emily sparks: 06/01/2013

Friday, June 28, 2013

sleep shorts, heat and other things

The summer is upon us! I know many places have been enjoying (or not) warm temps for a while now, but Seattle has just gotten the message. today is hot. There are a few factors that make 80 degrees hot. Most homes, ours included, do not have air conditioning. So, dealing with heat is quite strategic. We open the windows at night and turn on the fans. we cool down the house as much as possible at night and then we lock down the place in the morning, shutting windows and curtains. The second factor that I will mention is that we are experiencing a lot of humidity....i don't know if this is normal for the area, but we are at 60% humidity and I can feel it. I made the girls sleep shorts with some scrap cotton fabric I had and I am hoping that they will help with the heat through the summer.

A new trend that has popped up recently in our house is playing, "The Jungle Book". Basically, Mowgli is the bomb and has my kids running around in their underwear/diaper and find caves to hide in... it gets cute. On top of this crackers are Isla's new favorite snack, but she can't say "cracker". What she says sounds a whole lot more like, "the queen mother of dirty words," as Ralphy calls it in A Christmas Story. So, my baby is scampering about naked, shouting profanities and trying to find the "cave" that her, also naked, sister is hiding in. Like I said, it gets fun.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Rock and Roll: SEATTLE

I ran the Rock and Roll half marathon on Saturday. It was my 5th half marathon...I think. My mom came out from Utah and ran the full marathon. I had a hard time deciding if i would run this race. I had been training for it when I found out I was pregnant, did you miss this post? I didn't want to do anything to hurt the baby, but i was feeling good on my runs--which is saying something, because I felt good maybe 1.5% of the time during my first trimester-- so, I kept running. I was able to train throughout the sickness and the fatigue, thanks to a very supportive husband and a great running buddy. I am 13 weeks along (and slowly getting more energy). The race was awesome and I felt great. It was definitely not my fastest time, but that was never my goal. I took it easy and I am really glad I did it. I am signed up for a half marathon in August, I will be 21 weeks..I'm not sure if it will happen, but I'm hoping I can.

Here are a few pictures from the race expo and the race:

I won this hand for my little miss p at the race expo. Apparently I am pretty good at throwing a golf ball into a running shoe...who knew?

You always find some cool stuff walking around Seattle.

This is us with the amazing Olson family, who were kind enough to drive us to the race at 4:45AM.

And after the race we had a little fun with these 2 + Isla. It was a nice day.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

POP Quiz

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Last day of preschool

Today is Penelope's last day of Preschool. Penelope has learned a lot this year and has really loved preschool. I am SUUUPER scared about kindergarten. i don't know if i will be able to let her go... but that is a worry for another day. The summer will officially begin. We are ready for the popsicles, swimming pools, splash pads, parks and the sunshine. Washington, can you hear us?

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Fathers day

I feel so blessed to have such an amazing dad. He was and is a great example to me of love, of patience and of sacrifice for family. I love you dad! Watching Bryan be a sweet and fun dad to my girls makes me beyond happy. Fathers make all the difference and I have really been fortunate to have good fathers in my life.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Penelope was Tiger Lily

Penelope's Preschool put on a production of Peter Pan. P was Tiger Lily. She was so beautiful and remembered all her lines. I was really impressed by the all the children. They did amazing. If i can figure out how to post a movie from my phone, i will put a little clip from the big night right here.

When grandma and grandpa come to town

We were fortunate to have the sparks (and tanner or "nanner" if you are isla) visit us last week. We had a fun time. It is really nice to have family visit and the girls were so happy to have their grandparents in town. here are some of the things that we did:

1. Penelope's very first dance recital. It was precious. Penelope announced to her dance class that her grandparents would be at her recital. I don't think they were the only grandparent there, but i think they traveled the farthest.

2) We took a ferry to Bremerton and played around there for the day.

3) We went to a Seattle Mariners game. Mariners won, so that was sweet. We were playing the Padres, and i probably would have been cool with them winning. I have split loyalties.

4) We went to Pike Place and checked out the Gum Wall-yuck.

5) We took public transit.

6) We went spent a night and a day in Levinworth, a bavarian village. It was cute and the sausage and pretzels were amazing. They had, like, 50 kinds of mustard!