Tulip Festival

 We made it to Washington's tulip festival for the first time! Lots and lots of lovely flowers and the kids' favorite thing was probably the rivulets in the dirt. Ha. 

Since it's a 1.5-2-hour drive we decided to go up the night before and stay at a hotel which the kids haven't done in a long time so they loved it and thought it was so fun. It took a while to get them settled down to bed but they did pretty well! Gwen slept in our pack'n'play that we brought. 

In the morning the kids and I got free hotel breakfast which was delicious. Bry brought overnight oats that he ate since he can't eat from buffet-type places for the time being (and since there were limited plant-based options). 

We got to Roozengaarde about half an hour after it opened and there were already a LOT of cars but it didn't take very long to get parked which was good. Roozengaarde is one of 4 tulip gardens making up the "Skagit Valley Tulip Festival [which] is the largest tulip festival in the USA by acreage of tulips, number of farms, and days of blooms." (visitskagitvalley.com) 

We spent a couple hours walking around before leaving to make the drive home, making stops for lunch along the way. It wasn't a particularly long excursion overall but it was fun to see something special together as a family and to get out of the house for a bit. 

He's a wackadoo. Lol.

Gwen's communication

Gwen is not a big talker but she has been making progress towards talking. She now says:

- ma/mom

- no (said very sweetly - for now)

- yeah

- uh-oh

- oooo! (with an inflection like when she's excited)

- oh (for the first part of open, accompanied by the sign)

- hehehe (when she cracks herself up)

She has tried to say the words "roll," "thank you," "circle," "up," "down," "Emma." She manages to get the first sound usually or a middle sound (thank you was gutteral like a guh guh but with inflections like what I usually use). 

She can make a lot of different vowel and consonant sounds and will occasionally try to imitate a word - particularly ones repeated by her siblings. 

Her animal sounds include those for: monkey, dog, cat, horse, lion/bear/tiger, snake, giraffe (hum), wolf, owl, alligator/crocodile. 

Her hand signs include: more, please, help, book, open, milk, cracker, cheese, banana, all done, thank you, again, bird, chicken, pig. 

She's growing and keeping up with us pretty well now!

Summer went way too fast

Our summer break was exactly two months long and it didn't feel long enough. The kids are happy to be back in school, though. 

We had a pretty relaxed time celebrating mine and Henry's birthdays this month - went to the Museum of Flight for Henry's and mostly hung out at home on mine since Henry and Gwen were sick (runny noses, crankiness for Gwen). Bry got sick too after my birthday and I've just had some sneezing. Emma has been fine which is good. 

Gwen's canine teeth have started to come through! She says some animal sounds now and says "MA!" when she really wants my attention, but still isn't saying much else. She knows a little sign language and can sign: milk, eat, more, please, banana, thank you, help, crackers. Mostly she screams or grunts when she gets frustrated or upset or is trying to get our attention, so that hasn't been fun but we're trying to help her with communicating. She is laughing more these days and that's been pretty great. 

We got a dog almost 3 weeks ago now. He's almost 11 months old now. The first few days were dreadful for me emotionally and mentally but things have gotten better as he has gotten more settled and I've gotten to know him more. He's a great dog and we all like him. 

Easter

We had a quiet Easter at home. The kids looked for Easter baskets before church. I left early to practice with choir before church. The church meeting was nice even with having to play pass-the-baby with Bry who was conducting the meeting and sitting at the front of the chapel where I went when the choir sang (two numbers - a prelude and an interlude). Trickiest bit was trying to pick her up from him while holding my choir folder but it was pretty slick. 

After church the kids got to hunt for eggs - Gwen's first time really participating. She caught on pretty well. 

All three kids reached for the stuffed animal in their basket first. They are my children. :) 

Henry helping Gwen find eggs.

Henry lately

Henry has been doing soccer this season and loving it (even with some of the games being in the rain). Bry is coaching the team which has been a new experience but he has been learning and doing a great job. 

Henry also participated in a kindergarten spring program. He was one of a few kids who got a speaking part and he did great. They sang songs, of which my favorite was one about worms. They had to be wiggly worms at one point and Henry was one of the wiggliest. It was such a cute program I nearly cried but I managed to hold it together. It was a special thing to see - something Emma missed out on without knowing it her kindergarten year since it was virtual/online then.