Silas’ party was the eve before his actual birthday. In the morning we opened family presents together and had biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

OMG, my own Alexa! It turned out to be such a great gift for this boy. He LOVES listening to music and finding new songs and artists.
 

Silas turned eight on March 1st. He’s lucky because his party happened right before our lives all got turned upside down by coronavirus. We celebrated with a Minecraft themed party at the house with about a dozen of his nearest and dearest.

At eight, Silas is such a fun kid. He is sweet, sensitive, inquisitive, smiley, and oh-so-creative. No one loves a project like this kid! Whether he’s building Lego’s, painting, sewing, or drawing, Silas loves to pour himself into projects. We can definitely see him becoming an architect, engineer or graphic designer one day.

Silas really wears his heart on his sleeve. If he’s happy, you know it, if he’s surprised, you know it, and if he’s upset or angry he lets you know! He’s still as cheerful and optimistic as he ever was, but now that he’s older he has some pretty strong feelings that well up which he is learning to manage (it probably doesn’t help that his two older brothers sometimes make fun of him or leave him out).

He is incredibly sweet with Layla and it’s fun to see their relationship evolve as she becomes more of a peer. When three is a crowd with the boys Silas is often content to play make believe or outdoors with Layla. They are becoming good little buddies!

Happy birthday, Silas Tristan, may you always be our Sunny  Si. We love you!

First sleepover in the books! With Mason.

Here is a bit of what we were up to in February:
Kieron and I went to see She Loves Me at the Issaquah Village Theatre. This is the musical that inspired the movie, You’ve Got Mail. It was a sweet, uplifting romantic comedy that left us both smiling.

Layla and Daddy went to another father-daughter dance together. It was a Hawaiian theme.



Kieron likes to love on the barn cats at riding lessons

A little art project – decorating tracings of themselves

Layla, modeling a shawl made by Nana

We participated in the standing broom challenge

Avery played a great season of basketball on the 7th grade JV team.

Avery got the Coach’s Award at the end of the season


Layla at swimming lessons. She was the girl constantly asking her swim instructor, “can I go first?!”

Playdate with Harper

Lunch date at The Club

Our friend and Bellingham neighbor, Mary, made us one of her guardians for our home. It’s a guardian of the family and includes nautical nods like sailboats and shells, a map spanning from Mount Baker to Mount Rainier with the key hole on Snoqualmie, and a top at the bottom. Whenever we went to Jeff & Mary’s home she gave our kids a basket of tops to spin and entertain them while we adults visited.

Preschool buddies, Harper & Layla

Avery, the loan shark gave Kieron a (semi-predatory) loan so he could purchase a new iPad. Kieron had to work pretty hard to pay it off!


Art time

Brushing her hair

Valentine’s hearts on the kids doors

More preschool pics. With Angelo & Ryan

With Harper and Cat

February brought with it lots of puppy fun for our family. Here are a ton of pics of Phoebe!

It’s official! Making her tag at the pet store.

On a whim we decided to go to Neskowin for a few days over mid-winter break. Nana generously let us stay in her two adjacent condos. We lucked out and got amazing sunny (even warm, to us northwesterners) weather. The kids ditched their boots and went barefoot on the beach. There was tons of fort building, movie nights, and exploring the beach.

In the car. Phoebe was barking in her crate. We quickly discovered she was much better behaved up with the humans. Guess she’s training us well!
  

Tired dog

We stopped by Jacobsen Salt Co. Jonathan’s crew teammate’s brother owns it.

Had to stop by Tillamook for grilled cheese and ice cream!

Layla found this little calf to take care of.

She fed it for a looooong time!

Meanwhile her brothers learned about how cheese and milk are made.

Still feeding the calf!

A few more pics from the beach.
   

Stopped by Burgerville on the way home

This girl needed a bath when we got home!