Two and a Half!

On October 23rd, our little monkey turned 2.5!  It really is hard to remember what our small family of three was like before Benjamin came on the scene.  Other than his sleep issues (which are better but still not close to what I'd call normal) he is really a very easy going, sensitive, active boy.  Right now he is really into rockets, dinosaurs and any kind of car or truck or train that moves with batteries.  He lines up all of his trains and puts the battery powered Thomas engine in front and watches it go around the kitchen, into the dining room and the living room.  When one of the trains falls off he yells..."oh, no Thomas!  You lost one of your friends" and then the process starts all over again. 

Oh, and how could I forget cutting.  He loves to cut.  He can spend up to 30 minutes in the play room cutting up paper and old coloring books.  Unfortunately, sometimes he finds Josie's over abundance of artwork and gets his scissors into that before I notice.   Now we have a large box of junk mail and catalogs that are labeled "Benjamin's Cutting Box."  

We didn't have cake on the 23rd but we put a candle in his mini pizza and he was thrilled.  He is a bit of a pyromaniac and LOVES candles, matches, anything to do with fire!  I think we relit this candle 6 times.  Then we ran out of matches.  Happy 2 and 1/2 to my sweet little Benjamin Fritz!

Dates With My Main Man

Without a doubt, one of the most luxurious parts of having a live-in nanny is that Marty and I get to go on date nights nearly every week.  Normally we don't get all dressed up but this photo was from about a month ago when Marty was the M.C for the Arthritis Foundation's Bone Bash.  He has to work and I get to peruse the auction items, have yummy drinks and a tasty dinner.  Not quite fair nor as nice as our regular date night with just the two of us but still very fun every once in awhile.  

 On election night we had another unique but poorly timed event.  At Rover's they were having a chef competition called Kitchen Circus.  Marty was invited as a celebrity judge to rate the three chefs competing that night.  We had a lot of great wine, the food was spectacular, Tom Douglas was seated (as another celebrity judge) at our table and although the conversation was minimal due to everyone checking their phones and iPads for elections results, the night was really fun.  Plus, it was fun to be surrounded by a bunch of other Obama supporters  when it was announced he won.  We really wanted to be home with the kids for this but when duty calls...
Here is the menu:

 And the famous Top Chef Master Thierry Rautureau, owner of Rover's, announcing the winners with the competing chefs and their sous chefs.  By the way, the dessert chef (the woman on the far right) won.  It was AMAZING. 

 Although the fancy outings are very fun every once in awhile, what we both enjoy most is just going somewhere in West Seattle - during Happy Hour preferably because we are both really cheap - and enjoying an hour of two.  Just the two of us, no kid interruptions, no spilled milk (hopefully) and maybe an alcoholic beverage (that we don't have to hide behind the salt and pepper shakers because the kids think it is pop and want to drink it)
Awhile back Marty did some work for a friend  and as a thank you he sent him a $200 (!!) gift card to Salty's.  For most people this would have been a very nice dinner for 2.  But because we think alike, we opted for 4 Happy Hour dates on their beautiful deck with a gorgeous view of Seattle.  And.. we still have money on the card for one more which we will most likely have to enjoy indoors as the weather has changed just a little bit.  

Soccer Girl Update

Update on our Soccer Girl with her professional photos... and a team record of 4 wins and 2 losses -which were the first and last games, strangely enough.  Josie didn't score a goal but she enjoyed the season. 

S I X !!

On September 29th 2012 our little girl turned 6!!  HOW did this happen?!  It seems just yesterday we were wondering what to do with our first brand new baby.  She is a lively, healthy, tenacious, spirited 6 years old.  She embraces life and every new opportunity presented to her.  She loves to draw, paint and be creative.  She has made a lot of new friends at her new school, she is starting to read on her own, doing math problems well above her grade level and is loving kindergarten.  She mostly loves her brother and her parents. You never have to wonder what or how she is feeling because she is VERY expressive.  I could not be more proud to be her mother!  We love you Josephine Marie Riemer  - our big 6 year old.

She has wanted a Carnival themed birthday party for a few years.  Thankfully, we had Franziska with us who did a fantastic job painting faces.  Below Franziska's brother, Sebastian who was visiting with their parents from Germany. 

The decorations, cake and food were all set.

The prizes were ready

The pizza makings were ready

The coloring station was set

FINALLY.... everyone showed up :)

Two of Josie's longest time friends, Bryn and Boyan - from her PEPS group, making their personal pizzas.

Will making his pizza with Josie and his mom Ali supervising. 

One of her newer friends from kindergarten, Jesse, getting his face painted

Boyan, Josie and Nate getting ready to run up the slide.

Jesse, Nate and Josie

Pin the nose on the clown.  Franziska drew the outline of the clown and Josie colored it in.

There was a ring toss game and a ping pong toss game.

The circus tent cake and cupcakes.

Benjamin and Franziska

Everyone enjoying cake

Benjamin and Nate

Josie really gets credit for most of this party.  As previously stated she is expressive and opinionated.  She wanted a "really big cupcake" for herself (thus the circus tent) she wanted her friends to be able to make their own pizzas (that I then BBQ'ed) she wanted fun carnival games and pin the nose on the clown.  It all went off without a hitch, thankfully and everyone was happy.

Happy Birthday to our little fireball!!

Date With My Little Man

While Marty was in Palm Springs, Josie was invited to her first slumber party at her good friend, Bryn's house. Benjamin and I decided to have some fun ourselves and head down to Alki for a special, beach date, just the two of us.

 We threw lots of rocks and watched the sun go down while eating cheeseburgers and fries.

 After a couple of hours his face was full of ketchup, his shoes were full of sand and we were both tired and happy.   I just love this little guy!!

The next morning we picked Josie up at Bryn's and then headed to Lincoln Park for a little more rock throwing.

Cranky and Hot

Marty had to go to Palm Springs for a video shoot near the end of September.  It was 110 degrees there.  For those that know Marty, this comes as no surprise that this is his least favorite type of weather. Josie knows how much her daddy hates the hot weather.  Here is a video message we sent to him .... 

While Marty was away, Franziska was vacationing in Hawaii with her family so the kids and I had fun together, just the three of us.  Benjamin and I built a lot of towers and we visited lots of parks

 And I took lots of photos of the kids to send to Marty to say hello.  I would never want to be a single parent but it was fun to "rough it" for 4 days. We were all happy when daddy came home.

Special Visits

Grandma and Papa came to visit and the kids loved the extra special love and attention.  We don't see them often enough but it is a nice treat when we do.  I wish we lived closer!! 

Grandma and Papa walked Josie to the bus stop and/or picked her up daily.  And Papa didn't disappoint with his early morning coffee (for him and me) and doughnut (for the kids) runs. 

They also had fun building towers

 And Benjamin and Grandma helped me with dinner but shucking the brussel sprouts off the stalk.... pull!!

Thanks for the visit.  We can't wait to see you both at Christmas!!

September in Seattle

Septembers in Seattle really are pretty amazing.  On a very nice weekend in mid September we headed down to Oma and Opa's for the day and took their little boat out on the small lake/pond.  As always there was a bit of fishing,  some scowls, a few tears....

 But mostly smiles!!