We're still here!

We made it through the 4th.
There was only one fire... and guess who set it?
Not Melissa and her friend... It was careful, over protective ME!
It was a small grass fire that we put out in a few seconds, but jeez was it dry. Oopsy;-)

Happy 4th!!

We've got the potato salad, chips and sodas in the cooler to head out to Grandma and Papa's!

Out on the reservation you are allowed to light off the "good" fireworks. Only problem is Melissa and her friends are old enough to light some off too... They are nice girls but inexperienced.


Wish us luck!

Riley's Birthday

We had an old school backyard birthdy party for Riley's 6th birthday. We had pin the tail on the donkey, a pinata, a craft, pizza, cake presents and a REALLY fun game of musical chairs. I guess a lot of kids haven't ever played musical chiars and they were all singing and dancing even after they were out!

It was almost called off because Luke had a high fever on Friday. I took him to the doctor and he said it could be the flu or some other virus, but they don't do the 'flu test' anymore and to just treat it like anything else. So I asked if it would be responsible to have a 6-year-old's party if we kept the little kids out back and kept poor Luke upstairs AND sprayed all the hard surfaces with bleach. The doctor said "That sounds reasonable" and reasonable is good enough for us!

The most memorable part was later that night. Riley has had his first loose tooth for awhile now, but he's been wiggling it a lot trying to get it out by his birthday. Well, while we were getting jammies on at like 9:00 he says "look at my tooth!" and it was just hangin' there. I told him to just pull it out but it had one spot that wouldn't let go... So I went for the floss, you know, to tie to the door knob. He pretended to be scared, but he let me tie the floss to his tooth so he couldn't have been too afraid;-) The darnedest thing happened though... it fell into my hand while I was trying to tie it up! So Riley lost his first tooth on his 6th birthday, how cool!

Been a while!!

Well, I wasn't going to let a whole month go by... but I did.
There's lots to catch up on but if I thought I had to do it all now I wouldn't have sat down at the computer.


So I will only tell the story of the day. I just had one of those 'Mom' moments...
You know the one where your heart stops when you open the washing machine and realize something is very, very wrong--
Sure I've seen markers and lip gloss and even a crayon or two in the dryer, but this was totally new.
20 TEMPORARY TATTOOS!
Thankfully they didn't really stick to the clothes, but they do in fact stick to the inside of the washing machine.
Rubbing alcohol takes them off of skin so hopefully it works on metal too!

ugh...

I am saying this publicly so that I actually have to do it.

I HAVE to lose 10 pounds by June 20. (Note: specific goal, setting of time frame... Yes, I've read all the articles;-))

I weighed myself this morning--

After a week that I made zucchini bread. Dad gave me a bunch of zucchini from his garden stash... and the recipe makes 2 loaves... and I planned on bringing one to Easter... but that left one on my counter... what did you think would happen??

AND we made chocolate chip cookies. Riley had a playdate, which was actually a favor for a Mom friend that went back to work (yey Cathy). So we had a friend over all day and needed to find lots of activities. But one bag of chocolate chips make a heck of a lot of cookies!! And I've had AT LEAST a dozen.

Apparently I need to stay away from baked goods.



So that's it- June 20th- one pound a week- 10 pounds- should be easy (heh, heh)!

9 years

Its official... We're married!

In someways it seems like yesterday and in someways it seems like forever ago.

But our life has definitely become all about being a team and doing what we can to make the best life for our little family.

Our actual anniversary was April 1st but we laid in bed together ALL day and night so I wasn't able to blog... No not in a romantic way, we both caught Riley's stomach bug and were throwing up with the chills.

Ahhh, for better or for worse!

Tent Night

This is something Dad does with the boys for a special treat. They rent a movie (Bolt this time) eat popcorn, licorice, yogurt pretzels, etc. The kids sleep in the tent, Dad gets the couch, and Mom gets the bedroom all to herself.

They don't get enough sleep which probably wasn't the best thing for Riley's health, but they think its pretty fun!!

Why does it smell SO bad??

Vomit, puke, throw up, fish food...
Riley has been sick this weekend and is not quite to the 'making it to the toilet' mile stone that all mothers wait anxiously for. I have been doing load after load of laundry and I believe it is finally all gone AND he has been up-chuck free for 32 hours. Hopefully we're in the clear... Unless Luke gets it (duhn, duhn, duhn)!!

Thought for the day

Why don't they use those screws that don't rust for the toilet seat hinge?

Anyone who cleans up after little boys will TOTALLY get this!

Been Lazy

I know how annoying it is to check someone's blog and see the same post day, after day... I've been really busy and totally burned out. You know how it gets sometimes? If you have to wipe down the same counter for the 100th time you're going to scream!?! And you sit down to blog and the picture won't load so you give up way to fast... that's where I've been, screaming and giving up;-).

A great thing happened today though. Thursday is my volunteer day in Riley's class but the teacher called this morning to tell me I didn't need to come because there is an assembly today. I DO like to be in the classroom but it was like someone giving me a gift telling me I could stay in my jammies for an extra hour! I might even take a bath instead of exercising (oooo, I'm getting crazy).

Fanilow

ULTIMATE MANILOW!!!

My friend Kelli is a big Barry Manilow fan. I of course have heard of him but didn't know many of his songs. She got tickets for the one time only benefit concert in Everett and invited me to go. Well, I never turn down a night out so I went not really knowing what to expect... We had a BLAST! The show was entertaining (besides the lady 2 seats in front of me who just couldn't sit down) and the seats were awesome (good job Adam!). And it was nice to have a girls night with a good friend.

Things that the bad economy has taught me

1. Appreciate my home. We've always kind of thought of this place as a first house, investment kind of thing. Well, apparently we're staying and I am absolutely THRILLED that we get to!
2. To become a better cook. No more pre-cut, pre-seasoned, pre-prepared food for this family. I've been buying whatever is on sale (maybe with a coupon too!) and figuring out what to do with it. Allrecipes.com is a big help. I'm even cooking seafood, I don't know why but cooking fish has always seemed beyond me. BUT NO MORE.
3. That my husband is a bulldog. That guy is a HARD worker and I have complete faith that no matter what happens he will figure out a way to take care of his family. Love and appreciate you!
4. Doctors (even with insurance) cost a lot of money for what you get. $65 to pull a loose baby tooth. $25 for a dermatologist to tell me the spot on my back is normal (but ugly) and people of a certain age have an average of two of them (should I be glad its only one??). Oh, and 25 bucks for the guy that told me to take some Alieve for my bad knee, that was good advice. I will be taking vitamins, exercising and wearing sunscreen to not only be healthy, but to save some $$;-)
5. I really was paying too much for car insurance! When you are forced to go through your budget line by line you actually can cut some costs.

Sick-o

Oh my golly!!

I am so happy to say that I am finally headache free!

I have been gravely ill for the past 3 days. The kind of sick where all you can do is squeeze your head while lying in bed to keep it from exploding.

And I DID have a flu shot this year, apparently it didn't cover the strain that is going around=0(

I have not felt that bad since Angela's bachelorette party, and I didn't even get to have any fun!

Back to the old grind... funny how much laundry, dishes, mail, etc. can pile up in 3 days, ugh! Maybe I'll go back to bed!

observations

Where did the week go??
I don't know but it was full of observations about me by the darling children, things like:

• Mommy you have red cracks in your eye balls.
• You also have red pineapples (I'm assuming he meant whole pineapples with the the tops on) on the sides of your eyes.
• I'm just touching your mustache.
• What, do you have a baby in there?

And these are the people who love me the most!! I guess they need to work on the old "if you can't say something nice..."

The Facts of Life

So the other day I wrote about some good news that had some bad news with it... Ever since then The Facts of Life theme song has been running through my head. The only problem is I couldn't remember all the words... So I looked them up:

You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have
The Facts of Life, the Facts of Life.

There's a time you got to go and show
You're growin' now you know about
The Facts of Life, the Facts of Life.

When the world never seems to be livin' up to your dreams
And suddenly you're finding out the Facts of Life are all about you, you.
It takes a lot to get 'em right
When you're learning the Facts of Life. (learning the Facts of Life)
Learning the Facts of Life (learning the Facts of Life)
Learning the Facts of Life.

Sorry if it gets stuck in your head too, but at least you'll know all the words!

My friend has this picture on her 'facebook photos' and people have ALL kinds of comments to make about it. I think we look cute... but maybe that's because I was there and have no perspective!

My opinion...

Those who know me know that I rarely have a strong opinion on anything. I'm more of a two-sides-to every-story, look-at-things-from-all-points-of-view type person BUT...

This morning on the Today show with Matt and Meridith I hear the shocking news about an 11 year old boy who shot his soon to be stepmother, DEAD.

On top of that, he used his own gun the "charmingly quaint" Beretta AL391 Urika 2 Youth 20 gauge shotgun...

WHAT?!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!

If there are grown-up people who want to protect themselves from bad guys, feel free.

But boys should NOT have access to guns that can kill.

There are soooo many reasons: they are impulsive, invincible, sensitive, accident prone, suicidal... Children don't always see the promise of tomorrow or think the consequences matter, its all about how they feel today... You can fix or get passed almost anything, but not death.

I am saddened and outraged.

With the good comes the bad.

We got our taxes filed and we get a return... Yey !

All the money is going toward bills... Boo!



The kids went to the dentist and don't have any cavities... Yey!
Luke has to go back to have a baby tooth pulled because the grown up one is coming in behind it already... Boo!

I am choosing to see the glass 1/2 full today;-)

Luke's turn...

We were bored ;-)

For those who don't know, if you click on the triangle you'll see this is a video!!

We didn't have any big plans for mid-winter break so by the end of it we had to make our own fun.

Back to school tomorrow!

Outta the house!

The boys were out of school this week for mid-winter break.
Too bad they were sick for the first half of it :(
Poor things. Poor Mom.
We finally got out of the house today...

We went bowling with some friends this morning. Then we dropped 645 off for an oil change and walked arcoss the street...

... to the park, and had a picnic lunch.

And Luke lost a tooth eating his apple!

It was good to get out!

A giggle from the back seat

Yesterday we made the looong drive out to Grandma and Papa's house.

On the way Luke was staring out the window and said, "He's circling his prey."

I said, "Oooo, is there a big bird out there?"

Riley said, "He should go back to his nest to pray."

president's day

The children's school has a 'joke box' that all the students can put jokes in, then on Friday the principal picks about 3 of them to read during morning announcements.
The catch is you can't look them up on the internet or in a book, they have to be original. So sometimes we make up jokes... and remember I have little boys here.
This one was deemed inappropriate for school, but still funny:

Q: What do you call the 16th president's poo?
A: A Lincoln Log

Ha, ha, ha!
Happy President's Day!

What is Luke wearing??

I should explain Luke's outfit in the 'jj11925' video.
It was mix and match day at school so he wore sweat pants with a dress shirt with a Hawaiian shirt over top. On his feet he wore a black sock and a white sock, then a white shoe and a black shoe. He had a tie on too, but it didn't make it home.
Sometimes I forget that everyone doesn't know what I know and I should explain things a little better;-}

Look at what else my camera can do...

I have a Wheel of Fortune 'Spin I.D.' and we made up a little song to remember it. If you ever happen to be watching Wheel of Fortune and you see the Spin I.D. 'JJ11925' please let us know because I only have 24 hours to claim my prize. Here is the song to help you remember too!

PS... The TV is on so the children are of course distracted by it. I was just messing around with the video function on the camera, not really going for a staged publish worthy production;-)

After my hair girl 'helped'

In her defense, there wasn't much she could do with my 'do'.

However, I don't think this look is for me;-)

Where does one find ubber stylish bobby pins anyway??

Bang update

Still bobby pinning...

I have a color appointment tomorrow so I'll have to face my hair girl with really short, uneven bangs.

Maybe she can help.

If not I'll have to invest in some ubber stylish bobby pins. If there even is such a thing!?!

Ask and you shall receive

So Dave has been back from his business trip, and things went back to normal. I guess I felt that I deserved more than normal after holding down the fort all by myself... Because I was being a little short with him.

He told me I should take a bath (which is like telling a 3 year old they should take a nap) and I said "Yes, I need a bath AND I need you to be extra nice to me."

He took the kids out to dinner Sunday night, I took my bath, and he came home with flowers.

Thanks sweetie!

Bad hair day

Had a bad hair day yesterday...

Chopped at my bangs before running out the door to volunteer in Riley's class...

Ended up bobby pinning the now really bad bangs back...

Will probably be bobby pinning the bangs for a couple weeks...

Probably should've just bobby pinned in the first place...

Lesson learned;-)

Just practicing (see previous post)

Riley and his soccer class.

pictures

I bought a new camera at the big Day After Thanksgiving Sale at Fred Meyer (thank you Heidi) and it took me awhile to sit down with the manual and figure out how to take a decent picture with the thing.

Next came the dilemma of loading the software, then I still had to actually get the pictures from the camera to the computer.

Well, I am happy to report that today on February 3rd a mere 67 days later... I DID IT!

This is the boys at Ruby's Diner. Dave is out of town at his first Las Vegas convention (I know, I know) so we treated ourselves.

More photos to come...

Ever seen the Direct Buy infomercial?

Have you ever seen the Direct Buy infomercial and wondered 'what is the catch?'...

Well, I went to one of their open houses that are kind of like a time share presentation and I am here to tell you 'the catch'.

It's called $5,860 for your membership and dues for the first 3 years and $200 a year for dues in years 4-10. After that your yearly dues go up to whatever the current rate is at that time.

AND if go to an open house and do not sign up at that time, you cannot become a member for the next 7 years.

I didn't sign up... I guess I'm outta the club at least until Jan. 30, 2016!!

Ugg-ly

I know I'm not 15 but I bought myself some Uggs for Christmas.

It started because of some slippers I bought at Costco that were kind of Ugg-ish. I'd have them on all day at home and then when it was time to go somewhere... I really wished I could just wear my slips!

So I made the purchase.

Pro: It is like being able to wear your slippers to the store.

Con: I have to make myself wear regular shoes (at least every once in a while).

Test update

We got a letter from the school district a few days ago and Luke qualified for further testing. Apparently that first test was like a semi final round. I should probably find out more about the whole program;-)

Anyway- "To qualify for the next level of testing, students must have a minimum percentile score of 85 on one subtest and a minimum of 90 on the other."

"Your child's percentile scores were: 99 in reading and 99 in math."

WAY TO GO LUKE!

He took part one of the 'further testing' today and he takes the second part next Saturday. Then we have to wait 4 weeks for any results.

too... tired.... to... post...

So at 5:30ish in the morning I am awakened by a noise.




What was that? Is it worth getting up to look?




AAHH, I have to look.




If I don't figure out what it was, I'll never get back to sleep.



Its probably nothing...




So I look out the window and see something like this in the neighbor's driveway...

Now this isn't an actual picture of the car (it was too dark to get a clear photo... and I didn't want any trouble with the po po) but there was a car on its side in the neighbor's driveway!

I blinked my eyes and said 'oh man, is that really what I'm seeing?'. That comment made Dave jump up too.

So Dave threw on clothes, checked on the driver, I called 911 and thankfully no one was hurt.
Apparently the guy hit some ice coming around the corner (that EVERYBODY goes too fast on) and tried to correct in the sand that is left over from sanding during the snow storm. He ended up taking out all of our mailboxes (which happens at least once a year because of fast driving on said corner) and up on his side because of... get this... a big rock that the last neighbor to put the mailboxes back up put there to protect them. HA! Not funny for the driver, but an ironic kind of HA.

a note to Barack

You have the weight of the free world on your shoulders, but what I need from you is to fix the economy... Just a small request. Thank you.

Do you mean Horses?

This is too funny!

One of my teacher friends had this on her blog and I HAD to share, everytime I read it I crack up! No... it might not be right to laugh, but I do;-)

Facebook

So I haven't been very good at keeping this thing updated because someone suggested I join Facebook as a good way to keep in touch with people. Oh my gosh! It is sooooo addicting! They give you suggested "friends" from info you give them like schools you went to or companies you've worked. You can also look up anyone you can think of... And then you can look at all of their friends to see if you know any of them.

I do understand I may be one of the last people to be doing this and that my excitement over it all is probably making you laugh right now. But like I freely admit, I've been under a rock for the past 7 years;-)

EAP

Just a quick note. Luke was asked to take a test for the EAP (Elementary Advanced Program) in our district. He took it on monday and he said he enjoyed it(?). We should hear something in 7-10 days!

The weekend

I took Riley and his buddies to the movies Wednesday, so I had to take Luke and a friend on the weekend. Saturday we saw bedtime stories and it was actually entertaining! After that we went to the grocery store (on a TIGHT budget) and Luke used a calculator to add up everything we put in the cart. He loves doing stuff like that AND we didn't spend too much! Woo Hoo.





Sunday morning I had the pleasure of going to the outlet mall with MY friend, just the two of us! Actual girl time.. something very scarce around here. That evening the boys had a bowling birthday party to go to. PHEW! Lots of fun, lots of friends, and now I'm tired ;-)

3 of them, 1 of me

So in my quest to 'make more time or friends' I got to work making playdates for the boys. Riley has a standing date with a boy from his kindergarten class on Wednesdays. One week they come here and the next to his house. Only I forgot to write that on the new 2009 calendar, oopsy. So I call another friend to make a date for Tuesday but he's busy that day and I end up saying "how 'bout Wednesday?" since its wide open according to 'the calendar'. She says great, I say great, and we hang up. Then I remember... Schnykies!

So I come up with the plan to take 3 kindergarten boys to the movies BY MYSELF...

I planned the lunch, the snack, the potty breaks-- everything I could think of to make it go smoothly. And you know what, THEY WERE PERFECT ANGELS!

I love 'em!

Fast Fact

I put a 'fast fact' on Luke's lunchbox napkin everyday. He likes to know things and I recently found out the teachers in the lunchroom come and read them (pressure!) so he gets attention which he likes.

But today I learned something that REALLY concerned me. It said:
"Knowledge is growing so fast that 90% of what we know in 50 years time will have been discovered in those 50 years."
I don't know about you, but I plan on being around in 50 years and I'm not sure I'm ready to learn 90% more stuff than I already have. I mean I can't even remember what time I'm supposed to pick up the kids on parent pick-up days (kind of important you're there on time!).
How the heck can I remember 90% more!!! I'm scared.

On a side note: I felt the need to wear flip-flops in my own shower today. I guess its time to put 'scrub out shower' on the priority list. Don't judge me...

My kids make me laugh

This morning I ask Luke "What do you want for breakfast?".

He says "Hockey puck pancakes".

Now I know I'm not the greatest cook... I try, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. AND I do put wheat germ or flax seed in the pancakes (because I care).

But hockey puck pancakes? Rude.

Then he says, "Yeah, round ones like air hockey pucks".

Then it dawns on me... AH, they got an air hockey table for Christmas and he has been a bit obsessed with it so a round thing is obviously a hockey puck...

I guess my pancakes can't be that bad if he asked for them!

10 minutes later...

Me: "Ri-ley, breakfast!"

Riley (playing PS2): "Hold on Mom, I got this game in the sack!"

I wonder if its the same sack the cat got let out of?

Anyhoo- I'm tired now so I'm going to go hit the bag...

Resolutions

I am not a big believer in making drastic life changing promises on January first. Save those for when YOU feel the time is right or you'll probably fail and end up feeling bad about yourself. Who needs that!?!

My philosophy is to resolve to do something small that you probably should do anyway. Then you get to feel accomplished in the new year and maybe that will lead you to tackling those bigger changes.

Here are some of my past resolutions that I have successfully kept up (some for years!):

Put your cart in the cart corral every time (not that easy w/ small children)
Floss
Shave regularly (even in winter)
Eat the parsley (its a veggie and it gives you better breath!)
Make the bed everyday

Now I know none of these things are going to change the world but small things add up right? RIGHT?

This year my resolution was a teensy bit more involved... To make more time for friends (including friends I'm related to). I stink at keeping in touch and I think keeping this blog up to date is a good first step.

Good luck with your resolutions and check back to see if I've kept up mine;-)

Happy New Year

Its 2009 y'all

We Stayed home and had our friends Adam, Kelli , Sara an Alison over to ring in the new year.

This is Sara, Luke , Riley, Dave and me.

Right after midnight the kids went out on the front deck to spot fireworks in the neighborhood. There was a lot of 'woo hoos' and 'show us another one', I apologize to anyone who was actually trying to sleep!

(Luke, Alison, Riley and Sara)

I'm not exactly sure how it happened... But it turned into a booty shaking dance off (very cute).

This is Kelli and I showing off our hair-dos that were created by my brand new 1 1/4 inch barrel ceramic coated curling iron that my hair girl told me I needed.