Lazy Days and Orange Chair

Well one picture is of the kids being lazy in front of the tv. I think the dog loves it. :-) You missed out on the fight that started right after this. I guess an hour was too long together for this afternoon....they are now playing in separate rooms for a little while. Then I know in 30 minutes they will ask if they can play together and they won't fight. :-)



Then I just finished the painting job on the chair N wanted for his room at his desk. Now he desk from his birthday is blue like he wanted. Then when we found this chair from a friend who was moving and put it out for the garbage guys. We sanded it and cleaned it up and then painted it. It's perfect for a boys room b/c it can take a beating. :-) And of course you can see the color N wanted it. His Kindergarten teacher was big into BSU and even though we don't follow it N always remembers about it when it comes to colors.

Decorating

Well slowly but surely getting things decorated...one step at a time. :-) I put some stuff on the mantel and then I did an idea that I can't remember if mom told me or Aunt P told me about. At first E was not happy that her baby blanket was up there (it has been in the closet for years) but now she is fine with it. I think on the other side I want to find an old wooden crate or something and put N's baby blanket on that side with some sort of plant. I'll just keep an eye out for something.

New Family Photos!

Okay I know it's been forever since I have blogged and there is tons going on around here with summer here. My parents came to visit along with my sister and her husband. We had a great time and time seemed to fly by. I don't even think we made it to the pool like my sister wanted....didn't even realize this until after everyone had left. My dad made a mantel for us and after I painted it looks like it belongs in the house and was part of the house. We love it. I promise to take a "finished" picture and post it tomorrow since I put some stuff up on it yesterday after knowing it had been drying for 3 days (I was worried since it was glossy oil paint...that is what all of our trim is).

Anyways, while everyone was here I had a friend who takes wonderful pictures take our pictures. Of course I get to see them before anyone else (actually M and the kids did since I was at work)

E's Writing

Well I finally got the letter scanned that E did at school.

Golf, Go Carts,Teeth, School, Birds, etc.

Well a couple of weekends ago we went to Bend to see M's mom and stepdad. We had alot of fun. The kids got to go hit golf balls with Papa. They had a blast. N liked it alot more then E. N has been bugging us for quite awhile to go golfing. So he finally got to go. He did pretty well too for his first time.

While we were in Bend N took a tumble on his scooter...we are still not sure how it did it going up the hill of the driveway and wasn't even on the step part but he took some skin off his nose. Right now it is healed up almost all the way. He might have a scar there but oh well. :-)


N also finally has his first loose tooth! We just figured this out last night when he was trying to eat a fruit roll up and pulled on it with his teeth. It is the bottom right one. So hopefully soon I will be able to take his first smile picture with a tooth missing. :-) I think I am more excited about this then he is. LOL

Last weekend M and N got to go on their "guys night out" date. M is trying to take each kid about every 3 months out with just him to have some daddy time. Anyways, they went to Wahooz (use to be Boondocks) where they played minature golf, video games and then N got to drive go carts all by himself. He was nervous at first and then after the first time he was hooked. M said he was like a kid in the candy store couldn't get enough of it. Now these are not the adult go carts they are a smaller version and a smaller track but still there were older kids driving too. He was just an inch over the height you had to be. I would post a picture but the pics are on M's camera. :-)

Now here's a story for you about an annoying robin (bird)! We had gotten the tint done and then left for the weekend. Then came home and we washed the outside of the windows and I noticed there was bird poop on the patio but thought they must have just come in b/c no one was around and the feeder is near by. Well wrong! Come to find out we have a male robin that has been seeing his reflection in the tint and trying to "fight" the bird. Ugh! Let's just say annoying and messy! So I looked up info on the internet...didn't find a whole lot except for it's territorial and we knew he was building a next near by b/c he would fight the relection with dirt and grass in his beak (which just made the window more dirty...which drives M totally crazy). Anyways, I took some shiny ribbon and taped it to the window thinking it would scare him away. Wrong! He actually sat on top of the ribbon. Which just drove me nuts! Especially at 6:30 am! He would come in the morning and then again in the evening. Anyways, M thought of a cap gun. So he finally found one at Walmart and bought it. It worked! Every time the robin came one of us would go out and "shoot" it. The noise scared him away. It has been 3 days since he has come here. So it only took a few days of doing that. We still have the thing sitting out just in case but glad to have found something that worked that didn't cost an arm and a leg!

N is doing awesome at school. He is caught up with the other kids (middle of the pack) for reading. So he will do just fine on the IRI test in a couple of weeks. E only has one more month of school then it's summer break for her. I really need to find a dance class or something for her to do during the summer. She might be taking a week long dino theme class at our church preschool. Plus there is VBS week. It's wierd to think that in about 4 weeks there will be no school for E, N will be at the end of his track break and going back for 3 more weeks before his "summer break", I won't have babysitting at the church 2x a week, so the weeks should slow down...it's hard to imagine. The pool though will be open and I plan to take E alot so she will maybe start sticking her head in the water. :-)

Oh yea...E is learning to sound out words. I will need to scan in the paper I got from school. They had to write a sentence/letter and let me tell you...you can actually read it and she did it mostly by herself. It's wierd to see something that N would have done at the beginning of first grade from her. She loves it though. She is always asking us how to spell something (while driving in the car) and then there are times when she and N are talking about letter sounds. :-)

Okay time to get some more stuff done this afternoon before I know it N will be home from school and then time for me to get ready to head to work for the evening. Have a great weekend! We will. M is headed to Redmond area with the youth group for Acquire the Fire and the kids and I are staying here and getting some things done...hopefully the fence finished staining if it doesn't rain more.

Easter & Update!

Okay I know I have been really bad about both of my blogs lately! Time just seems to get away way too easily around here. My goal is to try to stay around the house more...especially now that weather is getting nicer.

Let's see what is going on in our life...

N has been doing awesome with reading. Still need to work on the math subject but hey at least he is interested in it. Every week he gets 100% on his spelling test and that is with us only practicing once at home. Other wise it's just a waste of time on our part. They do practice them almost every day at school too so that helps. Some speed reading stuff that they have been working on he has gotten the hang of and done awesome on them! He actually now starts reading out loud to M and I. I have also noticed he can read my chats with M on the computer so now we have to be careful about what we are writing. :-)

E is doing great. She loves school. I am looking for a dance class for summer time with her. That way she is busy while N is still in school. I can't believe E only has next month left of school then it will be summer time for her. Oh and she learned how to buckle herself in the car (toy bribe) and it is wonderful!

Both kids are counting down the days until the pool opens. :-)

M has been busy with work and youth group stuff. We both are enjoying the Bible study class we are taking but we will be glad too when it is done in the next 5 weeks. It will free up an evening for us.

S has been busy with schedules around here and working at the church babysitting and also working at her job. She still enjoys working there. There were some changes done and not a supervisor anymore at this stage. They needed supervisors to work 20 or more hours and about any hours so wouldn't work. But still working there...it is a little different but still fun. S also had a baby tooth taken out and an implant put it. It wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. And now it is healing well. Will get the crown in 5 months.

We are still loving the house. We just got tint put on the top big windows in the living room that face west. So now that will help with glare and heat. Took some pics but can't really tell a difference...will try again at a different time of day to see. We do like the fact that now the back neighbors can't see in except for at night if we have the lights on. So that is nice.

Kids had fun with easter. We went to sunrise service, then brunch at the church, helped with children's church (Matt recorded media) at the 9:30 service. Then home to see what was in the kids baskets. Then we hung out and relaxed. We all ate dinner together. Then we did the annual jelly bean hunt. I had found tiny baskets this year that were perfect. The kids now call them their jelly bean baskets. :-) I think that was N's favorite thing of the day.

Oh yea the easter egg hunt at the church was on Saturday and the kids loved it. They each got the toy(s) they had eyed before the hunt (you use points from sunday school and what you find in the eggs). So they were happy. Plus we have a ton of candy. N's group was not as large as they thought it would be and so he had two basket full...maybe a little more. I had to use his coat to carry the extra.

Enjoy the pics. I promise to update more next week!

Sleep!

Okay sleep is so important! Lately I have not gotten enough and neither has E with her waking up every night. So last night I gave her some Benadryl plus she had a long day yesterday w/lots of play. Well guess what! She slept all night...well atleast she didn't come down to get me! She even slept until 8am! I am so glad and so is M b/c now hopefully we have broken the cycle!

Have a wonderful day!

Tomorrow I will post about us going to our zoo the other day and seeing the new giraffees and how one of them was checking out a squirrel. :-)

Craziness in our house!

Well M came home early today b/c his stomach was not feeling well. But he has been working from his desk. The kids have been busy but all of sudden I hear some screaming, yelling and running. So I take the camera and sure enough M has taken a break and the kids were pig piling on him. :-) Then M decided to bring them up to me. Here is the picture of it.


Now here is another thought...if you know of any toys that a dog can not chew through! Let me know!!! I swear this dog loves to chew on anything. Yes she is still a puppy...turns one in February. But still. Luckily she doesn't chew on shoes anymore or any of the "fun" stuff. But it seems like I am always trying to find a new toy. Now I did finally break down and get her some bones too and we always have raw hide squares for her but I love to give her new stuff. She only has about two "toys" that she can not chew through. I can not give her squeaky stuff, stuffed toys or ropes...they are toast! She even chewed up her kong after a few months. She is cute though!

On another note...I have finally started just a crafting blog. If you are interested in it you can see it at... 2 B Scrappin

Keeping Busy

Well N is on his track break right now. All I have to say is who thought of this track! They just got back into the routine of school and now he has another 3 weeks off??!! Anyways, he and E have been getting along better then I thought they would but by late afternoons they are sick of each other and both tired. Anyways, I have been cleaning up and reorganizing the bonus room closet that has books, board games, and toys in it. Finally I am able to keep the fort building stuff down where they can build with it. Today N figured out it was there. Then asked me to help show him how to put it all together. So today I helped build this but it kept them busy! Next time it will be interesting to see what they can come up with together. Also, for some reason the dog did not like the tunnel.

Sunny but Cold!!!

Okay you have to understand we have had an inversion going on here for almost 2 weeks before this weekend! So that meant it looked like it was foggy all the time and no sun. I think we saw the sun peak once for about an hour during that time. Well this weekend we woke up to some snow yesterday (just a dusting) and then a little bit of sun that afternoon. But by last night the temperature starting dropping (we can now tell b/c we finally got our temperature gage back up. By the time we went to bed at 10 last night it was 25 degrees outside so I knew it would be a cold night. This morning at 7:30 when I checked the temperature it was 19.5 degrees! BRRRRR! But one good thing is the sun is out today! I will be glad to have the sunshine come in through the dirty windows. (Yes the windows are dirty b/c it was never quite warm enough to clean them after moving in and whats the point in cleaning the inside when the outside is dirty too.) :-) Anyways, thought I would leave you with a picture of the beautiful sun coming in through our windows in our staircase.

BRRR!

Okay today is my busy day! Weds are just nuts around here. It's babysitting at the church, eat lunch, take E to preschool, go to N's school to help out, go back and get E, and then home for about an hour before N gets home. Then we do homework and eat dinner when M gets home. Then it's off to the church for bible study for M and S.

Today has been cold! I have been cold all day. I am now going to be wearing my sweat pants for the rest of the night since I don't have to be dressed nice for bible study class. :-) M just laughs at me.

I thought I would post this picture of all of us with Mickey Mouse.

Princess Table & Misc

Hi everyone! I can't believe the last post I did was halloween! Life has been busy around here! In December we went to Disney World with my parents and my sister and her husband. We all loved it. The kids loved it alot! Thanks to my cousin for making the kids think that Mickey Mouse sent them a shirt! They loved that and let me tell you those shirts have been worn everytime they are clean! I will post pictures after I finish getting through them all. I now have my dad's cd of pictures to load too and look at. I am sure that is all I will end up doing tonight while M is at his 4th day meeting. :-) We had a quiet Christmas here b/c M's parents couldn't make it in the snow here. They would have gotten stuck on the pass for who knows how long. So they will be coming to visit us next month.

Now I had to put this picture in here though today...E got this in the mail today from Nana E. My mom has had this sitting for her dolls for a long time and decided that E would use it more. Well sure enough E loves it and N thinks it's "cool". :-) E calls it her Princess Mirror/Table.


Then this picture is of my birthday present from Matt and I also used some of my birthday money from relatives for it. We got it through Birds Unlimited (they have a store locally). We are hoping to add to it a finch feeder and maybe sometime a humming bird feeder once we have some landscaping/plants in the back yard. Right now it is outside my dining room window so I can see it from the kitchen too. I love it. Now for the birds to find it. So far haven't seen any on it but have only had it up since yesterday. I am sure by the end of the week they will have found it.

Halloween!

Okay finally posting some pictures from Halloween night. The kids had a blast! N got tired of his helmet (not a mask) fairly fast. Plus E only got to the 3rd house and decided she had enough with her shoes. This is the first year that I remember not having to worry about coats! It was so nice outside! And mom the cape was perfect! It billowed out when N walked so looked exactly like Darth Vader! Just so everyone knows N was Darth Vader and E was Princess Belle.

Sleep!

Well since last night was change the clock time once again I thought for sure N would be up at the break of dawn but lo and behold he slept until 6:20!!! Is this a new phase he is going through???? We are hoping so! It's so nice when he sleeps in for us! :-) Now M on the other hand got stuck on the computer/phone for 5 hours last night for work. :-( He is sleeping now as we speak and hopefully going to get about 2 hours of sleep in before we have to leave for church/work. I knew he had woken at a little after 1am but thought he would be back, but I woke up at 6am and he hadn't been back to bed. Luckily I think he is done being the on call guy starting tomorrow.

Hope everyone got plenty of sleep last night!

I will post Halloween pictures tomorrow!

Pictures

Couldn't get the pictures to add very well on the last post so will do this instead...

living room (downstairs)






okay...most of the pictures you can tell what is what. The bedroom with the red/white/blue quilt is the guest room. The one with the checkered rug (which I need to figure out how to keep it from moving so much!) is my craft room plus the kids crafts are in there too. The one with all the boxes and entertainment center (which we are so grateful to neighbors that helped moved this upstairs the day we moved in!) is the bonus room. We have actually gotten the entertainment center in place far left wall closer to the window...the tv stuff will be at that end and then play area will be near the door. The only picture that is not in here is the master bedroom/bath area. On the first floor you have the living room, master, kitchen, dining, office, laundry, and half bath. Then the 2nd floor you have the kids bedroom plus bathroom on one side. On the other side you have the bonus, craft room and guest room.


UGH!!! Looks like some of the pictures are cut off. If they are when you look then click on them and you can see the full picture.
I know I need a picture of the outside too but will try to get that tomorrow....or maybe next week.

Finally!!!!

Okay I know I have not blogged in a LONG time! Let's just say moving takes alot out of you! Yes we moved!!! Our official move date was Sept 26 (2 days before E's bday). We had sold our "old" house and was having a hard time finding one that we liked or the offer would be accepted. We did put an offer on one house that was not accepted. Then finally after a couple of weeks of me looking like crazy with our realtor to narrow down options for M to look at we finally came back to an area that I had already looked at but M had decided was too far away. Well come to find our house right there and we actually love this area! It is actually easier to get on the highway for M to go to work and it seems like we are getting better gas mileage out here too b/c we aren't always sitting at lights or doing "short" little trips. We are off a road too that is so easy to get on and get to our church area so that is so nice too!

N had to switch schools. He went from a traditional school (Sept - June) to a year round (July - June). So when he switched he ended up being 5 weeks behind. His teacher has been great with this! We need to get better around here with catching him up...sometimes feels like all we do is work on that weeks stuff. But know that this will easy out some for us now that we are more settled (don't get me wrong we still have tons of stuff to do around here) and we don't have any trips for the next 6 weeks!

We switched E to a different preschool too b/c I was not happy with the one she was in. It seemed like they had to be quiet alot and they didn't even let her write her name on her paper. Plus the art projects were not really art projects. (I know the school teacher coming out of me.) So she is now what I would call an arts & crafts preschool that she loves and I love.

M and I have just been busy trying to keep up with the house stuff, jobs, kids lives and then Emmaus for us. M worked the mens and I attended the womens. To me it brought back alot of memories as a teenager attending Chryslis. We loved the weekends and doing this but it does put us behind...especially with everything else.

M is busy with work. It is alot of stress lately with some reogranizing and such. His job is safe as we speak but it is still very stressful. S is still working the same job and loves it. The holidays are starting right up next weekend so it will be even busier at her work.

Okay I will leave now for some pictures that some of you have been wanting to see.

Update - Wedding, Strep

Well we had a great time up at the wedding. (Aug 16) It was hot for Portland but it was a great wedding! Wish we could have stayed another day. My sister and her husband are now in LA looking forward to him starting school next week and my sister looking for a job. Plus they are looking for a place to live. I still have not downloaded any of the pictures I took...ugh! But I will sometime soon I hope!

Then the week after we got home everyone around the house has been tired and just not all there. LOL Well come to find out that we had a kid over the week before the wedding that came down with strep. And I couldn't figure out why I was getting sick in the mornings and did not want to hardly eat, my glands were swollen and just plain old worn out. So went to the dr and they did the fast test and nothing...so sent it off to the lab (Friday). So over the weekend I got worse so I called Monday morning and went in again thinking something had to be very wrong...well come to find out I have Strep. Well then time for everyone else to get tested plus I called my mom and texted my sister and cousin to let them know. Mom and Dad went in and sure enough they have it (little bit of a sore throat & drainage down the back of the throat). Well now both kids tested positive yesterday and M's test will be back today but he already started the meds too. It's crazy! I have never had strep in my life and M has had it only once when he was a kid. I can't believe how it spread!

N started school this week and loves it! I am glad...wasn't sure how he would be for a full day. But he loves it and now we are hoping we didn't pass on the strep to any other kids/adults!



Okay off to get some things done around here. We'll keep you updated hopefully a little better! :-)

Didn't Make It

Well we tried the biking to the school. This is why I don't understand why he can't ride the bus! Anyways, it took us almost 25 min just to get to the back of the neighborhood and that is not including going down the main street (which has no sidewalks at points). That would have probably taken another 15-20 minutes. Oh well we tried. I think I might just park a little ways from the school and walk over to get him. We shall see.

Half packed for the weekend. :-) The kids are excited and helping pick out their clothes for rehearsal dinner and what they wear in the car. :-) E has decided on her easter dress...which I think might be a little too fancy but oh well...at least it will be worn one more time before she out grows it.

Have a great weekend!

Oh and Jann...can you believe Verizon and Qwest are going to team together in some package deal that you can get. The lady tried to tell me I would save $5 a month to bundle internet and cell together but it wouldn't be set until October or November. Wierd!

Weekend Coming Up

Okay I can not believe that my little sister is getting married this weekend! The kids are excited to see her and everyone else. They actually picked out a present for Aunt L...N is so excited about giving it to her. At the store he had to carry it and make sure it was okay out in the car.

Today we are going to ride bikes to N's school to see how long it takes. I would rather walk to pick him up b/c parking there is awful in the afternoons. The kids are excited to do it.

Then the rest of the day is laundry and packing. Then tomorrow morning will be cleaning the house to make sure it is tip top shape so hopefully we will get an offer! Fingers crossed and praying!

Okay off to get us all ready to start walking/riding before it gets too hot.

Have a great weekend! I am sure I will have some fun pictures to share.

Frustration!!!

Okay we canceled our land line last week. They tell me we pay a month in advance so the next bill will be prorated. I go online today when I get the notice I have a bill and it is not prorated! It says I owe a full bill for the next mont...uh don't think so! So I try calling...sorry customer service is not available until 8am. So then I go to online chat. I have been on there with this lady for 20 minutes (maybe longer) and we are just now getting to let's look at your acct. How many times does she need to ask me this...

I also want to share with you that the information on the services that we provide you is confidential and, by law, Qwest is obligated to protect it. May I have your approval to use this information during this chat to ensure that I offer you the best service we have to meet your needs?

She asked me a total of 4 times. Each times I said sure but I don't want anything the line is canceled and would just like to know about my bill.

ugh! She just asks me "So you said you got a full bill?" Hello! I have told you that I don't know how many times since I logged on! This is another question she asked me about 4 minutes ago...Sorry, did you want me to check for bundling discounts? Uh NO!!! I just want to know about my bill!

I am so hoping I get the question would you like to fill out a survey??? UH YES!!!! B/c I am tired of this!

Then just now she says it looks like you owe this amount...right away I can tell she is looking at the wrong acct. I told her we had another acct that is just internet and I am not wondering about that one but need to know about the one canceled last week. Oh my word! Makes me wonder what she is doing at her desk!

Oh my word...I am half laughing now...she writes back. "I'm sorry for the delay. I'll be right with you."

I just now asking to talk to a supervisor b/c she is now telling me that I should pay for the full bill and have it credited back to me. And that she would now need to ask that bill is that okay?

All I have to say is I hope I never have to have phone service through them again! I have always had problems with customer service there!

okay off my rant now. LOL