FrannyKate's Creative State

Weekend Wrap-Up

2011-11-27T22:36:00.000-08:00

We had a really fantastic Thanksgiving weekend full of fun, food and friends. The only negative is that I took very few photos (and the ones I did get weren't of great quality), so will need to wrap up the memories with words so I can remember the special weekend for years to come.

We started off the 4 day weekend by spending Thanksgiving day skiing at Crystal Mountain. The weather was a bit chilly and windy for my liking but we had the mountain almost to ourselves while everyone else enjoyed their dinners. The girls were a bit nervous that they may have forgotten how to ski so we did one run on the bunny slope for them to prove that they were right where we left off in March. The first half of the day had very icy snow conditions which isn't ideal for the first ski of the year but the girls did great taking it slow with lots of turns and made us so proud. Then the snow began to fall which gave a nice top coat that made skiing easier and allowed the girls to be more confident. Here's a video Tom took of them going down their favorite "cat track".

Looking forward to a great ski season. It is going to be so much easier this year with the girls beyond the beginner level. I am just a little concerned that I am going to be the one holding us back and Tom and the girls will be leaving me in their dust (or powder).

Friday we were lucky enough to have the Brown Family come down from Canada to spend a few days celebrating American Thanksgiving. Dinner turned out well and the timing seemed to work out pretty well. There were a few recipes I tried that I won't be doing again (green beans and apple pie) but the majority of things seemed to be good. I tried a few new things with my cranberry recipe that was well received and the layered cheesecake/pumpkin pie was delish!!

Saturday we entertained the "dog crew" from our old neighborhood. We spent a great deal of time with these 3 families living in the old neighborhood. Our dogs brought us all together and we enjoyed many walks, dinners, births and more with them. This was the first time we all were together again in probably 5 years. The kids all had a great time playing and we enjoyed a good brunch and lots of catching up. We promised it would not be 5 years again before we got everyone back together. I can not believe that I did not take one photo of the reunion:-(

Having the Browns around for a few days was so enjoyable. The kids entertained each other for hours on end and were really pretty amazing for being confined in the house for 2 solid days with no arguments or major problems, just a few minor tears. A few highlights and low lights from the visit:

Derrick finding the missing hamster in the bathroom garbage can after his shower.
All 4 adults spending the first half of Apple Cup outside searching for a lost cat that ended up being in the house all the time.
Tom and Derrick showing off their criminal skills by getting the Brown's car unlocked when the keys were inside and cutting off a shoplifting ink cartridge from a shirt with great success.
Watching our traditional horrible movie when the kids were in bed. This time it was "Bad Teacher" and it was really awful, which is hard to say when it had Justin Timberlake in it. But even he couldn't save this one.
The girls having sleepovers and finding them all cuddled together in bed.
Sous Chef Madison helping in the kitchen
MANY MANY laughs, way too much good food (diet begins NOW), lots of noisy/content children and plenty to be thankful for!

The Browns left this morning and I spent the final day of the weekend recovering on the couch. I watched 3 football games in a row, didn't get out of my pajamas all day and ate the majority of Madison's Muddy Buddy creation. Really glad I didn't take a photo of that. A perfect end to a perfect weekend. Now a really crazy week begins that includes someone in this house turning the big 4-0!!!!

On the Menu

2011-11-21T22:37:00.000-08:00

I think I have the weekend menu plans almost finalized. We are delaying Thanksgiving by a day so that we can celebrate with the Brown Clan when they come down from Canada on Friday. Our meal on the actual Thanksgiving day will be whatever they are serving up at the Crystal Mountain cafeteria, as we will be spending the day on the slopes. So most likely we will be having soup of the day and cheese pizza.
Friday will be the feast at the Kimmet household and I wanted to share what's on the menu along with some of the recipes. The most boring component of the meal will be the turkey itself. I saw a few amazing recipes I wanted to try but our family is really not into turkey and it is just an excuse to have all the side dishes so I am taking it easy on that part and just got a turkey breast to throw in the oven. We will be sending the 2 free Fred Meyer turkeys we have acquired to the food bank where they will be much more appreciated than in our home. NOW, bring on the side dishes!!!
Mashed Potatoes of course. I stay fairly straight forward on these for Thanksgiving. Other times of the year I will throw in cheese, bacon, chives and more but when you add gravy to the top it is best to keep it classic.
Coconut Candied Sweet Potatoes (this is pretty much dessert during dinner for me, not sure anyone else in the family likes it but that means more lefotvers for me) recipe link

Homemade Rolls with Honey Butter - Nora's favorite part of the meal

Stuffing - I seem to alternate years between going with a new recipe to the basic family stand-by and this year the old family favorite wins out. Nothing fancy, nothing extra just the basics, which will make Madison happy.
Cranberry-Apple Sauce - My own special secret recipe which includes orange juice and lots of apples
Carmelized Green Beans - recipe here

And then onto the desserts for the evening. I am doing 2 this year.
Layered Pumpkin Pie Toffee Cheesecake - a pumpkin pie on top of a layer of toffee cheesecake. Recipe here

Crumb Topped Apple Pie - Half pie, half cobbler recipe here

Feeling like I am missing something but maybe that is it. Then we are having more friends over for a Saturday brunch. That menu will include homemade cinnamon rolls along with a potatoe and bacon breakfast casserole. We will add a few leftovers from the day before, fruit salad and veggie and cheese trays.

So now I have to devise a cooking itenerary for the next 4 days. Tomorrow will be cinnamon rolls to put in the freezer so they just need to be thawed and baked on Saturday. Wednesday will be the pumpkin pie cheesecake that requires almost 3 hours of baking time along with the prep. I will also take on the cranberries on Wednesday. Thursday I can get the sweet potatoes done and get some prep work done for other items. And then Friday will require the delicacy of timing all the dishes just right to have all components ready at 3:00. This usually requires a detailed timeline taped to the cabinet doors with all utensils, serving dishes and ingredients laid out in assembly line fashion. And thank goodness for oven warming drawers when all else fails.

Hoping everyone has a wonderful and delicous Thanksgiving day or days as the case may be!!

Goodbye October

2011-11-02T10:34:00.000-07:00

Time to say so long to October, get the Halloween decorations packed up, box up the soccer gear and move forward into November. To say that October was a blur is an understatement. Between PTA and school commitments, Tom's work travels, soccer times 2, piano, choir, homework, science projects and so much more it flew by. But before it is too far in the distance I wanted to document a few highlights and favorite photos from the month.

This trip to the the Olympic National Park with Tom's Aunt Joanne and Uncle Phil deserved a blog post all to itself but got lost in the shuffle. I took a ton of fun photos on the beach and in the amazing rain forests. Super fun trip!!!

The sweetest birthday card ever from Nora.

"Roses are red, Violets are blue

You are so sweet, I love you"

Nora and I have enjoyed a few early morning coffe/homework dates when Madison goes to her choir club before school. A nice time to bond and catch up as Nora really misses all of the one-on-one time she used to get with me before starting full-day school this year.

Playdates haven't been as common this fall with all our activities but we have squeezed a few in. Bella and Nora played a full game of chess all on their own:-)

A bit of a failed attempt at skeleton gingerbread men. But they still tasted delish!

The paparazzi was out in full force for the last soccer game of the year.

A fun first grade field trip to the pumpkin patch.

Wacky hair day at school

We went to the park with the girls' best buds. They had a great time feeding the ducks and playing with the leaves and I got some really fun candid shots with the bff's that I think will make for some adorable Christmas gifts to each of them.

Halloween at Hogwarts

2011-11-01T10:11:00.000-07:00

Tom has been reading the Harry Potter series to the girls. They just finished book #2. So far they have only seen the first movie but I am sure more are to follow. We try to have the rule that the book has to be read before seeing most movies made from books. Anyways... the girls are enjoying the series immensely and decided many months ago they were going in Harry Potter themed costumes. Madison's decision was quick and easy as she has been told more than once she resembles Hermione. The costume for her was store bought and easy this year.

Nora's decision took a bit longer to decide on. At first she was going to be Crookshanks, Hermione's cat. I was a bit fearful of taking on this costume and didn't think it had much of a "cute" factor. Eventually Nora settled on Hedwig, Harry's owl. I found some inspiration online and the costume making began. Nora helped select all the materials. I thought a colorful owl would be fun, but she insisted on staying true to the book so a snowy owl it would be. We got lots of white, grey and silver materials to piece the costume together. It thrills me that my girls are eager and willing to have "mommy made costumes" and I think we will look back on those photos with fond memories even if they may not be the most perfect of costumes. To say may sewing skills are sub-par would be a compliment but I had fun making the costume. I was pleased with the dress and Nora was thrilled with the winged cape. The hat didn't turn out as I had envisioned but we went with it. A few people called her a chicken, some got the owl and many didn't bother guessing and just asked. We did come across some true HP fans who right away said Hedwig.

The day was nonstop partying!! I think the girls are in one of the few schools left in the county that allows full on Halloween parties with costumes at school. Many of the staff wear costumes all day and get very festive. It was a bit odd for me this year to not be in charge of either of the parties but they were fun and it is good to give up control(or that is what I try to tell myself!) The only thing I contributed were sliced apples for Nora's party. Madison and her best bud did make these adorable Mallow Monsters for all 28 of their classmates. Super cute!!

Then we were off to Kent Station for some trick or treat. I will admit that my motives for going were to get some decent photos in the daylight hours with good backdrops, the girls saw it as more loot for their bags. We met Tom for dinner in attempts of getting something of nutritional value into the girls for the day.

Finally we made our way home to add a few layers and back out for another 2 hours of trick or treating with friends before crashing into bed for the night. I have to say the Halloween was never that big of deal to me growing up, that I can remember and I would never have considered it in the top running for favorite holidays but the past few years it has been climbing the charts. The girls are at the perfect age for costume decisions and trick or treating. And we have started going out with friends for the evening festivities that have really added to the enjoyment. The girls are all ready starting to come up with costume ideas for next year.

Pumpkin Patch x 2

2011-10-25T22:25:00.000-07:00

The girls and I took advantage of the gorgeous sunny weather and the early release day at school to fit our pumpkin patch trip in. I was a bit worried that we may not make it this year. Between soccer Saturdays, rainy days and regular old life getting in the way it almost passed us by. And what is better than one pumpkin patch visit? TWO pumpkin patches in the same day. We took a longer trek to visit a patch that had more activities for the kids to do which was lots of fun but the pumpkin selection was almost non-existent so we had to stop by our little local patch for a better selection of pumpkins. No more words needed, just plenty of photo-ops!

Front Yard Transformation

2011-10-18T15:09:00.000-07:00

2 years ago

1 year ago

Today

I can't say the transformation is complete but it is alot closer and to a stage that I can enjoy. It took alot longer than anticipated but I am really happy with the outcome. Still have lots of planting to do and adding lighting, moving the mailbox, removing cinderblocks, replacing front door and windows..... but you get the idea! Here's more photos from the completed project.

I am sure most women wouldn't be too excited about rocks, but I have to say they make me so happy. I LOVE these rocks like many women probably love their favorite clothing items. They are exactly what I imagined and I think really add interest to the beds. The rock in the front corner will eventually get a plaque with our address attached to it.

Soccer Season

2011-09-28T10:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry to my loyal reader (i.e. mom) for my lack of posts. Really no excuses, just busy with the day to day craziness called life. I had this idealic image of both girls going off to school full day and me blogging daily, having a pristine home, home baked dinners each night and 2 hours of exercise completed daily. Instead it is a bit more like keep the house just above hazardous waste level, the hope of 2 sit down dinners a week, weak attempts of exercise a few days a week, and a blog that hasn't been updated in almost a month. The majority of my day seems to be consumed by PTA/school volunteer craziness. I enjoy it all and feel blessed to have the time, energy and passion to give to the school but I am hoping for a bit better balance in October....
Another thing keeping us super busy right now is soccer. Both girls are loving it like always. We have practices for one or the other 3 nights a week and then at least 2 games a week, sometimes 3 if Madison has a weeknight game like this week.
Madison is playing 4/5 grade soccer and with this new age division comes the FULL SIZE soccer field and goal. They are huge and it requires a ton of running for the girls. The good thing about the larger field is that it really forces the girls to stay in their positions and make passes, no more of the "hive" mentality for sure. Madison has decided goalie is her specialty position which gives me so much stress. The pressure on a goalie is huge, I don't know how she is so casual about it. And at last night's game she was so aggressive when an opposing player was charging the goal, Madison didn't back down at all. The other player ended up getting called for illegal contact for running into Madison. Not only did Madison go after the ball aggressively, but she STOPPED the gal from scoring. She produced a shut out in her half as goalie.

Nora is playing with the same team on K/1 soccer. She is in a different league that does things much differently than Madison had at this age. A bit simpler and smaller. Nora is disappointed that they don't have the goalie position but is still having a great time. The first game she was so focused in staying in her correct position that she didn't get as involved in the game as normal. This past week she figured out how to stay in position yet still be active in the game. She had 2 great assists during the game.

After taking a season off, Coach Tom is back in business taking the lead of Madison's team. He is really a fabulous coach and takes the position quite seriously. The girls respond well to him and I think he is enjoying this older age group where they can work on more specific skills.

As for me, I am soccer mom. Organizing snack schedules, sending out emails and schedules, taking over practice duties when Tom is unavailble and being THAT mom on the sidelines who may yell just a bit too loudly:-0 I can justify it in Madison's games as being the assistant coach, no excuses for Nora's game though.

Crystal Mountain

2011-09-06T15:01:00.000-07:00

Since we spent so much time on Crystal Mountain this winter we decided to take a visit to see what it looks like in the summertime. We took a lovely ride up the gondola to the top of the mountain for stellar views.

Riding back down the gondola seemed a bit too easy. It sounded much more fun to hike down the mountain and have a picnic lunch. It is only 3 miles and all down hill, how hard can it be? The hike started off quite well.

But then quickly got a bit difficult. Our peaceful picnic lunch got a bit sidetracked with a swarm of mosquitoes, flies, giant ants and more. We ate quickly and continued to head down. Nora then had some bathroom issues to tend too but we got that straightened out too. The most difficult thing about the hike was the footing. The trail was all covered in loose rock, gravel and dust that made it difficult to get good footing going downward. There were a numbers of slips and falls and a few whines and complaints. But luckily we all rallied (with the help of daddy's emergency candy supply) and we made it to the completion. Of course, there weren't many other options. By the time we realized how difficult it was, the climb back up to the gondola would have been just as difficult. This was definitely a bigger adventure than we intended but we felt very accomplished (and sore and tired) at the end. It was fun to see the ski runs without the snow and talk about what lifts we ride on. Looking foward to the upcoming season all ready!

First Day

2011-09-02T10:34:00.000-07:00

I am now officially the mom of a first and fourth grader!!! Please pass the tissues:-( I actually made it through yesterday quite well, but maybe it is because I was at school 4.5 of their 6 hours. Today may be a different story. Don't get me wrong, I have a huge to do list to tackle and plenty to keep me busy. But it is still sad to think of my girls growing up and not being home with me during the day.

The girls started the morning with Daddy's best pancakes (I am not allowed to make pancakes in our house since the girls claim I burn them). In celebration of the first day he made the numbers for their grade levels.

Then they were off to the bus line.

I greeted them off the bus at school and thought I would be helping them settle into their classrooms, but they left me in the dust for their friends and I just stood there waving goodbye as they didn't look back.

Madison had a great first day with lots of positive things to say about her teacher. Nora's quote was it was "good but boring" and she pointed out to me numerous reasons that full-day school isn't that great. The number 1 and 2 issues for her is that she doesn't get much time to play with her toys at home or have playdates. She also isn't thrilled with having to wash her desk everyday after lunch. There may be a bit of an adjustment period for the young one. I recall Madison had a tough time adjusting the first few weeks of full-day first grade too with many tears at the bus line.

Then and Now

2011-08-21T21:43:00.000-07:00

Just returned from a wonderful weekend camping at Deception Pass State Park and thought we would do a little photo comparison of our 2008 camping trip at the same spot.

NOW

THEN

NOW

THEN

NOW

THEN

NOW

THEN

NOW

THEN

THE END

Ten on Ten

2011-08-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

Ten photos on the Tenth of the month. This is my iPhone edition. REI had an awesome work picnic at Lake Wilderness with TONS of fun activities so many of the photos are from there.

Early morning at the track

Grey cool summer mornings are good for board games

Playing at the school playground after mommy's meeting

First ever pinball game

First ever shave iced

DIY flavoring

Kickball ump

Reptile guy

Love notes for daddy's trip

Balloon friend

Introducing

2011-08-07T23:09:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have been a blog slacker to say the least. I just haven't been too inspired to post much, even though our summer has been really nice. I have been trying to "live in the moment" with the girls as much as possible before school starts and life brings big changes for me. After 9 years of being a Stay at Home Mom with at least one child home with me the majority of the time, I will now be entering the world of being a Stay at Home Mom with kids who will not being staying home very often. I am really sad about this change, but it is also an exciting new challenge. I have to admit that my to-do list is quite large of all the things I want to tackle and I know reality will prove that I don't have nearly as much time to do these things as I am hoping. So one of my new "pet projects" is a new blog!! Something fun to help inspire me and challenge me to stay on top of the some of my wish list items on my to-do list.

So with a bit of hesitation and fear I introduce "Notes from the Lunchbox". This blog will be tips, tutorials, recipes, printables and more on being a mommy with kids going to school. I hope it will help keep me organized and force me to try new things for my own kids. And just maybe it will help inspire others too..... I have no expectations on what the future of this blog may be. I may do it for 2 months and get bored or maybe it will go on for years. So take a peek and give me your thoughts on my new "baby".

Coast Camping

2011-06-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

Last week we went directly from the last day of school to the coast for 4 days of camping with Tom's parents. We had a bit of everything weather wise (well except for 90 degrees and no wind, but it is the Washington coast....) Highlights were kite flying, baseball on the beach, family bike rides around camp, campfire treats, wave jumping and more. Here is just a small sample of photos that were taken. Beach photography is always a favorite and all the sand in my camera prooves that!!

Afternoons with Nora

2011-06-16T18:00:00.001-07:00

It has hit me like a two ton brick this week that my world will be changing sooner than I want. For the past 3 years Nora and I have had most afternoons (and many mornings before this year) to spend together while Madison was off being scholarly. Nora made these times so easy and enjoyable for me. She plays on her own for long periods of time and gets wrapped up in her little games and characters. She also was amazingly patient being drug to more than her fair share of meetings, classroom activities, appointments and errands. And we had fun with art projects, baking, reading, games and so much more. Overall, she was just a fantastic little companion who filled my days with joy. All of that comes to an end after next Monday. No longer will I have hours to spend with just her. She will join the big kid crowd going to school full day in September. The next few days are full with the end of the year activities so today was our last day to really cherish the time and I let Nora be in charge. She choose a picnic at Lake Wilderness with a Jamba Juice pickup on the way there. We had a great time playing at the playground and in the creek. Then we headed home for some quality arts and crafts time and book reading. If I had it my way I would freeze her age right here and have her be a kindergarten student forever. But I guess that just isn't possible. So I will cherish the moments and memories and enjoy the journey that is in store for us. But I will definitely miss my years as a Stay At Home Mom with kids at home with me. But this next phase of life I am entering is a post(or two or three) for another day. I will leave you now with some fun photo memories of our day out.

Birthday Wrap-Up

2011-06-12T12:07:00.000-07:00

The birthday celebrations are all done and I think it was a successful week of fun. Between piano recital, 3rd/4th grade pirate musical, grandma coming to town, Dairy Queen birthday treats and the slumber party it was a full week of celebrating Madison. We still have here drama club performance this week and then I think all the special events are wrapped up. So hard to believe that she is nine and it is definitely bittersweet. She is turning into a wonderful young lady, but at the same time I see how she doesn't need her mommy as much as she used to. Definitely getting to the age of autonomy, and I know it will only get worse. But watching her grow up is a great gift too!!

Some photo highlights of Madison's week

Mini-Battle of the Book Champions The Word Wizards

First Piano Recital Performance Pirate Musical
New Roller Blades (and pads:-)
New bike with 21 gears and handbrakes!

Happy Birthday Madison!

Ten on Ten - June

2011-06-10T22:37:00.001-07:00

First five photos from the kindergarten field trip to Cougar Mountain Zoo. Second five photos from the nine year old sleepover that is happening at our house.

Outdoor Bliss

2011-06-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am alive. I have about 100 blog posts on my camera and in my head but just haven't quite found the time or energy to post them all. I'm a bit suprised I was even able to remember how to log on since my last post:-)

The past 2 weekends have been pure bliss weather wise and just what the Dr. ordered to recharge the batteries. It has been so fabulous spending more time each day outdoors than indoors. The girls are rediscovering the joys of outdoor fun and we have been sprucing up the yard. Here's just a few photos documenting our time outdoors.

The first family ride of the season with many more to come! Madison was able to easily handle the 7 mile ride so now we know we can head out on all sorts of adventures. Although Nora is easily riding around the neighborhood on her own, we choose to keep her on the tag-along for longer rides to make it easier and more enjoyable for all of us.

First outdoor meal of the season

Hammock Breaks

S'more season has begun!!!

Nora's very own flower garden is blooming like crazy. I have never seen such large tulips before. She says next year she is going for the World's Record for biggest tulip. I have no idea what she is putting in her soil but it is working!!

Weeding, weeding and more weeding.... But after the weeding come planting, my favorite part!

Reading Breaks

Baseball anyone?? We quickly learned that our nice little baseball diamond is getting too small, as Madison can hit a home run over the fence pretty much everytime.

Beds are weeded and mulched and looking great! I love our backyard this time of year. One of Madison's friends was over the other day. He told me that our backyard is the nicest one he has ever seen. That is a stretch for sure but a really sweet comment and helps me to remember why we chose this house. I love how the girls have secret gardens and paths, how they find all sorts of friends like snails and frogs to play with. We have bunnies visit most mornings while we have breakfast and deer occasionally visit behind the fence. The girls have been spending hours roaming the backyard, planting in their own gardens, creating bouquets, scootering and biking around the neighborhood without the need for constant supervision and so much more. I love the freedom they have in our neighborhood and the joy and appreciation of the outdoors they gain just by stepping out our backdoor.

Ten on Ten

2011-05-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

Many of my blogging friends posted their ten on ten photos yesterday with GORGEOUS photos. Mine on the other hand is some quick shots documenting the day, nothing fancy or artistic about it:-) It's about all the mental energy I can muster at the moment. But here they are for your viewing pleasure.

The morning tornado strikes again!

Bus Stop time #2 of 3

A hint of spring popping through

Cookie Time

Carnival Meeting Prep

Nora, Nora how do your flowers grow?

Flower Shower

Madison's submission to Ten on Ten

Yeah Vicci!!!!

Girl, Cat and Hamster sleeping side by side

Monday Morning Ramblings

2011-05-02T08:06:00.001-07:00

I was awake most of the night with all sorts of things running through my brain. Finally got up at 3:00 a.m. to write to-do lists and draft some emails to try to clear my brain. Back to bed at 4:30 but didn't get to sleep until 5:30. Why is it you can finally get settled into a deep sleep about the time you need to wake up?? I am predicting a tired mom today!

A few of the things I have going on this week: tons of email and phone call communications, kindergarten round-up presentation, carnival details, teacher appreciation activities, PTA breakfast for students and teachers.... and that is just school commitments there is also the laundry piles and all the other regular household stuff to try to squeeze in. Great guess Katy:-) We did go with the VW Jetta Sportswagen TDI (diesel). 2 days home and I am loving it. We especially enjoyed the extra large panaramic sunroof yesterday on the gorgeous spring day. Though we have realized having the girls sitting closer to each other and closer to us makes for a bit more noise. I am just waiting to hear "She's touching me!" come out of one of their mouths.

Speaking of the amazing weather day yesterday - we had a fabulous day working out in the yard. Madison and I focused on the veggie garden getting seeds planted and beds cleaned up. Nora focused on finding every empty pot and bucket to fill with dirt and plant with flower seeds to spruce up the tree house. We also got the hammock out, delivered May Day flowers, played with bubbles, washed the car, power washed the porch, had scooter races and much more. In fact it was such an enjoyable day that I completely forgot to get the camera to document any of it. OOPS

In fact, I have been pretty lousy with my camera use lately. Definitely have slacked off on my Project 365 and am revising my Project Life album to reflect that. And I am absolutely fine with that. I am sure I will have more than 365 photos in the end. But some days I have 5 I want to share while other days I have nothing and I don't want to be forced into taking a photo just for the project.

Okay, off to get the crazy week started. Hope everyone else has a great one!!

Good-bye Old Friend

2011-04-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

It was a good 6 years you gave us with many memories. Close to 70,000 miles with adventures to Lake Tahoe, Yellowstone Park, all over Montana, many camping excursions, the beach, the mountains and more. And then of course all the smaller drives to gymnastics, soccer, school, grocery runs, zoo..... I don't want to mini-van bash because you were a great all-purpose vehicle that served our needs well with the little ones. The power sliding doors will definitely be missed and I am sure there will be moments when I am missing all the space you provided. But now I find myself in the car alone so much more of the time and I am DONE being a mini-van mom. So thank you for your years of loyal service, never letting us down even the time we were driving up the mountain with the gas tank on empty and no gas station in sight. But it is time to say Fairwell and for you to fill your seats with a new family.

And now I will keep my loyal readers (if there are any) in suspense with what will be replacing you in the garage. At this moment I am awaiting a call saying it is detailed and ready to go. And I am not being very patient about it, about ready to call and start harassing them. I want it NOW!!! But for now I have a loaner getting me around. So what do you think it will be? A sporty little convertible, a huge SUV or maybe a hybrid? No fair guessing if I all ready told you!

Easter Review

2011-04-28T10:23:00.000-07:00

Having a hard time keeping up with everything at the moment, but wanted to get some fun Easter photos posted before it was too late. It was a typical holiday for us - quiet and laid back with good food and lots of relaxing time. It was great to have the grandparents in town to spend the day with us. Even though the weather was a bit questionable we had the egg hunt outside and spread it all around the front, side and back yard. I have to say that we have a very good set-up for Easter Eggs Hunts here and maybe next year we will have a fun hunt with friends, if the weather would cooperate.

Every Easter Bunny leaves a detailed, itemized list for the kids on what to find. Right???

Or do we have the only obsessive-compulsive Easter Bunny in town?
Madison on the lookout for eggs

Thanks Mr. Woodpecker for the perfect hiding spots:-)

Blue Bunnies

2011-04-16T22:37:00.001-07:00

Ski Bunnies that is!! Today we went up for our final day of the winter ski season at Crystal Mountain. It is truely unbelievable the progress the girls have made this season from being non-skiers to today conquering some blue level runs on the mountain!! I really doubted it could be done without formal lessons, but they are champs! They battled through rain, snow, wind and cold this year but were always troopers saying they wanted to keep trying. I was really impressed with their determination and courage. We lost count of how many times we made it up this year but know the girls were skiing over 8 times. Gotta love Kids Ski Free at Crystal!!

All ready looking forward to next year's season. Of course, with the amount of snow still on the mountain we may be up doing some spring skiing in the month of May!

Sea World Fun

2011-04-12T15:03:00.001-07:00

Day one in San Diego was a beautiful, sunny 70 degree day. The best weather day we had out of the 3 full days we were there. After having a lovely breakfast on the water we made our way to SeaWorld for a full day of fun, fun, fun!! I think the highlight for the girls was the shows. You would think that this guy was the favorite

But the girls favored the silly "Sea Lions Live" show instead. And the Blue Horizon Dolphin show was quite amazing. It was full of amazing dolphin and pilot whale tricks, along with acrobats, divers and other performers. A true theatric event. We went to that one twice in the same day. We went on the "Journey to Atlantis" ride, which was a bit scary for me but I think the rest of the family enjoyed it! And we got DRENCHED on the Shipwreck Rapids ride and spent the rest of the day trying to dry off.

And then we did ALOT of walking all around checking out the animal exhibits and smaller rides and entertainment. After 8 full hours we decided to head back to the hotel. The girls woke up on day two and decided instead of going somewhere new, they wanted to return to Sea World for more fun. We had a multi-day pass so it "saved" money on paying admission somewhere new and this trip was letting the girls be in charge so away we went and spent another full 5+ hours. We returned to the SeaLion show and also caught the impressive pet show that we missed the day before. Tom and the girls braved the Journey to Atlantis ride again. We also splurged and got to feed and pet the dolphins.

Overall, we had a wonderful and eventful two days at Sea World. My very first experience at a Amusement Park in my entire life:-) Still not sure if I am ready for DisneyLand but it was a great experience.

Fun with Filters

2011-04-12T13:59:00.000-07:00

Nora is home sick today, the first sick day of the school year for her (or either kid for that matter!). After way too much tv time we had to find something else to do so pulled out the coffee filters. Since the only time they get used for their true purpose is when Grandma and Grandpa Kimmet come to visit, we usually find all sorts of other uses for them. We were able to kill a good hour of quiet time making creations while listening to Geronimo Stilton audiobooks on ITunes.

First we made snowflakes and painted them with watercolors.

On other filters we used washable markers to make dots, blobs and other shapes. Then used an eyedropper to add water drops to the colors to have them spread together.

A fun project you may want to save up for some of those rainy days in our future! Poor Nora went and curled up between the couch and the wall on the heat vent with her blankets and fell asleep. You know your child is sick when they fall asleep in the middle of the day in very odd places! At least she is getting some rest.

San Diego #1

2011-04-08T12:27:00.001-07:00

We are back from a fantastic family get-away to San Diego. We packed alot into our 3 days there and it all focused on kid fun! The activities may not have been what Tom or I would choose as top vacation activities but we still had a really great time as a family. We had to remind ourselves a few times to look at things through the girls' perspective instead of ours. It was great to see their joy over some of the more simple things. Like when Grandma Margie asked what her favorite part of the trip was, Madison answered, "Feeding the ducks, birds and fish." Though that does make us wonder why we bothered with huge admission fees to the big attractions:-)

Our hotel location was perfect. Practically right across the street from Sea World and minutes from the airport, yet you felt you were on a tropical island away from the rest of the world. The girls were thrilled with walking along the paths, climbing the lookout tower, swimming in the pool all three days (even when it was barely 60 degrees out one of those days), having breakfast outside next to the water with a night crowned heron for company and having smores on the beach for dessert.

April Fool's 2011

2011-04-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

I certainly do not have a prankster personality and wouldn't think April Fool's Day would hold much interest for me. But the date is very significant in our little family's journey on where we are today (read that old post here). And then 2 years ago I did this brilliant prank on Madison.

The only problem with this prank was that Madison has expected mommy to top it. Last year I completely failed and came up with NOTHING much to her disappointment. A HUGE thank you to Dawn for saving the day for this year and giving me this idea yesterday. I would love to be in the classroom today when Noah and Madison both open up their lunches and find these pranks. It should be a big hit!!!

Fruit Cup Prank

Begin with the fruit cup cans with the pull top lids. Make sure they have flat bottoms that can be opened with a can opener.

Open the bottom of the can with the can opener and pour out contents. Rinse and dry the can. Fill the can with some treat or goodie. I packed it with tissue paper so it wouldn't rattle around and give it away. Then pack it in the lunchbox as normal. I threw in this plastic banana with a note so Madison would think that was her prank and not be expecting anything else! SUPRISE!!!!

Pianist

2011-03-31T20:29:00.000-07:00

Madison started piano lessons last week. She has been very excited about them and eager to get started. She has been playing around on our keyboard for the last few years and then we brought the piano from Montana at Christmas so she has been having fun with that. Here is our Debut Duet "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". Her fingering and music reading is coming along quite well. She still needs to work on keeping time and an even beat, which makes it tricky for me to accompany her:-)

Recipe Reviews

2011-03-11T10:56:00.000-08:00

I am back with my reviews of the cooking week using Our Best Bites cookbook. Overall it was a successful week and I enjoyed being energized to cook in the kitchen using some new recipes. The girls enjoyed the "rating system" we used at the end of each meal to let me know how they liked it. Though I think that created some monsters as Nora started giving things like the sweet potatoes and broccoli a 1 on the 0-10 scale. I had to remind them we were just reviewing the NEW recipes and really their votes don't count too much in what I decide to cook or what they get to eat:-) Here are my reviews. GREEN means it will definitely be made again in the Kimmet Kitchen. ORANGE means it wasn't a big winner but I will try it one more time with modifications. No need for YELLOW this time but that would mean never again. You can still click on the photo to link to the recipe on Our Best Bites.

Creamy Chicken Taquitos - These were very tasty and I can see that it would be easy to do lots of different variations.

Smoky Bean Soup with Ham and Bacon I really enjoyed this soup, Tom was okay with it. I think it needed a bit more flavor to kick it up a bit so I will experiment next time with it.

Hot Fudge Sauce I have made it before and will make it again. Nothing fancy or complicated but for the one chocolate lover in the house (that would be ME!) I enjoy it plenty! The rest of the family can take it or leave it.

Guiltless Alfredo Sauce Really liked this and look forward to trying some of the variations in the cookbook. I also like the fact that it made a pretty big batch and was just as delicous the second day. I am not sure how "guiltless" it is but I don't really care when it tastes good:-)

French Dip Sandwiches Nothing unique about this one but it tasted great and was a easy crock pot meal for those busy days we all have.

Fauxtisserie Chicken Again, nothing new with this recipe but a good basic crock pot recipe and great for when those whole chickens are on sale at a great price. I used the leftovers for the creamy chicken taquitos.

Cadbury Egg Cookies So good I have made them TWICE in the past 10 days!!! Oh, and for the record they are the solid milk chocolate mini-eggs Cadbury makes. NOT the bigger chocolate eggs with the yucky creamy filling;-)

Cheesy Garlic Swirls I was really disappointed in these and expected alot more. We all usually love any homemade bread products but these ones were just lacking something for the amount of effort they took. I am going to try them one more time with a few modifications because I really want to like them but they just didn't work for me, or my family.

Streusel-Topped Blueberry Muffins Didn't get around to making these last week, but I have made them before and will make them again. Personally, I am not a huge blueberry lover but Madison devoured them!! So I will make them for her lunchbox hopefully next week.

Also on the plan are a few new recipes in the book that aren't on their blog:

Stuffed Apple Cinnamon Rolls Made these the last two weekends in a row for a breakfast treat. They are a morning variation on the "Pizza Poppers" that we made for every Seahawk game last year.

Cranberry Orange Chicken Salad Didn't end up making this but do plan to try it soon. I did make the Orange Chicken with Snow Peas and that was delicous and one we will definitely have again.

Pineapple Ginger Flank Steak Pretty disappointed with this one. With steak being one of the few meats the girls will happily eat, we have flank steak usually every week and I was looking forward to a new recipe for it but the marinade didn't quite work for us. I will try to modify it a bit and see if I can make it work.

I really enjoyed focusing on one cookbook for the week and trying new things. I enjoyed it so much that I am going to do it again for next week!! Stay tuned for more details!

Date on a Mountain Top

2011-03-08T16:48:00.000-08:00

Almost 18 years ago on our second date ever, we went to the top of a mountain. This was in the summer and our activity was mountain biking in the Hyalite Basin. Unfortunately, it didn't go quite as planned with the keys getting locked in the car 30+ miles from civilization. I wish I had a photo from the event, but I wasn't much into picture taking at that time in my life.

So 17+ years later we are still together and still seeking adventures on top of mountains! On Sunday we were fortunate enough to spend the entire day at Crystal Mountain. Tom has been up so many times this year we have lost count and we have made it up with the girls 4 times but this was my first time getting up for a full day of real skiing without the kids. We had flown in Grandma Margie especially for this reason and we lucked out with amazing weather, great company and good snow. I can't imagine how it could have been better.
I decided that I need to try and keep one step ahead of the girls for as long as possible since I have a feeling in the next year they will be surpassing my skiing skills for the rest of my life. So I pushed myself on some blue runs that have scared me in the past and feel that I passed with flying colors. Now I am sure I wouldn't win any style points but I stayed upright and had a smile on my face so I will take that as a win. With that said, I doubt black runs are in the near future for me (or maybe NEVER) but I am just fine with that.
So thanks to Grandma for being a great babysitter and dealing with late planes on both ends of the trip. And thanks to Tom for hanging back with me on the "bunny slopes" all day while his buddies were off searching for fresh powder in the trees. Can't wait until the next mountain top date!

February Highlights

2011-03-02T11:05:00.000-08:00

Ski Days

New Hair Do
Hooray For Snow Day!

Day in Seattle

Glimpses that spring is on the way

Princess Cinder

Class Parties

Additions to the Family

Princess Pool Party

Ashe

(photo by Madison)

Cookie Break-Through

2011-02-28T20:20:00.000-08:00

Setting the stage: Snow day last Thursday without enough snow for sledding. So after our snowball fight we came inside for some indoor fun. I have to say I LOVE LOVE LOVE snowdays where you can ignore the calendar and all of our regular "duties" and expectations. So baking was one of the requested activities. SUPER, I never turn down baking cookies. BUT then Nora stated she wanted to make cookies she could frost. UH OH, the dreaded sugar cookie. One of the few times I consider going with the refigerated dough by the Pillsbury Dough Boy. I don't know what it is but I have such a hard time with these. The mess of the flour all over the counter, the frustration of the dough crumbling as I roll it out, the disaster of having the girls try to cut out the shapes and then transfer them to the cookie sheet.

BUT I had a major break-through. Now maybe I am the only one with these problems, but in case I am not I would like to share with you my AH-HA moments.

1. The Recipe - Once again, Our Best Bites came through with an AMAZING recipe. You can find it here and it was perfect. The consistency of the dough was great and they were so YUMMY. In fact I ate them without any frosting and didn't feel like I was missing anything. Another revelation I had with the recipe is they recommended to spoon the flour into the measuring cup instead of scooping. WHAT???? I have been measuring flour incorrectly for 20+ years?? Am I the only one who missed this information? Not sure if it made a difference but I am now spooning my flour with all my baking.

2. The Rolling - In the past I chilled the dough and then would sprinkle my counter with flour and attempt to roll the dough out while trying to not think about how dirty my counter may be. Here is where my cookie rolling world changes for the better: enter parchment paper!! BEFORE chilling the dough I put it into a ball and sandwiched the dough between 2 sheets of that fabulous paper. Then I rolled the dough out between the paper. FAB U LOUS! The dough didn't crumble at the edges and seemed to be much more consistent in the the thickness. I then placed the sheets into the fridge for a quick chilling. Another bonus to this method is the chilling time is cut down to only 15-20 minutes, which is great for the impatient young chefs.

3. The Cutting - I then took the sheets out of the fridge and peeled off the paper and laid the flattened dough directly onto the Silpat mats on the cookie sheets. And if you don't have Silpat mats, that is a cookie revelation in itself. GET THEM NOW!!! The girls were able to cut out their wanted shapes and just tear away the excess dough around the shape and leave the ready-to-bake cookie right where it is at. No dough sticking to the counter and shapes losing parts. HOORAY.

Then it just went straight to the oven and out for the fun part. DECORATING. Though I really think the girls enjoyed the cutting out part just as much. For decorating we used this tool that Madison go for Christmas. I think I mentioned it before but it really is fantastic for the girls to do some special details without any help. I highly recommend it. Although, it looks like it may be discontinued or out of stock so you may want to ignore my recommendation:-)

So with this amazing epiphany I may be making sugar cookies from scratch more than once a year. And yes I am truely this excited about such a silly thing. So humor me and pretend that you are impressed:-)

Cooking Plan

2011-02-26T16:07:00.000-08:00

I am loving my new Our Best Bites cookbook that arrived yesterday. It fits all of my criteria for a good cookbook: LOTS of photos, special tutorials to help me learn new cooking tips and techniques, easy and practical family-friendly recipes and lots of yummy treats. I also like the fact that it has a hardbound cover but is spiral bound to stay open while sitting on the counter. I will say that many of the recipes may not fit under the healthy, low-fat/calorie menu plan but there are some and nothing wrong with an occasional splurge. Most of the recipes in the book can be found on their website but I enjoy having the nice pretty cookbook to leaf through instead of the ugly printed papers that scatter across my counter so often.

So after having the cooking blahs for quite sometime, I am now energized for a full week of cooking meals and treats. Here is what I have planned and I just returned from the store with all the necessary supplies. Links to recipes on the blog by clicking on the photos. Photos and recipes courtesy of Our Best Bites.

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Smoky Bean Soup with Ham and Bacon

Hot Fudge Sauce

Guiltless Alfredo Sauce

French Dip Sandwiches

Fauxtisserie Chicken

Cadbury Egg Cookies

Cheesy Garlic Swirls

Streusel-Topped Blueberry Muffins

I made these last week, but am making another batch as a thank-you for someone at school

Also on the plan are a few new recipes in the book that aren't on their blog: Stuffed Apple Cinnamon Rolls, Cranberry Orange Chicken Salad and Pineapple Ginger Flank Steak.
I will return at the end of the week to give a review of the recipes.

Princess Birthday Cake

2011-02-14T16:43:00.000-08:00

Nora found a photo of this cake 9 months ago and declared it WOULD be her birthday cake. I have had it taped to the inside door of a cupboard since then to make sure not to lose it. She stood firm on her princess themed party, though it changed from a princess tea party to a princess pool party in the last stages of planning. So after 8+ years of being a mommy to girls and escaping all things princessy I had to step up to the plate and create a pink, sparkly castle cake. And I have to admit that it wasn't that bad:-)

I think the best part about the cake was the pink "glittery" turrets. I found the pink cake cones and then regual sugar cones. To get the needed sparkle factor I warmed karo syrp and brushed it onto the sugar cones and then rolled them in pink sugar. I used a coarser decorating sugar and colored it with powdered "cherry pink" food coloring.
Then I baked 3 circle cakes of large, medium and small sizes.
I then stacked and frosted the cakes.
Then to add the the final touches I added the towers and an assortment of candy. My only disappointment was I had gotten bubble gum tape to edge each layer. But I didn't pay attention to my frosting coloring and the 2 pinks were so similar that there was no contrast betweent the two and I couldn't even tell the tape was there so I removed it.

February Ten on Ten

2011-02-11T11:09:00.000-08:00

Birthday Princess

2011-02-09T21:50:00.000-08:00

Happy Happy Birthday to my sweet Nora! I can't believe you are six years old and I am not sure I am ready for you to grow up, but I guess I have no choice in the matter. We love you so much. Your wonderful personality, sweet smile, funny laugh, sparkling eyes..... Everything about you is so special and unique and I can't imagine life without you. Thank you for putting a smile on my face each and every day.
photo shoot with her new Mulan "princess" costume Nora has been told many times that Mulan isn't a true princess but she doesn't want to believe it and I am just fine with that. Since I am not a real fan of the Disney Princess scene, I can at least be happy that her favorite is the most independent and unique one of the bunch. So I will encourage the attachment as much as I can!

January ReCap

2011-01-30T20:51:00.000-08:00

The last day of January is here so I figure I better catch up with things on the blogging world. I have started up "Project 365" for this year again so I will share some of my favorites from this month to give a glimpse on what we have been up to. Prepare yourself for photo overload!

Working on Staying Warm at the start of the month

My New Scrapbooking Buddy

Increasing my workout routine
Last week was my best week yet with 2 swims, 3 runs and one outdoor ride. Still need to up it a bit more but it is a good start for January.

Doing the mundane day to day stuff
Matching socks

Learning dishwashing skills from the master

Piano Fun

We have all been enjoying our "new piano" (brought it back from Montana at Christmas, it was my childhood piano). Madison is enjoying playing the few songs she knows and is looking forward to starting lessons. She enjoys holding "concerts" for us complete with admission tickets. Tom is transferring his musical knowledge to the ivory. I am dusting off my skills and find it very relaxing to sit down and play a few songs. And Nora enjoys singing along and playing chopsticks!

Basketball

Madison has started her first season of basketball and is making good progress but there is ALOT to learn! I think Tom and I are having many flashbacks to our playing days. I know the first game she had when I walked into the school gym, the smells and sounds brought back a rush of memories.

Fort Building

I am becoming a master fort builder as Nora requests one almost everyday after school. I build them in whichever room I am working in and then she sets it up with lunch, comfort items, books, toys and coloring items. She can often spend the rest of the afternoon in them. The key to good fort building? Tom's woodworking clamps from his workbench. Daisy Club

Madison has started a little craft club with a group of friends. We had our first meeting this week and each girl made their own sewing kit complete with pincushion and needle book.

Mad Science

Madison has been studying chemistry at school and this has spurred lots of expirements in the bathroom

Ooh - La - La Nail Spa Cupcake Decorating

I LOVE this cake decorating tool that Madison got for Christmas so much that I bought a second one. It makes treat decorating very easy for the girls with very nice results.

New Reader

Nora is really transforming into a reader and it is so fun to watch. It is a much different process than it was for Madison and it is great to see and hear her progress.

I am obviously in a bit of a blogging funk lately. Not sure where this blog is heading or what my future plans are with it. I have been at this for almost 3 years now and am not feeling too inspired. I have lots of posts started in my head and even a few started on the computer but just don't feel energized to get them completed. It may be a bit of January blues so we will see what happens in the next month. Not sure if anyone but my mom is missing my posts, so I dedicate this one to her:-)

Bookless in Seattle

2011-01-06T16:25:00.000-08:00

Help a lady out! The last six months I have caught the reading bug and have probably read more over that time frame than in the last 3 years combined. It started with The Hunger Games trilogy and moved into The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy. The last 2 that I have enjoyed are these: Have thrown in a few mysteries and other random finds but need help coming up with a new one. I like most anything, probably prefer just a good dramatic type novel I guess. So please share, what good books have you read recently?

Out with the Old

2010-12-31T13:18:00.000-08:00

Let the post-holiday let-down begin.... It always seems a bit depressing to take all the decorations down for another year and see the end of vacation in sight. Back to the reality of school, practices, schedules and such. Though there is a part of me that looks forward the routines and the hope for my resolutions to come true (a big one this year is to get back in control of housekeeping and overall home organization that seems to have gotten completely out of control the past year).

I have to admit, that this year's clean-up was quite simpler than most. I had only gotten out about half our decorations since we were out of town for the holidays and not hosting any gatherings. The only ornaments on tree were from the girls' personal boxes that they hung all on their own so they were in charge of taking them down. Madison was able to handle her half all on her own, while Nora needed assistance reading the labels but was still a big help when she wasn't making knots of the stringing beads!

I got all the new labels added to their boxes and found homes for the new additions. We will need to add third boxes for both the girls next year and I am realizing how out of control their ornament collection will be if we continue on with this pace. Do the math 4-6 ornaments a year times the number of years they live at home.... We do typically have a random one break occasionally to cut down the numbers a bit.

And then the tree we have had for 8 years finally died this year and stringing lights on a prelit tree defeats the purpose entirely. So the take-down of that will be much easier without the need to box it up. I am debating going back to a live tree next year but we will reassess that in 12 months.

Still need to tackle a few other things and discovered 2 of my Halloween spider decorations are still out on a shelf. OOPS, I really do need to get my act together!

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

Holiday Wrap-up

2010-12-30T09:33:00.000-08:00

It has been a whirlwind week of holiday festivities. We drove 1800 miles round trip to be with family for Christmas. I have to say, that riding in the pick-up wasn't quite as comfortable for long roadtrips as the minivan, but I did appreciate having the 4 wheel drive on the way back over Lookout Pass that was quite snowy. Luckily, Nora loaned me one of her Christmas gifts for a quick catnap in the car

It is unbelievable how much stuff we brought for a week long trip. And then on the way home, we added a small Uhaul trailer behind us to bring back my family piano. Unfortunately, it didn't appreciate the bumpy ride and is now in need of a few minor repairs before Tom and I begin the discussion of furniture placement to make it fit in the house!

Just a few fun photos of the holidays to share

DIY Elf Hats

2010-12-14T14:54:00.000-08:00

I love the sewing school blog.

♥the simplicity of it ♥the child-centered approach they take to the activities. ♥ that they keep their projects totally kid-done and always have fun tasks that allow creativity and independence. ♥ that they just came out with a book that I am looking forward to getting at some point for the girls. (Wow, just added the link and that is a great price. I may need to add it to my overflowing Amazon cart:-) There classroom looks like my ideal learning and teaching environment.

I had Madison's second grade class make these hats from the sewing school last year for their holiday party and I am taking advantage of only having 3 of the same students in her class this year to do a repeat. They were a huge hit last year and it was so fun to hear the pride the students had in doing their own sewing.

Nora and I decided to do a sample hat this afternoon to make sure everything was right. The worst thing ever is to go in and do a project with students and have it not turn out. I figure doing it one-on-one with a 5 year old should be about the same as a group of six 8/9 year olds.
Step One: Make a triangle template with a base of 25 inches and a height of 12.5 inches. Trace triangle onto fleece fabric. VERY IMPORTANT: the 25 inch base needs to go with the stretchy part of the fabric. This ensures a one-size-fits-all hat.

Step Two: Cut triangle out.
Step Three: Fold in half and stitch up the seam. Nora and I used a thick embroidery thread because I thought it would add a great contrast to the red fleece, which it did. But it was tougher to pull through the fabric so I will go with a thinner thread for the class project. I used 40 inches of thread and that seemed about perfect in length.

Step Four: Don't forget the jingle bell on top:-)

Follow-Up Note: Hop on over to Sewing School blog to enter a chance to win an adorale starter sewing kit. Perfect for a child wanting to start learning the craft of sewing.

Ten on Ten: holiday edition

2010-12-11T07:41:00.000-08:00

Festive Front Door

Daily Deliveries

Christmas Cat

Assembly Line Packaging

Total Concentration (and 100% Maddy done)

The Newest Photo Added

Happy Mail

Favorite Childhood Decoration

The Lego Countdown

Evening Pretties

Holiday Kick-off

2010-12-08T08:25:00.001-08:00

So annoyed with Blogger right now. I keep fixing the formatting and it keeps doing whatever it wants. I'm done trying......

Santa makes us JUMP FOR JOY!

Santa Letters

Tree Lighting, Fireworks and "mini parade"

Carousel Rides

Opportunity

2010-11-30T14:52:00.000-08:00

Chance to win 2 free lift tickets at Crystal through the Wild Washington site. Deadline today and I would prefer if you do NOT enter so I can win instead. BUT if you insist to try..... go HERE

Ski Bunnies

2010-11-28T21:38:00.000-08:00

First off, I am quickly realizing that if you have seen one family ski photo, you have seen them all! It is pretty tough to get original and unique shots due to the many factors on the ski hill:
1. Always wearing the same gear, bundled up from head to toe including helmet and goggles so no specific features can be noticed.
2. The perfect photo opportunity is lost by the time you get to a stopping spot, pull off the gloves, unzip the pocket, get out the camera, get it turned on......
3. I am not to brave in regular public places asking a stranger to take a family photo and definitely don't see myself stopping someone on the ski hill, asking them to risk frost-bite to their fingers and stop their "epic" ski day to take a photo for us.
4. There are only so many angles to achieve while riding on a chair lift.
5. The amount of photos with a black gloved finger in them are numerous and not that impressive.

So, with all that said, I will warn you that you may see many of these photos during this winter and you may think I am just recycling one or two pictures but I assure you they are new and unique shots:-) Last year our ski day was just a fun adventure while this year we are hoping to have a SEASON of skiing. Bring on the snow!!
Tom got up for his first day on Friday to check things out and the girls have been BEGGING to go up since the hill opened. So off went today with the truck loaded. The 4 wheel drive was very handy as we saw many cars pulled over having to chain-up. It was a BRISK day on the mountain, topping out at 27 degrees. Far different from our first ski experience HERE last spring when it was in the 50's and we barely needed jackets.
But the experience was also much different in the fact that the girls' skiing was SOOO much better. I can't really explain why since there has been no practicing or training sessions in the off-season but it was so much easier to manage. Madison only had 2 falls on her very first run and then was on her feet the rest of the day. She is definitely ready to progress from the Discovery Chairlift (ie - bunny hill) but the next lift is such a huge leap in difficulty I am not sure how we manage that. Here is video of Madison mastering the mountain.

Nora also did so much better. Though I will admit that Tom dealt with her the majority of the day. She seems to respond better to him on the slope (in other words she whines much more for me than him:-). I think the total of her falls the whole day was the amount she fell on each run last year. She had much better control of her body and vision for where she was going.

Due to the cold, we didn't stay quite as long as last time but we see it as a very succesful first day of the season. I imagine the girls are going to be asking to go every weekend. But maybe we will shoot for once a month and throw in a few lessons along the way.

Merry Christmas to ME!!

2010-11-27T18:27:00.000-08:00

Only about 27 days early, Tom let me open my Christmas gifts. He took a TON of extra time to wrap the boxes so I could open them without ruining the wrapping paper to be able to put everything back in for Christmas morning:-)

Any guesses where the family is headed tomorrow?

Thanksgiving Feast

2010-11-25T22:01:00.000-08:00

A feast for four at the Kimmet house this year. Though with the amount of food we had we could have fed double that. Especially considering that the two youngest family members aren't big fans of most of the food for this meal. Though I have to say, they did much better this year than in years past, so there is hope for them eating a real Thanksgiving meal in their future!

Madison was very helpful in the kitchen this year as my Sous Chef. She assisted with the cranberry sauce, homemade rolls and stuffing along with helping with table setting duties. It was fun to work on the meal together. She also was kind enough to venture outside to feed the birds their Thanksgiving meal. We have been keeping them well fed during our cold-spell and have quite the flock depending on us now. Here she is modeling the latest in chef fashion (pj's, robe and apron all together in one ensemble, along with daddy's crocs).

We had wonderful dinner conversations and must have been at the table for over an hour chatting and reminiscing. At one point Nora had us all rolling with laughter over her quoting a Geico commercial. Madison had made some lovely, one-of-a-kind name cards for each family member and I added some conversation starters to the back. Here are some of the questions and answers for my memory keeping.

Favorite Place:

N - Grandma's House (BOTH grandma's she said!)

M- Bookstores and library

L - ANY ocean beach

T - Basketball court

Future Wishes

N - To have all the same teachers as Madison

M - To have a good job when I grow up

We also had a nice discussion on all that we are thankful for and how lucky we are. We moved that into a conversation of really focusing on GIVING this holiday season. I am hoping to putting the emphasis on this over the next month through homemade gifts, charitable donations that the girls actively participate in and I am hoping to find a hands-on volunteer activity that we can participate in as a family. I am brainstorming ways to document these through the season as a way to keep our minds and hearts on what is important instead of what we are getting or doing (though I am sure there will be plenty of that too.....).

2010-11-23T11:29:00.000-08:00

Sunday afternoon we started getting snow flurries and the girls and I were hoping for a big snow to start the winter off!! Got a little by Monday morning but not enough to make changes to the start of the day. And THEN it all began getting serious later in the morning and I began to regret wishing for the white stuff. Very long story but I can sum it up with saying I got the van stuck on the hill up to our house and Nora had an hour plus bus ride. After 2 hours of stress we finally made it home and got to start enjoying the snow like we had hoped. And I really can't complain about my 2 hours of stress since I know many people whose 30 minute commutes home lasted over 9 hours sitting on I-5 last night. I can't even imagine.

I think the highlight of the night was eating dinner with candlelight so we can get a better view of the blizzard conditions outside (well, for Seattle it seemed like a blizzard!).

Then this morning we woke to a true winter wonderland, complete with sub 20 degree temps! I was able to keep the girls indoors until 9:00 and then there was no containing the excitement any longer!! They had a great time in the backyard and then sledding on the neighbor's hill. They lasted a good 2 hours before the cold finally got the best of them (and me!).

Micah LOVES the snow!! She acts like a puppy when she gets out in it.

We are looking forward to a fun winter and gearing up to enjoy it all!!

Going to the Lodge

2010-11-20T19:10:00.000-08:00

We had a great family get away to Great Wolf Lodge! Of course the water park was the top highlight! The girls LOVED the wave pool. I was truely amazed how comfortable they were swimming around in the crazy waves. Nora especially got tossed all around and under the water and always came up with a huge smile on her face. Thankfully, Nora cleared the height requirement by about 1/2 an inch so we were able to go on the fun big slides as a family. Again, no fear from the kids but a bit from mom. Once on the Howling Tornado was plenty for me, while Tom and Madison went on it a number of times. Nora wanted to make sure we will come back when she can go on that slide, though the way she grows it will be quite awhile!

The girls loved their own special little room complete with bunk beds and a tv. They named all the animals painted on the walls, of course.

Story time at the end of the evening was a great way to prepare for bed. They were so exhausted by this point they could barely walk back to the room.

We gave the arcade an attempt and had a bit of fun. I think the girls mostly liked collecting the tickets for prizes.

MagicQuest was a ton of fun.

Overall, it was a great trip with fun for everyone! I am sure we will be going back. So happy we went mid-week to avoid the crowds and lines. It made the experience that much better.

Thankful Banner

2010-11-04T09:34:00.000-07:00

Today on Becky Higgins' blog she wrote about her family's Gratitude Family Project. You can see it here. I thought I would share the project that we started on Monday. Last week I was ~~avoiding housework~~ recalling memories from the past and discovered my Daily Thanks project from 2 years ago. This was my first attempt at a "Photo a Day" project and I took one picture each day of November for what I was thankful for. I still love going back to look at these photos. It captures a different perspective of my life, not just the faces and places but the little details.
So this year I wanted to do something similar but have it more immediately visible and something the whole family could participate in. I love having banners on our mantle so decided to create a BE THANKFUL banner. I used all my leftover pieces from the 2009 Project 365 kit to make the bigger pieces to link the ribbons together. I covered mini-clothes pins with the paper scraps and we are using the journaling cards for our thoughts. Love how this project captures adorable kindergarten writing and newly discovered third grade writing.

No big "rules" or system for this project. I am keeping the box of journaling cards and markers, pens and pencils on our dining room table. This is a good reminder at dinner to discuss our thanks and see who is planning to add to the banner that night. We can add photos, drawings, writing and more to our banner to represent what we are thankful for. Initially I thought we would take turns to add one card each day. But the girls were really excited about it and I didn't want "controlling craft mommy" to raise her evil head saying "NO it is not your turn to add a Thankful card tonight. You can not be thankful until your assigned day!" I really want this to be not about the "cute quotient" of the craft but about the meaning behind it. Madison added her own banner to go above mine and at first I cringed because it was coordinated all together. But now I love her addition and am excited to see how our banner grows and evolves over the month. At the end of the month I plan to find a way to do a scrapbook layout with the cards.

Halloween Fun

2010-10-31T22:15:00.001-07:00

The trick or treating gang. It is always funner with friends (and no rain helps too:-)

After reading The Wizard of Oz, Madison decided she was going to be Dorothy for Halloween last spring and in typical Madison fashion she did not waiver from that decision once. Nora on the other hand a tougher time deciding. But when she discovered that our neighbors were decorating their house in a Wizard of Oz theme she decided to be Glenda the Good Witch.

So nice to have a perfect photo shoot right across the street!

There's no place like home!
Beware of the Flying Monkeys!!

Oh dear, what have I done?

Tom and I had some Halloween fun on Saturday with 2 great parties. I am definitely NOT meant to be a blonde:-)

Mud Bowl 2010

2010-10-30T14:28:00.001-07:00

End of the season game for Nora was wet, cold and MUDDY!!! It is so funny to watch different kids' reactions to when they fall in the mud. Some become paralyzed, others cry, Nora just pops up and keeps on running!! She had a great season, with fabulous coaches and really impressed us with her hustle and focus on the game. Soccer season is always fun, but we are also very happy when it is over to have some freedom in our schedules.

Madison has a very late afternoon game still. It should be very cold and rainy but luckily she plays on artifical turf so the mud factor will be eliminated. We are hoping it will be dark enough to play under the lights for the last game. She has really improved over the second half of the season. We are very proud of her progress and hustle. Their entire team has improved dramatically over the season, which was fun to watch.

Letters Home #6

2010-10-25T12:01:00.001-07:00

Hi girls,

Woke up this morning for our last day here to find grey skies. I guess that means it is time to go home. We have had perfectly sunny weather the whole time we have been here so I guess we got really lucky. The next few days are supposed to be overcast and wet.

Yesterday we went on a longer drive to check out to Waimea Canyon also known as the Grand Canyon of Hawaii. Beautiful scenery and we took lots of photos.

We went on a few hikes in the canyon that involved lots of climbing up.

We also hiked to the "highest swamp in the world." Although Kauai is in the middle of a pretty bad draught right now so it wasn't very swampy. The good news is that meant no mud to deal with. The bad news about that is that most of the waterfalls on the island are dried up waiting for some big rains so we didn't get to see those. There was one we were hoping to swim in today but it was completely dry.
We ended the day with a beautiful sunset on the beach.

We will be getting on the plane tonight after you are in bed and will be home tomorrow to meet you off the school bus. Can't wait to see you and give you lots of hugs and kisses!!

Love,

Mom and Dad

Letter Home #5

2010-10-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday Girls and GO SEAHAWKS! Did you wear your shirts and sing our special song? I can't believe that this will be our last full day on the island. We will spend most of Monday here but get on the plane in the evening and then fly all night to land in Seattle on Tuesday morning.

Madison, congratulations on your game winning goal! We are so proud of you and wish we could have seen it but it is great that Grandma got to see you score a goal!! Nora, it sounds like you had a good game too. Hope you didn't get too muddy.

Today was a bit of a lazy day for us. We decided to take it easy and not do any huge adventures today. We started out with a late breakfast and a little shopping around town. Then we rented some fun beach cruiser bikes and rode the 5 mile path that follows the beach. It was a really nice ride, although VERY hot.

See that beach behind us? On our way back we found a small path down to it. There was no car access anywhere near so it was almost totally secluded with just 3 other people on the whole beach. We found a nice tree to lay down under since it was way too hot to sit in the sun. We spent time reading and napping listening to the waves. It was lovely. Then we rode back into town.

We had a very nice fancy dinner tonight. We had hoped to catch the sunset on the beach but the dinner took to long, or the sunset came too quickly.
Hopefully we can catch it tomorrow. We have more hiking and exploring tomorrow on the south side of the island.

Love you bunches and miss you tons. 2 more days and we will be home.

Mom and Dad

Letters Home #4

2010-10-22T23:21:00.001-07:00

Hi girls,

Madison, we really enjoyed your comments from yesterday. Nora, good job finding Mercedes when she got lost. I am sure Grandma appreciated your help.

Today we had an amazing adventure. We took a guided tour called the Kipu Safari Zipline. We started out kayaking 2 miles up river. Then we hiked and took a tractor pulled wagon ride through some beautiful scenery. Many famous movies have been filmed in this area, though none you have seen. Maybe some day you will watch Jurassic Park or Indiana Jones or Pirates of the Caribbean and we can show you where we were.

Then came the most exciting and scariest part. Ziplining over the canopy of the forest. I was quite nervous but it was amazing and beautiful. We got to go on 3 zipline rides and once I got used to it, I wish we could have done more. We have a video of us going down the longest one we will show you when we get home.

Then we went to a large pond that had a short zipline that dropped you into the middle of the pool of water. I LOVED this one and could have done it all day!

We ended with another short hike and then a boat ride down the river. It was a pretty incredible day. Hope your soccer games were good and not too rainy!

Love,

Mom and Dad

Letters Home #3

2010-10-21T22:19:00.000-07:00

Nora - I am so excited to see the stars you learned how to make!
Madison - Daddy has a chart of fish in the ocean and he has circled all the ones he saw. We will try to bring it home to show you.
Katy - thanks for the recommendations. I didn't see your comment before we did the NePali hike but I am assuming it was the same one. I will have to try your suggestion for the next shaved ice I have, it seems to be becoming a daily treat!!

Today was a day for a BIG hike on the Nepali coast. We started with a climb up a cliff with the ocean right below. We could see and hear huge waves crashing on the rocks. There was some amazing views at the top.

Then we went down the other side to a beautiful beach.

Next up was hiking through a jungle with lots of bamboo groves.
The hike ended at an amazing HUGE waterfall. It was tough to get a good picture of the full waterfall but we will get a postcard to show it to you. I even got brave and swam in the pool under the waterfall and stood right under the water coming down. I have always wanted to do that. The water was VERY cold but it was lots of fun.

We then had the 4 miles to hike back out with all the great views again. It was a pretty tough hike with lots of rocks to navigate and even streams to cross. It was a great day with perfect weather and lots of beautiful scenery. We are feeling pretty tired now but so glad we did it. More adventures are planned for tomorrow.

Love you bunches,

Mom and Dad

Letters Home #2

2010-10-20T23:00:00.000-07:00

Hi Girls,

Our first full day in Hawaii was really nice, although it started a bit rough. We got our snorkel gear and headed right out. I quickly realized that my motion sickness was going to cause a big problem with snorkeling. I loved the 10 minutes I had in the water, but it took 3 hours to feel better. I was pretty disappointed since I was so excited to learn to snorkel, but I enjoyed sitting on the beach and relaxing. Daddy did much better and snorkeled at 2 different beaches. It was pretty tricky to get good photos but here are a few, including the sea turtles we found on Poi'Pu beach. Luckily they were close to shore so I could wade into the water to see them too.

I had my first shaved ice and it was DELICIOUS! I am sure I will have a few more while we are here. We also had a yummy dinner and drove around exploring more of the island.

Have a great day. Love you bunches and miss you tons!

Mom and Dad

Letters Home #1

2010-10-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

Dear Madison and Nora,

We arrived in Kauai and it is beautiful. It was quite the change from leaving home at 40 degrees and foggy to arriving here where it was 85 degrees and sunny. Most of yesterday was spent in airports and on airplanes. Here is the view from the plane as we were getting ready to land.

We were up very early this morning, since 5:00 Hawaii time is 8:00 our regular time. We were able to walk out to the beach and watch the sunrise.

We are hoping to try out snorkeling today and investigate a few different beaches. I am also hoping to have my first taste of shaved ice. Hope you have a wonderful time at the Halloween party today. I am sure Karin is going to have some delicous treats!!

Love you bunches,

Mom and Dad

Ten on Ten

2010-10-10T20:21:00.000-07:00

It was a family affair for Ten on Ten photos today on 10-10-10. Pictures taken by

myself (LNK), Madison (MKK) and Tom (TRK)

Birthday Breakfast in Bed (LNK)
Phone calls (LNK)

Pastry Chefs (LNK)

Entering the Ipod world, just a bit late (MKK)
Adventure Ready Camera (MKK)

More Birthday Fun (LNK)

Carousel Reflections (LNK)

First ITunes Purchase (LNK)
Lisa turns 7, about (TRK)
10-10-10 10:10

September Catch-Up

2010-09-24T21:49:00.000-07:00

Wow, the last 24 days have been a whirlwind to say the least. I have a number of unfinished blog posts in my drafts but just never have gotten time to really focus on things. Sooo I will give a quick review of the highlights of the month.

Let the craziness begin! Soccer season is in full swing. We decided to take a season off from the coaching gig. Overall it was a good decision and I really don't think our sanity could have handled coaching. But without control of schedules we now have 3 nights of practices each week and games at 2 different fields on each Saturday. So I think I can officially be labeled a true soccer mom. The girls are having fun, Nora scored a goal last week and Madison is working on not chatting so much on the field:-)

REI rented out the ShoWare center to celebrate the Starfish Project going live. They had a very nice dinner and the skating was much more successful than I anticipated. I think we will be hitting the ice more this year.

I've picked up a very small babysitting gig before school. Two neighbor boys come over around 8:00 and then I take the whole crew to the bus. Overall it is going really well and is making the girls and I more accountable to be up and dressed before they arrive each morning.

PLUM PICKING

The girls look forward to every September when the neighbor's plum tree is ready to harvest. It has become a tradition to pick their after school snack on the way home. Madison mastered climbing the tree this year to grab the higher fruit.

Madison had her first field trip and we went to the bee farm. Her teacher really likes field trips and all ready has the next one scheduled in 3 weeks. I guess I better get ready for a year of chaperoning adventures.
Overall the school year is off to a great start and both girls seem happy with their classes and teachers. I am looking forward to starting art docent lessons in both classrooms starting next month.

Tonight Madison is off at her first ever sleep over away from home. She insisted on going straight there from school and had no interest in talking to me on the phone to check in. Tom is away for the night on a poker/biking boys' getaway. So Nora and I donned our matching pj's and had milkshakes while watching the new Tinkerbell movie and then played board games in bed. She wanted me to write the details in one of her many notebooks and had the final sentence be "My mom made it the best night ever!"

And in all our free time (ha ha) we are still trying to work on the front yard project. I have to say I am LOVING our revamped entryway and now try to find reasons to use it instead of the garage. We still need to get the door and window replaced so it is centered and that horrible amber window is GONE but I think the progress is pretty good. Here is a reminder of the before.

Okay, so that is the highlights. I also have been juggling the PTA president gig and trying to find a good balance of those tasks along with keeping the house in order and keeping up with my workout routine. So far the balance is not quite happening but I am hoping that by mid-October things will even out and I can get things under control.

And speaking of mid-October........ only 25 days until Tom and I are off on a plane to Hawaii. My emotions range from pure excitement to pure panic!

Lunch Box Love Notes

2010-09-16T17:11:00.001-07:00

Time to refill my lunch box note stash for my daily notes to Madison.

I was able to find lots of fun printables around the blogosphere. Probably should have printed some on colored paper to jazz things up a bit.

Here are links to some of my favorites:

*Love these owl ones with bookmarks and jokes. I will mount the bookmarks on cardstock and cover with packing tape (cheap version of laminating). Since Madison eats lunch in her classroom (which has always bothered me but that is another issue!) she can just put them in her desk for future use.

*Adorable gingham print notes

*It is always fun to have some thank you cards in the mix. I don't think we genuinely thank our kids for things enough so this reminds me to do just that.

*And here is a list of a ton of adorable school printables from tags to notes to cute teacher appreciation ideas.

Right Now

2010-09-05T17:33:00.000-07:00

Watching: Alot of nothing! Looking forward to the new season of shows to begin and especially looking forward to PARENTHOOD. Loved it last spring.

Planning: Hawaii (I know, I know; I have been planning it for over a year but we are getting really close to making the final reservations and have the dates set and accomodations picked out)

Enjoying: The sweetest tomatoes ever! Picked from our shared garden. The weather this year didn't help to produce a huge bounty but the tomato plants are now overloaded with fruit that is as sweet as candy!

Reading: Just completed The Hunger Games Trilogy. Checked out 3 books at the library today and will pick one tonight to get started on.

Making: Freezer meals for the fall craziness. 6 lbs of port barbeque chicken and 2 lbs of garlic mashed potatoes on Friday. 6 pans of lasagna today and then 6 batches of chicken parmigiana is planned for Friday.

Hoping: To have a fully functioning computer soon. Back to the PC dr. tomorrow to try and get the bugs worked out.... Technology can be so frustrating!

Remembering: Fondly recalling the days of having my sweet little girls at home all day, with a very empty calendar. Unlike my current life with girls off to school, soccer and playdates and a calendar that looks like I am attempting a BlackOut Bingo for the month.

Coveting: A new car, but I can't seem to find one that fits my want/need list. Guess I will just continue with my life as a mini-van mom for now.....

inspired from Sycamore Stirrings great list!

First Day

2010-09-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

Another first day of school report, but this time I am reporting on TWO girls not just one. Nora has been so very anxious to start kindergarten since the day preschool was over. This was such a different experience than when Madison started, even though it is the same school, classroom and teacher. But with Madison we did not know anyone at the school, didn't know the teacher or any friends and had no idea what to expect. This time around Nora is MORE than comfortable with the school and teacher (in fact, I am a bit worried she may be a bit too comfortable with the situation). She has a best friend who is in her class along with other friends and acquantances from preschool, soccer and other activities. And I am so much more relaxed with knowing what is going on at the school and knowing she has big sister around to keep an eye on her.
With that said, it was a bittersweet day for me. Luckily the drop off was smooth since I had to rush to the PTA event I was hosting (welcome to the world of PTA president...). I didn't have time to dwell on the fact that my baby was not my baby anymore. But later I arrived home to an empty and quiet house and had a bit of a cry at being done with a the years of being a mommy to a baby, toddler, preschooler..... Don't get me wrong, I know she has so many exciting new adventures awaiting her and I am not one to hold my girls back. And I know I will find plenty of things to occupy my 2.5 hours of daily kid-free time. But it is still sad to think of being done with one chapter of mommyhood. But now it is time to move forward and embrace the journey ahead. Madison had a great day in third grade and is excited for the upcoming year. She has a fantastic teacher and we all ready have our first field trip scheduled for three weeks from Friday! I think it is going to be a wonderful year for her. You know things are getting serious when you have a protractor and compass on your supply list and you get cut down to 2 recesses from 3!

Race report #2

2010-08-22T21:44:00.000-07:00

Race Note: for some reason my timing chip didn't work for the end of my run. I am sure it was some user error on my part. Luckily I had asked Madison if I could borrow her watch when I realized my batteries were dead the night before. So my final time, run split and placings are based on my unofficial time. I promise I am being as honest as possible. I will admit that I am much happier with my unofficial times though. I was almost in tears when I looked at the postings at the race and saw I was at the bottom of the pack. I didn't realize the error until this evening.

Today I participated in the first Lake Meridian Triathlon. It was a fantastic race put on by the fabulous Raise the Bar crew. Hoping this will become an annual event. They had a great turnout and it was a really fun and challenging course. Weather was a bit cool for my tastes but not bad. Luckily the forcasted rain stayed away and the water was nice and warm, so much better than my race in June.

The swim started out with my first experience for a deep water start. I wasn't sure about it before the race but enjoyed it and felt strong on the swim. My time was 16:53, a bit slower than my goal but I was ninth out of the water for all 73 women so I am happy with that. Then came the transition with big goals of improvement. I skipped the socks and peeled the wetsuit off quickly with great results. 1 minute 41 seconds. WAHOO! Compare that to my other 3 races with times of 6+, 4+ and 5+ minutes. No complaints there, though I should have had it even faster since I took time to wrestle with a long sleeve shirt that I ended up not needing.

Onto the bike ride. The problem with coming out ninth from the water is that you get passed ALOT on the bike, even when feeling strong. It was a bit discouraging, but I still felt good about the ride overall. My legs will be reminding me of all the hills in the morning. I felt good on the hills and was able to pass some people but got passed on the flats more than I would have liked. Time was 1hr 1 min 7 secs for 15.8 miles, 28th place for the women.

I wish I had photos of my cheering section on the bike ride. Tom and the girls were so sweet and drove to multiple locations along the bike course to cheer me on. Tom would park the minivan and open up the back for the girls to sit and watch, ringing their bells and cheering me on. They looked so adorable and definitely gave me a boost. Then they went to the run turn around to give me some more energy. The only unfortunate thing is that they then had to rush to the finish line and missed my finish by minutes. I still appreciate their efforts of waking up early on a Sunday morning and putting in the extra effort to go to multple locations along the route.

Then into the run transition. Again, I had my best ever transition for T2 with a time of 1:26. My new fancy shoelaces helped with that and I am happy to report that going sockless was quite successful. Only one small blister to show for it.

The run is my nemesis and I am happy to report that I feel like I made a little progress with this. I actually ran the entire course, which is a first for me. YIPPEE. Now, don't get too excited it was still a fairly slow pace (10.16 mile) but I will take it. Especially with the big steep hill towards the end.

I still have plenty of room for improvement but am really happy with the progress I made. Unofficial final time is 1 hour 53 minutes and 26th place out of 73 women. Hoping to get one more race in this year before making goals for the off season training. Thanks so much to the Raise the Bar crew for not only a great race but for all the support and help you have given me with my journey into the world of triathlons. I never thought I would grow to love waking up at 5:00 2 mornings a week to be tortured in the pool. I am so crazy I think I will add the morning run workouts to my routine this fall.

Beach Favorites

2010-08-20T14:33:00.000-07:00

We were at the beach last week and I am just getting time to catch my breath and post some photos. The weather wasn't what we had hoped for but we still had a great time. I especially was happy with some family photos, which is a rarity.

Along with all the of our usual beach favorite activities like wave jumping, sand castle building, tide pool exploring and kite flying we added a few new activities to our fun including kid burying, tag on the beach and the highlight of the trip bonfire and smores on the beach.

Preparations

2010-08-16T21:48:00.000-07:00

Only 2 weeks until the first day of school. Definitely bittersweet emotions for all of us as the summer vacation quickly slips through our fingers. But one highlight is always the Back To School shopping that we are stretching out as long as possible.

Backpack shopping at REI

Then today Grandma Peggy took the girls to Target for their school supplies with lists in hand. Bonus of shopping with Grandma is they were able to sneak a few goodies into the cart too.

You know the girls are excited about their new supplies when they spend the next hour organizing

or you find them asleep with the items!

We still need to squeeze in shopping for their first day of school outfit. Traditionally, I have taken Madison on a Maddy and Mommy date night before the first day of school. This year I hope to take each girl on their own date for shopping and some special treat but looking at the calendar, I am not sure how we are going to squeeze it all in. So many things to do and so few days to get it done!

Progress

2010-08-09T20:42:00.000-07:00

It all started with this in April

After looking like this forever

And then looking like this for the past 6 -8 weeks

Our front yard transformation is finally making some progress. I am sure our neighbors are happy to have the sandpit gone!!

We still have a LONG ways to go. Imagine a water feature, lots of new plants and trees, new windows with nice trim, new front door and getting rid of that horrendous amber window, different lighting..... It will take awhile but I think it will make a huge difference in the end. I am anxious to get the next phase underway!

And just in case you are wondering, no we did not do this portion of the project ourselves. It is a long story but lets just say that we realized we were in a bit deep and it was time to call the professionals!!

She TRI'd!!

2010-07-29T15:05:00.001-07:00

Madison competed in her first triathlon last Saturday and had a great time. It was made more fun by having friends to do it with. A big thank you to my friend Karin for capturing the photos for us. It is a bit hard to take pictures when the memory card is in your computer at home. OOOPS!!!

Ready to start the swim in cold Lake Wilderness. Madison was really excited about the swim cap. I think it made her feel very important and professional:-)

The "swim" was 75 yards through waist - shoulder deep water. Madison could have easily swam it but said she thought it would be faster to walk because the water was deeper. Not sure that is very logical, but the majority of kids did walk. I think putting their face in the cold, murky lake water may have been a bit intimidating. Something to work on for next time!

The bike portion was next with a 2 mile ride. Our Lopez Island ride was good preparation for that. Click HERE to see a good picture of her ride.

On to the 1/2 mile run. She started out strong but then a side ache slowed her down a bit.

Congratulations and the post-race talk with daddy

Thumbs up for a fun race. I think they definitely will be doing more in the future and Nora is excited to participate too.

Lazy Days of Summer

2010-07-23T21:12:00.000-07:00

After 3 weeks of action packed adventures the girls and I took full advantage of our clear calendar this week. Yesterday we didn't get up until almost 9:00 (I thought the day would never come when my girls learned to sleep in!!!). We had a day full of board games and crafting. Tom came home to find me cooking dinner like this

Yes, that is me barbecuing in my flannel Christmas pajamas:-)

Today was a good day lounging by the lake. I only ask, why do moms spend so much time lathering sunscreen all over their children to then not apply it to themselves???? OUCH!!!

Riding in Style

2010-07-20T21:04:00.000-07:00

Nora has been asking for her training wheels to be taken off for awhile but we just haven't had the time to invest in the process. While camping all the kids were riding around the campsite but she didn't have a bike since she was on the tag-a-long attached with me. So she decided she wanted to borrow Levi's bike and try riding 2 wheeled. Tom took her out and within 5 minutes she was riding!! What a perfect place to learn to ride her bike. We will never forget how she learned!!

Bike Camping - The Highlights

2010-07-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

The time at the campsite was so wonderful. The kids all got along great and were self-sufficient for the majority of the time. I would even find myself realizing I hadn't had visual contact for fairly long periods of time, which is very unlike me. But they were having a ball playing spy games with the walkie talkies, creating bike jumps over the sand pit and so much more. I have to say there is much to be said for camping directly on the beach. Yes, sand gets EVERYWHERE but the convenience can't be beat! No needing to haul stuff down and then realize you forgot something back at home, hotel, camp.... It was all right there with no need to pack up and go anywhere. Though the ladies did take a ride into town to the local bakery for goodies and ice coffees!

Kid Fun Highlights

Setting up camp, Swimming in Seaweed, Sand Throwing

Ice Cream Ball, Hammock Craziness

Relaxing, Crab Collecting, Tree Climbing

And we can't forget this sweet little guy who was hanging around the beach most of the day. I only wish we would have had visual confirmation of him being connected to his mom at some point. We saw no signs of her but hope she returned at night since he wasn't around the next morning. He was so adorable and looked like a little stuffed animal that you just wanted to pick up, hug and take home. We made sure to keep our distance though, in hopes of his mother's return.

Bike Camping - the logistics

2010-07-16T11:36:00.000-07:00

We just returned from a fantastic bike camping experience on Lopez Island. I really doubt that the trip could have gone better than it did. No bike wrecks, only one bike malfunction that was fixed with impressive McGyver-like techniques, amazing weather, great company, fabulous scenery........ It really was a great time.

Some may ask, how you go about camping using only bikes to transport people and gear? Well, it is a fine art that I think we mastered well. I really wish I had gotten more photos of the transportation, but it is a bit hard when you yourself are on a bike, with a backpack on and small child attached at the back. I wasn't thinking as much of photography as getting everyone to the final destination in one piece.

The big secret to transporting is BIKE TRAILERS and lots of them!! For our family we had one bike trailer that was packed to the gills. Tom's use of bungy cords was truely an art! Note the paper towels:-)

One of the riders in our crew had his bike, with a train of TWO bike trailers attached and another had his bike, 3 year old on tag-along-bike and then the bike trailer behind that. It really was an impressive site that got many looks from passer-bys! It was our own little parade with 19 people!

Once all the trailers were loaded and gear in place we walked onto the ferry for a gorgeous ride in the Puget Sound. Somehow we have not had ferry rides on our list of to-dos so this was Nora's first ride and Madison's second. They really enjoyed it all!

The ride itself is was just under 5 miles to the campsite, which is a fairly short ride in biking terms. Of course, the longest non-stop riding Madison had done before that was probably 2 miles of very flat terrain. All reports we were given was the ride was nice and flat. Of course, the reports were given from a person who rides over full mountain passes, so maybe we should have considered the source a bit more. Overall, for adult riders with any riding experience, the island is relatively flat but there were a few big hills. The biggest being straight off the ferry, which was a bit tough and demoralizing for the kids. We were really proud of Madison and all the children who powered through with great attitudes to keep pedaling through the toughest of hills.

The final test was to physically get the bikes and trailers down to the campsites on the beach. The sites were not car-accesible and you had to go down a steep dirt trail to get to them. Once the momentum starts on a 100+ lb loaded trailer it is a bit hard to stop it! But we did get all the gear down safely and the campspot was well worth the effort! The view from our tent:

Tent City

Dugout Ranch

2010-07-10T21:07:00.000-07:00

We were able to visit "Dugout Ranch" during our stay in Fort Benton on the Fourth of July. This ranch was purchased by my Great Grandfather, Adam Johnstone, in 1907 and still belongs to our family to this day. It started out as a sheep ranch. This is a photo of my grandfather on the farm taken around 1930

It is now a wheat farm and here we are with this year's wheat crop.

The family home being built in 1915

1950

and now

We had a wonderful time exploring the area. The treasurers and history around are incredible. Even though no one has lived there for 40+ years, there is still so much to see like the old farm tractor and other farming implements, the bunkhouse still with beds inside, the sheep corral and so much more. My main want for this outing was to get some photos to capture the location and I got a wonderful collection.

I am all ready looking forward to going back next summer prepared for a more extensive exploration of the site. We will come prepared with lots of bug spray, full length pants and shirts, boots and gloves. I am hoping to bring back wood for a reclaimed wood project in the house along with some other possible artifacts for some cool home projects.

Home Sweet Home

2010-07-07T21:07:00.000-07:00

Home never looked so good!! I am very much looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight. And after 12 nights of sharing beds or sleeping on the floor, the girls requested a sleep-over in Madison's room! I denied that one, hoping everyone can catch up on their zzz's tonight!!

A little recap of life on the road:

Total Miles Driven

(I told the girls we really should drive around for 100 more miles to get it to an even 2,000)

Total time spent in the car

On the road again

These orange construction signs made me want to SCREAM. I lost count of how many slow downs we had due to them. And the frustrating thing was that most of them had no obvious signs of any road work being done but I would still have to slow down through the construction zone.

Passing away the hours
Never out of my reach: food bag, multiple drinks (usually dr. pepper, water bottle and a chai tea), sunglasses, purse (with camera inside), cd case and everyone drives with their own wildflower bouquet, right???

We survived quite easily video free. The girls will probably regret their good behavior, as it proved that we really have no need for that silly dvd player after all. In fact, I had every intention of pulling out my laptop today and draining the battery to allow at least one movie. I also planned to make a stop at a wal-mart to allow for the purchase of some junky toy that would entertain them for 20 minutes. Neither tactic was necessary. Though I will admit to resorting to the use of SUGAR. I can't tell you how far a box of Everlasting GobStoppers will take you on the road. And the girls were thrilled when I let them buy those horrible baby bottle candy things. They both squealed and said "but mom, you NEVER let us have those." I may regret that purchase for awhile:-)

But really I am SO PROUD of my two girls. They were such troopers this entire trip. Hopping to a different house at least every 2 nights, sometimes more often. Getting thrown into groups of relatives they can't remember, or maybe haven't even met yet. And many more opportunities for the worst in a child to show through. Of course there were a few moments of craziness. There were some times of fabulous sibling drama over one sister looking at the other wrong, or putting her leg on the other one. And one near catastrophe when the girls were way beyond tired and hungry and starting to completely lose it in the fancy restaraunt with 40+ relatives looking on. The bread plate arrived just in time to save our sanity on that one!! Overall, I think it was an amazing trip, with lots of memories to last a lifetime. I will be blogging out of chronological order (which I hate) over the next few days to recount a few more special moments we have and then I will be putting together a Shutterfly book to help remember all the people, places and events that happened on our journey.

Mommy Boot Camp starts bright and early tomorrow morning. Topping the list are sugar de-tox, summer chore chart and monitored screen time. Back to reality girls! Of course, it is also back to reality for me with the attempt to be up bright and early for 5:30 swim. Not sure which is going to be worse, the 5:00 a.m. alarm clock blaring in my ear or the brutal swim workout after not being in the pool for 2 weeks and eating horribly (sugar detox begins for me tomorrow too!!).

Winding Down

2010-07-06T22:58:00.000-07:00

The babes are sleeping soundly as I listen to them snore and enjoy my first wi-fi fix in 5 days! The trip has been amazing but I think we are ready to be home. At least for a few days before turning around and heading out on our next adventure on Tuesday. I have a few more entries waiting to be posted from the weekend but they need a bit more time to compose so for now I give this quick update on our final days of travel.

Started out with me packing up the car this morning to realize that I had a dead battery from leaving the electric cooler plugged in all night. GRRRR, luckily it was easily charged up before leaving Uncle Pat's house. UNFORTUNATELY, something go messed up with the DVD player that I had just spent too much money replacing and it is out of commission. The first 30 minutes of the drive were painful as the girls whined about what were they going to do. But the next 4.5 hours were quite pleasant and enjoyable. In fact, I think I enjoyed that portion of the drive more than any other over the past week and a half. We interacted more, commented on beautiful scenery, played fun car games, sang way too loudly and out of tune and more. We even saw 2 moose, but by the time I realized it I was all ready past them and couldn't pull over for a photo.

The highlight of the girls' day could have been the numerous carousel rides in Helena, thanks in part to Madison getting the brass ring 3 times in a row!

And Nora getting none but having fun riding the triceratops, otter, horse, spinning cup and jack rabbit.

But even more special was the stop at their FAVORITE rest stop. Not sure how many children have a memorable state rest stop but my girls do. They have been talking about and requesting this one since day one of the drive and it didn't disappoint. There is a village of prarie dogs that live right there and are obviously well fed by the people who stop by.

I typically would not encourage the feeding of wild animals, but I seriously doubt you can classify these guys as wild so I gave in to the girls' pleas and opened up the cashew can. Their excitement was priceless!! I am embarrased to admit that I have 50+ photos of these little guys!!

It was a great time until 2 mini-vans full of wild children arrived. The girls were quite distraught with their rude mistreatment of prarie dogs so we made a hasty get-away before somebody started a confrontation that may have ended ugly!!

We load up tomorrow for our final 6-7 hours of driving. I look forward to sleeping in my own bed and getting back to some "normalcy" in our lives!

R & R

2010-07-02T13:49:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhh, vacation with Rest and Relaxation. After a few crazy fun days with the cousins and long days of driving we arrived at the grandparents where vacation can truely start. For me, that means pretty much the OFF DUTY sign goes up. The girls are so happy and comfortable with the grandparents that I can sit back and take a break. Over the course of the week I got a good deal of scrapping done, getting caught up through May of this year. I also did a bit of shopping, a LOT of sleeping in and a little bit of working out (biking and running). And lots of good meals that I didn't cook or clean. What more could you want???

The girls have been having fun with both sets of grandparents going to the zoo, canoeing on the lake, reading lots of books, shopping at build-a-bear, seeing Toy Story 3, feeding the ducks, garden walks, going to bed way later than normal and all around good fun!

Tomorrow we are off to the next stop in the road tour. We are going to the small town of Fort Benton for a family reunion. I am looking forward to visiting the family farm that my great-great grandparents homesteaded and is still owned by our family along with many other family spots in town (including the original Nora's home). The girls are excited to see the Shep statue and family. One other bonus for me, the "off duty" sign gets to stay up a few hours since the girls are riding with my parents to the destination AND Tom is sacrificing his 3 day weekend by driving out with Micah to spend the reunion with us. It should be a wonderful time with family.

Madison River (maybe???)

2010-06-30T10:33:00.001-07:00

Each year since Madison was born we try and take her photo at the Madison River on our summer road trip. The first photo we have is when she is 3 weeks old and we were brave enough to make a huge trek through the entire state, with the dog and an overheating car engine. Some day I will have to dig out the photos and do a blog post on that adventure!

This year I knew I had to take the photo on the way out since we are taking a different route home. We took the normal exit at Three Forks that we typically take to the Missouri Headwaters State Park. Unfortunately, there was road construction and the bridge over the interstate was out for construction. We tried to find another way around but couldn't make it work. So I get back on the inter-state with Madison in tears. A few miles down the road there is another exit so I take it and head towards the river I can see in the distance. We find a nice spot to get out and take a photo. Just one problem, there is no sign telling me what river this is. I am not confident it is the Madison but 20 years from now, we won't know the difference right?? So let's all pretend this is the Madison River and keep it quiet from Madison that it may have actually been the Jefferson!

Have to admit, this isn't the best river photo we have gotten. Between the road issues, time crunch and high flowing river it isn't quite as picturesque as I would hope for. But Madison is happy to have her yearly photo, and that was really the goal for this year. Hopefully next year we can fit in a full Madison River adventure to locate a new photo location.

Content Cousins

2010-06-26T22:27:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of Road Trip 2010 is at an end. The cousins had a wonderful day of quality time with each other. They always enjoy each other's company and we value the time they get to spend together, limited as it is. Being that they are the only cousins each other will ever have, it is nice they are so close in age. We enjoyed time at the Farmer's Market, the carousel, Rattlesnake area park and hike, and down time at home. A few favorite photos from the day

Let the Craziness Begin

2010-06-26T22:04:00.000-07:00

The girls and I loaded up and got on the road at 8:00 Friday morning for our annual Montana road trip. This year is the most ambitious yet with stops in Missoula, Bozeman, Billings, Hardin, Fort Benton, Helena and every rest stop in between!!

We took an early break to stop at the Wild Mustang Monument on the east side of the Columbia River. I have pondered this stop everytime we have taken the drive (which is ALOT) but it always seems too early on in the day to make a stop. But we decided to check it out. Once we got to the scenic outlook we discovered that it was actually a decent hike up a bluff to get to the statues. I asked the girls what they wanted to do and they were adament they wanted to make the trek. So up we went.

A helpful hint for others taking this journey, crocs are not a suitable shoe option! It isn't that long of a walk, but up a very steep, rocky/sandy trail. But the girls persevered and we made it to the top. To find that all 14 horse statues have graffitti on them. How disappointing. The girls were still impressed by the statues and enjoyed exploring.

Along with checking out the statues the girls enjoyed hunting for these guys. I was quite pleased that they were very speedy so Madison's attempts to catch one were unsuccessful.

If we thought the hike up was tough, going down was twice as hard! I was sure one of us was going to slip and go sliding down the hill but somehow we survived in one piece. It did feel good to get out and stretch our legs before heading on the road for another 6 hours of drive time.

Summer Lovin'

2010-06-22T18:16:00.001-07:00

FINALLY A GLIMPSE OF SUMMER

Race Report - Take 1

2010-06-20T20:06:00.000-07:00

Saturday, June 19 was the date for my first tri of the season, Cascades Edge Tri at Nolte State Park
I debated doing the race for weeks prior and I didn't sign up until the day before. In the beginning I had said I would only register if the weather report was looking good. A week out, and the report was sunny and dry. Each day as I checked it got worse and worse until by Friday it was rainy and cold so I was talking myself out of the event. I am a very fair weather athlete and typically only go out for rides or runs if the sun is shining. I then decided that this is NOT the attitude of a true triathlete, which is what I would eventually like to consider myself, so I must push through and prove to myself I can compete in inclement weather conditions.

Morning of the race and the weather is in the low 50's and raining. I am feeling okay that I can do this. Then the race announcer starts talking and lets just say he didn't instill a feeling of confidence in me at all. The first announcement was that the water temp was a chilly 52 degrees and due to the "possible hypothermic conditions" the swim portion would be shortened to 1/4 mile. Now this sent all different thoughts into me. I had some disappointment with the shortened race. Swim is what I have been working on the hardest these past 4 months and is definitely my strongest event so making that shorter isn't going to benefit me. BUT 52 degrees is COLD. I have done a few swims in Lake Meridian which has been low to mid 60's and I have thought that was too cold. So I was a bit concerned about staying warm. THEN the announcer begins to talk about the bike course and how they are "treacherous conditions" with the wet, slick roads. I am a bit embarrased to even admit this but I have never even gone for a training ride in the full rain so I am feeling more nervous about this section and possible crashes in my future.FINALLY the announcer stops talking and it is time to get started. I choose to start out in the lead pack and avoid the pile-up of legs and arms in the middle. Adrenaline must have kicked in because the water didn't feel as bad as I expected. It was a bit shocking to the face and took me a bit to even out my stroke but overall the swim felt good and strong. I wish we could have swam the whole 1/2 mile.
I exited the water at 8:30. My goal for the 1/2 mile swim was a sub 16 minute so this was a bit slow for that pace but I was happy. I came out in seventh place for all women which I was very pleased about. Unfortunately, I let any advantage that gave me slip away in the transition area. I was extremely worried about being cold on the bike ride so took my time prepping for the ride.

You can see from this picture the racers behind me in their short sleeves, probably no socks, looking like true athletes. I was a total dork and had full gloves, socks, beanie under the helmet and a long sleeve jersey. I even had toe warmers in my shoes! I can say that I am very glad I went to these steps. I was definitely not too warm the entire race and felt comfortable. I hate being cold so I know this was a smart move for me but not too wise for my time perspective. My transition time was an embarrasing 5:21.

Overall the ride went very well. I was fairly cautious at the beginning worried about slippery roads but started feeling good and pushing a bit harder. I was eyeing some competitors ahead to use as motivation. Typically, I could catch them going up hills more than on the flats. Bike time was 43:50 which is 5 minutes faster than the same course in September. I probably could have shaved more time off of that with better conditions/confidence. But I am pretty pleased with the time.

On to the run. The transition for this leg was much better but still a bit slow in comparison to others. My feet were feeling quite numb by this time so there was an element of pain involved there but not as bad as my September race. The run is definitely my nemisis and the area I need to put more focus on. 4 runs in the past month probably doesn't qualify as training. I know if I can convince myself to up my training in this area I can see drastic improvement (and possible enjoyment??) in this section. I started the run at exactly 1 hour into the race so set a goal of hitting the finish line by 1:30. This really wasn't a very tough goal to hit but seemed a good one for me. And I crossed the finish line at 1:29:43 so hit the goal. Now if that would have been a full sprint triathlon I would be pretty pleased with the time. But due to the shortened swim it probably only shaved 4-5 minutes off last year's time at the Black Diamond Tri (same course in September).

A big thanks to my personal cheering section! I insisted they didn't need to come stand out in the rain for 2 hours to watch me pass by a handful of times but have to admit it was wonderful to round a corner and have them cheering me on and giving high 5's. It helps give me an energy boost and keep me moving forward. Tom says I need to be smiling more so I guess I will set that as one goal for the next race.
It was also great to have a large group of Raise the Bar teammates present at the race. It feels good to see familiar faces and jerseys along the race course and hear a "Good Job RTB". I have appreciated the workouts I have been able to join this year and have realized how much I have missed being on a team and having a "coach" to help you train. It definitely keeps the motivation level up and the people are all so inspiring and supportive.

Goals moving forward: Along with smiling more during the race I have the following goals set. My next race is set for the middle of July and then another in August that I am hoping to hit my top goals for the season. Overall I am very pleased with my swimming and need to focus on the bike and running portions for the next 2 months. So that means upping those workouts and getting more miles under my belt. I also need to really push my transitions in the next races. I know I can easily shave off 3-4 total minutes in the race by streamlining my transitions. I would love to see a sub 1:30 time for a full sprint tri in August. I am considering upping my distance and doing an Olympic distance in August but I think I really want to focus on the sprint this year and getting faster and put the Olympic distance goal for next year.

A Complete Day

2010-06-20T09:45:00.000-07:00

Start the day by jumping into a 52 degree lake (full race report coming shortly)

Ending the day celebrating 15 years of marriage with a fabulous dinner at Jak's grill

And wonderful house concert with Vicki Martinez on the water

Almost there....

2010-06-17T17:32:00.000-07:00

Second to last day of school today. YEAH!! Madison came home with backpack and arms loaded with folders, yearbook, pencil box, gluesticks, even a really cool piggybank they got for a money/budgeting unit they did. BUT the best thing I found? When I opened her pencil box I found the note I taped to the top on the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL. 180 classroom days and it is in pristine condition, looking just like it did the first day. I forgot I even did this for her and certainly didn't anticipate it lasting a week, let alone a whole year. Hoping I remember to make an even better one for next year!! The crafting ideas are starting to swirl!

(Is there any question what her favorite color may be? How many girls pick out the dark green backpack, lunchbox and pencil box???)

Mad Scientists

2010-06-13T16:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had Madison's Mad Scientist birthday party. The amount of squealing and screaming was a bit overwhelming, but I took that as a sign of a successful event. We had lots of slime, goo, glow in the dark and the grand finale Diet Coke Geyser!!

Turning EIGHT

2010-06-08T22:13:00.001-07:00

Breakfast In Bed
Starting the Day
Only Mrs. B. can make singing Happy Birthday so much fun!
Class Treats

FINALLY present time!

The Aftermath

A very sad excuse for a birthday cake.

Saving my energy for the party cake that I am attempting on Sunday.

Sweet Dreams wearing her birthday watch that she loves!

I am just hoping she didn't set the alarm for 1:00 a.m. with all the buttons she was pushing:-)

On a side note, Tom had to add a hole to the watch strap at the very end and there is still space. It is a kids' watch and is way too big still!!

International Camping

2010-06-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

We crossed the border Saturday morning to go camping with our good friends The Brown Family to celebrate D's big 4-0!!! It has been way too long since our last get together and now that we have our passports in hand, we have no excuses. Highlights from our quick get-away.

Campfire Stories

and

Unexpected Sunny Weather

ENJOYING NATURE

Photo by Madison, Locke's Little Buddy, Horsey Rides on a tree

Opening Night

2010-05-26T13:11:00.000-07:00

And closing night:-) Tonight was Madison's school 1st/2nd grade musical. We are very thankful to have an amazing music teacher who goes above and beyond for these performances. The students had to try-out for roles and have been rehearsing for the last month. The performance was adorable and Madison did a great job hitting all of her lines without any issues.

Panya and Maliki

Madison was cast as Panya the Mouse and had a good number of lines to learn along with singing a SOLO! Where she gets her confidence is beyond me. In second grade I would have been crying in the corner if someone had asked me to go on the stage to sing and act. But it comes quite naturally to Madison and she did a wonderful job. Here is a little snippet of her solo. Horrible quality, but you get the idea.

I didn't realize until the performance that she had some dancing parts. I have a feeling that wasn't part of the audition. Singing and acting she she may have some talent, but her dancing and rhythm needs a lot of work!! It was super cute anyways:-)

PANDA-monium

2010-05-25T17:08:00.001-07:00

All ready for the preschool carnival tomorrow!! Not quite as cute as last year's monkeys but they will do. Hard to believe it will be our last day as a family with a preschooler. Very bittersweet! Hopefully the cupcakes are just sweet to help offset the sadness.

Now I must go deal with the aftermath of my cooking craziness!!

Game Day

2010-05-22T16:59:00.000-07:00

Sounders Train

Sounders Game

We had a great time at the Sounders Match today. The weather cleared up for the game, so we stayed dry and even had a bit of sunshine. The girls and I took the Sounder Train up to the game, which was a fun treat that we need to do more often. We made it just in time to get in on the Sounder's Pregame parade. The girls were thrilled to get front row viewing for the band performance. Tom was able to sneak away from Saturday work in the office to make it just in time for the game. The energy was amazing and the free concessions were a shocking suprise! The only thing that would have made it better was a Sounder's win (even a goal would have been appreciated!). We will definitely be getting more tickets for next season. I would love to go again this season but they are sold out. I had to be in line at Ticket Master the minute they went on sale to grab these ones.