Memorial Day

We went to our close friends house today for a good ole bbq. Lots of good friends, good food and kids.....TOO many kids if you ask me, but.....it all turned out okay.
17 kids all together. Wowsa....


Nate and the kids decided to do a diet coke and mentos bomb....
It was a big hit....that and the fireworks. I don't think Nate ever did come and hang out with the grown ups!
Summer and Elise trying to figure out the new wrap shirt Elise got....
Elise, me, Summer.
MY Nate and Elise playing "heart and soul".
Fireworks!

Football. It was a great day. Within 20 minutes of getting home....the kids were all asleep.

8pm!

Karaoke and pizza night

Pizza night at the Starbucks....always fun. Tonight ..Cheeseburger Pizza. Sorry Summer, not one of my favorites....

Off to karaoke afterwards....

Eon (pictured below) is Summers (pictured up top) lil sis. Too much fun with these girls...
I did happen to sing Katie Perrys "Hot and Cold" tonight and sounded gosh awful. Seriously..horrible. Thank you Eon for stepping up and taking over the mic.

Lollaloopsy

So....I gave in to plastic. Come on ...you knew it would be a matter of time. To be fair...have you SEEN Lollaloopsy dolls? So stinkin cute. She has been playing (still) with them for quite some time while I work. She sits atop our kitchen table with our breakfast tray. My laptop is pushed up against the tray so I can watch her while I work. It's been great albeit a little distracting.
Enjoy!

Update on Nate's hand

Before up above and after below. Click on the photos to see them large. The doc had to pull/reposition his knuckle. Eck. TWICE! Luckily, they had injected him with numbing medicine so it wasn't too painful, but he still felt it.
He will be in a cast for at least 3 weeks. I know....it should be longer. Natural consequence and all. But, they will check it in a week and make sure it is growing properly and maybe, just maybe they will keep it on longer so he learns his lesson.
At least I had my sweet little Mae flower to keep me company.

The Incredible Breaking Man

This Nathan of mine....(rolling eyes), he is quite the handful. I love him, he is truly one of my best friends, but...he is a toughie. Last night, while sticking up for his younger brother, he got into a wrestling match with Brennan. Instead of yelling at them and getting in the middle of it, Shane said "fight it out"..."get it over with"...."get outside and finish it before you come back in the house". WHAT?! Apparently, this is what his mother said to him and his brother growing up. Weyll......they rassled for a little bit (maybe 30 seconds) and then Nathan went to punch Brennan in the arm and hit the house instead, which resulted in a fractured hand. YAY!

He wanted me to take him in last night and I refused. Let him suffer, I thought. Today I gave in and took him in. He was all smirks the entire time. Not remorseful at all! The Dr. and nurses didn't help either. They laughed and rolled their eyes like it was totally common. Am I in the twilight zone?? You may remember another incident not too long ago when Nathan went to kick Brennan and kicked his head AND broke his foot AND had to be in a cast for months.

I just LOVE explaining to people how he gets his injuries. I am just waiting for CPS to show up at my door and take my kids away. Which....might not be such a bad thing at this point. I need a break!

So.....tomorrow we are off to the Orthopedic dr in Silverdale to have his pinky finger reset and then his arm casted. Fun fun FUN!

He is reading!

Rylan could have been reading a long time ago. I kept him home for kindergarten, and he has missed quite a bit of 1st grade, so it has been a slow start. Needless to say....we are so happy and excited that he is reading now. Tonight, he read me a book. He is very shy about reading aloud, so I had to sneak to take this video. As a HUGE book family, I am so happy to be able to start sharing my favorite books with him and I can't wait until he is to the point that he is lying in bed at night devouring book after book. Welcome Rylan to a whole new world of imagination!

Chopstix

On Friday, a bunch of close friends and I went to Seattle to Chopstix, a dueling Piano bar up near Belltown. Jenni (in the pink) is moving next month AND just turned 40 a couple of weeks ago, so it was her night-weekend. Summer (far right) and I took the 8:10 over and the 12:15 home. Just a quick trip. All the other 10 or so women spent the night together in a ritzy hotel downtown and were planning on waking in the morning to shop and brunch. The piano bar was OK. I really wanted to go dancing, but Jen was really set on this piano bar.

(Taken from their website) Here is a description:

"On stage we feature 2 A-list piano players/singers who sit at 2 baby grand pianos facing each other. What they play is entirely up to you, the audience. You bring up your request accompanied by a tip for the pianists ($5 is usually the minimum standard). The songs are played in order of “how much love (aka tip)” is on them. For example, a $20 song will always be played before a $5 song. The “duel” comes from the audience. If you don't like a particular song we're playing, you can stop the song for $1 more than it was originally requested for, and we'll even play a different song to your liking if you prefer. But if a song is stopped and you really wanted to hear it, we'll start it up again for $1 more than it was stopped for!

The show is highly interactive and driven by the audience. Singing along and clapping ARE A MUST."

So....if you know me at all, you know that everything in my life has to be FAIR. It really irked me that someone would pay 5.00 to hear a song (what?!, I KNOW) and then if someone didn't like it, all they had to do was pay more to cancel that one out and play theirs. What a giant waste of money! Needless to say, I never paid a cent to hear any songs. They were all kinda (pretty much) L-A-M-E. Eagles, Shania Twain, 80's music...blah blah. BUT....I had a helluva time with my friends. They are fun, crazy, sweet, loyal and dear to me, AND I am the baby of the bunch, which doesn't hurt.

Above- Elise, moi, Jenni and Summer.

Below- Jenni on the piano being serenaded for her belated birthday and upcoming move.
It was fun. Summer made sure I didn't continue on with everyone else to the dance club. I fought it, but knew I had to get up early to run a garage sale for a client. Oh well, next time.

Meet Satchi

We were given a 9 month old puppy today. A Japanese Chin. She is the sweetest, calmest, cutest little thing I have ever seen (besides my own kids). I know....ANOTHER dog. To be fair, this dog is the "most cat like dog out of all the breeds". She doesn't bark, she is FULL grown, she is trained, and she is very loving. When she was given to us, she came with an insane amount of puppy paraphernalia. Stroller (yes), doggie purse (designer even), 2 crates, 1 kennel, fancy food and water bowls, sweaters....etc.
She is adorable and tiny and a great little addition. Our cat even likes her!

So.....some cute photos to share. Grandma and Mae waiting outside the high school last night.
Nathan getting ready to sing at the talent show.
My , I mean....Myrons culture fair project.
Mae's first boo boo of the summer (summer? yup, I think so!)...
Shane demonstrating how long a corn chip can burn because of all the oil in it.
My bedroom window. I just love how the sun is shining through, even at 6:30 at night.
Ta ta...

High School Talent Show

Tonight was the high school talent show. Nathan was incredible.

To be honest, I cried during his whole performance. He was confident, happy....just beautiful.

Baseball, dirt and catcher, oh my!

Rylan was catcher today in his little league game. Even though big brother and Brennan fight like cat and dog, you should have seen his big brother gush over Rylan in his catchers outfit.

"Aw, Rylan is so cute"....yup....he said it. He even rushed to take the photos.
Mae is always content to play in the dirt at the little league games. I am sure for all of my children that some of their best memories of childhood will be the times they spent at the fields.
Always moving, this little miss of mine.


I had to leave early to meet a client at her home and intended on bring Mae. Nope, she wouldn't have it. She wanted to stay with daddy even though daddy was busy coaching. Luckily Brennan offered to stay and watch her.
Did I mention that I have started up another business? Yes, I am still running Indie Banditas (we have another show July 16th). I am now selling peoples vintage (or new) items online for a percentage. I will also take over someones yard sale so that they don't have to lift a finger for a flat rate. As soon as I put it out there that I was doing this, I ended up with 4 clients in two days. That means, I have until Saturday to put an entire yard sale together for one client. Ads, pricing, signs etc. The whole ball of yarn. Wish me luck.

Fun day?

I had to go into the Dr. today for a chest xray to figure out why I can't catch my breath when I cough. So....we stopped by Golden Lion on the way for some lunch. Of course, Mae only eats a few bites of what we get, but for 6.75, how can you go wrong? At the Dr. she insisted on wearing the mask the entire time. Too cute.

Ah, a Hidden Object book, her favorite. She just loves being challenged to find things. Now finding things isn't enough , she asks her dad to quiz her on things. It reminds me of myself. When Shane and I were first married, we didn't have a television. We would lie in bed and I would say "quiz me Shane". I love trivia questions and challenges. Mae is becoming quite the smart little cookie. Last night as Myron and I were finishing up his culture fair project, she kept calling out the letters we were cutting out. If only preschool was within our budget and time schedule!

AnOINKment

In primary today, during singing time, Sister Amelang asked " does anyone know what anointment means"?

Mae quickly raised her hand. Sister Amelang came closer and said "mae, what does it mean"?

Without missing a beat Mae replied " a pig noise".....

The whole primary erupted in laughter, or so I was told.

Got to love that girl.....with an oink ment here and an oink oink there.

Look mommy!

"Look Mommy, I'm wearing garments"!!
So sweet. Hers are much prettier than mine though.

So you don't train your children to prepare for wearing garments at a young age?

Hm....so let's get this straight. Your kids don't pray as they sleep, want to wear garments by age 3, and long to go to heaven like right now? Wow....you are a really horrible parent.

Just sayin.....