Another Year Older

A bit of a downer the night before my birthday when I realized that I was actually turning 32 not 31. For some reason I thought I was going to be 31. Not that big of a difference, I know...maybe showing my age that I can't remember how old I am getting though!



I had a quiet day at home, I even got a nap! It was raining cats and dogs and the kids couldn't help but go outside and enjoy the rain. Thanks for all the birthday wishes!! I got some cute plates for my birthday. Come on over for lunch and I will have an excuse to use them!



Just for a good laugh I put this picture up.
(Hey if you pose for a picture like this-- it is your own fault!)

Dora the Explorer Overload

Natalie is definitely two. We spend a lot of the day in a power struggle she and I. There is a lot of whining, crying, and being bossy and that is just me. As to keep me sane, Natalie enjoys watching Dora-a lot. That is when she is the happiest. The other day when I put her lunch in front of her she said, "Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. Delicioso!" This is might be a sign that we are watching a little too much TV these days.

Conversations

Conversation I had with Cameron this morning:

Cameron: Mom, do you have any steaks?
Mom: What? I don't have steak....what?
Cameron: You know...do we have some meat?
Mom: Meat to eat? I'm not sure why you need meat.
Cameron: I’m really just looking for some meat or beef or something because I love A1. Can we get some for dinner?

Mitch was dying....as you can tell I was a great conversationalist this morning.
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A couple of days ago Cameron told me this while he was mad at me: "Your a strange, bad, little person, mom."
Uhh.....okay...where does he hear/come up with this?
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Conversations with Natalie this week:

Mom: Natalie you're silly.
Natalie: I not silly, I Nat-a-ee!

Later-

Mom: Nat you're crazy.
Natalie: I not crazy, I Nat-a-ee Jane!

Even Later-

Julia: Natalie you're being a beast
Natalie: I not a beast, I Nat-a-ee!

Later-

Mom- You're a nut
Natalie- I not a nut, I Nat-a-ee.

I think you get the picture. Natalie has probably told me this about 10 times a day everyday this whole week. It is funny. I fall for it every time and it makes me laugh every time.

Easter Dresses

I thought I would take a picture of my kids in their cute Easter dresses. Yeah right. All three of them cooperating at once? No way... This was the best that I got.





Mitch despises ruffly socks, so I can't help myself!



Got to love this look!

I know you probably can't believe that I don't have the girls in matching dresses, me either!There were so many cute dresses that I let them pick out different ones. No worries....Mitch's niece got married last week and we spent time going to the temple and the reception (It was really nice. I didn't bring my camera with me but when I get some pictures I will have to post them.) Mitch's sister made the girls matching dresses for the wedding and they turned out really cute.



(Picture courtesy of Megan's blog. Thanks!)

Tulip Festival

Kierstin and Sterling invited us to go with them to the tulip festival in Mt. Vernon. We had never been so thought it would be a lot of fun. The flowers were beautiful and very pretty to see BUT the crowds and traffic were horrific. The small town that the flowers are in are not equipped to have so many visitors at once. We left at 1:30 to go up there and got back at 9:30 at night. We sat in traffic for a long time. Good thing we brought the the DVD players for the kids. They did really good but by the time we got home it had been a long day.

Cousins!

Things got a little crazy in the car after being in there so long!

Natalie was cracking us up with her serious look as she watched her show. We stopped at an ice cream shop and she got chocolate ice cream on everything. I had to strip her down for the ride home.

Cameron and Julia got the giggles. Cam was laughing so hard that he was crying! I think Laura was glad to get out of the car by the time we got home. Not sure if she would want to take a long road trip with us anytime soon. :)

Spring Break: Part 2

On Friday I took Cameron to an ear, nose and throat doctor to see if there is anything seriously wrong with his voice. He has been hoarse for about 6 months and nothing seems to help. The doctor needed to look at his vocal cords so he had a camera go up through his nose to have a look. Cam was very calm and not too worried. I was really proud of him. He has a bump on his vocal cord that is causing the hoarseness. Nothing seriously but definitely annoying. In order for it to heal he needs to talk quietly and use his voice less....hmmm.....any suggestions on how in the world I am supposed to do that would be welcome!

Last week we found on Craig's List an adjustable basketball hoop for free. When the weather has permitted it we have been enjoying ourselves outside. Cameron loves being able to shoot on a lower hoop. We taught him to play HORSE and Bump...so fun.



Tonight we went for a family bike ride. Natalie was SO tired with no nap today because of church and fell asleep on the ride. I told Mitch that this summer we found the secret to surviving 1 pm church!

Spring Break: Part 1

Bouncy Place


In hopes of finding something fun to do on a wet, wet week we went to the bouncy place. It is a room of 15 or so inflatable bouncy houses and slides. The kids had a fun time and it is a work out! Natalie has no fear going down some of the tall slides.






Maddie's Birthday




Julia's cat had a birthday this week. It entailed another party with decorations and a room full of party guests. (I might need to start a pet party business--it is very lucrative business here in Maple Valley) Julia has been taking care of her cat for weeks, feeding it, putting it down for naps, brushing it, taking it for walks, bike rides (the cat rides in the basket), she even packed a bag for Maddie for church. She makes sure that I say good morning to it every day and good night every night. I can't imagine what she might do if she actually had a pet that was alive.

Easter

We had a nice Easter. The Easter Bunny came and brought lots of Easter treats. He even hide the chocolate bunnies and had a scavenger hunt to find them (the silly bunny hid them in the dryer.) Cameron was so excited that the Easter Bunny knew his name. Amazing. Julia made sure to leave some carrots out because the bunny had a lot of hopping to do that night. Unfortunately for us, we love to dye the eggs but don't like to eat them. I now have a fridge full of hard boiled eggs that no one wants to eat.

Sugar High

It is the day after Easter, Spring Break (no school all week), and raining like a monsoon. What else is there to do but eat chocolate until you are ill?



Yesterday morning



This afternoon.

What can I say other than we are bouncing off the walls.

April Fool's Day

Cameron came home today telling me that he had the BEST day ever. First grade is all about April Fool's Day. In my lame attempt to tease the kids I told them that I saw a giraffe walking down the street, I maybe convinced Natalie. Cam told me that he played a joke on his teacher. This is what he said to me, "I told Mrs. Lagerquist to quick look at the clock, it was 2:12 but it was really 2:11. I fooled her and told her April Fool's." If you can imagine Cameron's toothy grin laughing and laughing at his own joke, it cracked me up. In his last report card one of his teacher's comments was how Cameron's sense of humor makes her smile. He is a funny guy.




(This stupid look Cameron is doing was taught by a (crap head) kid at school. I would like to personally thank the kid for teaching him that.)

Tonight we dyed Easter Eggs. The kids were pumped!

Woodland Park Zoo and a proud member of the Delaware Zoo

A week or so ago the kids didn't have school and it was 60 plus degrees so I decided to go to the zoo. My camera is having major issues so I don't have any pictures of the fun, but Kierstin sent me a few of her pictures. It was really crowded but we saw a lot of animals and had a great time. Cameron's favorite animal is a giraffe so the giraffes were the hit of the day. Julia liked the giraffes best too. Natalie liked the "Mingos" and the "Orrillias"







I must say that I am in LOVE with my zoo pass. Not because I can go to the zoo now when ever I feel the need but because I got a AWESOME deal on the pass. The strange/conspiracy around here is that there are two zoos. Most zoos when you buy a pass has other zoos that are their "sister" zoos that you can get in for free also. Not the two zoos in Seattle. If you want a pass to the Woodland Zoo you would need to buy a pass but if you wanted to go to the Point Defiance Zoo you would need to buy a pass for that zoo too. No sister zoo collaboration here. Of course each zoo's pass for the family cost around or a little more than a $100 each. So I would never buy both zoo's passes. My friend's family lives on the east coast and for Christmas bought a zoo pass for her family. Her pass gets her in to BOTH of the zoos in Seattle. It is like the best kept secret. Get into both zoo's for the price of one! After she told me about her pass I went online to look and sure enough I was able to purchase a Delaware Zoo pass that will get me in both zoos in Seattle. The best part of the whole thing: the Delaware Zoo pass only cost $45. It costs more for me to take my whole family once to the zoo for that price. To put it lightly it made my month (Mitch was a little amazed by my pure bliss over a zoo pass) but I love when you get a good deal and better yet it actually worked when I went to the zoo.

Husky Fever

It has been Husky fever around our house. Cameron and Dad have been following the dawgs in the NCAA basketball tournament for the last couple weeks. I have been enjoying watching Cameron watch the game. He is so fun. He has had a note in his room all week that said, Thursday the Huskies are on at 4:30 on channel 7. He was worried that he might forget and miss the game. He and Julia watched the whole game and cheered every time they made a basket. Cam was a little sad when they lost and "now won't play to be the champions, but maybe next year." Last night he came downstairs after bed and saw that Mitch was watching Sports Center. His eyes lit up and he said "What is this show? I love all these sports" Oh boy--I have a feeling I might never get an option of what I want to watch again. At dinner Cam told me, "We don't like the Yankees." Oh Mitch....

Miss Cranky and the grocery miracle

Today I desperately needed to go grocery shopping. Unfortunately for me Natalie was in a beastly mood. She threw a fit most of the time we were there (except for the 3 minutes she was eating her cookie from the bakery). I was pushing one of those "car" grocery carts that you need a special permit/license to operate. Natalie wants to get in and out 40 times while in the store. It can be a real joy.... Anyway I was trying to hurry because she was so cranky and I ran my over sized cart into a cardboard set up wine display. The wine bottles started to fall and to my horror I couldn't do anything to stop them because I was 5 feet away at the back of the cart. As I was watching this thinking "this isn't really going to happen " divine intervention happened and the card board set up rocked back up and the bottles tipped but didn't fall out. It was a grocery miracle!! It was going to be a HUGE mess and a lot of money spilled on the floor! My heart was racing for about 20 minutes after the fact so much that I decided to skip the gym tonight because I got my heart rate up and going at the store today. No need for exercise. At the check out register Natalie was crying and mad. A man next in line was trying to smile and say hi to her, she looked at him and said "NO, look at me!" Boy, what an angel.....



(This picture still cracks me up every time I look at it)

Easter Bunny

We made our annual pilgrimage to the Super Mall to visit the Easter Bunny. This visit is one of the highlights of the year for the kids. I don't know what it is with people dressed liked animals that make them go CRAZY, but they sure love it. Natalie on the other hand DID NOT want anything to do with the bunny. In fact she took a bite out of my shoulder in hopes of escaping him. So unfortunately for me, she didn't sit for the picture this year. On the way home she kept saying over and over"bunny scare me." I guess nothing says a holiday unless you scar at least one child so that they have something to talk with their therapist with later in life. I do my job well.

Growing Pains

We are experiencing growing pains in our home.

First grade has been hard. Hard adjustments and fun. For both Cameron and mom.

It is crazy to watch my children get so big and do things on their own. I know that this is just the beginning and that they are still relatively small. As parents we want to spare the hard knocks of life from our kids. But in reality we can't. Actually isn't that what is wrong with most of society? Kids growing up being so sheltered and told that they are so awesome that when they find out that they aren't they don't know what to do? But still it can break a mothers heart.

First grade has been that first awareness that the world can be cruel and isn't fair. The realization that some "friends" aren't nice. Not everyone is the smartest in the class and in fact there are kids that are smarter, read better, draw better, write better, run faster, have cooler wii games, cooler clothes and have more friends than you. It is a hard pill to swallow when you have been told how great you are for the first 6 years of life.

Cameron came home last week so sad. His friend that he likes so much doesn't like him so much. As he cried in my arms I cried too. Not so much because of the friend but because I can't shelter him from the hard truths of life. Life isn't fair. It wasn't much fun learning that lesson for myself but I think even harder to watch. We are definitely experiencing some pains of growing up. Yuck.