Panda-monium

Natalie turned 6. Makes me sad, makes me happy. Natalie hit the nail on the head when she woke up and exclaimed "I'm growing up so fast, mama!" I admit I teared up a couple of times during the day; some tears were for disappointment in other people whose actions I cannot control, and some were tears of happiness for remembering holding Natalie in my arms that first day of her life and being SO thankful for her. She was that big payoff for all the tough stuff in life. She is that payoff every day. I can feel myself wanting to go on a tangent of things I'm not certain I want to post in my blog, and certainly don't want to post on Natalie's birthday post.

My sous-chef was so helpful. He worked a long shift and overtime all weekend but still found time and energy to assemble 24 panda bear cupcakes.

He created a Panda army. The kids devoured them. And someone snuck in the kitchen during the party and beheaded the remaining pandas. Apparently the heads are more delicious than their bodies.

Six.

Natalie got an iTouch.

15 kids. 12 hours of snowfall. Need I say more?

Just Dance on the Wii.

Natalie decompressing after "the best birthday ever!"

Random bits of life...

This whole family was a walking paparazzi photo, but I gotta keep my pics on the sly so I don't get my ass kicked at Mickey D's... But Black leggings, gold strappy sandals with pink-cartoon socks? She took Northwest Profile #56 to a whole new level. And for a whole lot of time-killing fun, you can find out what Northwest profile you are at http://www.werealotlikeyou.com/ A couple of my fav's are "Goosebumped Beach Bum" and "Cascade Canine Sherpa" but they're all worthy of a chuckle.
The kids and I spent a few hours with my old friend Brenda. She was one of my first "townie" friends when I moved off the island and to the big city. We've survived each other over the last 15+ years and now our girls are building their friendship. Now... Natalie has always been on the upper echelon of the growth charts come check-up time. And Nicole doesn't register on the growth charts. Nicole is 5 months older than Natalie. But her personality sure isn't small!
We woke up to thunder this morning. And snow. And the children rejoiced.

And this picture I had to take for my bestie Jackie. It's been an inside joke since we were kids. All we have to say is "salsa stick" and we're both giggling. But on a side note, you should probably make this salsa. I don't think I will ever buy salsa again, I can't stop eating this stuff. It's from Pioneer Woman's site and you can find it here.
In fact, I'm eating it now. Seriously.

Oh, and I have to brag. My boyfriend is a Millwright. A mechanic. He can fix anything (which comes in handy around here). And he makes stuff too. Like a custom hook ladder for the kids to get onto the trampoline. He's awesome. He's helpful. He's thoughtful. He's tough. He's smart. He's funny. He's friendly. He's handsome. He's just... sigh. He is my happily every after. (Ok, that was a lot of gush over a photo of a rebar-ladder, but I just finding me needing to pinch myself to see if this is really my life now) So Simple. So Happy.

Chalk Art

Saturday was the first day this year where we spent more time outside than in, and it was fantastic.
Christian came down to play for a couple of hours and the kids made quite a mosaic out of our driveway.

And with the sun shining brightly (regardless of the actual temperature) the kids got it in their thick skulls that the day wouldn't be complete without the slip 'n slide. I don't think so! But I enjoyed their enthusiasm.

And I've got my own little paparazzi in the making, apparently. This photo uploaded when I plugged my phone in... I had spent a good portion of the afternoon reading on the front porch while the kids drew on the driveway.

And the sunset over the cascades was my little private moment in the alley... Life is good.

Rainbow Weather

I went for a run on the roof today and found myself being paced. I don't like that, but I also found myself making her work to pace me, heh heh. Which benefited me too. So maybe being paced ain't so bad.
And yesterday at 2:00 my living room looked like this:
And by 4:00 this kids had it looking like this (because of the promise of turning this weeks toys into next weeks garbage):



And tonight night since it was rainbow weather and we believed it was sunny and yelled for the kids to "get their shoes on cuz we're going to the park!" only to find it not only sunny, but also pouring rain. So with a van full of disappointed kids we detoured to McDonalds, where the kids ate McDonalds food... but this family decided they weren't in the mood for McDonald's, they were in the mood for Taco Time. But heaven forbid you sacrifice the indoor play area just because you don't want to dine at that particular restaurant. Who says you can't have the best of both worlds?

My little Valentines

Monday is my day to volunteer in Natalie's classroom and it was our lucky day since the classroom was filled with candy and cupcakes.


We're lucky that in such a large school that it worked out that the kids' classrooms are across from each other (that's Brady's class with the yellow 'yield' sign on the door).

Reading a story while waiting for their valentines to dry.
While the kids were at recess, the adults filled the valentines bags. To me the kids getting to give and receive their valentines is most of the fun. It was less chaotic but kind of anti-climatic.

The cupcakes were a satisfying snack.

Puckering up before digging in.

Natalie sporting her Magnum P.I. mustache that she was dying to get out of the crank machines at the roller rink Saturday. The other mustache she got is a "Mexicoan" black, thin one that curls at the ends, very dastardly.

Friday fun

Even though Brady is away on a mini-vacation, it didn't get me out of my duties as the Friday classroom parent.

Mr. M said we were doing a science project that afternoon and then promptly asked me if I had any artistic skills. Um, no. He wanted me to sketch an example of this for the students to copy from:

Luckily, with my trusty eraser at the ready, and knowing that 7 & 8 year olds aren't the harshest art critics...
And every great assistant has an assistant themselves, right? Makenzie tagged along and enjoyed participating with the class at the end of the day...

That evening, while Mike was working on putting super-cool steps on his truck, the girls and I went back to the school for the Valentines dance, which for the most part was kids chasing each other with balloons to music.

Just when you think you're safe, she pulls the dimples out and you're done for.

One of those days...

Thursday was awesome (minus a bloody nose and fat lip). It was just one of those days where everything is nice and easy and you crawl into bed at the end of the day happy for no particular reason.

I woke up early and enjoyed nearly an hour of reading The Lovely Bones (my book of the month book and I am loving it) and watched the sun rise over the cascades (we have a decent view of them from our home).

The view of the cascades from the Sky-track at the YMCA.

After dropping Pickles off at the vet (so maybe Thursday wasn't as spectacular for him as it was for me) the girls and I headed to the YMCA where they played and played in the giant, sunny room while I headed to the sky-track: a small track that is partially covered on the roof of the Y where I put some miles in (while alternatively running 3 flights of stairs in between miles) since I'm officially training for THE BIG CLIMB! Please click on the link to make a donation to my team or better yet, JOIN my team! It's so rewarding and fun, and there is beer after. It's funny how the promise of beer is the incentive for so many of my races...

Natalie being eaten by the big shark in the play area at the Y.
The girls with their own cards. More crap for me to carry in my wallet, great.

After my great workout, the girls and I had a picnic lunch with Michael down at the marina, which was as wonderful as it was cold. After a productive trip to the library after school we headed home and made a yummy dinner (homemade taco-truck tacos) and enjoyed a quiet evening together before crawling in bed for some... more reading :)

I fell asleep feeling very blessed. And woke up today to a generous donation from Kate's Greek and American Deli for my Big Climb efforts. A big thank you to Kate (and Mike for doing my fundraising for me) :)

SIDE POST:

OH! Brady left early Wednesday morning for California! He and his dad flew down and are driving back up as I type. I talked to him yesterday and it sounds like this surprise trip is just what he needed.

And Boo has the sniffles, and ended up giving herself a bloody nose moments before her mom picked her up (nothing like a small crisis at pickup time).

And Natalie couldn't stop horsing around with a toy shopping cart and eventually popped herself good in the mouth and bloodied her lip pretty good (and of course this was 15 minutes before bed time!)

A quick catch-up

January escaped me... It was uneventful but busy, which makes for lackluster blogging.
Here's some quick snapshots of the month:

Yes, there is a little girl napping under all those stuffed animals.

Should his drag name be "Tess Pickles"?


So proud of my girl Tracy.

Freckles is my moms cat and is staying with us for awhile. She usually only shows up after the kids bedtime.
"SQUINCH"

My girls in their coordinating outfits enjoying our Starbucks date.