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!

Presley's 5 Years Old

5 years old today! Seems like I just brought her hone from the hospital yesterday

The only thing she really asked for, for her birthday

She loves to play dress up so we got her Barbie Cheer leading outfit with the matching Barbie Dolls

It was her birthday dinner choice to go to the RainForest Cafe



And instead of going home and having cake and ice-cream she wanted Ben & Jerry's right in the middle of the mall



Presley's snack day at Pre-School!



Really I do feel like it was just yesterday that I brought Presley home from the hospital and here she is just last weekend 5 years old! Time goes by way to fast! Even just last week we signed her up for all day Kindergarten!

Here is some of the things Presley enjoys at age 5:

Her favorite thing in the whole world would be CANDY!

She loves to dress-up

She loves to help mom cook,especially bake

She loves animals and would love to have a million of them!

Her favorite food is Mac & Cheese

She talks, and talks and talks!

She loves handbags! Not sure where she get this from!

She has to get dressed the second she gets out of bed!

She is the first to bed and usually the first to rise!

She is very athletic

She loves to sing and dance

and her giggle is contagious!

One fun, fast, amazing trip to NY

Just after Dinner the first night in Time Square

30 somethings going on 16! Ha, Ha! Fun posing with mannequins at Forever 21

Jenni & I at Havanas! Amazing food and amazing drinks!

Karissa & I adventuring out to Century 21 on our first full day

Oh the things Jenni makes us do! Bike ride through Central Park

To all the yummy drinks that were drunk

Photo Op in Rockefeller Center

Waiting for the subway that we never ended up taking!

So the day that I got back from Vegas with my sister Jenni proposed to me that I travel with her to NY! I thought Jenni I really can't! I just got back from Vegas and with a trip to Maui this Spring I just thought it wasn't going to be do-able!  Well these girls sure now about to twist my arm! I am soooooo glad that I made the decision to go! Or should I say that my husband would send me off on a second girl trip in less than two months!

Day 1:

• Flight from Seattle-NJ
• Town car picked us up at the airport and we traveled to NYC
• Arrived at our Hotel! The Hilton (great location! one block off of Rockefeller Center!)
• Headed out to eat in Time Square! (don't recommend this! The food was horrible!)
• Headed to Havana's bar and had the most amazing Sangria!

Day 2:

• Slept in
• Starbucks (Thank goodness we had one in our hotel!)
• Taxi and off to Century 21. If you ever go to New York you must hit this store! It is a Rack, TJ Max & Marshalls on Steroids!
• Visited the sight of World Trade Center
• St. Peters Church and memorial for 9/11
• Lunch at Elmos! Amazing food, yummy drinks and cute waiters though I think everyone of them was gay!:)
• Walked to Lime Light Market! It was an old church turned into a market! Super cute
• Bike Ride through Central Park
• Drinks at Jekyll and Hyde!
• Back to the hotel to get ready
• Movie Premiere-Jenni's sorority sister was a producer of a documentary called Circo!
• After party at a Belgium Bar
• Dinner at midnight at the Blue Ribbon Bakery
• Bed Time

Day 3:

• Slept In
• Met Karissa's Brother in Law Mark
• Walked to Rockefeller Center
• Walked down 5th Ave
• Lunch
• Stood in a very long line of half price tickets in Time Square. It actually only took 35 minutes to get through. We got amazing seats to see Mama Mia!
• Mama Mia! Was Awesome! The lady that played Donna and the most wonderful voice! It was a great show to see with girl-friends (and it just happened to be the first movie us girls saw together when we first met!)
• Late Dinner
• Back to the hotel to pack
• 3:00 Shuttle supposed to come -I start getting sick over my dinner
• 2:50 Cancel shuttle
• sleep for one hour to make tummy feel better
• 5:00 Taxi back to NJ
• 7:25 Flight home

It was super busy, crazy fast! Lots of good laughs, amazing shopping! I couldn't think of a better girls weekend with these two crazy girls!



Hula Presley

Presley got a Hula Hoop for one of her presents and in just two days she is already this good! It makes me giggle watching her! Just thought I would share with you guys and make you laugh as well!

Book Review

I just wanted to let you all know about this awesome book I just finished! I highly recommend it to anyone! 
I saw this book at Costco, read the back of the book and I instantly wanted to read it!  Since I have a Kindle I didn't buy it at Costco and as soon as I got hone I grabbed my kindle and ordered it! (It was even about $2.00 cheaper for the kindle version!) I started reading it and it literally took me two days to read! And I am a slow reader! I think it took me about two months to read "The Help"

I true story of a little boy's journey to heaven and back! The most amazing thing is that everything that he stated his dad backed up in Scripture!  For a person like me that dealt anxiety for a couple years over death it truly brought me a peace about dying that it's not the most horrible thing!

Grab your tissues if you decide to read this book! I was at the car dealership getting my oil changed and I was almost hyperventilating over this book. This man next to me was reading as well, he kept looking up at me wondering if I was okay or if he should even ask! I bet he was glad when I left! 

A day after I finished reading the book the little boy that the story was about was featured on The Today Show  here is the link if you would like to watch It!

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/42195186#42195186



If you decide to read it I would love to hear what you think of it!

Field Trip to Pioneer Farms

Presley playing on the rocks and in the stream

In the School house learning how pioneer children learned at school

Waiting to go into one of the log homes

 

The kids had fun chasing the ducks that were in the pond

                                       

Looks like Presley is having a stand off with this pig! He definitely didn't was to be touched

Jumping in the hay the best part of the day!

Today Presley had a field trip to Pioneer Farms! Just like it sounds it is a old farmstead from the late 1800's. The kids were able to see how the pioneers lived. How they made their food, where they went to school, mode of transportation and their animals! Presley favorite part was probably jumping in the haystack and chasing the pig!

I am so thankful today for modern technology and flushing toilets! I really don't think I could have made it back then!!!!! Pat took the day off so he could go on the field trip with us! Presley was very happy Dad was with us! Overall it was a great day!