Working and Stuff

 Rock and DeAndra have been working hard on their garden.  First they planted their stuff in a mini greenhouse.  That's pretty much far as they've gotten so far, but that's a good start.

 Rock loves getting his picture taken.  The other day he made DeA sit in the chair and take pictures with him.

 He likes the double attention of the camera and cuddling with his mommy.

 "YEA!!"

 Then when they are done he takes over the pics and snaps some of his own.

 Things are really starting to take off at the office.  I was going to quote a song about this being an important moment, but the guy in the story who sings the song ends up cheating on his fiance, killing a prostitute and getting killed by his best friend at his own wedding...so I didn't think it'd be totally appropriate.  (What the deuce is he talking about?  Click here)  

Anyway, Rock in charge of making sure that things are moving along smoothly at the practice.

 He walks the halls with the authority of a harsh dictator, just without the evil dictator stuff.

 Sometimes he's happy with what he sees.

 And other times not so much.

 The clipboard knows all, sees all and will fire all if no one starts working harder!

Ryker is also working hard himself.  You know when he's doing heavy lifting because his little tongue sticks out.

He was working on an Otter Pop when he saw me with another ice cream bar.  Apparently the rule is if he sees it and wants it, he gets it.

He munched both ice creams and made me watch.  It looked delicious.

I did notice that the eyes were starting to get longer and droopier, and I had hope that I'd get my ice cream back.

Finally he crashed and I was able to get my delicious creamsicle back.

Last weekend it rained the whole time, but this weekend we've had this stuff.  I've lived in Seattle long enough that I've almost forgotten what sunshine looks and feels like.  It's nice.

Apple Blossom!!

We started Apple Blossom off with the traditional pancake breakfast.  They had sourdough pancakes this year, but that's not why Whit's face looks like that.  It looks like that because she is chewing, in case you were wondering.

 Rock loved the blueberry pancakes.

 DeA was giddy all morning for the parade.  She likes receiving attention, and a parade is a great way for her to get it. 

 Nick was a big fan of the all you can eat style of the breakfast, and tried to talk Javier into getting his money's worth also.

 Rock's favorite part of the breakfast was putting syrup on the ham.  It was kind of like a honey glaze, but more of a Mrs. Buttersworth glaze.

 Unfortunately the Seattle weather followed me over the mountains.  Rock wouldn't let his spirit be dampened, and flirted with a little girl until she lent him her umbrella.  Normally DeA doesn't condone his womanizer ways, but it was raining hard and she didn't want to get soaked.

 We almost didn't go through with our plans of having kids in the back of the truck, but rock and his cousins were undaunted.  They demanded that they were allowed to ride in the rain.

 My mom and DeA helped make the sign for the truck, and Brian Kenck put up the side boards.  The key thing was to have cute kids doing cute stuff.

 They did a great job of waving and throwing candy.

 The hard hat was so big on Rock's head that it acted like an umbrella. 

 Colby didn't even notice the rain, or his runny nose.

The kids ran out of candy, but still waved their little hands off (pic from golakechelan.com).  They were adorable.

Sunshine Gang

Rock spent about a third of his life in the gray blanket of gloominess that is Western Washington.  He is absolutely loving the sunshine of Manson.  Papa Dale took him over to the hangar to do some things and Rock just ran laps the whole time.

Ryker's whole life has been spent under the dark curtain.  He already loves Nirvana and started asking for a flannel shirt to wear.  He doesn't even know what to do with the warm, bright weather.  His golden locks are becoming even more golden and lockier.

Rock's little cheeks have been pink from the lipstick from the sun's kisses.

Rock is constantly pointing out the popcorn on the tree.  He is either going to think that popcorn isn't edible, or one day will get a disappointing mouthful of blossom petals.

The boys can definitely wear you out, but Papa Dale had better be careful where he falls asleep.

Things...They be Changing

Our little family is in the middle of some pretty big and fun changes.  We are moving from Renton to Manson and we are opening up our own practice.  But, even with the changes some things are staying the same.  One of the fun change is that we will be spending more time sitting in breakfast nooks eating yogurt on a beautiful sunny day.  One of the things staying the same is that DeA looks radiantly beautiful in the sun.

Another change is that Rock will be playing trains on more hardwood floors, instead of the tile that he's used to.

Ryker loves playing trains, too.  Well, he mostly loves playing trains, but he doesn't love getting the trains ripped from his hands and thrown across the room.  Mommy can be so mean sometimes.

Our little Ryker is growing up so fast.  Just look at those chubby little cheeks and bottom lip while he sleeps.

Ryker and the boys have been dealing well with the changes of moving, and they even helped pack up the backyard.  The only problem was that they are easily distracted and kept playing with the toys that they were packing.

"I don't want to put the golf balls away, and I don't think that you want to come here and make me!"

"That's what I thought."

"Papa Dale come over and helped a ton by watching the boys, packing and moving stuff and mowing the lawn.  But he couldn't have properly done the lawn without Ryker pointing out where he should mow.

"That'll do, Dale.  That'll do."

Ryker is also thinning out quite a bit from where he was a few months ago.  His chiseled abs are becoming less and less covering in baby fluff all the time.  It must be all that running and wrestling with Rock, because the boy can put away the food.

DeA packed up the house and my dad put them in the truck and trailer.  Meanwhile, Rock spent most of the day warming up his muscles by flexing them for all the ladies to enjoy.

Eventually the flexing stopped and the moving began.  The boys sure do make a good moving team, with Rock doing the lifting and Ryker doing the pointing.

Ryker also got to do be in charge of the fruit snacks.

Rock is a huge helper and manhandled the massive cushions just like an ant manhandles a giant sugar cube.

Eventually we had some of the stuff loaded into the truck and trailer and moved it on over to Manson.  Rock loved the sunshine and the four wheeler

My Dad and I came back to try and finish up the rest of the move.  We loaded the dump trailer as much as we could, and then let Dad drive it over.  Good thing we aren't hicks, right?

Papa Dale got a new helicopter for his birthday, a nice two seater.

The boys took some sweet flights in their new bird, and no one got tossed out the window (yet).

Papa Dale even broke out the headset so that Rock could talk to ground control.

"Alpha Bravo Tango niner, requesting permission to buzz the tower."

"Permission denied Alpha Bravo Tango niner, land your chopper"

"We'll see about that!!!"

The control wasn't thrilled about Rock buzzing the tower, so they made him co-pilots with a greenie fresh out of flight school.

Eventually Rock convinced the new guy that he could just sit back and enjoy the buzzing.

"That was so cool, man!  I think I landed a duece in my diaper!"