4th of July

This year, we had a full and busy 4th of July. We started by going to the celebration in our neighbourhood Newport Hills park where Jalen played on the slides, ate hot dogs and played on the Tumble Bus. After an afternoon nap, we went to Tyler's house for a BBQ. We lit off some small fireworks and sparklers. Then at 10pm, we watched the fireworks display in Renton. Jalen loved staying up late and all of the fireworks. Tyler and Preston both were tired and called it an early night. Jalen is such a party animal!

Big News!

This is a picture of Jalen sitting on the toilet in May. We'd try to put him on the toilet or the potty once in a while and he always just sat there and no pee. Last Wednesday, when I picked him up at Grandma's house, she told me he peed in the toilet! I couldn't believe it. We tried it again at home and sure enough, he peed! After he pees, he would flush the toilet and put the potty seat away then we would wash his hands. It's only been day 3 of preliminary potty training but Rick and I are so excited we went and bought Pull-ups. We're just dreaming of days of diaper-free Jalen!

Splasin' Around

Yesterday was another beautiful sunny day in Seattle. Tyler's daddy Viet invited us over to their house to play in their backyard pool. Tyler was taking a nap while Jalen had so much fun splashing around. When Tyler finally got up, they played in the water some more by dipping their cars in the pool.

Some Older Videos

Here is Rick teaching Jalen the art of eating string cheese the right way. Great... Now I'm sure to find dried up crusty pieces of cheese laying around the house.


Here's Jalen waking up one morning and decided to break dance in his crib. I think this is around the time when we were watching America's Best Dance Crew and Jalen was inspired by their dancing.

Visit to Vancouver

A couple of weekends ago, Jalen and I went to Vancouver to visit my parents. Rick didn't make the drive because I was going for my friend's bridal shower so he didn't want to come. I left Seattle on Friday evening around 7pm. On the drive up to Vancouver Jalen was awake almost the whole time. He didn't doze off until it finally got dark around 10pm. I was worried that he was going to be cranky but he was quite good with his pacifier and his book. I left Vancouver around 3pm on Sunday after Jalen's nap and he was a bit restless for this part of the drive. Luckily, I was prepared. I got a portable DVD player with his favourite movie "Cars" preloaded and ready. As soon as I turned it on for him, he was all quiet.

Here we are at Van Dusen Garden. It was a beautiful sunny day!

At Oakridge Centre, Jalen met his favourite: Lightening McQueen!

Preston's Birthday Party

The May birthday parade arrived at Preston's house the weekend after Jalen's birthday party. Preston was born just 2 days after Jalen, on Jalen's due date. It was a gorgeous May Saturday so the kids were able to enjoy all the toys outside in the yard.

Here's Jalen helping Preston open his birthday gifts.


Here's Jalen looking very serious in the kitchen.

Look out, there are two little boys in the kitchen!

Jalen's 2nd Birthday Party

We can't believe our baby boy is 2 years old! On Saturday, May 9th, we had a party for Jalen's second birthday. My parents came to visit for this occasion. At first, I was pretty stressed out about what to do to keep a bunch of toddlers entertained. Then I had the idea of moving a slide from Rick's mom's house to our basement. That worked out great.

Here's Tyler and Preston playing with Jalen's train set. This train table set was Jalen's birthday gift. Rick found it on craigslist.

Here's the hand me down slide that we got from Rick's sister. We moved the poker table aside for this.

Jalen was super excited to have so many toys and friends around.

Here's us and Jalen with his Thomas the Train birthday cake. He cried when we sang happy birthday to him. Not sure why.