Addy is the physical one. James--he's more of a scientist. Like his dad. But his dad doesn't want him to be a science nerd, so he's often teaching him little tricks to help him avoid the nerd herd. (Case in point--tonight at bath time I overheard Christian say, "You WILL take swimming lessons and you WILL like it!")
Last month, during some unseasonably warm, dry weather, I caught Our Dad teaching James to catch a football. Yeah, so he catches like I do. I admit it. So sorry, buddy. Looks like you still have a way to go with this one, Cree. At least he's got the tossing down. You're halfway there.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
me and eight guys
Who: Layne, Boy, T, Jordan, and Mr. Mase
What: Sybrowsky boys trip to Seattle
When: November 10-13, 2007
Where: They all bunked in our little condo--on air mattresses, couches, and wherever they could go to get away from T's snoring!
Why: To go to the Seahawks vs. 49ers game at Qwest Field
How: Via the Seattle Shuttle (aka T's Suburban)--they drove through the night
What do you get when four big Sybrowsky boys (and one little one) all stay at my house for the weekend?
*Lots of good eats*Lots of football*Lots of shopping?*Lots of TV*Lots of late nights*
*Lots of interesting odors*Lots of furniture assembly*
*Lots of interesting odors*Lots of furniture assembly*
I was wholly outnumbered, but I felt like one of the guys. Sitting around watching TV, eating meatballs and artichoke dip, enjoying treats galore (like the tropical Starbursts from Boy--thanks!). In fact, I hardly lifted a finger while they were here. You wives will be glad to know that your men pitched in with all the housework and cooking. . .Layne did the grocery shopping and cooking.
Adam and Jordan both did the dishes.
Taylor took out the garbage.
They all cleaned up their beds every morning.
And Cree? Well, since he wasn't really on vacation, we cut him some slack. And slack he did. :) No, he actually worked really hard (with Layne) putting together the boys' new dresser and the new desk for his office. In fact, he stayed up all night working on the desk and then went to work. It was a labor of love. He LOVES his new desk. He LOVES his new office. He LOVES how he can spread his books out and study. It's all he can talk about, still!
The little guys had a blast, too. They played hard all day long. We were constantly hearing
crashing above our heads as they jumped from the bunk bed ladder and crashed toys off the staircase landing. They made a cool Transformer out of an empty cardboard box, watched several Scooby Doo episodes, and ate lots of "dollars." Seriously, what more could they want?
The guys went to the Seahawks game (courtesy of one of Layne's associates at KIRO 710AM) on Monday night. T was able to score some tickets off Craigslist so Mason could join them. Fortunately, James hates football--he didn't even want to watch the game on TV with me. But he did love the Seahawks football they brought back for him. He's still saying, "Remember when Mason was here, that time I got that Seahawks football? That was a fun day." Mase was rooting for the 49ers, but after watching Seattle in action (and winning), he decided he was a Seahawks 12th man after all.
I am so glad you guys could all come up. I hope you make it an annual tradition! Now girls, we need to start our own tradition in Seattle, say an annual girls' shopping trip?
Friday, December 7, 2007
happy feet
What personality. This is Addy in real life. A dancin' fool. A mover and shaker. A silly monkey. He goes and goes all day, running, jumping, sliding, flinging his body onto various objects of furniture. Stripping himself down to his leak-proof skivvies. Running laps around the kitchen and laughing uncontrollably. He won't dance unless he wants to, but when he does, it's something to see.
high and dry
A few streets south of us in Bothell.
Across the street from our running trail in Woodinville.We've had a few concerned calls from thoughtful friends and family members with the recent flooding in Western Washington, so I am officially putting all your minds at ease: we have not been flooded. However, these pictures are taken within a few miles our house, so we're counting our blessings. On Monday the rain came down in bucketfuls, pounding rather than dancing like we're used to in "heavy" storms. The boys stood under the skylights in amazement at the percussion concert above their heads. The region received between three and ten inches of rain that day, and creeks and rivers could not hold the frantic, rushing waters. A section of I-5 between Seattle and Portland is still closed, under five feet of water. Thousands of people are without power or access to any other city, barricaded in by high-water and washed-out bridges. Many more have lost their homes and businesses. Sink holes swallowed cars, and there is no access to Golden Gardens Beach until Spring on account of the road sliding down the hill. Two men lost their lives in the wind and rain. We watched others on the news being pulled out of the water by boats and helicopters, some stranded in water up to their chins, some waiting to be rescued off rooftops. We probably shouldn't have been so irreverent, taking advantage of the exceptional welly weather and splashing around outside a bit, and mourning our temporary loss of access to Costco and Target. Perhaps I should have been more concerned with karma and joined the sandbagging efforts in Bothell. I guess we'll see next time it rains.
Monday, December 3, 2007
snow day
The Seattle area only gets genuine snow once or twice a year, if we're lucky. Last year we had four huge snow storms where the snow actually lasted a few days, but we were told this was rare and not to expect snow again for a while. So when I saw Rachie's blog post "First Snowfall" the other day, I was a little jealous. No way was I going to get a shot like that this year. Okay, I was wrong. This is a picture I took of our street Saturday on my way home from a YW meeting.
The crazy thing about snow here is that it completely shuts the city down. Schools are closed, people stay home from work, there are rushes for food and generators at the stores. So as we watched the huge flakes falling--and sticking--from Anne Beale's picture window yesterday, I knew we'd have a "snow day" for church on Sunday. That's right--we have church snow days here. I didn't even bother to finish preparing my lesson or set my alarm clock Saturday night. When the phone woke us up at 8:30, I knew it was our home teacher calling to tell us meetings were canceled without even looking at the caller ID.
In 28 years living in Utah, home of the greatest snow on earth, never once was church canceled for snow (or any other reason). In fact, I only remember three school snow days in my entire educational career. Jode told me they went to church in 12 inches of snow today, no problem.
Last winter our ward canceled meetings three times! Hilarious! One of the days it was a perfect, beautiful, sunny day, but the rain the day before had covered the streets in ice overnight. I guess our Relief Society president hit a telephone pole a few years ago driving to an early morning meeting, so the Bishop doesn't want to put anyone in danger, which is so thoughtful. But it's ironic that our pioneer ancestors risked life and limb crossing the plains, the rocky mountains, and ice-cold rivers in winter so we could worship, and we can't show up if there are two inches of snow on the ground.
I'm grateful for my snow-driving training in Utah. I am not afraid to drive in the snow here. But I am afraid of the other drivers. They're the real reason to stay off the streets. In all fairness, there are no snow plows or salt trucks here, so it really can get messy. But honestly, it's really not that hard, people. Last year it took Christian over five hours to get home from the hospital because of a snow storm. The freeway was literally shut down. People were abandoning their cars and walking home. His only real obstacle was getting around all the stuck or nervous people plugging up the roads. He had even left early that day to make it home for a dinner party we were hosting. By the time he got home, everyone had left. So this morning he didn't even go in to round. It wouldn't have been worth sitting on the freeway in his car (which has no heater) for only a couple hours of work!
The monkeys didn't even get a chance to play in it, but they wanted to know if Christmas was coming NOW. I'm so glad the first day of December actually felt like December--something we might not feel again this year. We had a quiet, relaxing day with the boys, watching the snow melt in the rain and getting cozy by the fire. Believe me, I'm not complaining.
The crazy thing about snow here is that it completely shuts the city down. Schools are closed, people stay home from work, there are rushes for food and generators at the stores. So as we watched the huge flakes falling--and sticking--from Anne Beale's picture window yesterday, I knew we'd have a "snow day" for church on Sunday. That's right--we have church snow days here. I didn't even bother to finish preparing my lesson or set my alarm clock Saturday night. When the phone woke us up at 8:30, I knew it was our home teacher calling to tell us meetings were canceled without even looking at the caller ID.
In 28 years living in Utah, home of the greatest snow on earth, never once was church canceled for snow (or any other reason). In fact, I only remember three school snow days in my entire educational career. Jode told me they went to church in 12 inches of snow today, no problem.
Last winter our ward canceled meetings three times! Hilarious! One of the days it was a perfect, beautiful, sunny day, but the rain the day before had covered the streets in ice overnight. I guess our Relief Society president hit a telephone pole a few years ago driving to an early morning meeting, so the Bishop doesn't want to put anyone in danger, which is so thoughtful. But it's ironic that our pioneer ancestors risked life and limb crossing the plains, the rocky mountains, and ice-cold rivers in winter so we could worship, and we can't show up if there are two inches of snow on the ground.I'm grateful for my snow-driving training in Utah. I am not afraid to drive in the snow here. But I am afraid of the other drivers. They're the real reason to stay off the streets. In all fairness, there are no snow plows or salt trucks here, so it really can get messy. But honestly, it's really not that hard, people. Last year it took Christian over five hours to get home from the hospital because of a snow storm. The freeway was literally shut down. People were abandoning their cars and walking home. His only real obstacle was getting around all the stuck or nervous people plugging up the roads. He had even left early that day to make it home for a dinner party we were hosting. By the time he got home, everyone had left. So this morning he didn't even go in to round. It wouldn't have been worth sitting on the freeway in his car (which has no heater) for only a couple hours of work!
The monkeys didn't even get a chance to play in it, but they wanted to know if Christmas was coming NOW. I'm so glad the first day of December actually felt like December--something we might not feel again this year. We had a quiet, relaxing day with the boys, watching the snow melt in the rain and getting cozy by the fire. Believe me, I'm not complaining.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
hamma and papa come to visit
How lucky are we that Grandma Holly and Grandpa Brent came to visit US for Thanksgiving this year? I didn't have to cook a turkey alone or fly alone with two kids this year--what a blessing. We had the best time with them. It was even sunny and dry the whole week (except the day they left). Here are some highlights of their time with us:
*Finally going to Colossal Fossils. James' dream come true! He has been talking about going to the "dinosaur exhibit" at the Pacific Science Center for months now. The rest of the museum was really fun, too. James loved the human body exhibit, which included x-rays of bones just like Daddy looks at, the music room, and the sea creatures pool. I'm thinking we need an annual pass to this place. It kept them busy for hours! Perfect for rainy days.
*Grandpa Brent: the human jungle-gym. The kids climbed on him non-stop the entire trip. Whenever he'd sit at his laptop to get some work done, they'd be right up on his lap, begging to play a Scooby Doo game online. If he wanted to relax on the couch, they would start jumping from the ottoman onto him, over and over. Every morning they'd wake up and head straight downstairs to go jump on the air mattress and wake him up. They even wanted him to squish in the backseat with them in the car, which he did. He spent so much one-on-one time with them, which is so precious to us. He sat and looked at every single page of James' Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs with him, and even brought him a cool National Geographic issue full of extreme dinosaurs. I'm so glad they love to be with him so much, but I bet he was glad to get home and reclaim his personal space!
*Grandma Holly: my personal housekeeper. One of my favorite things about having my parents here was that I didn't feel like I was doing everything alone all the time! My mom did the dishes every single day (my worst chore!), watched the kids while I showered and dried my hair (which made it go about 20 times faster!), and acted as my personal shopper. She also took James to the bathroom approximately 264 times while we were out shopping. It was so nice to have her around to consult on clothing, home decor, and everything else moms know everything about. I've missed that! She even cleaned the bathroom, washed the sheets, and vacuumed her room before she left! A house guest doesn't get any better than that.
*No more fluorescent green walls or stenciled spaceships! My dad and Christian both took a whole day of their vacation to paint the boys' room. What good guys. Love you. I've been dying to change the paint since the day we bought the place, but I couldn't 1. pick a paint color alone, or 2. face those extra-high walls. I am so glad I had my mom here to help me pick the paint. She has such a natural talent for design, and I love the way the color turned out. It only took us three trips to Home Depot to choose it! It's called Oatmeal by Ralph Lauren. Very classic. We haven't had a sunny day since to an accurate picture of the color, but this is a pretty good representation.
Before. . .
After. . .much better!
*A REAL trip to Costco. We spend a fair amount of time (and money) at Costco. But it's been a while since we had a real trip to our favorite store. My mom and dad really know how to do it. We walked up and down almost every aisle, picked out multiple colors of the same clothing items for all the boys, tasted all the samples, bought any food item we thought might be fun to try (the Creamy Tomato Basil Soup, Tuscan Three Cheese Kettle Chips, and Coconut Macadamia Nuts are our three new Costco must-haves!), and then stocked up on the essentials. We were probably there two hours. It was good times, good times. Thank you so much for helping us with a few items for our food storage and diaper stock! You have no idea how much that helps us. Of course it was not the only trip to Costco we made. We visited the Everett Costco a few days later, just in case we missed anything at the Woodinville location.
*Christmas presents under our tree! My mom was smart and decided to get all the Christmas shopping for us done while they were here so she didn't have to ship anything. We had such a fun time shopping at Toys R Us, the mall, craft stores, etc. (sorry, Mom, I had to hang one of my presents--it just would've been too hard to wrap--hee hee!) She even added significantly to my Christmas crafting ribbon when we found them 50% off at Michael's. I didn't have room in my regular ribbon organizer, so I made this ribbon holder just to hold them all! And she also helped me get my Christmas decorations up. Not to mention her tradition of giving me a darling ornament for my tree. Actually this year there were three, and I love them all! Thanks, Mom!
*Multiple trips to McDonald's. What visit with the grandparents would be complete with at least two trips to McDonald's? It's what the boys associate all their grandparents with. After the second trip (the day they left), Addy told everyone we saw, "Papa Donald's! Papa Donald's!" That really is a rare treat for them, and I know it's fun for Grandma and Grandpa to do it, too.
*A night out for us. Well, if you call a movie from Redbox and a trip to Walmart for treats a night out (currently we do--it's about as good as it gets these days). Plus they were there so we could go Christmas shopping at 4:30am on Black Friday, so really that's two dates without paying a babysitter!
*Dig It Fossil Workshop! I have heard about this place at the Everett Mall, but we hadn't had a chance to go up there yet. Luckily we were looking for something to do the day they left, so we headed up to dig up some real life fossils! This place takes all the "extra" fossil remnants from real archaeological digs and puts them in their store for kids to dig up and "prepare." Holy cow, what a perfect activity for James. They both loved it. James picked a shark's tooth and Addy got a polished sea creature of some sort. We probably spent an hour there, just looking at all their dinosaur toys and products. So fun! But I think the best part for James was the gum ball Grandpa bought him in the mall. He's still talking about that.
*The Fun Forest Amusement Park. At the base of the Space Needle is a little amusement park we discovered during my parents' trip here last summer. We stopped here on our way to the airport to kill some time. Luckily they have some indoor rides and games because it was a pretty dreary day. They had such a blast on the Frogger ride, the inflatable castle, the arcade driving games, and the dragon ride.
*Just having family around for the holidays. This is something we have really missed the past year and a half. We've had some great holidays with our ortho friends and friends in the ward, who we really do love like our own family, but it's never the same as spending a holiday with the people who taught you the meaning of that day, who gave you all the traditions you look forward to each year and want to share with your own children. It meant so much to us that my parents would take off a whole week of work, spend money on plane tickets, sleep seven nights on an air mattress, share their room with the huge new computer desk, spend endless hours entertaining the kids, stocking us up at Costco, helping with the biggest meal of the year, and just staying up late to talk and hang out.
It seemed so quiet and empty when you left. Back to the grind. James and I cried as we pulled away from the curb at the airport. I really appreciate how much love and affection you show the monkeys, too. You have made such an impact on their lives. I'm learning from friends that not all grandparents are created equal. How'd we get so lucky?
*Finally going to Colossal Fossils. James' dream come true! He has been talking about going to the "dinosaur exhibit" at the Pacific Science Center for months now. The rest of the museum was really fun, too. James loved the human body exhibit, which included x-rays of bones just like Daddy looks at, the music room, and the sea creatures pool. I'm thinking we need an annual pass to this place. It kept them busy for hours! Perfect for rainy days.
*Grandpa Brent: the human jungle-gym. The kids climbed on him non-stop the entire trip. Whenever he'd sit at his laptop to get some work done, they'd be right up on his lap, begging to play a Scooby Doo game online. If he wanted to relax on the couch, they would start jumping from the ottoman onto him, over and over. Every morning they'd wake up and head straight downstairs to go jump on the air mattress and wake him up. They even wanted him to squish in the backseat with them in the car, which he did. He spent so much one-on-one time with them, which is so precious to us. He sat and looked at every single page of James' Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs with him, and even brought him a cool National Geographic issue full of extreme dinosaurs. I'm so glad they love to be with him so much, but I bet he was glad to get home and reclaim his personal space!
*Grandma Holly: my personal housekeeper. One of my favorite things about having my parents here was that I didn't feel like I was doing everything alone all the time! My mom did the dishes every single day (my worst chore!), watched the kids while I showered and dried my hair (which made it go about 20 times faster!), and acted as my personal shopper. She also took James to the bathroom approximately 264 times while we were out shopping. It was so nice to have her around to consult on clothing, home decor, and everything else moms know everything about. I've missed that! She even cleaned the bathroom, washed the sheets, and vacuumed her room before she left! A house guest doesn't get any better than that.
*No more fluorescent green walls or stenciled spaceships! My dad and Christian both took a whole day of their vacation to paint the boys' room. What good guys. Love you. I've been dying to change the paint since the day we bought the place, but I couldn't 1. pick a paint color alone, or 2. face those extra-high walls. I am so glad I had my mom here to help me pick the paint. She has such a natural talent for design, and I love the way the color turned out. It only took us three trips to Home Depot to choose it! It's called Oatmeal by Ralph Lauren. Very classic. We haven't had a sunny day since to an accurate picture of the color, but this is a pretty good representation.
Before. . .
After. . .much better!
*A REAL trip to Costco. We spend a fair amount of time (and money) at Costco. But it's been a while since we had a real trip to our favorite store. My mom and dad really know how to do it. We walked up and down almost every aisle, picked out multiple colors of the same clothing items for all the boys, tasted all the samples, bought any food item we thought might be fun to try (the Creamy Tomato Basil Soup, Tuscan Three Cheese Kettle Chips, and Coconut Macadamia Nuts are our three new Costco must-haves!), and then stocked up on the essentials. We were probably there two hours. It was good times, good times. Thank you so much for helping us with a few items for our food storage and diaper stock! You have no idea how much that helps us. Of course it was not the only trip to Costco we made. We visited the Everett Costco a few days later, just in case we missed anything at the Woodinville location.
*Christmas presents under our tree! My mom was smart and decided to get all the Christmas shopping for us done while they were here so she didn't have to ship anything. We had such a fun time shopping at Toys R Us, the mall, craft stores, etc. (sorry, Mom, I had to hang one of my presents--it just would've been too hard to wrap--hee hee!) She even added significantly to my Christmas crafting ribbon when we found them 50% off at Michael's. I didn't have room in my regular ribbon organizer, so I made this ribbon holder just to hold them all! And she also helped me get my Christmas decorations up. Not to mention her tradition of giving me a darling ornament for my tree. Actually this year there were three, and I love them all! Thanks, Mom!
*Multiple trips to McDonald's. What visit with the grandparents would be complete with at least two trips to McDonald's? It's what the boys associate all their grandparents with. After the second trip (the day they left), Addy told everyone we saw, "Papa Donald's! Papa Donald's!" That really is a rare treat for them, and I know it's fun for Grandma and Grandpa to do it, too.
*A night out for us. Well, if you call a movie from Redbox and a trip to Walmart for treats a night out (currently we do--it's about as good as it gets these days). Plus they were there so we could go Christmas shopping at 4:30am on Black Friday, so really that's two dates without paying a babysitter!
*Dig It Fossil Workshop! I have heard about this place at the Everett Mall, but we hadn't had a chance to go up there yet. Luckily we were looking for something to do the day they left, so we headed up to dig up some real life fossils! This place takes all the "extra" fossil remnants from real archaeological digs and puts them in their store for kids to dig up and "prepare." Holy cow, what a perfect activity for James. They both loved it. James picked a shark's tooth and Addy got a polished sea creature of some sort. We probably spent an hour there, just looking at all their dinosaur toys and products. So fun! But I think the best part for James was the gum ball Grandpa bought him in the mall. He's still talking about that.
*The Fun Forest Amusement Park. At the base of the Space Needle is a little amusement park we discovered during my parents' trip here last summer. We stopped here on our way to the airport to kill some time. Luckily they have some indoor rides and games because it was a pretty dreary day. They had such a blast on the Frogger ride, the inflatable castle, the arcade driving games, and the dragon ride.
*Just having family around for the holidays. This is something we have really missed the past year and a half. We've had some great holidays with our ortho friends and friends in the ward, who we really do love like our own family, but it's never the same as spending a holiday with the people who taught you the meaning of that day, who gave you all the traditions you look forward to each year and want to share with your own children. It meant so much to us that my parents would take off a whole week of work, spend money on plane tickets, sleep seven nights on an air mattress, share their room with the huge new computer desk, spend endless hours entertaining the kids, stocking us up at Costco, helping with the biggest meal of the year, and just staying up late to talk and hang out.
It seemed so quiet and empty when you left. Back to the grind. James and I cried as we pulled away from the curb at the airport. I really appreciate how much love and affection you show the monkeys, too. You have made such an impact on their lives. I'm learning from friends that not all grandparents are created equal. How'd we get so lucky?
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