Spring Break Day 2

I asked some friends for ideas of how to entertain my kids, when it's raining outside constantly, during spring break. One of my friends directed me to a city website that had all kinds of fun stuff to do. The problem is that most of it was geared towards small kids. However, I found this thing called "Whirlagig" in downtown Seattle. They had transformed some hall into a huge bounce zone, with face painting and food and such. From what I could tell it was a huge place with tons of inflatables. I figured my kids could bounce happily for at least a couple of hours!

Not so much. When we got there, there were only 4 or 5 bounce things, and they were mostly geared for young kids. I could see that we had driven a long ways for nothing! Kennedy of course wanted to bounce, and Whit said she would too. They bounced for about an hour, and then were done!

Colton, on the other hand wanted nothing to do with it. All he wanted was a cartoon drawing of himself. So for the same price I paid for the girls to bounce, I bought Colton this picture. He was so happy with it. The rest of our time was spent sitting at a table waiting for the girls to get bored.

Afterwards, we headed for Red Robin and had lunch. The girls both ordered Mac and Cheese and they inhaled it! The waiter came to clear our plates and asked if they wanted a refill! I didn't know they did refills on food, but it turns out they do. By the time the refills came, the girls weren't hungry so Colton finished them both off. After he horked down his teryaki chicken burger, fries, and fry refill! Oh yeah take on a few calories buddy! Ya think he's a growing boy??? And I don't thing he's really hit a growth spurt yet.

Pre Teen

Can you say Pre-Teen?

I walked into my closet this afternoon, and this is what I found. Whitley rockin' out with my Ipod!

Spring Break day 1

My kids have spring break this week and I'm trying to come up with things to entertain them so they don't kill each other, or wear out our tv! I want to enjoy this week, not just survive it. So today we went to see Monsters VS. Aliens. We stopped at target on the way and stocked up on candy. Like I've said before, it's not always easy to entertain Colton and Kennedy with the same thing. Today this movie worked for both! On to tomorrow...

Shabby Apple Picture Princess

Shabby Picture Princess

"headed to school"

"in the school play"

"waiting to go to church"

The Shabby Apple is looking for a new "picture princess" and we think Kennedy might just be who they're looking for. She is the perfect mixture of femininity and tom-boy. She loves nothing more than to get dressed up and twirl around in a pretty dress. But if a ball rolls by while she twirling, watch out! She's gonna give it a boot. With her red hair and big blue eyes, she's definitely unique. If she sees a camera she strikes a pose. Has done since she was little tiny! She is the life of the party, and keeps us on our toes with her sense of humor. We think she'd be the perfect "picture princess".


This is one of our favorite dresses from Shabby Apple! "little girls and girls dresses from shabby baby" http://www.shabbyapple.com/p-304-hibiscus.aspx

Crazy Hair Day

Colton started the day ready to go with crazy hair day. We had come up with a sa-weet do, and he was into it. I got it all done, minus the color, and when he went to check it out in the mirror, he freaked out. "I can't go like this. I look ridiculous! " I told him that that was the point. It was crazy hair day! I told him to not be so cool, that he couldn't have fun with himself. That this was probably the last time he could get away with something like this. As you can see, after my little pep talk, he went for it. We came up with the "bun hawk" for the girls, and they loved it! We sprayed it all crazy and away they went!

I'm Sorry, You're How Old???

12 years old. What a weird age. Colton seems to be stuck in the middle of two worlds. On one hand, he is becoming more and more independent and I can see him starting to turn into a teenager. On the other hand, there are moments when I'm sure he's still 6 years old. I'm not sure if he really knows!
This week is spirit week at school. Each day is a different theme. The girls are completely into it. Monday was backwards day. So of course, they wore their clothes backwards. Colton decided he was too cool! Tuesday was crazy hat day. Both of my girls wore silly hats that they got at Disneyland. Colton put on a beat up trucker's hat. I think it was just an excuse to not "do" his hair! Today was pj day. Clearly the girls were in their pj's, and yet again Colton was not about to be caught out of the house in his pj's. Tomorrow is crazy hair day. They love this day. When we lived in AZ, and it was crazy hair day I would do some crazy do's and then spray them all different colors. They loved it. So they think that is what we have to do for tomorrow. So we ran to the party store today for the colored spray. The Dollar Store was near by, and they love to "shop" in there. This is what Colton spent his hard earned money on! He then spent the rest of the afternoon like this! It just cracks me up. He did at least take it off to go into Sam's Club, but then it was right back on in the car! It will be interesting to see if he participates in crazy hair day. I have a sneaky suspicion that he will. To be continued...

First Scout Campout

The new Deacons headed out on their first campout (yes Colton really is that much bigger than all of his friends!)

Colton went on his first Scout campout this weekend. They left Friday right after school. It had been raining all day, but luckily stopped before they left. They slept in a 3 sided shelter thing. He said they didn't get much sleep because one of the kids kept waking up all night threatening to throw up! He was exhausted and smelly when he got home, but had tons of fun. This is the first of MANY campouts on the road to his eagle scout. Let the games begin...

The Little Engine That Could

My girls were in the school play tonight. They have 1 more performance tomorrow night, and then it's over!!! They have been practicing 3 times a weeks for a couple of months now. We are all ready for it to be over.

They were so excited that they got to wear makeup. I think that was their favorite part. They are both banned from makeup until they're 12. We've had some instances here that made me go that route. Anyway, all this makeup was a real treat for them!

Kennedy was a fairy.

And Whitley was a ticket taker.

They both did a great job, and we had lots of fun watching them perform.

To Skimp or Not to Skimp

Yesterday I finally got my hair cut. Okay, trimmed! My neighbor is a hairdresser, so after I showered I ran across the street with wet hair for a much needed trim. She was combing through my hair, getting ready to cut it, and commented on how yummy it smelled. My first thought was "thank goodness!" I'm super sensitive to smells, good and bad. I am slightly obsessed with my house, car and family smelling good. There is no smell better than the clean laundry. My dryer vent is right outside my front door. I'm almost always doing laundry so that is the first thing people smell when they come to my house. I can't even begin to explain the joy that I get from this knowledge.

That all has very little to do with my point! As I was washing my hair this morning I was thinking of that conversation I had with my friend yesterday. I was thinking about how I have always used "good" shampoo. No matter the price, it's worth it to me. Even on my girls hair. Which got me to thinking about some of the other things that I absolutely WILL NOT skimp on, no matter what. We could be living in a cardboard box down by the river, and I'd still be using good shampoo. I like a lot of nice quality stuff, but these are my top four that I will not, no matter the circumstance, budge on quality. In no particular order...

Good Shampoo. I'm currently using Biolage (which is my fav, but I also really like Redkin)

Jam/Jelly. I prefer Jam, it spreads easier! I will not buy store brand, cheap jam. It's just wrong. Knotts is my fav, but I also like Trader Joe's. Cherry is the best!
Toilet paper. Truth be told, this should be at the top. There is nothing worse than using thin, scratchy TP. This Charmin Ultra is the thickest, finest TP money can buy. This has been the center of many a battles with my dad, who thinks that thick TP clogs the toilets. I've try to explain to him what I think is clogging his toilets, to no avail.
Boar's Head deli meats. This is the finest deli meat you can get. It's not that processed junk, it's the real deal. I let my dear husband get some deli meat a few weeks ago, and he got whatever was on sale. Lets just say it wasn't Boar's Head, and we threw most of it away. I'm super picky about meat in general, but this is the only deli meat I will buy.

I wanna know. What won't you skimp on???

ST. PATRICK'S DAY BREAKFAST

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

A little green St. Patrick's Day Breakfast

Green Eggs, Green Buttered Toast, with Green Milk. MMM

Many Cultures, One World

One of the things that I love about living here in Seattle is the diversity of people. With Microsoft being so huge up here, it brings people here from all over the world. I love the fact that my children go to school with kids whose cultures and lives are so different than our own. I truly believe it will have a huge impact on them throughout their lives. In fact hanging in the front office of the school is a huge map of the world with the words "MANY CULTURES, ONE WORLD". Cool, right?
When we first moved here, it was so interesting to here my kids talk about their friends and other kids at school. I could hardly pronounce these names, and my kids acted like they were talking about "Mike" and "Susie". Landon and I found ourselves saying "what was his/her name?" alot! Just to give you a little taste of what I mean, here's just a few of the kids' names in Kennedy's first grade class...

Aneesha
Nada
Neha
Nikhil
Reeteka
Ronit
Shaurya
Sidarth
Varun

And they're all mixed in with kids like...
Matt
Jared
Christopher
Makenzie
and Julia!

I just can't say enough about how much I love this part of living in the Northwest!

Band Concert, What Band Concert?

I feel like most of the time that I have a post about one of my kids, it's because they do stuff to make me crazy. Well, this post is no different! This is classic Colton! It's 6:20pm and things were starting to settle down around here. The girls had been in the shower, and Colton was getting ready to get in. Dinner was over, and the dished were don. Landon and I were sitting on the couch watching the news and the phone rings. I answer, and it's Colton's band leader wondering if Colton was planning on coming to the band concert tonight??? I say "I didn't know there was a band concert tonight!" He says, "yep, I sent home a flyer a couple of weeks ago about it, and Colton definitely knew". So I calmly ask, "What time does it start, and where is it?"

It started at 7pm, at a high school that was about 25 minutes from my house. My girls both had wet hair, and were in pj's. So I go screaming upstairs asking Colton what the heck??? He claims he forgot, and never got the flyer. I tell him to get ready we're leaving. I have the girls throw on some clothes and a hat. When Colton comes down the stairs, he's wearing some quicksilver t-shirt and jeans. Landon asks him if he's not suppose to be in something a little nicer, and he claims that no one told him anything! Landon makes him at least put on a button up shirt, and away we go.

We made it on time, barely. Colton was the only kid not wearing a white shirt and black pants. So embarrassing! However, he did a great job on the drums. And his band leader came up to us 2 different times to tell us how well Colton is doing this year, and how glad he is that he's in band. That took a little bit of the edge off of how we were feeling.

That's the kind of stuff Colton use to pull on us all the time, but hasn't done is quite a while. I definitely like the new and improved Colton better!

Kennedy's Party

Even after the crap she pulled at school, we did actually celebrate Kennedy's birthday. She invited a bunch of her friends to 3-2-1 Bounce. They jumped and bounced their guts our for 1 1/2 hours. This picture is after they're finished. They're trashed!

Then it was time for pizza, cake and ice cream!
And what's a birthday party without present! She has some great friends here, and they were all so generous. They were also all so wound up I thought that I might lose my mind before it was over.

We love Kennedy so much and am so grateful to have her as a part of our eternal family. I'm not sure what we did in heaven to "deserve" her, but boy are we lucky :). She definitely keeps our lives interesting. Happy Birthday Boo!

Lying Liar who Lies

Today is Kennedy's birthday. Now normally I would say a little something nice about my loved one. BUT NOT TODAY! I emailed Kennedy's teacher this morning, who I know very well, about bringing in cupcakes for her class. This is the response I get, word for word!

"Amy,
Unfortunately students are not allowed to bring food items for their b-day. Food items are for holiday parties only. What you can do is bring in little items (pencils, erasers, etc.) for the children. Please feel free to come by after lunch recess (12:35) or after music (2:30).

On a total side note, during morning announcements the speaker wished Kennedy a “Happy Birthday” and some of the children had a very odd reaction. I finally ask someone and they told me a very interesting story around Kennedy’s birthday. One day in music Kennedy told the class it was her birthday and Mr. Dean had the class sing Happy B-day. I did not make a big deal about this because many of her classmates called her out however I did tell the class we are now moving on and we are not discussing this topic again today. I want Kennedy to enjoy her b-day and not be embarrassed. We had a small talk about playing joke and or saying things that are not true and how this can come back around and embarrass us."

I for one couldn't be prouder! I talked briefly to her teacher when I took in a little treat for the kids, explaining how embarrassed Landon and I both are. She said that Kennedy had been mortified. That she had come up to her desk with her face all flush, shaking and almost in tears. I guess if they won't listen to their parents, hopefully their peers can humiliate them into good choices.

Happy Birthday Miss Kennedy. I sure hope you have finally learned your lesson!

I REALLY Don't Like Winter

I am having the mid-winter blues. This is the first real winter that I've been through in 10 years. 10 YEARS!! Even though we moved to Moses Lake last year in January, we had missed half of the winter. So this winter seems to be dragging on and on and on! The thing that's weird about Seattle is that it will be rainy and yucky for days, weeks on end. And then one day you'll wake up and it will be 68 degrees with bright blue skies! You think, "finally the spring is here. I made it". And then you wake up a day later to more snow! It's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde! Well I'm sick of it. I'm sick of wearing a coat. I hate shoes and socks, hate them. I just want to put on my beloved flip flops. I hate umbrellas. But most of all, I HATE being cold all the time. I just want the freakin' sun to come out and stay. I'm not even demanding that it be hot. I'll even take the 60's. But I'm am officially done with this whole winter idea!