May recap

May is coming to a close already!  This is pretty sad for me, since it is my trifecta month of wedding anniversary, Mother's Day, and birthday.  Matt and the kids did a great job celebrating, providing me with chocolate, wine, and coffee - all a woman needs!

Mother's Day Card from Grady

Gluten free brownies for my birthday

We went on a couple of adventures to celebrate the occasions.  On Mother's Day, I ran a 10K race and the kids both did a quarter mile fun run.  Clara needed to be carried for some of it, but Grady ran the whole way!  He was really excited about it, and we are looking forward to getting him into another race soon.

At the start

Speed demon

Getting a little help

Done!

Refueling

Proud kiddos

On my birthday we took a trip out to Bonneville Dam to see the views and the fish returning upstream.  They have viewing windows so you can see the fish swimming up the ladders.  We weren't there at a peak time, but we still saw a good number of fish swimming by - some quite big!  It was a beautiful drive too, and the kids managed to be very well behaved for the whole trip.  Not a lot of pictures of this one, but here's what we got.

Special occasions aside, we have been enjoying the unseasonable warm and sunny weather Portland has been giving us this month.  We have already done two rounds of strawberry picking - and made accompanying strawberry jam and muffins.  Grady is a picking champ.  And Clara has improved over last year, where she basically ate dirt for the entire time we were out there.  She picked mostly red ones this year, and managed to get a few into the box to bring home.

The whole crew

The whole crew again, in order of helpfulness

Strawberry face!

At Grady's request, we've also made a few trips to a beach along the Willamette, where Grady enjoys practicing his swimming and Clara practices looking adorable.

Yesterday was even warm enough for us to break out the kiddie pool for the first time.  The kids had a blast, and managed to put every rock and toy into the pool, along with themselves. 

Beach bums

Generally we are doing well over here.  Theo continues to be an incredibly sweet and lovely baby.  His big milestones this month have been learning to grab, slight improvement at tummy time, and working on taking naps in the crib.

Not into tummy time

Grabbing

Clara continues to rock the fashion world with her outfit choices, be at times maddeningly stubborn and at others unbelievably loving and sweet.  ("Daddy?  Daddy?  Daddy?  I love you.")  She has taken a strong interest in Theo this month, and wants to be sure he has his pacifier and blanket on at all times. 

Grady is seeming more and more like a big kid every day.  At his 4 year doctor's appointment, we learned that he grew 2.75 inches this year, and added on 8 pounds.  He is so sweet and gentle with Theo and with Clara.  When Clara was coughing the other day during lunch, Grady quietly said to her "Clara, would you like me to get you some water?  It can make you feel better."  I've also noticed this month that he has become much better at cooperative play with kids outside the family.  He invents games with them, but also is willing to put his game aside to play theirs if that's what the situation calls for.  He is generally less shy and seems to feel less awkward in social situations too.  

And you know, mom and dad are fine too.  A bit tired and in need of a vacation, but otherwise doing well.  We feel lucky to have these three. 

Too hard to pick the best one of Theo smiling, so here are a bunch

Where's the cat?

Trying to stay awake

Looking up to his big brother

Grady after an apparently tiring playdate 

I got my hair cut

Impromptu snuggles

Besa is everywhere

Conquering nerves and crossing the rocks to the waterfall

My three favorite kids