Falling into puberty

Greetings family,

Things are getting even more interesting by the day as the twins get close to the double digit age in a few months.  Layla is starting to get some visual queues as she develops and both of them are starting to stink, which means deodorant is becoming a daily chore along with the dreadful showers.  Easton would wear the same old ratty high-water pants with holes in the knees and cheeto-stained shirt every day if we let him.  He has zero interest in fashion, cleanliness, or girls.  Layla, on the other hand is our style queen who asks me about boys all the time.  such different experiences raising one boy and one girl side-by-side as they walk into this thing called puberty.

They arrived home from school and I asked them to pose for a second while I capture the dazzling yellowness of the tree in our front yard and the happy after-school kid looks they have going on.  The scenery around here is amazing this time of year.

I took this random picture of a lighthouse in Mukilteo after a work function ended.  Probably one of the best pictures captured by the lame camera on my iPhone.  has nothing to do with the 4 webbs other than representing the surroundings of our little corner of the world up here in Seattle.

We make the most of every sunny day because it's hard to know when it will be our last one.  we took advantage of a sunny, relatively warm Sunday morning to walk Max at Marymoor dog park.  I decided not to take any family pics because it was one of those rare times where I just wanted us to enjoy the time together without turning every situation into a professional photo shoot.  The one pic I took was when Easton found this huge leaf on the ground and came up to show Kendra and I.  We both make an extra effort to be excited about the things he shares with us because we want to encourage him to continue throughout life.  I want him to know how important he is to us and whatever he thinks is interesting is worth our time to affirm him. 

see you soon!

Pumpkin Picking

Howdy family,

Fall is here in the pacific northwest.  It lasts about two weeks and then it's straight into rain and cold for the next six months.  We took advantage of the great weather and went with our neighbors to Bob's Corn.  The massive complex was packed with people and cars because it was not a game day for the Seahawks and the weather was perfect. 

The kids shot apples out of cannons.  They had a blast firing apples into the woods and splattering them against the metal targets. 

Kendra's new local BFF is Amber.  They see each other almost every day because they are both stay at home moms.  I like when they spend time together since they are good influences on each other in most every way.  Their kindred spirits lead to lots of laughter and genuine caring. and sassyness...

Our kids get along so well that it is refreshing, when they aren't throwing pine cones at each other.  I don't worry about what they might overhear or experience around our neighbor's kids or at their house.   They went down slides, through mazes, and swimming in a pool of corn.

This is the whole crew that went together searching for the perfect pumpkins and wondering through the kid amusement areas. 

and here is our family portrait for the year.  We haven't had professional pictures since we went to visit Nana and Papa three years ago.  We take enough pictures per year that a few of them come out well enough to represent our family.  I'll choose this one to be our 2017 amateur family photo.

Easton had a headache that turned into the flu so his smiles are a little contrived.  He was a real trooper to stick with us through the corn adventures. 

Easton signed up for another year of cub scouts as a Weblo.  part of his duty is to sell wreaths as a fund raiser.  He memorized his sales pitch and then hit up all 32 homes in our neighborhood.  I'm proud of him for going door to door and developing sales techniques.  that's the kind of valuable training that will last a lifetime.

Layla is already amazing at approaching people.  whether it is asking the waitress for something or leading a group of girls in cheer practice, she has a real strength in this area.  Another aspect of learning is how to clean house.  Easton and Layla both have chores they do daily, including doing dishes and cleaning the kitchen. 

We are entering the time of year where it's not easy to tell the kids to go play outside because of the weather.  We are finding other ways to wisely spend our time together.  That's where a part of my thought process is spent.  needing to figure out how to balance letting kids be kids with play time and training them up in the way they should go by giving them responsibilities and expectations for taking care of business.  I can see we are entering the transition stage where every spare second can't be spent playing without any productivity.  After Layla's cheer ends next week, we'll have more time in the evenings to focus on developing our kids more intentionally.  I'm looking forward to this next stage of parenting. 

See you soon!

Sports Season

Howdy fam,

We are quickly wrapping up the most sunny summer in Seattle's history as we fade into fall.  This season appears to last about 2 weeks, then we will slide right into winter.  It's cool enough for us to wear our onesies around the house and even to our neighbors for football on Sunday afternoon.  We walked next door and proudly paraded into their house with food and smiles. 

Easton spends much of his play time on wheels.  He has a bike, a scooter, and a skateboard that he is learning to ride.  I'm happy for him to get all the outdoor t-shirt activities he can handle because winter is coming. 

Layla's cheer leading is going really well.  She cheered for a game and then our neighbor Kain played in the next game.  I caught the brief moment of everyone passing to get a picture of them.  Kain is a year younger than our twins, but he is Easton's best friend and tells Layla he loves her.  and he means it.  I'm not convinced he really wants to play football or that he is even good at it.  Mainly because he is too kind for running over the opponents.  Even so, he fits in well at our house and while i'm happy he is Easton's friend I'm getting a little protective as a daddy over Layla.   

She is by far the best cheer leader on her squad.  We decided not to put Layla into the competition team because she would have to give up figure skating.  She said she doesn't want to give it up so we are keeping her in the 8 week session for cheer and then she'll be done for a while. 

I didn't buy the pics or video of her most recent ice skating performance.  She we out on the ice and competed well, but it wasn't her best.  There are several factors that led to that, but the short version is that we were super proud of her for getting out there and giving it her best shot. 

The best part of the day was the huge cheering section Layla had.  Ouma was in town and our neighbors and friends joined us to encourage her.  Layla was a little discouraged, but she went back out on the ice for lessons the next week and continues to have a passion for skating.   

Kendra is going for long walks and physical therapy and even doing some yoga to help with her back pain.  Her latest CT scan results were negative, confirming she has no sign of cancer in her body!  It's difficult to describe the roller coaster of emotions that happen before during and after these scans.  When she told the news on the phone (since she was in Sacramento) I let out the biggest sigh of relief I've ever experienced.  Part of me wanted to cry and part of me wanted to shout and jump, but none of that surfaced as I hung up the phone.  Just one less thing occupying my mind and I'm completely fine with that.  There are so many great things happening in our lives and i'm grateful for all of it. 

Bring it on, winter.  we're ready.

Amazing Fourth Graders

Greetings family,

I succeeded yet again as temporary single dad while Kendra was in Sacramento.  She celebrated 20 years since graduating high school.  I celebrated her coming home because I hated every moment of being without her.  Yeah, the twins and I had a blast, but this I am fully convinced it is possible to miserable (without Kendra) and ecstatic (with the twins) at the same time.  I took the twins shoe shopping because Easton takes forever tying his shoe laces and Layla's shoes had holes in the mesh material.  Easton has velcro and Layla has purple running shoes.

We spent a lot of the weekend in our pajamas.  I told lots of dad jokes that resulted in this picture, one of my favorites of the month because these are the most genuine smiles I've seen on their laughing faces in a long time.

We took a walk to their elementary school.  Max exercised his stumpy legs and sniffed every bush along the way.  Once there they showed me some of the things they do during recess.  Layla ran down the hill and Max gladly followed.

This is a weird season in Seattle.  Summer was 24x7 sun for weeks and weeks.  now we have a coin toss every morning to determine if we'll be wearing rain coats or short pants.  Last Saturday our neighbors decided to go for a hike they invited us so we joined them. The weather station said no rain until 5 pm.  however, when we arrived, it poured like Noah's flood from the time we started until 5 pm.  We were soaked, but it was such a great bonding experience.  We were in the forest running from one covering to the next while listening to the extremely loud rain.

The twins were happy to have a buddy to hang out with once we arrived at the lake front.  it's hard to see, but just over their shoulders is a short beach and an amazing lake scenery.

Then it was sunny the next day.  Easton and Layla felt the sun break through the clouds and shine on our kitchen table.  Layla gave a sigh of relaxation and Easton cowered like a vampire away from the light.  Their differences are so visibly wonderful.

I forced them to go for a walk on another day down by the local park.  Sometimes they want to, but those are rare occasions.  Easton is working on his scouting achievements and Layla is keeping her legs limber in between cheer leading and figure skating sessions.

Lately, they both would rather be hanging out with friends instead of me, but I still get time with them before bed.  during my nightly routine a few nights ago Layla told me likes a boy named Brooks.  We talked openly about what it is like to have feelings for someone.  I was proud of her for opening up to me about such a sensitive subject, but I can't believe she is already at this age of liking boys.

Then I realized how I kissed a girl in the third grade so they are a year late when compared to me.  It's easy to rationalize and say, "yeah, but that was me and that was then.  this is my daughter and this is now!"  Even so, there is no getting around the fact that I'm going to need to be even more aware of what's going on with boys and my sweet Layla.  At least I can say confidently that Easton still thinks girls are annoying and odd.

See you soon!