Washington Rec Center

Since we have been in Utah we have been checking out all the local watering holes and we so far we love the Rec Center the best! It has everything from little babies to the adults entertained all in one place!

James loves the turbo slide, Logan loves the play area, Carson loves the lazy river, and I love that everyone is having fun and no one is crying!

Carson will be attending preschool there starting next week so we will be getting to know them a little better!

James, second grade looks good on you!

James went back to school yesterday and boy is he excited to be in second grade.  It was fun to be in the classroom as he realized he already knew 2 of the kids in his class (Thank you church!). James teacher, Ms. Price, has been teaching 3rd grade and even she's excited for 2nd grade!

My kitchen

I finally got my kitchen cleaned!  One of the things I hate most about moving is finding homes for all our stuff. This kitchen has the most fantastic pantry and I have reworked it once and would like to do it again when the boys are in school.  So without further ado....my kitchen!

Indoor S'mores

I'm not going to lie, s'mores are one of my favorite things about summer. I love the process of making them and finding new ingredients to add to the yummy mess.  I love the open flame, family and friends coming together and the way you smell when you get home from the fire. In our old neighborhood we used to have fires almost every weekend of the summer. Sometimes we would have 3 or 4 firepits lit at the same time.
James has been begging me to do a fire at our new house and I finally was able to find wood and buy the Hersheys chocolate bars, but then the flash flood started and old friends knocked on our door and well you can't blame the kid for getting frustrated.
Tonight after dinner we got out the Graham crackers, marshmallows and Tarder Joe's Chocolate Almond Butter.  We set up a line of grahams with the chocolate almond butter and then cut marshmallows in half and put them on the other half of the graham and into the toaster oven. I have tried them in the microwave, and although I love watching them expanding they get so chewy and I don't love that. The toaster of was perfect.  It lightly toasted the marshmallows and it didn't make the graham crackers soft!
Now to enjoy the sticky mess with the boys!

We moved...again!

I feel like I am always talking about moving.  I lived in the same house for 18 years,  but in the last 13 years I have moved 26 times.  Guess I need to figure things out a little!
I loved living in Coupeville.  I loved my neighbors, my job, the boys Pediatrician (Dr. Barrio) and the boys preschool. It has never been such a perfect fit and I guess that's why we stayed for 2 years.
Last year I was ready to do this move to Utah and even gave notice at work and the preschool, but then I got some sense knocked into me and I signed my lease for another year. At that point I felt like I was just doing my time until school was out and we could make the move south.
Moving away from my family was difficult and I worried about my mom. But in humor only Heavenly Father would think of my brother moved to Washington the same week I moved out of Washington. She lost 3 grand kids she knew intimately and gained 3 that had lived 15 hours away from their entire life.
Now we are in Washington, Utah and only 5 minutes away from my sister.  The boys have loved our daily visits to the pool or local splash pads and finding new places to eat ice cream. It is funny how Carson and Easton (both 3) don't get along, but Easton seems content playing with James and James doesn't seem to mind.
School will start in the next 2 weeks for Logan and James and I might even find a place for Carson to hang out for a few hours a week to play with kids his own age.
I will post pictures once I have done some cleaning!

Episodes

My eldest son has been having violent episodes of rage as long as I can remember.   I have always been able to hold him tightly to help settle the rage, but as he gets has gotten older this method hasn't worked as well. Episodes seem to occur more frequently with change.  In the last month he has moved twice, finished the first grade, played with his father, and drastically changed everything he has ever known in life. 

Today he had 2 episodes- the second being far more violent resulting in dented walls and broken toys. I was able to see the signs at the beginning of the episode enough to send his 2 little brothers into a bedroom and lock the door from the inside to be safe. Thankfully it only lasted 15 minutes and no one was hurt.

I am curious if it was short because I completely removed myself and the little boys. I have never left him to calm the storm alone.  I hate that can see the hurt in his eyes as he struggles to calm his body and it pains me beyond measure.

After he had settled he came downstairs and politely asked if he could color more pictures for me. I asked him to give me a few minutes so that the floors could dry and he said yes and headed straight upstairs.

This sweet child went from being insane to calm in a matter of moments. Thankfully very few have seen this side of him and even more thankfully I have the opportunity to stay home with him to help protect him and provide him with stability.

First day of school

 The school year has started all over again and I am now the proud parent of a 1st Grader, Preschooler and an amazing 2 year old (or a pre-pre-preschooler).  It has been a fun summer and we actually got to play outside and thanks to our great neighborhood we did play outside almost every weekend since school got out.  Logan and Carson will be returning to Ebey Academy until I finish up work at the end of the month and then Logan will begin the preschool program through our school district Tuesday through Friday 8:45-11:45.  James has had nothing but positive things to say about his new teacher, Ms. Ellsworth.  He was even excited about a test he was taking today!



James (age 6) 1st Grade 2012-2013



Logan (age 4) Preschool 2012-2013

Kincaid boy

Our usual goofiness

Wish I could have captured this picture better because your missing the hands on his hips giving me this look!

Lake Alta

We finally took our tent out of the box, thanks to my mothers planning and a lot of perseverance, seriously! Our plans were almost derailed after Carson had to have his third Nursemaids Elbow (elbow joint coming out of the socket) reduced in 2 weeks.  So Wednesday, August 22nd we filled the Connie P (my moms RV) to the brim and headed off to uncharted territory.  Our first stop was to Rasar State Park which gave us the opportunity to let boys out to ride bikes and pick huckleberries.  This was a beautiful quite campground that would be a great place to stay and hike around all the trails.

 Thursday morning we packed up camp, a little more organized and headed out toward Lake Alta.  That's where I feel in LOVE! Lake Alta is amazing and I have decided that we will return there every year.  The lake was warm even at 7:30 in the morning and the camping sites were large and right next to the lake. 



Of course we stopped by Sherman Farm (I think that's what its called) and we had a great ride on the cow train like we do every year!



 

Carson sat up on the bench while the boys played in the River...poor kid no one should be afraid of water!

Good puppy!

Carson

I love this kid! Carson always has such an amazing smile on his face.  His expressions are priceless and magical.  Special thanks to Shaunna for getting this perfect picture at the Greenbank Loganberry Festival.

Carson Lawrence

July 20, 2012

Happy Birthday Logan!

Its so super late, but in September Logan had his 3rd birthday.  We celebrated with a day at the beach and an experiment chocolate cookie layered with ice cream cake.  It was a beautiful day and we spent time in the boat and even had an adventure when the boat ran out of gas (cell phones left on shore).

  Logan wanted a DQ ice cream cake, but I decided I could figure something out.  Its not like I remember it in Martha Stewart Living.

 Some of the toppings fell on the floor, so Carson did his job by cleaning up the mess for us! What a good boy. 

Looking back Emily was in last years birthday pictures of Logan.  Dude, I must not understand how to delegate so that I can be in these pictures. 

Logan had PE tubes replaced May 31 along with a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy which from what I understand is the next step when the first set of PE tubes fail.  Within the first 2 weeks the left ear tube fell out, but the hearing test showed that his hearing was normal in that ear.  During the summer we started to be able to understand him a little better.   Everyday it seems like he is saying something new and on Wednesday we have a follow-up appointment to see if he's done with surgeries.  It was noted that jis right side fell out a few months ago after his second ear infection after surgery.  I notice that he covers his ears which must mean he can hear something, right?  He's getting so big and independent.  At school his best friend is Tegan and it is so sweet watching them play together.  See is this petite little girl and he's this beefy kid.