Bee-utiful Day

We've been taking it easy lately as we headed into the throes of the school year. Honestly, I'm quite please with how we toned it down. But the honey crisp apples are ready, and when the apples are ready it's time to rev it back up.

Grammy is in town to take care of Meemaw after her knee replacement so we dragged her along with us! It was all going great, the kids played, they ran, they jumped. Most importantly, they picked. 

Thatch showing that birdseed activity table who's boss.

Grammy and her fellas on the apple train.

Thatch taking a bite of an apple, forgetting that he had a loose tooth. Key word, HAD.

Coopster, nibbling like a little mouse.

He was seriously bothered by his tooth at this point. It fell out at lunch, about an hour later. 

These are cool blocks, I'm thinking adults would make it like Jenga. Kids, however, build awesomely unstable structures. 

A bee ended up stinging Harpie in the mouth while she was eating an apple. It was okay, for a while...

Auntie Lorny and Meemaw came to the farm too! Here's a very rare picture of Grammy and Lorny together :)

 And then we went to lunch, which was fun. Until we looked at Harpie and then it was like "OH CRAP". Her lip had swelled to this heinous state, very quickly. I called the nurse line, grabbed some benadryl (which I will be keeping a bottle in my car now) and headed over to urgent care. Traffic was a nightmare because the only way to the hospital was through the Costco area. On a Saturday. It was an effing nightmare.

  When we finally got there they whisked us back and checked her blood oxygen levels to make sure she wasn't having an allergic reaction. She ended up being okay and we kept an close eye on her to make sure the swelling didn't move to her tongue or airway. After a few hours it calmed down and my nerves were put to rest. If you are keeping track of bee stings this year the current stats are:

Thatch: 1

Cooper: 3

Harper: 1

Coopster wins...or loses, depending on your view.

Here's my sweet little Harpie, doped up on Benadryl and with some crazy sugar lips. Poor little Heathen.

I have a feeling this is one of the last beautiful summer days as the official start of Fall is just around the corner. Harpie's lip made it memorable...as did our 30 lbs of honey crisp apples! :)

XOXO,

S

Kids are gone, time to catch up!

Right, right, I know. I fell off the wagon again. This is why I'm chubby people. 

We've been busy, doing what though...not much. School kind of take up some time. Here's a recap.

Coopie turned 4 in February (yeah, I need to get better at this crap. My bad.) We had a lego party that was awesome...until clean up time.We're probably still finding legos in the couch, well we would if I ever lifted the cushions up and vacuumed it. Here's a few pics of the little guys big day.

Ha, just kidding. I did find the invite though. There are photos on Brooklyn's camera, she's my go to paparazzi for red carpet Yarsley events. I'll find some, maybe. It's was way fun, either way.

So looking through my iphone photos here's what went down thus far:

Chevy Doodle turned 11 and totally went crazy. 

Thatch is SUPER into legos now. 

Cooper is SUPER cute, still.

And someone is learning how to ham it up. Oh, and I succombed to baby bangs because I was tired of keeping her snot and hair separated.

It was Spring Break and Jonathan went crazy. No swings were harmed in the taking of this photo.

We went to the Tulip Festival. Cooper fell in a giant puddle and I laughed at him. You really can't help instincts in some situations.

We play at the park a lot. It's on the way home :)

We went to Bainbridge Island and rode a ferry. Ferries are way fun. 

Is a picture a selfie when there are two people in it? That's just a picture then, right?

The little lady bug is in a big girl bed now. Oh, we totally made this bed too, because we're awesome. And modest. Mostly awesome though.

I just love this picture. 

Seriously, watching her pick flowers is one of my favorite things. Ever.

On Tahoe's birthday we sent lanterns up, like a Hallmark card to heaven. 

It kind of broke my heart. 

Coop wore this ensamble to Pre-School. The kids thought he was pretty cool. I like their style.

We had lunch on the ocean with MeeMaw. Harper was awesome.

And Cooper was there too. This pretty much sums it up.

Thatch and Cooper have mananged to swindle their Yarsley Grandparents into taking them for 5 weeks this summer! The only stipulation was that they couldn't cut their hair because Grammy likes little boys to have Harry Potter hair. Thatcher doens't like this theory. His is literally crying because he hates his hair. 

This kids face kills me.

We went to Redhook to see Auntie B :) At first Coop didn't know who this waitress was that was trying to hug him but then he was like, "OH...I know her. It's all good."

Here's Coopies Pre-School class :) 

And then it was Summer!

 We only had 4 days together before Grammy and Grampy showed up and it was rainy but we rocked our Harry Potter movie night and had some serious cuddle time. Even though the whole time they kept asking if it was time to go yet. Haters.

So it was summer and that means berry picking!

H ate a ton of berries. A ton. Woah.

You know what else happens in the summer? Baseball.

Tough guy. 

Baseball gang signs?

Yay, I made it in one!

The peanut gallery behind us.

Gang sings aren't cool when your hands and face are all cotton candyish.

And there you have it, we're all caught up. The boys are gone and I've got a lot of free time to finally catch up. Although H likes to turn off the computer while I'm typing so that's exciting. I'll get better about blogs one day, until then...I hope you enjoyed :)

Love,

S

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

Airplanes, Easter, and Gang Signs.

Found the cord. It was in my safe place, that I couldn't remember, thus making it unsafe. It's a viscous cycle. Anyhoo, I'm going to continue with the picture story gig.

On a "cold", windy Saturday we drove down to the "Big City" and went to the Museum of Flight. The boys were in AWE from the moment we drove into the parking lot. Luckily we got the worst spot in the whole lot so we were able to walk by every outdoor static display they had.

I just like this one of my menfolk, it's cute.

That would be Thatcher's "Shit Eating" Grin. This is possibly the happiest I've seen him, except for Disneyland.

Cooper's like "You're kidding me, that's real? B.S." 

Captain Yarsley in a cockpit.

There were airplane displays hanging from the ceiling. Harps was intrigued.

.

Coopie can always con his Auntie B into holding him :) I love dragging her on our adventures.

A fore mentioned hanging airplane displays.

Little Jonathan playing with the Bernoulli's Principle display. He was mad he couldn't get enough wind speed to really make it fly. Nerd Alert.

Face cut outs are awesome.

Someone did not want to go to Infinity or Beyond.

Thatch didn't know what I made him put his face into. Then he was like...

...Woa, I'm an astronaut.

There's a park about a 1/2 mile away from the house so we go there sometimes after school. There's a creek that runs through it so Cooper enjoys trying to flail himself into it. Only God knows what kind of amoebas and parasites live in it but I let him play in it none the less. Harps sticks to the swings and Thatch to the equipment. Rule followers...I like that.

Taking pictures while kids are swinging is hard. I was kicked a few times.

But sometimes you catch some really good shots :)

Action shots rule.

Monkey Bars. Totally get where the name comes from.

This is seriously a steep slide.

On rainy days there are a lot of indoor places for the kiddos to run around at. Bellingham is impressively focused on activities for the littles to do, rain or shine. I personally don't enjoy being in the rain as much as watching it from under a blanket so we went to an indoor park to play on this particular day. Harper crawled around the whole place and gave the floor a good mopping with her pants. Yay, more laundry stains to fight. 

Pretty sure she licked every toy they had there.

Trying to keep up with Cooper. He didn't run her over, thank heavens, but it will happen soon. <---Mother's instinct.

She has super expressions. I love them.

I'm fairly confident here she's telling me to "Put the damn camera down Mom".

And here she's saying "Well, if you're going to take pictures, here's my good side."

We signed the boys up for the YMCA's Rookie league baseball. Jonathan took them to their first practice while I stayed home and cleaned the house getting ready for Grammy and Grandpa's arrival! Teamwork!

How awesome is this going to be on ESPN when they do his player profile in 18 years?

He wanted to wear his baseball sweatshirt. He's actually pretty good at Baseball, as opposed to Soccer.

Ready position. Making his Mommy proud.

And then the Grandparents and the Aunties arrived and we had Easter the next day! Auntie Ash's plane was 2+ hours late making Jonathan and I come home at 1am, so we didn't hide the eggs until the afternoon. Made for good lighting I guess.

This Cooper's "LET'S DO THIS" face.

Grammy helping Harper find her eggs. Thatcher's eggs were blue, Cooper's were green and Harper's were pink. Her's were the easiest to hide, because I basically just rolled them in a pile in the middle of the grass.

And each monkey got a golden egg. Big stuff in there...$20! Dang Easter Bunny MeeMaw!

Thatch's game face. 

Harper found out the eggs had stuff in them...

...and was like, "This is candy? Winning!"

Sorting out the goods.

Still shocked that I let her have candy.

Giving me the eye, she probably thought I was coming to take it away.

And this is what Easter looks like when there isnt' snow. Crazy.

So we drove to Seattle to do a little shopping and I found these gems on my camera after the upload.

So cute :) She's such a good influence.

And then I see that she's teaching them how to throw gang signs. Those Yarsleys and their bad influences.

Luckily Coop could only manage the pincer grasp and Thatch was doing what ever it is that means. 

So Saturday was the big day...first Baseball Games! Yay!!!

The big guy, up to bat in the #4 position. There were only four players that showed up though, so he's not really the clean up hitter.

A parent plays with the kiddo in the 3 year old division. Jonathan clearly takes his job seriously.

My Cooper diving for the ball to throw that little kid out at first. Really, Cooper picked up the ball and ran it back to the bucket. The kid was safe. Boring.

Good to know it's not just our kid.

He hit the ball. That's a start! Next step, is to get it to go on the other side of the plate :)

And now you are caught up with the going ons of we Yarsleys. I'll try to keep more with the blog. I just went to Ikea today so I'll update you on how Jonathan handles the unloading of the car :)

XOXO
S