Family vacation 2013

Patrick his girlfriend Krystal, Melissa  and Chris out in Chelan.

 I love that once a year mom gets us together. Siblings can tend to drift and get wrapped up in their own lives. I expect that this becomes harder with age as we all become grandparents. Really It is wonderful to sit around and talk about how we grew up. I find it helpful since I have a terrible long term memory. Telling jokes and laughing. I would have done a few things different growing up with these two. Favorite part of the weekend was when Pat and Melissa were playful bantering back and forth and mom told them to knock it off and I said I was not sitting in the middle:) to any other sibling peacekeepers - I have spent so much time sitting in between these two :) it was fun and I plan to do a family vacation once a year as well :)

Random pictures

Hollie 19 and Lauren 15 at our favorite ice cream spot! 

Hollie 1st accident! Well we all know it was bound to happen and of course she did not come right home and tell  us as we hoped. She came home after dog sitting for Nana for 2 weeks. I had been over to the house but obviously did not check the car over. I had her washing and cleaning her car. Thom noted that the passenger side mirror had been duct taped on with black tape to match car-mind you there was no mirror.
The Story: I was being followed really closely by someone as I was driving through nana's neighborhood. I turned to see  how close they were and turned the steering wheel causing me to side swipe a garbage can that ripped the mirror off. This is the only version she will admit too. Problem is the physics and the evidence does not add up?

I am really glad that we are through the dreaded first accident and I pray that there will not be any more. 

She IS GOING TO STATE FOR 4X100M!
This picture was taken just prior to her district track meet where she  ran for 4 x 100m and 4 x 200m
So proud of her

At the track meet killing time with the camera phone:) Nate is 2yrs old

I do not think I will be able to carry him much longer! 

Nate 2 years old pushing his cousin 11mos old in a swing. 

Just too cute

Nate is in his crib (yes still in a crib!) talking a mile a minute about "race car song, truck, mean car, trains -choo choo, race car goes vroom," stuff I can not understand? Nap time conversation is too entertaining. Now he is asleep :(  It is really hard to list all his cute stuff but I will try. He carries a pink caculator around the house and will hit the buttons then start talking about random stuff. When I ask what he is doing he says "talking to Auntie Aimie". I am thinking I must talk to Aimie a lot ? He loves to blow kisses. I melt when he says love you in his tiny voice. He yells "auntie kris" in his tiny voice but the way he says it -its so fast. She always gets down on the ground and plays with him. We are so lucky to have her taking care of him. I love how he holds an object and jabs it forward saying da da da. He has done this for over a year. I always thought it was how he would get us to chase him. Aimie pointed out that I may receive a phone call from preschool teacher-which I will! Kris and Mike say he is using it a a weapon.

And the week begins....

Knew today was going to be hard for Miss Lauren. She called about 20 mins into school all the new cheerleaders were wearing shirts to say they made the team. I am proud how she was able to verbalize that she was sad and was able to listen as I gave advice. She did want to come home and as much as I would have loved to hold her and make it all better, it is time for her to learn to cope with life. My best friend always reminds me that we are preparing them for life and sometimes it just is not fair. Lauren did a great job  and totally turned her day around. I really feel she is going to do well in life :)

Nate and I picked up Rhodes and went to preschool class at Children's Museum. The boys had a great time. We danced, sang children's songs, and popped bubbles. Nate loves taking care of Rhodes. He pushed him in the swing. He put his binki in his mouth and would talk to him in a softer voice. He was very kind and caring. We went to the Fife pool park to play and give sissy Lauren a special lunch, in attempt to cheer her up.

I have been running a 13 min mile with out improvement on my time. Julie my coworker also athletically gifted took me running today. I was able to run further and faster with her help. It was fun and nice of her to drive to my neck of the woods. We set up weekly runs and I hope to improve my time to 11 min by the end of the month.

I have also been feeling the need to play stay at home mom. I'm watching pioneer woman on the cooking channel-about threw up when she poured liquefied crisco into a recipe. I want to decorate the house and I have turned down two extra shifts. So thankful that Thom is working hard to advance in his company and it is allowing me to play house wife. I would love it if my children and husband thought they were my most important accomplishment.

Growth and Milestones

Hollie ~ Hollace has been house and puppy dog sitting for nana. Going on second week now. I call or drop by to make sure everything is in order and see her from time to time. House clean orderly and she seems to have a little routine set up. It is neat to get a glimpse into how she would keep her own house and what she would do with all her free time. She had lexa over for a night, they stayed up reading stories Lexa wrote, watching movies, and eating. I would consider Lexa Hollie's best friend. Hollie has the gold car and is loving her freedom right now. I asked her if she was home sick yet and she said nope, sorry mom I am fine. I love her honesty and agree that she has never been the one to be homesick. She loves being on her own and making her own rules-unlimited tv, no one nagging at her, read as much as she wants. Yep I would like a day like that too. She says she is doing great in school :)

Lauren~ Lauren decided about 1.5 weeks ago that she would go out for cheer. I was surprised when she brought me a completed permission form to sign. I of course have enabled the kids by always doing their forms. She was beaming all week as she worked hard to learn the routines. She made two friends on the Cheer team, Ashley and Mackenna (she refers to as good Kenna since she has a classmate that is a bully also named Mackenna). They both would help Lauren after school learn the routines and cheers. Kenzie also helped Lauren with make up hair and attitude. Lauren showed no anxiety until the night before the try out. She did not make the team, she was angry and hurt at first. She processed quickly and by evening was pointing out where she could have improved. She has yet to make a plan for next years try outs. We celebrated how hard she worked and how positive she was through out the try outs with Minchie's ice cream this is a frozen yogurt place and pizza for dinner. Hollie came home and we all watched Wreck it Ralph-terrible movie do not watch!

Nathan~ Nate has been a very busy boy. I loved tonight walking in the door from work and hear "momma!" then went a mile a minute about his trains. Dad took him and sissy to the zoo. Nate learned to say "Fox" but it sounds very close to another four letter swear word I dare not repeat. Clever boy that he is while I am putting him down for the night he says baby to get me to sing our "Baby Mine" song from Beaches the movie. He will tell me the order he wants all of his songs. I got to walk and sing to him. He lays his head on my shoulder and I just stroke his hair and sing. Love these moments and now I know how fast they go.

Lag in posts

This winter has been an adjustment! I have struggled with how much all the kids have needed me, still? I don't know why I thought teenagers needed less of you.

Hollie is growing up-slowly :) I will say they all grow at there own rate of speed and I trust that God has a plan for what each of my children need. Hollie and I have been working on how to study at the college level. We have had some butting head moments :( I am hoping for more in the future as she needs to begin to become more independent. We have tried really hard to find a job. Interviewed several places and just have not been able to replace the taco bell job. About a month ago we decided to wait until summer break to find a job. She got her drivers license and has been driving!

Lauren has had difficulty with her anxiety and her need to try and be perfect. She got a bad grade at the end of her first sophomore semester. This threw her for a loop. Lots of butting heads when it comes to studying. She is having a hard time realizing that she can not just do the homework and get "A's" she does need to study. She truly is loving her soccer. She does not like her medical explores because she doesn't know anyone in the group -again anxiety. Uggh! She did try out for the School musical but was not selected-there were a lot of kids trying out. She was getting pressure during tryouts from the track coach who wanted her to run the 100 m. Then she also was offered the boys soccer team manager position. I gave her the pro's and cons for both and she decided to run the 100m. :) Now if she would just buckle down and study more often!

Nathan is growing so fast. He is such a little boy now, which of course I am so happy for him. New highlights since last September? wow too many but will try to recall. He can recite the entire alphabet and now he leads and I repeat him. He can identify five letters with their sounds. He can count to ten. He loves to use spray bottles with paint. Loves running, will count to 3 and then run around the kitchen island. Loves to animate objects. The constant reading of books has slowed down. He likes to clean along with me. We did the floors and he used a rag right next to me. He puts the silverware away accurately. He likes putting on boots to go puddle jumping. We started little kickers soccer. My goal was to have him around kids his own age. Our trial class was with 3 and 4 yr olds. He loved it, it was a hard but then we went to the two year old class. He wanted to score goals and run with the ball but in 2 yr class there was a lot of singing along and follow the leader. Which would have been great but the classes on both sides of us where doing what he loved. He can hit a ball with a hockey stick accurately. He has a great throwing arm. He has developed a love for carbs -my fault. He likes to pick out his own clothes and will often say no. Temper tantrums have started.

Typical day on my day off:

0600 wake up get my self ready
0700 Nate wakes
we make pancakes together Nate can recall the sequence of each step:)
we do a few chores and dad comes home
1000 Hollie wakes usually.
Nate and I will try to sneak off and go to the children's museum while dad sleeps
Nate and I eat lunch and he goes down for a nap
Hollie and I work on homework for 2 hrs
Pick up Lauren from Track
start dinner
Thom helps Lauren with home work
eat dinner play with Nate and get ready for bed
Nate goes down for bed-he is so easy to put down I rock him for about 5 mins we sing our songs one from summer magic and the other is from beaches then he says the abc's or we sing head and shoulders. Then he points to the crib and I lay him down with his blanket he calls buba.
Then Lauren wants to snuggle and Thom goes to bed.
Thom feels he never gets to see me, which we do not get that much time. Hard when two years ago we could go to the bar and meet up with friends when ever we want.

Play date