Grrr...

OK, so how many times do you have to ask them to clean up their room? and if they don't what do you do. To give a little background, we have gotten the girls new kittens and yes, we had the discussion that it was going to be their responsibility to feed, clean up after and love these kittens. Caley, pictured below, haha can you find her amongst all the.... fun? and excuse the nudest, I can't seem to keep clothes on the girl! Caley has become quite the cat lady. She just loves them... I hope to have pictures up soon. Princess Shay Shay and Bernese, live in the girls room, eat and take care of business in the loo off the girls room... eat, sleep, hide from the dogs... you betcha... in the girls room. So, back to the picture. Caley has taken to these kittens and I think its great. But, BUT, she has taken to spending alot more time in her room, which wouldn't be so bad except that she shares her room with Ken and it always looks like this. When asked to clean or even just pick it up (I'll clean it) she just can't do it... total mind block I'm not even sure if she hears me. I have a similar problem with the family room and other spots in the house but the bedroom has to be the worst. And, its everyday! She's also taken to changing clothes about 5 times a day, not to mention the in between nudity and forgetfulness to put on any panties... here's funny to end on... last Sunday we (the kids and I went to visit a new church) We all enjoyed it very much. Jack wasn't so sure of the nursery but that was to be expected. We all got home, feeling very good that we may have found a new church, I was asking the girls what they did in there class and Ken was demonstrating the dancing and singing they did... and I glance over at Caley in the chair. Of course in her favorite new dress, knees bent, feet in the chair and NO PANTIES! I about died...

Well, my intentions for doing a blog a day have not been very successful lately and as we are getting ready to depart for our very first week long camping trip to the Oregon coast we won't be blogging for another week, realistically more like two. But, I can say I'm taking my blogging in a snap so I can learn more on how to blog more successfully and I will be full of sand and fun photos to share... ta ta for now, C

Summertime fun...

Just wanted to share a few snapshots from a BBQ we went to a few nights ago. We went to Jeff and Trish's house for dinner (Erics brother, his wife and family) and as you can see (well kinda) they were busy filling up their pool. That task has been a long process as it had to go through major surgery before any water could be held. At about 1 foot of water the kids couldn't resist anymore and had to hit the ice cold water that comes straight out of the hose. (New faces to the blog, my niece Mara in the gold top with McKenna and Caley and my oh so cute nephew, Nick showing off in the hose)

Jack worked on mastering the stairs on their back porch. And of course, had to do it all by himself.

And last but not least. My husband giving us the best laugh we've had in a long time... sitting out under the apple tree I glanced over noticing that he was wearing two different shoes. Just making up for a stunt I pulled way back when we were on our 3rd date. It happens to the best of us babe! Need I say more?

HEATWAVE!

My goal with this blog is to be here everyday... if not every other day to log our lives and goings on. The last week and a half I've been solely working on keeping us comfortable in the major heatwave we've had. Actual all time record breaking numbers for this part of the country. This little pool has been our home for the last week or so. All five of us and an occasional wiener dog have lived in this pool, best buy of our summer.


It all started out one weekend it was supposed to start warming up with 'severe weather warnings' being shouted out all over the news so we decided to take up living outdoors. Sleeping under the stars, creating our own little drive in. We blew up the camping beds covered them in sheets and pillows. Hooked up our little TV from the living room and installed the portable DVD players. Eric's brother in law and kids came over and brought the latest Harry Potter DVD. We were set! First night, in the middle of the movie we felt... what? A rain drop? Nooooo! It couldn't be. I think the skies just had to remind us that yes we did live in the NW. We were looking to the skies and yes a thunderstorm was brewing. I didn't think it would amount to much but with 5 kids under the age of 6 we better pack it in so in we went. The next day not a cloud in the sky and it was getting warmer earlier so out comes all the gear! Beds, bedding, TV and swim suits. I haven't paraded in my swim suit since I was a kid... ahem, not a pretty picture to say the least.


Much to our surprise our neighbor comes knocking at our door and hands us a gently used air conditioner and helps us to install it in our kitchen window. Holy Cow, someone is looking out for us! we turned that puppy on and it didn't stop for a whole week. Honestly I'm not sure we would have made it if we hadn't received such a generous gift out of nowhere, I can't tell you how thankful I am. I actually told Eric after the first night of trying to sleep, "we may have to go find a hotel to stay in". He looked at me like I was crazy but I think down deep he may have thought I was on to something. :) You know growing up in the heat of CA all my life and enduring the high temperatures down there, the heat that we have been living through here in WA is so much more intense. I've been in hotter temperatures down there but when it got over 100 degrees here... I don't know, life was much harder to handle. I'm not sure if its the humidity or maybe I just have to accept the fact that I'm getting older and need the pampering a bit more than I used to??? The picture below is of our drive in movie camp out... it was quite cozy and fun!

Then it hit! 100 degrees plus, and it wasn't cooling of at night. I think one TV report said it was 85 at midnight on those really hot nights. We packed everything we needed that was out in and started transforming our house into three small rooms. Our generous gift was precious but she just wasn't cut our for the whole house. So when Eric went to work I started renovating the house. The living room (picture below) was rearranged, stripped and this now was our drive in bedroom for the 5 of us. Our thickest sleeping bags got nailed up to the entrance to the family room to cut off that huge room and another was hung at the hallway down to the bedrooms. All we would have to do was endure the heat when nature called or we forgot to grab something we couldn't live without. It wasn't pretty but all 5 of us stayed pretty comfy for the next few days. Poor Eric having to try and sleep through us watching TV at night and get himself up at 2:30 to get off to work. Neither of us slept very well all week, but I felt especially bad for him.

All in all, it was fun, maybe not in the thick of it all but looking back its a good memory that will stay with us forever.

I think today was the first day back to the 70's and 80's. The beds came down, toys getting picked up, girls bummed they have to go back to their regular beds in their regular bedrooms. Tomorrow morning starts the "getting back to normal" phase before this weekend. Next we start packing up for a big camping trip we have planned for the Oregon coast. The next few weeks will be busy ones but... lots of fun blogging stuff ahead. Goodnight.

Miss McKenna Brynn... Mac

My first... McKenna is going to be every ones best friend. She is the most giving little girl I've ever met. Now don't get me wrong, she does fight with Caley over the same toy when there are 10 gazillion other toys sooo soo similar in the room, but, when it comes to everyone getting to be a part of something or not being left out she is my girl!!! I am so proud of her, the picture below is her last day of Kindergarten. During this school year her teacher gave her such praise in school, always participating, always attentive, and on candy Friday (the day they could buy a treat at recess) she would always come home telling me, "well so and so didn't have any quarters so I bought them a treat". In the month of December she received the award for the 'Displaying the Virtue of Generosity'. The principal presented her with a certificate at the pep rally in front of all her school. She does very well with her studies too. She has always been the kind of girl that searches out what she wants. She is very eager to learn do and try anything. A couple of years ago when I started seeing her blossom she came to me and asked "what spells puppy"? ( she wanted to know how to spell puppy) she had been looking at books with the alphabet, so I told her, she got her book out figured it out and that's how it all started. She is going to be a talented artist too. I have hundreds of drawings that she has done that I can't bring myself to throw away. And now this summer she is showing signs of athleticism. Her foot work with the soccer ball is really quite good and a couple of weeks ago she was batting with my Mom, hitting 3/4 of the balls that were pitched to her.

Notice the hair form the above picture... yes we have made some changes this summer. Losing her first tooth on Caleys birthday and then her second on 4th of July. Along with her new doo. She's been wavering about her hair. Wanting bangs then not, wanting them, and changing her mind again. We took Jack in to get his first big boy hair cut and he looked so cute I think that was the deciding factor. If Jack looks so good I want to too. It turned out really cute. My girl is growing up so fast, 6 1/2 already... at least that was my first thought when I saw it all done. My what a haircut can do for a person.

Both of the girls are at their grandparents this week. Well, it was a week ago last Monday that they left. I miss them sooo so much. I have to admit its been nice having the house a little quieter but at the same time I'll be glad to have them back. I called to talk with them a
couple of nights ago... talking with McKenna she had a big surprise to tell me... she found her missing tooth. Scared me for a sec because I know that tooth fairy came and took i1t. She was trying to tell me that her new tooth was coming in and she found it. She is so sweet. I just can hardly wait to have them back.

Miss Caley Olson (Pokey)

What can I say about Miss Caley Olson? This one makes me laugh! You never know what is coming out of her mouth, which often makes me wonder what she is thinking alot of the time. She can sit by herself and you can tell she is thinking, concentrating on a thought in her head. Something fell the other day. Making a mess. On my way to clean it up she says "You didn't see that one coming didya" Or we were watching something on TV, (funniest home videos, I think) and a man was doing something silly and I asked her "what was he thinking?" and she pipes up and say "well... he's doing the Tango Mom". Like I was not with it for not knowing.

Her 5th birthday was the middle of June. She had asked me one day "Can I have one of those parties where (she starts flailing her arms above her head) everyone does this and says SURPRISE?" I asked her, "You mean a Surprise Party?" she nodded her head. So from then on when I would ask her about details she wanted for her party, ie. what kind of cake she wanted as I always do for their birthdays, she said Dog cake, nooo 2 dogs. Viola! this is what I came up with. Not my best but.... Her birthday was a couple of days after school and we had planned the party the day before Fathers Day. The last week of school I tried to send out invitations to her class without her seeing them...I forgot one detail. When she came home from school that day everyone had one but her and she was sooo upset. Her chin got that dimpled look and I asked if she was ok. She shook her head. Then the flood gates opened. I felt so bad. She says "everyone got one of those circle thing (invitations had circles on them) and I didn't. I tried to play it off saying maybe they just forgot it, I tried for a few minutes to sooth her feeling even tried to redirect the thought process to something else but she wasn't having it. Finally at the ends of our 15 minute car ride I had to tell her! I asked her "I thought you wanted a surprise party?" Shaking her head yes. "Well you have to let me surprise you with somethings... if I tell you everything that I'm doing... you'll know about your surprise party and it won't be much of a surprise!" and here we go again with the deep thoughts staring out the window. All of a sudden she looks at me in the rear view mirror with a big grin on her face.... she got it! The picture below is her walking into said 'Surprise Party' with all of us flailing our arms behind the camera. I had tears.

My girls has such beautiful skin.

and loves chocolate.

and we just graduated Preschool. She went for two year, what a joy it was to watch her come out of her shell. Kudos to Mrs. Spencer at Our World to Discover. She learned how to play kindly with others and I think it was an experience that will be her foundation for becoming a charming young lady.

Alot of Caley is expressed through her eyes. She has beautiful long eyelashes that compliment her beautiful, beautiful eyes. I LOVE YOU CALEY.

thought for the day....

I got this quote last night from a cousin I haven't seen or heard from in years ( like 20 or so) and I thought it was very.... on.

Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about those who don't. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would most likely be worth it. -Michael Gartner

and yesterday I watched Micheal Jacksons memorial on TV and one of his quotes touched me...

Nothing will be done if we all don't rise up as one. ~Micheal Jackson

oh what good a pudding pop is...

Oh what fun we've been having this summer. The smallest things turn an average summer day into the most fun. Jack is the happiest little guy and now has learned what frozen treats are, we can't sneak them to the girls without his eyes lighting up and those little fingers reaching as far as they can reach. By the end of this sweet treat everything was coated in a nice glossy brown which he had fun helping me clean up. This is the first post to my new blog and I guess I'm starting with the youngest first... this is Jack, 13 months old and is the light in all our eyes.