so tired. I'm sure he wanted to go and was not completely altruistic in is offer; however, the man needed to sleep.

The plan was to leave at 7 to be there by 9 but Coop decided to sleep with me at 12:30 and Jonathan's alarm decided to go off at 3 am over, and over, and over. By the time I rolled out of bed at 7:30 I was ready to climb back in and cancel the whole gig but they had made their signs the night before and I couldn't break their little green and blue hearts. The show must go on. 

This was serious business.

This is Coops pic of Russell. I am impressed. That's what mine would look like too.

We made it out by 8:30 and by some miracle of the I-5 Gods we hit SeaTac at 10:10. The traffic to exit onto the road was 2 MILES long but boy, did it have team spirit! I trusted google maps to find us another route and it/he/she came through with flying colors. We made it with at least 15 minutes to spare and saw our boys off with style.

The finished project, held up by a helpful fan.

I obviously wrote the words (tapping into my Student Council days) but Coop added the drawings and wrote his name on top. These kids are WAY smarter than I was at this age, I wouldn't have it any other way ;)

Thatcher was ecstatic, Cooper was maybe a little scared, and Harpie was just pissed that I had her in the front carrier. At one point, I had H on my front and Coopster on my shoulders...because I'm BEASTMOM.

I had my jersey on backwards! And H was like this the whole time. I didn't mean for this to be black and white. I was off my rocker today. We both were.

Thatch held his little sign up and the really nice people next to us let him up front so the players could see him. He said he saw Russell Wilson give him a thumbs up and who am I to not believe his account of the story? Go Thatchtastic! I did see Pete Carroll though, riding in the front and that was fun! Makes me wish I had some gum.

I tried to video it but I turned it off, rather than on, but in my defense (which I say a lot, I need a new phrase or to start getting things right) I had an almost 4 year old on my shoulders and a 2 year old on my front. We're talking about an extra 60 lbs people! Oh well, maybe next Super Bowl!

Afterward we went to Auntie Bs and had lunch together at Zeekes where the only one not to spill a drink was Harper and then played a little at Green Lake Park before H's cheeks got cold. Then we made the trek home, and everyone, except the most tired person, napped.

Overall, it was way fun and I hope to God they remember how cool of a person I am someday.

Love always,
S

Best Weekend Ever: Part 2

I felt that I needed to take a step back as to gain some perspective on our weekend activities, as to let the sensible side of me take over before I relayed our excursion. The break, has in fact, lead to this notion:

THE SEAHAWKS ARE THE BEST EVER AND THEY'RE GOING TO WIN IT ALL...SUCK IT BRONCOS!!!!!!!

Most of you know this, but JY and I jumped in and bought tickets to the NFC Championship game between the Fourty-Whiners and the Seahawks. It was the piece de resistance of our beloved first year of living in Washington. (Can you believe we're coming up to a year already?) At first I was NOT on board to spend that kind of money, but JY puts up with a lot of $h!# from me between Pinterest and Disneyland, so I figured I could give him this. And boy, was it worth it...he was like a school boy. He even took BOTH of the littlest heathens out BY HIS SELF...TO THE MALL to go shopping for a jersey. Who is this man, I ask? My God, just typing that I realize that he must have experienced pure Nirvana the whole week leading to the game. 

Anyhoo, we had Harpie's party on Saturday, which he just put up with I'm sure, to get through to the game. Don't think I didn't notice the 12th Man beer that he bought for the party, because I did (and found it to be adorable, even if it didn't fit with the theme). So Sunday morning we woke up and had breakfast, and then Auntie B took some family photos for us, since we were all geared up! 

Beast Faces

Good God, I have a double chin. When did that happen?

 And then we were off to the races...at 9:30 for a 3:30 game. Sigh.

When we got there we were able to get the 3rd spot from the entrance to the garage. We were that early. But it was fun, the place was in full Playoff splendor and it was crazy, even at 11:15! We putzed around in a few stores but just stood in line to get into Touchdown City, where a lot of people get their hair sprayed and glittered. Surprisingly enough, I didn't partake in either because I didn't want to get my jacket dirty. Stupid, I'm totally doing it next time. I always regret not getting glittered.

Richard Sherman knows we don't ever talk about him because he is the best Corner in the league.

We hung out with some of JY's friends from work (Factoid: Did you know that the SeaHulk works at BP? Crazy, it's like knowing a celebrity. Well, a local celebrity at least. Okay, not at all...I digress.) until he put his beer down in front of me -#1 mistake of someone who doesn't know me- and I knocked it over onto his wife. I immediately wanted to hide and but I cleaned up the beer from the table and stuck it out for 5 minutes before making us leave. I wanted to get to the field anyway, there's hot gifted athletes I wanted to watch! I tried Tried TRIED to get autographs but apparently kids are the way to get an autograph, not 30+ year old Domestic Engineer who apparently has two chins now. Guess I'm bringing Coop or Thatch with us next time.

That's Richard Sherman. FYI, he's so fast I couldn't get him centered in my zoom. The 49ers can vouch for that too.

Some awesome stranger took our picture. Only 1.5 chins here ;) Well, for me at least.

So we wandered around for a bit and then had a DangeRUSS hot dog and my mouth exploded in ecstasy.  It has a hot dog, topped with Mac & Cheese (Russell Wilson's favorite food eva), Sriracha-Honey Sauce, Grilled Onions, Jalapenos and Corn Tortilla slivers on top. Sweet Baby Jesus, it was heaven. JY was a fan.

I really am the luckiest woman in the world.

We headed up to our seats, which were right next to two 49er fans from Reno...but they were nice and we had a great time with them. They were pretty surprised about the noise. When we went a few months back, I was like "Oh wow, this IS loud." On Sunday, I was like "HOLY CRAP, I WISH I HAD BOUGHT THOSE EAR PLUGS FROM THAT LITTLE MEXICAN ON THE CORNER AFTER ALL!!!" And yes, I was yelling in my head because it was THAT loud.  Bravo 12th Man, Bravo. At this point, you pretty much know what happened. The Seahawks won and we both thanked our lucky stars that we were able to be there.

The view of downtown from our seats. The Ferris Wheel was lit up with a football or a S all night  : D

View from our seats. This kind of has the camera effect where it looks farther away than it really was. There honestly isn't a bad seat in the whole stadium. 

Us, again. Pre-game. JY about crapped his pants 100 times and I may or may not have peed a little from jumping up and down so much. I have had 3 children, it's perfectly normal, so they say. ;)

We stayed after the trophy ceremony and saw a few players up close, here's one video that Thatch has watched over and over on my camera and a couple pics of players and Macklemore.

Pardon my screaming, I'm honestly embarrassed about that. Even more than possibly peeing myself. At least I didn't throw my bra.

Doug Baldwin, who had an AMAZING game that night!

Macklemore, who is pretty freaking skinny in real life. Notice, he doesn't have two chins. 

Honeslty, I'm so happy we went, not only for us but for our friend Eleonore, who tragically lost her son in an accident last April. He was a huge Seahawks fan and we were able to take Flat Shjon (like Flat Stanley) with us to the game. Here's a pic of him partaking in the festivities. He's a good luck charm, and good thing too because he's going to the Super Bowl this weekend!

Flat Shjon was a hit with anyone who met him.

So that was our Seahawk adventure last weekend...and just a little hint...there's another one brewing in the future ;)

Love,
S

Best Weekend Ever: Part 1

Today is our sweet little Harpie's 2nd birthday. We really can't believe she's already two, it's gone by so fast. She is so smart, so sweet and so sassy. Our little "Bonus" baby has been the most wonderful surprise ever! As I look at her, she's sitting in her new VW bug car watching ESPN with her Daddy and wearing a poofy flowing dress (which she picked out this morning) and sparkly, glittery, light up tennis shoes with pink tights. This child is the perfect combination of Jonathan and I.

Anyhoo, this weekend we had a "little" shindig for her with some friends. If you have ever been to one of my children's parities, you would know that "little" isn't exactly my style. Auntie B was there to document all the fesivities of the party so here are some awesome pictures that she took!

The sight of Harper with a writing apparatus always worries me, but it's okay this time because it's her birthday :)

Harpie and her MeeMaw. Don't tell anybody but MeeMaw adores her, as you can see from her face.

Word on the street is that we both make this face. We both beg to differ, though.

The slip that sparked a party! MeeMaw made this skirt for Brooklyn when she was little and it was passed down to us a few months ago. This slip SCREAMS poodle skirt, and thus, the theme of her party was born!

Some of the decor, I made the cupcakes. Hindsight, blue frosting was NOT a good idea. Also, I will be having our carpets cleaned soon.

I don't know where she got this finger thing from. I saw some lady in a mirror doing it that looked a lot like me but there's no way I could do something that my Father does. <<Cringe>>

Someone was in Rootbeer Heaven. That's a lot of straws there, Thatcheroo.

Thatch and his Bestie Zakk, I think cheering for the soda.

Harpie kept it real though and stuck to water. She's a lady.

Our little lady, making it official with two candles.

She's a pro at cupcake consumption.

We're cheersing (is that even a word? Webster, where art thou?).

Sugar crash? There's PeePaw in the back, probably with his hearing aide off. I would have turned mine off if I had one, it was incredibly full of joyous noise from sugared up children :)

The little Coopcake partook of the cupcakes as well.

Part of the party crew. Missing the birthday girl and Zakk (who was probably drinking soda somewhere : P)

She is really good at opening presents now! It was quite the scene.

Action shot!

She loves her new Bubble Guppie book!

A girl needs glittery, light up sneakers in her wardrobe. I have some too.

Harpster got a beautiful locket from MeeMaw for her birthday and she LOVES it!

Jewelry is always a good option.

And so our Saturday was wrapped up with love and cuddles and girliness. Not to get too mushy, but we are truly blessed.

XOXO,
S

Taking one for the team.

Backstory: it's Blue Friday, the day you show your Seahawk pride and wear your gear.

Okay, now on to the real story: Thatch came home today with some weird stuff on his face. I asked him what it was and he said he didn't want to tell me because I'd be "so mad". Let me tell you one thing about myself (maybe all Mothers in general)...that is not the way to curb my interest. After much reassurance and promises that I wouldn't get mad, I finally got it out of him. It being Blue Friday, he wore his beloved Russell Wilson jersey to school. While there, he decided that he needed eye black out, like other boys were wearing. Thus, my little artist took some black, blue and green markers and drew black out under his eyes and a Seahawk on his cheek. The substitute made him wash it off (she must be routing for the Ain'ts). I asked if he was sent to the principal and he said no, aghast at the notion. I told him I wasn't mad at all and that I thought it was cool and that I'm sure R-Dub (that's how we refer to Good Ol' Russell in this house) would have loved it.

When JY got home Thatch had to be convinced again that he wouldn't be in trouble. When J got the story he gave Thatch a huge high 5 and told him he was proud of how big of a Hawks fan he is.

Here's the remnant of the marker that sparked a post. I get the feeling that we are setting ourselves up to have the kid at the game who only has paint on in 20F weather. We're good with that. 

Go Hawks! 

Love, 

SY

Pardon the interruption

The kiddos are back in school so I have a few minutes in the car to myself while I wait for JY. Thank goodness for the blogger app! I suppose that I should give a brief update about our lives since my last post, just incase you weren't on the Christmas card list!

Jonathan HATED Shell, and when I say that I'm really not doing the emotion justice. It was a terrible working environment, people literally slept while on night shift...in a refinery. Can you say holy dangerous Batman!?! He applied for an Operator job with BP at the end of May ( I knew from the get go that he would be hired) and finally started in November. He is in the crude unit making gas (which we all know he's quite skilled at, at home at least). He is completely happy at his new job and unbelievably impressed with BP in general. Hmmm, what else with JY? Oh, he's put us on the waiting list TO GET ON the waiting list for Seahawk Season Tickets. When we get them, hit us up yo!

Thatch is doing really well at school, although he still has his tremor problems. We've been going to the chiropractor to get his "popcorn" out and it really helps a lot. Not going to lie though, we miss Dr. Heather in Fairbanks. Anyhoo, his artwork and drawings are becoming much more detailed and colorful now that Santa brought him a big box of crayons. He is such a kind and loving little boy, for example when he got home from school today he and Coop were cuddling on a pillow and they were telling each other how much they missed each other while they were at school. It was like a freaking hallmark card, I can't even make this crud up. Of course, he also can be a little turd and is perfecting his snarky attitude. I have no idea where he gets that from.

Coopster is in pre-school and rocking it's face off. He can write his name now!! I realize this is probably age appropriate but when Thatch was this age he couldn't even hold a pencil, I am not exaggerating. I am impressed with my little guy. I am not impressed with his artwork all over everything, however. There is literally crayon on the ceiling of his bedroom. It's like he's making hash tags until he gets out of toddler jail, or something to that affect. He's super silly too, this last week he's become obsessed with the word pooh. It's all "I like pooh pooh" and "It looks like pooh pooh" or the best is this- Me: "Cooper, what are you doing?" Coop:"pooh pooh". At least there isn't pooh pooh on the walls, I guess.

Harpie, or my little Ladybug, as I so lovingly refer to her, is ridiculously adorable. Like seriously. But she knows it. Her favorite phrase is "I like shoe." And no joke, she loves shoes. She's always floating around the house, wreaking adorable havoc. I caught her attempting to escape from her crib the other day with one leg flug haphazardly over the edge about to leap to freedom; so I'm sure there will be some future posts about transitioning her to a big girl bed. Also, she's going to focus in potty training this year, because 7 years of diaper changing is quite enough for this chickadee. Honestly, she could probably potty train with out a problem, it's her lazy/crazy/tired Mom that needs to get with it. The Harpster will be turning 2 in 13 days so I need to get to work on her party planning! Yay for a girl party!

That leaves me. Meh, I'm seriously not doing anything except dishes and laundry. Great news though, I didn't gain any holiday weight but my pants still don't fit. It's the small victories in life which keep us going. I pretty much chauffeur, maid and arrange activities for people...I'm quite the cliche. 

We are living in a rental house in a neighborhood we like because of the schools and the lake access! This past May we put an offer on a short sale house in this neighborhood but had to pull out in July due to pay issues at Shell (seriously, we hated that place!) It was still available in November when JY started at BP so we put in another offer but the bank was heinous to deal with. Long and painful story short, they wanted us to pay the back utilities and HOA dues on a house we didn't even live in AND when the house froze and a pipe broke from a cold snap they wanted us to fix it...and we didn't even have an agreement yet! That was exceptionally awful Wells Fargo, not cool. So needless to say, we are a little burned by the home buying process. We not sure what our plans really are yet but one things for sure, I should probably finish(start) unpacking boxes in the garage. Or not...

So that's really where we are as of now. It feels like 2013 was a year of happy changes for us but to be perfectly honest (when am I not?), I am happy 2013 is done. It was exhausting! On to 2014 and what ever the future holds :D

With Love,
SY