wahoo!

I got into Karen Russel's online photography class starting in September!

Dale's hike

Dale had a great time hiking up to Price Lake Saturday. They hiked up to a glacier fed lake, had to shimmy across a tree 12 feet above a river and someone (not Dale) put his hand in the same bear poop on the way up and the way down! Good times.

our hike.

Dale went on a hike to Price Lake today. After dinner Aiden wanted to go on a hike as well. We live on a pretty steep hill and I think that qualifies as a hike. Both kids insisted on wearing backpacks and packing snacks and then we were off! We puttered off the Northridge trail and following Aiden's lead we were led through some stinging nettles. I quickly realized what was happening and picked Amelia up over my head. She was unscathed until she had a massive wipe out down the hill 30 feet from our house. Aiden and I have blisters all over our legs and Amelia has skinned knees, hands and forehead. We arrived home to find Daddy intact and unharmed from his 10 hour hike. Good for him.

right now

the kids are playing nicely together. Thankful for Lego. Dale is on all day hike and I am packing for our trip in a climate controlled home (thank you heat pump!)) Life is good.

Aiden's first payday!

Aiden received his first paycheck today! We have designed a point system with chores and summer school work. So far so good. Aiden wakes up every morning and makes his bed, gets dressed, tidies his room and brushes his teeth. Then he has done at least 4 pages a day in his workbook and has been reading for at least 10 minutes a day. He earned $10 the first week and now we are trying to teach responsible money management. Check out his cute jars!

pseudo pet

Aiden found a frog in the backyard last night! Our poor kids are desperate for a pet. Hopefully 3 minutes with a frog will buy us a few more years before we breakdown and get a dog.

Father's Day 2009

Father's Day was:
-coffee in bed
-church and car show
-brunch at Bob's
-kickball game with friends
-family nap
-electrical experiments
-steak and shrimp for dinner
-family walk
-rhubarb crisp (rhubarb 'Christmas' according to Amelia) for dessert
-a day spent with our most favorite Dad

last day of school

Thursday was Aiden's last day of kindergarten. We joined him for a root beer float party at school. Then we met up with some classroom friends at the park. We made a special dinner of spaghetti and meatballs (Aiden's request) and had dinner in the dining room. Both kids got a little gift to open before dinner. Aiden got a package of Post It notes (he has desperately been wanting these) and a watch. Amelia got a travel case for coloring. After dinner Grandma arrived for a sleepover!

what a difference a school year makes!

Aiden brought home a picture he drew of himself on the first day of school. Then they drew themselves last week. The improvement in detail is incredible!

terrific twirler

Yesterday was Amelia's last day of dance class. We celebrated with a little party during class and then the teacher handed out certificates. Amelia got the 'terrific twirler' award. Our girl does know how to twirl!

Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes

Dale: This is the best cupcake I've ever tasted.
They really are good and different from any cupcake I've had. I now understand how they can have cupcake bakeries. After reading 'Pinkalicious' yesterday the kids wanted to make pink cupcakes. We had some strawberries from our garden and then I checked one of my favorite food blogs and found this yummy recipe. I didn't have cake flour so the cake part was a little heavier than it should be but it's still "the best cupcake I've ever tasted." Make sure to make the frosting that goes with the recipe. It sounds strange to cook milk and flour and make icing with it but it's really good and not too sweet! Our Best Bites: Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes.

giddy

Absolutely, positively giddy about this. We have wood baseboards that are pretty banged up, scratched and some old paint splatters on them. When we first moved to this house I had grand plans to replace all the mouldings because they were in such bad condition. It cost over a $100 to replace one wall of baseboards in the living room and dining room so my plans quickly fizzled. There were much more pressing things to fix up. Every once in while the baseboards really irk me. It doesn't matter how clean your floors are when you're mouldings look like crap. Until today... I found some 'Goof Off 2' (water based) in the closet and went to town. I was originally using it take off old paint but quickly realized it cleans up the finish, covers scratches and makes them almost look new! I know, I have an unusual affliction with cleaning products (only the good ones) but I haven't been this happy since I discovered the Mr.Clean Magic Eraser six years ago. Try it! You'll love the results.
* I decided to take some pictures to show why I'm so excited and while I was waiting for the pictures to upload I removed some Sharpie pen marks from the computer keyboard and desk (courtesy of Amleia). This stuff is good!

grateful...

a few things I am grateful for:

-my morning cup of coffee
-new classes at the gym
-our fabulous weather the last few weeks
-lettuce and strawberries from our garden
-one day soon (hopefully by the week end) we will have our heat pump running
-finding 3 pairs of shorts and cute skirt before our trip
-my Mom coming down this week
-my wonderful family
-nice neighbors that bring me flowers from their garden

Chicken Gyros

click for a yummy recipe I tried this week end!

Funky Funkerson

That's been me. I have tried really hard but have had a prevailing bad mood. Friday night I arrived home from work to find that the heat pump and furnace components had arrived. Great! But then Dale informs me that after my 8:00am hair appointment he needs me to take the kids and keep them out of the house so he can work on this project with a friend. For some reason going shopping at the all on a Saturday sounds like an entertaining way to spend the day. I head to the mall around 11:00 armed with a list of the things I need to purchase. I rarely go into the mall except for Target. Amelia and I enter the mall and she immediately spots the car/stroller thing-a-ma-doo-bobbers. Oh, you have to pay to use them now. I never carry cash so we walk all the way down to the ATM. Which is a good 5 minute walk, get our cash and return to the cars, it only takes $1 or $5 dollar bills. Not my crisp new $20 bill. We turn around and head to Target to purchase some gum so I will have the necessary bills. Oh, look there's an ATM right behind me. I am so 'mall naive'. We purchase our mints, get our change and go back to the car/strollers for the third time. I am carefully reading and following the instructions. Insert your $5 dollars and when you return the cart you will receive a $1 dollar refund. $4 flippin dollars to push this monstrosity through the mall! What a bargain. First stop is the crazy busy Bath and Body Works. Force my way through running over a few sales peoples toes with my 'minuscule' shopping cart. Next stop, find Dale some summer clothes. As I'm trying to find Dale's size in anything halfway decent, Amelia is emptying her entire bag of Goldfish crackers on the store floor. I quietly and discreetly but the crackers backs in the bag (for later use). Next stop, find me some shorts. This is so hard to shop for. You have the choice of the 1 1/2 inch inseam or the Bermuda (which look like Capri's on me). It's a no go. I forgot to mention Amelia is in the throes of potty training. I have been distracted this whole time praying she doesn't pee on the floor or her fancy $4 ride. In Target she announces she needs to 'poo' so we head to the bathroom with our car/stroller. Push our way in and take up half the bathroom. Amelia decides she wants to do it all by herself while I hold the door. She screams at me every time I take peek. Somehow she manages to hop off the toilet and lock the stall with out me noticing. Then she panics when I can't open the door and crawls under the door before I can stop her with a lil something pinched between her cheeks. Ahhhh! After a little clean up, car/stroller flipping over on it's self it's time to return the stroller. I really wanted to just push it out to the car and leave it in the parking lot instead of getting my measly dollar back but I restrained. I arrived home at 2:00. I had another 4 hours to kill. Today, same story. By dinnertime I have created a new cocktail. It's called a 'Dirty Shirley' and you can email me for the recipe.

her in a nutshell.

Amelia has definitely been the more challenging child to raise. Aiden has always been relaxed and easy going. Amelia not so much. She is stubborn and relentless when she wants something. You cannot distract her. Every morning when Amelia wakes up she wants to stand on the kitchen counter and look in the cupboard. Either to decide what to eat or just to check out what food is in the house. After several months of screaming and crying we just let her stand on the counter and look in the cupboard until she is ready to get down. The other day she chose "Mini Eats (Wheats) for breakfast. Normally you would pour the cereal in the bowl, add some milk and eat it. Not Amelia. She has the cereal box on her chair beside and will pick out which pieces of cereal she wants to eat, while sipping orange juice and talking to her bear. These are the battles that aren't worth fighting with this kid. We love her like crazy and she has brought so much joy and fun to the family. But I still believe 'easy going' is a very positive childhood attribute.

makes me smile

Aiden has a fun week at school. It's Camp Skeeter week and each day they dress up and have fun activities and crafts at school. I miss the annual sports day I had at the end of the school year (sigh). Tuesday was wear your favorite shorts and these are Aiden's because my friend's 13 year old son has the same pair (what could be cooler for a six year old!) Notice the dark blue socks he's wearing (we had a talk about white being a better choice but he thought the blue 'matched' better {whatever, he wasn't wearing sandals}). He also did his own hair and accessorized with a necklace. Maybe he should be your son, Mary? He's always throwing on a necklace or bracelet to complete his ensemble. He makes me smile.

Look at the picture of me, Mommy!

Amelia discovered her reflection in the chrome bumper and had a nice long chat with her new friend.

umm.. okay

I was just searching craigslist for a cool home project and came across a listing for a pink stripper pole (slightly used) yuck! It only leaves three tiny screw holes in the ceiling and he/she can deliver it to your house for $75 firm (hopefully with a paperbag over their head).

sehome arboretum

Today we finally went and checked out Sehome Hill Arboretum. I can't believe we have never been there. It's such a beautiful peaceful place right in the middle of Bellingham. We took the quick trek to the observation tower and had a peek of the bay and the city. It would have been breathtaking if we were still enjoying those beautiful blue skies. Aiden had a to have quick coloring break at the top and then we made our way through a few more quick trails before calling it a day. All the greenery around us made it seem a little "Forks-ish" if you know what I mean. Dale got so into it he was perched up on a rock and thought he could climb up the 100 foot trees just like Edward. I never should have let him watch the movie with me.