World's Laziest

This weekend when I wasn't feeling good, I laid on the couch and watched a movie... when I came back upstairs after putting the kids to bed, I found this:

Foot Vs.

Much like a bee, this really cool tray that I've had for years died when it attacked me. But the mess of shattered ceramic, trail of blood from the kitchen to my bathroom, and the agonizing pain my foot is in makes me think that the battle was a draw. Plus I don't have my way cool tray anymore. It was my favorite.
By the way, I also recently broke our french press coffee maker on my foot too. I believe that:
a. I have giant feet in comparison to my height.
b. I have been and always will be a giant klutz (my mother always teased that my middle name should have been 'Grace').
c. I am also a self-saboteur. I think I may be subconsciously hurting myself with the pending marathon in June. When Larry and I started training for our century ride around Lake Tahoe, I promptly broke my elbow, making riding a bicycle very difficult.
BUT...
d. I am full of piss and vinegar and I still rode around Lake Tahoe and will also still complete this half-marathon regardless of the injuries I inflict on myself!

P.S. You are welcome for the absence of wound photos. Plus it's just a really deep cut and bruise, so it's not as impressive as it is painful.

Don't you hate it when...

Your alarm is set to go off at 7:00 and your phone rings at 6:35? Thank you Costco for taking the most precious 25 minutes of sleep.
Here is WW as promised. Linda Carter has nothing on you, Nat!

Out of focus

A random little prop that Natalie found while the boys used the port-o-potty. Us girls didn't need to go that bad.
Alex, how do you feel about girls?

My Angel boy. My blackmail stash for the teenage years.


The boys were hiding from the tulip tractor full of Japanese/Canadian tourists. After the tractor passed, they jumped out and started throwing dirt clods at it, but only after it was too far away.

I was trying to do something artistic with the kids. It didn't work.


Looking for more dirt clods.


Can't you feel the love between these two? I totally didn't force and/or bribe them to stand like this...
The dress nipples.

Little Miss was really trying to give me a good chance at taking a decent photo, but sun and wind were not our friends.


The fields, duh.


ugh, what lame photography.



At the entrance to Tulip Town. And the last time we'd see all 4 children standing still together.



The clod war. Hey, we got them to throw them away from the other tulip tourists, you can't expect much better behavior than that!
That's most of my pictures from the tulip fields today. I'm pissed. I thought if you had a nice enough camera, you really didn't need any talent. Just kidding, I know that I'm no photographer (that's why I have friends like Brooke and Rebecca!).

We did have a good time despite the lameness of my photos. The boys wanted to do nothing but throw dirt clods (which they did) and Natalie wanted to do nothing but prance and sing (which she did). Chris and I oohed and aahhed over the different tulips and daydreamed about what our yards could look like.

Then as a little surprise to myself (because I put a different memory card in the camera today) I found some pictures of Natalie dressed up to trick or treat at Disneyland! They put a smile on my face so I thought I'd share those too. (OK, those will be another post, I got a little carried away uploading tulip pictures!)

***Oh, and the dress that my mom made, the one Natalie is wearing in the photos? I love, love, love it! But(and it's a small but) , because it's brand new and hasn't been washed or pressed, the little shoulder ties started to stick straight out and well... well it look like she's got rainbow boobies! Note to self, iron dress before next outing

Sunny Sunday

I finally felt guilty enough about laying on the couch in a daze all morning and took the kids out for a donut at Lafeen's and a walk over at St.Clair park and Whatcom Falls park (they butt up to each other). It was beautiful outside, and it greatly improved my overall feeling of health and happiness.

We ended our day with a steak BBQ with my mom and a bottle of two-buck-Chuck on our back deck; then the boys went bowling, and the girls (Natalie, Katie, and I) painted our toe nails. Katie chose hot-pink, Natalie has Kelly green, and I have hot pink with gold sparkles. Natalie also had her fingernails painted, pink, green, blue, gold, and purple. Very fashion forward.

Our view at dinner tonight.

My mom made Natalie the cutest little dress, I see a photo shoot in her future!

I swear this is the last time my children will be allowed to ride in this shopping cart. a. they are too big, so b. all they do is fight and climb in and out of it.

At Whatcom Falls...

Happy dog.

Whirling Dervish

I've been neglecting my blog and feeling quite guilty over it, but I've been feeling ill for 2 weeks now; and on top of that I've been working, babysitting, cleaning, and preparing for my garage sale today! So now that the garage sale is said and done (and a nice little wad of cash in my pocket, but it's slated for summer camp for Natalie) it looks like life may slow down again.
I'm hoping to tour the tulips in the next couple of days... and work on my yard too, pending my health! I woke up this morning and the left side of my face was swollen from my headache, I looked like Quasimodo (without the humpback)!
Natalie just came in and said she made a telescope for Grandma "cuz she's a pirate". Huh, I thought I had a strange childhood, now I may know why ;)

No Mo Brace Face!

After 2 1/2 years (!!) I finally got my braces off! I feel like having a caramel apple party! I'll be back to post soon, just haven't had time to catch my breath around here!

I'm walkin... yes indeed.

Kate and I are doing the Rock and Roll half marathon (walk) in Seattle this June. Not only is it a great incentive to get more exercise, but I also get to spend more time with one of my favorite people while we train!

Yesterday we did our longest walk yet, 7.4 miles. I'm pretty proud of myself, and prouder yet that not too much is sore this morning!

Today I plan on cleaning out my garage to kick off Earth Week. I'm having a garage sale on Saturday, and need the room to sell, sell, sell!

Kate and my girl feeding Teddy grahams to the ducks at Whatcom Falls Park.
A sweet little duck couple (there was also a big duck fight over the honor of this lady duck, quite exciting!). We went to the falls last week on one of our walks (I think it was a 5-miler).
Spring is officially here because the sticks are officially out!

Over eye caterpillars

I've been fighting a nagging headache that is unlike most of my migraines for the past 2 weeks. I keep getting stars every time I sit down. My boss (and eye Dr.) said that it was most likely a vascular issue. He asked what helped my headaches and I said "heat". Then he looked at all the hair on my head and suggested a hat (but we both wondered out loud how on earth I would need more insulation on my head with the amount of hair I have!). So Larry put me to bed last night with his ski cap on. I slept very cosily, and even hit snooze on my alarm twice.

Here's where my over-eye caterpillars come into play:

During the night the knit cap shifted around and I awoke to it sitting low on my forehead. When I took it off, all of my eyebrows had "hat hair" and were sticking out in every direction! I washed them, dried them, combed them, and they still were pointing every direction! So I started to get a little desperate. Then I had a bright idea: I'll take my mascara and lightly brush them in place, and the mascara will kind of hold them where they belong! Except my mascara is black. And I already have extremely dark brows. It looked ridiculous.

Some days I'm thankful I'm not overly vain. I had to go to work with crazy grandpa brows. It made my co-workers smile, so at least I have that.

Here is a random photo for the post. I told Brady I'd give him a quarter for the crank machine's at dinner the other night if he'd do this:

Cat Pee

One of my cats (coughcoughVioletcoughcough) peed in my closet yesterday. Why? Just 'cuz. Why did you pee on my stuff and not Larry's? Why did you pee on one of my walking shoes so that I had to wear my cross-trainers and now I have blisters all over my toes? Why did you get a couple of drops of pee on my cowboy boots? I love my cowboy boots! Why do I now smell nothing but cat pee and had to ask my co-worker if I was being called "cat-pee lady" behind my back because I swear I still smelled cat pee when I got to work this morning (she said I wasn't and I made her swear to it)?
But thank you for not getting pee on my clarinet case. Thank you for not peeing too close to my wedding gown that is boxed up in the back of my closet. Thank you for not peeing on my wool sweaters.
So now not only was I already 8 loads of laundry behind, I have washed my shoe and a blanket twice on the longest, hottest cycle in the washer (almost 3 hours each) which puts me like 4 loads behind, then after that load comes out I need to rinse the washing machine with vinegar which puts me another load behind...
Damn little cat...

My new part time job

Lizzie enjoying the texture (but not taste!) of gravel. How Lizzie soothes herself (finger in mouth, rubbing ear).
I call this one Lizziebuns.

I cant' really call Lizzie a "job" because I wouldn't be watching babies unless they were like her. She is the happiest, easiest little girl to care for. Even Larry (who gave me a scare today by passing out while sweeping the floor and has been dizzy ever since) said "you've got it pretty easy with her" and "I've never had a baby besides my own smile at me so much".

Seriously, when I agreed to watch my friends daughter I was a little apprehensive on how this would affect my family. But she is such a peach, I know that we are going to do just fine with Little Lizzie in our home a few hours a week.

Two facts I'd like to make you all aware of:

1. No, watching Lizzie does not replace my other part time job, it's in addition too.

2. No, Lizzie does not make my ovaries twitch. I love that fact that she goes home every day at 5:00. Love it.

Now, I'm off to make another pitch to my darling husband about the importance of going to his doctor! I did tell on him to his mother, telling on him to her always seems to help my case ;)

3 hunts, 2 days.

Bolt and Trax the Easter Camel were the biggest hits of the baskets (besides the abundance of sugar).
Brady found a golden egg!

Natalie enjoys the thrill of the hunt.

Katie really wanted to open her own egg...

Anyone know how to fix "evil eye" on dogs?

Brady psyching out the competition before the bunny hop at my friend Elizabeth and Amy's neighborhood hunt... it was a lot of fun despite the rain!

Little Miss decided to cop a 'tude. She doesn't understand why we people in the NW still spend time outdoors when it's raining...

Our super-cute neighbor Jack found the golden egg at our neighborhood hunt (with a little assistance from Brady).

Oh Kate... look what you made me do!

So Kate and I made a woeful attempt to make Bakerella's Easter egg cake-pops. They were oval lumps of sweetness, they will be kept for private consumption. While we were making the pops, Kate asks "did you see the Easter baskets today?" I ran to the computer. Then I ran to the store the second she left my house (they didn't have any mini chocolate bunnies, bummer). I even used Kate's suggestion to edge my cupcakes in coconut for that Easter grass effect.

And Pikachu? Kate didn't have anything to do with that one... I fell into that mess all on my own. But Brady at least validated my efforts by recognizing who I was trying to create. It's a marshmallow Peep that I pinched and painted.

Two Questions for today:

What do you do when your son finds your stash of Easter basket goodies? Now what am I supposed to do Easter morning when all the crap in his basket is all too familiar?

And I'm having an "argument" about symantics with someone over sentence structure. She wants me to exchange the word "ensure" for "assure". I say they are synonyms and there is no point in changing the word except to please her. Opinions?

Awaiting Eaglets

The Hancock Wildlife Foundation has live cameras on a few eagle nests The one we are watching is the O.W.L. cam in Delta B.C., and the other two are on or around Vancouver island. It's live streaming and it's pretty fun to check in on the eagles throughout the day.
Click on their name and it will take you to the live cam site and you can choose your eagle family to watch!

Not enough D

Two of my very favorite people:
Happy Birthday, Tracy!

2 of the 3 Eagles soaring over our head while we had lunch on our deck.

36!!?? Take that back! We don't like that kind of language around here!

Orange smiles at an impromptu picnic while moms weeded.

Filthy feet give the best ear rubs...

What do they teach these kids at school?

I was hoping that the wonderful sun on Monday would lift my piss-poor mood, but it had little lasting effect.

Not to say I haven't been having fun an being active all week, I'm just doing so with a furrowed brow. Maybe I fell on a stick while gardening and forgot to pull it out, I don't know.

I weeded our veggie garden (which Larry and the kids seeded today); scooped up a winters worth (of two 100 pound dogs) of poop (I think the garbage man was happy that his job is an automated one this week); planted my herb garden and some other bits in pots; walked around the track with the dog and kids (they have 3 dirt mounds at the high school; so Brady is thoroughly entertained); went to Everett with Kate and all our children to the Everett Children's museum and sat on the roof and soaked up some sun, had a late lunch at Carls Jr. (yes they have one in Marysville!); and then I had to work all day today. In a position I'm not really proficient at (I am not without skill, though). With a boss that said 1 word to me today (that wasn't strictly work related): bye.

But never fear! My family came running to greet me at the door with lots of hugs and kisses, and lots more hugs and kisses throughout the evening. Brady and I didn't argue once today! Sometimes it pays off being gone 10 hours of the day!

Happy Birthday Tracy!

I have pictures and such from the first beautiful, actually warm day of the year. And it happened to fall on Tracy's birthday!!!
I have suddenly become exceedingly tired and am going to go plop myself down and will post pic's tomorrow.

A mild case of baby fever, I think it's passed.

I'm pretty immune to "wanting" another child. Anyone who knows my children understands ;)
I actually really enjoyed being pregnant, I just don't like the first few months afterward. I like sleep, I like a little autonomy. And Larry and I both really enjoyed our vacation to CA last fall where our children were independent and we all got to enjoy our vacation (you know, going to the beach and Larry got to boogie board, I got to lay out, and the kids spent all day playing. No naps, no diapers, no bottles.)
And then I met Sebastian. He is my friend Jacqueline's son (Jacqueline was a good friend of mine from Shoreline CC). He's 6 months old. And he is one happy baby. We were visiting because Jacqueline's twins just turned 3 years old. Jacob and Victoria. They're pretty cute too. I was still holding Sebastian when it was time to leave, and even tried the old "well I've got my party favor" line to see what kind of reaction I would get. Are they too overwhelmed to have a baby right now? Maybe they would say "enjoy him! bring him back when he turns 3!". But no. I surrendered him vowing to myself that I would visit Jacqueline more.

Oh look, we having matching cheeks!
Jacob, mom Jacqueline, and Victoria. Yes, they're twins!

"You see, mom..." Old blue eye.
Princess Victoria.

Brady has always eaten his pizza backwards.