update

Oh my goodness, I have been terrible about writing.

so lets see here where did I leave off....... ah, yes now I remember.

Let me recap what's happened since.

We had two great thanksgivings. I was surprised but oh so happy, to get turkey left overs. It's generally all eaten up. And my turkey soup from smoked turkey was oh so good. Yum!

We went to Disney on ice. So much fun! Girls loved it and I had tons of fun too.

We went Ice skating. Sam is a natural at it and Katie was doing better than Eric by the time we left. She whispered in my ear " can I skate with you now mom? dad goes real slow." priceless.

We have been marching right through the alphabet. It's M week right now.

Took the girls to do their Christmas shopping at the Santa express and had a blast checking out the davenport trees.

We have visited with Santa twice. Once downtown while we were passing by and at Cabella's. I have a super cute picture from the Cabella's Santa, there is even a Santa hat on the tiger in the background.

I quit my one day a week job. Yes after 10 1/2 years I have finally said goodbye to Albertson's. It was a decision a long time coming and although I have agonized over making it, once made I couldn't be happier.

My Grandma came to visit for the holidays. Yeah!

We saw the lights at the conservatory at Manito tonight. Gorgeous as always.

I am planing to get a boat ride in to see the lights on lake Coeur d'Alene. It's a magical trip to the north pole to Santa's workshop. Must go before he packs up for Christmas eve deliveries.

Lots of Holiday fun still to be had and our days are quickly filling up.
Have a great day all!

almost thanksgiving

So it's less than a week until thanksgiving.


It really doesn't feel that way. I am not hosting or organizing or cooking any dinner this year. It's strange. I am a planner. It's strange to have an event on the horizon and not be planning.

Last year a week out, I had a table set up in my kitchen with recipes and ingredients all lined up. I had been shopping the ads and was buying up my ingredients at great prices and needed someplace to store the food. I managed to make thanksgiving for 10 adults & 4 kids and buy groceries for the month within my normal grocery budget. I was shocked! No way could I have done it if my mom hadn't bought the turkey. We buy fresh free range turkey. It's pricey turkey but worth every delicious penny.

Needless to say if i had my dry ingredients lined up: the menu was already set and the hours spent perusing the web for holiday dish ideas already done.

With no additional shopping, cleaning, or cooking that goes along with hosting a big dinner this year, the nearness of thanksgiving hasn't sunk in. With out the crazed rush that I usually prepare for thanksgiving it feels strange. It's strange but in a good way. I think I like this new way.
Happy turkey day everyone!

Felt food

Ok.... I'll admit it..... I have become a little obsessive about felt food in the last week or so.

Have you seen it though? I mean really can you blame me?
Esty has pages and pages of finished food or food patterns. It is all so cute and fun and yummy looking. I have not bought anything but I am seriously tempted. Very Very tempted.

Instead of buying it already finished I decided I wanted to try making some.
Reason 1. I have several felt scrapes from another project I am working on.
2. At 25 cents a sheet it's well within my "I tried and failed" craft budget.
3. If I make it myself, I won't spend a small fortune filling a play fridge.
Anyway add all that up and I was off on my adventure to make felt food.

My adventure has led to some serious belly laughs. My first whole egg, well i almost peed my pants, I laughed so hard. I have hunted down free patterns, read lots of tutorials, and actually assembled several items. So far I have invested $2. I think I will be returning to the fabric store soon and buy more bread color & ham color along with some white or pink embroidery floss. Christmas is coming and my girls are getting a new big kitchen from Santa. They have lots of plastic fruits & veggies but I don't think it will be enough to fill the new fridge & pantry.

If you start to get that felt food itch, I have loved these sites.
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/06/05/making-doughnuts/
http://snazzlecraft.blogspot.com/2009/01/free-felt-food-pattern.html

stew

I'm making stew today.
It's super easy almost foul proof stew.
So easy and so good I figure i should share.

Add these ingredients to your crock pot and cook on low until potatoes and meat done. I have gone as little as 6 hours and as long as 10.

Add 1-2 pounds of stew meat
I cut mine into bite size pieces but if you like big chunky stew leave them big. I also remove any large chunks of fat, marbled meat is great but fat chunks yuck
I then chop up @ 4 cups of potatoes
Any kind- bakers, red, yellow. I leave the skins on but if you don't like skins peel them off. Again chopped size of potatoes is up to you, I make them about the size of the meat
Then chop up some onion about 1/2 an med onion
I prefer to use sweet onions. But yellow or white work fine too. I chop mine really small but if you like big bites of onion go for it. Again adding more or less onion changes the flavor so have fun. I have tossed in a whole onion or just a little it's good both ways
Add other chopped vegetables if desired about two cups
You can add carrots, celery, what ever you like. My family not huge fans of cooked carrots and if I add celery they will eat everything but celery. I instead don't add veggies at this time. I will however add a drained can of green beans later.
Chop about a clove of garlic
I love garlic so i may add more if i have it. Chop it small, crush it and leave chunks, rough chop, add almost none, use pre chopped garlic, you really can't go wrong on the garlic step.
Now add one undrained can of mushrooms
you can add two if you like, just make sure to add juice and all
At this point I will add chicken stock until everything is covered.
Depending on what you added and how much of it you used this amount will change. Just be sure sure to leave room to stir, add green beans, and 1/2 cup of water. Things get messy if you don't leave the room.
Now add some salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce.
Just add some, I taste later in the process and see what it needs more of. Since different amounts of meat, different types of potatoes and varying amounts of liquid will change salt, pepper ration I try and under season. It's much easier to add more later than tone it down.
Stir and mix, then cover and let it do it's thing.
I check back when it starts to smell good and adjust seasoning
A 1/2 an hour before serving blend 1/2 cup water & 1/2 cup of flour. add to pot and stir. Turn heat to high and cook for 30 Min's
This is also the point that I add the can of drained green beans. The flavors should be strong before you add the flour mixture, don't worry. Before serving check salt, pepper, and Worcestershire levels. add more if needed.

pictures pictures pictures

I have finally uploaded pictures from our fun Train Ride in Ione. Halloween pictures are next, along with some awesome leaf jumping shots and a Madisen Birthday party.
I hope hope hope to be current with my pictures on flickr by the end of the weekend.
Then I need to get into high gear to finish up work on my Hawker Year Book submissions. I took like 3 times as many pictures this year as last which means I can't include them all. I will have to select only some. I have a hard time giving the axe to pictures of my girls, even when they are blurry or not in focus or not doing anything or not looking at the camera. I am a wimp! Anyway.... edit it down to a manageable few I will do.
Have a great day all.
I plan on getting Eric on ice skates this afternoon. Plan on funny tweets and some great photos to follow.

mid november

So it's getting to be mid November...
The list of things i wanted to do this fall and winter are slowly being check marked off. In the next few weeks we have a flurry of events that I can't wait to take the girls too.

Train Ride in Ione to see the fall colors- done
Green Bluff for the apple festival- done twice
Disney on Ice- On wed
Ballet- Nutcracker in December
Lake cruise to see lights on Cour de'lane- starts after thanksgiving
Welcome Santa festivities with caroling and story time- on the 20th of November
Breakfast with Santa- Not sure?
Winter KPBX Kids Concerts- Nov 21 & Dec 19
Horse drawn carriage rides downtown
Ice Skating downtown

I love taking the girls out to experience these wonderful things. I love seeing their eyes light up with wonder. I cherish the squeals of delight even when they burst my ear drums. These fun filled winter activities really are the holiday season to me. Not the gifts, tree, or decorations but the rosy cheeks of happy girls enjoying all there is see and do.

today

Ate a surprisingly good dairy free cheesecake.
Made Easy Bake oven heart cookies
Made a vegan eggnog cheesecake
Had a wonderful dinner of Eggs Benedict
Spent a fabulous day outside in the wonderfully sunshine with my family
Had an unusually easy morning....... while children tried to draw as little attention to them selves as possible; so they could continue eating lots & lots of candy.

Today was Great!

Neat

:: Schmap Seattle Ninth Edition: Photo Inclusion
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If you use an iPhone or iPod touch, then this same linkwill take you directly to your photo in the iPhone versionof our guide. On a desktop computer, you can still see exactly how your photo is displayed and credited in theiPhone version of our guide at: Woodland Park Zoo http://www.schmap.com/?m=iphone#uid=seattle&sid=activities_fremont&p=15719&i=15719_129
Finally, if you have a blog, you might also like to checkout the customizable widgetized version of our SchmapSeattle Guide, complete with your published photo: http://www.schmap.com/guidewidgets/p=8049049N06/c=SM20061368
Thanks so much for letting us include your photo - pleaseenjoy the guide!
Best regards, Emma Williams,Managing Editor, Schmap Guides

shots, shots, and more shots

On Monday we went to Kaitlyn's 5 year well child check up.
She is practically perfect in every way. Her brain power is off the charts and she is perfectly proportioned in weight and height. Like I said practically perfect in every way.
At her well child check up she got the last of her early childhood vaccinations. She got the last of the polio series, the last of the chickenpox series, and the last of the diphtheria, tetanus, & pertussis series. All of us girls also got our seasonal flu shot. So poor Katie bug got 4 shots, while Sam and I just got 1.
I also asked our Dr if the flu bug we had was the H1N1 flu bug. He asked several questions and said that more than likely we most certainly did. I then asked "if we had swine flu, do we need the swine flu shot?" He said that since we did a good job of managing our symptoms at home and did the right thing by not leaving the house, we also didn't confirm with a test that we had H1N1. Without confirmation he couldn't officially say we didn't need the shot. But that if he were us he wouldn't get it, none of the regular flu bugs going around had a fever for 6+ days.
So we were terribly sick, we most likely had the swine flu, and my children screamed for joy that they didn't have another shot to get!
Life is good folks and don't forget to stockpile the Mucinex at home!

Kaitlyn is 5 today!

My Katie Bug is five years old today.
How did this happen?
I swear it was just a few months ago that her and Eric were playing games and keeping me awake at night. Yes, she has always been a daddy's girl even before she was born.
Wasn't it just a few weeks ago that she babbled to me all day in her own language and I understood about half of what she said and commented on all of it. We carried on lengthy conversations, even though she was barely one.
When did my darling little girl get to be so big?
Probably she got bigger when she was arguing her case better than any hardened new york lawyer. She may have gotten a little bigger when her sense of fashion compelled her to comment on my clothes. She may have grown just a little bitty bit while she wrote & illustrated her first book. Or when she decided that she wants to be a horticulturist and write gardening books when she grows up. She might have grown when i wasn't looking or when she was sleeping or reading me stories or creating the most complicated story lines involving all the princesses in the playroom or being the perfect little girl that she has always been.
No matter how or when it happened, It did. My baby is 5.

Driveway

Well it finally happened the driveway project is done!
Eric with help from his Dad moved all 7 tons of gravel and spread it out in the driveway.
It's been a slow long process, this driveway project.
But it's done yeah!

It's Friday.
It's seven days since Samantha first got sick.
It's two days since Kaitlyn or Samantha have had a fever.
It's hours since I ran a fever.
We have gone through 4 boxes of Kleenex, 3 bottles of children's Mucinex, 1 1/2 bottles of children's ibuprofen, 2 bottles of children's cough medicine, 2 bags of cough drops, 1 box of menthol strips, 3 bottles of hand sanitizer, 1 large can of Lysol, and more adult drugs than i want to think about.
We are not better yet.
But I think we are starting to win the war.

today

Today was suppose to be the first day of our first review week in preschool.
Samantha spiked a fever of 102 Friday afternoon after a day of healthy normalness. Kaitlyn spiked a fever of 102 Saturday afternoon. I spiked a fever of 102 Sunday afternoon. Eric who has thought for many years that flu shots are silly, is still healthy. He got his flu shot last week. The girls and I get ours at Kaitlyn's well-child-check-up in two weeks.
Now that both girls are getting better and I have gotten out of bed, I will start the disinfecting process in our house. Tomorrow i will wash all the blankets and pillow cases, i will coat the house in Lysol, blankets and pillows from living room will be washed, and sanitizer/tissue/garbage stations will be set up in every room.
There is nothing worse than surviving a family cold only to reinfect each other.

Happy October 1st

This has been a fun week for us. It has gotten allot colder outside. With the cold we are more reluctant to stop snuggling under our blankets to actually get the day going. Colder weather means all that wonderful cold weather slow cooked dinners. Less to do at dinner time but I am doing allot of cooking each morning between breakfast, dinner, lunch and a snack by noon.
This has been E week. It's been fun with Elephants, Eggs, Ovals, Pomp & Circumstance composer Edward Elgar, and Amelia Earhart. Granted we have had lessons after lunch everyday this week instead of our usual 10am. That just means our mornings have been free play with me cooking and our afternoons the more structured part of our day.
I did cave in yesterday and turned on the furnace. It was still 63 in the house at lunch time and when we went out to play it felt warmer outside. It was only 54 outside but the sun was warm on your back. It was 90 a week and a half ago, what happened? I will have to start my marathon leaf raking soon. The yard is actually littered with leaves now. I have ignored them until now because i am stubborn and silly and decided that I would not acknowledged the leaves until it was October. It is now the first of October and the last two cold nights have tripled the amount of leaves in the yard. Ugg!
I think we will decorate the house today for fall. My spring/summer decorations just seem very out of place with the furnace on. Daisy's to fall leaf bouquets & jacks to gourds in the vases in dining room, Flowers to leaves & scarecrows in the large picture window, sandals to slippers by the back door, fans to blankets in the corner, oh yes and the heavy drapes for our drafty windows. Yes it's fall, no more ignoring, I love the fall, but winter was just so long last year, I don't even want to consider winter, and to love fall, to embrace fall, I must consider winter.

learning, preschool, & me

I learned several new things today. Just typing this makes me giggle just a little, well OK allot.
I learned things today while teaching preschool to my darling little girls.
Yes, I said Preschool.
As the weeks have passed I have actually learned quite a few things during our hour of preschool or during my collection efforts for preschool.
I have learned allot about modern American Music through our weekly composers. The largest crab in the world lives off the shores of Japan and has a leg span of 12 feet. And I had no idea that the Dalmatian Puppy was from the country of Dalmatia.
Between the composer, sign language, 2 animals, and a historical figure each week.. so much learning for me. Then there is the other stuff too shapes, ABC's, number's, math concepts, writing, cutting & pasting, singing, and poems.... lots of learning for everyone.

pantry cleaning

I was checking dates in my pantry. I do this every now and again or at least I try to. The girls useually put away all of the canned goods from grocery shopping.... so stock rotation does not happen.
I found two large cans of crushed tomatoes, 1 can of chicken stock, and a can of pinto and garbonzo beans that were all due to expire next month.
So I made chili.
I now have a belly full of chili and plenty to last a few days.

Neat art project

Thursday is Social Studies and art project day in preschool.
It being "C" week our historical figure was Christopher Columbus today.
I found an awesome little art project that happened to be about our historical figure. It was "ship in a bottle" construction paper, markers, scissors, glue, and plastic wrap. Needless to say the girls had fun & their "ship in a bottle" is really cool.
http://www.alphabet-soup.net/columbus/columbus.html
If you scroll down far enough on the link you will find the instructions and a picture. Very cute and very fun project.
Tomorrow is Friday and we will be wrapping up "C" week with a cookie making marathon. We will make several different cookie doughs and then ball & freeze them. Way better than Pillsbury and just as easy. Fresh baked home made cookies when ever we want them, straight from our freezer.

Our B week

On Sunday we spent time at grandma & grandpa's house extracting honey. Honey made by grandma's Bees. Bees that had collected nectar from the Apple orchard. A wonderfully sweet transition from A to B.
Monday we had Biscuits with honey for breakfast. With honey still sweet on our lips we acquainted ourselves with the letter B. Bird, Ball, Banana, Bread, Bus, so many B things.
Tuesday we had Blueberry muffins and colored Two Blue Bears holding Birthday Balloons.
Wednesday we had oatmeal, because we were in the mood for oatmeal. We learned all about Butterflies and made a Buzzing Bumble Bee. Then we listened to "Flight of the Bumble Bee" by Beethoven while we had Bread with honey.
Tomorrow we will learn about Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox Babe.
Friday will be all about Bananas. Banana books, Banana Bread making, and banana eating.
Have a happy B week. :)

I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee
Won't my mama be so proud of me
I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee
Won't my mama be so proud of me

yeah

I am finally feeling better. Yeah! And so are my girls.
Kaitlyn has not had a tummy ache in four days.
Samantha is going on two days tummy ache free.
I am hoping that this means that my ability to drink coffee and still feel ok this morning is a good good sign.
To add to my overall feeling better good mood.
My house is clean. It hasn't been all clean since June. I know it may sound strange but I get a kinda zen feeling when my house is clean. To add a cherry on top I am caught up on the laundry too.
Preschool has been going wonderfully. My darling little girls are soaking up the lessons as fast as I can give them. Tomorrow will be the last day of "A" week. We are going to make an apple pie tomorrow and this weekend we will visit Grandma Bev's Apple Garden to finish off our week. If we are lucky we will get to see some honey extraction from her bee hives which will lead nicely into "B" week.
Happy learning all.

coffee, i miss you

I am tired. I wake up tired. I go to sleep tired. I eat lunch tired.
I have had allergies, some kinda bug, allergies again, and some other bug.
Being congested, nauseous, and exhausted is no fun at all.
Now my coffee is upsetting my unsettled stomach.
Tea is very good and one of my all time favorite drinks to drink.
But tea does not have the same kick that coffee does.
Coffee, I miss you.

preschool- is fun

Alright, preschool has been going better than I could have hoped for.
It's really really awesome!
We haven't started our full fledged curriculum yet, but it's still going great. This week we have been working on the intro week. I am suppose to be introducing the alphabet to the girls. The girls are already very familiar with the alphabet. But sitting and having lessons for an hour is a new concept. So this week we have been creating a routine and doing various activities that we will do in our lessons, with no real focus on any one letter but just letters in general. I have been gathering up the materials needed for our lessons and storing them in a functional spot. Each time we do a sample lesson I think to myself, "______ would make this so much easier." Hopefully by Monday we will have all the kinks worked out.
The only unforeseen problem so far is, Kaitlyn doesn't want to stop at an hour.

Preschool, part two

I am going to do preschool at home!
I have found an online curriculum that is adaptable to both Kaitlyn and Samantha and doesn't expect us to spend more than an hour on lessons each day. It's called "letter of the week" and well we learn all about a letter each week. There are poems, songs, coloring pages, even letter themed snacks. http://www.letteroftheweek.com/index.html
I figure with some scheduled planned teaching instead of just learning based activities, I should be able to properly stimulate Kaitlyn. That along with a few extra curricular activities, like dance or art classes should be just about right.
I had been hoping to have her join girl scouts but the web site says Kindergarten is the youngest they take. Camp Fire has a pre-K group for three to five year olds. That may work but I really wanted her to be with other five year olds. I have sent off e-mails to both groups. Having been a girl scout myself, I know Kaitlyn would love it.
I am going to start with the intro week tommrow and do "A" starting on the 1st. Wish me luck!

pictures

I have been reviewing the photos I took at Julia's wedding.
There are 100 of them between the rehearsal, temple, chuck e cheese, and reception.
I seem to be much more interested in the side things, the prep work, the craziness that is a large family gathering.
I have pictures of the back of Josh's head, while video taping. I know that I took it on purpose, it's not an accidental shot. When I think of Joshie, I happily think of him recording things. So a picture of him doing just that, is perfect.
I have pictures of Cody tickling the kids but none with his new wife.
I have pictures of Julia hugging people and talking to the kids.
Of Laura taking pictures of the kids.
I have lots of pictures of no one looking at me, but I like them that way. The people in the photos are watching the bride & groom, visiting, hugging, or dancing. I guess I like to take pictures of people watching or doing rather than just them. It makes for fun pictures but not much to frame.
I guess it just leads back to the fact that i am a people watcher. During a speech or presentation I fully admit that while i am listening intently to the speaker, I almost never look at the speaker. I am watching the crowd, watching the individuals in the crowd, watching their reactions.

preschool?

I have worried and worried about PRESCHOOL.

Well point blank we can't afford preschool. We earn to much to attend any state run facility and the private run preschools are out of our budget. If our children need something, Eric and I will do what ever it takes to make it happen.

But that is the essential question, Does Kaitlyn need preschool?

I have read so many books, articles, parent polls, parent & expert blogs, completed tests, answered questions, and anything else that is relevant to preschool that I can get my hands on, this has lead to many sleepless nights and one answer. No, Kaitlyn does not need preschool. Kaitlyn is a well socialized child that is confident and kindergarten ready.

Then the question became, Do I need Kaitlyn to go to preschool?

Her almost five year old mind, is craving, no demanding more complex and involved stimulation. So I returned to my books, websites & blogs to determine how I would cope with a five year old at home. Almost everything says, send them to preschool. I quickly learned that, keeping a five year old entertained at home with out the help of preschool is not for the faint of heart. I still can't afford preschool but my sanity is also a valuable asset.

What to do, What to do. I am still figuring it out but I am close to a solution.

An odd week

It has been a weird week.
Eric has had his last week at Skyhawks. A happy sad sort of week for him. He has loved working there and is sad to leave good people. Yet the excited nervous new job feeling is very strong too.
I have been a supportive sister and friend to a little sister whose marriage has abruptly failed. I truly feel that when the dust settles she will be happier than she was before. Sometimes you don't notice the burden you carry when the weight is added one straw at a time until your knees buckle.
On Wednesday we went to Canada to lay to rest a mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. It was a nice service and good to see family from far away that we haven't seen in a long time.
The girls have attended their first multi-sport camp this week as well. We have gone to soccer camps before and the girls love them. This camp has taught them the basics of soccer, basketball, and baseball. The girls show some skill at baseball. They are already good at soccer and we play it at home often. A set of bases, bat, "T", wiffle balls, and maybe a glove i think will be added to our sports collection.
This Thursday also marked the first day of "Bros Weekend". An annually gathering of Eric's college friends.
It is Friday afternoon and with only one and a half days left this week, i would normally say not much else could happen. Some how with this week I think plenty more will happen.

so happy.

So my wonderful husband put in his two week notice at work yesterday!!
He did this because of a wonderful new job!
A new job working for the state. A new job with an awesome benefits package. Whole family with great coverage health insurance for $79 a month. A defined benefit pension plan. And a ton of other little working for the state perks. A new job with better pay and 5% pay increases every year. A new job with room for advancement and promotions. A new job with NO on call work. So no more inturupted dinners, games in the evening, storytime, family time, soccer in the afternoon, sat morning cartoons. Let's just say no more daily inturuptions at all hours of the day. I think that's the part i am looking forward too most.
Needless to say i an incredibly happy for him. I am incredibly proud of him.

glowing in the wonderfulness that is family

So many things are going on right now.
Everyone is growing in some part of their life.
Preparing for big changes.
Facing big changes.
Wings are being spread.
Relationships are growing stronger.
I am so lucky to have a large family to love. I am even luckier that my husband's large family feels like my own. I am even more fortunate to have a large extended family. The fact that i run out of fingers and toes before i have finished with brothers and sisters, is amazing. Then to know that although the next few months may be hard, wonderful things are happening for so many of them. In the next years time 3 of them will be graduating with a bachelors, masters, or doctorate degree, one will be living far from home at 16 to pursue the sport he loves, three will be enjoying a year of family firsts, two will be learning the ropes at new jobs, and hopefully my mom will use her "empty sooner than she wanted nest" free time to date and enjoy all that is wonderful her. And those are just the things you can put on paper. I didn't mention the proud tears, happy sighs, and the strength of character required to make the hard choices.
I guess i am glowing in the wonderfulness that is family.

seattle fun

having a great time in Seattle.
we arrived at 7pm on Friday night and had dinner in the international district. It was good Chinese food and even more fun to watch the girls eat dinner with their chopsticks. Then with very full belly's we went up and did the space needle. Samantha's favorite part was the elevator and Kaitlyn's was the telescopes on the observation deck.
Today we went to the zoo and checked out as many animals as we could find. Samantha's favorite was the gorillas and Kaitlyn's favorite was the giraffes. Then we did the Music Experience and SciFi Museum. Eric and I are a bit of SciFi junkies so we really enjoyed seeing all the props from our favorite movies and TV shows. There was also the traveling Jim Hensen display. I must say Jim Hensen was an amazing man. The girls really enjoyed the Muppet's. They even got to do a little puppet-tearing themselves. Very fun indeed!! Next we looked at the Music Experience. We were very tired and worn out and very hungry. I think i would have found it more interesting in a different circumstance. We left quickly and had dinner at the Olive garden. I ordered the soup, salad, and bread sticks. Dinner was wonderful and for desert we had Italian donuts.
Now I have two girls sleeping soundly, a husband watching the shock vs Boise and me blogging. The shock are winning so far. Soon the game will be over and i will be asleep. Another big day tomorrow. We are going to the aquarium and a cruise of the bay. The girls love the aquarium, the otters most of all. And being a pirate on a boat is always a blast!
Good night.

pictures

I am stunned right now!
Laura has posted wedding photos on her flickr account. They are as expected, most wonderful. Cherished memories turned treasures for Julia and Cody and all of us for many years to come.
What really impresses me is the pictures of my wonderful children. The way the light and their expressions and the moments are all captured. The fleeting expressions that say so much, mean even more and express more than words ever could..... those little things that last for a moment. Well she caught those moments. I look at these photos and i know that I will always have a window into their personalities as they are right now.
Take a look and you will seee what I mean.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smilinglaura/

growing

It's a rainy grey day outside. I should be taking advantage of the cool temperatures and get to digging up the remaining dirt in the driveway. However my girls have wanted to snuggle most of morning. I have felt the need very much to indulge them and have snuggled away the morning.
I admit that I am gleefull about all of the snuggling. We spent the weekend shopping for big girl beds for my girls. We have put away the toddler beds. We have assembled the bunkbeds. The girls are now sleeping in their bunkbeds. I will also admit that I cried. I didn't cry as much as I did when we put away the crib, but I did cry and blubber a bit.
I don't like this getting bigger and growing up stuff. I like my girls snuggle wanting and small enough to fit in my lap.
OK they don't really fit in my lap now, but they still snuggle. I don't like the idea of a snuggle free future.

lonely tuesday

So here it is, Tuesday.
All of the Hawker's have come and gone, we did Hoopfest, Julia is now married, we celebrated Danica's, Josh's, and Chris's birthday, we enjoyed the park and watched the 4th of July Fireworks, we went to the lake, had a Friday movie night at our house and my wonderful Husband and I celebrated our seven year wedding anniversary.
It has been a busy 11 days.
Now it's Tuesday and with nothing on the agenda to do, I find myself at a loss.
I am sure that I have plenty to do. I just can't focus on anything. I am sure there is laundry to do, dishes to do, a playroom to pick up, floors to clean, and that dirt in the back yard still needs digging.
Yet somehow anything more than snuggling on the couch with one or both girls and keeping little girl cups filled with hot coco. Is all I have managed to do.
I hope i get my act together soon enough to have a hot meal ready for Eric when he gets home. He took a few days off of work and today is his first day back. Very busy would be an understatement for his day.
Happy Tuesday Everyone!

my wonderful girls

DSCN0859, originally uploaded by senihtak.

My girls are so wonderful. They really do brighten every day with their smiles. They also drive me nuts. They ask for juice or a snack or help with things non-stop. I love being home and being with them to be asked constantly for things. Yet sometimes when my life is busy, the asking is enough to make me scream. I just want a moment, a moment to put the many thoughts spinning through my head in order. I know they will continue to spin in there, but in order would be nice. Then one or both of my girls does something so sweet, so wonderful, and i chide myself for being short with them. They are being the wonderful girls that they are; nothing more nothing less. Just because my life gets crazy doesn't mean that my girls change. Only my perception of the things they do.
Thank you for being wonderful, my girls. Thank you, for insisting i put on the rose colored glasses.

Father's Day

Happy Father's day to all the wonderful Fathers out there!
Whether it's your first fathers day or many past your fiftieth I hope that it was spent doing the things that you enjoy.
Fathers have such a big role in their children's lives. I am thankful everyday for the wonderful father my children have. He cares about them, he plays with them, he is involved in their lives, and he involves them in his life. All you dads out there may not know it, but those little things that you do make a huge difference.
Happy Father's day to all the Fathers in my family Eric(5th), Bob(31st), Tim(34th), Jack(50+), Len(50+), Michael(26th), Jeff(9th), Chris(3rd), Josh(3rd), and Garth (it's his first)!
We Love you all so very Much!! Keep up the good work!

good start

Well a great start to the day!
I have filled and emptied the wheel barrow 11 times. The newly dug dirt has been racked and added to the nicely coming along embankment. It's been raining and thunder and lighting storming all week. This is the first time i have been able to tackle that dirt since last Sunday. I was worried that very wet dirt would be harder to dig. It was actually easier in many ways. The dirt was much softer, much less effort was needed to dig the shovel in. The dirt stayed clumped up nicely so what i dug up, all made it to the wheel barrow each time. It was allot heavier dirt mind you, but that evened out with the less muscle needed to dig it up and less shovels to fill the wheel barrow. Katie Bug had her shovel out too and added many shovels of dirt to the wheel barrow. Samantha happily planted any of the weeds that fell from my shovel. She is quite the little gardener.
It's now lunch time so in i have come to make my growing girls their lunch. I probably needed the break too. I didn't want to stop going but tomorrow I will be glad I did. We have a Shock game tonight. First home game in a month and we are still undefeated. GO Shock! Eric doesn't know it yet but he will be painting in the kitchen while the girls nap. Hopefully by the time i put my head on my pillow tonight many things will be done. Driveway dirt dug, embankment racked, laundry washed and folded, kitchen wall finished painting, football game, and maybe a movie too.
Tomorrow is father's day and I want Eric to be able to play and goof off and what not. For some reason or another he feels that he should be doing yard work too if I am or painting if I am or house projects if I am. Maybe that's why I love him so much.

fun is good too

So it's Monday and i am feeling guilty, but not guilty for the level of things accomplished this weekend.
On Sunday we went to the children's museum and took a family nap. I did not dig in the driveway. I did however rearrange the pile of ex-driveway dirt. The slope from our fence line, to the grass level in the park, is quickly becoming an embankment. Don't worry now i am only dumping dirt on our side of the property line. Eventually we want a gate that goes from our back yard to the park. In order for that to be a reality we needed an embankment with steps instead of very steep slope. I have a large amount of dirt that needs a place to go, so an embankment i am building. Eric worked on the gate project by digging and hacking away at the stump that is exactly where we would like to put the gate. I also hacked at the very stubborn vine growing on the fence. I cleared it off the whole fence line and sprayed it for a 4th time with vegetation killer. The darn vine just won't go away. We bought some privacy fabric that we are going to put on the fence. I just have to get rid of that vine before we put it on. A simple project that so far, has been the hardest one.
On Sat we went to the liberty lake yard sale. The girls made a killing. We stopped by one place that was "fill a garbage bag for a dollar". They filled it with two castles, barbie stuff, a carriage, books, and some clothes. They also got a VCR for $5 (their old one was on it's last legs), some Disney movies for 25 cents, and a little tike's beauty salon for $10. Between all of their yard sale shopping and the "super why" party at Toys R Us earlier that day, they crashed for a good long nap. Meanwhile I tried to figure out, how to incorporate their new toys into the playroom.
Girls having fun and family nap taking. That was a good weekend. Maybe not as productive as it could have been, but it was fun. Fun is very important.

happy birthday Laura

My two darling little girls have lots of aunts and uncles. They are very blessed with how much family they have and how many people all over the country love them so very very much.
Today it's one of their auntie's birthdays.
The Auntie that makes them real princess dresses. The Auntie that bakes with them even if desert is already made. Plays tag with them when everyone else is too tired. Lets them take pictures with her very nice camera. Reads them bed time stories late into the night. And giggles at their jokes like it's the first time she's heard it, even when it's the 20th that night. I could go on and on, because she really is that great.
i hope she is having a wonderful birthday today. I hope that Jack smiles and laughs and makes her glow like only kids can make their mom's glow. I hope that Garth treats her to a wonderfully vegetarian dinner in an air conditioned restaurant. And if all the stars line up just so, something in claymation by Tim Burton is playing at the old second run theater that she likes so much.
Have a great birthday Laura. We love you

It's a wonderfully cold, rainy, gloomy in a great kind of way day here. You can take a deep breath of freshly washed clean air. All of the puddles around the house are yellow from all of the pollen, which is great because it's not in the air.
I made great progress on the driveway project yesterday. I filled and Eric emptied the wheel barrow 11 times. That was about 330 shovel fulls. My shoulders are a little tight today. I don't mind. I like sore muscles from good honest work.
With the rain I think i will get the girls working on their lessons. We tend to get a little behind with all the sunshine. Kaitlyn can write her own name now and it's legible. She is very proud of this. I am beaming. She can also write mom and Sam. She wants to master dad, Samantha, to, and from. She draws pictures and writes poems. I feel so special when my name is at the top and she puts her name on the bottom, so i know it's just for me from my Katie bug. She is also doing great with her number recognition and is loving doing dot-to-dots right now. Samantha knows all of her capital letters and most of the lower case. She gets stumped with the d,b,p,g,q's. She knows it's one of them so she always gets it by the 5th guess. She is also now doing mazes, one of these is not like the others, and what's missing worksheets all by her self. It's been fun to watch then figure out these new skills.
Have a great day everyone!

yard sale

So i awoke this morning early and filled with anticipation. I had read Craig's List the night before and perused the yard sale listings. Two listings had clothes and outdoor toys that were age, gender, and size appropriate for my girls and both mentioned that they were part of a community yard sale. Community yard sales can be a wonderful gold mine of yard sale items. So hopeful of the treasures i would find in clothes and outdoor toys for my girls; i loaded up the van with kids, wagon, juice, snacks and portable little girl potty. It was early but i hoped it would be worth it. We arrived just as the sale opened for business and got two things. Then we went to the second sale where i picked up some nice pajamas for my girls. With less than $10 spent i was eager to continue. It was then that i saw the signs indicating that the community sale wasn't until tomorrow. Huge bummer! We were ready for some serious yard sale shopping. We did find another community sale but it was a retirement community. They didn't have anything for little girls.
Maybe we will wake up early tommrow too. Maybe we will sleep in. Good deals or extra sleep sounds like a win/win situation to me. Hope your saturday is full of good cheer.

odd things in the ar

So this bug that the girls have is a strange one. They have a cough, pretty normal bug stuff. They have a temperature, again pretty normal. They are really congested, once again really normal bug stuff. The strange part is they are as energetic as ever. In fact i would wager that they have more energy than normal. That is odd. Sick children should resemble sick children, not hyper children that are bouncing off the walls.
There was almost a revolt in my household tonight. I have been enforcing a "you are sick, you must rest & relax" rule. Hyper energetic children do not take kindly to this.
To stop the revolt, i put the girls to work. I gave each of them a swiffer and now my floors are very clean. The girls are happy because they had a reason to run around frantically. I am happy because the girls are happy. And as an added bonus the floors are clean. That would be a win-win-win situation.

is it time for bed yet?

Kaitlyn spiked a fever on Saturday and developed a cough. Samantha and Kaitlyn do everything together. So by Monday morning Samantha had spiked a fever and developed a cough.
So why is it that right now i can barely keep my head up and both girls are running around the house happy and giddy pretending to be fairies.
Granted a half hour ago this was not the case. A half an hour ago both girls were given Ibuprofen for their fever, Mucinex for the sinus congestion, and covered in Vicks because nothing makes you feel better like Vicks. Now a half hour later all the drugs have had a chance to do their magic and i have two happy, giddy fairies running around my house.
Now if only there was a medicine to fix over tired, covered in drool spots, snot, and Vicks mommies in half an hour.

My husband

My darling husband had a project list of his own. So while I have been folding laundry, mending clothes, checking temperatures and wiping noses; he has been working hard.
He has dug and ran a permanent line to the sprinkler system he installed last year (front yard) and the year before (back yard). No longer do we have a garden hose and wires sticking out of the sprinkler box. Yeah!!
He has also been working on my pond. Apparently it had a crack and was leaking. He also decided that the small but functional waterfall he installed last year was not up to his standards. He is now turning my pond into a true water feature complete with waterfall filtration system. Yeah!!!

Pretty impressive if you ask me, since he really only had yesterday afternoon to work on things. Saturday he helped his youngest sister move, then we went to a Shock game. Sunday we went to home depot for supplies after an all family sleep in morning (the girls didn't wake up until after 10am). Then i went to work that afternoon. Today he was up early to help set up computer stuff and another trip to home depot for supplies. It's now 3:30, the girls just went down for their nap and i will be leaving for work in an hour. He just now went outside to work and promises to have a running waterfall when i get home. How awesome is he? I am one lucky girl. How many guys are that handy? And how many get down right cranky if they don't have one-on-one with their kids? (time he gets while i am at work) Well i don't know the answer to that but i figure it's got to be close to one in a million.
Feeling like I won the lottery! Hope you are feeling that good too!

Update

50 stones later and......
The hedge enclosure is now done as well!
I still have to back fill it with dirt but the stones are laid. I have to dig up the dirt from the driveway in order to back fill, so that will be a slow but steady process.
The really neat thing is you look at the yard and it looks like it has always been this way. All these improvements and it's hard to imagine that it ever looked different. Oh but what a difference these changes have made.
Now i just have to get this drive way project completed. The shovel and i will be best friends before i am done.
Have a great weekend.

Progress update!

Progress update!
112 Stones later and....
The pond enclosure is done!
The Tree enclosure is done!
The porch enclosure is done!
The lilac bush enclosure is done!
Tulips have been cut down, snow surviving perennials have been redistributed, and new annuals have been planted!
Eric just gave the go ahead to buy additional edge stones to do the hedge!!!!
Hopefully by the end of tommrow that entire section of project list will be done!
Our houses curb appeal has greatly improved!

It's also very nice to come inside and enjoy the lovely cooling breeze by the two new ceiling fans that Eric installed.

things getting done

This has been a busy weekend. It's been a list crossing off kind of weekend. The kind with a few sore muscles to remind you, that you got a lot done.
Well it finally got warm here. I know it's crazy but here it is middle of may and it is the first weekend that the high was above 50. It was actually 85 today. So with this warm weather Eric and i decided that we should look at the ceiling fans while we were at the hardware store. Then wouldn't you know the fans that we had liked before were on clearance. Now priced at $75 from $105 and only three left one of which was the floor model. So we happily bought the last two fans. We hadn't planned on it but it worked out wonderfully. I am enjoying their cooling breeze now.
Then we said to ourselves we had better buy some edging stones before they sell out. We waited too long last year and the store sold out. While Eric was installing fans i put in edging stones around my pond enclosure and i have almost finished the tree enclosure in the front yard. In between trips to the store for additional stones i removed another six feet of vines from the driveway fence. I also filled the newly fixed wheel barrow with drive way dirt twice. I am slowly but surely chipping away at that project list.
We squeezed all this in, in between two birthday parties. Eric's went wonderfully on Friday. Everyone ate lots of food but only the Hawker's braved the cold to watch the whole movie. Then we went to wonderland for a friend's five year old birthday today. Eric and the girl's mini golfed and had a blast.
Well i am tired and dirty and tickled pink about it. Hope your weekend was good too.

birthday plans

Tomorrow is the husband's birthday. Normally he does not allow me to acknowledge his birthday in anyway. I do anyway, but he fights me the whole time. This year he has allowed me to throw him a small, quiet, nothing fancy birthday party and buy him gifts. To say that i am excited would be an understatement, i am bursting at the seams with excited happiness.
So, i have set about putting together a low key get together. It's just going to be some friends and family members. I am making pulled pork sandwiches, with bush's maple cured bacon baked beans, and chips. Eric's mom is making the potato salad and bringing the veggie tray. The food should be great. I even ordered him a star trek cake.
For the entertainment portion of the evening we will be watching our first outdoor movie of the season on the new giant screen that Eric made. Nothing goes better with movies than popcorn and Eric's parents gave him a new stir crazy popcorn popper as an early birthday gift. It makes the best popcorn. I got him these awesome individual popcorn buckets and a bunch of popcorn seasonings too. I bought unauthorized birthday decorations as well. I have those hidden in the basement and I plan to decorate while he is at work tomorrow.
I love my husband so much, they really don't come better than him.

Connecting the dots

The girls are very aware that things come from the store. When my response is not to their liking, example “We do not have any fruit snacks.” I am often told, “then we need to go to the store and buy some.” They also understand that Farmers grow our produce and Ranchers raise our meat. The dots that they have trouble connecting together are that the stores get the produce and meat from the Farmers and Ranchers.
You see we frequent the Farmer’s market, where we buy fresh meat and produce direct from the Farmers and Ranchers. The girls who are very social, ask the farmers and ranchers questions about their items. They understand that the farmers grow/raise their items and sell them at the Farmer's Market. The girls know how much better this fresh food tastes from store bought food; it is a contrast we have talked about a great deal.
The girls have put all this information together and determined that the food in the stores can't possibly come from the Farmers. The girls are completely convinced that the Store being a Store instead of a Farmer just grows less tasty food. I have no idea how to dispel this assumption. I have tried and only strengthened their opinion.
Hopefully our current science lesson: growing our own vegetables, “from seed to table” will help. Only time will tell. At the very least Farmers market season is starting again, the girls may not believe me but i bet they would believe a farmer.

Today was a wonderful day.

Today was a wonderful day. It was so good in fact that it has over flowed in to well i guess today.
I must go to bed but i am so filled with happy bubbly thoughts I am not sure that i will.
Happy mothers day to all of the mothers out there.
Our mothers love us and nurture us in ways that we never really understand until we have children ourselves. Then the enormity of the love they have for us; you finally understand in a fraction of a second. At that one moment that you feel in every fiber of your being that you are a parent.
Thank you mom, i love you

projects

projects that are in the air, started, need to be finished, or otherwise in some state of development. In no particular order.

DRIVEWAY- 1. Gravel driveway 2. removal of dirt for gravel 3. prep area that dirt is to go 4.remove vegetation from fence and near fence 5. apply fabric screen to fence
GARAGE- 1. remove old roof 2.apply new roof 3. paint 4. scrape old paint
WINDOWS- 1. measure, count, determine pieces needed for storm windows 2. price out storm windows 3. buy storm windows 4. install windows
LIGHTING- 1. install new light fixture in dining room 2.install switch in dining room 3. purchase ceiling fan for living room and playroom 4. install fans
KITCHEN- to numerous to list but will name current 5. 1. paint window frames 2.paint window wall 3. fix holes in walls 4. paint existing cabinets brown 5. put new knobs on existing cabinets
FURNACE- no idea what needs to be done but i have two furnaces in my basement. the one installed is before energy ratings existed. the new to us one has a decent energy rating.
GARDEN ENCLOSURES- 1. Edge stones around tree out front 2. Edge stones for porch flower bed 3. edge stones for pond area 4. edge stones for flower bed by lilac bush 5. Edging for hedge in front yard

sunshine

my house is the perfect house for a fat, old, house cat.
The sunshine comes through our 6ft tall windows and pools on the floor. There are several of these large windows in every room of the house. We enjoy the sunlight filling our rooms as long as the sun is up.
Our current cat is not old, fat, or much of a house cat. She prefers to enjoy her sun bathing from the top of a tree. She really only comes inside to say hello, get a drink, a good scratch, and a nap in a lap. Then she is off again to catch those pesky birds and chase squirrels.
Our previous cat was a stately, large, house cat. Every spring as our hardwood floors turn into carmel pools of sunlight, i think of him pondering the day away. He was determined to find the best sun spot in the house. He did not catch birds but he enjoyed watching them while he napped.
I miss my Franklin.

practically perfect in every way

Samantha had her 3 year well child check up today!
She is in the 96% for height at 40.5 inches and 60% for weight at 32.5 lbs. She is very very tall. She has 20/10 vision in both her eyes. She also was able to answer all of the questions, with no trouble at all on the developmental questionnaire for 2-4 year olds.
So she is smart, healthy, tall, and has good vision. All things that this proud mama already knew but it's nice when the medical community confirms it.

plants how they do grow

So my wonderful girls and i, a little while ago went to the store and bought ourselves a jiffy pot green house. We got the large 72 pellet size because the 25 just seemed so small. The girls haggled for quite some time over which seeds to buy. Eventually we left the store with three seed packets. They were short & sweet carrots, super sweet cherry tomatoes, and a kaleidoscope mix of sweet peppers. They had a blast watching the pellets grow and planting the seeds. I felt confident that we would end up with at least 6 viable plants, hopefully two of each. The girls watched and waited and watered when needed and were rewarded with sprouts.
Our jiffy pot green house worked wonders and we had to thin out our plants in all 72 pellets. We even had to re-pot all the tomato and some pepper plants because they were simply too big for the green house. My girls helped pour the soil, dig the holes, place the plants, and water afterwards with the re-potting. All that preschooler help and the little plants look happier than ever. Looking at the 2o pots of tomatoes and peppers, I think we may end up with a few more than 6 plants.
My little science/math lesson is not near so little as i was planning. Good thing we like vegetables.

movies soon to come

Getting excited about the upcoming summer theater season.
Eric has been researching patterns and designs for a new screen. The queen size sheet we have used the last two years is due to be replaced. I am happy that so far his patterns are all things that i can sew. His fabric choices are not too worry-some as long as he does not go with an all spandex screen design. I know any day now, that he will be coming home with a bag full of fabric and be expecting a screen to come from it. I hope i am up to the challenge.
There is something infinitely fun about watching a movie outside. Grass between your toes, hot coco in your cup, popcorn in a bowl, and kids free to run and play or snuggle and watch. I love our backyard summer theater.
We are hoping to have a Harry Potter Movie Marathon leading up to the new Harry Potter movie due out this summer. Eric is thinking one movie a weekend, while i am leaning more towards one movie a night. We will just have to wait and see, July 15th is still a long way off yet.

Kaitlyn and Mr. Giraffe

DSCN0721, originally uploaded by senihtak.

My big brave girl. I am so proud of her. She did great.

Kaitlyn's big dentist appointment!

We are home and Kaitlyn is relaxing with a Scooby movie and Popsicles.
She did wonderfully. All of the nurses and doctors said she was just an angel.
As far as her teeth go, her back ones were a little worse than we thought and her front ones were better than we thought. She ended up needing three baby root canals instead of the one. Only 5 of her 8 molars needed crowns, the other three received small fillings instead of all 8 getting crowns. So good and bad news there. Her front teeth we thought were either going to have such big cavities that they would end up with crowns as well or be ground down to be noticeably smaller teeth. She actually ended up with small fillings on the tongue side of all eight front teeth. Wonderful news there.
She is suppose to be slightly uncoordinated the rest of the day and drink lots of fluids. She hasn't had anything to eat yet today. I have a jello & pudding dinner planned for her. We will be relaxing and and eating Popsicles the rest of today and maybe tomorrow too. We will see.

tommorrow is the big day

OK folks, tomorrow is the big day. Kaitlyn has her big dentist appointment tomorrow.
Tomorrow at 6:30 am we will be arriving at the hospital. We will get all checked in, Kaitlyn will change into her special pajamas, they will take her temp & blood pressure, the anesthesiologist will talk to us, the dentist will talk to us, then Kaitlyn will go into the OR. Once inside Kaitlyn will pick out the flavor of her gas that she will breath through a mask until she is asleep. Once asleep she will get an IV and they will do the dental work. An hour to an hour and 1/2 later she will be done and taken to the OR recovery room. As soon as she starts to wake up the nurse will come and get me and i will gladly be reunited with my baby. Once fully awake she will be moved to a general room. She will stay there for 20 mins to an hour and then we will get to go home.

I have fully stocked our house with pudding, jello, ice cream, popsicles, mashed potatoes, stuffing, bananas, yogurt, applesauce, pop tarts, every noodle soup on the shelf and juice. Hopefully i didn't forget anything soft that my baby may want.

I will tweet our progress while at the hospital.
Wish us luck and keep us in your thoughts.

Top of the mountain

DSCN0646, originally uploaded by senihtak.

Our four girls,
Ava, Mya, Samantha, and Kaitlyn at the very tippy top of the giant mountain we climbed.

Easter Dresses

DSCN0686, originally uploaded by senihtak.

Are they not the cutest girls!
The three of us had such fun shopping for those hats. I think each girl tried on at least 20 hats. I was shocked when they picked out matching ones. Once the hats and dresses were matching i couldn't help my self. Matching gloves, sweaters, frilly socks, and leggings just seemed logical.

Manito

Good day all,
We had a wonderful day yesterday exploring Manito Park. I think we did almost everything. We did all of the formal gardens, the conservatory, and the lower playground. I love that we have something as big and wonderful as Manito Park. Here is the website if you want to take a look. http://www.manitopark.org/
have a great day all

Happy easter

Happy Easter all!
we have had a fun day filled with family, candy, food and hunting. Can you believe that it's only half over. Girls and mom are finishing up our naps, some of us finished early. Shortly we will wake up our darling girls to enjoy more Eater fun. We are heading out to Grammy and Pop Pop's house to enjoy family, candy, and food with the Hawker's. If we are very lucky, maybe the Easter bunny left treats there too.
There is just something contagious about the excitement that two 3 year old's and a 41/2 year old have. It's like it sizzles in the air. I had Ava, Mya's sister over on Friday, she will be 3 in August. We climbed a big hill in the park and called it our mountain. When we reached the very tippy top, all four girls were beaming with pride at their achievement. It was just a hill and part of my sneaky plan to wear them out. And still I felt their pride like it was my own. I could almost burst with their shared pride at a job well done. I took like 12 pictures.
Then yesterday with a couple hundred kids chopping at the bit to start an egg hunt. It was cold and windy and it sprinkled on and off the whole time, but the kids didn't care. I felt the cold and the wind waiting outside the bounce castle, at the giant slide, and the fire truck. I however didn't notice a thing while waiting with my girls for the horn to start the hunt.

Samantha's birthday pictures

OK, OK, OK, i know i said i would do it weeks ago, i am sorry i took so long.
I did however just moments ago finish uploading, describing, and tagging all of the pictures that we took in the month of March and just a little bit of February.
It is mostly Samantha's birthday with a bit of Thomas thrown in for good luck.
I have a bunch more pictures that i need to upload. All this sunny weather has been great for picture taking. Hopefully I'll get that done this weekend before Easter. I had better get it done so i can upload all the Easter Egg hunting photos that I know we will take.
Have a great day all. Stop by my flickr account and check out some photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/senihtak/

a nice day

I am very very tired. I will sleep well tonight and hopefully my rascally girls will too.
The girls woke up nice and early today. So early, that we got so busy keeping busy until it was time for story time at the library that we almost missed it. We made it just in time and still got good seats. Then we ran a few Easter errands. We still got home with plenty of time to make lunch and eat it in the park. It was a wonderful first picnic. Afterwards the girls played in the park until nap time. While those girls were sleeping i tackled the kitchen and boiled a dozen eggs for coloring.
We managed to convince Eric that our picnic lunch was so wonderful that we should do it again for dinner. We had a lovely little dinner at Manito park. Afterwards we walked through the Japanese garden and the rose garden. Granted the rose garden was really just a bunch of thorny sticks at this point. It was still wonderfully nice to follow the winding paths as the sun set.

What a glorious day!

What a glorious day! My arms are scratched and welted and a little pinker than usual. My hands have at least two blisters and there is dirt under my finger nails. My muscles are a little tired and i am sure that i will be sore tomorrow. Isn't it just WONDERFUL!
I have been doing yard work all day. All of my flower beds have been cleaned up and that lovely winter crusty soil has been all broken up. The large hedge that suffered some snow damage this winter is now 1/2 it's former self. My lilac bushes have all been pruned and the fresh buds look lovely. Snow damaged parts of my rose bushes have been taken care of. As well the over grown, large enough to be a hedge, wild rose bush on the side of the drive way.
My darling husband has been flattening the backyard, helping trim hedges when i was too short, and making sure that his sprinkler systems survived the winter. He is not pink but bright red in parts. I shall be looking for the aloe as soon as i say goodbye. I guess my mostly shady flower beds helped me more than i knew.
Such a good feeling, looking at a full yard waste bin and another pile big enough to make me think "two trips with a truck should take care of that". Flower bed full of tulips stalks and just waiting for more flowers, along with lilac bushes covered in buds, and the stirrings of life in the roses and other bushes soon to be covered in buds. It just makes me think how amazing god is and how blessed i am to see his miracles.
I just saw the husband flinch as he moved his arm. I have to go find that aloe, hold him down, and put it on him no matter how much he doesn't like it. He needs it and it won't get on him any other way. Enjoy the spring folks and don't forget the sunscreen.

Excuse me snow, but isn't it spring

Ok, so i bought some cute new flip flops, totally awesome and cute. I have picked up some more spring/summer dresses for my ever growing darling girls. We planted seeds in our jiffy pot green house. I almost have the girls entire Easter ensemble figured out. I even have a stash of items that the Easter bunny will be leaving. My tulips are getting bigger every day. We played outside every day last week in the glorious sunshine.
So why, oh why did i have to shovel snow off my side walk this morning?
It is April. The calender says that it's spring. All of the retail stores are assured of spring and summer with their swim suits and lack of long sleeved clothes. The tulips think it's spring. I understand that April showers bring May flowers. But that rhyme does not include snow. I know of no rhyme that says, shovel snow in April, eat Slurpee's in July. If there is one I would like to hear it. It can be cold with blue sky's or overcast and raining, but i am so done with the snow.
I have cute flip flops and i'm not afraid to use them.

Winter can't stick around forever

The sun is shinning!!!! I feel the need to shout that fact from the roof tops. We have been going on walks and playing at the park the past few sunny wonderful days. No more being trapped indoors by bad weather!!
My tulips are coming up through the dirt. They just keep getting bigger. It is so wonderful. I feel like they are laughing in the face of a winter that just won't go away. Can you believe that we woke up to an inch of snow yesterday. It was very depressing. After a week of sunshine and playing at the park, snow was the absolute last thing i wanted to see. Thank goodness that it rained most of the afternoon and by dinnertime all evidence of that terrible snow was gone. Today it is wonderful sunshine again. It's not very warm but the sun is shinning. As long as the sun is shining i don't care how warm it is. We will put on our coats and play outdoors anyway. Anything to feel the sun on our faces. This long dark gloomy winter must come to an end.
I would visit a bit more but this lady has some terrible arthritis in her hand, that is bothered by drastically swinging temperatures. Typing one handed with my left hand is an awkward and time consuming task. Good bye all, we are going to go out and play.

party recovery

I am very tired. We just got home from an awesome double three year old party at none other than Chuck E Cheese. We unloaded all of Samantha's presents. Boy oh boy do allot of people love that child an awful lot. Put both Kaitlyn and Samantha down for a much needed nap. Then Eric and i sat on the couch and didn't move for at least 30 min's.
Sometime tonight, maybe tomorrow morning I will be uploading all of the pixie dust covered, Tinkerbell themed birthday photos onto flickr. So please look there for some new photos soon. Right now i need to do some unpacking of gifts. When two girls wake up from their nap I want the gifts to be ready for playing. There is a certain art to opening, untying, unscrewing, adding batteries if needed, and then putting it back in the box. Taking a new toy from the package is almost as much fun as unwrapping it. Waiting for 20 mins while mom unfastened it from the package is not.
Thanks to all who came. We missed all of you who couldn't make it.

Happy Birthday Jack

Well baby Jack Danger made his appearance today and he is cute as a button!!!
8 pounds 3.5 oz.
Way to go Laura and Garth!

March 20th

Well I can't quite believe it, but my baby is three years old today.
I am not sure how this could have happened, it surely hasn't been three years since we first met.
Then again she has already pulled "but momma it's my birthday" while batting her eyelashes at me and smiling oh so sweetly, at least twice this morning. Yeah now that i think of it, no doubt at all the little miss is three.
It just seems like yesterday that my sister was complaining that it wasn't fair that i was having a c-section in the morning and she also 9 months prego had no idea when she would be having her baby. I just smiled and said "I'll see you at the hospital tomorrow. As soon as i can get down the hall I will." She had gone off about, "well of course you will see me at the hospital, like i would miss that" and on and on she went for a few mins then she said, "oh, when you get down the hall, do you really think so, really" I smiled, we hugged the best we could both being nine months along and i kicked her out the door. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.
Both our doctor and my self had no doubt that Dani would go into labor while i was at the hospital. It's the way our whole pregnancy had gone. Got pregnant same weekend, told mom same day two hours apart that we were pregnant, both ended up in the hospital two hours apart with contractions three times, and we had the same due date. Our babies had been so in tuned with each other the whole time i really didn't think that one would show up with out the other. That's why when my phone rang as we were kissing Kaitlyn good bye to go to the hospital, i didn't look at who it was and asked "when did your water break?" "Just now i was awake and i was going to wish you luck and as i was reaching for the phone and my water broke....... Oh my god, my water broke" "See you there Dan"
Dani was moving fast and it looked like she would have her baby before i went in for my surgery. But then the anesthesiologist didn't like my blood pressure at all and my c-section was delayed while several more bags of fluid was pumped into me. My blood pressure was to low. As i sat on pins and needles all hooked up to monitors hoping all was going well with Dani, our doctor came in. He got my chart and said what's going on in here. It turns out that Danica's contractions that had been about one min apart had abruptly stopped. She was at 9 3/4 almost ready to push and her contractions just stopped.
As i was being wheeled into the surgery suite for prep a loud scream erupted down the hall. I didn't know at the time but it was my sister. Her contractions had started again in full force. Our Doctor who had planned to assist in my surgery came in, "those babies have every intention of being born together, I'm sorry but I won't be able to assist." I just started crying and my doctor who has been my doctor for almost 16 years now, squeezed my hand and said "I'll take good care of her and I'll be back to check on Samantha as soon as McKenna gets her out"
Four hours later only moving with the help of buttons on my bed, Dani brought Mya down the hall so I could meet her. We both cried and held each other's babies. It was a good day.

my house is a little cleaner

Well i woke up today and my house was actually cleaner than it was when i woke up the day before. You may scoff at this, but it's an improvement. For the past many weeks I have been preoccupied with dentist fears, endless form filling out, multiple appointments, never ending phone message leaving, insurance authorization, fee determination, birthday party planning, and trying to get my self and children over this never ending head cold (it's been 3 weeks now).
I have managed to just barely stay afloat with the laundry. Mostly because i can sit while i fold. But the dishes, floor, and overall house tidiness has taken a big hit. Killing myself to clean up the house one day; Only to lay on the couch the whole next day and have it be even worse is not a solution. So i have focused on one thing each day. Laundry, dishes, errands, floors, picking up.
Only a few problems with this, you can do laundry twice a week and still stay mostly caught up. Only picking up the house twice a week with my two preschoolers and my niece two days a week, is a really messy idea. Same with the dishes. Well the dishes thing is really smelly and messy. Yet somehow I got the dishes done, whole house picked up, floors all swept, and laundry washed yesterday. So I ran the errands and otherwise i am trying to rest while i fold laundry.
We are going to a pre-season Shock game tonight. I must be rested to cheer loudly.

waiting for news and Happy St.Patrick's Day

We are waiting and waiting here in Spokane for some news from Pensacola. My wonderful sister Laura is one week past due to have her first baby.
The girls made an awesome craft project for their auntie. OK well Eric mostly made it but they helped allot. They are hand print flowers. They made a bouquet of a dozen for Laura. The pink and red ones are Samantha's hand prints. While the yellow and purple ones are Kaitlyn's hand prints. I am going to post some pictures in case when they arrived in Pensacola the flowers got a bit smashed. They were just darling here. I used allot of shopping bags to pack them with to try and keep them from getting smashed. I mean lots and lots and lots of shopping bags.
Well while we wait it is St.Patrick's Day. Hmmmm.... Maybe Jack is just waiting for a holiday to make his entrance into the world. Well Jack, St. Patrick's Day is a fun day of green and Irish things. Today would be a good day, a very good day Jack, a good day indeed.
In honor of St.Patrick's Day I have corned beef, with red potatoes, garlic, and onion in the crock pot right now. We have green bread and green cake or cookies still to make and green juice to drink. It should be a lovely green evening. My family loves corned beef & cabbage. I really should make it more often than once a year. Then again if i did what fun would St.Patrick's Day be.

party at the castle

Kaitlyn was getting the ladies ready for the party.

Mya was in charge of transportation to the party. Here she is with the carriage.

Preperations at the castle before the guests arrive.

Oh no, Malificent has arrived. It's ok, she just wanted to know where she should put the flowers she brought. She was invited so she wanted to be a good guest.

What a grand party at the castle.

i need more girly knowledge

I knew that with two daughters some day i would regret not reading Vogue, Vanity Fair, and not understanding much of what goes on in Sex & the City.
I have never really been a girly girl. That's not to say that i don't like dresses, know how to apply my make up, pluck my eyebrows to a shape that's good for my face, and know what colors i look best in. I just honestly don't usually pay that much attention. I pick out clothes based on comfort, don't generally ware much make up, and only pluck my eye brows when one of my sisters mentions buying me some tweezers.
So to the crux of my problem. Samantha and Kaitlyn both need haircuts. I am pretty good at trimming bangs and little things like that, but both girls are in need of a full fledged haircut. Now Samantha has had a couple of haircuts. The second to last one was absolutely darling, the last one not so much. The thing is when i go into a hair salon i have no idea what to ask for. I don't know what anything is called nor do i really understand 1/2 the questions that hairstylist ask me. This works out OK for me, because i have learned the appropriate lingo for my own hair. To learn that lingo i suffered through many a bad haircut. I don't want such a fate for my girls.
I have spent a fair amount of time this morning looking for little girl hairstyles online. I don't believe i am any better informed on what to do for the girls. Wish me luck as i try and get good hair styles for my two girls. I want them to look their best at Samantha's birthday party.

on demand tv

Who would have guessed that a larger cable package would be good for my weight loss goals. Well i certainly didn't. While running many errends yesterday i picked up a digital starter package from the cable folks. As i listened to the wonderful lady at the counter tell me all the wonderful new channels i would be getting and how wonderful all the on demand movies are, i think i actually felt my butt get bigger in antispiation of much couch time.
So here i am at home palying with all my new cable features and i stumble apoun the heading "sports & fitness" in the on demand menu. So i clicked on it and checked it out. Wouldn't you know it they have several different shows from fitness TV on demand and they are all free. I found this very exciting, because we are not paying for all those fancy channels like fitness TV. In fact we only picked up this digital starter package because the cable folks said we could have it for the same price as the basic cable we already had. (they are getting rid of basic cable, digital starter is now basic cable) Then since i was there in person and i had these two darling girls with me the lady pulled a few more specials out of her bag of tricks. I left the cable office with a nifty new tote bag filled with digital starter package, two digital converter boxes, 8 coupons for free on demand movies, and a cable bill including Internet that for the next six months will be 1/2 what it usually is. I would say that was a good trip to the cable store.
OK back to my point, i am typing this as i guzzle water. I have done three very fun aerobic work outs, three very different styles, and as soon as catch my breath and wipe my brow i am going to look for another one to do. This is exactly what my workouts needed. I needed some aerobic activities to get me off this darn plateau that I'm on. well i'm off to watch some more tv. Have a great day all.