Ice Cream

We finally had our first cookout of the season! We went to Laird Park with some friends and enjoyed food, conversation and sand. Some brave kiddos enjoyed the mountain water too.

And this of course has nothing to do with our cookout. But it's too funny to leave out. Jack loves to read while using the potty. We keep a tool catalog on the tank for him.

My baby

I still call Patrick "Baby". He will have to hand this nickname over to a real baby in very little time. But when he plays with baby toys whilst sucking on his pacifier in a baby bath (it's a boat, according to Jack), he is definitely still My Baby.

I caught him playing in the pool the other day. It looks like he was really enjoying himself, despite one thing - there's no water in that pool!

First real day of summer

While yesterday was the first official day of summer, it just didn't feel like it, as we just sat around inside wearing sweaters and watching the mercury hover around 50.

But today, ahh, today is different. It's barely 70, but it feels much warmer to our sensitive northwest skin. So we went to the playground with Emeth and Matthias (and of course their cool Mom and in-utero sibling who she is growing specifically to be our little baby's besty. Okay, not really, but we do get asked that.)

There was a puddle. A muddy one.

And there were rocks in the muddy puddle!

Muddy rocks taste the best!

Matthias went all-out in the mud.

And Jack thought it would be best to hug his bud right after the puddle jump.

And here's Baby at 37 weeks!

Strawberries and Sand

Patrick just loves the sandbox. He's often found playing by himself for long periods of time in his turtle. That is - until he discovered the pile of dirt right next to it.

Jack does not love the sandbox. He's above such filthy things. But he does love strawberries.

Before and After

We are just four weeks now from Baby Bakken #3's due date. I've been all a scamper trying to get a room ready for him (or her.) This room was a nightmare to fix up. I had to clean graffiti (anybody heard of "Vampire Breathless"?) off of the cabinets. All the trim was in bad condition. The walls were a depressing blue. The ceiling had three different colors of paint I had to cover and to top it all off there was dried paint all over the carpet. It took me several weeks of hard work to make the room presentable but it makes the result all the much nicer.

I used leftover paint from our living room. And for some reason I can't get a very accurate picture of what this green looks like. It's far softer in person than in photo. I've yet to hang anything on the walls and the curtains are temporary until we meet our little babe. If this baby is a girl, you better bet there will be flowery curtains up.

Here's our little guest room/nap room in the basement. It's all ready for summer company!

This is just a peak at what I'm doing now. I just painted the trim in our kitchen and hope to get a start on the cabinets before Baby comes.

Patrick and the Pickle