"More" ...

Will has some new words! Over the past few days, he has added "more" ("moh"), "blue" (boo), and "pool" ("poo") to his lexicon.

He has also started to gallop, turn in circles, and "sing" into his toy microphone.

He likes the song "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes." If he wants to sing the song, he points to his head and sings "Hiiiiii." Sometimes he starts with toes, though.

I hope to post some pictures soon of Will playing with his friend Owen. Owen lives two doors down with his parents (our friends) Ken and Emma. Will and Owen have had a couple of playdates over the past few days, and we're hoping for more to come!

And ... drumroll, please ... we're moving to Puyallup!

Brice starts his new job, Assistant Director of Constituent Relations at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, on Monday, August 10th. I resigned from my job at Morgan and we're off to live with my parents in Puyallup at the end of next week. We will look for a place to rent while we stay with the Fryes. I will also be looking for a job! My application is in for a choir/elementary music job in Puyallup. We would appreciate your prayers and empty boxes! Hee hee.

At the playground

Before meeting Daddy for lunch, Ya Ya, Pops, and I took Will to a playground in town. We had never been to this playground before, and the equipment looked great. Here is a very serious Will in his car seat before we left the house.


Will wanted to go down the tube slide, and we had to crawl through a tunnel to get there! It's a good thing Mommy didn't wear a skirt. (I refused to let him climb up alone because there weren't railings on the platforms. A kid could fall right off!!!) Anyway, here he is just before reaching the top platform. I'm trying to figure out how to get out of the tunnel without letting go of him!



Mommy still isn't quite out of the tunnel, but Will is raring to go!

After a successful first slide, Will touches the smaller purple slides. Too HOT! (It was 95 degrees that day.) The tube slide it is.

Dad got a great action shot of Will coming out of the tube slide. He was going FAST!

TWO minute time out

I'm sure there's some chapter in a parenting book that warns against this sort of post, but I just had to share these pictures! I think they are adorable. Will experienced his first TWO minute time out this morning, since he's now two years old! He kept slamming his metal toys down on the console table (shown in picture) even after I asked him to stop two times. So ... out came the timer. After calming down, he did a good job of sitting in his chair and waiting for the timer to ding.



Yay! The timer went off! I'm freeeeeeeee!

Beating the heat

After his birthday dinner, Will went outside with Daddy. They played with our dogs and then cooled off by playing in the hose! Will LOVES playing in the water, and the pictures came out so cute. Here, he shows Daddy how to drink out of the hose.


The tongue is out!




Look what I can do!

The birthday boy is soaked!

Presents for the Birthday boy

Will got a great pair of "Thomas" swim trunks and some "Thomas" underpants. Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa! I also love my other outfit, books, and digging machine.


This "Cars" magnet book is so cool! I watched my Elmo/Abby Birthday DVD today, too. I love them both! Thanks, Glasers!

Will loves playing with his "Take Along Thomas" Engine and railway, which works perfectly with the Musical Caboose! (It plays the "Thomas" theme song.) Thanks, YaYa/Pops and Great Aunt Libby/Great Uncle Ron!

We didn't get pictures of everything. Thank you to Great Aunt Anne/Great Uncle Sam for the "5 Little Monkeys" book! We read it before bed on his birthday. (Ironically, Will fell off of our bed -- while jumping -- that very morning! He laughed it off and wanted to try again! Obviously, Mommy said no.) Mommy and Daddy got Will a coloring book, an Elmo book, a toy microphone, and some magnets. Ya Ya and Pops also got Will a tow truck magnet puzzle.

(Funny story: Right after my Dad told us about the dangers of magnets and children, almost all of Will's birthday presents included magnets! So, don't worry ... we are well aware of the dangers and very grateful that Will doesn't try to eat inanimate objects.)

Thank you to all!!! Our boy is very blessed!

Will turns TWO!

Today was Will's actual birthday. We celebrated with a pizza dinner, brownies (complete with candles that say "Birthday Happy"), and Thomas the Train party hats. Good stuff!

I know, I know ... I could have put the candles in the other way. I did ask Brice and my parents what they thought (they seemed to agree that "birthday" should be on the top line), but we didn't realize how backward it looked until we saw the pictures! Ha! Roger joined our little celebration, and he even put on a party hat.

Ya Ya and Pops are "stylin'" in their Thomas gear. (Will wouldn't wear one, by the way.)

Will helped decorate the table with a sheet of Thomas stickers. Here is a picture of his handiwork.

Birthday Happy, my son.

A funny tidbit ... both times "Happy Birthday" was sung to him (once at lunch by my parents and once during the birthday dinner), Will seemed to get angry and threw something. I hope that isn't going to be his reaction to ALL singing. Ha!

"Die!"

I just want to document Will's latest verbal acheivements! Until very recently, Will has pronounced bye-bye as "da-da" with a hand wave. Now, he says "Die!" It's pretty funny to me, and it really does sound more like the real word. I guess we should work on the "b" sound.

I don't think I've mentioned Will's other new word: Lola! When we were at the Glasers' cabin, Bonnie and Aaron's friends came for one night and brought their perfectly-behaved yellow lab, Lola. Will was in heaven! She really is the best dog ever. I guess this just proves that Will is going to talk when he has something to say! Lola!

OK, one more cute thing. While visiting our friends Geoff and Amy Knautz in Yakima this week, their two-year-old daughter Madi gave him a hug. To my surprise, he hugged her back perfectly and gave a few more hugs at our request! It was absolutely adorable. I think it was his first time hugging someone his size!

A Day Out With Thomas!

The "Day Out With Thomas" event was held at the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie. Here is our little family! Will couldn't tear his eyes away from the train.

Grandma and Uncle Darren took Will up into the engine.

We got this picture with Sir Toppam Hatt. Will wasn't very excited about the guy's creepy plastic face.

Here we are with my family in front of Thomas. I think we had just pulled Will out of the arts and crafts tent, where they were also playing Thomas videos. He didn't want to leave that tent, as you can imagine!

Will's favorite part was playing with the toy train sets, I think! There was an "Imagination Station" tent with 8-10 train tables set up. I think he could have spent hours in there! Amazingly, we made it out without purchasing anything from the gift shops! (Yep, the Railway Museum has a gift shop AND the Thomas Event had its own gift shop tent.)

A Day Out With Thomas, part deux

Will got a temporary tatoo of Percy on his right forearm. What a tough guy!

Part of the event is riding the train (pulled by a giant Thomas the Tank Engine) to and from Snoqualmie Falls. It took about half an hour for the round trip ride, which was just about perfect for our little guy's attention span!

It was fun to ride the train with the whole family! Here are Del and Donna, Brice's parents.

Donna gives Will one last look at Thomas before we leave. Thomas' driver waved hello!

There he is -- everyone's favorite tank engine. Will loves looking at these pictures, by the way!

Seattle with the Fryes

We spent a hot and sunny Saturday in Seattle with the Fryes during Uncle Anthony and Aunt Dale's visit! We walked around Pike's Place Market (along with a billion other people) and ate lunch at the Athenian (below).



Brice bought a bag of small doughnuts at one of the market shops. Will licked the sugar off of his before eating. Ya Ya is strolling him to our next destination, the waterfront.


One of the piers has a huge arcade with a carousel! Will had his first carousel ride with Mom and Ya Ya. To Brice's delight, Nate Burleson (Seattle Seahawk) was on the carousel with his kids at the same time.


Next, we walked to Westlake Center (shopping mall in downtown Seattle). Brice, Will, and Aunt Dale walked through this "fountain hallway." They got wet, but it felt good!

We also rode the monorail to and from the Seattle Center, where we accidentally saw a bunch of naked people in the huge fountain. (It was part of the World Naked Bike Ride, apparently.) Oops! Now Anthony and Dale REALLY think Seattle is crazy! Then we drove to the Ballard Locks and met Brice's parents for a yummy dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory before heading back to Puyallup.

More pictures from Hayden Lake

I just got some of Joed's pictures from our trip to Hayden Lake and wanted to share!
This first one shows Will doing one of his "latest things." Rather than let YOU read to HIM, he now prefers to read to you! It is quite adorable. He also likes to point and identify characters, or he'll wait for you to identify him while he points. Here he is one morning at Hayden Lake (still in PJs) with Roger.

Will was pretty sleepy on our last morning at the lake. Here he is snuggling with Joed.

Joed captured an action shot of Will jumping off the dock to Daddy. This was his absolute favorite thing to do!

Will and Aaron dressed up in patriotic garb for the 4th of July celebration. Awesome!

Southern Living

My Dad's brother Anthony and his wife Dale drove into Ellensburg on July 8th! We were so excited for their visit -- they have never been to Washington before and had not yet met Will. We sat and chatted in the living room for an hour or so, and Will took a great liking to Uncle Anthony! They read a train book (TOOT TOOT!) and Will played with his new construction trucks that Anthony and Dale brought. Then, we met my Mom and Dad at the Dakota Cafe for lunch. Afterward, we returned to our house and visited a bit more before they all headed to Puyallup. Here is a self-timer shot of everyone except Will. It was past his nap time, for sure!


My Mom thought it would be funny to put a "beard" on my Dad and see if Will could tell which one was his Pops! He could still find Pops, but the cotton ball beard did get a lot of laughs! You're a trooper, Dad!

We're on a BOAT.

Our 4th of July weekend was a great one! Brice, Will, my friend Stacy, and I went to Hayden Lake (in Idaho) to stay with the Glasers at their cabin. The weather was beautiful and the fireworks were grand! We all loved being out on the boat. Brice had fun wakeboarding, too!



We had so much fun swimming in the lake, playing with sand on the beach, and hanging out with Joed, Roger, Bonnie, and Aaron at the cabin!

We loved having "Auntie Stacy" with us!

Roger let Will drive the boat for a while. Those were some sharp turns!

I think this picture of Joed and Will is so sweet! We took an evening boat ride before Will went to bed one night. The ride made him very sleepy!

My 33rd Birthday

Mom, Will, and I packed and cleaned this morning before heading to the west side. We made several stops along the way. At our first stop, the North Bend Factory stores, Will had a "blast" in this rocket ship. We didn't even have to put in a quarter!

For dinner, we met my Dad and brother at the Iron Chef restaurant in Puyallup. Japanese Steakhouses are my favorite! Will loved the show, and everyone loved Will's reactions! It was a great day.