not so subtle...

Today I heard Aiden mention that tomorrow is April Fools Day at least three times. I finally asked him if had any plans for the big day. With a little smirk he replied 'No....you take baths, right Mom?' I'm a little scared what tomorrow may bring.

three year statistics

Amelia had her three year check up a few weeks ago and she weighs 35 pounds (75th%) and is 39 3/4 inches (95th%). She is sharp and doesn't miss a thing. She still loves the color pink and wants to wear a dress or skirt everyday. Amelia's favorite day of the week is dance class day. Her favorite book is Pinkalicious. She loves to watch Dora the Explorer. Her favorite pastime is shaking her bootie to music in her room while wearing a tutu and every piece of play jewelry she owns. We just love this little twirling blur of pink!

easter tree

Amelia spotted some pink and purple Easter eggs she had to have and with a price of $2.50 I couldn't refuse. When we got home we gathered some branches from the yard, filled an old pickle jar with rocks. And for that original $2.50 we have an Easter tree for Amelia's room. I like how it looks and she loves how it looks.

spring to do list

I think I felt a lil jipped with my March to do list so I've started a spring to do list in my mind:
-trip to Vancouver Aquarium (time to start using our membership)
-plant vegetable garden
-plant hanging baskets and containers
-a little deck spruce up
-create a nice outdoor haven for myself to watch the kids play
-train trip to Portland
-re do our front door (Dale's project but if I put it on a to do list it gets done!)
-family outing to a Mariner's game
-trip to the tulip fields
-wash all the windows inside and out

dining al fresco

Last night we had our first dinner out on the deck. It was almost balmy...(actually it was, Amelia is just a wee bit of a drama queen insisting on a hat and cozy jacket.)

a good day.

Today was good. It felt a bit like normal. We spent the morning lounging and cleaning up the house. This afternoon we wanted to take advantage of our beautiful first day of spring. We started at Hovander (no baby animals yet) fed the chickens, played at the playground and then moved onto Birch Bay. Timed it perfectly, the tide was out, we brought shovels and buckets and the kids had a ball. Dale just surprised me with flowers, it really was a good day!

meet...

Lumpy, the bloodsucking turtle. Of course, I only call it that in my head, out loud I praised Aiden on the texture of the shell and his mad clay modelling skillz.

happy st.patrick's day

from our littlest leprechaun!

vicodin is...

the devil. Yesterday afternoon my leg was really sore after my marathon shopping trip.I had been quite proud that I hadn't taken any pain medication in a few weeks but my doctor felt that probably was hindering my recovery. Well, an hour after I took the vicodin I started to get the familiar room spinning around sensation just as Dale arrived home from work. I made it up to bed and spent the whole night nauseated and retching. Lovely. I don't like you Mr. Vicodin.

since when...

did grocery shopping take 3 hours, make you break out in a sweat and necessitate a nap as soon as the perishables are put away?

canvas ta da

I did decide to go with the rainboot/tutu picture and love it.

silly time change

I never had trouble with the time change until I had kids. I remember the first year Aiden was about 6 weeks old and Dale's sister and husband were visiting from the east coast. We showed up at church just as everyone was leaving and I thought they had just cancelled the 11:00 o'clock service that day (because after sitting for 15 minutes the church seemed empty). We then headed over to Bob's for brunch and they sat us down and were very attentive to our table and making sure we had lots of food. Then they asked my BIL if they could take down the buffet tables. He is a pretty big football player looking guy but I thought it was a little over the top to treat us that way. After brunch we toured the tulip fields and had a nice relaxing day. Just before bed we realized it had been the time change the night before and all those funny inconveniences made a lot more sense (we missed church and the brunch buffet was over 5 minutes after we arrived). Fast forward seven years, this year the kids were up late the night of the time change but we made it to church for 9:30 (really 8:30) and I was feeling like I had really evolved in adapting to this time change business. We went to Canada for a family birthday party. We drove back home around dinner time and Amelia fell asleep 5 minutes after we got in the car and we could not wake her up when we got home, we tried everything and then just put her to bed. She of course woke up 5 minutes after we went to bed at 10:00 and refused to fall back asleep until 2:30 am. I woke up at 8:32 this morning and panicked. Aiden had to be at school in 15 minutes. Luckily, he was already awake and dressed and he ate the speediest breakfast while I packed his lunch and sent him to school with the neighbors. Amelia is still asleep and I am so glad I don't have any early appointments today! Why can't we be like Arizona and ignore the time changes?

my valentine

The day after Valentine's I felt a little guilty that I hadn't done anything for Dale. We decided after 15 plus years together we don't need to buy a card to express our feelings. I remembered a cute idea I had seen before Christmas with a sign that resembled an eye chart. I was getting ready to place the order (around $25 plus shipping) when I realized I could probably make my own on the computer and I already had a black frame from IKEA that has been empty since I bought it 5 years ago. So for 'free 99' I made Dale a gift. Quite the romantic...I know...

today I will...

stop the pity party that has been hanging over my head the last few days and
- shower (I've taken to the every other day route lately)
- do my hair (I haven't done it for over 2 weeks)
- apply make up (ditto above)
- tame my wild eyebrows (they are frightful)
- dress in something other than black stretch pants
- dress Amelia and do her hair
- take a trip to Trader Joe's with Amelia
- pick out a yummy picnic for me and my girl
- bask in the sunshine with my sweet girl! {original plan was to take her to the park but I think our fenced in backyard with a blanket will be wiser)

march to do list

I think this month there will be one thing on my to do list....
- get better
by the end of the month I should be able to walk without a limp, use a stationary bike for 20 minutes at a time and walk the neighborhood
of course only concentrating on these things would drive be crazy so I will try and finish my february to do list (my self imposed deadline has been extended due to extenuating circumstances)

are you in?

I have been wanting to do this again and Ali Edward's just announced that she will be doing a Week in My Life April 19-25th. If you're unclear what this is about you basically document your life with a camera for a week. It does require a bit of work but really is worth it at the end. I finished my week from October 2008 last month but now looking back it is so neat to see how young the kids look and all those tiny little details of daily life I would've never remembered 10 years from now. Even if you're not scrapbooker taking pictures and journalling is all that's required! Come on I'm giving you 6 weeks to get prepared!!! Please join me and check out Ali here!

your opinion please...

I want to do a custom canvas over Amelia's bed. Probably 16x20 inches. I think I want to a shoe shot because having your own big smiling face above your bed might be creepy. Which picture would you pick?