Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Silly girls.....crazy about Myron!



Myrons good friends, Leigh and Hallie wanted to come with me to pick Myron up at the airport tonight. They are such sweet girls. We had such a fun time. I am so happy that Myron has such fun, innocent, genuinely good girls as friends. He was so surprised and happy to see them at the airport. Thanks girls!



Myrons best girl friends wanted to come with me

Forgiveness

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Whats up?


Cute girl Mae up above....she's what's up. Cutie PA TOOTIE!

After being away from my shop for so long, I took a photo to remind me just how much I LOVE my store. AND.....Nathan is finally home from his bike trip. He ended up biking 235 miles and was the first to finish. Ahead by 5 minutes. Go Nathan! He was in the lead the entire time and they formed a dream team of four kids. They plan on going out together again, soon.
We got Zoe back. We did a one week trial a month or so ago, but the owner wasn't ready to let her go. She is very well trained, sweet and awesome with kids. The kids like to get in her kennel. Don't ask me why. Shane and I have fun locking them in....yes, we are bored.

Myron, this one is for you. Myron is online right now down at my dads. Mae misses him terribly. He comes home on Tuesday and we are so excited. I hope the boys dont mind that we are planning a camping trip for this weekend. School starts soon!
That's it for now. Happy Sunday....we are all in jammies today, still trying to get over the bug that has infiltrated our home and immune systems.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

The many faces of sickness

Good thing we came home when we did because now Mae, Rylan, Brennan, me AND daddy are sick. Daddy ended up staying home from work and was very relieved (or was he?) that we were coming home.
Mae seems okay as long as she can watch Dora (oh yes) and eat countless otter pops.
Brennan thinks he is fine, but is burning up. Rylan...poor guy is just sleeping the day away.
Luckily Myron and Nathan are away during all of this. I am missing them so terribly that this is my only consolation. They are healthy and having fun. Myron calls from Colorado every day. I ask him every day..."are you ready to come home"? He replies "nope". He is having a great time.
I can't check in on Nathan, but I know he is in his element. He is an avid bike rider now and was just asked to join an adult team here on the Island. I can't wait to tell him when he gets back!
As for me...I slept well last night. Even with the little sickos getting up here and there, I was happy to be back in my own bed with my fan a goin and the breeze from the window gently blowing my hot head...

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Lake Crescent~ Yearly moms camp trip

Last year was our first moms and kids campout HERE. It was so much fun that Jenny organized another campout. This time at the beautiful Lake Crescent. Our own family has been camping here for many years thanks to a tip from a friend. We fell in love. The water is so amazingly clear and blue. The scenery is breathtaking. I needed a break...enough said!

I HAD to pick up prawns at The Hull family shrimp place. By "place", I mean trailer that is parked on some property. There aren't any signs to show how to get there unless you are on this particular backroad that you wouldn't venture on to unless you knew that there was fantastic shrimp there. The guy is like Bubba Gump, only white and toothless. The shrimp is like nothing I have ever tasted. Sweet...crablike...and the texture...oh man. My mouth is watering again. Best move on. The girls would rather play with the heads than eat the tails, which worked great for me.
Dinner down at Tophams. We had to be sure to camp as close as we could so that the kids could go back and forth as much as we knew they would. Good thing too, because that is exactly what they did. Even still, Hiram and Rylan still managed to wander off and worry us for about 10 minutes.
I have still been trying to shake this flu/cold thing that I have and after setting up the tent and packing everything to our spot, I was burning up. The remedy was to promptly go swimming, much to the delight of the little kids. We swam for quite a bit. It felt incredible.
Later on, we met up with the VanAkens and the Kollodges who were set up a little ways down from us.
Ky and Aubrey told a great story from what I concluded. I had a finger in my "good ear" so I couldn't hear, lest it be to scary for even this girl. In any case, it was fun to watch the girls telling the story. :)
Jill and Chloe hung out in the tent and played some made up game of rising from the dead? Chloe has first hand experience as her father happens to be a mortician! Let's hope the rising part doesn't happen at his funeral home!

Everyone sitting around the fire right before this mama went to bed (or tried to).
My pesky cough got only worse in the cool air of the night. It kept me up, along with Mae singing any song she could think of, the cars/trucks/SEMI's barrelling up and down the road, and Mr. Hoot owl. That actually sounded pretty cool. A mix between an owl (which he was) and a coyote, (which let's hope he isn't) these are the "Twilight" playing grounds after all!
I finally fell asleep just as the sun came up. Tophams rise with the sun, so in no time, I heard Cade down below wanting to come wake me up. He had told me the night before that I had to jump off the dock with him in the morning. I let him know that I am not much (or even remotely close) of a morning person. Needless to say...he didn't come up and try to wake me up. Sweet boy. I DID jump off the dock with him earlier the previous day, so he was satisfied that I would hold up to my end of the bargain.
Today...everyone wanted to go swimming immediately. I had to wake up a bit. We headed for the beach. I swam a bit with everyone, had the smaller kids jump off the dock into my arms, and swam around with Hiram in the kayak.
Brennan and Rylan were so sweet together. Why can't it be this way always?
Look at this view!
Brennan and Rylan together. So sweet.
Oh yes...he finally let me take a picture of him.

I love these girls. Simply.....love them.

My favorite picture of the entire trip.

You may have noticed that there aren't too many photos of the other moms. There are two reasons for this. First, Jenny and Chantal took their kids to the coast an hour or so away. They had gotten to the lake earlier and had spent a full day there, so they were ready to move on today. Second, is because, sadly....right after this last photo was taken, Mae walked over to me and put her head on my lap and said her head hurt. I took her straight to the tent to lay her down. Within 5 minutes, she was sleeping and feverish, waking up from time to time to vomit. Within 20 minutes, I was packed up and headed back home. So....here we are....home. Bummer. Seriously.
The healthy kids were really bummed as they had just started rope swinging from a tree into the water. Rhonda and I looked at each other and laughed. Mommyhood....sometimes....it's a witch.
Don't ever make plans you can't break!

Monday, August 2, 2010

15 years!




15 years ago today, I married my best friend. We met in January, were engaged just two weeks later and married 8 months after we met. It was a whirlwind romance with no common sense.
We just knew that we had to be together for always. We had our first three children immediately and had such joy being new and young parents. We have never spent a long time apart. The longest was while we were finishing building our home here on Bainbridge. I went down to stay with my dad for almost 3 weeks. We have been away from each other for more than 4 days, 3 times in 15 years. Even when we are apart for a day, we miss each other terribly. I am thankful for that. We argue, but never get too heated because it just makes us laugh. He's quiet,...I am too chatty, and yet somehow....we work...or maybe that is WHY we work. All I know is....wow we were young and I am so happy that I lucked out and got the best guy. He is loving, faithful, patient, hardworking and kind. Above all....he is the kindest person I know.
I love you Shane....

Sunday, August 1, 2010

This weeks thrift find!



I collect a LOT of books, this we know. I have a full set of these books for myself. They are vintage Value Tales from the 70's. See a description HERE. I was thrifting yesterday at our local Goodwill and came across this set of Value Tales. First edition, like new condition...large.
I almost want to keep them for myself. My own set is a mix of used/slightly used/okay condition. Finding a like new condition is very rare. I listed them on Ebay last night, but then pulled them to list them individually on Amazon. Amazon charges quite a bit, something like 40% of the sale price, but I can charge more and the chance of selling them is better. We'll see how it goes. Some books in the series are worth more than others so this might be a more profitable way to go about it. I listed around 50 more books tonight and will then work on the rest of my listings throughout the weekend. Another idea I have, is slowly turning my store into a vintage book store that sells indie handmade crafts also. This way, I am not relying on my consignment percentages to run the store.
Lots to think about. What do you think?