Joey's Birthday Week

Joey turned 4 last week. His birthday week was kicked off by getting to be the Snack Star at school. He chose to bring Star Wars cupcakes with blue frosting (they were supposed to have white frosting with blue sprinkles but they weren't made quite right) so all the kids had blue hands and fingers when they left school. Thursday was the last day of school and they had a little program. Half of the kids sang and did the motions and half just stood there but they did all stay on the stage pretty well. Joey did not sing but smiled and waved at our neighbor boy who was in the front row.
Joey chose to go to the Science Center on his actual birthday. We hadn't been there for six months, or so. We had a good time, especially in the insect area. Joey didn't want to touch the hissing cockroach.

But Claire did. Sort of.

We had Joey's family part on Sunday. He was so excited for everyone to arrive that, as soon as he woke up from his nap, he ran to the couch and waited.

We had another Star Wars cake for his family party.

Joey opened his presents and I was so proud of him for politely saying thank you to every person after each gift.

And Claire played PlayDough with Aunt Kathy (from California).

Joey had Light Saber and other weapon battles with anyone who would fight with him.

He is growing up so much. I think I'm going to like the 4-year-old stage. Recently he has been more trust-worthy, more helpful, skipping naps and going to bed earlier, cuddly and caring about others' feelings and lots of other fun things. We love our big boy so much.

A Dad and His Boy

Lately, Joey has become very attached to his dad on the weekends. He wants to help his Dad and do things with him all the time. Last weekend they mowed the lawn.

And then Little Missy wanted to join in on the fun,

attitude and all.

Then they waxed the car.

I love my boys.

Volunteer Park

Last week we went to Volunteer Park and found a lily pond with gigantic Koi

and a water tower that made the kids a bit nervous at first

but when we got to the top we had a 360 degree view of Seattle

and the kids did some climbing

and I tried to take an artsy photograph with a basic point and shoot.

The trek back down the stairs wasn't nearly as scary as going up

so we happily walked to the playground and rode on these

and these

and Joey showed off his greatly improved

pumping skills.

It was a fun day.

This and That

More Crout-ese

Smell
both: fell

Claire
Claire: care
Joey: kwe-woh

Carry
Claire: koowee


Mother's Day Recap
I had a good Mother's Day. Matt made us crepes for breakfast. We drove to church in the new car. The weather was beautiful. Church was great. The kids screamed and fought all the way home. I cleaned and cooked dinner for my mom, brothers and grandparents. Matt did the dishes and cleaned up a bit. The kids and I played until bedtime.

Funny Quotes/Stories
Yesterday, we had been getting ready for church, talking about church, putting on "church clothes", etc. all morning. Joey is in the why stage and asks questions all the time, even ones he just asked. So, we got in the car and started driving away from home and Joey asked, "Where are we goin'?" Claire answered, "To church, Joey. Duh!" Okay. She didn't say duh but she did say the rest.

While driving to church in Daddy's new car, I handed Joey a sippy cup with milk. I told him to give it right back to me after he was done taking a drink so that it didn't spill and make a mess in Daddy's new car. To that, Claire responded with, "We can just make a mess in your car, right Mom?"

Crout-ese

First some cute pics.

My Sweet Boy

My Sweet Girl

Claire on a grumpy day.

I love listening to my kids talk and sing and the mispronunciations of preschoolers are so cute. Here are some of my favorites. I will spell them in a way that I think you can figure out the pronunciation.

Vitamin

Joey: Bye-dim

Claire: Bye-di-di (those are short i sounds)

Chocolate

Both: Kah-kut

Want

Claire: Mant

Claire's Songs and Verses

Running Over:

Nunning ovah, nunning ovah

My pup-a-fuw an nunning ovah,

Since da Yord saved me

I'm a happy as can be,

My pup-a-fuw and nunning ovah.

Twinkle, Twinkle:

Dinkle, dinkle, yittle daw

How I wonder what you ow

Up a-fuh-vah world so high

Yike a diamond in da sky

Dinkle, dinkle, yittle daw

How I wonder what you ow.

John 3:16

Fo God so yoved da world

dat He gave his own-yee begotten son

dat who so evoh be-weeves on him

wiw not poo-iss but have evoh wah-sting wife.

_____________________________________


And in other news, the clam digging video is up on youtube. Search for JRPC.

Clam Digging

Joey and Daddy went clam digging today. They left the house at 5am with a car full of toys and food (loaded by a cool mom) and stopped in Edmonds to pick up Dr. Rob. They then drove to Westport to dig. Apparently, they got their limit rather quickly and had lots of fun doing it. Matt would have to give more details. Joey slept a bit on the way home. When they were getting close Joey said he missed Mommy and wanted to get dropped off at the house until he learned that he would be left out of the clam cleaning process. So, he decided to go on to Dr. Rob's house to clean them (Because they certainly weren't doing it at my house, especially when we had company for dinner. Gross!). I hear Joey was an angel all day. He loved being out with the guys.

Joey and Daddy

Dr. Rob

They even got in a little kite flying.

There is a really cute video of them actually getting a clam but I have been trying to upload it to this post for 2 days with no luck. Maybe I'll put it on YouTube or something. I'll let you know.