It's Party Time!

Lainey made the cupcakes and the frosting. At times, she even used the mixer all by herself.  She really does love to cook and help in the kitchen.  Hopefully, that will continue for her.

Some of the decorations

The cupcakes 

The Birthday Boy. He loved the decorations, all the attention and especially the cupcakes. 

I would post more but I am exhausted. I poured my heart and soul into this party and couldn't have been more pleased with how it turned out.  Even though he'll never remember it, I will. And seeing Beau look over at the fish decorations and reach for them throughout the day made it all worthwhile. 

Birthday Cake!

Lainey and Daddy baked Beau's birthday cake. They also made the frosting but I did the actual frosting of the cake. Lainey begged for cake all day and finally got to dive in after dinner last night.  Even then, all she did was lick the frosting off.  She is definitely my kid!

This lucky boy got a cake for his actual birthday and will get cake at his party. Wouldn't it be fun if every birthday you got to smash cake? I think so!

I love that he's squeezing the cake so hard that blue frosting is oozing between his fingers. 

By the time he was done there was cake everywhere, frosting in his hair, all over his face and he kept grabbing his hair with sticky fingers and ended up looking a little like Jack Nicholson. It was great!

Happy 1st Birthday Beau!

One year stats:

Tall and skinny! (What we all wish for)

Height: 30' (59th percentile)

Weight: 20lb. 12oz. (20th percentile)

Dear Beau,

A year ago tonight Daddy and I drove way to fast to Spokane, hoping to arrive before you did.  Thankfully, we made it.  I did not want to miss seeing you the moment you were born.  We checked into the Davenport Hotel and imagined what it was going to be like when we finally did get to meet you.  Little did we know that you wouldn’t arrive until 8pm the next night.  I’ll never forget the moment you entered the world. I fell instantly in love with you and have fallen more in love with you every day since.  I was the first person to hold you and even cut your umbilical cord. You felt so tiny in my arms, and kept making little squeaking noises.  From that moment on, you were my little boy.  You are such a sweet, funny, smart little boy with beautiful blue eyes and what looks to be curly hair.  It has been my honor to be your mother this past year.  Every morning you greet me with a huge smile, lighting up the room and my day.  I can’t even remember what life was like before you joined us.  You completed our family in ways I never could have imagined.  I absolutely love being your mother.  When I ask for a hug or a kiss and you put your head on my shoulder, wrap your arms around me and squeeze, my heart feels like it’s going to burst with joy.  

Things you like right now are balls of any kind, playing in the sand but not the pool in Hawaii, kissing your reflection in the mirror, playing with your sister, playing peekaboo, playing in Cooper’s dog food dish, climbing up the slide on the climber in the playroom, putting stuff into a box and dumping it back out, emptying drawers and your favorite, taking baths. You get so excited when you hear the water running and try to climb in the tub fully dressed.  

There are not too many things you don’t like. You like your bottle (or ba-ba) and have no interest in using a sippy cup or any cup for that matter.  You decided you didn’t want baby food a couple of months ago and instead, insist on having whatever we are having. 

This past year has flown by so fast and I can’t believe you are already walking and talking.  A little boy has appeared where once my baby was. You are ready to take on the world and I can’t wait to see what the next year will bring.  You are a blessing like no other and both Daddy and I are so proud to be your parents.

Love you sweet baby boy,

Mommy

********************

Beau,

Or as your sister always to refers to you as, “Baby Beau”.  Your Mommy has summed it up perfectly.  I couldn’t be more proud to be your Dad.  I’m continually amazed at your happy demeanor and endless smiles.  You started crawling at 6 months and haven’t stayed in one place since.  I somehow have much better luck at feeding you than your Mommy does...you must be watching how I eat ;).  You are also already rolling a ball back to me when I roll it to you...can’t wait till you are old enough to start playing catch with the football and baseball.  Speaking of football, you attended your first Seahawks game this year...good thing you won't remember it since they are soooo bad!  Maybe by the time you are old enough to remember Seahawks games, they will be good again (always an optimistic fan ;).  On the flip side, you got to watch the Vikings break your Mommy's heart this year...seems to be a common theme with them.


We are going to be moving into a new house soon which is only 5 minutes from Daddy’s work, so I will be able to spend a lot more time with you and your sister (and Mommy too).  We have been extremely blessed to have 2 beautiful, healthy and fun kids and we thank God every day.  I’m looking forward to seeing what your 2nd year brings...I’m sure it will be even better than your 1st.  Exciting times at the Reid house for sure.  I love you Beau...you will always be my little buddy!

Love,

Daddy

Snorkel and Whale Watching

We took the Four Winds Snorkel and Whale Watching tour and even Lainey snorkeled. Well, as much as an almost 3 year old can snorkel.  She loved looking at all the "Nemo's" from the glass bottom section of the boat and about lost her mind when Daddy made an appearance down there as well.

The whale watching was unbelievable.  They were everywhere! We even saw a mother and her baby swimming along as well as a couple of males fighting over a female.  I could watch them breach all day long and not get tired of it. I started the morning shooting RAW and after filling my 8gb memory card in less than an hour, realized I neglected to bring extra memory cards and switched to jpeg and started deleting photos after every whale we saw.  I still filled the card but at least I made it the rest of the tour.   By the end of the tour my hand was cramping and I was tired of taking pictures.  I don't recall that ever happening to me before so you know I shot a lot of photos for that to happen!

Purple People Eaters

Think we're wearing enough purple today?  My helmut and horns are buried in the closet that has yet to be cleaned out but I'm wearing them in spirit!

GO VIKES!!!!

Waiting anxiously for the cookies to get done.

The Road to Hana

It took some convincing, but I talked Robert into driving the road to Hana for the second time.  If it weren't for his parents going with us, he definitely would've told me no.  It's a beautiful drive but for the driver, it's a nightmare with approximately 600 turns and 54 bridges.  And we had two kids and two people that get car sick.  It had disaster written all over it.  But, it turned out to be a fun day.  We took our time, didn't try to hike to any waterfalls and made Honokalani Black Sand Beach at Wainapanapa State Park our goal.  [And no, I can't pronounce either of those names.]

On a side note, it feels weird to see pictures of just the two of us now, like there's something or some people, missing.  The same thing happens when we go out by ourselves, those rare times we get a date night.  Odd considering it was just the two of us for over 8 years.

Three Bears Waterfall where I made everyone in the car nervous by climbing out onto the rock wall that had a clearly marked sign stating not to do so.

First of a few stops for banana bread. I think we stopped 3 or 4 times and ate ALL of it before we got back to the condo.  Cute 3/4ths of a family pic. Too bad Beau was asleep in the car and missed out.   Lainey looks like she'd rather be anywhere than with her parents.

We made it to the Black Sand Beach!

And found a cute hula girl and surfer boy

Not that she'd look at the camera AND smile

except to give me this look

Beau loved the beach and couldn't get enough of getting splashed by the waves

Big BIG News!!!

We are moving to Magnolia! I can't wait to be able to sit out on the deck and watch the sunset over Puget Sound, walk to the great parks and Lainey's school, and the best part---Robert's commute is going from 60 minutes to 5!  It really hasn't sunk in yet. I have never lived in Seattle but sure am excited about it!!

A little background information.  We began our search for a home closer to Robert's work a couple of months ago. Magnolia or Queen Anne were our top choices.  We then decided to focus on Magnolia for awhile as we have friends that live there, the abundance of parks, and the reputation for being a great family "suburb in the city" type of  neighborhood.  We compiled a laundry list of wants and needs for a new house, called our agents, and set about looking at homes.  We found a house we really liked, and although it wasn't exactly what we wanted, it fit pretty close.  We got home and found out it had sold in less than 5 days on the market for full price.  That's when we realized we had better step up our game or expand our target area.  We decided to see what happened after the first of the year and after our trip to Maui, I kept an eye on new listings.  Then this house popped up. I called Robert and said we should look at it and we made an appt for this past Thursday.  Thursday night, we wrote up our offer. Saturday we received the seller's counter offer and learned there was another offer on the table in addition to ours. So, we (meaning Robert) crunched some numbers, had some long discussions (meaning me responding to Robert's number crunching...I don't "do" numbers), wrote out a pro/con list, slept on it, or tried, and came up with a counter offer on Sunday.  It was suggested that we write a letter to the homeowners in an attempt to connect on an emotional level.  I looked at Robert and said, "Well, we've written two letters to birth parents hoping they'll choose us to raise their babies. How hard could this be?"  Let me tell you, it was a lot easier!!   Lainey and I met our agent with the necessary revised paperwork and a check, and spent a couple hours of quality Mommy-Daughter time that was AWESOME but that's another story.  Last night at about 7pm, we got the call telling us we got the house.  The best part is, the other offer was actually higher than ours, but it was our letter that got us the house!  So.....here it is!



January 16, 2010

Dear Homeowners,

Our names are Robert and Nicole. We have two kids, Lainey, who is about to turn 3 in March, and Beau, who will be one on the 28th. We currently live in Snohomish County and have been saving to move to Seattle for several years. We have friends that live in Magnolia (just a couple blocks away from your home) and the more we visit the area, the more we like neighborhood and everything it has to offer. I am a stay at home mother and fell in love with idea of walking with the kids to Ella Bailey Park and the Community Center. The main reason we want to move is to reduce Robert’s commute. Right now, he spends about an hour on the road each way, leaving very little time with the kids.

We fell in love with your house right away. Lainey walked into the blue bedroom upstairs and said, “This is nice!” and then grabbed the duck off the bed, hugged it and said, “My duck.” She then climbed onto the rocking chair and pretty much made herself at home. Beau went to town climbing both sets of stairs, laughing the whole way. It was raining pretty hard the day we were there so the kids didn’t get a chance to see the playhouse, but we know they will both love it. What caught Robert’s eye was the attention to detail that is apparent in the remodel that was done. He has a critical eye and was impressed with the quality workmanship. I instantly liked the layout and the floor plan but what really caught my eye was the mudroom and the craft/office areas downstairs. What mother wouldn’t love a spot like that to put away wet shoes and jackets?! I envision myself working on scrapbooking projects downstairs while the kids play or later, while they are working on homework. We really love your house. It feels like a home and most importantly, one that we could live happily in for many years to come.

We appreciate you taking the time to read this letter. While we hope you will accept our offer, if it does not work out, we wish you all the best.


Sincerely,

Robert and Nicole

Beau in the pool

Beau likes to steal his sister's sunglasses and put them on his face.  I'm sure if he realized they were pink with zebra stripes, he'd put them back down. Or, maybe he wouldn't. Maybe that's just how he rolls.  Just in case, I bought him his own pair for the trip.  Did he stop taking Lainey's? Oh heck no! Where's the fun in that?

Unlike his sister, he was not wild about the pool. I don't know if he was bored, sitting in his floatie or what.  He kept holding onto to Grammy, almost like he was asking to be let loose. He did like splashing however. A LOT.

To be fair, he was coming down with a cold at this point in the trip. It would take him a few days to get back to his old, happy as a clam self.  But he never did take to the pool like Lainey.

Beau's first plane ride

I guess I'll start at the beginning with our vacation pics.  This was Beau's first plane ride. He did really well and especially loved all the snacks I brought for him.  Between the two of them, they ate most of them on the flight to Maui, leaving me no choice but to buy more for the flight home.  Lainey got to watch Cars, her current favorite movie on the dvd player as well as Sesame Street on my iPod.  That's all it took to keep her happy for the most part.

The view from our room as well as the living room.  All you had to do was look out at the water for a few minutes and you'd see a whale splash.  I never got tired of watching for them. A couple of times we saw two males fighting over a female and they would jump clear out of the water.

Daddy, Grandpa, Lainey and I went for a walk to the pink hotel next door after breakfast our first morning to see the koi fish.  Or, as Lainey says, "Look at all the Nemo's!" All fish are Nemo's to her.  Unless it's yellow and black. Then it's "shark bait." Can you tell she's watched that movie a few times?

Robert made it a goal to take more pics of me and the kids. So thanks to him and Grandpa, I'm in my share of the photos this time.

Lainey decided very early that the ocean was not for her and wouldn't even walk close to the waves, telling us, "Let's go over here."  This was as close as she got to getting into the ocean.

This smile or one very similar to it, rarely left her face the entire trip.  That is my most precious memory of our first family vacation.

Sunset at Black Rock Beach

This is straight out of the camera.  I discovered that my new point and shoot (Canon G11) has an ND grad filter setting.  Things like that make my heart skip with joy.

I tweaked this one just a bit