The Siege...

Will saved and saved, he actually did a better job of it than I usually do.  He saved up $70 and bought himself a new scooter.  It's the Razer Seige... for those of you not in the scooter know, the rear wheel is on a castor, apparently it enables the rider to "carve" and "grind" better than with a traditional fixed wheel.  I am quite the scooter expert these days as we did much research prior to this major purchase! Unfortunately we had to order it online... it took six days to deliver and I can't tell you how many times we checked the tracking number. :)

As soon as the FedEx truck rolled up to the house today Will was ready.  Nevermind that it was only 50 degrees and pouring down rain all day! 

Don't feel bad for Caleb, he got a new toy today too... a big box!

W.I.L.L.

Will brought this home from school this week.  It's been hanging up in his classroom since the beginning of the year and I think it sums him up pretty well... :)

Family Picture Day!

Finally... we have been waiting for the last several weeks for this day.  Well to be honest it has been more like two years.  We had a family picture day.  This was our third attempt at a photo session, Mother Nature hasn't exactly been cooperating on this little endeavor.  Last Saturday we were able to take advantage of a little break in the weather and meet up with Sonja, our beloved photographer :)
We met at Mirabeau Park and then set the boys loose in Discovery Park, I've already mentioned how much we love that place. 

Here are just a few... Sonja took almost 300 in our short two hours together.  I have a feeling it's going to be quite a job deciding on which are the favs.

In case anyone is interested in seeing more, Sonja has many more loaded onto her website... check them out!  Follow the link and the click on the Family Times page... (we are the Ladyman Family, incase you were wondering)

Worth A Thousand Words Photography

Thanks again Sonja, it was a fun day!!

Walk Dog Gone It!

Today Will walked in the annual Jefferson Elementary Tech Trek. This is a huge fund raiser each year for Will's school. Each student gathers pledges or donations for each lap they can walk around the track at Hart Field. It really is pretty fun every year. the kids have a great time and the parents have some fun hanging out in the infield. This year was a little less than perfect, only because of the weather. We had rain, hail, sleet, wind, some thunder and lightening and finally at quiting time... sunshine.

NOtice everyone in their down coats and hats... this was just before the thunder and lightening began.  These are the types of things that we parents will be able to hold over the kids heads for years!  "Remember that time I stood outside and watched you walk for three hours in the freezing rain?!!?"  they'll owe us for years :)

Thomas rocks the hotdog costume... he runs Bloomsday in this suit every year too!

A soccer game broke out in the middle of the field

Yes it was 50 degrees and freezing rain and wind, but who wouldn't want an ice cream bar?

Where was Caleb today, having a ton more fun hanging with Grandma and Grandpa

Will finished a little early, he was ready to head to the post-walk BBQ (so was mom) but he completed 28 laps... 7 miles!  Not too shabby.  He earned  $132 for the school.  Not bad for a fun afternon with his buddies.

Potty Party!

Well... here goes nothing.  I broke out the little potty chair yesterday.  Caleb thought it was pretty funny.  He sat on it last night for a bit and finally used it!  He was so excited.  Hopefully we can get started on the road to no diapers... wish us luck

Discovery Park

We found a new favorite spot! Discovery Park just opened last week in the Valley.  So much fun!!!  We met our friends Robin, Abby and Will there for a picnic on Monday, although we could have left the lunch at home.  No way were we getting those kids to stop and take a break to eat. Robin and I are thinking of making this a once a week date this summer.

Poor Will...  Caleb follows him around everywhere and Will is so great with him.

Abby looked so cute on these little mini teacup merry-go-rounds

A mini tampoline sunk into the play pad.  The entire play area is coated in a soft padded foam, which is great if you are as "coordinated" as Caleb.

and who doesn't love riding on a giant frog?

Caleb loved the splash pad with the fountains

Notice the scrapped up forehead...  It did happen while at the park, although we never saw the fall and he never mentioned... it looks like he'll be fine :)

We can't wait for the sun to come back out so we can go play again.

Sunshine and Sales

This week was by far the best of the year... weather-wise that is.  75 and sunny everyday, just glorious!!  Caleb played outside almost every waking moment.  When he woke up everyday he asked to go outside and play baseball.  When we told him he had to actually eat breakfast and get dressed before playing... things got ugly! :) He just can not understand why he couldn't just roll out of the crib and hit the backyard.  All that playing made for some really good naps though, so we can't complain.

On Saturday our backyard neighbors, Ricky and Jenny decided to ahve a garage sale.  It was so great, we were able to take some of our stuff over to their driveway and cash in!  We manned the sale on Saturday and Sunday for about 5hrs each day, worked on our tans and chatted up the garage sale shopping folks then walked away with an extra $130 and a cleaner basement.  You just can't ask much for much more.  We still have lots left and are planning another sale later in the summer.  Stay tuned for details. 

Sunday was Will's lacrosse game... they won!  Will scored three goals!!!!  he was soooo excited.  Just two more games left this season.  I promise to take the camera to the next game and try to get a good shot of a goal. 
Mike is back to work this week.  He left for Walla Walla this morning, be home on Thursday.  I'm not sure what we'll do without him this week.  I've gotten pretty used to having him around.   He was pretty excited to go this morning though, so all is well.

Now off to enjoy some more of this spring!  Caleb and I are meeting Robin, Abby and Will for a picnic this afternoon.  Heading to the new Discovery Park in the valley, I'll get some pics while we're there.

Rainbows

Will's class is in the middle of a poetry unit at school.  Will brought home a poem he wrote about rainbows yesterday.  I thought it was really cute.

Red is fire

Orange is the sun

Yellow is sunflowers

Green is the grass

Blue is the sky

Purple is lilacs

The rainbows are Life!

Will Ladyman - April 8, 2010

Picnic in the Park

Such a gorgeous day today!  70 degrees and beautiful sunshine.  Caleb and I ditched dad today and met our friends Robin, Abby and Will  and Alicia and Logan at Mission Park for a PICNIC!  The kids had so much fun, they played hard, had a yummy lunch and wore themselves out.

Caleb couldn't eat his lunch fast enough, nobody wants to take time out of playing for something as silly as eating

Caleb loved the rock climbing wall, even though he only climbed the ladder in the middle.

Logan was much more content to sit and hang with the grown-ups, not for much longer though, I'm afraid 

     

Caleb climbed this little hill and sat here for at least 10 minutes.  He wouldn't let any of the other kids, or mom, come to sit with him or help him down.  He came back when he was ready.

and he came back with...rocks!

We managed to get Caleb sitting still for just a few minutes so Logan could sit on his lap

Caleb and Abby... he really likes Abby :)

That really cute Gooler family, well 3/4 of them anyway

The weather for the rest of this week is looking as good or even better, so I see a few more picnics in our future.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

I hope everyone had a very happy Mother's Day!  I sure did.  Nothing better than waking up to some nice sunshine and having a whole day to yourself,  and by a whole day to myself, I mean breakfast with the family, a lacrosse game for Will and a few errands and grocery shopping :) 
It really was a wonderful day. We had our usual Sunday breakfast of coffee and bagels at the Rocket Market, then headed to GPrep for Will's game.  Our boys played a team that came up from the Tri-Cities.  Mark up another win for the Mohicans, final score 7-4!!  Our record is 4-1 this season, and the boys are having such a great time. Couldn't ask for much more.  Except maybe a game without rain.  Yesterday was such a beautiful day, with a brief two hour period of rain and wind, the rain started up just as the boys faced off in the first period and finished up about 45 seconds before the final whistle blew! oh well... Spring in Spokane

Mike and the boys bought me an awesome new outdoor lounge chair.  A gravity lounger.  It is so wonderful, I tested it out yesterday afternoon while I watched Mike and Will play baseball in the backyard.  Mike even got the extra side table to go with my chair.  I am happy to report that it supports a glass of wine and my ipod just beautifully!  Thanks again boys, I will love it a lot this summer.  Mike grilled us a little dinner, a london broil and two lobster tails!  YUMMY!  I can't think of a better way to spend my day.

Bloomsday and such...

Whew... another week in the books. :)  Will enjoyed a short week at school, thanks to some unused snow days left from this winter.  Unfortunately Mike and I were hit by a crazy stomach bug that seems to be racing through town and had to take a few days "off"... but all is back to good now. 
Will played another lacrosse game on Saturday.  His team won, I believe the final score was 8-3.  Will scored another goal had 2 assists and 5 ground balls.  I'm not really sure the significance of the ground ball stats, but both Will and coach seems pretty happy, so I guess we're happy too! 

Today was Bloomsday!!  I was supposed to walk with mom, but that stomach bug I mentioned, found its way to her house early this morning.  So at 8am, I woke Will from a sound sleep and begged him to walk with me.  Of course he did, because he is awesome!

A little chilly at the start, but we could see blue skies, so Will added his sweatshirt to collection in the trees.  I had actually planned ahead, and let him wear one that was too small and already in the goodwill box... He thought this was hilarious

So just about to the start line, by now we had already seen a few of the elite, top seeded runners who had already crossed the finish line...

Mile 4, just about to head up Doomsday Hill...

the great thing about Bloomsday is the awesome people watching... there really are ALL kinds of people who show up on the first Sunday in May. It is worth the $15 entrance fee just to watch everyone.  will and I laughed outloud at some of the costumes and getups that people were wearing.  I can not imagine walking 7 miles in a gorilla suit.  (BTW... will is the one on the left ;)

We made it up Doomsday and earned ourselves a visit with the Vulture

                                               

This couple was AWESOME... we walked behind them for about 1/2 mile.  I kept trying to get in front of them to see the other side of the shirts, but we lost them at a water station.  Perhaps it was best that we didn't see the front, leave a little something to the imagination.

This guy we found at about mile 7.  I don't know if you can read his shirt but he is a "Bloomsday Perennial" He has run in all 34 Bloomsday races.  He wasn't moving fast but he was still plucking along and seemed to be doing ok.  I wouldn't be surprised to see him again next year.

and finally... 2hr:25min later... THE FINSH LINE!!

After walking for 7.46 miles... will earned himself a slice of pepperoni from Pizza Rita!

We Love Sunny Sundays!

Another typical spring week in good old Spokane.  Monday and Tuesday were glorious, sunny and 80 degrees.  In typical spring fashion it wouldn't last, my Wednesday it was back down to 50 and rainy and windy.  Mike and I took a couple of great walks this week.  I've started going onto google maps and plotting out a new walk every day.  Just trips through different south hill neighborhoods.  We usually go about 4 miles each day.  So many cool paths that are close to home. 
We went to dinner last night at the tichey's house.  Thanks Todd and Andrea for the yummy pizza.  Will and Caleb had fun playing with Tyler and Olivia.  We'll do it again soon :)
We are heading out this morning for our usual Sunday trip to the Rocket Market for coffee and bagels and then to Will's lacrosse game this afternoon.  We are going to our neighbors, Ricky & Jenny's, tonight for beer battered fish tacos... I am so excited fish tacos are one of my favorites! I made a huge batch of homemade salsa yesterday too!

** Update**  Will's game was fantastic.  He scored his first goal!!  He played really well, all of the boys did actually!  Will's team lost (2-1 this season) but they played so well and had so much fun that it didn't really matter. Unfortunately I forgot the camera today... Oops.  It was a great afternoon and the fish tacos... THE BOMB! Dinner was so good, we had a such a fun night and then waddled our way back home, full and happy :)

Ahhh... Spring!

Don't you just love Spokane in the springtime?  Last weekend, even last Tuesday, we were wearing our down coats and scarves and hats at Will's lacrosse games.  This weekend... 75 degrees and gorgeous sunshine!! 
We tried to stay outside this weekend as much as possible, the weather was just too great to waste by going inside.  The house is a disaster now and will just have to wait until the next rainy day.  I have no doubt that it will still be messy then and give me something to do. 
Saturday night we went to the Shogun for dinner.  It was our friend Jenny's birthday.  She had invited 20 folks for a super fun hibachi night.  Mike and I had never been to Shogun, and it did not disapppoint.  We had a great time.  After dinner we decided not to waste our date night out without the boys, so we stopped by the Onion, our old stomping grounds.  We were able to say hello to a few old friends and enjoy a few beers.  On our way home we stopped by a great new spot that just opened here on the south hill.  The Hop Shop, they just opened 2 weeks ago, right on the corner of 38th & Grand.  Fun little neighborhood watering hole.  Great craft beers on tap, a few different wines and super cool owners.  If you are ever in the area, I recommend a visit

Sunday was Will's lacrosse game.  It was so much more fun to stand and cheer him on in warm sunshine!! Will played really well.  No goals but three awesome shots on goal, a few assists and a ton of hustle.  he says he had fun, so all is good!  Will was very excited to have such a large cheering section, so thanks to everyone who came out to support him... Grandpa Charlie, Grandma Sandi, Grandpa Harold, Grandma MaryAnn, Uncle Dave, Drew, Keenan, Peggy and Joe.

A great weekend had by all.  Now off to enjoy another extra large helping of vitamin D this afternoon.

We are sill alive...

I know…I know… you all thought this blog was broken. Nope just the writer was broken, or just lazy and forgetful. I have kind of spaced writing and updating for a few months. Going to try and do better… Scout Mom’s Honor!


Everything around the Ladyman house is running fairly smoothly at the moment.

Will is doing really well in school, as long as he can stop talking with his buddies long enough to do the work. He finished up basketball the first of February and he has just started Lacrosse. This is a new sport for him and so far he really seems to like it. He is doing really well for a beginner. If anyone is interested his games are on Sundays at 1:00, on the football field at G-Prep.

Caleb is… well he’s Caleb. He has turning into an absolute MONSTER!! I mean that in the best possible way. He is talking up a storm and sometimes I can even understand what he is trying to say. He still has only two speeds, the full speed super turbo mode and asleep. He loves trying to do anything the Will does. He tries to ride a skateboard, we actually had to buy him a helmet; he has his own scooter now, that he thinks is the coolest thing ever. He loves anything to do with a ball… football, baseball, basketball, really anything that he can shoot, kick or throw!

Mike and I are just trying to keep up with the boys… easier said than done! Since the weather is starting to be a bit nicer, we are starting to look forward to some camping. We have a few “maintenance” issues to take care of on the Nomad, just like every other year!  We are going to need to get started on those pretty soon because I am ready to hit the great outdoors.

Here are a few pics from the last few months, just so you can see what I have missed… again sorry, I’ll do better!


Christmas Eve at Grandma sandi's house.  All of the boys got matching pajama pants... too funny

Caleb's 2nd Birthday... his favorite part, the balloons

We took a trip to the Silver Mountain waterpark.  will got to take a buddy with him.  So much FUN!! I promise more fun than the boys look like they had in this picture. This was sunday afternoon, after 2 full days of play.  they were exhausted!

Will and a few buddies after a Gonzaga women's basketball game.

Caleb at his first grown up basketball game... he loved it!

Will's first lacrosse game.