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Uh oh! I finally got hooked onto facebook and some of the fun applications that go with it. If you have a facebook account just send me an invite!

Last week Claire did her pumpkin patch with her kindergarten class and yesterday Adam did his with his preschool. Nick went with Claire and got to be in charge of 3 girls. Nick said he could have probably watched another dozen girls and had no problems. They held hands and chatted up a storm. Of course most of the boys were running around and yelling! Adam had a great time at his farm yesterday too. He really didn't care about picking out his pumpkin, it was all about the tractor and train rides. Boxx Berry Farm does it up nice for students. They got to pick out any sized pumpkin they wanted, they got to do rides, they got to eat a snack, and at the very end they had a brand new playground for everyone to play on.

Yesterday was also Nick and my 9th anniversary. Time sure flies! We will probably go do something fun this weekend.

Painting Pumpkins

Ouch!

Last Thursday Nick and I got our flu shot. Within about 10 minutes it hurt to move my arm and by the next day I think I would have screamed at anyone who touched it. Luckily by Sunday it was all back to normal. I have been hearing that lots of people have been having that reaction this year. And...how strange is it to get a flu shot in September!! If I get one I usually end up getting it in October or November. Nick's work has a few nurses come in on a certain day every year and pop people with flu shots and this year it just happened to be in September. I can see it now....I'll be down and out with the flu in February. Sigh.

And then on Friday of last week I took Claire to the doctor for her 6 year checkup. The nurse was doing the height/weight type of stuff and asked me if both kids would like the flu shot this visit. Heck, we usually have issues getting the kids popped with the flu vaccine because the kids are sick or the flu clinic days don't work out or something goes wrong. So I said, "sounds good to me". You should have seen Claire's look of death at me. I told her for a good 2 weeks that she wouldn't get any shots at this visit and within 2 minutes of being there she knew she was getting one. Well in my defense I really didn't think she was going to get a shot. And Adam really didn't see it coming until the shot was going in his arm; here he thought he was just coming along for the ride. Claire did a pretty good job and if you ask Adam if he was brave, he will tell you no...he cried. But I think they both did a great job!

Claire is growing and has no health concerns except we decided to get her tested for a shrimp allergy. She at least knew this was coming and knew that she was going to have to get blood drawn. So the doctor and I thought of all the things we should get her tested for since we were going to get a vial of blood. We decided to get her tested for calcium and vitamin D. Hopefully this week we will get back the results. Claire did a great job getting poked in the arm again. She was started to get all worked up and I informed her that the needle was already in and she should just sit back and enjoy watching her blood go through the tube. Yay, she isn't squeamish about seeing her own blood! But she did think that the needle should come out soon.

So Saturday rolls around and the kids and myself all wake up with a cold. Blah. I think I've had a similar one before because it hasn't affected me much at all and the kids are almost over it.

My Little Helper

First Day of School

Today is the day! Everybody was ready. We were off to a great start...and then...the camera battery died. So for all of you that were hoping to see some pictures you will have to wait awhile. I had to dig out Nick's camera and that will take awhile to shoot up the film on it and get it developed.

Yesterday we went over so much stuff with Claire and she remembered everything. Her alarm clock went off this morning and she turned it all the way off by herself and by the time I came into her room to check on her she was halfway dressed. Now if you don't know my daughter very well, this is HUGE! She rarely gets dressed before lunch. And within 3 minutes of her alarm going off she was almost dressed! Woohoo!!! So we got dressed, ate some breakfast, and away we went off to Kindergarten. Claire unfortunately has a pretty messed up Kindergarten schedule. She will be going all day on Wed/Fri. and every other Monday. The thing that really makes Nick and I angry is the fact that she doesn't have a teacher. So I got to meet the substitute teacher today that will probably get hired on as the teacher; but come on now, this should have been dealt with before the beginning of the school year. Claire and I happily told each other goodbye and off I went to preschool with Adam.

Adam is going to be a handful at preschool. For the last two years, he has come into the preschool room and they encourage younger siblings to play and so that is what he thinks preschool is all about...PLAY! More specifically he won't leave the train table. Oh well, hopefully it will all be better when he goes by himself tomorrow.

Whew, what a day and it isn't even lunch time. I also decided that it would be a fantastic week to cook a turkey, but boy did I pick a busy day to cook it on.

Bragging!

Yesterday Claire was assessed at Kindergarten to see what she knew and the best class to put her in. They are trying to get an idea of all the kids strengths and weaknesses before they start next week. That way they can hopefully balance the classes out. One of the activities they had her do was to write her name. She decided to show them what she knew by writing it out in lower case letters! And then when it came time to see how far she could count, they made her stop a little bit past 100. She then informed them that she could continue counting if they wanted her to! Ahh, a proud moment!

Vacation Pictures

Fun at the water park!


The cousins are so cute!



Well at least we made it to the waterfall!

So much fun!

Time for an Update!

Wow, we have been busy! I have been doing such a horrible job of updating this blog. So I guess it's time to fill you in on everything that's been going on in our life! First off the first week of August we took a week off and went and visited Mark/Kayla and family! On the way to their place we visited Tony and Mel in the tri-cities. It was sure fun to catch up with you guys! I still like the idea of camping together somewhere next year!

One of the first activities we did in Idaho Falls was a water balloon fight! Woohoo!! That was great fun! Another day we went to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and checked out the very expensive town and decided to go for a hike in the Grand Tetons. It was about a 3 mile hike in to see a beautiful waterfall and luckily there was also a boat that came out to the area so Kayla took the 3 youngest back with her. This hike will always be remembered because Ryan had the misfortune of getting lost. We found him in about 30 minutes and then it was a 3 mile hike out! Another day we went to a city water park and had a blast! The only concern was the thunder and lightning storms in the area. Luckily the park had some instruments on the roof to measure the lightning in a 2-mile radius. We had to clear the pools twice when the alarm sounded, but we didn't have to wait too long in the buildings! We had so much fun when we visited and can't wait to come again sometime!

On the way home we stopped to visit Claire and Jeremy in the Spokane area. It was sure great to visit your family as well. I loved seeing Nathan! He sure is a cutie and seemed to love the pool!

Those were the exciting aspects of our life. Now on to the more mundane. Nick and I have been seeing a chiropractor for a few weeks now. His neck is majorly screwed up and my back keeps having issues. It seems to be helping and hopefully it will continue. Last week my mom came to visit and we went back to school shopping. Claire is almost finished now except for everyday shoes. I wish they stocked more velcro shoes at this age. I really don't think the kindergarten teacher really wants to tie shoes all day long. So the search continues for velcro shoes that aren't $50.

Life Lesson

Life lessons can be difficult but learning some at age 5 can be down right traumatic. It was snack time and we had recently bought some nilla wafers at Costco. Claire couldn't wait to have snack time today. So I got a one bowl out, put some cookies in it, and told them to share. Claire starts wolfing them down like a pig while pushing her brother out of the way and doling out his share one at a time. So I would say to every three that Claire got to eat, Adam only got one. And was Adam complaining, noooo! Claire kept yelling at her brother to get out of the way! Nick watched for a little bit and then jumped in. Of course Claire got in trouble and when her dad starts yelling she starts crying. Nick told Adam that the rest of the bowl was for him and Claire went off crying to her room. So Adam calmly ate his cookies and when there were two left he declared that Claire could have those. So he went down to her room to let her know the good news and what does my emotional daughter do...she slams the door in his face. So Nick and Claire then get to go with round 2 of the screaming and crying. Nick went downstairs and informed Claire what Adam had tried to tell her and she started sobbing. She felt like such a horrible person. Here she tries to take everything away from him and he shares with her when he doesn't have to. I went down later when she had sort of calmed down and we had a chat. We talked about what was better, to share with others even if they get more of something and feel good about yourself or to take everything that you can and feel bad. She said that she would rather share and maybe get less of something and feel good about herself! Yay! This was one life lesson that I think penetrated through to my daughter. She ended up being in room for about an hour crying before she came out. Let's hope this one sticks!

My First Ride

Yesterday I had my first ride in a police cruiser! The hard plastic seats are none too comfortable and the slot in the seats for when you are handcuffed was interesting. I also couldn't figure out what all the other straps were for?! My neighbor and I got to take a ride in the cruiser to go identify a guy after this idiot had done a hit and run on my neighbor's HOUSE! Some kid was driving his parents suburban and he must have been drunk or something because he ran off the road right into my neighbor's house. None of us could really figure out how this kid had driven right between a tree and a power box to get to the house. One of my neighbor's approached him because he thought it was a medical emergency and the kid was just listening to his music and complaining about all the cops in the area. Then he backed up, drove all over his yard, and just drove off. Luckily 2 out of the 4 neighbors got the license plate number and it got called in quickly. Blaine is an area where doing dumb stuff really makes no sense. We have a police force as well as the border patrol. About 30 seconds after being called in border patrol was screaming down our road after the fool. Again, the kid driving the vehicle was none too bright because he just drove home after running into a house. So my neighbor and I were just driven past his house as the cops made him turn around a few times so we could get a good identification. Then it was back to our house to fill out all the paperwork for the police officer. I guess we can all chalk this one up as a memorable day!

Trip to Alaska

We recently got back from an Alaskan cruise. Ahh! It was one of the best vacations we've done in a long long time. We got to enjoy it with my parents and Mark and Kayla. The weather was amazing, the food was delicious, the entertainment was fun, and the company was the best! Nick went on a zipline excursion at Ketchican and he totally enjoyed that. We still need to get his pictures developed to see what he did though! While Nick was enjoying himself, I was a crazy shopping person. Got some great stuff in Ketchican. We also went to Juneau and Skagway. We did some more shopping, drank some beers, and totally enjoyed ourselves! While we were on ship, we ate LOTS, read some books, took in the scenery, and really just took it easy. We can't wait to go again sometime!!

Famous Toilet

It's now official. We have a well known toilet! We have been remodeling our bathroom and the old toilet came out. I tried selling it at our garage sale and no one was interested, so I posted it on craigslist and I finally had one person that wanted it. She was directing a play and they needed a toilet! The real funny part of this is that Nick works with the lady's husband at Anvil. So she came and picked up our toilet and gave us our money. I asked her why she wanted our toilet when there were lots on craigslist being advertised for free. She told me that she had contacted some of them and they wanted someone to come pick up their nasty old toilet. She didn't want a nasty old toilet! The play was being put on at Western Washington University, so I have a feeling our toilet will be kept in storage forever just in case they need another toilet someday! Nick was given a program for the play and brought it home yesterday. It sounds like it would have been a fun play to see, it was called The Masses are Asses. What I got a huge charge out of is the fact that we were listed under the special thanks of the program for giving them the toilet. How cool is that?!

Well, we have our van into the shop today. We were one of those annoying people driving down the road with a very squeaky belt. I've been really happy with our van so far. Nick took it into the same shop that fixed it up when we first got it. They took a nice look see at it(probably hoping to make some more money) and found nothing wrong with it other than the belt that we knew needed to be replaced! So far so good!

Curling!?!

On Thursday of this past week while I was off on a field trip with Claire, Nick was busy sitting at work trying to get onto a website. For a good hour and a half Nick wasn't getting much work done as he kept trying to get onto the Cosport website. His diligence payed off in the end as I got a phone call from him while I was in the bathroom with both kids.... For those of you that are wondering what I'm talking about, I'm rambling on about buying winter Olympic tickets. By the time he finally got connected onto the website, most everything was sold out or really expensive. I was really hoping to watch some of the skiing events, but I was unwilling to shell out almost $200 per person. Unless you have kids under 2, they are billed the same as adults. So our choices were between the biathlon, curling, or hockey. The biathlon for me is like watching paint dry. So it was really between curling or hockey. The hockey games that we could still afford started at 7pm and we thought that would be much too late for the kids. So by the process of not much elimination, we arrived at women's curling starting at 9am! Considering that there were only somewhere around 40,000 tickets to be sold in America, we are very lucky to have gotten anything! I don't know how many Olympics I'll be going to in my life, so I want to soak this one in. I'll be looking forward to the event just as much as people watching and buying souvenirs.

Mother's Day

I had a busy, fun day! I woke up to my kids jumping up onto the bed and snuggling with while telling me how much they love me! Ahhh! We left a little bit before lunch and went to a cafe in Birch Bay. After that we went to the Birch Bay State Park and played around there for awhile and went on a short hike. Wow, my kids can move out when they want to.

As strange as this may sound, I wanted to get home and work on my retaining wall near the driveway. This is where we will be putting in a garden this year. It is really cleaning up the area, but there is a ton of work that needs to get done. One of the biggest problems is all the root balls that need to be taken out. Nick has been using a pick and axe when needed and I've been shoveling and sifting all the dirt. I'm hoping that sometime this week we will get the carrots and pumpkins planted. I don't know what else we will plant this year or even have time for. And does anyone have any good ideas for slugs or snails, because we have tons of them.

Here At Last!!

We have arrived! Both kids are fully potty trained! No more diapers, no more pull-ups, no more filling up the landfills!! Claire has been dry through the night for about a month now and Adam...well it finally clicked for him. He has been dry through the day and night for about a week. He loves the secret pocket in his underwear!! Oh my, I get the giggles everytime he calls it that. What it came down to for Adam was popcicles and superman. He finally decided he didn't want to crap on his superman underwear and when he got a popcicle for going in the toilet; it was a done deal!! Happiness! :)

The Best of Intentions....

Oh, it was one of those days. First off I woke up with a headache which put me in an awful mood and then the kids don't listen to me. How frustrating! I had Nick go buy some movie tickets so we can go see Earth this afternoon. You know after you buy the tickets you go stand in the next line where they rip your ticket and tell you which theater to go to. Well Nick and I waited with a few other people for a few minutes and then we all looked at each other, shrugged and went off to our theater. I guess they are cutting back jobs at the movie theater. I had high expectation for the movie and it flopped for me. It seemed to me that they used a whole bunch of photography from Discovery's Planet Earth series. Claire enjoyed it, but Adam was bored throughout most of the movie. It didn't help when there was a screaming baby in the theater with a sibling that kept running away from the parents. Of course they were only 2 rows in front of us so we got to see them most the movie. I also was annoyed to watch some guy text through the entire movie. Grrr.

After the movie everyone was starving so we headed off to Applebee's. What a bust there as well?! Really crappy service, the food was horrible, and Claire got sick. Adam was so hungry when he got there, but when his food came he didn't eat much. I don't blame him. If my hamburgers came as burnt hockey pucks I would have trouble stomaching that as well. Claire wolfed down her mac n' cheese and her chocolate milk as fast as she could and she was done before Nick and I even got our dinner. Sigh! So halfway through our dinner Claire started throwing up. I guess we get to chalk it up as one of those days....

Playing Hard and Working Harder!

There has been so much going on lately! As you can see from the pictures, yesterday we had a picnic dinner at Birch Bay State Park. We love going there because it's so close to our house and it's beautiful. The kids can run around and play, ride bikes, throw rocks in the bay, etc. Ahhh!!! I love it!

This last weekend we took two van loads of brush to a compost facility in Bellingham and then on the way home Nick would pick up 50 stones from Lowes so we could work on a retaining wall by our driveway. We've both been sore for awhile now. Nick also removed the sink and toilet from our bathroom that we are remodeling. While Nick was working on the bathroom, I've been busy getting stuff ready for a garage sale this next Saturday. Whatcom county hosts a free advertised garage sale every year to celebrate Earth Day. I think it's a great idea. Since they are advertising in all the papers for us, I still need to do some advertising and take some pictures to post on craigslist. I have a sheet of plywood covered with just toys. I sure hope lots of people come!

Tomorrow I hope to take the family out to see that new Disney movie, Earth. I think it's great that on opening week they will plant a tree for everyone that sees the movie.

On a really exciting note, Nick's work was auctioning off some older computers. It was a silent auction and we bid on 6 of them and got them all! I'm sure you're thinking...6 of them, what's up with that! Well 4 of them are going to my nieces and nephews, 1 will go to Claire and Adam, and Nick figured that the last one could be for parts. You can't go wrong for $5 each and that includes the operating system. Hehe, I love it! The only thing they don't come with is Microsoft Office. So I've really been getting into the ebay thing and trying to get some discs really cheap. So far no luck, but it's fun!

Day One

It's spring break!! My parents have the kids for the entire week!! And did I sleep in today...nope. Today I got up very early and got a cavity dealt with at the dentist. He did a great job and I was on my way home pretty quick. The only thing I really dislike about having a cavity or something like that is getting all numbed up. I felt like a stroke victim for the next 7 hours. Yeah, the 3 hours that the dentist told me came and went.... Everytime I tried to whistle I sent Nick into stitches. One entire side of my mouth did not move..at all.

Nick came home for lunch today and we got food from the local cafe. Yummy! We also discovered that the paint that I was going to use for Adam's closet was not usable so we made a quick trip to the hardware store. I thought that for his closet and nice quart would do it. Nope! I had to go back later and get a gallon and I used up most of that as well. The first boring picture is of the closet I worked on all day. Exciting isn't it?! And aren't I cute in my painting attire?! Yup, used Nick's clothes today! Hopefully later tonight Nick and I can finish removing the wallpaper in Adam's room. Then tomorrow I can paint his room. Getting rid of the pink should make my little guy much happier.

We also had a guy come out and measure for our bathroom vanity. Hopefully we can get a new vanity and countertop in the next month. I've also been prepping the bathroom to paint sometime this week. Where the wallpaper was is a complete nightmare. I've been sanding the walls down.

So day one is wrapping up and I've had a wonderful day even with going to the dentist and painting.

And They're Off

Today was the annual trike-a-thon at Claire's preschool. Claire has been looking forward to this day for a long long time. Luckily it didn't rain today! We went over at lunch today what does she do if she falls down or runs into someone. I am so happy that we talked about that!! Claire ran into a pile of people only once today, but she fell off her bike 6 times! By the end of it she was getting nice and

graceful about falling. She would kind of put her foot out, let the bike fall, and jump away from it. Luckily she didn't notice all of her injuries that were piling up. Every time she fell off she got back on without help and away she went again! I was so proud. She even told me when we got home that she didn't cry like the other kids. As we were nearing the end of the ride, I went over to the teacher and told her I would probably need a band aid for Claire's chin. She had skinned both knees and scratched her chin pretty good. Luckily she was wearing a helmet for her first dump!

Adam did a great job today too. He doesn't have a bike yet, but he happily watched his sister from the side line. He even told me I should go to her every time she fell. He was thrilled that he was included with all of the other preschool events today. He got to color, watch a bike safety video, and eat snack. He didn't want to leave. Next year will be so wonderful! Claire will be in kindergarten and Adam will be doing preschool. Ahhh! Two hours, twice a week that I will have all to myself!

The Dentist

Adam and I went to the dentist early this morning. They informed me I hadn't been in for 6 years (oops) and this was Adam's first visit. Since I hadn't been in for awhile, the technician informed me I had quite the plaque build-up. Needless to say, it wasn't my most pleasant visit to the dentist. All in all though my teeth looked fine except for one small cavity. And luckily they can get me in next week (when I don't have the kids) so I can get that over with quickly. Adam watched me very intently throughout the entire visit so when it was his turn, he knew what to do! The technician told me that most kids did well if they got into the chair. Well Adam crawled into the chair, put his sunglasses on, and opened wide! The dentist was able to check out all of his teeth and everything. What a champ! Adam has a nice healthy set of teeth!

Next we headed off to the mall to get Claire some new shoes. She informed me the other day that her shoes hurt. Bummer! They go through shoes so fast at this age. First we went to Payless Shoes and Claire looked everything over and said they all fit funny. Sigh! We had just enough time to head to Target and there were only one pair of size 11 shoes. Claire told me that they fit, but they were boring. Boring works for me! She did decide to get laces this time, so this will be the next thing we work on with her.

Fast forward to this afternoon. The kids were playing in the living room and Adam fell and hit his head. I swear that kid is a magnet for head injuries. He has one huge goose egg on his left temple and another one on the back of his head. So for the next 2 hours I sat with Adam with an ice pack on his head. Luckily he couldn't see the back of his head because he sliced that open. For some strange reason Adam does not bleed much with his head injuries. My poor parents are going to be taking the kids next week and it'll look like he's been though hell. Sorry!

Rip and Tear

I Hate Wallpaper

As you can see from the title, I'm not feeling the love toward wallpaper. The people that put up the wallpaper in our house did a horrible job. They just slapped it on the wall without prepping it. Ugh! It makes for a nightmare when you try and remove it. I started removing the wallpaper in Adam's room so I can paint when he is gone at my parents house next week. Yesterday I used my steamer to try and remove the paper but I could only get about a pea shaped size at a time. Oh my! And the really strange thing was I was removing the paint under the paper when I tried to pick it off. It's really cheap paint or something, but it's really ruining the wall and going to cause oodles of work for me. So I told Nick to go grab the finish sander. I might as well just sand the walls down and start from scratch. This is when it gets really strange....I've been removing the paper with the sander and not harming the walls AT ALL!! Yay! Go me! So hopefully I'll have the wallpaper removed from Adam's room in the next few days.

Scratch

Earlier this week my back started to itch. I thought I had dry skin so I put more lotion on and started my humidifier. Well the itch continued and started to spread. I was complaining about it most of the week, but I couldn't see any type of rash. Anyways, this morning I had Claire take a look at my back and she said I had lots of little bumps everywhere that were the same color of my skin. Oh joy! So I decided to make an appointment to see the doctor. I got in today and the doctor took a look at it and said that it would continue to spread to the tips of my toes unless I took some antibiotics. So now I'm on some antibiotics and hopefully I can get rid of it soon. I hate being itchy. I almost find it worse than being in pain.

Talking about pain though, Nick and I bought a new bed so hopefully I won't be waking up in pain anymore! We ordered one from Costco online and they delivered and set it up for us. Yay! All I had to do was get rid of my old mattress the day before hand. Wow, I put it on craigslist really cheap and I got 15-20 hits on it. Needless to say it was gone that night. Nick and I had to sleep on the air mattress which was hellish because I was also itching all night long. The new mattress showed up and I was really excited because the boxspring was only like 4 inches tall. I thought it would be great to have a bed I wouldn't have to jump to get into. Well I thought wrong! The boxspring is indeed smaller but the pillowtop mattress is huge! Extremely comfy, but huge!!

We have also been checking craigslist for a desk for Claire. It's been difficult to find one for her because she wants one that looks cheery! Well we were finally successful. We got her one that definitely needs to be refinished but right now I don't care because she can't ruin her desk. In fact today she told me she accidentally drew all over the top and I told her that was just fine! Maybe in a few years I'll refinish it for her and it will look stunning!

Okay, I'm off to play some video games. I would normally say I need to go to bed, but the meds that I'm taking make me very alert! Maybe sometime tonight I'll be able to conk out!

A Tough Day

Well I think the whole family woke up on the wrong side of bed. Sigh! We went to the final swimming lesson today and it went very poorly. There was a substitute instructor and he had just got a tattoo so he would not put his arm in the water. Also he was not good with kids. A few times he was yelling and pulling the kids back to him so they could all stand around and do nothing. It was horrible. Then we went off to McDonalds for a tasty and delicious lunch. Adam has wanted to try his big boy underwear lately so we decided to let him try it after swimming. Sigh! He pooped himself at lunch. So he didn't even get to play and we had to go home early. During his nap he had critical diaper failure. Oh joy, even more to clean. After his nap we decided to be brave and let him try it again. He promptly peed himself. So we are back to diapers. Sigh! In the middle of all this mess we had company show up. It was great to talk to people and catch up, but wow I had a lot to clean up. Don't you just just love it when people show up and the house smells of poop and pee and your kid is running around naked? Sigh! Well, later I hope to post some pictures.

Sadness

Well, Nick and I have finally been affected by the economy. Nick's work sent out a company wide email declaring a wage freeze. Looks like no raise this year. But on the bright side, I don't think anyone at Anvil has been laid off yet. Their main competitor across town just let go all their contractors and some others as well as telling everyone that they were now going to be working 32 hours a week. Ouch!

Swimming Lessons

Swimming lessons have been wonderful. The kids have been going stir crazy spending their days inside. At least this give them something to look forward to every Saturday. Our whole family has a great time. The kids love swimming and we love watching them. They glance over at us periodically throughout the lesson and they get the biggest smile when they see that we are watching them. After the first swim lesson I bought a book thinking that this would be a great time to read some. I got through one paragraph because I was so busy watching them! I looked around to see who else was watching the kids and I saw parents texting others, listening to their mp3's and a lot of absent parents. Maybe I'm one of the dorky parents that really likes to watch my kids have fun, but I don't know.... It just bothered me seeing the lack of interest in their kids. Anyways, we have a great time on Saturdays now. After the swim lessons we go out to lunch and usually go shopping. The kids are usually beat by the time we get home. Swimming takes it all out of them. :)

This was our Thursday activity! School was cancelled and it was time to play in the snow. Didn't I do a great job on the snowman?! The kids wouldn't help, they thought it was chore to make a snowman!! Go figure...

Snow!

I took Claire to preschool today and it was pouring down rain. When we got home both Adam and I took a nap. The nap was wonderful because I got rid of my headache, but I woke up to this! So in about 2 hours it snowed about 2 inches. Wow! I slipped and slided all the way to her preschool, but at least we got there and back safely. It's still snowing, but at least the roads are now clear. I didn't expect this to happen today.

Swim Lessons

We enrolled the kids in swim lessons again. This was Adam's first time going in without Nick. He did great. It did help that both Claire and Adam are in the same class. It's fun watching the differences between the two of them. Claire pays attention and does what is asked right away. Adam on the other hand is our little charming turd. He's the youngest in the class, but thankfully he is comfortable with the water and didn't have any problems with being scared. While Claire is paying attention and blowing bubbles and everything, Adam is undoing the rope and trying to sneak out into deeper water. Needless to say he was caught right away and he promptly gave the teacher a hug and a big smile. Oh my! Adam also loved to splash the other kids and they kept getting mad at him. He would just laugh. We had to have a little chat with him after the class. I meant to take pictures but I got so busy watching that I forgot about it. Hopefully I'll remember next week so you can all see how they are doing!

Yawn, Rub Eyes...

Nick and I had one of those nights. Yawn! Adam woke up around 1:00, cried out, and promptly started throwing up. Blah. We have no idea what set him off, but for the rest of the night he threw up every so often. I must say, he's SO much better than Claire is about throwing up. Hey, you have to find some sort of silver lining! He actually says he needs to go to the bathroom and then he and Nick or I run with him and he does his thing where he should. He would get it off his tummy and then was in a really good mood and extremely chatty. He finally got back to bed around 5:30. Ugh!

We were planning on getting up early this morning and going to a lumber store that is going out of business. Oh well, guess we'll get there after Claire's preschool today. It's really depressing seeing all these places going out of business. This particular lumber spot was always great. We could always count of this place to have what we needed. So now we hope to find some solid core doors, paint, tools, lumber, or whatever else strikes our fancy.

All Done!

I would love to tell everyone of all the wonderful and exciting news, but we don't have any. Tis the season for getting sick. A really nasty cold has been traveling through our family. Luckily the kids are all over it and I'm almost done with it as well. The one who it hit hardest was Nick. Since we haven't felt the best we have been eating gourmet delights such as tv dinners, frozen pizzas, pancakes, etc. Ohh, yum! Ha! Plus the kids have been watching lots of their shows while Nick and I try to take a nap.

On to our better news though...we finished our taxes!! Woot! Got that done with and we'll be getting our rebate which I'll be putting toward my bathroom. Another piece of good news is that the roof people finally came back and finished their job. It only took them 3 months for a simple job. Scary!

Some Pictures!

Adam's 3rd Birthday!


Day after Christmas!



Claire's Christmas Program!

Pain in the Back

Well it happened. I figured it would some time in my life, but for it to happen to me in my early 30's surprises me a bit. I threw my back out on Friday. I can't even say I was doing anything for it to happen. I went to bed Thursday night just fine and I woke up Friday morning in pain. Serious pain! I think I cried myself to the kitchen to take my Tylenol. Then I made it back to bed where I didn't move for 3 hours. Nick took good care of me. He was always really happy when I ate a good meal. Ha! I told him I wasn't sick, just in pain. Today it is getting better. Thank goodness.

Time to update things on my blog as well. Hmm, since I last wrote not much has really happened. We did have Claire's Christmas program in January. She had gotten snowed out in December. She did a great job. She sang and said her angel part like a champ. They are so much fun to watch at that age. Some kids stand around doing nothing, some sing out really loud, some run to their parents as soon as they get up there, etc. I love it! Claire is definitely the kid in charge at her preschool. After the program we had snacks and chit chat time, and Claire ran around with her friends. They had started to get a little crazy and the teacher came up to Claire and told her to calm it down some. Claire did what was asked and all her friends took Claire's lead.


I have started ripping into our upstairs bathroom again. I told Nick that it needs to get moved up in the priority list again now that the septic is fixed. He came home the other day and I had started removing tile. Luckily it isn't too hard to do, you just have to be careful not to have the tile come down in the wrong spot and chip/break the tub. We want to keep that!

One of Those Days

I must say I'm having one of those days where I should have just rolled over and stayed in bed for the entire day. I go to do something and I spend a huge amount of time fixing what I just got done doing. To give you a great example of my day....I got a load of laundry going in the washing machine and forgot to put any clothes in it.... I'm glad we are having left-overs for dinner.

Adam has been doing great with potty training. I take him to the potty about every hour and so far he has had only one accident. He's doing a great job. He has a great incentive for this though. He really wants to do preschool next September and he has to be fully potty trained to do it. We also told him if he wanted to go camping this summer that we might be able to go more if he was potty trained. So far so good!

Well I'm off to go fold some laundry. Lets hope I don't dump the clothes on the floor after I'm done....

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog. I've been looking at most my friend's blogs and I like the setup and everything with blogspot. It will take me some time to figure everything out with this new site. I find I'm not as smart or quick when it comes to computers anymore. Mainly it stems from the fact that I just don't care about how it all works anymore!

I will give up the update on how our home repairs seem to be going.... First off the septic people are here today and they are pumping and fixing our tank. They are pumping both the tank and the drain field and then they will add a chemical (bacteria, I'm thinking) into the field to get rid of all the nasty build up's we have accumulated over 30 years. The guy just knocked on my door and asked how my day was going, I told him to tell me! Luckily everything seems to be going well and they are doing a total replacement of our outlet piping. It was cracked beyond repair. Damn tree! But, at least everything seems like it will get fixed without replacing the whole entire drain field.

Secondly, our roof.... We have been emailing these morons without any response. I finally wrote them a nasty letter and sent it certified mail. Needless to say that the very next day after they received the letter, they called our house promptly at 8:02! Nick was still home and he answered. They will be sending someone out once it stops raining to finish the job. Nick said the guy sounded very nice and helpful this time. Don't businesses understand that stay-at-home moms have lots of time on their hands? Not only do we see the work you do, but we have the time to complain and make sure it gets done correctly. Plus this is a great way to get rid of pent up anger.

Our Christmas was fun. It's probably the most exciting to see kids of this age rip and tear into their presents. They don't really care what they get, they just love opening presents. We definitely had a white Christmas. Luckily my parents decided to come up the evening of the 23rd because it snowed all day on the 24th and continued through the 26th. Wow! It even snowed everyday from the 1st until the 5th of January. Then the rain started! Luckily we live on a hill so we don't see any flooding up here. The Nooksack river was amazing to see. I saw it in the dark last night around Ferndale, but can you say, "wow"! Another few inches and it would have covered I-5. It was already covering half of the on-ramp going north.

Okay, I'll try to do better with updating this more often. If I haven't at least updated it in a month, feel free to get on my case!