Summer Cleaning

How did the Tavern Family spend their first official day of summer vacation this last week??? Organizing and cleaning, of course! While I worked on the inside of the house, Chris and Leila hit the garage. Chris bought himself some new storage systems for the garage. Leila kept herself busy dumping all the nails, screws, washers, nuts, etc into the new bins and boxes. What a team!

Meeker Days

As mentioned in the previous post, we spent Father's Day afternoon at Meeker Days in Puyallup. Gramma and Papa Tavern joined us for the games, crafts and yummy food! We managed to find a few dry, but overcast hours in the weekend.

Leila was thrilled when she spotted Cool Bird for the Thunderbirds. She keeps informing us that she wants to take hockey lessons at Sprinker when she turns 4. They had a hockey shoot-out set up for the kids...

And for the parents...

And yes, even the grandparents.
Next we found a craft spot. Leila got to paint these big sponges and then rub her painting onto some paper. Fun!

Leila spent some time on the inflatable toys. This was her first time and boy did she LOVE them!
Daddy and Leila rode the train around the block.

The other highlight of the afternoon was this well pump. She could pump the water and give the rubber ducks a ride down the gutter. She didn't want to leave.



What a fun afternoon downtown.

Happy Father's Day!

To celebrate the most wonderful Dad, we showered Chris with presents in the early morning, hence the bed-hair. Leila picked out a Peanuts t-shirt and she made a tie for him. We found a Crayola kit that lets kids design a tie. So, she drew her and Dad walking through the grass with the sun shining. She was so excited to share it with her Dad!
After a breakfast treat of powdered donuts, we packed up and headed to the Meeker Days Celebration in Puyallup. I will post pictures of all the fun we had there soon. Happy Dad's Day, Christopher!

Weeda Ba-Deeda

While I was working on this post Leila came in the office. I asked her what I should title the pictures. She suggested Weeda Ba-Deeda. I went with it. Just in case you are wondering why in the world she might suggest this...when she was younger she called herself Weeda. Well, it has stuck and evolved. I call her Weeda Ba-Deeda. Now that you know the history, let's get on with the post.

Leila started back up with swim lessons at Kinder Swim a couple of months ago. She is liking it more and more with each lesson. She is really good at the elementary backstroke!! These first two pictures are blurry as it is SOOOO humid in the pool house!!!!!!!
My camera is starting to adjust...
Working hard at the front crawl.

Zipper-airplane-rocket stroke, which is really the elementary backstroke.
Not Leila's favorite part of the lesson, but she is less fearful each week.
She is ready to try her skills out this summer at our friend's Tim's house and in sunny California!!

Sunshine, Park and Friends!

Leila has some really close friends at daycare. Last weekend, she was invited to Kajsa's second birthday. Her family hosted it at Bradley Lake Park and the weather could not have been more perfect! The kids had a blast running around, climbing on and jumping off the play toys. Happy birthday, Kajsa!!

Leila and her best friend, Bergen (who is Kajsa's big sister). Leila and Bergen are only a 6 days apart in age. They sure do love each other!

Berg is showing off her tattoo here.

Colorful wings!


We tried and tried to get a group photo of the kids, but you know how it is with little ones. They aren't willing to pause for a moment with the camera.
The birthday girl decided to join the rest of the kids. She didn't want to leave her newly opened present, so she was pushed to the photo spot in the doll stroller.



This picture cracks me up! Look at all the personality in these three kids' expressions!! Bergen is simply enduring my obsession with pictures, Wyatt is wishing the girls would move their wings and Leila is cheesing it up, even with the sun in her eyes! Wyatt is a trooper by the way at daycare. He is surrounded by girls for the most part and doesn't go crazy!

Another Year Older

Memorial Day weekend I celebrated my birthday...twice. Leila and I drove down to see my Mom and family in Portland for Saturday and Sunday. Too bad I didn't take any pictures though. Then on Monday, we celebrated again with Christopher's family and my friend, Ann. Mike and Shawn BBQed and it was a wonderful evening. This time we remembered pictures.

Leila's card for me. Pretty darn good! I see this kind of artwork in my classroom all the time and they are 6 and 7, Leila is 3.5.

Leila was serenading me with the Happy Birthday song all week!

Leila helped me blow the candles out...I so hope my wish comes true!!!!!