dog park

Last weekend I took Ted and the dogs to the dog park. I always want to go but no one ever will go with me. Now I have Ted to take along everywhere bwa ha ha

He road in the ergo carrier half the time and then I let him walk around. 

In this pic he is petting Ruby. The other pug is Lulu, because pugs find each other and gravitate. We saw three other pugs our entire time there and all three would rush over to Ruby as soon as they saw here. 

For whatever reason, Max gets super droolie when we go to the dog park. It is really gross. He never drools any other time. Way to make a good impression on the other dogs Max...

peg dolls

The pictures are out of order. I decided to paint little peg dolls for Ted for Christmas. Here is what I have so far. 

These are Ted, Tyler and myself. 

This is the random picture of Ted napping. I just thought it was funny. He drove under his lamby pillow and fell asleep.

Here is my mom hahaha 

Here is just another picture of the peg dolls. I think the lion is pretty darn cute. Today I finished some Star Trek peg dolls. 

Ted has always enjoyed playing our piano but lately he has taken a possessive liking to it. I am no longer allowed to play the piano. If I sit down and start playing he will immediately rush over and yell at me. I will pick him up and sit him next to me on the piano bench. If I then continue my playing he will crawl over to sit on my lap and pull my hands away from the keys so only he can play. It is adorable... until I actually want to play the piano, then it is kind of annoying :) 

I hope he keeps his love of the piano into later years and gets really great at it. I did not start playing the piano until I was in my 20s. 

I always think it would be cute to create a post dedicated to all the places Ruby uses as a bed. These places include her dog bed, any blanket on the floor, shelves, Ted's old baby chair, stuffed animals, clothing, and most recently Ted's kiddie chair. 

Ted has this adorable woolly bully coat my grandma go him. The arms are too long so when he walks he looks like a baby penguin :)  

My mom thinks the coat is too much so she bought Ted a more respectable rain coat and matching vest with a hat. It is very handsome :) And they are came in handy when we got caught in the pouring rain on our walk. Ted did not get wet because he had the stroller cover. I was soaked.  

Recently I made my first sensory bin for Ted. I have wanted to do this for a while but did not know where to get started. The bin is not super full because I grabbed lots of things from around the house. Ted loves it. Next time I will put more effort into making it have a fun theme.  

the evolution of daycare... and happy national pug day!

I just found out that today is National Pug Day. Isn't that cool? I did not even know there was a pug day. How have I lived this long without knowing that? To celebrate I took a picture of Ruby and put it on Facebook. Perhaps later I will give her a biscuit.

 Today was my first day doing daycare on the main level of my house. It was fantastic! I am still using the original daycare space but I use the main level for meals and snacks. It has completely changed the feel of daycare.It feels more like a relaxing day at home with children then a day locked in the basement. Okay so it did not completely feel like being locked in a basement but the room does get small when you have been there all day. I feel like my perspective on day care has changed so much since I originally was given the idea to start it. Anyway I am happy with my decision to stay home with Ted and watch children.

 Today we went to Costco for the second time in a week. Mainly because I forgot to get baby wipes the last time we went. They have adorable baby costumes for Halloween unfortunately Ted's head is too big for the hats thst go with the costumes. My sister down in Utah is going to mail up an old cow costume from my niece. The costume is old not the cow :-)

the main level is licensed

I have been having my fair share of trials in patience that is for sure. The licensor emailed me on Thursday and said she would come by on Friday. Friday came and went and there was no licensor. I got an email from her late last night stating she had been out sick and would come Tuesday. Anyway we passed and I am super stoked!

Some more updates: we sold our van so now we are a one car family. We did this to work on getting out of debt and cutting back on our financial stressors. It sold within a week. I do miss the van but I do not miss the payment! I also don't mind the excuse that I can't do something because I don't have a car.... bwa ha ha

My birthday is coming up which I am excited about. I notoriously get super bratty on my birthday so I am trying to avoid that this year...

Not much new with Ted. He is still a ham. He seems to be enjoying having kids come play with him more than he used to. Today was a super rough nap day. The kids ended up not getting to sleep until 2 hrs past nap time. I consider myself a nap superwoman because I have been able to get three kids under 18 months old to take a nap together in the same room. The experience gives me greater appreciation for people who have triplets.

Daycare updates, new stake presidency

Tyler and I have been busy working to get the main level of our house licensed to do daycare. I am already licensed for the downstairs but it became painfully apparent that the downstairs gets very small after 12 hours down there. Luckily it has been sunny outside so the kids can run around in the backyard.

My parents came over last weekend and helped Tyler change out all the outlets to be tamper resistant, install a lowered handrail, and some other stuff.

I was at an all day daycare training course. It was really intimidating. Everyone had to introduce themselves and say where they worked. Most of the other people worked at daycare centers and had been doing that for quite a while. The other people who said they work at in-home daycare said they had been doing it for 10, 30, 41 years!!! (We were not asked to say how long we had been working but people like to brag). When my turn came I said I work at an in-home daycare and have not been doing it very long. The instructor asked how long.... oh about 3 months... It was a good class though, very informative.

Now I am just waiting for the licenser to come by sometime and hopefully pass off the main level.

We just had stake conference this past weekend and we got a new stake presidency. I don't know any of the men that were called. Ted did great. He was able to make it through 2 1/2 hours without having to leave the chapel once. There was one time where we came close but luckily Tyler thought to bring cheesey Chex mix which held us out for the final 30 minutes.

Ted pics

Ted watching Veggie Tales from across the room. 

Enjoying the last of the summer sun.  

Eating an Eggo.  

Grandma Mann bought Ted a lamby pillow to go with his other lamby toy. He was carrying it all over the house. 

Riding in the wagon with green bear from aunt Miranda.  

Ted does not need a nap

According to Ted he did not need a nap today... After nap time was over at daycare I was reading a book with one of the other kids. Ted was not pleased... this video is a result. I do not show it to embarrass him, I show it because it is so ridiculously adorable :)

Ted goes to the zoo round 2

While daddy was gone on a boys weekend Ted, grandma and I went to the zoo. It was super hot with lots of hills. Even the meerkats were hot. 

It was cute seeing Ted's reaction to the aquarium. I think he liked seeing the fish but he was a but more cautious about touching the glass.  

In the kid zone Ted sat with the lemurs.  

How tall Ted is next to a polar bear.  

In the goat petting zoo.  

In true baby fashion Ted randomly pulled up his shirt for a picture.  

STOP THE BUILDING OF A MARIJUANA PRODUCTION FACILITY IN MAPLE VALLEY/COVINGTON

I just received this email from someone I go to church. I can't believe this garbage!!!! I was so upset that marijuana was legalized in Washington and now it is coming to my community. I wrote an email to stop the building of this facility.

 Please please please anyone who reads this post write an emails to STOP THIS MARIJUANA FACILITY FROM BEING BUILT! 


Believe it!!!   At the end of our residential street (200th Ave SE) there is a proposal to build two 20,000 square foot warehouses to "be used for the processing/production of marijuana."  The only way to access this property is by using our road that has a church, a small neighborhood and homes on 2-5 acre lots.  It's outrageous that King County is even considering permitting this proposal.  The Notice of Application and SEPA Notice is attached (pay attention to site plan text box under Building A & B).
> > This will have a very negative impact on our community.  Surrounding property values will decrease, increase traffic on 200th,SE Wax Rd and SE 240th and endanger all the children in this neighborhood as the trucks/box vans transport drugs.  There is already tons of property slotted for commercial use.  There is no need to turn our residential area into something it's not.  There are 40 parking stalls for employees...  
> > What can you do to help?  
> > By September 2nd, please email the project manager Nancy Hopkins Goree at nancy.hopkins@kingcounty.gov and her supervisor Ty Peterson at ty.peterson@kingcounty.gov.  Be sure to include the File No. CMST14-0001 and your mailing address in the email.  They also recommended mailing a hard copy, but not necessary.  By including your mailing address you will be notified of the decision.  Any and all residents and business in the community can voice their opinion.  
> > Together we can stop the proposed POT warehouses in Maple Valley.  Don't wait, please send an email & share with your friends and neighbors in the community.> Thank you,

Ted the Model... Sort of

Ted is a member of a modeling agency, but nothing has come of it yet. Everyone recently was required to submit new photos. Since Ted is under 6 years old he can just use a snap shot instead of having a fancy head shot.

summertime pics

While I was talking on the phone to Tyler, Ted sat on the floor and rested his head on the first step and was just staring at the ceiling. This is what you do when you are a baby. Yes, he is holding a chip bag clip. One of his favorite toys. Oh, I have wasted so much money on toys....

Jenae sent me a doggie snuggie. It was a size small which neither of my dogs are. I wrestled Ruby into it anyway so aunt Jenae could see her wonderful gift. Putting this on her was the struggle equivalent to trimming her nails!

Ted has taken to climbing into his cozy coupe, which we park under the counter, via the side without a door. Then he is stuck forever or until I take pity on moaning Myrtle and pull him out. :-) I am sure he would actually prefer me to push him around the house instead.

Ted looking good in his summer gear.

Ted Goes to the Beach

Ted went to the ocean at Christmas time but I don't count that because he never got out of his stroller. So here is his official first time at the beach. The pictures are out of order. 

At first Ted loved it. 

As you can see Ted tasted quite a bit of sand. 

Then Ted hated it. Hahaha I love this picture so much. We took him to the water and at this point he is cold, tired, and hungry. 

We changed Ted back into his warm dry clothes and everything was all better.

Grandma and Grampa Mann

The reason we vacation where we do is because my grandma lives by the beach. I didn't get any pictures of her this time around. :( but here is Ted riding Max the horse at her house.

Later we went for a walk. Wagons are very hard to nap in.

Oh my goodness there were so many birds at the beach the second day. 

Tyler and the dogs ventured out. Ruby went crazy trying to get them. I'm pretty sure the pelicans could have fit her in their mouth. 

Because of the crazy birds we went for a walk. It was pretty hot to the royal pug got to ride in the wagon. We tried to let Max in the wagon too but he preferred to walk. Ruby on the other hand looked like she was meant to always be rolled around in her regal caravan.