More Elfing Around!

Writing on mirrors with Lipstick!

Mickey showed up under our 2nd tree with presents wrapped!

Stuck under a water glass

Roasting Marshmallows in the kitchen!

Just a few more days for the Elf to Elf around! Let's just say he is a pretty sneaky elf! The kids love to wake up every morning and see what he has done! Good thing there is a few days left! This mommy is running out of ideas for this elf to do! Ha, Ha!
The excitement is definitely building in our house getting ready for the big day!

Ethan & Presley do the Nutcracker

I love this precious video of Ethan dancing the nutcracker with his sister. He made me promise I wouldn't post in on Facebook but I didn't promise that I wouldn't post it on our family blog! I love videos like this and I know that one day he will probably cherish or hate me for posting this. But I think it's just to sweet!
They were watching a old version of the nutcracker and being partners! So cute!

We've been Elf''d

Mickey TP'd our Christmas Tree and wrote Merry Christmas on the toilet paper

Taking a bubble bath in barbies bath tub!

Removed our stockings and placed our underwear on the mantle!

Made a snow angel on the counter

All tangled up in the lights!

We have a naughty little elf in our house! Here are the pictures from the first 5 days of December! The kids think it's hilarious. Last year when Mickey came he just moved around from spot to spot! This year he moves from spot to spot but is also causes mischief!

Just a tad busy lately!

Wow the past month has been a whirl wind! And I thought I was going to be bored when the kids got into school! Boy was I wrong!

First of all probably the biggest thing on my plate was the school carnival! It was a lot of work but it was so rewarding at the end. It was a huge success and we had great attendance.

I worked on boxes for a client. Had about a week and a half to make 120 boxes! You can check them out here: http://beckscreations.blogspot.com/2011/10/68-days-11-hours-38-mins-42-seconds.html

And lastly I am super excited that I am starting to sub as a para educator in my kids school district!
This will give me the flexibility to be home when I need to be and not ever have to worry about childcare! Woohoo. I got my first call to sub on Friday but unfortunately it was the same day as the school carnival and I was running around like a crazy woman trying to get everything ready!

So If I haven't been on here or updating lately that's what I've been up too!
Here are some pictures from the carnival!

This was the line to buy tickets! It looked like this pretty much all night!
We sold 18,000 + tickets! WOW

Pretty sure counting all kids and adults we had close to 500 people!
Carnival games
Face painting
Cake walk
and much, much more!

First Day of School

Both kids had a fabulous day back at school yesterday! Ethan is in first grade and Presley is in Full Time Kindergarten! They both have great teachers! I know it's going to be a great year for them!

When Pat and I picked up the kids from school yesterday this is what they said about their day!

Presley: "Mom, I have a new best friend!"
Me: "That's great Presley, what's her name?"
Presley: "I don't remember!"
ha, ha that's so cute!

Me: "Presley what was your favorite part of the day?"
Presley: "eating lunch!"
that girl is so funny!

So for Ethan's class the parents were supposed to write a paper about our children and write about their strengths and weaknesses. So as one of the weaknesses I wrote that Ethan tends to be shy in large groups or at school (I know if you know Ethan your wondering really?! But it's true! Ethan is shy in large groups!) So this is what he tells me when he gets home from school

Ethan: Mom you know that paper you wrote about me for Mrs Batten? I didn't give it to her.
Me: Why?
Ethan: Well I read it and I don't want you to tell her that I'm shy. You need to rewrite that paper!
Me: Um no! And you will give it to her tomorrow
So funny! Can't get anything past a kid that can now read! Guess if I want any privacy I will have to stick it in a envelope!!

But there was lots of good stuff on that paper too! Ethan really enjoys school and excels in reading and in Math! I can't wait to see how he and Presley grow this year! It's so exciting and I'm so glad that they love school!

As for me! Yesterday went really well! Pat worked from home so it didn't really hit me like today is! I keep checking the clock and it's not even 10:00 am. Sad! But I'm trying to get some stuff done around the house and it's a lot easier when you don't have 100 distractions! But I look forward to 3:00 and picking up the crazy kids!

The Circus has arrived at the Circus!

It's been a very busy weekend! We had Ethan's Birthday Saturday, Sunday we went to the circus with my sister and her family! It was my sister and my kid's first time! I think that they thoroughly enjoyed it! I mean come on how cool is it to see a elephant do a hand stand???!!! Several times during the performances of the acrobats Ethan would say, "I can't watch, that looks to scary!" But he did! Well this are last Hurrah of the Summer! It's so hard to believe that the kids go back to school tomorrow!

7 Years Old!

How can it be that this little boy is 7 years old?
Time goes by so fast! I'm sure I probably say that every single birthday!

Things about Ethan in his 7 years of Life:

• Ethan has lost 4 teeth
• He weighs 60lbs, and is 51" Tall
• Ethan LOVES Star Wars! (love is probably an understatement! He eats, sleeps and breathes it!)
• He just learned to ride his bike without training wheels (we live on a hill so it's kind of hard to practice)
• He will be in the first grade in less than a week and is very excited
• He is a great reader!
• He likes soccer and will be playing this fall.
• His favorite food is Grilled Cheese Sandwich and he loves Root Beer Floats
• He loves any type of games! Carnival, Cards and Board games. (And he usually wins at anything he plays!)
• He is funny, caring and Sweet!

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY ETHAN!!!!!

I Must Confess....

I must confess that I am really starting to freak out!
In less then a two weeks both of my kids will be going to school full time! At first I was really excited about this and now it's hit me.
For the first time in 7 years I will be home without my kids and without a job to go to everyday! And this is FREAKING ME OUT!

In the midst of my FREAK outs I've applied for almost 20 jobs and have received quite a few calls about my Resume. But then it comes down to this....

• what do I do before and after school with the kids
• what do I do when they get out of school at 1:00 every Friday
• what do I do with my kids on all those silly holidays and teacher's planning days
• what do I do Spring Break and Summer Break and now our school district is going back to Mid-Winter Break this year

There is so much to consider! Maybe my job this year is to just take the year off and see how it goes. Focus on the things that I really want to do. Maybe it's going back to school, maybe it's working more on my own party planning business.

I do know that I hope to continue working in each of there classes once a week. That I will be taxi mom taking them to and from school and to there after school events and that God knows my plan! (and hopefully he will reveal it soon!!!!)

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"

I have been keeping this verse close to my heart these days! As any Mom I just want whats best for our family!

Blue Angels

On Friday my Dad, Kids and I went to the park to watch the Blue Angels Fly! I love SeaFair week!

I probably said this on one of my previous post about the blue angels, but when I was little I always wanted to fly an F14 Tomcat! It either stemmed from my love of TOP GUN the movie, or that when I was little my Dad would take me to see the Blue Angels every year, we would go to air shows and we would build models of F14 Tom Cats! When I watch the Blue Angels it's so exciting! I love that my Dad and I still share this special interest and that he still loves to go with me and the kids every year to watch them practice! By the way this was the first year that Presley didn't cry because of the noise! Usually it hurts her ears and my Dad brings ear phones for her, but he couldn't find them! She was even super excited about them this year! YEAH!

Our Family's New Favorite Weekend Activity!

This picture was taken at Sunrise

On Sheep Lake Hike

Snacks at Sheep Lake

Coming across snow on our hike!

Every free chance on a weekend we get lately we try to go hiking! Living in Washington there are so many wonderful places to visit and we are lucky that the beautiful Mt. Rainer is only about an hour away!

Several years ago Pat received a book that was 50 great hikes to do with kids in the Washington! We went on our first hike the beginning of the summer and now we are trying to go on every hike in the book! We check them off and put the date after each one is completed! The hike we did today was not in this book! Pat found this hike on seattletimes.com

The hike we went on today was called Sheep Lake. It's on Chinook Pass. It was so pretty.  It started off with snow at the base of the hike. Most of the hike was in the sun with a view of Mt. Rainer.  Wild flowers lined the trail! With all of the snow that we got this year there was still snow on parts of the hike! The kids thought that was pretty fun (Snow in August)! At the top of the 2 mile hike was this beautiful lake! We sat and had a few snacks. And then back down 2 miles!

We ended the day with driving up to Sunrise! WOW, the mountain is so beautiful there.  The kids fell asleep on the way up there so Pat and I took turns walking around the parking taking pictures. We will for sure take the kids back for a picnic and do a couple of the trails around Sunrise! It was an amazing day!

Back to Reality!

Returning home from Paradise we walked into our house, funky smells coming from the rec room and squish squish below our feet! That's right folks our house flooded while we were playing at the beach and sipping mai tai's at the pool!
Flood and Fire Damage people came out on Monday to see the damage and said that once they got a claim number from insurance they would get to work right away!  Next day they were back out! Ripping out drywall, removing carpet, and ripping apart the bathroom in which we were almost finished remodeling! So sad and frustrating! Sounds like the clean up crew will be in and out of our house for the next week!
Contractor and Insurance Adjuster stopped by this morning! I have to stay that our insurance has been wonderful and have acted fast on the situation! Today I am so thankful that we have insurance and that everything will be taken care of!
In the mean time looks like I will be taking dirty laundry up to Mom & Dad's!(brings back memories of college!) And while juggling getting the kids here and there I am having to hang around while workers are coming and going from our home! Hopefully the house will be back together in 2-3 weeks! Let's hope!

It's Baseball time Again!

It's that time of the year again! Actually one of my favorite times of the year! When the kids are busy, busy with sports! This year Presley is also playing T-ball with Ethan! She is the only little girl on the team and let me tell you she can hold her own! Most of the kids are being coach pitch to and Presley and Ethan both had some good hits when pitched to by the coach! They both love t-ball and momma loves that they are active and it burns some of their energy off!

Happy 46th Birthday to Pat!

Happy 46th Birthday to Pat! It was a very busy day! The kids had a their first baseball game that morning then we came home got ready and headed over to Presley's best-friends birthday! After that we came home and relaxed before heading out to birthday dinner with my family! We took Pat to "Tokyo's!" It's beginning to be one of our favorite places to eat! It's close and the food is wonderful and it's fun entertainment!
Well I don't think Pat looks over a day of 30! And he sure doesn't act like it! (I mean this in a good way!)

Vacation-Maui May 2011

The awesome pirate kiddie pool



Fun playing on the sandy beach



Bubba Gumps for dinner

Luau

playing in the ocean!

We spent five wonderful days on the Island of Maui! It was absolutely wonderful! I wish I could tell you that we did all these wonderful excursions but the truth is, is that we relaxed by the pool and the beach everyday and only left the resort when it was time for dinner or well a trip in the morning to Starbucks! (Yes we are from Seattle and have to have our Starbucks DAILY!) I think this type of vacation was just what we needed! Some major relaxation!

We stayed at the Westin Resort and Villas in Ka'napalli! It was absolutely the most beautiful place to stay! We had a one bedroom Condo with a full kitchen! We did most breakfast and lunch and our place and then ate out for dinner!

I was alittle worried how the kids would do in Maui! We usually vacation in Florida at Disney and I wasn't sure how they would do with so much Chill time! They did great! I think I have two beach bum/water babies! All they wanted to do was play in one of the four pools or hit the beach! Our hotel had many activities for kids and adults! Presley won a Hula Hooping Contest and Pat and Ethan won a water balloon toss! So much fun! Can't wait to return!