Last sight

I am very glad I took the time to pull off on the highway to shoot these pictures since the wind came up and is probably blowing every last blossom off the trees now! So much for that warm day I hoped for tomorrow. It's only supposed to be in the 60's. What a rip-off!

Girly Girl

"I taw da pinseses!" I know she doesn't look thrilled, but she was, they gave her some trading cards and she has not let them out of her sight yet!

It was not the official kick off event, but Apple Blossom is underway this week! Miss I, My Honey and I went to a community BBQ in the park today, and Thursday is THE official start. My plan is to leave work early and get Bubba out of school for lunch ... lucky duck! I remember the privilege of getting out of school for a lunch with parents (not my parents, and I didn't come by it honestly, but it is still a great memory! Forging a note, squishing in the Porsche, I don't even remember where we ate ... maybe that burger joint on 5th St? Anyway, good times.)

It's been in the 80's which helps too. Last year was COLD, COLD, COLD. I remember shivering, wishing I had worn an extra shirt, and a hat, and gloves! Not this year, shorts and a t-shirt! Just the way it should be for Apple Blossom.

Tis the season

Time for visitors


My sister and her son came over for the weekend, my other sister and her daughter came over and the kids all got to have a picnic! Yay for nice weather and a great back yard. The kids were excited to see each other and played hard and didn't sleep and ate junk food ... just the way it should be when the cousins come to visit. We're having the rest of the fam damily over tonight for a BBQ. Should be quite the fun.

Its also time for Apple Blossom!


Most definitely my favorite time of the year. Lots to do, lots to see and food, food, food! We're kicking it off with Chief for the day on Thursday - opening day of the fat fest in the park. Can't wait!

7-year old angst

Not mine, his.

"So, who really is the Easter Bunny?" agh! It's about 10 years before I thought I would have to answer that question.

At some point every parent has to decide if they are going to LIE to their kids and have an Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy and all that jazz. Do not deceive yourselves, its a LIE. It is an untruth. You can justify it any way you want, but some of us choose to tell our kids a bold-faced LIE about such things. Mostly because we are romantic or love the fantasy of it ourselves. Who doesn't want to believe in the Easter Bunny or Santa or the Tooth Fairy?

But all good things come to an end. Sunday AT DINNER WITH THE IN-LAWS AND MY YOUNGEST PRESENT was the end. Bubba, my 7 year old asked THE QUESTION: "So, who is the Easter Bunny anyway?" In an of itself its a fair question, but presented to his mother with a mouth full of food a the dinner table before my MIL, FIL, BIL, SIL, nephews AND Miss I, well, lets just say it was all I could do not to choke on my food!

The truth came out (and provided a GREAT teachable moment later when Bubba was claiming all the Easter money for his own ...) and no one is more depressed about it than me! My first born doesn't believe anymore.... To tell you the truth, I don't think he ever did, its just the first year he let me know. He's sensitive that way!

Good Times

Its been a great weekend. I am hoping to close it out with getting the garden boxes ready, but I just keep thinking of how sore I will be tomorrow from shoveling and stuff like that. What a wimp!

We went to the WILD games Friday and Saturday - what fun! Unfortunately we lost on Friday in overtime, but we creamed them last night 8-2 so it will go at least two more games since the playoffs are best three out of five. Too bad I work next weekend. Its just too late to stay out till 11pm when I have to work at 3am. I think My Honey would really like to go, I hope we can make that work!

At Friday nights game we ran into some friends we don't see very often. In fact, we still have Christmas presents from TWO years ago for their kids. We were talking and laughing about that when She asked when we'd like to get together and do our gift exchange and I piped up and said "How about tomorrow before the game, come over for a barbecue?" And they did. I must say we made the best barbecue ribs EVER! I baked them in the oven, made a yummy sauce and then My Honey grilled them. MMMMMMMMM!!

It was fun to have a house full of people, we had them, their 3 kids, us, our 2 kids and another friend who had moved into a new house, who wants to try and find their dishes and food on the first night in a new house? Or the first week, or even the first month. Hell, we've been here for over 6 years and I still don't like to cook in the house!

AND! Its finally warm enough to wear shorts! I wore them all day yesterday, I love shorts season! I love warm weather! I love blue skies and sunshine! Ahhhh :)

Style

I tell you what, we had style! 70's style. That is me and my sister in handmade outfits. Stylin'! (I'm guessing I was around 6 and she was 2, maybe 7 and 3 ... Bubba and Miss I's ages)

We've made it through two weeks with no accidents (except the ones I mentioned already) so I can confidently say Miss I is potty trained! She even used a bathroom in a restaurant at lunch today. Thank goodness that is over! But now she thinks she can tie her shoes, make a sandwich, buckle her car seat and all kinds of other big-kid things. Oh well, one thing at a time!

Spring break is going. Bubba was out of school on Thursday and Friday because of conferences - instead of 1/2 days all week, they just didn't have school at the end of the week. He spent those days at grandmas which was nice, he misses her. Monday we picked up Cousin M and went to see MONSTERS vs ALIENS. What a cool experience. I have not ever seen anything in 3D. Very cool! I would love to see that in an IMAX theater. The kids loved it!

Today he got to go to a YMCA program for the day. It's a good thing, he needs to get out of his comfort zone a little. Plus, I want him to go for a few weeks this summer so its good to get him a day or two experience!

What else? Soccer is in full swing. Practices this week and our first game on the 8th. Unfortunately there are 3 or 4 games I will miss because I will be out of town or working. I feel bad, but such is life.

While I was sick Bubba says to me "Mom, I like it when you're sick." I had a hunch what was coming next, and he didn't disappoint "Why Bub?" "Because you don't yell at us as much." Hmmmm, teachable moment "I like it when I am sick too, you listen to what I say and do it the first time so I don't have to yell as much." His response? "Oh."

A couple days later I was home sick from work, but cooking breakfast for the kids before school, and he says to me "Thanks for cooking breakfast even though you don't feel well Mom, that's really nice of you." Ain't he a sweet little suck up?

Blah

Pretty much sums up how I feel with a little crappy and a whole lotta achy thrown in. I have called out sick for the second day - actually I went into work this morning feeling like a truck had run me over, and I must have looked it too. I asked when the soonest I could leave was, expecting it to be a 5 or 7 at the earliest, turns out there was enough coverage for me to leave then! I should have called instead of wasting my energy getting out of bed. Oh well.

I can't stand it, though. There's only so much TV-watching, blog-reading and Internet-surfing I can do. Thankfully I am not puking up my guts or coughing up a lung, but at least then I would have a reason for feeling so crappy. It would be a good time to start working nights! I slept off and on all day so I am not tired yet ... Makes it easy to quit my two worst vices; caffeine and whiskey :) We'll see how long that lasts!

I plucked a few branches from my forsythia tree the other day and put them in some bud vases. Guess what? They're blooming! They look pretty cool on my mantle and add just a touch of spring. I want to try some bulbs some day, maybe next year. I also cut some limbs from my willow tree so I have a couple vases of pussy willow branches around the living room too. They always look cool, not really colorful, you know they're just grey, but they look cool anyway.

ugh

I feel sick. I hope a good nights rest will make it go away, not that I WANT to go to work, but I really don't want to stay home sick, plus, I have nearly earned another 10 hours of comp time by not calling out sick in the first quarter!

Actually, I just can't stand sitting around the house doing nothing, which is why I am feeling so poorly right now. I shouldn't have done all that laundry, all those dishes, vacuumed and stuff like that today, I should have just sat around.

Oh yeah, and potty training. I told myself I would do it on my next 4-day weekend (about 6 months ago) and finally did it. She's doing pretty good. Only 2 accidents in the past 5 days or so. I guess that's really not bad at all. Although one was a real mess, if you know what I mean. She is doing a great job of telling me when she has to go and we did a sticker chart for her to put a special sticker on. Its very motivating for her.

And that's all I got or else I will start to go into a tirade about other things ... and that just wouldn't be fair because I am only feeling tyrannical because I am getting sick.

Walt

I have a new friend. His name is Walt. He let me buy the shirt off his back and then he went into a dark hallway with me to take it off!

Last night at the WILD game there were fund-raising silent and live auctions to raise money for The Wellness Place, a local cancer support group organization. We originally bid in the silent auction on Miller's jersey, not because we know the kid, but because it's my maiden name. We didn't win that one. We did win the jersey off the mascot's back in the live auction! And, I remembered how much I love a good ol' auction! We used to go on a very regular basis but fell out of the habit after Bubba was born. So much fun! Maybe I will look into going more this year?

The game was great too! The WILD won. They are off to playoffs in April and we'll be there on both Friday and Saturday nights! I can't wait! Maybe I will wear my new giant size jersey!?

12/346

I don't use the word "hate" too often. Or at least I don't think I do. So I searched my blog for the word "hate". Guess what? It appears only 12 times in 346 blogs. I didn't check the content (read each entry), but I would assume I really mean it when I say it. I know for sure I meant it yesterday!

(Good thing for spell check, this whiskey is hitting me HARD! I should have had dinner)

I always wonder how dumb I am going to act when I see an old boyfriend or someone I had a crush on in town. It's pretty uncommon, but not that unlikely, since I live in the town where I grew up.

Anyway, I saw an old boyfriend tonight at the grocery store. Truth be told, I have not seen him in 6 years or better, and at least 3 years before that. I remember distinctly where he was working and that I was pregnant with Bubba. Interesting. Life throws iteresting curves at us. Not that I still have a thing for him, it just fits in weird with life right now. Thats all.

Spring

Well, spring is here. How do I know?

ANTS. Mother-trucking Ants.

I HATE ANTS. I hate that they get into my house, I hate that they get on the table, the carpet, the everything, I hate them. So I spent the past hour going around the perimeter of the house with ant killer-stuff. It pisses me off that they can even get into the house. Have I mentioned how much I hate them? I wish I could find a way to just kill them all at the beginning of the season and be done with it, but NO, they return, they have to be dealt with like 6 or 10 times each year. I hate them.

Whew! Now that that is out of the way, the good things about spring are: sunshine, my sunroof, the kids can play outside, sunshine, soccer starts (today), barbecuing, flowers and sunshine. Did I mention sunshine? Ah the sunshine. It's warming up too, it's more than fifty degrees today and that's nice because soccer practice won't be something to endure, it should be quite pleasant.

Speaking of soccer, Bubba has the same coach as last year. From what little I know about drafting teams, the coaches can usually choose a few, if not all, of their players and it makes me feel good that Coach B chose Bubba again! He's not a great player, so it will be nice that he knows the coach and at least one kid on the team.

As far as karate ... we are going to attempt to do both again this year. We might only do karate one night a week, depends on soccer practices and games, so the next six weeks or so will be busy, busy, busy. I wish it ended with a weekend at Guemes again, but I didn't get Memorial weekend off, in fact I work 3-12 hour shifts that weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). It's going to be killer, plus, I may switch with another gal and work Monday as well. UGH. I think we should start planning something for May. Vegas maybe or a weekend of golf? We enjoyed Alta Lake last year ... not a bad thought!

Home

I'd like to go home, but the passes look very bad on the west side, so I think I will sit it out for another hour.

My trek to Seattle to see my sister yesterday was fun! We found a new place (to us) called Purple. It was a cafe & wine bar. Very cool. We went in because the exterior caught our eye. I didn't get a picture of that but I did get a couple inside that kind of captured the essence of the place.





I also got to see a little spring:

There won't be any of these around my house for another month or so.

For what?

I left home for this??

I am in Issaquah, usually a far cry from home weather-wise. And the same is true today. It's 40+ degrees and sunny at home, while it is in the 30's and snowing here! Seriously. It's usually the other way around. Weird. Glad I am not traveling today, the passes are a mess!

Its nice to be here, its quiet, nothing to do, nowhere to go :) I don't even have to shower or get of my jammies today if I don't want to.

Tomorrow I am going to meet my sister in Seattle for a little excursion. Not sure what we will do exactly. We ARE going to see the Seattle public library - don't ask, its kind of a weird thing I came across the other day - and find some "toys" (no, not that kind) you know, stuff that we can play with that will remind us to lighten up. I need some of that in my life.

Lent

I remember several years of ash crosses on my BFF's head in junior high and high school on the Wednesday of Lent (Ash Wednesday). Lent are the 40 days before Easter. A time of praying and fasting starting tomorrow.

I've never actually looked into what "Lent" really means, (until now) but aways took it to mean something like this: you give something up (fast) and when you really want it you pray. It's supposed to bring you closer to God.

In past years I have given plenty of things up "for lent." Swearing (nearly every year!), drinking, candy, caffeine, you name it ... well, nearly everything. And this year is no exception. I'm giving up un-necessary shopping. If it isn't necessary for every day survival, it ain't necessary. Oh the TORTURE!! I want new socks, and new jeans, and new shoes, and anything that will fit off the clearance rack! But that's the key, WANT. What do I really NEED? Socks? Maybe, but I can make it 40 days. Shoes? Hardly! Jeans? Not so much. So the torture part is staying out of the stores. I won't shop at Fred Meyer, too much temptation. I can't go near the mall - are you kidding me??? All those stores! And I am planning a trip to Issaquah in a few weeks. Does beer count as necessary? They have a Rogue Brewery there and it would be nice to stock up again. Needs vs wants!

But of course, timing is everything. Just as I embark on this journey the garage door breaks (replacement cost: $1000) some medical bills come due (health enhancement cost: $250) and we have a big weekend full of expenses (date night, family night and thank goodness it was pay day: priceless!) So it all works out. Plus, it is teaching me and the kids to THINK ABOUT WHAT I/WE ARE SPENDING MY/OUR MONEY ON. (Well, me mostly, but its nice to think it might influence the kids too!)

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiild!

Winner, winner chicken dinner!

The Wild won their 4th home game in a row. Royal Sweep!! What fun, and it only took about 7 minutes before the first fight broke out. Somewhere along the way in the 3rd period the visiting team was penalized and lost a player from the ice - I have no idea how that happened, but it did. What a game! Final score was 6 to 3. GO WILD!

We had a great time, Sunday night games are now number one for me. Small crowds, early start time and fun, fun, fun! We were able to get the kids' bells (I don't know why, but ringing cow bells is cool at games) autographed by the goalie (who did a great job tonight) so that was fun too! We should have brought McDonald's to the game though, it was expensive to feed the 4 of us from the concession stand!

DW did an awesome job with the kids' pictures! Isn't she the best? And that's just a few of the 35 she sent home with me. Now I need to pick and print some for my dad, myself and the other grandparents.

Fun, Fun, Fun

This weekend is full of stuff and I am so excited!

We are going to a concert tomorrow up at Mission Ridge and to a hockey game on Sunday. So far no plans for tonight, probably just a nice quiet night in (not to mention that I have been up since 2am so I will probably crash around 8.) And no plans yet for Saturday-day, we're leaving for the Ridge around 4, or Sunday-day since the game isn't until 5, but I am looking so forward to both things. The concert is just a me and My Honey (oh, and the other 100 people at the Lodge, but who's counting) and the game is a family deal so we get to spend some time together and some time with the kids.

This afternoon my girl DW is taking the kids' pictures. I wanted to do something around Christmas, but, well, the holidays got away from us.

DW is quite talented in the taking-pictures-of-people arena, I know she's nervous because she thinks I have talent too, but not for people, she's the people-person! Give me plants and stuff like that and I do alright. Fortunately, its nice outside today, so we might be able to get some outdoor shots that are good! I want to be able to take some to my Dad's house in a couple weeks so they can have nice updated pictures of the kids. And I would like some too!

It should be a fun weekend, if not exhausting!

Two in a row!

So far (knock on wood) the Big Girl Bed Experiment is working. Miss I went to bed without incident, didn't fall out of the bed all night and stayed in bed until I told her it was okay to get up.

Nap time she went down without incident, has stayed in bed although she is awake, and will hopefully remain there until I tell her it's alright to get up even though Bubba gets go be up already. The only issue we have run into is her asking to keep the door open. I told her no. She's never slept with the door open and I don't want to start now. Bubba on the other hand, for some reason I gave in when he was little and let him start to sleep with the door open. Silly me. We could have so much more privacy if he slept with the door closed.

We went to the play gym today. What fun! They have these bungee-jumping things that the kids tried today. I am trying to think of how to explain them, but suffice it to say they get hooked to elastic hooked to the rafters and they can jump around. Bubba tried first and had a lot of fun, we hooked him to two cords on each side so he could go REALLY high and he was a nervous wreck. Then Miss I did it and she was pretty nervous too. I am proud of both of them for trying something new.

It has snowed for the past few days. Nothing that's accumulating much, but still. So today it feels really cold to me even though its 40 degrees. I think its the 100% humidity that's doing it.

Wish me luck

I just finished re-arranging Miss I's room including a Big Girl Bed. I am a little scared about what the night holds, but she didn't get a nap today (and I don't think I will give her one tomorrow either) so we should be in pretty good shape.

I was a tad bit inspired (or wanted to be as cool as, or maybe I wanted my 3 year old to be keeping up with the 1 1/2 year old) by my gal DW. She already has her little one in a Big Girl Bed so I had to get on the ball. I swear if she got Cate potty trained this weekend I am calling out sick until Miss I uses the toilet ... get ready to work some OT GF!!!

No school tomorrow, so I had originally planned on doing Miss I's room then, but what kind of a way is that to spend the day off?? So I decided since I was off at 1:00 I would do it then and then we can go to the play gym tomorrow morning and work on cleaning Bubba's room and some of the rest of the house in the afternoon.

I just want to add that I disassembled the crib, carried it out to the garage, disassembled one of the bunk beds and reassembled it all by myself to get this job accomplished. Not to mention I mopped her floor and scrubbed the walls (they're red and were showing all the dust and stuff accumulated over the past year or so.) Yeah, stud, I know!

For Valentine's Day me and My Honey went out for a late lunch/early dinner and then to a movie. We saw "Taken". Very good flick unless you have a teenage girl headed overseas! We arrived during the previews, and the theater was packed so we ended up sitting in the SECOND ROW - right. Needless to say it was pretty close! I wondered several times how it would have been if I had had my glasses on. Sad isn't it to reach a ripe old age of wondering if I would have been able to see better if I was wearing glasses.

So there's the highlights of the past week - oh except for being called for jury duty. Yeah, they didn't want me. Whew! I wish I could say it was a beautiful day for a drive or that I was able to get some wonderful pictures in Waterville, but alas, it was foggy, cold and not the kind of day I wanted to be pulling over on the side of the road. Needless to say, it was an interesting experience getting to go through the process (sans the hard-ass bench I had to sit on for two long, drawn out hours) to hear the kinds of stuff the attorneys were asking the jury pool. Interestingly it was a criminal case so I am actually interested in the outcome and will be watching the "news of record" section of the paper to see what happened.

So that's it. For those of you off tomorrow, have a great holiday!

Another walk

I had a few free minutes yesterday and Porter's Pond called again. Its not THAT beautiful this time of year, but I kind of have a hankering to get year-round photos. You know a Spring, Winter, Fall and Summer set. We shall see.

I signed Bubba up for soccer, which should start sometime near Spring break, but I just heard today that there might be an instructional hockey league for K-2nd grade.... THAT would be fun!!! So, depending on what I find out, and if Bubba is interested, we may just drop karate and forfeit soccer money for hockey! (No pressure, Bubba. No pressure.)

We read a really cute book tonight called "Enemy Pie." A very cute story about treating everyone with kindness. Well, Bubba went to bed and promptly created his enemy list. Oh boy, now I have some 'splaining to do.

Miss I was so danged cute the other day.

We were just hanging out at home while Bubba was in school on Monday. I was pre-occupied by my laptop and she was doing something much less important so I asked her to get a diaper from her room for me.

She acknowledged me "okay mama" but didn't go get it. I asked her like 8 times to go get a diaper, finally using my "Mom" voice and she still didn't go (neither did I mind you, the computer was much too important.)

Finally, in a last ditch effort to get her to "obey" I used "The Mom Voice" combined with "The Look" to get compliance. She walked over to me, nose to nose, and says "Mama, don' talk to me 'ike 'at." What was I supposed to do? I laughed! She is so funny. It was like looking in a mirror and hearing a recording of ME. Scary!

Needless to say I told her off and she went to get the diaper. Little booger.

Not quite Spring

I went for a walk today, here's my favorite pix. How lucky am I to live here??

BTW it was nearly 50 degrees and sunny, which was soooooooo nice!

Mo' Hockey

One of our friends plays hockey on a women's team in town. She texted me to let us know what time they were playing today so we could go to watch her play. It was fun, I was surprised how many people I actually knew that were playing. She and several others I know have suggested quite a few times that I should try. AS IF. First, I don't skate well (seems like that would be a crucial skill). Second, it takes a ton of time. Practices, games, tournaments, traveling here and there. Third, what about my family? Fourth, they don't get in fights!

(Side note, My Honey just made me some hot chocolate with something adult in it ...mmmm)

BUT ... after watching them today I might look into it next year. I can learn to skate (at least that's what my friends have told me). It might not be that much time. Traveling sounds kind of like fun to me! The family actually all enjoy hockey. And they were pretty aggressive today using their bodies to block and stuff like that. And the laughter!! They were all laughing at each other. Even the opposing team! What kind of fun would that be? A gaggle of girls laughing at each other?

So the idea is still there. Has been for about 4 years now. Maybe its time to put it into action? Plus, how cool does a hockey player look in all their gear?

Successes

So we are going to keep Karate. Bubba was promoted into the beginning class for 7 years and older. Thank goodness!! I was seriously about one week away from taking him out! It should be a good change. (Yes, I did talk to the owners of the studio. I don't know if that really had anything to do with it, but I feel better having done it.)

LK and Mason were here for the weekend. WHEW! It's a lot of fun to have them over :) But its exhausting in many ways too! Thanks, LK for keeping up on my dishes and helping with dinner and bed time and everything you did. INCLUDING an early morning workout! She got to see the sun on her way home and I am WAY jealous of that.

One of the dispatchers I helped train was shipped to Afghanistan a few months ago as a National Guardsman with the Army. He is home on R & R for two weeks and tonight there was a get together at one of the local Mexican joints. I am bummed I missed it, it would have been fun. Unfortunately, it started at 7pm and I work at 3am so .... well, you do the math! Not only that, the kids would have been up way too late. I can't wait to hear the tale of how much fun everyone had!

And lastly ... well, I don't have a lastly. Back to work tomorrow/tonight/later - what ever you want to call 7 hours from now.

Rime

From Wikipedia
"Soft rime is a white ice deposition that forms when the water droplets in light freezing fog or mist freeze to the outer surfaces of objects, with calm or light wind. The fog freezes usually to the windward side of tree branches, wires, or any other solid objects."

This phenomena has been occurring at my house and above for the past two weeks. I kept wanting to get a picture ... but this just doesn't do it justice. Its pretty cool to see just one side of a tree with frost on it, or the last 10 rows of an orchard all frosted out. I guess the fog is good for something... It's certainly not good for my disposition! But I am trying to see positive things and keep my chin up anyway :)

My sister and nephew have been here since Saturday. We had a fun-filled weekend. Saturday night we went to Mission Ridge to see Michael Carlos. He was very good. Kind of a light rock, Latino sort of coffee house guy.

Sunday we sat around like bumps on a log most of the day. Our step-dad visited for awhile and then My Honey watched all three kids while we went to a late lunch.


Today we took the kids to the play gym. They had a really good time. They're all trying to get a nap/quiet time in right now. Pretty sure Miss I is out, she played really, really hard.


Tonight they're going to my mom's for dinner. I don't know how all that will work out for us, there is Karate tonight where we find out how he did on his promotional test last week, school tomorrow and I would like to go to Bible Study. So I think we are going to skip it.

It was fun watching Bubba at the play gym, it happens to be at the same place where Miss I takes her gymnastics. He loved all the equipment, I wonder if we should change it up a little? Put him in gymnastics instead of Karate? We are pretty close to taking him out right now as it is. The plan is to hang in there until soccer in April and see what happens then. I don't think I want to do soccer, gymnastics and karate this spring. It sounds exhausting doesn't it?

Die Hard

I have worked out like 4 or 5 times since I changed shifts, and I just wanted to make a note of how I am feeling about it:

I am a little sore, but not too bad. I can't even run 10 minutes yet, but I haven't been running in several months, probably not since June or July, I don't think I went in the fall. I have done 2 (early morning) strength training classes that were pretty good. I wish the instructor was a little more form-oriented instead of letting us get by with slop, but what can you do? I did an early morning aerobics class this week too. Same instructor, same complaint. It sure is good to sweat though and I KNOW what good form is, I used to teach for Pete's sake so I just need to be a little more self-critical.

I feel good though. Yesterday I actually noticed I was a little more high energy and a little less crabby. But I am SO MUCH HUNGRIER! I need to remember to eat a little bit all day long and to keep up on the protein.

Speaking of hungry, I made this soup tonight. Easy, cheap and mmm mmm good. It would probably freeze nicely too since there aren't any potatoes in it.

Resolution

Ahhhh, finally. The computer runs much better.

After My Honey tried to do something on my laptop, he realized it was running really, really slow and had this GREAT idea: why don't we un-install and reinstall everything? I love it when HE has a great idea! Stuff gets done. Pretty much I was afraid to do it. If I ruin some kind of electronic equipment I will never live it down, if he does something wrong, on the other hand ... Well, suffice it to say that I wouldn't EVER make him feel bad about it since I didn't want to do it in the first place!

So I spent a couple hours saving things to our external hard drive-thing and then he spent a couple hours working on it reinstalling everything and BAM! The thing runs like its brand new. I promise not to download stupid things ever again. :)

A couple girls from work and I went to Mission Ridge for their music series on Saturday night. Fun, fun, fun! I can't wait to go back on the 21st of Feb for Fat Happy. They're a fun local group of guys I went to school with. My Honey and I actually talked about taking a lesson and skiing that day too. Stay tuned to see how that turns out.

LK is coming to town this weekend! YAY! I took Sunday off so we can hang and there isn't any school on Monday so we'll do something fun with all the kids.

F-U-N

The hockey game was so much fun! We stayed through the whole thing this time so it was a LATE night! Very late. 3 hours past the kids bed time late, and I was up for nearly 24 hours late. I sure ain't as young as I used to be!

My kids, Cousin Madi and I all had BLUE hair - or at least parts of our hair blue. I put Miss I's hair in braids and colored the braids blue, Bubba just got a haircut last week so it was short enough to spike in blue and I just put blue streaks in mine which hardly showed since my hair is so dark. Cousin Madi was sporting two ponytails that were sparkly blue hair sprayed. I would definitely do that to Miss I's hair next time! Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures of the kids and their blue hairs all together.... bummer.



All in all a great time. Planning on going to that concert tonight too, it should also be a fun time!

What an outfit huh? Couldn't resist the striped tights, polka dot shirt, ruffly skirt w/flowers and "C-U-T-E" across the bum, and a Dora vest. Mean, mean mommy. She ended up changing her shoes to her winter boots. What a look!

Weekend fun!

We're gonna have some fun tonight! It's another hockey night! We get to go with a HUGE crowd from Bubba's school. They got a group discount deal and over 300 kids and parents are going to be there. I can't wait, it should be so fun.

Then tomorrow I get to go to a music event at Mission Ridge. The snow is pretty much gone, but they're continuing with their evening concert series. That should be really fun too.

My Honey is going to head south for the day and go golfing.

All in all it will be a full, fun weekend!

Mo' sno'

I am not sure how much we are supposed to get, but its coming down pretty good right now and it hasn't warmed up much either.

I have been trying to get myself motivated to get Miss I into something, swim lessons or gymnastics or something. Swim lesson registration was last week, and of course I waited too long and the classes for her age group were full. But, lo and behold a new session of gymnastics start this week. So we went today. She was hilarious!

Keep in mind she has never been in any kind of class - well except for a nursery class at church, but that's hardly anything. So here we are with a dozen other little 3-5 year olds and a couple instructors telling them what to do. She did great! She sat back and watched the first activity, but joined right in when they did the stuff on the trampoline - look at her go!

I must say I was really impressed with Coach Pam. She didn't force Miss I to do anything, but still motivated her to do it all! She is great with the kids. They did a cute little warm up; run to an animal rug, do 10 jumping jacks, run back to the line. Then did several different trampoline activities; jump with your feet together, jump with them apart. And then they did an obstacle course where they had to do several different activities; slide down the slide, do a somersault, some kind of jump, hold themselves up on the parallel bars. Miss I did a super good job paying attention and following directions and waiting her turn. I loved it! Not to mention gymnastics are just something I love anyway.

So we will go once a week on Tuesday mornings. That way it's just me that has to get her anywhere and it shouldn't be that overwhelming the class is at 9 so there is just enough time to get there after dropping Bubba off at school and it's my day off so it should work out pretty good.

Happiness

I did it. Went cross country skiing today. It was very nice out. Lots of fresh new powder. Probably 6 or 8 inches overnight! And I shoveled today too so I have had two great workouts today. My sister went with me, she went snow shoeing. It was a lot of work, she was a sweaty mess when we were done. But so was I!

She and her husband went snow shoeing one night last week, I am thinking that would be very cool. We talked about going on Saturday night, there is supposed to be a full moon. Wouldn't that be cool? Out in the wilderness, full moon, just walking along? I hope it works out!

I have been thinking about the things I take pictures of. Sort of. Anyway, I thought it would be nice to try to take some kind of theme pictures, so today's theme is "things that make me happy." Here are some examples:

Porter's Pond


My Sister


My Valley in a fresh blanket of new snow

Thankfully the snow was a light powder, it was able to be removed so there was school today! Not only that, Miss I did her regular Monday babysitter thing today and there was a substitute in Bubba's class, that is how I ended up going skiing.

Yawn

3am. Whew it was early. Only 6 more months!

And it was slow so that didn't help at all.

My computer has something wrong with it and I don't know how to fix it. If I try and search it comes up with ads. Nothin but ads. I really didn't care as long as I could get into blogger, but even that went to an ad today instead of the blogger page so now I am going to have to do something about it.

Speaking of my blog, I tried to change the template last night and failed miserably. Had to take it back to this again. I was a little bummed, but it will work out eventually.

I went and worked out after work today. I ran for a bit, walked and did legs. I did't think I did too bad, but I will definitely feel it tomorrow!

There is more snow predicted for tonight, 3-6 inches. Wouldn't it suck if it snowed so much that there was a snow day from school tomorrow? Yes, it would!

The kids were invited to go to a hockey game on Friday night, so I took them. Fun! Fun! Fun! Miss I has been asking and asking to go to hockey so she was very excited. We had a great time. We are going to another game on Friday night this week too, it should be a good time and a fun start to my long weekend. I hope I make it! I will have been up since 2am. Maybe I will see if Grandma can watch the kids for awhile so I can grab a nap ...

Crack up!

Me: Morning Miss I
Miss I: Shhh mama, my talkin
Me: Talkin? To who?
Miss I: ... Josh.

She was laying in her bed with her hand to the side of her head, near her ear. Kind of like she rolled over from sleeping with her hand under her head and just didn't move her hand, and that was the conversation she thought up. Isn't she clever? Where she came up with "Josh" is anyone's guess. Most likely Nickelodeon.

And a little craftiness

I saw an idea on this blog for making soap and I thought "even I could do that!" I had intended to do it last week with all my wee visitors, but I was afraid of how much work it would be. While Miss I took her nap, Bubba and I embarked on it. I had to improvise a little as I don't own any ice cube trays. But I do have a Popsicle tray and my brilliant girl DW suggested soap on a rope so there you have it: Our version of SAJ's soap making. My pictures didn't turn out very clear, but you get the idea. Bubba thought it was a great project. Its what he will end up giving his cousins for Christmas. (Surprise!) And it really wasn't that much work. Bubba suggested maybe we wanted to give some of them to the soap guy at the Farmers market next summer. I am thinking they might be kind of fun to sell at the market next year. I know, I know, biting off way more than I can chew, but it sounds fun right now!

That, a little shoveling and a phone call about an inept installer pretty much wrapped up my day! (Well, sort of, its still kind of early isn't it?)

Or not

I guess I was sick. All those aches didn't go away yesterday - and I tried everything short of getting all liquored up which would have been next if I hadn't fallen asleep! I just sat around the house drinking Market Spice tea and sucking Ricola sore throat drops.

I am still a little scratchy-throat-mild aches-want-to-sit-in-the-house-all-day feeling today, but I had the energy to bring in some wood, do some laundry and take a shower. Much improved over yesterday where doing the dishes made me feel like I had been run over by a truck! I didn't even have the energy to go grocery shopping and I LOVE getting out of the house!

Its snowing today, not sure how much we are supposed to get, so far its just a bit, but if it keeps up all day it could add up to a couple more inches. I love it that its been snowy for the past couple weeks. Even though it hasn't snowed every day, its been so darned cold that it hasn't melted or gotten the ugly, slushy, dirty look either. Even the berms in the roads are still white and pretty-ish.

Its nearly year end and I am feeling a little ... I don't know what about 2008. Looking back, it was a pretty tough year, but we made it through. I have high hopes for 2009; healing, happiness and honesty would be my three catch words I think. Last year I worked on making the best of social situations. Or not. I tried, I don't know that I made any great strides in that department. But there was definitely an awareness there. Melancholy. Maybe that's what I am feeling about the year end.

Achey brakey

My aching body.
I went cross country skiing yesterday and I am just a little sore! It was a pretty nice day and even though we went late in the day the trails were still in pretty good shape. Leavenworth has had some great snow, its all powder, but it groomed very nice.

My SIL and her SIL and I all went together. It was very pretty with the snow all piled up on the tree branches and the quietness of the forest was very relaxing. I had my camera in the car but its kind of bulky to ski with. We were all commenting on how great it was to be outside, and even though there were probably 60 or so other people skiing, we never felt crowded on the trail. Everyone goes at their own pace, you can stop anywhere along the way and rest and no one cares, and even though we were all there together it was alright to be ahead of the rest or behind or right in the middle of our group.

And at the end we went to a little place called O'Gradys Pantry for hot cocoa and a snack. What a cute little shop. Its just across the street from the parking lot for the ski area and connected to this posh resort called Sleeping Lady which I would hyper-link but something is wrong with my computer... grrrr. Better get that fixed.

Later we went to my SIL's for dinner with Auntie Portland, her husband and daughter before they brave the roads to get back to Portland. So its been a busy couple of days!

One more week of Christmas break and Bubba will finally be back to school. Two weeks off is a little much I think! I am hoping to take them sledding again this week. Maybe tomorrow unless I have my favorite Emilee on Tuesday in which case I will take them all on Tuesday.

Family, family, family

We sure saw a lot of them these past few days!

Christmas Eve at the in laws, Christmas day at my moms and the time in between together.

It was a nice Christmas. Very low key for me. Since I had to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas day I didn't ask for any additional responsibilities as far as bringing stuff to the family gatherings, I also sat back and watched the kids open presents on Christmas instead of thinking I needed to take pictures of the whole event and it was soooooo much less stressful! And we went much simpler with gifts than we have in the past which was nice too.

One of greatest gifts were these turban-hair-drying-things. "Hairdini" I think they're called. We all donned out turbans and face coverings for a goofy Christmas picture. Aren't we the cutest thing?

We also got a pretty decent family photo in front of my moms tree.

Miss I was also adorable in (one of) her Christmas dresses.

And Bubba and Cousin Madi.

All in all a good couple of days.
Now its time for my long weekend! Hopefully some fun with my sisters-in-law and maybe a cross country ski adventure ...

Tea and cookies

We've had a day!

We had a tea (cocoa) party this morning to kill a few minutes before we went sledding. After we had sledded for an hour the whole lot of us (4 adults and 7 kids under 12) came back to my house for a luncheon. Well, if you call macaroni & cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches a luncheon! My friends and their kids hung around till about 2 and then awhile later I sat down the kids in my care today and let them go CRAZY decorating cookies which is where they sit now. Soonly one of the moms will be here and I'll be down to 3.

What a fun day. Maybe I will get a repeat next Tuesday. I invited Emilee back.... we shall see.

It's supposed to start snowing tonight or tomorrow and continue for a couple days! Yay! This is the kind of winter I remember as a kid and loved!

Miss I was so fun sledding today. She and I went up and down and up and down and up and down! Bubba surprised me by sledding from the top of the hill a ton of times and carrying his sled back up every time. Only when it was time to go did he have a fit (who wouldn't?) The other two girls had a blast too until the gloves got too wet and cold. Luckily it was lunch time then :) Unfortunately I didn't get to take any pictures because I was busy sledding.

Winter wonderland

We have something like 12 or 14 inches of new snow. Okay maybe only 10. What ever it is its great! I love the snow! I could do without the single digit temps we have had for the past week, but we are off to a good start today with double digits and I think I even saw them going above 20! Its a regular heat wave!

We went to my moms house to go sledding today. It was a great time. Her apartment has a gentle hill that is perfect for Miss I who is only 3 and Bubba who is kind of wimpy. Tomorrow we are going to the school down the street with the faster, steeper hill and see how we do. I'm a tad bit nervous about it as I will be taking my 2 kids, my niece and DW's daughter. I think there's going to be a few folks and their kids from work too so it shouldn't be that bad. Then we are going to come back to my house for cocoa and lunch.

Later, while Miss I hopefully takes a nap, the older 3 kids will get to decorate cookies. Luckily my mom had an event at work last night where they didn't use all the cookies and sprinkles so I don't have to bake or go to the store for that kind of stuff. Cool huh?

Speaking of going to the store; I feel like there are all these last minute things I should buy - mostly Christmas morning stuff, if you catch my drift. So I am going to do the last of that tonight. Wish me luck.

Brrrrr

Another Pink Door photo

It is freaking cold here. 12 degrees. Before factoring in the wind. Its supposed to be like this for a couple weeks, I guess. We'll be having a fire every day that's for sure!

That's the kids at Bubba's birthday dinner on Thursday night. He chose the Mexican restaurant so they would sing "Happy Birthday" to him. He loves to be the center of attention. (Positive attention, thankfully)

Grandma just called, "Can you bring the kids by after school tomorrow so they can play with CH & K and we can decorate cookies and have pizza..." and all kinds of other fun stuff! Can I? Oh yeah! Wonder if I could sneak out for dinner with My Honey? Hmmmmm.

It's the last week of school before Christmas Break! I get an extra kid or three (?DW?) next Tuesday so I am planning on doing cookies too and maybe some kind of craft project for the older kids, we shall see.