Blog post- Day one without a camera

I miss you camera...you were a good ole girl...

For now...just text.

Brennan injured himself tonight during football.

So....tomorrow includes not only our monthly orthodontist to Seattle,

but Urgent care as well.

Stay tuned....

The day my camera died aka....my 35th birthday

It was such a beautiful day. Shane woke me up with beautiful flowers and a russian tea cake from Sluys bakery. I stayed home all day, cuddling Mae, trying to overcome this queasiness that the flu brought to me. When the kids got home, they each took their time coming up with their own gifts. Myron wrote me the sweetest letter ever.

At 6pm, we all me at SUBI for dinner. It was wonderful. So many menu options!

Jenny and Gretchen below. Jenny is like a sister to me. We have known each other the longest of all my friends. I remember looking up to her when I was younger and she is such the person to be looking up to. Love you Jenny! I always feel safe with her.
Stacy and Sandy came tonight which was so wonderful. MIA once again were my friends from high school that RSVP'd that they would be there.
Loved that Jennifer made me such a lovely cake. What a thoughtful woman.
Stephy eating her scallops and mushroom fried potato thingy.

Delicious and lovely food.

What a great night. I was quite emotional when everyone sang happy birthday. Today was a more momentous occasion than anyone would guess. Being 35 is a big deal in my world.

The beautiful cake!
At the end of the night....I dropped my beloved camera. The camera that has helped me with so many blog posts. I am trying to stay positive. I have so many more things to cry about right now than my camera. So...for now.....and for however long.....this might be the most interesting post.

Shane and I went to karaoke with a bunch of friends tonight. It was fun. NO, I didn't sing, but i DID dance. Shane says I still have it. Now that I mention it....what am I doing here? I need to go lova lova that hot husband of mine!

xo

Mom....can you help me with my homework?

Um....nope. Not this mom and dad. Sure, we don't have college degrees, but at some point in my childrens life, I'd like to think I have enough wits to do basic math, reading etc.

Um...nope again. Tonight was no exception.

Forget Language Arts, where Myron is learning antonyms, synonyms, etc.

Did you know that the word "unanimous" is an adjective? Well, I should have known that, but

I was seriously torn between a noun and a verb...WHAT? I mean, it is an action, so I thought verb. Luckily the minute amount of wits I have left reminded me of that long lost word...adjective.

Tricky tricky.

Don't get me started on math! I can't even help my 1st grader with this new..."write out how you got to this conclusion" nonsense. Although, if they would have taught me that at his age, I might have a better grasp of mathematics.

Myron tonight is working on a story problem (my favorite). Garrett has been given money each year on his birthday by his uncle Tom and aunt Linda. Myron has drawn a graph and come to his conclusions about how much that amounts to etc.

THEN they throw in the "twist". How much did he make off of Uncle Fred and Aunt Wilma.

WHAT?! Where the He%* did Fred and Wilma come from?? No where, but here we are, really hating those flinstones, as we help Myron finish his torture/homework.

We'll be here all night!

View from a sick bed.....

Above photo- Everyone eating dinner together, while I am lying on the couch.

Yup...sick....again....it hit me hard as soon as I got home from the store around 6pm. Fatigue, nausea, muscle ache. Blah. Thank heavens for the internet because I was able to watch THIS

live. President Monsons talk was incredible. You don't have to be LDS to appreciate the message. Go ahead, go check it out.

This morning, it was up to Shane to get everyone to church. Brennan and Nathan weren't feeling well either, so we all slept the day away. In between sleeping, I started reading this amazing book.
It's about a little girl taken away with her family during the Holocaust and her struggle to get back to save her 4 year old brother that she had locked away in a cupboard, thinking she would be right back. I couldn't put it down and ended up nearly reading the entire book. I have another 40 or so pages to go tonight. Shane and Nathan have been working on his room and now the insulation and drywall are put up. Next step, carpet, paint and shelves.

Goodnight before you catch what I have.....!

Karaoke!

Oh....yes I did. Many of my friends are acting in our local theater group, and on Thursdays, when they get done with rehearsal, they all head down to karaoke. I decided to join. Man....they are crazy.

"If Your Girl Only Knew" by Aaliyah. OBVIOUSLY I have a great voice, just look at my friends faces. Um...yeah.
Rocky Horror Picture Show is the play they will be performing in and it is a musical. These people can SING. Alison (below) is incredible.
Bryan was there as well. It was fun to reconnect with him.
Eon, giving me the stink eye, but I just had to catch Bronsyn dancing.
Elise.
Summer, Eon and myself, red in the face as usual. I wore a sweater. Imagine a small room full of 50 or so people dancing and singing. HOT.
Fun night....but I wont be doing it again. These kinds of things are fun to experience only once.

Nathan is on YOU TUBE!

What we are up to RIGHT now ...3

Some are doing homework and helping to do homework......One is in the shower, absolutely mortified that I would take a photo, let alone publish it on my blog.....
One is procrastinating doing his reading and has a messy messy desk.....
Mama is getting dinner ready at 8pm which is incredibly late for this family....
Papa is in the shower scrubbing away the ton of dirt that he accumulated from a full day of hard work....

Goodnight all....

Corn and a birthday

Today was lovely. Full of hard work, but lovely all the same. Shane has taken 3 days off of work to get our house into ship shape. We ordered a 5 yard dumpster and have been filling it with yard debris, old tree house remnants, carpet...stuff that was down in our basement for 8 years, and other debatable materials. It's been hard work, and the kids have had to come home and work too. It feels good to get everything in order. I took a break today to go a friends for a birthday luncheon. It was nice to reconnect with my friends.

On my way home, I was ever so excited to see the familiar "sweet corn" signs that are put up around this time every year. We immediately drove up to the farm and bought delicious corn.

Corn always reminds me of Idaho. Sitting on the back stoop at my grandparents who lived on a honest to heavens, REAL farm. Grandpa and I would shuck corn together. He just loved a good ear of corn.

Tonight, Mae and I did this together. She is quite the pro.

As typical Myron behavior, he decided to wear it afterwards.
Have a great night.

Ps- It's 8:49 and we are watching "GLEE".!

What's for dinner and what we are doing RIGHT now...again.

I know I have been slacking off with my posts, but making a goal to post everyday leaves a girl with not too many options. I will post what I made for dinner tonight because everyone (even Mikey) loved it and it was so simple. I boiled 4 chicken breasts until done and then chopped into pieces and put aside. I then sauteed leeks in olive oil and butter until tender. Then made a rue with the oil and added cream. Add chicken bouillon powder to flavor and fresh ground pepper. I chopped up some rosemary and threw that in too.

Add the chicken and some white truffle oil. I also added some sliced carrots. Voila!

Serve over red potato mash with garlic cloves (boil with the potatoes).

So...what are we doing RIGHT now?

Well.....I think the pictures speak for themselves...



And now....RIGHT now.....I am heading over to my sink to do these dishes, and then some.
Ps- NO we don't brush our teeth with this toothbrush. It is for the hard to reach places and for around my sink. Don't think I haven't threatened my share of naughty kids though!

What are YOU up to right now?

Myron is in bed reading and finishing up his homework. (No..we still haven't repainted his room, hence the spackle on the walls)
Nathan is in the kitchen STILL brushing his teeth. He likes to take forever to delay his bedtime.
Brennan is in my bed with the little ones reading....Care Bears. Yup.

ME-It's 8:37 pm and I just got off the phone with Qwest in regards to my wireless internet.

The tech luckily got it back up and running.

Shane- sitting in his favorite chair messing with NetFlix for Wii to find a nice movie

I am going to try to post once a day until the first of next year.

What are YOU doing right now?

Football...soccer...fall is here!

Today was a great SUNNY day here on our little Island. I was able to watch Brennan and Myrons games. I actually enjoyed them too! Myrons team is great. They have all been together for many years, but Myron just joined their team last year. It's great because nearly all of the kids on his team are kids that he has grown up with since Kindergarten.
Myron dominated today. I was so proud of him. Everytime they play, the kids on the opposite team look so much bigger. Today, I found out why. Myrons team has been playing up a division because of their skill level! For the last two years! What? No wonder the kids look like high schoolers! They are!
The above photo is of Nathans best friend since 2nd grade, McKenzie Scott. She is a cutie patootie.
Brennan was able to play in his first game of the season. He was signed up for soccer, but his football coaches kept coming into the store and recruiting my friends to ask Brennan to come back to football. I told him that he should feel flattered and come back. He didn't disappoint. He is awesome to watch. No fear! I feel bad for the kids he tackles.


He is number 41. Go Bainbridge !!

Busy Week and Hi Dr. Gessel!

So...today was the day. Myron got his braces. Yes, he is in pain Dr. G...poor guy.
He chose RED. Okay, so I have told many of you why we trek all the way to Seattle, but here is another...Dr. G as in Dr. GREAT! Ever since I met him, I just knew he was LDS. It wasn't until he told me about his family's blog that I was able to confirm it. Sometimes you just know..right? I am so happy to have him as the boys Dr. He is easy going and fun. Okay Dr. G...we get special treatment now right?
After he was braced....we headed to the International district in search of Bahn Bot Loc tapioca dumpling wraps. You may remember when our fellow Vietnamese campers shared theirs. Well, I have been dying to try. The filling was easy enough, but when it came to the dumplings (which I tried to make myself with tapioca starch and water) it was like a Science fair project. Needless to say...it didn't turn out BUT...I do have a few ideas of what to do with the highly flavorful filling.
Urchins....yummy
On Tuesday, Uncle Eric came to visit at the last minute. We hadn't seen him in two years which is a very a long time for us to be away from each other. He is out fishing again, but had a bit to come see us. SO.....we went camping....AGAIN.

Good times. I love you Eric.