Okay really could she be any cuter?!?!  We are headed out today for her to try out for the dance team at her dance studio! She is sooooo excited! I'm excited for her and secretly nervous (I might have to sit on my hands so I don't bite my nails)!

I also posted this picture because she sat down long enough for me to get this cute braid in her hair! Her hair is finally getting along enough to do fun things with it. Now if it would just thicken up!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Quality Time with Presley

There is always things to be done around the house and more often I find that I say to my kids, "I have work to do" or "I'll play in a minute!"  The other day Presley asked me to color! I said sure! I love to color. There is something so relaxing about it to me! 

Before I knew it Presley and I had colored several pictures and more than an hour and a half had passed.  Spending this time with her is what she will remember! Not that the house was spotless (like it ever is !Ha, who am I kidding!), that the laundry was all folded and put away, or the dishes in the sink where washed and  put away! She will remember the time that Mom and her sat and colored these beautiful Barbie pictures!

What I know for Sure!

Once again I'm writing a blog post and it's been way to looooong since my last one! So I wanted to catch you up with what's been going on in the Gerspacher household!

Somewhere during mid April Pat was laid off!:( This was a huge surprise to our family! His last day of work would be May 4th! Looking back the first week after Pat told me I was a mess! I cried a lot wondering what we were going to do and my brain was flooded with all the  "What Ifs" situations.
My mind began to fill up with comforting scriptures! Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future!"
What I Know for Sure was that GOD WOULD PROVIDE FOR US!

I had been subbing at the kids school as a para educator and my work load has always been pretty full, but it's funny that from May-June I worked almost everyday! Once again the LORD was helping to provide for my family and make a little extra income!

It was great having Pat home the last few weeks of school.  He was able to attend many of the kids school events, Concerts, field days etc.... He helped the kids get up, dressed, breakfast and made lunches while I was getting ready to head to school as well! (I'm gonna miss this!) He also was a great chauffeur as he dropped us off and picked us up everyday! I know that he cherished seeing the kids in their school environments! Ethan and Presley's classmates even got used to having Pat around.  As Pat would attend each of there schools every week to have lunch with them! How special is that!  The kids first called him Mr. Gerspacher but then they started calling him Pat! Pat said one time he was up at Top Foods and this kid in Presley's class said Hey Pat and the Mom kind of looked at him weird! He became a school regular!

The first week the kids were out of school they attend a VBS! They had a blast! Pat and I were busy running errands all week!  We got nothing done around the house that we wanted! But we sure had fun! Running to Trader Joe's, Home Goods and some other stores! Pat is such a good sport!

The last few weeks we have done so many fun things! Wild Waves, Hiking, Rode the Duck downtown Seattle, seen movies! We've probably been having to much fun!:) What I thought was such a bad thing, really    
became a good thing.  But all good things must come to an end! Or they have to come to an end because we need to make money to do all those fun things!!!! That's right Pat is heading back to work! We are super excited about his new job!

But here is what I know for sure!
That GOD Does and Will Provide!
That my family is Strong and no matter what our circumstance is, we get through it TOGETHER!

XOXO
--Becky

Playing Tourist In Seattle!

Us at the Paramount Club having drinks and app waiting for Beauty & The Beast to start!

Us at the very first Starbucks!

Cool Wall but actually pretty disgusting!

We had a wonderful weekend playing Downtown Seattle! We dined, shopped, played, saw a show at the Paramount and stayed overnight!

We took the kids to see Beauty and the Beast! It was an amazing production! I was a little worried that the kids wouldn't make it through since it started at 8:00pm. Presley was mesmerized by all the singing and dancing! The show didn't end until 10:30! I was so thankful that our hotel was a block away from the Paramount and we could just walk back and get the kids to bed!

The next day we let the kids swim in our hotel and then we played tourist around Seattle! Believe it or not that was the first time the kids have been to Pike Place Market! Crazy huh! They enjoyed watching the fish throwing, gum wall and visiting the Original Starbucks!

Good Times! But boy I'm I tired!

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!