The Birthday Boy

Erik has finally crossed over into the exciting world of the 30 and over club. Remember when 30 seemed soooo old? Not so much anymore.

I think the kids were the most excited about Erik's big day. We had to get presents and a chocolate cake. Chocolate is a must. Don't be trying to bring rainbow chip in here. Chocolate.

Here is the chocolate cake the took me FOREVER to make.....and if you believe that than you and I need to become better friends because obviously you don't know me that well. This cake was made by the wonderful bakers at Costco. And it was/is really good! And no wise cracks about the 30 I taped on the candles. That actually did take forever for me to do!


The boys picked this card out just for Dad.


The ball that Makayla picked out for him. That's her hand reaching out for it.


The Reses Pieces that Bryce picked out especially for Dad. He knows Dad likes those "peanut butter candies".


Diet Mt. Dew from Preston. Apparently the boys wanted to get food for Erik's lunch and no lunch is good without candy and pop.


Told you that cake was good!

I was thinking about this epic 30th birthday and I was drawn back into my memories of his first birthday when we were engaged. He turned 23 and we were just a couple weeks shy of getting hitched. I remember getting him a Nikon camera (I think it was Nikon) that costs me $200 which took all my money and then some. But he had been looking at it for soooo long and I knew he would love it. And I made him a rainbow chip birthday cake that we would have to eat until we left school because I bought him the camera and we were out of money. Oh I love memory lane! You know what I got him for his birthday this year?.....

A cookbook. And trust me, it wasn't $200. In 7 years, this is where it's come to. A cookbook. The thing about it, he was just as excited about the cookbook as he was about the camera. Well, maybe he wasn't as excited but he'd been trying to find this particular cookbook for a reasonable price for a loooooong time. Better watch it, at the rate we're going in 5 years I'll be getting you toilet paper for your birthday! At least the cake was better...

Happy Birthday Erik! You are loved by a lot of people but four people in particular are loving you with everything they have. And you don't look a day over 35!:)

Easter Fun

We started out our Easter festivities with an easter egg hunt in our neighborhood. It was the most organized easter egg hunt that Erik and I have ever seen. Each family was to bring 20 eggs to hide then all the kids and families were counted. We were told each child could walk away with 10 eggs. What ever happened to survival of the fittest? I guess it worked out pretty good for the little kids but the boys were pretty bummed when I told them that they had 11 or 12 eggs and had to put some back.

Getting ready for the hunt.

Cutie!


And they're off!


She wasn't as excited but still had fun with Dad!

Now for Easter day. Leave to us to not do any easter shopping until the week of Easter. It was craziness everywhere we went and everything was GONE! Fortunately the Easter Bunny stopped by a garage sale on the way home from work and found these leapster systems for a steal.

The boys played with these ALL DAY!

Preston's books are a bit more challenging for him so he needs a little help with them.

Now I wanted to get pictures of the kids with all their Easter clothes on but by the time everyone was ready for church, we were late. So I thought after church we'd get the pictures. Makayla was so tired she went right to sleep in her dress and the boys stripped out of their church clothes as soon as we got home. So we got a couple pictures of the little miss when she got up.

That hat didn't stay on her head long.

I bought this dress back in October for $7! I love finding a good deal. But of course I had to make it modest by putting a shirt underneath it. It's my new favorite dress for her.

Now we're all struggling with stomachaches from the candy and tons of leftover ham....but it was all worth it!

FYI: By the end of May our cell phone contracts are up and we are getting rid of our cell phones. We now have a home phone and the number is 503-575-1920.

Our Grass

We are still renting. We would love to buy a house someday but it's just not in the budget as of yet. So we rent. This is the first place that we've had a yard. Albeit a small yard but non the less, a yard...with a deck that takes us half the yard.

I don't care. I love it, Erik loves it, the kids love it....it's PERFECT!

Well....except for the grass. Not so perfect. The previous tenants did nothing with the yard. And it showed. Part of the lease gives the responsibility of yard care to the tenant.

Us.

This will be our first lesson in yard care/management for our future purchase of a house. We will try new things and if we fail, oh well. We're just renting.

So first we start off with the problem. Our grass is actually moss. It's prevalent in the Pacific Northwest and really frustrating. Here is what our yard looked like after the moss killer was applied.

As you can see, not much grass is left.


Here's Erik stomping the seeds into the ground. He shoveled all the existing grass out, broke through some branches coming out of the ground, tilled the dirt with a rake (the one broken on the deck), put the seeds on the dirt, and proceeded to stomp on the seeds. I think next time we'll try and get the right equipment for the job.

So now we wait. Somethings gotta grow, right? Well, if it weren't for all the dang birds eating our seeds we'd have a lot more grass but I think it's turning out really well.

We even have some daffodils (I think?) growing.

I love our tree. And if your'e wondering what the kids are doing, we have a pond in our backyard. I am not a fan of the pond. It gives me one more thing to worry about while the kids are outside and I won't let Makayla out without me there with her. It was drained but Erik and the boys were intent on putting water and fish in it. So now it has water in it. No fish yet but it is a good spot now for suicidal mice since we've found some dead mice in it. But don't worry, what diseases could there possibly be in there with dead mice?

I finally think our yard is coming together all thanks to Erik's good work and my picture taking skills! Now we can finally have a yard for the kids to play in.

Early Morning Visitors

We have had WONDERFUL weather the past few days. I mean absolutely gorgeous. Kids-playing-outside-all-day-they-go-to-sleep-early weather. This morning was just as beautiful and as I was enjoying the beauty that is sunshine with no clouds, I noticed a cat climbing up our fence.

This is not unusual. There are several neighbors with cats and they all kind of roam around and go under our deck, which is not great but not a huge deal. But I sat there thinking "That is one huge, fat cat!".

Then his "friend" walked by.

Nope. Not a cat.

Raccoon.

Now I don't know why this shocked me. I've seen several raccoons in my life but I guess I just didn't expect to see them in my backyard early in the morning. And now I'm freaking out thinking that raccoons are hiding under our deck! I guess we need to spray for bugs and raccoons. :)

Not Feeling Blogger(y)

I don't think bloggery is a word but it should be a word because that's how I feel. Honestly, nothing is going on with us. The rainy season of the Pacific Northwest has begun so we are getting lots of rain which means we've been confined for a while. Not to mention that I am car-less since Erik has been taking my car to work while he puts a new exhaust system in his car. Another reason we're confined.

But I'm okay with this. I've been reading lots of books, playing lots of games, and the kids are being incredibly good. Although you'd think with all this time to spend the house would be cleaner but not so much. I think it's worse if that's possible!

We do have some upcoming events that will most likely be blogged about so look out for:

1.) Erik will be saying goodbye to his crazy time in his 20's and saying hello to stability and settling down in his 30's. (if you don't understand that, cause I hardly understand it, he turns 30 soon)

2.) We will be leaving our children for 4 days for the first time EVER and heading to Houston, TX for Dane and Laura's wedding. (Erik's brother for those who don't know) I'm really excited about this and sooo looking forward to finally setting foot on a warm beach. It better be warm dangit!

3.) 7 year anniversary coming up. We can still consider ourselves newlyweds, right?

4.) Mother's day but that's usually forgotten about so I'll just try and block it now. I don't want to go through the whole "but your not my mom" thing with Erik this year. I've learned to pick my battles and some things you just have to let go. (Love you Erik!)

Just know we're here and kickin'... just not blogging.

Oh Snap

This morning has been frustrating. I mean, it started out fine but it has rapidly deteriorated. Maybe cabin fever has officially set in and we just cannot get along today. Maybe we are all so sick of being sick that we are turning on each other like hungry wolves.

It all started at 8:30 this morning when I asked the boys to go in their room and get dressed. They went in their room while I went to Makayla's room to get her dressed. After fighting with Makayla over a diaper change and putting pants on, I went to check on the boys. After 10 minutes, I found Preston in his underwear and Bryce sitting in the toy box....naked. I guess this means it's time to sanitze the toys.

I got the boys into underwear and told Preston that he was big enough that he could get dressed by himself (something that has to be said everyday) and I helped Bryce put his clothes on straight. Preston got his pants on....they have a snap. He tries all of once to snap the snap without luck so he turns to me.

"Mom, I can't do it. Will you just do it for me?" Preston says.
"Preston, you need to snap those pants by yourself. You are going to be in Kindergarten next year and I won't be there to snap your pants for you. You're big enough to do it by yourself", I said.
Preston replies, "But it's too hard. You can just do it this one time."
To which I reply, "Nope. Not today. YOU are doing this."

After 15 minutes of watching him flex his arms to make it look like he's actually trying to snap his pants and me losing patience over it, I leave to get myself presentable for the day. (at this point it is just after 9 am)

Just afer 9 am.

By 9:30 I am dressed, hair done, and makeup on. I go to the boys' bedroom. Preston is shirtless and laying on the bed. I guarantee you he's been laying there the whole time. And he's STILL trying to convince me that he is just not capable of snapping these pants which is completely untrue. He's snapped these pants before...I've seen him do it. He's being lazy today.

10 am

I'm not snapping those dang pants and I'm struggling to keep my cool over this. If he would just do it we could all move on with the day. I'm also having to deal with this little miss who has a runny nose, bed head, and a bad attitude. I think it's due to all the attention she is NOT getting. And Bryce....he's been pretty good this morning except for all the whining about how he can't get his toys to work right, yelling at me to get him a blanket because he is cold, and crying because he wants a lid with his milk. Of course, I am a mean mom and told him that he needs to work with his own toys (they're not mine), he can get his own dang blanket, and that he is not a baby that needs a lid anymore. None of these responses were to his liking to put it mildly.


So, it is now 10:37 am. Preston is still upstairs...playing I assure you, just waiting for me to come up there so he can try to convince me to snap those pants, Makayla has been crying and being jealous of my attention towards the computer, and Bryce calmed down enough to drink his milk without a lid.

After dealing with crying kids for another 15 minutes, Preston walks down the stairs fully clothed with his pants SNAPPED! I knew he could do it! And it only took 2 1/2 hours! Now, let's hope for a happier day and no more repeats of this morning. ( and yes, the toys are cleaned once again!)

Thinking Outside The Box

I came down the stairs the other morning to see these pillows piled up.

What the heck?

I did some investigating (looking in the living room) and found Bryce holding a cupcake with a look on his face that said "What?". I had made some cupcakes and put them up on the microwave so the boys couldn't reach them. I didn't factor in that when Bryce is hungry, Bryce is HUNGRY! No cupcake can stand a chance!

He proceeded to tell me that "Dad said I could have a cupcake when you got up". I'm told by Erik that was not the truth.

I almost wanted to let him eat the cupcake because of how smart he was. Usually kids would just get a chair but our chairs are so heavy that he couldn't possibly have dragged a chair over there. So the couch cushions made the next best solution.

The kids are getting smarter than me every day.

Books

Ever since the Twilight series came out, I've been reading like crazy! I used to read a lot as a kid but somewhere along the way, I stopped. I'm not sure why. Some of it has to do with how picky I can be. If it's not entertaining to me pretty quick, I won't finish it.

Well, now I'm back to reading. But I have a problem. I'm at a loss for books. I go online trying to see what others are reading who also like the Twilight books. The only problem I have come into is that all these people read vampire books. I've read all I can about vampires. I'm needing to branch out.

This is where you all come in. I need ideas. If you've heard of The Hunger Games, this is the kind of book I LOVE! Although, I'm not limited to these types...I'm just looking for a good story. Any suggestions?

Pink Eye

Bryce has had a love/hate relationship with his eyes. Or rather, I have a love hate/relationship with his eyes.

Why I love them:

-they are the most gorgeous blue/green!
-he can express how he feels with just his eyes.
-he can see...let's hope it stays that way!
-the lashes are exquisitely long but blond so it's hard to see them.

Why I hate them:

-PINK EYE!

His poor eye keeps tearing up.

I guess "hate" is a strong word. I really don't "hate" his eyes but when they are prone to getting a nasty infection that can be spread to everyone else, it makes it hard to love them. But of course, I do love them. The positives far outweigh the negatives. So fine you pink eye! Be all nasty and crusty. Just know we have all the antibiotics we need and all the Purell I can get my hands on. We will beat you! (Just please don't come to me. I just got these contacs and I really don't want to buy new ones, or new makeup. Remember that one time. Yeah, it sucked! Thanks!)

And I know you all feel your eyes itching right now. Go ahead...rub your eye! It will feel better! :)

Little Piggies

Our kids are hair challenged as toddlers. The boys didn't get much hair until they were almost 3. But that didn't matter much because we just kept the boys' hair short. Well, it's different with a girl. I've been wanting to put Makayla's hair up and clip it back and make it as girlie as I can. But the hair wouldn't cooperate. She's been having a mullety thing going on. Long in back with some wispies in the front.

So I have been patiently waiting for her hair to get just long enough so I could pull it back and make little pig tails. My dream came true! She sat very good for me and didn't cry at all while I was working with her baby fine hair (which is horrible to work with) and this was the end result:

Front view

Yes, I had to give her a cookie so she would be sill long enough for a picture. But isn't she cute!

Back view

I don't think I did too bad with my first attempt at taming a toddler mullet. And best of all, she loves it as well! She's always putting her hands on her head and going "Ooooh" with a big smile. Love it!