tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-241496142024-03-06T22:50:48.186-08:00Jenny's ThoughtsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger717125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-36806933994803523672018-03-10T09:53:00.001-08:002018-03-10T09:53:56.019-08:00Massive Overview...<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">starting with the most recent updates first…<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Matthew<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Matthew is as happy as happy can be. Since the age of five, Matthew has known that he wants to go into some sort of military service. Never in my life have a known a kid who has such laser focus and drive. He bases all of his decisions on what will best help him achieve his goal. At the beginning of January, he got one step closer to his dream when he enrolled in the Navy Sea Cadets program.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Once a month, he has a Drill Weekend held at the Coast Guard Base. He spends eight hours on Saturday and eight hours on Sunday receiving military-type training. He has a 700 page Basic Military Requirements book that he takes 15 tests on (he’s already completed nine since January). The tests must all be finished before he attends RT (Recruit Training – as in BOOT CAMP!!!) this summer. Yes, my baby – my 14 year old once-a-five-pound-peanut – will be going to Boot Camp this summer! It’s crazy. But we couldn’t be prouder and he couldn’t be happier.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Just two days ago, he and I embarked on another big step – attending incoming freshmen night at the high school. There, he’ll be able to</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">also </i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">do JROTC (also Navy affiliated). The kid seriously glows when in his element. It’s really ridiculously amazing to watch your kid embrace their calling and live his passion.</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh79XMC4E-Ga5V7adAuC1pSYSZqNVYno9cwVF15nUzr51rFaTcwei2GbNMW8mpcU3LwVqoMbFCN4f9qDbyncXiZmFtbad060bxwgAdbwx4B1QFru1OKEp8edqDzjJ6oMXPJRoY03g/s1600/20180120_174537.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh79XMC4E-Ga5V7adAuC1pSYSZqNVYno9cwVF15nUzr51rFaTcwei2GbNMW8mpcU3LwVqoMbFCN4f9qDbyncXiZmFtbad060bxwgAdbwx4B1QFru1OKEp8edqDzjJ6oMXPJRoY03g/s320/20180120_174537.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Zachary<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">As we’ve always said, our two boys couldn’t possibly
be more different (and equally awesome in their totally unique ways). Zachary –
while Matthew was in Navy uniform attended Drill – was dressed in this ‘uniform’.
He was an Oompa Loompa in the school’s production of Willy Wonka.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHqxGo8m45TGj7TQs2pIZjaoqUcWyPveKz0w3WP8Wo4TNvGZNeZrYYGzETWFP0rGeFxBoHYIP7s0D8lEbE53W3h2bYyx2KMf1gexYhjGtzkvG4H-JyPHvH3Zv2pAKdjfJDkDvavg/s1600/20180209_203757.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHqxGo8m45TGj7TQs2pIZjaoqUcWyPveKz0w3WP8Wo4TNvGZNeZrYYGzETWFP0rGeFxBoHYIP7s0D8lEbE53W3h2bYyx2KMf1gexYhjGtzkvG4H-JyPHvH3Zv2pAKdjfJDkDvavg/s320/20180209_203757.jpg" width="240" /></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;">He’s also recently
joined the Dungeons and Dragons club at school (a group we all lovingly refer
to as the “D’nD Nerd Herd”) and is excited to make more fun-nerd friends there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">He’s been adjusting to
the massive load of middle school homework and is still attempting to make
peace with math (as am I) and the fact that it’ll be a forced required part of
his life for quite some time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Kayliana<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">The girl has finally
lost some teeth! She felt like the last one in her class (though she did lose
her first this summer on August 4<sup>th</sup>). She bit into an apple –
shouted with excitement, “My tooth came out!” But then a moment later shouted
with total horror, “BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!”
In the end, she chose not to leave it for Tooth Fairy, instead left a
note with a picture explaining that she’d like to keep her first one. She
recently lost her first to one and looks like such a goofball. I crack up every
time she gives me a big grin.</span></div>
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An American Girl Doll for her 7th birthday! (She named her Kayla)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQgQ0f_p2xgXe12gVQq8kZZF7PTbdNiXQj0D5BdoLX4f5EjP6m-5umMR_DV2dXcIaKNdbOlGX5qMCi-S0L-xK-zaOZXCh9EFVhDJAUDLVfYOUVzMthnN0fArlER0NlW-A_vvMOA/s1600/20171123_100527.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQgQ0f_p2xgXe12gVQq8kZZF7PTbdNiXQj0D5BdoLX4f5EjP6m-5umMR_DV2dXcIaKNdbOlGX5qMCi-S0L-xK-zaOZXCh9EFVhDJAUDLVfYOUVzMthnN0fArlER0NlW-A_vvMOA/s320/20171123_100527.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi49KIFIz2XT5CmoDnt1QWaOwJJAQTOZowWSJxGt9k668LmMYDU6Ld7MFoxDZM2Z3jtT25xTRZPmVPAutelD-y_2xR-f7tlQ-a77rJBdcixkRkAVzT-X1aKztqs8E_jhcLCAg31Jg/s1600/20171118_222053.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi49KIFIz2XT5CmoDnt1QWaOwJJAQTOZowWSJxGt9k668LmMYDU6Ld7MFoxDZM2Z3jtT25xTRZPmVPAutelD-y_2xR-f7tlQ-a77rJBdcixkRkAVzT-X1aKztqs8E_jhcLCAg31Jg/s320/20171118_222053.jpg" width="320" /></a>A wonderful visit with Birth Mom Mia and her parents James and Nora</div>
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The goofiest grin in town<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB1uVoBmsuQxw47RZO55eF8v3MXnGQamc6-ABn5SlE4DjlC4N05PBFqDahqH7-zjuRqMkokX8KLBR0RHJiB757vVMBGwCvAnG54mQEzThaaCiD_yv0ryXYV0gfOo6_OZGUrmjiSA/s1600/20180217_092007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB1uVoBmsuQxw47RZO55eF8v3MXnGQamc6-ABn5SlE4DjlC4N05PBFqDahqH7-zjuRqMkokX8KLBR0RHJiB757vVMBGwCvAnG54mQEzThaaCiD_yv0ryXYV0gfOo6_OZGUrmjiSA/s320/20180217_092007.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">My news</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">My kindergarten class
will be putting on their musical – Goldilocks and the Three Bears – in a couple
of weeks. I wrote the script for it and am pretty darn excited with how they’re
doing! I think it’ll be great. The best part (in my opinion) is when they put
on funky shutter-shade sunglasses and sing ‘Porridge Funk’ – the Goldilocks-ified
version of Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk – cuz, you know, the porridge was </span></span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">too hot! Burned tongue…’</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><i>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OTW6mmokXY</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">The last few months I’ve
been feeling more and more like I’m ready to graduate from preschool music. It’s
time for me to move on to working with bigger kids. I’d been feeling like this
when – ask and you shall receive! – I got an email from Kayli’s elementary
school music teacher asking if I might be interested in a potential position.
Um, YEAH! But, here’s the catch…I’ll have to go back to school and finally, at
long last, fulfill my dad’s dream of me getting my certificate and Masters. So,
I’m in the process of spending every spare moment relearning everything about everything and the stuff
about all the stuff so I can take the state required teacher exams next Spring
and enter a program next Summer. I can still get hired for this coming fall
with a conditional certificate. Once I have my foot in the district’s door
(fingers crossed), then my paid teaching position can count as my student
teaching too. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">I’ve never wanted to
play by the rules. I just wanted to teach, so I jumped in right out of
undergrad and taught 3-8<sup>th</sup> grade music. Then we got busy having the
babies, adopting the baby and raising the babies, and I was able to continue
teaching through starting my business and working in private schools and
preschools. Dad always wanted me to get certified and Masterified, and I always
resisted. Just a few months before he died, we had discussed me going back to
school and I had (begrudgingly agreed) to start getting ready. Well, then we
know what happened and his whole plan for me got put on hold. Now, finally, I
know and feel that my plan is actually His plan (which was his plan). You
follow? It just feels so right. I have NO idea how I’ll manage to balance teaching,
becoming a full-time student again (all while supposedly still raising three
kids)! It sure feels like it’s The Plan, so if it’s meant to be, it’ll work. Super
overwhelming but super exciting too!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg6ecxb3vc3ESE98-i3BgNBL6ZT2mutn1mUhnV-RtppXCxT5BQk6XJOgON-RWHDLDkreRAvU4UWZSxSUJI8uzwyhtolpi_ag5eoOda-KfJKmCMWkPjKipVYqi9gr2F1t_kmXCFwQ/s1600/20180206_222815.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg6ecxb3vc3ESE98-i3BgNBL6ZT2mutn1mUhnV-RtppXCxT5BQk6XJOgON-RWHDLDkreRAvU4UWZSxSUJI8uzwyhtolpi_ag5eoOda-KfJKmCMWkPjKipVYqi9gr2F1t_kmXCFwQ/s320/20180206_222815.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">We got to see Hamilton with one of my high school besties, Brianna. It WAS as amazing as everyone says it is!</span></div>
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<b>Christmas 2017 & New Year’s 2018</b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Well, it was an
interesting one. First of all, it was a WHITE CHRISTMAS which was pretty
magical! But unfortunately, Christmas was a little overshadowed by the fact
that we discovered that Kayliana had brought home a very unwelcome souvenir
from school – LICE. Yes, it was as nasty as I had always feared. We went into
lice-lockdown-quarantine for much of the holiday break. We still managed to
celebrate our annual Camp Christmas/New Year’s Staycation with the besties
though (although some of it was spent with us double-triple-quadruple nit-picking
everyone’s heads like a bunch of mama monkeys and vacuuming and black-bagging
every possible thing in the house). Thankfully, Licemaggedon 2017 wrapped up
before we rang in the New Year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Our New Year got off to
a very sad start though, on New Year’s Day Kayliana’s incredibly beloved
Kindergarten teacher from last year passed away. Michelle Robinson was one of
those people (and teachers) who absolutely impacts everyone’s life with whom
she came in contact. She was a bright light and such a beautiful person. She ‘got’
Kayli so quickly and at our first conference together told me that she already
knew the perfect first grade teacher she would recommend for her (because –
this person ‘wouldn’t make Kayli think inside the box.’ And sure enough, Kayli’s
first grade teacher – one of Mrs. Robinson’s closest friends – is, indeed, a
perfect fit for Kayli). Kayli was devastated on the last day of school. Just
saying goodbye to Mrs. Robinson for the summer was hard. She even drew a
picture of her to have on our fridge so she could still see Mrs. Robinson every
day. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Michelle had <em><span style="background: white; font-style: normal;">Idiopathic</span></em><span style="background: white;"> Pulmonary <em><span style="font-style: normal;">Fibrosis and was already planning
on taking this school year off for a health sabbatical as she waited for a
double-lung transplant. Sadly, her lungs and body weren’t able to wait any
longer and she got ill before Christmas, passing away on New Year’s Day. She
left behind her husband and a sweet ten year old daughter who goes to our
school as well.<o:p></o:p></span></em></span></span></div>
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<em><span style="background: white; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; font-style: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">So loved and so missed.</span></em></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-41812458620401872092017-11-21T13:06:00.001-08:002017-11-21T13:17:34.107-08:00Yellowstone 2017!<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Our other huge adventure
this past summer was a week-long road trip to Spokane for Mike’s 20<sup>th</sup>
High School Reunion(!!) and a five-night camping trip to Yellowstone with our bfff’s
(best family friends forever).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">We had an absolutely
amazing, magical time. We stayed at a KOA located outside the West Gate’s
entrance. This worked out extra awesomely as KOA’s are essentially the
five-star resorts of the campground world. There was an indoor pool (hugely
beneficial during one of the couple of rain squalls that we experienced), a
gift store (awesome for random forgotten items and gift-shopping, of course)
and – best of all – a laundromat. This came in VERY handy when – after a day
spent in the park – we discovered our tent had flooded and many of our sleeping
items were wet. I didn’t see the rainy situation as a problem – especially as I
sat in the warm laundromat drinking wine with Rebecca and waiting for our
things to dry. Mike seemed to find the rain and our indoor-water-feature tents,
a lamer situation as he spent a couple of hours attempting to mop up the wet
mess. Huh! Go figure! The boys opted to
sleep in the car two nights rather than deal with the SUPER cold, damp
situation in their small two-man tent. Mike, Kayli and I wore EVERY layer of
clothing possible and still woke up frozen most mornings. (Mental note: must
spend the next few months of gift giving – Christmas, his birthday, Father’s
Day - stocking Mike up with MUCH warmer camping clothes/rain gear)!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">The park was incredible
– of course! We saw and did all of the required awesome things: Old Faithful,
the Grand Prismatic Springs, floated in a swimming river hole, saw LOTS of
geyser/bubbling spots (you really do realize: holy crap! This WHOLE place is a
volcano!), the gorgeous Falls, the river/Grand Canyon, the Paint Pots, bubbling
mud pots, Mammoth Springs, & the Lamar Valley to name a few. We went for a
boat ride/tour on Lake Yellowstone and learned about some of the history of the
park as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">We saw animals galore
(and continued my family’s camping trip tradition of getting a Skittle whenever
a creature is spotted! The bison are so goofy looking – so big, so weirdly
cute. Lots of elk (saw a couple up REAL close when a mama and her baby jumped
in front of our car one night). We saw deer, tons of hawks/birds. And from
a-far (and with the help of people letting us peak through their high-tech
scopes), we saw a couple bears and JUST missed seeing some wolf cubs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">We also managed –
surprisingly enough – to spend some time in close proximity to cows. Just
beyond our campsite’s fence was a field full of grazing cows. Every morning we
woke up to them mooing. One morning, they were so loud in fact, I opened my
eyes and turned to glare at Mike – thinking that he was mooing back at them.
Nope, he was still asleep, but seriously – the cows were all of five feet away
and so loud I thought they were lying next to me! One of my favorite photos
from the trip is from one misty morning when Kayliana is slowly waking up with
her cup of hot cocoa and having a staring contest with a cow on the other side
of the fence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">One of our mornings
started exceptionally early. We woke everyone up at 4am (yes, we woke up 8
children ages 13 years and under at the butt-crack-of-dawn). The goal was to
drive out to the Lamar Valley so we could be there at dawn – the best time for
animal-spotting. Well, it was almost a
disaster as we had all the kids up, sitting sleepily in cars eating cups of
oatmeal when Jason’s and Rebecca’s van wouldn’t start. The battery was dead.
The guys managed to hook our cars up and get theirs jumpstarted. (I’m quite
certain our camping neighbors must’ve hated us a bit). Then, as we made our way
through the park, the valley was completely locked in fog. We couldn’t see a
thing. Thankfully, the kids all handled
it quite well. I actually thought the fog was pretty cool, especially as we came
across a bison just slowly ambling down the middle of the road in the thick fogginess.
And eventually, we did make it back to the valley – on our last night in the
park. We managed to be there at dusk instead of dawn and it <i>was </i>stunning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Perhaps my very, very
favorite aspect of the trip was one of those rare family memory moments that
you plan for, hope for and that actually succeeded in working out. I’d made a
playlist of the classical music from the two cassette tapes we had for long car
camping trips growing up. Basically, that music became the soundtrack to large
parts of my childhood. In fact, it’s because of one of those cassettes that I
decided to play the flute. So, I’d
prepped the kids that I would be playing classical music once we got inside the
park. And – gasp! – Family Camping Trip
Miracle! – not only did the kids accept the plan, they really enjoyed it! It
was actually really amazing how the music seemed to perfectly fit the
scenery. At one point, I read out loud one
of the warning signs about approaching wildlife and – no joke – the music
immediately turned ominous and suspenseful. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">That morning that we
got up pre-dawn and drove through the fog into the park was especially meaningful.
I was already feeling moved by the music, by childhood memories and especially
thinking about my dad and how much he loved camping and how much I miss him…when
we crested a hill and the sun finally broke through the clouds. It was
breath-taking.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I felt weird and lame
that it’s taken me until nearly Thanksgiving to finally reflect on our big summer
trip, but now I see why it worked out this way. Today, the Tuesday before
Thanksgiving, will always be the anniversary of my dad’s death. (Yes, it was on
Nov. 26</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> but that date moves around. The Tuesday before
Thanksgiving doesn’t). So, on that note, I’m going to listen to my Yellowstone
playlist and be instantly transported to a place of beauty and awe – where I
can spend a little time in that weird sensation of grief and yet happy memories.
</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJxS6VpjGVAYHUW3IjzjJIIiezbqRHcFnzDkydtLHev8RxesdaOrKP9fiaz29dH4mtAhyphenhyphen7p5nqg1HAon1hw36mEZQUX73BMYp_KJZ-3FJETY3C_f0QP7VSHn1VVt2IpbCkavRjjg/s1600/20170724_061635.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJxS6VpjGVAYHUW3IjzjJIIiezbqRHcFnzDkydtLHev8RxesdaOrKP9fiaz29dH4mtAhyphenhyphen7p5nqg1HAon1hw36mEZQUX73BMYp_KJZ-3FJETY3C_f0QP7VSHn1VVt2IpbCkavRjjg/s320/20170724_061635.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-25601240323463358692017-10-10T07:13:00.002-07:002017-10-10T07:13:56.548-07:00Arizona Trip, June 23-27th, 2017<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Our kids’ last day of
school was Tuesday, June 20<sup>th</sup>. <i>My
</i>last day of school was June 22<sup>nd</sup> with a grand finale of
directing my kindergarten class graduation. Once I got through that (huge sigh
of relief – it went well!), it was time to scurry home and pack for our early
morning flight to Phoenix the next morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Luckily, our National
Catholic Engaged Encounter Convention weekend, was <i>just </i>on the tail-end of the ‘record breaking heat wave’ that shut
down much of Phoenix. So, by the time we got there, it was <i>only </i>115…not 120. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Our Convention was a held
at a beautiful swimming-pool themed resort that was all orange-terracotta-y
tucked into the hills above Phoenix. The kids hung out in the Convention
childcare while Mike and I attended our meetings. The childcare was extra
awesome on Saturday since they took all the kids to the pools for a few hours! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Saturday night of our
Conventions are the highlight – a big ‘ol bumpin’ dance. Mike had left to go take
the kids back to our room so they could watch tv and go to bed when the MC’s
for the night asked for a volunteer from each table. Well, wouldn’t you know, I was volunteered by
my table to be our table’s volunteer…I headed on to the stage in my dress and
wedge sandals not knowing what would be required of these volunteers. I soon discovered that we would be in
competition – basically a scavenger hunt and race followed by a
quick-as-you-can snag one of the remaining chairs on the stage situation. I
quickly tossed my wedge sandals to the table and put my game face on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">The things we had to
retrieve were easy at first – a lipstick, a $20 bill, an ID, a man’s belt, etc.
Then – when it’s down to me, one other woman and about 8 guys – we’re told we
need to return with a square of toilet paper.
Well, the nearest women’s room was FAR away, but the men’s was much
closer. One of the guys from my table
ran with me and – just as Mike returns to the lobby he sees his wife sprinting
out of the men’s restroom with a streamer of toilet paper. He just shrugged his
shoulders, shook his head and returned to his seat. No big deal. Nothing weird
about that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">In the end, it came
down to me and one other guy racing for the last chair. We had to return with
something with the Engaged Encounter logo on it. As I ran to the table, Mike
was trying to remove his nametag to hand to me. There was no time to waste. I
grabbed the nametag around Mike’s neck and like a leash dragged it (AND HIM!)
back to the stage where HE managed to slide onto the chair and the other
competitor sat ON him. Technically, WE
won because the other competitor dropped his EE logo/badge BEFORE sitting on
Mike…but it didn’t really matter…The visual of me, holding Mike as if on a
leash and another guy sitting ON him was enough to prove that…we’re all winners….?
Or really weird. Anyway, it was a good
time followed by many hours of salsa dancing! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">After the Convention
wrapped up on Sunday, we spent several hours taking the kids to the
pools/slides. Super fun.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Monday morning, we got
up early, checked out and drove up to the Grand Canyon. Having never seen it,
we’d been ‘warned’ (to strong of a word) by many at the Convention, that the
Grand Canyon is, in fact, SO grand, it’s nearly impossible to completely
appreciate. And I have to admit that was
the case for us. It’s like our wee brains can’t fully grasp just how massively GRAND
this place is…it’s almost underwhelming because your expectations are so high…and
grand. At least, that was the case for us. It was the tiniest bit of a let-down…BUT
we’d been warned. I also couldn’t
thoroughly enjoy it because – with the known-to-be-slightly-accident-prone Kayliana
there – it was hard to relax next to all these massively sheer drop-offs and
cliff walls. I refused to let us go anywhere close to any of the areas that
didn’t have guardrails. And I was seriously disturbed and stressed out seeing
people go closer and closer to the edges just for the goal of getting the possible
selfie vantage point. Idiots. Honestly,
it was with a sigh of relief that we left the lookouts and headed into the
AC-infused visitor’s center. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">That night we ate at a ‘historic’
diner on Route 66. (‘Historic’ apparently =’s overpriced and not awesome food).
The little town offered a nightly ‘Western/Shoot-out’ show in the middle of
main street right in front of the diner. We watched some of the locals provide some
horrific and cheesy acting and storytelling and called it a night!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">On Tuesday morning, we
drove to Montezuma Castle National Monument. This was by far the highlight of
our sightseeing. Basically, it was described to us as a five story luxury
apartment building built about three stories off the ground into the limestone
cliffs and only inhabited from 1100-1400. We tried to explain to the kids just
how OLD this is. As in: when you see the
amazing cathedrals of Europe…those weren’t done with construction yet when this
place was already empty!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Last stop before the
airport was Goldfield Ghost Town. In the
middle of the desert, in the middle of a Tuesday when it’s 115 degrees, it was
nearly literally a GHOST TOWN. We had to wait for the ma/pa team to come sell
us tickets to then be our tour guide to then practically be the same people
running the gift shop, the train ride and the ice cream scoopers in the ice
cream parlor. Anyway, it was cheesy (and
so freakin’ hot) but the kids enjoyed it – especially the ‘Mystery Shack’ where
water ran UP hill, pool table balls wouldn’t roll straight and objects hung
from the ceiling crooked, at 45 degree angles. Spoooooky.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">From Goldfield, we
returned to the airport and flew home. From that point on, the summer went like
this: home for 1-2 weeks (to go back to work and in any off time, powerwash and
paint the deck) and then the next event (Mike’s dad and stepmom visiting for
the 4<sup>th</sup> of July). And then home for 1-2 weeks (paint the deck and
prepare) for our week-long trip to Spokane/Mike’s 20<sup>th</sup> high school
reunion and camping trip to Yellowstone…home for 1-2 weeks (finish painting the
deck) and then sending the kids off to CYO camp…home for 1-2 weeks (finally enjoy
the deck!) and then preparing for summer to be over and school to start back
up! </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">L</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Pre-dance with my friend Rachael/race to victory!</div>
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After a day at the pools</div>
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The view from the hilltop above our hotel.</div>
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Dumb tourist was PETTING the 'lil guy. (We just took pics and avoided sharing snacks).</div>
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"It's pink!"</div>
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Don't mess with this jail guard!</div>
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With the "Town Wench." (Yes, that's what they called her).</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Montezuma Castle</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Goldfield Ghost Town...pretty much a Ghost Town!</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-44407996993732257742017-09-15T15:33:00.003-07:002017-09-15T15:33:56.510-07:00Only 2.5 months behind!<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sheesh, September –
half over and I haven’t even documented any of the crazy exciting details from
our epic summer! I will (EVENTUALLY!) get caught up…maybe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Let’s start with the
end of the school year. It was the end of an era actually. Zachary wrapped up
his entire elementary school career with a bang! He was one of only four (and
the only boy!) to share an essay at graduation looking back on his experience
as a fifth grader. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">I will thoroughly admit
that I was a little shocked when I read his speech. It felt sort of, um,
brutally honest and a little bit of a downer to be honest. I knew that he’d had
some struggles – especially with some of his classmates and the ridiculous
cliques of 5<sup>th</sup> grade – but the tone of the message (when I read it
in my head, anyway) made it sound like he’d had a rough go. Honestly, I’d say
his year was probably typically – some drama, some struggles, but nothing <i>too </i>terrible. I decided to hold my
tongue and not make any suggestions. They were his thoughts. His class would be
voting on whose speech would represent them in front of the entire fifth grade
and all the families. And yep, they
picked his, so obviously they liked it/could relate! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">I’m pretty sure I was
more nervous than Zachary. The first girl to present her speech was all sorts
of sweet and nostalgic on her experience at the school. The second girl’s
speech was very funny and got a lot of laughs. And then it was Zach’s turn. I
attempted to take a video but my stupid hand was shaking so much, I deleted it
right after. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">He did a GREAT job. Got
up there and read his very personal thoughts like it was no big deal. Several
parents afterwards came up and told me they were amazed that he was so brave
and honest. One mom came up to me later in the day and, with tears in her eyes,
told me that his speech moved her as it so perfectly summed up her own son’s
experience as a fifth grader. She later posted on facebook: “<span style="background: #F6F7F9;">ZJ's speech has me looking forward to having the DVD
of this event more than anything! He perfectly captured the experience as I
understood it through my own son, and I am so grateful for his voice (and his
courage in using it)!</span>”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Here is Zachary’s speech for your reading pleasure:<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Survival of
the Fittest:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">We came to
school expecting an awesome year. We came with growth mindsets and high hopes.
But needing to handle being the oldest in the school, going to middle school,
competing in P.E and at recess, gossip and even getting bullied. We learned
that it was survival of the fittest, the smartest, the athletic, the popular
and then the ones who aren’t any of these. We were somehow separated into two
groups the popular and UN popular. </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> As
fifth graders it was like if the left side were the popular and the right side
was the unpopular, you’d have to stay with your group; girls with girls guys
with guys nerds with nerds. Soccer, football, wall ball, baseball, four-square,
and tag were all separated into their own groups it was like good and evil or
black and white “I stay with my posse and you with yours ” fights and arguments
were happening all the time. “And Gosh was that hard”</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> But
despite all this trouble and turmoil our teachers were there with us to help us
survive. Every kid had his own time and life yet our teachers figured out a way
to help us out they’d notify our mistakes and inform us the correct way. Along
with fifth grade drama we also needed help learning what we needed for 6<sup>th</sup>
grade. After loads of help from our elders we were finally ready to pass on and
complete 5<sup>th</sup> grade. “These teachers must’ve been exhausted cuz’
believe me we are difficult”</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">So in the
end we survived the boring-ness of social studies, the hardness of math, the
disturbing-ness of flash, the difficulty of science, the fun of camp, the shock
of bad grades, the seemingly endless arguments during lunch and recess, and the
exhilaration of music, P.E, and library After
all our teachers were there to help us all out and this year was
actually kinda’ decent. But now we move on to the next great adventure. MIDDLE
SCHOOL! </span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Well, after I somehow
managed to get through the graduation without massively breaking down, I went
to get a picture of Kayliana with her Kindergarten teacher – who we absolutely
adored [and who is now on medical leave and could use some much needed
prayers]! I was appalled to find </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">KAYLI </i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">was
an absolute disaster. She was just </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">sobbing
</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">and having the hardest time saying goodbye.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Yeah, my whole success in not losing it didn’t last once I saw this.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
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Kayliana with Zachary's 5th grade teacher (with the mini/replica-version of their class-auction project. Our fam made this one for her as an end-of-the-year/thank you/pre-her summer wedding gift.</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
The big day!</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Kayli - attempting to smile through her tears. PHENOMINAL Kindergarten teaching team!</div>
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Are you KIDDING ME?! You expect me to keep my eyes dry when my daughter is like THIS having to say goodbye to her teacher?! :( sniff sniff</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-83471635315736855322017-03-24T15:43:00.001-07:002017-03-24T16:17:24.489-07:00FINALLY!!! An Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">[Funny! It only took
me TEN DAYS to finish this Blog post. How ridiculous!]</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">OK, super quick
overview: Christmas was good. January was good-ish. Sadly, the day after Mike’s birthday I came
down with the stomach flu – or some sort of nasty stomach nastiness – that
lasted over a week. Then Zachary had it the following week. Thankfully – oh so VERY thankfully – our flu
bugs ‘n colds were gone by February 21<sup>st</sup> which was when we left for
six days in Hawaii!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">We went to the Big
Island – staying at a beautiful Hilton timeshare place in Waikoloa
(Kona/Westside of the island). We had a two bed, 2 bath ‘villa’ on the top
floor with a private balcony overlooking the pool, the golf course and then off
in the not <i>too </i>far off distance we
had a peek-a-boo view of the bright blue ocean.
All of this for the price of – well, I’m not actually going to tell you
– but part of the payment was our required attendance at a please-join-our-timeshare-vacation-club
shpiel. (To which we said, “Thanks for
the amazing, vacation, but NO, thank you!”)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The weather was
perfect. And it was probably our first ever family vacation that was nearly
100% about relaxing and not camping or the go-go-go-see-see-see-do-do-do kind
of trip that we’ve taken in the past. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The HI-LIGHTS (get it
‘HI’ as in Hawaii?! VERY clever if I do say so myself).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">*We had a couple of
days of snorkeling which we did in the lagoon at the main Hilton resort. This
worked out super well since we didn’t have to worry about big waves/open water,
but we still had the benefit of seeing all sorts of fish and sea turtles! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">*We had a day at the
beach – Kayliana, especially loved body surfing on the waves. When we rounded the corner and saw the beach
below, she gasped and said, “It’s the beach of my dreams – with the blue, the sand,
the palm trees, the people!” We stopped to get a picture of the ‘beach of her
dreams.’ <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">*Mike and I enjoyed an
unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime - happy 15<sup>th</sup>
Anniversary/Valentine’s Day/Mike’s birthday to us – couples’ seaside
massage. While we laid there peeking out
beyond the canvas cabana walls at the turquoise blue sea, I could see
occasional whale spouts and flashes of black fin off in the distance. MAG.I.CAL. to say the least. I felt so
blessed and so spoiled. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">*We enjoyed many
afternoons just relaxing and swimming at our hotel’s pool and hot tub with
poolside bar and (on one evening) – live music at sunset.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> *One of my favorite parts of the trip was
having my coffee on the deck in the morning. It was the perfect temperature and
just so peaceful. Even the memories are bliss-filled (and smell like delicious
Hawaiian coffee accompanied by a piece of dark chocolate).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">*We all enjoyed the dinner
luau we attended – especially the fire dancers and tropical cocktails! Even the
boys have reminisced about their [virgin] Lava Flows.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">*We spent a day
driving across the island. We saw Rainbow Falls, ate at a local
hole-in-the-wall, popular Hawaiian diner for lunch, and then drove out to see
the active volcano! VERY cool (or
actually hot. Not that we got close enough to feel it, mind you).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">*Our last day was
spent lounging by the pool and having one last delicious poolside beverage and shopping at the waterfront market in Kona.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">* Our final Hawaiian
dinner was spent with my sweet friend Jessica – a fellow musician and music
teacher – who lives on the big island with her hubby and adorable 4 year old
son. Jessica and I became friends in middle school and attended symphony camp
together way back when. SO amazing to see how our lives have changed and so fun
to get together!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">We took a red-eye
home. Landed Monday morning at 5:30am. It was snowing. We had two hours to get
Zach home, showered, changed, packed-gear collected and ready to depart for
three days of fifth grade camp. (Yes, in February. In the Pacific Northwest. In
the snow). We’d all gotten about 3 hours
of sleep. Mike and Matthew both had bad
stomachaches. Kayliana got into bed with her coat and bedroom light on and fell
immediately asleep. So, I got Zachary off (he was the only one of us alert and
chipper). I returned home and napped for a couple of hours before I drove out
to teach two Montessori music classes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The weather had been
weird all day – off and on snowing but not sticking – and occasionally hailing.
The sky was super dark and cranky. One of the teachers said the weather had “PMS”
and just couldn’t make up her mind, but she was pissed. So true.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">It was hailing as I
came out of class at 4pm. I called Mike and said I was going to attempt a quick
Costco run since we’d depleted most groceries before our trip. Costco was just
at the bottom of the hill from my Montessori campuses (and 25 minutes from
home). I made it through the store – grabbing the necessities – and was at
check-out within 40 minutes (pretty good for a huge Costco run). The store was
pretty quiet though…because other people were smart and got the heck home before
things got crazy. I glanced outside and
saw that things had gotten crazy. REALLY crazy. There were two inches of snow
and it was still coming down like CRAZY. Real crazy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I pushed the fully
loaded cart through the snow – a challenge! I got the groceries loaded and
noticed the lady next to me had started her car to warm it up. Smart. I put my
purse on the passenger seat, turned on the car, hit the unlock button and then closed
the door to go return my empty car. That’s
when my sleep-deprived foggy brain replayed what had just happened and I
realized I’d hit “Lock” and not “Unlock.” SUCKY!!!!! (And maybe some other
choice words were mumbled).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">THANKFULLY I had my
cell phone in my pocket. I was remaining calm – even asked the Costco greeters
at the front door if anyone wanted to be a ‘hero’ and help me out – no takers;
other than making the suggestion to call AAA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I called Mike…and
that’s when my ability to ‘handle’ it and remain calm fell apart. I sobbed, “I
turned the car on and locked the door! I’m locked out of the car with the car
ON and it’s snowing and I locked the car and…it’s snowing and no one’s going to
help me…and it’s snowing and I locked the car and the engine is on...” He got the point. But there wasn’t anything
he could do for me. He was home with the extra key, but also with a stomach bug
and a minivan that spins out in a puddle! He gave me the number for AAA.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I called them and was
thanked for my 14 years of paid membership but was told, “Um, it’s Monday at
5:30pm. In Seattle. And it’s snowing. No one can come help you for…hours. Don’t you have someone else that can bring
you the key?” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Just then, Mike
called back to say our neighbor Erik had stopped by to see if Kayli wanted to
play in the snow with his daughter. Mike told him what was going on with me and
Erik stuck out his hand and said that <i>he’d
</i>bring me our extra key. In, his
4-wheel drive, suv, it took Erik over an hour to make the 20ish minute drive. We got the car opened, drove to the gas
station just to refill my tank and then Erik had me follow him home since he
knew the best/least steep/congested/abandoned-car filled streets. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Like a good neighbor,
Erik was there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">And THAT was how we
spent our first day back after a week in paradise!</span></div>
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My favorite morning coffee spot.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo3VwXK0bTxZROpmCtevWzY_22KtkTdc-0WSn5o3bUm85Hihb8xA2uSw60D2cxnMHCAueBMsRHSGi3WlYwTsJzqLB5XhXB1whGgX8qzcyk6ifNlI_ttuJyBsUopBl2gPQ_uRXB9w/s1600/20170222_095829.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo3VwXK0bTxZROpmCtevWzY_22KtkTdc-0WSn5o3bUm85Hihb8xA2uSw60D2cxnMHCAueBMsRHSGi3WlYwTsJzqLB5XhXB1whGgX8qzcyk6ifNlI_ttuJyBsUopBl2gPQ_uRXB9w/s320/20170222_095829.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Super windy on our first day - but warm and sunny, so who the heck cared?!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioQERtP6RxmObW5o_68AkgSR47gZo2Ey-tKnHZOcCxaeaOAS8geJmYolFIsCjqABBljXjgJ_izEYAxb6N8dhBvsxMd_tCY3zKu9OgtCJsM1nADPSHZdK3a-6gFdYL4cDQQxjVJnA/s1600/20170222_104024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioQERtP6RxmObW5o_68AkgSR47gZo2Ey-tKnHZOcCxaeaOAS8geJmYolFIsCjqABBljXjgJ_izEYAxb6N8dhBvsxMd_tCY3zKu9OgtCJsM1nADPSHZdK3a-6gFdYL4cDQQxjVJnA/s320/20170222_104024.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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At the resort</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheKUDH6QB1PoCoaQSg7Fu9Kb3nRxkdPAKA4z4PjnSZJtvi1D3nzKaO2v9q_7IxxvVL-FEa-4S21uyFicUhTGU0edlNuRX17GtmTEyhJC8CPyOSZM4hCwrnIKgSpW8S78ZY_P05AQ/s1600/20170222_105849.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheKUDH6QB1PoCoaQSg7Fu9Kb3nRxkdPAKA4z4PjnSZJtvi1D3nzKaO2v9q_7IxxvVL-FEa-4S21uyFicUhTGU0edlNuRX17GtmTEyhJC8CPyOSZM4hCwrnIKgSpW8S78ZY_P05AQ/s320/20170222_105849.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The snorkle-friendly lagoon</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcTt5P9kdKsflBR11lwQXCyeyzh-R25_A7EvEo14XCPRZeX6oSFUnlUwiF1B7Y9gguPrmbzxnpSFcRgJQRwzqyGowsAymNIBhXvF4r6uOSuh_JAWAGwVuqOsvZor1kfCZD6-uPVA/s1600/20170222_110742.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcTt5P9kdKsflBR11lwQXCyeyzh-R25_A7EvEo14XCPRZeX6oSFUnlUwiF1B7Y9gguPrmbzxnpSFcRgJQRwzqyGowsAymNIBhXvF4r6uOSuh_JAWAGwVuqOsvZor1kfCZD6-uPVA/s320/20170222_110742.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXfUht-AH3vw-_xxnISiI8rG1Ld1BT8tbV5oILeT1XJmF_sar0mHd6XfAXI70dUOG0U66ZYOX4w5dHqXuoD1DPSNQycgIB7qJnDL0LU8nbzSESIdovpl6D2yL_qfRhYDeEcSh0bw/s1600/20170222_134408.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXfUht-AH3vw-_xxnISiI8rG1Ld1BT8tbV5oILeT1XJmF_sar0mHd6XfAXI70dUOG0U66ZYOX4w5dHqXuoD1DPSNQycgIB7qJnDL0LU8nbzSESIdovpl6D2yL_qfRhYDeEcSh0bw/s320/20170222_134408.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ORM6fuaL99hpIsNjwEWUD-up_yjy7wdo0tqrIW6lPx7NW7cr6tXjyzIq_IYXT56kR-7g2EcOVyorCEJEw7HFB4v_ESnjQzTOFT4YVjQDxO9BgLeScTU6cm1nghwyTeL3L-mniQ/s1600/20170222_134710.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1ORM6fuaL99hpIsNjwEWUD-up_yjy7wdo0tqrIW6lPx7NW7cr6tXjyzIq_IYXT56kR-7g2EcOVyorCEJEw7HFB4v_ESnjQzTOFT4YVjQDxO9BgLeScTU6cm1nghwyTeL3L-mniQ/s320/20170222_134710.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The beach of Kayliana's dreams!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieGbevS49888qLXoEeuS9T0RHCGa_g5ShXntLF-fB7LoRXq-72d4oOZBOFLurHAMcI1gkp8SVUUccqV2QeuyT2Wl-xjqWfIrurIdKpL-3uEGJSmgYsAC_6tabqvBPGr59SOfivXA/s1600/20170223_134140.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieGbevS49888qLXoEeuS9T0RHCGa_g5ShXntLF-fB7LoRXq-72d4oOZBOFLurHAMcI1gkp8SVUUccqV2QeuyT2Wl-xjqWfIrurIdKpL-3uEGJSmgYsAC_6tabqvBPGr59SOfivXA/s320/20170223_134140.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAdouNemmdgNa1f9n51UneIOqwOZjgNYIMhle329pXJB1rJGFEffhoRI5VTO0uRvUPOQbopmgRQKL92arVNut0GuWomCLtvD9gGaph9fyIRfgJ5tBfsgjDO7_5DNzik-LvO1_nrg/s1600/20170223_134808.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAdouNemmdgNa1f9n51UneIOqwOZjgNYIMhle329pXJB1rJGFEffhoRI5VTO0uRvUPOQbopmgRQKL92arVNut0GuWomCLtvD9gGaph9fyIRfgJ5tBfsgjDO7_5DNzik-LvO1_nrg/s320/20170223_134808.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
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This also happened to be the view from the massage cabana. Not too shabby, eh?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5AZSstnfXmnGk028eHk-8M2vWaYXM5Ha1UY95qIDtU85wT62VjO4_El3KEr-84hG5FqiAFch17HHGaUT8t6KLsoRWXcdY1JOKCwlgW1wwsx_HQUDxLvxWRYEDOPMIny-o5MJLxQ/s1600/20170224_153238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5AZSstnfXmnGk028eHk-8M2vWaYXM5Ha1UY95qIDtU85wT62VjO4_El3KEr-84hG5FqiAFch17HHGaUT8t6KLsoRWXcdY1JOKCwlgW1wwsx_HQUDxLvxWRYEDOPMIny-o5MJLxQ/s320/20170224_153238.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Luau ready!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifztjdu0X0REkzfIaiJX_jW_dVg8ukNEuv2YmiHfPP8EMBylhc1d1gMvlPbEKocZD5165YewiqkO5xnuEOZjRnVfOGvFv8kYWJv28VJd5hZ3_MKkCokBS2C7by_s3QvO1hzTpNkA/s1600/20170224_170333.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifztjdu0X0REkzfIaiJX_jW_dVg8ukNEuv2YmiHfPP8EMBylhc1d1gMvlPbEKocZD5165YewiqkO5xnuEOZjRnVfOGvFv8kYWJv28VJd5hZ3_MKkCokBS2C7by_s3QvO1hzTpNkA/s320/20170224_170333.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Ahh, happy times.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMNfxK2Hcs-1K5eXdC65B9qN7vRr8TWORkgeDVrbSQ2VFwWcnrptVOpbKSAOURHoii_ZDUrhcqF0WRvIQKevY3cTprRjCpvzaMnelUfGwNbshylzD9jNDa1JvNuEWURzafPrwRGw/s1600/20170224_172821.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMNfxK2Hcs-1K5eXdC65B9qN7vRr8TWORkgeDVrbSQ2VFwWcnrptVOpbKSAOURHoii_ZDUrhcqF0WRvIQKevY3cTprRjCpvzaMnelUfGwNbshylzD9jNDa1JvNuEWURzafPrwRGw/s320/20170224_172821.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Rainbow Falls - our last full day was overcast but still comfortable<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXh1nDrjTIZ2VKQI5p3sbH-5nG4X5zbsR08R7qEnd0TCZnxLNwnRlVi-1NoqIn67DeDte9LNYrUhrPeAUYnYHp5hwdmekeg51mjzZaSZdhzSlw0Eiie1hCU8Em-syjKF_PhOFBOA/s1600/20170225_123024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXh1nDrjTIZ2VKQI5p3sbH-5nG4X5zbsR08R7qEnd0TCZnxLNwnRlVi-1NoqIn67DeDte9LNYrUhrPeAUYnYHp5hwdmekeg51mjzZaSZdhzSlw0Eiie1hCU8Em-syjKF_PhOFBOA/s320/20170225_123024.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Volcano!</div>
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How we felt about having to leave!</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-75647880791527707752016-12-04T12:39:00.000-08:002016-12-04T12:39:03.118-08:00Exciting season!<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I asked Kayliana the
other day what she was going to ask Santa to bring for Christmas. Her response was a very detailed description
that went something like this, “A life size kangaroo that you can ride and it
has two buttons one that says <i>start</i>
and one that says <i>jump </i>and one that
says <i>stop.”</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">So, this doesn’t
actually exist. I told her that, seeing
as this is Santa’s busiest season, she might not be able to expect him to
invent a brand new toy right now; maybe she could come up with a back-up
option. She sighed and said, “Fine.
Playdoh.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Definitely thinks
outside the box, this one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Mike and I won’t be
asking for much, if anything. We just
spent October-November having a huge backyard project done. We had to have
two fifty feet long, four feet high, railroad tie walls removed and
rebuilt. The whole yard was excavated –
drainage added, terraced, sod installed, a tree removed, a pad for a shed put
in, new flower bed put in, new walls, gravel patio area for an outdoor kitchen
installed and a lower one for fire pit area, and a couple of staircases added
(including one that goes down into the ravine). The two guys that were here
every day were SO incredibly nice and did an incredible job. It’s so amazing and so exciting and the
photos really truly don’t do it justice! We feel so incredibly blessed that we were able (after 4 years of waiting and saving!) to have this project done. Such an amazing gift.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Here's some old/random before photos:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh18d1dDIuP84LDnPxaCiA-osLznCmitgjQM20kGk1zLcenK19-FdGr7gj_D4OSCLwM-tg0uBiAx4hei-tDe0H76QeaBTbrmCK_i4QxdX36T2jg6mQyozfQcp8GDi_L8_Ht0YqFOg/s1600/IMG_2157.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh18d1dDIuP84LDnPxaCiA-osLznCmitgjQM20kGk1zLcenK19-FdGr7gj_D4OSCLwM-tg0uBiAx4hei-tDe0H76QeaBTbrmCK_i4QxdX36T2jg6mQyozfQcp8GDi_L8_Ht0YqFOg/s320/IMG_2157.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5NXpFrnvmQKSsAilw4SZhdeu0nDEAcPPNw8RZfKmoHXwhRLmnNNMjqKnaoSlZkm9SvHkswC4s3VmfDIAJ2KKFhPV5f2Aer1e8KJ7j7EroNByXkdwkyGtFyFxXcqeBrLy86bTP-A/s1600/IMG_2668.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5NXpFrnvmQKSsAilw4SZhdeu0nDEAcPPNw8RZfKmoHXwhRLmnNNMjqKnaoSlZkm9SvHkswC4s3VmfDIAJ2KKFhPV5f2Aer1e8KJ7j7EroNByXkdwkyGtFyFxXcqeBrLy86bTP-A/s320/IMG_2668.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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And after!!! </div>
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Fence gone, new walls, stairs. </div>
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We may eventually add a gate where the brick fireplace is.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilDbS-v4a7Dv5nHDkmRCdXp_xzMP2lsuVGV-geFZ5Vmau7J7KfbrFmHfGglrJsO4c7RgCWGgX_cEXG6J05BTYrVmptuRl5PadzQzhiZVNpcYpyOz7legjI7o3CEFvEjD32J5EK0g/s1600/20161204_100326.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilDbS-v4a7Dv5nHDkmRCdXp_xzMP2lsuVGV-geFZ5Vmau7J7KfbrFmHfGglrJsO4c7RgCWGgX_cEXG6J05BTYrVmptuRl5PadzQzhiZVNpcYpyOz7legjI7o3CEFvEjD32J5EK0g/s640/20161204_100326.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Back beyond the BBQ, we're going to add an outdoor bar/counter/kitchen and seating area.</div>
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This used to be "grass" that was really just a sloping swamp for 9 months out of the year.</div>
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This flat black area is where a shed will go. Flat backyard!!</div>
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This area will have a fire pit and more seating.</div>
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The yard used to be at the height of the wall and then slope to this level. (The wall is almost 4 feet high, so that's how much they excavated).</div>
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My mom gave me the big vase/pot to paint as I pleased. </div>
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Already got a huge hydrangea (my favorite) from my friend's yard. And in the lower right corner of the new flowerbed, there's a "beautyberry." It has amazing bright purple berries and will grow 6 feet x 6 feet.</div>
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Future site of s'mores central!</div>
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Stairs up from the ravine.</div>
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All of the big rocks/boulders - the guys dug up when excavating the yard. Then they used it in landscaping.</div>
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The kids have already loved kicking the soccer ball against the flower bed wall. </div>
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A groundcover/trailing geranium will (hopefully) be growing/spilling out of the tipped pot.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM8pTB58qDWLErXlYS-zznz8cvk5ZNXbS6TTLKTTi8CjVhc0VLFNlXoph8zHcLNzypkhuNu5Qm-ah1UCevhQWjpuIM4gArnp5AurUwvaZkibKYrMMjZh0R-ArY7KDEtGKtTgxLzA/s1600/20161204_100144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM8pTB58qDWLErXlYS-zznz8cvk5ZNXbS6TTLKTTi8CjVhc0VLFNlXoph8zHcLNzypkhuNu5Qm-ah1UCevhQWjpuIM4gArnp5AurUwvaZkibKYrMMjZh0R-ArY7KDEtGKtTgxLzA/s640/20161204_100144.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-11609446891060271452016-11-16T17:09:00.001-08:002016-11-16T17:09:15.761-08:00Halloween 2016<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I better get this up
before it’s THANKSGIVING (a week away)! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Halloween was fun,
fun, fun. I love that we have at least two – usually three – events each year,
so we get a lot of wear out of our costumes.
I dusted off my prom dress to be a queen, Zachary was the Court Jester,
Mike was a knight, Kayliana – a dragon, and Matthew…an army man. (Yeah, it’s been a few years since he
participated in our family theme). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">We stopped by to see
my mom (Charlotte with her web and babies) and the library was all decked out –
perfect for a photo shoot!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK7zvOpueiFy0HfKqUVX4d2EwD1AaY307cXYsw9PG4jKe6kUl86FCPY1CgP8BYZGz9UOecsz-1jSRab1iDMoJjg4hNJlZgn8GdnXhomn3mlS891YKrako9GQphX_Yh017i8Vbo_Q/s1600/20161029_165629.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK7zvOpueiFy0HfKqUVX4d2EwD1AaY307cXYsw9PG4jKe6kUl86FCPY1CgP8BYZGz9UOecsz-1jSRab1iDMoJjg4hNJlZgn8GdnXhomn3mlS891YKrako9GQphX_Yh017i8Vbo_Q/s320/20161029_165629.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<o:p></o:p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-69064098136560912132016-09-15T15:43:00.000-07:002016-09-15T15:43:12.957-07:00August and half of September - done!<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 315.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">All of August, half
of September – done and done. And thus
ended the busiest (but possibly most fun!) summer we’ve ever had followed by
our craziest (and eventful!) back-to-school time ever. Phew!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">We started August
with Kayliana mastering two-wheels! (And
Mike and I both got about 59 more gray hairs…each).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">August 11<sup>th</sup>,
2016 was our 15<sup>th</sup> Anniversary. (FIFTEEN?!!). We celebrated with a family camping trip to
Lake Wenatchee State Park. It was a
lovely, laidback, long weekend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Happy Campers!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSNKLIcpsYHxD3ufIRkkU_DMI32uOjUuo7U1azPGQksiknt77m4DAp9WJ413XHg8Do30iZPgXTUIdur7AmCs1HDFeVqZ8YgB4x43qdR142ueiOV-AJOD4PdEhdqGQDipUVW3uU3g/s1600/Kayli+and+Mike+camping.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSNKLIcpsYHxD3ufIRkkU_DMI32uOjUuo7U1azPGQksiknt77m4DAp9WJ413XHg8Do30iZPgXTUIdur7AmCs1HDFeVqZ8YgB4x43qdR142ueiOV-AJOD4PdEhdqGQDipUVW3uU3g/s320/Kayli+and+Mike+camping.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Less than two weeks
later, Mike and I abandoned (lovingly) our children in the caring hands of our
besties – Jason and Rebecca. The next
morning Mike and I left on a jet plane for NEW ORLEANS – a combo Anniversary
and National Engaged Encounter Convention trip.
I’ve ALWAYS, ALWAYS wanted to go to New Orleans . With my French major and History and Music Minors…it’s
like New Orleans was MADE for me. Bucket
list, baby. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">A SeaTac selfie - SO excited to say the least!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtyjVi8hyURLVSjZKYcmU4Sx1qEDFgnDIKgeo_t6yivJHyWKglvIM7m3FrZJwcjtcHcMsZyh3vBJp-f9m5cEvlOSFM-Vwnyw3211yRhNUde5e-mPkfN3P2fRtw_sCXPyttKJJvPQ/s1600/Leaving+on+a+jet+plane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtyjVi8hyURLVSjZKYcmU4Sx1qEDFgnDIKgeo_t6yivJHyWKglvIM7m3FrZJwcjtcHcMsZyh3vBJp-f9m5cEvlOSFM-Vwnyw3211yRhNUde5e-mPkfN3P2fRtw_sCXPyttKJJvPQ/s320/Leaving+on+a+jet+plane.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">We landed at 10:30pm
(only 8:30pm our time) and immediately went with some of our great EE friends down
Bourbon Street to experience all the Bourbon Crazy…and the grown-up
slushies! </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSdrU34Mo9pAdrhTpqOQ8f9avbHAVRfINk0nFJIWe9s7C3pqIIgxLU0UWb44pkprv8xihGGK7WmKAJerbbm2splpqNp-Rap45O2CL7aQAxAyDrbYnUFJjTNdwrF42E9arcUrgP7A/s1600/Bourbon+Street.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSdrU34Mo9pAdrhTpqOQ8f9avbHAVRfINk0nFJIWe9s7C3pqIIgxLU0UWb44pkprv8xihGGK7WmKAJerbbm2splpqNp-Rap45O2CL7aQAxAyDrbYnUFJjTNdwrF42E9arcUrgP7A/s320/Bourbon+Street.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">The next morning, we
walked back down Bourbon to Café Beignet in Musical Legends Park. As we arrived the rain storm ceased, the
steamy humidity kicked back in, the sun broke through and - to the sounds of a live jazz band - we had our first beignets.
I teared up. Totally, totally
cried. It was a dream come true.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Later that morning,
we went with our friends to the Bayou for an airboat swamp tour. Holy stinkin’ Moly it was SO MUCH fun. The captain would slow the boat down, then
kill the fan and then feed the alligators marshmallows (probably not the
healthiest thing, but it brings ‘em to the boat). We saw tons of alligators including one that
was 12 feet long and a nest of two day old baby gators. Super fun!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Albino alligator!</div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">While seeing
alligators, tons of fantastic live bands and street musicians, the incredible
architecture and historical sites of New Orleans (not all at the same time) we
also managed to drink and eat our way through the place. We did it all – we ate alligator, gumbo,
jumbalaya, red beans and rice, muffaletta sandwiches, po’boys and, of course, plenty of beignets. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">The Engaged Encounter
Conventions are like a big family reunion and wonderful. We even had a marriage vow reaffirmation
ceremony at the Convention Saturday night before a bunch of us went out and
found yet another fantastic band.
Sigh. I miss NOLA already and
missed it the moment we left, but…</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">We missed the kiddos more
and couldn’t wait to see them. They’d been
handed off to my mom for the last part of our trip and were home, all set for
the beginning of school. The kids and I
had one last Summer hurrah and spent an
afternoon at the zoo, and then...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Monkeys at the zoo</div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">The boys started
September 1<sup>st</sup> (Matthew 7<sup>th</sup> grade and Zachary 5<sup>th</sup>
grade). Kayliana had to wait (oh, the
torture!) for September 7<sup>th</sup> for her first day of FULL DAY
KINDERGARTEN! She is SO happy and SO
loving school. She still claims that her
favorite part of each day is riding the bus.
She was SO freakishly excited to FINALLY step foot on that bus (after
years of watching the boys get to ride).
One of the best things is that Zach’s class is the 5<sup>th</sup>
grade buddy class to Kayli’s class, so they have two (out of three) recesses and
lunch together. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Needless to say,
Kayliana handled going to Kindergarten like a champ and I managed to just get
slightly-teary seeing her off on the first day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">In addition to school
starting, we had a couple of wonderful staycations with Jason & Rebecca including
a Labor Day weekend extravaganza with a birthday party to celebrate Matthew
turning 13. THIRTEEN. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Now, we have a teenager (who </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">finally </i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">got a cell phone –yikes!) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">AND three
kids in school all day every day.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">CRAZY
TIMES.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Summer’s come and
gone, back-to-school madness is simmering down…and now we’re already in the
thick of it! Here we go again!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-74662792703530286862016-08-02T08:49:00.002-07:002016-08-02T08:49:18.842-07:00July?! Check!<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Happy August – ahh! It’s the last month of summer
vacation already! Good thing we have
plans to make it a ridiculously fun (although busy) finale to this season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">July was over in a blink. We had a wonderful time though. We celebrated the 4<sup>th</sup> of July
(slash a VERY belated birthday for Zachary) at Great Wolf Lodge water park. We
had looked up height regulations before we left and saw that Kayliana was about
.25-.5 inches shy of the required 48 inches for the biggest slides, so…we
brought her ‘fake ID.’ I put a very
festive like-fireworks-exploding-out-of-her-head ponytail at the top of her
noggin and it did the trick. The girl
measuring her immediately put the coveted green bracelet on Kayli’s arm and off
we went to the very biggest, freakiest, fastest waterslide of them all: <i>The Howling Tornado</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Somehow, it was determined that Mike would
take Kayli in a tube and I would take the boys.
Well, according to Mike, due to the huge imbalance in their weights, as
soon as they hit the big dip/waterfall, Mike was tipped over backwards so much
and Kayli was up so high, he was sure they were going to flip over. Then, upon entering the huge funnel, where
you go UP-and-down, UP-and-down three
times through the rapids, on the last UP, Kayli yelled, “I CAN’T HOLD ON MUCH
LONGER!” Of course, they come out and
Mike was a little traumatized. He at
Kayli to see if she’s OK, and nano-seconds later, she has a huge grin on her
face and announced, “THAT WAS AWESOME!”
She ended up doing the Howling Tornado about 9 times throughout our 2
days in the park.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoZi_8oSKNC6zF1lI_L96Ap2mGyuXFOLKP5B1rlSDm7aptVssFKMPSbVetv7eoIpkw-g8KqGEeQELtS78FNdtQ_8uZayAGVCLUuEvDFEnMisAt1q7vOs0SWFbJswlA-sAF-N0oUg/s1600/20160704_121647.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoZi_8oSKNC6zF1lI_L96Ap2mGyuXFOLKP5B1rlSDm7aptVssFKMPSbVetv7eoIpkw-g8KqGEeQELtS78FNdtQ_8uZayAGVCLUuEvDFEnMisAt1q7vOs0SWFbJswlA-sAF-N0oUg/s400/20160704_121647.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCT9I8yIxp4oVK8iuUCSmtXMfNwYNfoJ-YtHv6WyiEKnm9IIOrUsZcRwfqGP1Tdv50RAzXs_UONo8vhVExZkGKgEOtGvem14IUkaqN9dwWSH7XQ5uKApNpN1A2fsH4UcTfZ70A8Q/s1600/20160704_121805.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCT9I8yIxp4oVK8iuUCSmtXMfNwYNfoJ-YtHv6WyiEKnm9IIOrUsZcRwfqGP1Tdv50RAzXs_UONo8vhVExZkGKgEOtGvem14IUkaqN9dwWSH7XQ5uKApNpN1A2fsH4UcTfZ70A8Q/s400/20160704_121805.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy5KkbRNRB6wyDEhJJqE3YXGGV_0XdL7KKDsJAFtWZxL_XGvaEFfpz_faU1WCBscLQVZidmcGvylBsi3WoCJHs9BkWvKeaWkWwzcjhur0vM_t5m30dsyrDz4mYDTOlMl1axJfQrg/s1600/20160704_122904.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy5KkbRNRB6wyDEhJJqE3YXGGV_0XdL7KKDsJAFtWZxL_XGvaEFfpz_faU1WCBscLQVZidmcGvylBsi3WoCJHs9BkWvKeaWkWwzcjhur0vM_t5m30dsyrDz4mYDTOlMl1axJfQrg/s400/20160704_122904.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In addition to the waterslides, Zach got a ‘magic’ wand that could interact with ‘magic quest’ screens throughout the hotel.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">He loved it.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Kayli and I joined a lobby dance party in the evening.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">And we all watched in pseudo-fear as the lobby-display of freaky, creepy animatronics came to life and repeatedly sang, “There’s nothing to be scared of…here.” </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">(Matthew leaned over and said, “Uh, yeah, except to be scared of you guys.”)</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The people-watching and the constant tattoos-on-parade were an equally fascinating and entertaining visual.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">We all had a great time and even managed to watch some fireworks out of our hotel room window before collapsing in bed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">A couple of weeks
later, the boys left for a week of sleep-away camp. My calendar reads that the week they were
gone, I was going to declutter and organize and catch up on a year’s worth of
music class lesson planning. I did get
some lesson plans done, but that was about it. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_z7rV6DDt6cO_2lf0p3MZ5F3UOzRXdG12epu9c-gS2lvrfZcGm3QX8DZ2McaYlxi-PNykJ5_fgjXARuMqxbuKo1lAD1AB5rQxL51kRz2jdbn7qEod4ZPA0u_DhtqEiiLInZ14YA/s1600/20160717_172348.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_z7rV6DDt6cO_2lf0p3MZ5F3UOzRXdG12epu9c-gS2lvrfZcGm3QX8DZ2McaYlxi-PNykJ5_fgjXARuMqxbuKo1lAD1AB5rQxL51kRz2jdbn7qEod4ZPA0u_DhtqEiiLInZ14YA/s400/20160717_172348.jpg" width="300" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">Kayli learned to ride her bike without training wheels – gasp! – the day before the boys left for camp, so that’s all she wanted to do.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">Seeing as we live on the side of a pretty steep hill, the only safe(ish) place for her to ride is the bottom of our street.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">I managed to take her out every day that the boys were away.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">(So, yay mom-choice, boo-lack of visible ‘to-do’s’ accomplished.)</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">We also had a few
(smallish) trees taken down in our ravine and all of them trimmed up.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">It looks so much better and thanks to the tree
chips left behind from the work, we even have a level, cleared out play-space
at the bottom now.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The kids have been
having a great time playing down there and working on building a lean-to
fort.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I’ve also been having landscape
companies come in to give us bids on the huge project we need to do in the
backyard.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">(Excavate, level, terrace, put
in drainage, remove railroad tie retaining walls, build garden brick walls, put
in gravel for an outdoor kitchen and firepit spot, etc.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">A HUGE project – and pricey-pricey – to say
the least)!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">We’re pretty sure we’ve
decided which company will do the work and now it’s just a matter of saving up
money for a couple more months before pulling the trigger.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">(Ideally the work needs to get done before
the super rainy late fall-early winter arrives).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I took both boys in
for orthodontic consultation. Zachary
will be having oral surgery on 8/22. He
has to have a baby tooth extracted, a cyst removed and biopsied, and a gold
chain attached to his permanent canine for pulling down in the future. (Hopefully it will move in on its own but
that’s doubtful and orthodontia will likely be required). I think the gold gear in his mouth will
really boost his hip-hop/rapping career.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">And Matthew won the
orthodontic lottery and will require everyone’s favorite: braces AND
headgear. (“At home-head gear” – cuz,
you know, it’s all PC now, and they wouldn’t dream of subjecting a kid to
wearing headgear out in public). There’s
no way we can afford to have both boys in fancy mouth-metal at the same time,
so, we may just flip a coin or choose our favorite kid and that one gets the
nice set ‘o teeth. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">On the books, for
this last month: a staycation with our besties (aka a “clancation”), our 15<sup>th</sup>
wedding anniversary and family camping trip, and then Mike and I head to New
Orleans for the National Engaged Encounter convention AND our anniversary
get-away. (Kids are ecstatic as they’ll
be staying with the besties and then grandma too). WHEW!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-37747312657076637632016-07-03T11:37:00.002-07:002016-07-03T11:37:41.833-07:00June Overview/Review<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">School<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">This picture right here, pretty much
demonstrates how our big push to the end of the school year felt.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Matthew literally fell asleep moments after
walking in the door post-bus drop-off, backpack still on.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">He worked his tail off to get through his
first year of middle school and did awesome – straight A’s!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">We’re all happy the school year is done.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Kayliana graduated from
pre-Kindergarten.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">She’s very excited to
be joining the boys in full-day, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">bus-taking school livin’.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Business
Venture<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Kayliana started a rock-painting
business. We’ve named it “Rockin’ Art.” She made this “creepy clown” and announced
that Uncle Timothy should buy it for either “$50 or $10,000.” He has yet to complete the transaction. She started taking her rocks door-to-door and
made over $3 in her first day. The boys
quickly realized she was on to something with this plan and immediately joined
the family business. Matthew announced
that Kayli should be the main salesperson though seeing as “she’s cute and can
sell more.” He thought a 60-40 split
seemed fair. (Sales-lady would earn a
40% commission). So far, their primary
focus has been on production and they’ve spent several afternoons
painting. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">The Creepy Clown rock</span></span></div>
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Some of Kayli's creations</div>
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The Rockin' Artists at work</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0_fotO2lcK3z8TuNusj4rvjO4lmEUqrkXG5PtQGWLv0pV-hZprhOjrqSb_eNKVKudBuvPweIoyAsZUCTtYAAN19jtUpGhiLhrv59gL33_1m6C8vperloub20B4VwrkfwdCdadQA/s1600/20160608_175606.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0_fotO2lcK3z8TuNusj4rvjO4lmEUqrkXG5PtQGWLv0pV-hZprhOjrqSb_eNKVKudBuvPweIoyAsZUCTtYAAN19jtUpGhiLhrv59gL33_1m6C8vperloub20B4VwrkfwdCdadQA/s320/20160608_175606.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Brief
Pet<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I discovered this little guy hanging out on
our hose wheel. Matthew immediately ran
inside grabbed a vase (of all things!) and built “Winston” a little
habitat. For 24 hours this poor little
creature lived in confusion in a vase (with a poked-holy syran-wrap roof) on
our kitchen table. On the 2<sup>nd</sup>
day, he was looking awfully sad. Winston
had lost his bright green glow and was looking a bit blah-green. We discussed how he needed food. For some reason, the boys went in search of
bugs and managed not to find a-one.
Really?! Even with the woods
behind us and the bug-eaten leaves in my pathetic attempt at a garden? After doing some Google-research, the next
thing I know, the boys are sprinkling bacon bits into the vase.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">“Um, what are you doing?” I ask.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">“Well, it said that frogs like meat. We thought we’d give him some bacon,” Zach
logically explained. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">“Riiiight, so guys, I think we need to set
Winston free….” I start.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The confused and terrified frog, was now
crouched in the vase wondering what the heck kind of strange land he’d found
himself in. A place where it rains
bacon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The kids agreed and we put the vase on its
side in the yard. Winston VERY quickly
hopped out and scurried away from the bacon-captivity madness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Yesterday, when I went to water my straggly
vegetables, I was startled to discover Winston, happily bright-green again and
clinging to his favorite spot on our hose.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1vlsWu3V8eiId0_NcsJRvGSiD5QG2FqfH_OTBIiHDIO048AG1KT3WRH9bRwx7WjC7TtaL3xuVNmQ3jHDtt4S0sTfxFEq8yEQdvSE_DgG2vbBDy9tHVuzpBmvOFmWQWfHb2kUVUA/s1600/20160601_173354.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1vlsWu3V8eiId0_NcsJRvGSiD5QG2FqfH_OTBIiHDIO048AG1KT3WRH9bRwx7WjC7TtaL3xuVNmQ3jHDtt4S0sTfxFEq8yEQdvSE_DgG2vbBDy9tHVuzpBmvOFmWQWfHb2kUVUA/s320/20160601_173354.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhBbOefbxSdEr_VWDs5QHA6wAO7OlXyACuTlxyA9RJEp06ZxHe2MBxo0w7TYtWzRO8ERjqX4r4Q758eW5muGvlPBB_XPZzOoQ5iBgKxz8xvRnR7vLiV-b8FY0a9YkSj2PqLyAmxQ/s1600/20160602_075608.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhBbOefbxSdEr_VWDs5QHA6wAO7OlXyACuTlxyA9RJEp06ZxHe2MBxo0w7TYtWzRO8ERjqX4r4Q758eW5muGvlPBB_XPZzOoQ5iBgKxz8xvRnR7vLiV-b8FY0a9YkSj2PqLyAmxQ/s320/20160602_075608.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Excitement<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">June brought some exciting events. Zach was in another Youth Theater play – this
time <i>James and the Giant Peach.</i> He was one of the narrators.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">I was blessed with the chance to experience a
miracle - the birth of my best friend Rebecca’s 3</span></span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">rd</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> daughter (and 5</span></span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
child) Maria Grace on June 13</span></span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">.
She’s perfect.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOjlCRP8KLvt6DI9hk_IH72ZxJDVD6t0ts7S61aabvAOqIuqWLfBE8Zo1kCCZBwHDnjgmqZd1BZSFcBTlmyLderi0O62ScAa73Txb8WlSEDx585LRGuPHER2iG30FFCMxMojNPOg/s1600/20160620_115510.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOjlCRP8KLvt6DI9hk_IH72ZxJDVD6t0ts7S61aabvAOqIuqWLfBE8Zo1kCCZBwHDnjgmqZd1BZSFcBTlmyLderi0O62ScAa73Txb8WlSEDx585LRGuPHER2iG30FFCMxMojNPOg/s320/20160620_115510.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">On June 16<sup>th</sup>, I was in charge of
the Kindergarten graduation at my big school.
They boomwhacked Ode to Joy (beginner and advanced version), Star Wars
and Pomp and Circumstance. They did
AMAZING! They also sang <i>An Irish Blessing</i>
which – I’m sad to say, after tons of practicing and fabulous run-throughs –
somehow turned out to be a major train wreck.
Oh well. It’s done! First crazy school year teaching at 4
different preschools – DONE! Their practice can be watched here: <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkaKkCMDyT0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkaKkCMDyT0</a>. They did even WAY better at the actual graduation!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">We spent a weekend at Lake Cavanagh with our
Engaged Encounter family/friends. We
rented a big house and had a BLAST. Mike
gave the kids rock-skipping lessons.
Matthew (aka Mini-Mike) has gotten quite good!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn29XicA3cGgBznxpzXI9BN4PLkkMhsu9amKD7TG5tQMQnq2uMOJQmHUZLwbZ-dHd-Z4aAEgnEk8EVe3faLA2xopzvcqqPYm-SonZ6C-XJjwFn02B-C94d6UipErYwA6xEFoC-LA/s1600/20160624_164950.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn29XicA3cGgBznxpzXI9BN4PLkkMhsu9amKD7TG5tQMQnq2uMOJQmHUZLwbZ-dHd-Z4aAEgnEk8EVe3faLA2xopzvcqqPYm-SonZ6C-XJjwFn02B-C94d6UipErYwA6xEFoC-LA/s320/20160624_164950.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Zachary and I got sassy short summer haircuts.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3gXRM_BVPCuJMmq0ND0CM5KyMRHMgffHDWuLd0PorxMNSzrPW7_UokqW0bqcG0Pb3XcDAmjzhyphenhyphenJyD-mUaA4hIs9RJYbZY5F6torQp8AZmoMrptn6RX4kpAjqC1tMVOqrR8j6Kgg/s1600/20160628_174316.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3gXRM_BVPCuJMmq0ND0CM5KyMRHMgffHDWuLd0PorxMNSzrPW7_UokqW0bqcG0Pb3XcDAmjzhyphenhyphenJyD-mUaA4hIs9RJYbZY5F6torQp8AZmoMrptn6RX4kpAjqC1tMVOqrR8j6Kgg/s320/20160628_174316.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">We’re spending the 4<sup>th</sup> of July
celebrating Zach’s 10<sup>th</sup> birthday (back on April 28<sup>th</sup>)
with a trip to Great Wolf Lodge water park.
Since we’ll be inside and will miss the fireworks, we took the boys to
the Mariner’s game on Friday night, July 1<sup>st</sup>. They won – woohoo! It was a GREAT game. And afterwards they had a patriotic fireworks
show. Zach and I were FREAKING out with
how amazing it was! (Mike and Matthew
were also there but – as usual – quite more subdued in their reaction).</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2s1bsxy6spYsI1bWvXDDXApMUvPHQyaU6Z5sn3Q1sxYMg8prDEi46awHXHY9bAFfAH6nu0zQFczqYRqgCOX950-sJQe_DTAuMav4DhRI1zD7TY7igEbGwxf_rjO6VXQiBRGCALg/s1600/20160701_221217.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2s1bsxy6spYsI1bWvXDDXApMUvPHQyaU6Z5sn3Q1sxYMg8prDEi46awHXHY9bAFfAH6nu0zQFczqYRqgCOX950-sJQe_DTAuMav4DhRI1zD7TY7igEbGwxf_rjO6VXQiBRGCALg/s320/20160701_221217.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Happy 4<sup>th</sup> of July! God Bless America!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-69876333267889306892016-05-21T11:11:00.001-07:002016-05-21T11:15:10.970-07:00My girl<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Kayliana
has many different personalities (like not the needing-to-be-diagnosed kind),
there’s just a lot goin’ on in that girl!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">She’s
playing softball t-ball. She’s on that
super intense cut-throat team, the <i>Blue
Butterflies</i>. They play other frightening
sounding teams like the <i>Pink Puppies</i>
and <i>Purple Penguins.</i> We were supposed to face the foreboding <i>Yellow Honeybees</i> this morning, but got
rained out.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw184b0xS7VDK6iVganSiXWo-U9UiLOcYPbePS_ZHNmJb4E0ctStajtowUXZIsCQCfmtsYlJQQ4EEO0dPVrwg1DTX_1pzw58hKpmRjDea3al2NNJTpiuKVJPF8aCixvM4E3AXQcw/s1600/IMG_6237.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw184b0xS7VDK6iVganSiXWo-U9UiLOcYPbePS_ZHNmJb4E0ctStajtowUXZIsCQCfmtsYlJQQ4EEO0dPVrwg1DTX_1pzw58hKpmRjDea3al2NNJTpiuKVJPF8aCixvM4E3AXQcw/s320/IMG_6237.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Most days, Kayli would rather be in
workout-type clothes (or something cheetah print so she can pretend to be one
all day). But every once in a while –
and it’s gotta be on <i>her</i> terms – she wants
to get super girly, be in a dress, and occasionally (occasionally!) I’ll do a
little makeup for her. (If we’re not
going anywhere important – like school or church). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Kayliana’s been in ballet/tap all year. The whole year is basically one long
rehearsal for the recital that is…tomorrow!
Wednesday night was the dress rehearsal and Kayli was SO excited to <i>finally </i>get to wear her costume and –
yippee! – makeup! I’ll admit I a little
bit freaked out with the cuteness. It
might be our first AND last year of ballet, so I just tried to thoroughly enjoy
it. Kayli hasn’t been <i>all </i>that into dance class (despite begging
to do it for a while). Like other
sports, she doesn’t want to practice she just wants to play in the big game or
dance on the big stage. But the big moment
is nearly here.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh40s_ix67fKZ4P4McQEMkI-KzmikT_90mUZwP5dRKp3XvtGvivTRKpXH7Ibl2LT7iLo3bjcj96Q7JyEmFYGZjN_6WuisQTnmWPEjD09aJsndLFdRh3-QRMeTIl3VjOvMFeacHpWQ/s1600/20160518_182324.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh40s_ix67fKZ4P4McQEMkI-KzmikT_90mUZwP5dRKp3XvtGvivTRKpXH7Ibl2LT7iLo3bjcj96Q7JyEmFYGZjN_6WuisQTnmWPEjD09aJsndLFdRh3-QRMeTIl3VjOvMFeacHpWQ/s320/20160518_182324.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the way home from rehearsal she gasped and
said, “I have to pee! I have to pee! I have to pee!” We were about 8 minutes from home, but only 2
from a McDonalds. Dreading the possible
disaster of an accident in THE costume, I quickly decided to stop at the Golden
Arch’s restroom facilities. Of course,
she got all sorts of admiring ooh’s and ahh’s and looks as we hustled into the
bathroom. When we were in the bathroom
she asked if we might get a treat of some sort.
I quickly caved wanting to celebrate our fun evening as well. I said that we could pick up three chocolate
chip cookies and take two home to the boys.
(And she wouldn’t be eating hers until she was out of her costume at
home!) </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">She got excited and said, “At least they’ll
be free!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I said, “What do you mean?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">She gestured to herself up and down and said,
“I mean, look at me!” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">“Um, so you think you’ll get free stuff ‘cuz
you look pretty?!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">“Yep!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Oh geez.
Help us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Kayli was a little excited about getting
cookies. She started acting like a
monster (or crazy person or who knows what) and thoroughly enjoyed playing to
the crowd in McD’s.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwYZE7YM2SSHgOyZJ9WcgOjWQJsO_BiUvBG9RleWV5MqON-vS93z9tT21IUvzDDaoA2ZLpaLlUr99c' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-73208850219125873732016-05-17T07:47:00.003-07:002016-05-17T07:47:54.712-07:00May!<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Yeah,
yeah, yeah. It’s been a while. I really haven’t figured out a way
to add time to my days yet. I even say
that to the kids (especially Zachary – when he starts whining about not having
enough time to do something). I always
say, “Sorry, but I can’t add time to the world.” Really wish I could.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Anyway,
here’s a fun project that we did make time for recently. Zach has wanted to make a fairy garden for
quite a while. We spent Mother’s Day
morning going to thrift stores and craft stores to stock up on goods. I think the most fun find was what he used
for the little brick walkway. It’s one
of those stones that you heat in the oven for keeping your bread warm. Clever kid.
It was a fun project and a good distraction from the other busy
activities.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQXvJGzJTqgUSw9bE1VYePZN22oDZ1IlycVePEtjT0cxfGIsKhnpuFaL1Pw3sMisjvmT92z3X4sTxKSQrSNr1uXLIfSkF80pEF0Ej9liw8lIbKtzpTpPblF15DsLPTW-65gkbaKQ/s1600/20160508_195521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQXvJGzJTqgUSw9bE1VYePZN22oDZ1IlycVePEtjT0cxfGIsKhnpuFaL1Pw3sMisjvmT92z3X4sTxKSQrSNr1uXLIfSkF80pEF0Ej9liw8lIbKtzpTpPblF15DsLPTW-65gkbaKQ/s320/20160508_195521.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Let’s
see, what all’s gone on? Zach turned
10. (We’ll be celebrating this summer with
a family overnight at Great Wolf Lodge – swim amusement park place. Matthew made him this epic birthday card with
“Zach Sparrow” instead of “Jack Sparrow.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqT-F9MjWHj7ZQs6NHSWzYA4650SqGcx236Nu9JkWg7KQV5iJYZupkDWBZo8qny3B2vh2naMASkBhFyYb6HC-WAK3n4JNVOQlNPHoHBaMINiz0_ECyQJpcfOQIuijjn2US1JYTuw/s1600/20160429_205514.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqT-F9MjWHj7ZQs6NHSWzYA4650SqGcx236Nu9JkWg7KQV5iJYZupkDWBZo8qny3B2vh2naMASkBhFyYb6HC-WAK3n4JNVOQlNPHoHBaMINiz0_ECyQJpcfOQIuijjn2US1JYTuw/s320/20160429_205514.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Kayliana
turned 5.5years old. She’s one of the
youngest on her softball t-ball team.
(The ominous sounding “Blue Butterflies.”) She’s holding her own though! I told her that – seeing as Matthew hung up
his bat and retired from baseball after last season, that – while it’s totally
up to her – she WILL love softball and WILL play through college. She graduates from preschool next week. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Matthew
is still taking trumpet lessons and tries out this week to be bumped up to the
7</span><sup>th</sup><span style="font-size: 10pt;">/8</span><sup>th</sup><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> grade band next year.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">He’s worked his butt off in 6</span><sup>th</sup><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
grade and currently has all A’s!</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">He’s
starting to show some serious maturity (a requirement before he gets a
cellphone for his 13</span><sup>th</sup><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> birthday) and – miracle of all miracles! – I found
him doing dishes without anyone telling him to.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">He also babysits Kayli once a week while I take Zach to his acting
class.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">So far, I’ve only received a
handful of tear-infused, frustrated-with-her phone calls.</span></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Mom had a
full knee replacement a few weeks ago.
My brother Timothy and I took turns being her coach and
helper-outter. I’ll admit it was almost
a vacation to stay in her quiet apartment and pick up meals from the restaurant
in her building. Not a bad gig. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Mike,
Zach and I all got to attend the Broadway-touring show of <i>Newsies.</i> It was SO stinkin’ amazing. Geez. It
was a nice break for Mike and I who have both been working A LOT.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Meanwhile,
my kindergartners put on their own astounding performance – a dramatic
retelling of <i>Going on a Bear Hunt</i>
complete with some fun songs I added in.
Now, we focus on preparing for their Kindergarten graduation. They will play three songs on Boomwhackers –
Ode to Joy, Star Wars and Pomp and Circumstance. Then they’ll sing this touching number (and
play bells while making their parents shed sentimental tears): <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orNjdrbJAKE&index=1&list=PLJ9ssphVKe02jkbDR7-CXT042f5vSZbZ6">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orNjdrbJAKE&index=1&list=PLJ9ssphVKe02jkbDR7-CXT042f5vSZbZ6</a>. Not my best singing/performance, but I wanted
to do it slowly and clearly enough for the Kindergartners to use for practice. Kayli has also really enjoyed making a cameo
in many of my videos – especially the dinosaur ones. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-41775048506279383712016-04-23T07:37:00.001-07:002016-04-23T07:37:15.263-07:00So very helpfulAnd here is a glimpse into my life (and why I typically make these when the kids aren't around): <b style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><a href="http://tinyurl.com/5SpringFlowers">http://tinyurl.com/5SpringFlowers</a></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-52809865015044920482016-04-06T22:01:00.001-07:002016-04-06T22:03:37.492-07:00On with the show<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">While
driving to the zoo, I overheard a conversation between Kayliana and her friend
Zoey.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Zoey,
says, “Do you have a boyfriend, Kayli?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Kayli
(thankfully!) replies, “No. You don’t
have boyfriends until you’re a teenager.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Then Zoey
says, “Oh, well, I have five….or ten.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Then the
conversation moves on to marriage.
Zoey says, “You get married and
then you kiss and go on your Honeymoon.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Kayli
adds, “Yep, and when you’re married all you do is smooch all day and take silly
pictures to send to each other.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I asked
Kayli, “Do daddy and I do that?” She
quickly responded in the affirmative.
Huh!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">So, this
past weekend was the Zach-show. Zachary
had a BIG weekend. He was in his first
real on-stage play! He’s done several
classes and camps where at the end they put on a mini (ten minute) production in
the classroom just for the parents, but this was the real deal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The show
was at the Youth Theater (right near where I grew up and close to where my mom
and brother Chris live). It was called “Cinderella
Rockin’ the 80’s” and it. Was. Awesome.
Totally cheesy, very much geared towards the parents in the crowd who actually
remember the 80’s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The first
night I went to pick Zach up from practice, the cast – including just one other
boy and a gaggle of giggly girls – were singing Cindi Lauper’s “Girls, Just
Wanna Have Fun.” They spent an entire
evening of rehearsal going through the script with the two directors explaining
every 80’s reference to these younguns.
(Honestly, I’m not sure the directors were old enough to have lived
through the 80’s, themselves). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Zach
landed the part of “Prince Cruise Swayze’s” sidekick Charles. Friday night – opening night – Zachary was a
perfect combo of nerves and excitement.
I was those plus a bit emotional.
Nearly our entire neighborhood showed up to cheer him on (post-bus stop
Happy Hour). We were all there plus my
mom and her friend. My oldest brother
Timothy came Friday night and Chris came Saturday night (with my mom again).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Now,
obviously I’m biased. But really, I feel
like sometimes I’m reversed biased. Because
they’re my kids, I’m actually a little more critical of them. Maybe I had (and am ashamed to admit)
slightly low expectations. From the few
times that Zach said a couple of his lines to me…well, I wasn’t expecting to be
wowed. But…No lie…No joke...No
exaggeration. He stole it. Took the show and ran…well, he and maybe 1 or
2 others. I’d say 3 of the performers
really carried it and he was easily the leader of the pack. I was so proud and just so super…impressed!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">We
celebrated afterwards by going out to ice cream with the whole fam – Grandma’s
treat. She pointed out that it was the
exact same Baskin and Robbins we went to after celebrating my first ever
opening night (of a middle school musical).
I realized that subconsciously I must’ve known this is ‘what we do’
since we went to Dairy Queen after Matthew’s first band concert back in
December.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">So, two
performance nights – Friday and Saturday and then Sunday brought a different
kind of ‘show.’ Zach altar served for
the first time at Mass! I was, once
again, a little nervous, but once again, very impressed. We – the rest of the family – were asked to
bring up the gifts for Communion. Super
special to bring up the gifts to Father Todd who then handed them over to
Zachary! Proud mama weekend for sure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimjE2a_FhoYSUROLBA-zKoaP7d38Yia86oYoflnlbmyscc95aX_ZZVzOVatKmIRT15MSfaQ6LfAqJ9OrFguiZ4Nb1Y9b3L6yc3sVxVn67pXovTc-g2l4NONu5V2kDw3aD4s1p09Q/s1600/20160402_194935.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimjE2a_FhoYSUROLBA-zKoaP7d38Yia86oYoflnlbmyscc95aX_ZZVzOVatKmIRT15MSfaQ6LfAqJ9OrFguiZ4Nb1Y9b3L6yc3sVxVn67pXovTc-g2l4NONu5V2kDw3aD4s1p09Q/s320/20160402_194935.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7nnPqr66KFML9n2LJIZdzznGAP0pepRKPvM9nd-uqAyiAwfYsek4GYYtGL_Ta0M-_voHN507YgXp78W_d007LHGAntX8Rj97rN2IyoYUNuTlu2JLMPAU-Ol0cPSJ77XFC87cI1A/s1600/20160403_120445.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7nnPqr66KFML9n2LJIZdzznGAP0pepRKPvM9nd-uqAyiAwfYsek4GYYtGL_Ta0M-_voHN507YgXp78W_d007LHGAntX8Rj97rN2IyoYUNuTlu2JLMPAU-Ol0cPSJ77XFC87cI1A/s320/20160403_120445.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Alas, not
to be outshined (outshone?!) by my own kid, I did the only thing any good mother would do – and
started a YouTube channel. Actually, it’s
something I’ve been planning on for a while.
And with the Kindergartners preparing for a little show for their
parents, the teachers asked if I might leave them with music to practice next week
(while I’m gone on Spring Break). I
thought – well, the easiest way would be to just sing it all out on video. I also did several drum videos. My primary goal with these is to help other
early childhood music educators. There
really just isn’t a lot out there, so I might as well start sharing some of my
tricks and tips. I plan to do playlists
for each of the different instruments we use and then playlists for all of my different
themed songs. After doing this
(toddler/preschool music-deal) for 12 years, I have a heck of a lot of ideas to
share. Maybe it’ll just be my mom who
watches them, but, whatever! It’s out
there. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGLgA1zhU4X-iNQl-nQ16uQ">Little Ditties Music Academy YouTube Channel</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-60875067495945626932016-03-06T08:35:00.000-08:002016-03-06T08:35:28.466-08:00Mid-Winter<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Last month,
we had our Mid-Winter Break. As a
much-more-workin’ mom, now, I was really looking forward to just being home
with the kids – maybe having a few fun outings and just getting some stuff
done. I’ll admit I was jealous of
the nonstop Facebook-photo parade of others spending their break in sunny CA or
Maui (seems like an insane amount of people went to Maui)…but, I <i>was</i> happy to be home…until our
Mid-Winter Break turned into Mid-Winter Bleak.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Zachary
woke up on day 1 with an ear infection – took him to the doctor to get
antibiotics and spent the first couple of days taking care of him. On day 2, Matthew woke up with pink eye –
took him to the doctor for antibiotics.
We were then basically quarantined for the rest of break. Kayli got to make her trip to the doctor when
we were concerned about a possible UTI.
She also, eventually, got the pink eye curse. On the day before we returned to school, we
did manage a successful family trip to the zoo.
After many days of lameness, this was the only highlight of Break by a
lot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">After our first week back at work ‘n school, Mike got the heck outta
here.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">He basically went as far away as
you possibly can.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> 7,415 miles away. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">He traveled on a
direct 14.5 hour long flight to DUBAI!!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The guy’s hardly been out of the country – Vancouver and Victoria B.C.
and a trip to Tijuana as a youth that he barely remembers! –and his first
international trip is to Dubai!!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">He
traveled with two other co-workers and met up with almost 30 other employees
of </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Wargaming</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> for a Tools Engineer
Summit.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">It certainly wasn’t all work
though.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">They visited two </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">enormous</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> malls (including the biggest
one in the world and one that has an indoor snow area with ski, snowboard
slopes and sledding).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">They went on a
boat tour and also saw endless parades of wealth (Ferrari’s, Lambourghini’s,
etc.).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">On their last night there, they
got to have dinner in the desert.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">There
was belly dancing entertainment, camel rides, a sand-dune 4x4 ride and Mike
attempted sand-boarding (but said the board needed to be waxed and he just sunk
down in the sand).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Talk about an
adventure!</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I managed to get all three kids off to three different schools
every day, get myself to work (I now teach 31 toddler/preschool music classes
each week), I hosted book club, attended an early parent-teacher conference,
and – maybe no shocker – by the end of the week came down with a cold. But I got through and I’m proud of me! But
exhausted and extra thankful that Mike is back home!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-90600005987105834292016-01-30T16:46:00.002-08:002016-01-30T16:46:40.547-08:00Love is in the Air<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Just.
Not. Enough. Time. (And I have yet to figure out how to mentally write
and post on this Blog. That would be very helpful and would ensure more Blog
updates). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">So, last
post was actually on Christmas (well over a month ago - boo). We had a
wonderful, great Christmas! Mia joined us on Christmas evening for gift
exchanging (she knows the kids so well and completely rocked with her
present-choices), dinner-eating and game-playing. We had such a wonderful
time. Mom took this picture for us. Zach is looking
especially...floral?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">We spent
December 26<sup>th</sup>, car shopping. Our sweet 'lil '98 Honda CRV was, in
fact, totaled from my December 3rd accident. We bought a 2013 Honda CRV. It’s a funky-fun 'Kona Coffee Metallic'
color. I'm a big fan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I'm still
getting treatment for my neck/shoulders/back injury from the accident. I
see the chiropractor once a week and get medical massage once a week. The
strains and sprains haven't ever been unbearably painful but are definitely
still present (I can't turn my head all the way to the right still) and
definitely bug me after my longest teaching days. The heating pad is just
permanently on the couch so I can use it daily. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">With
Valentine’s Day just around the corner, it’s only appropriate I update you on
the love lives of the Martin girls.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">First: me. I have a suitor. An admirer.
There’s a little chubby-cheeked 3 year old boy named Lawrence in one of
my classes. He hearts me. He loves me so much. He is so stinkin’ adorable. One day, one of
his teachers came down to tell me that Lawrence had nearly broken down in tears
when he asked about me and they’d had to break the news that that day was not a
Ms. Jenny/Music class day. His teacher
wanted to borrow a couple of maracas for him to shake just to tide him over ‘til
we next could jam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The next
day, when his class arrived, Lawrence ran in and threw his arms around my legs –
making sure to then sit as close to my stool as possible. After I passed out egg shakers and we were
about to start, I glanced down at his little smiling face. He gave me the slightest chin lift and kissed
the air twice. I started laughing and
said “Were those kisses for me?” He
grinned and said something like, “Oh yeah.”
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The
following week, I bedazzled my messy ponytail with a sparkly headband (you know,
trying to distract from my fatigue, etc.).
When Lawrence walked in, he opened his arms and said, “Ms. Jenny….QUEEN.” Too much.
Way too cute. That kid just makes my day – no matter what.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">As for
the younger girl in this house, Kayli is very busy making plans of her
own. As I reported in my (lengthy) post
on December 19<sup>th</sup> (last section titled <i>‘Kayli’s Betrothed’</i>) – she seems to be rather taken with this young
man at preschool named ‘Kruse’ (not ‘Cruise’ as I SO wrongly assumed). Well,
last week, I arrived at preschool to pick her up. I found Kayli chatting with Kruse in the
sandbox. Neither had seen me and this is
the conversation I heard:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Kruise
asks, “So, what are you going to be when you grow up?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In a
bored (like – this is SO obvious – voice), Kayli responds, “A dolphin trainer.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“OK, that
will work. I’m going to be a
scientist. Will you at least have a kid?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Kayli
seemed noncommittal and didn’t clearly answer. Then, perhaps, trying to seal the
deal, Kruse stood up, walks across the sandbox and plants a kiss smack on Kayli’s
lips.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">I kind of
gasp-surprise-laughed, “UMMMM, what was that?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Kruise
turns to me and innocently answers, “I kissed her.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Right,
but, we really shouldn’t kiss – especially on the lips. It’s germy. We should save kissing for our families.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Yes, but
I kissed her on the lips because I love her.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Oh. My.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">So, while
Kayli and I navigate the raw emotions of the preschool boys around us, Matthew
and Zach are establishing their own roles and methods. Zach recently told us about the lines he’ll
have as Prince Charming’s sidekick in the youth theater play “Cinderella Rockin’
the 80’s.” He said the gist of one of
his monologues is that this character is always the sidekick, the friend, the 2<sup>nd</sup>
place, the vice president, etc.). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Joking, I
said, “Oh, Zach, do you feel you can relate to that as the 2<sup>nd</sup>
born? As Matthew’s younger brother? Are you just his sidekick?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Before
Zach can answer, Matthew pipes up, “I work alone.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Then Mike
ever-so-helpfully interjects, “No, Matthew you’ll want a wing-man.” (As in the
when-hitting-on-girls scenario…something I’m quite certain Mike knows next to nothing
about.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Where is
this family headed?! A 5 year old
getting kissed in the sandbox? Training
our boys to be each other’s ‘wing men’?!
Valentine’s Day might be interesting this year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-62658709626777098232015-12-25T07:30:00.001-08:002015-12-25T07:30:12.390-08:00Merry Christmas!<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">This might be a first – Merry Christmas! I’m actually even writing this <i>on </i>Christmas. Like a wound-up kid, I woke up early and just
couldn’t back to sleep. I do this every
year – I actually set an alarm to make sure I’m up before the kids are allowed
out of their rooms. I don’t want to miss
seeing their faces as they see the Christmas tree and splendor for the first
time. The kids are allowed to leave their
rooms at 8am or “the headless snowman” (when they were too little to know what
an 8 looked like). Exhausted, I usually
get up just a few minutes before them, but this morning, I woke at 6:45 and
just had to give into the excitement and embrace it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I’m so weird about Christmas. I love it so,
so, so much and just can’t get enough of the entire Advent, Christmas season
and spirit…and yet, as the day approaches, I actually almost start to dread it
a little. I want to dig in my heels and
just enjoy the hopeful excitement and building anticipation for longer. I also know that another Christmas come and
gone, means another Christmas come and gone with young children and those
Christmases are numbered. They go too
quickly. Much too quickly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Last night, we went to Zachary’s godparents’
house (our good friends – the Sartains) for our annual Christmas Eve
dinner. They’ve been kind enough to
include us for probably the last 14 years.
We had such a wonderful time and we all look forward to it so much. We found out – big news! – that it will
probably be our last Christmas Eve together.
They are moving to Colorado in June.
We’re so happy for them and their new adventure, but selfishly, will
really, really miss them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">After finally tearing ourselves away because,
we <i>did</i> have to get home and get to
bed so Santa could come; we said our bedtime prayers in the car. (This is something we do as a family if we’re
out late). We prayed in Thanksgiving for our many blessings and especially for
such an amazing Christmas Eve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">When we got home, the kids began to scurry
about – putting out carrots for the reindeer and cookies and milk for
Santa. I couldn’t believe what else they
did though. Zach and Kayli drew pictures
(Zach’s are the Santa pics and Kayli wowed us with her nativity scene). Zach also left Santa this note: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Dear Santa, you give and give but no one
gives to you.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Here are some gifts
(drawings). It’s the least I can do.” </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7I5niHODm1dykHPwwtW1Iw5D7pk5_3PjVkvDJUEMk2H_yUwoHfrduALPMwDmEn5IOR3td3rFME9NKcNqnkOg-K_XNebZIwUweRNXrzDina-kka2gDLzKxbJC-k0wIDwaNFjhdVA/s1600/Note+for+Santa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7I5niHODm1dykHPwwtW1Iw5D7pk5_3PjVkvDJUEMk2H_yUwoHfrduALPMwDmEn5IOR3td3rFME9NKcNqnkOg-K_XNebZIwUweRNXrzDina-kka2gDLzKxbJC-k0wIDwaNFjhdVA/s640/Note+for+Santa.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Merry Christmas!!</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-57115560055037668222015-12-19T09:31:00.003-08:002015-12-19T09:31:54.293-08:00Big 'ol Fat December Update<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Ahhh, man.
I get disappointed in myself when I see how long it’s been since I
posted. And annoyed too because I’ve
already written about three different Blog entries in my head and yet, for some
weird reason, that doesn’t count and take care of it! So, as tends to happen now, you get a big ‘ol
update all at once. (Pace yourself. Maybe just read a bit at a time and take
breaks as needed).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Ballet<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">We went on saw the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s
production of the Nutcracker with my mom.
(A first for all of us)! It was
beautiful and mom and the boys – especially Zach – really enjoyed it. I wish I could’ve enjoyed it more but Kayli
couldn’t stop coughing and she and I ended up watching from a ‘Silent Room’ in
the back of the 2<sup>nd</sup> level.
Awesome that they have that so we didn’t have to miss it – but definitely
not the same – watching it by ourselves in this weird little dark room, from
behind huge, soundproof glass. (There
were speakers, so we actually could hear the orchestra – even the individual
instruments better. That part was
cool). Kayli, at least, did come home
more excited about her ballet/tap classes (that <i>she </i>asked to do) and is VERY thrilled for their end-of-year <i>Beauty and the Beast</i> themed show.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">ZJ<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I recently ran into a friend. We were in a mom’s-from-school prayer group
together last year. Her daughter is pretty
good friends with Zach. She told me that
her daughter recently informed her, “Mom! Zachary is totally different this
year. He asked me what looked different
about him and I asked if he’d gotten a haircut and he said ‘<i>No, I’ve got swagger now.’</i> And he totally does! He dresses all cool, and gels his hair and
wears this cool hat and goes by <i>ZJ.</i>” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">People, ZJ - The artist formerly known as <i>Zachary James</i> – has arrived.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Our
Day with Mia<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Kayliana’s birth mom Mia has moved back to
Seattle (from Virginia – she moved there 1.5 years ago) and we’re SO happy
about it! She came and spent the day with us a few weeks ago. It was a Tuesday and she really got to just
experience a day in the life of our fam.
For the first time ever (since Kayli came home at 2 days old to us), Mia
and Kayli also had one on one/alone time while I had a dentist appointment. They had such a fun time just hanging out and
playing. And, let’s face it, Kayli will
absolutely be your biggest fan if you give her undivided attention AND let her
be a cat for an entire afternoon. She
was ecstatic. Mia and I had a wonderful
time too – catching up and the boys were equally excited to see her. Zach – excuse me – <i>ZJ </i>couldn’t wait to show her the most recent sketches he’d done and
books he’d written. While she was in
Virginia, he’d send her some of his drawings and she’d provide some of her
own. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The kids, Mia and I went to Bellevue to meet
up with Mike (who was practically working ‘round the clock for a huge work
deadline). We caught some of Snowflake Lane,
took the kids to see Santa and got dinner at Red Robin. [Matthew is hoping for an Xbox to replace our
dead Wii. Zachary wants wolf-themed apparel
and paraphernalia; he’s decided the wolf is his ‘spirit animal.’ Kayliana wants a robot dog with no
batteries. Um, k. Good luck, Santa.] <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">After the mall adventure, Mia got to meet my
mom for the first time! (We were meeting
up with her to deposit Zach in her care as he didn’t have school the next day
because of teacher conferences). The
whole day really, really, really was an amazing, magical day and we’re beyond
thankful that Mia is back. Hopefully we’ll
get to see her parents soon too. We
equally love James and Nora. We’re just
so ridiculously blessed.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILRk0mthtpnR-oWSe0uSK4_QE58NU97f26OCyYB8LzvnBHGfSpltTFJojCwKH5SUTQ-0zSidmZUaJGU6qY2llyMtckJFUyI5SMycK6jx6jSEwEAq_w-4TBq9Y7zF9qWtPnwWAsw/s1600/Sweet+Mia+n+Kayli.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILRk0mthtpnR-oWSe0uSK4_QE58NU97f26OCyYB8LzvnBHGfSpltTFJojCwKH5SUTQ-0zSidmZUaJGU6qY2llyMtckJFUyI5SMycK6jx6jSEwEAq_w-4TBq9Y7zF9qWtPnwWAsw/s320/Sweet+Mia+n+Kayli.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-size: 10pt;">My
Accident<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Two days after being with Mia (who is a
massage therapist) and hearing about how she loves helping people with injuries
from car accidents recover, I was in a car accident. It wasn’t terrible, but obviously, those are
never super awesome, happiest-place-on-Earth moments. It could’ve been SO much worse and I really
was (and am) immediately grateful that it wasn’t and especially that the kids
weren’t in the car with me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">There are a couple of 4-way stop
intersections at the bottom of our neighborhood – we’ve discussed them at our
bus stop and the fact that people ALWAYS blow through their stops. Yes, well, that’s what happened. I had stopped. No one was anywhere near the other stop
signs. I was almost all the way through
my intersection, when all of a sudden, a woman on my right (who was making a sharp
90 degree right turn) not only didn’t stop but didn’t even slow down. She hit the front right/passenger corner of
the hood, headlight and bumper with enough force that it pushed me left towards
on-coming traffic (which, thankfully, was still a ways away). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">We got out – she immediately apologized and I
was all cool, calm, collected and said, “It could’ve been worse...” as we
shakily exchanged information. I got
back in the car, drove to go teach (totally on auto-pilot) and called Mike (and
then totally broke down). By the time I
got to school (only 5-10 minutes away), I was still shaking, totally a hot mess
and really starting to feel how badly my back and neck were hurting. I ended up leaving school, calling insurance
companies and then heading to Urgent Care.
I got Xrays done and the doctor confirmed that I had a Lumbar Sprain and
Strain, a Thoracic Sprain, and Cervical Sprain (um, that actually means neck –
not Cervix – I was super confused at first too.
Uh, how did my Cervix get sprained?!).
He wanted to prescribe some heavy meds but I opted for strong Ibuprofen
and a muscle relaxer. I also got a
referral for 15 sessions of Massage Therapy (yes, the kind, Mia had just been
telling me about two days before). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">It’s been a fair amount of Ibuprofen and
icing and heat ever since. I’ve been to
the Chiropractor five times for adjustment and FINALLY get to have my first
massage in two days. The doctor wants me
to be adjusted twice a week for about a month and then I’ll be getting weekly
massage (which, yes, I’ll admit I’m excited about).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The car – our sweet ‘lil ’98 170k mile Honda
CRV, the one Mike’s determined will live and be the kids’ car (in several more
years) – has an estimated $1700 in damage (and that’s just what they could see
on the outside). Mike drove it to work a
few times and said, “I’m pretty sure I heard some stuff fall out…but it’s still
driving at least!” The car is getting
repaired as we speak and we have a rental car.
Yes, her insurance company is covering everything. The car’s only worth about $2500, so we’ll
see what happens as they continue repairs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Needless-to-say, the accident has made me A
LOT more cautious and aware of other drives <i>especially
</i>at 4-way stops. Just 6 days after
the accident, we (Zach, Kayli and I) were in the minivan coming home. At one of our 4-way intersections, I had completely
stopped – for a while, for many, many seconds actually – I saw a car coming
from my left and, despite the fact that she was still a ways away (and I had
already been completely stopped and definitely could’ve gone), I said, “She
doesn’t look like she’s slowing down at all.”
Sure enough, she BLEW right through her stop sign. I laid on the horn and gestured (in a very
helpful, polite way) to the stop signs that she completely ignored…all the
while, thanking God for my little accident.
Had I gone when I could’ve/would’ve gone pre-accident, she would’ve
smashed right into me and Kayli. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I’m thankful for my accident for sure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Kayli’s
Betrothed<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Recently, when picking Kayli up from
preschool, she put her arm on the boy sitting next to her and said, “Cruise,
meet my mom, Jenny.” She went on to tell
me that a girl hadn’t been nice to her at school that day, but she liked
Cruise, actually, she <i>loved </i>Cruise
and she’s going to marry him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">“Wow!” I said, “That’s big news! What do you like so much about him?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">“No, I <i>love
</i>him, because he’s nice to me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Meanwhile, Cruise is walking to go throw away
his garbage, he pauses, looks over his shoulder, shrugs and says, “What’s not
to love?!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">A minute later, his mom walks in. I said, “Oh, I should probably introduce myself. I’m Jenny and apparently, our children are
getting married.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">She laughs and I fill her in on what had just
transpired. She said, “Oh yeah, Cruise
definitely has a healthy self-confidence.”
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">As they’re about to leave she calls back, “Well,
I guess we’ll see you soon since we’ll be spending the holidays together!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-8499921714642740432015-11-15T09:27:00.000-08:002015-11-15T09:27:24.621-08:00Fall Wrap-Up<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Happy 5<sup>th</sup> Birthday to our
gorgeous, firey, one-of-a-kind, brilliant, wild animal, silly, soccer-playing,
ballet-dancing, artistically-talented, sweet blessing-of-a-daughter,
Kayliana!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Kayliana announced that she wanted to 'build' a dragonfly. She came down with instructions (written on the paper - too light to see, sorry). And then Mike (dad-extraordinaire) helped her make her dragonfly. This girl doesn't cease to amaze us with her creativity and talent. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg78HfHg6HvjF964b3a050WJT0k-0XSSvMZA33BgoablV6T5hYkyOtA7UeMJAov_15gfawxTu6nuLEpZFQwqX3JghgVkuqYaTqtg0HuWjKoAebIigK8TVQmEgYnA0KtJLRXdS83Yw/s1600/K%2527s+Dragonfly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg78HfHg6HvjF964b3a050WJT0k-0XSSvMZA33BgoablV6T5hYkyOtA7UeMJAov_15gfawxTu6nuLEpZFQwqX3JghgVkuqYaTqtg0HuWjKoAebIigK8TVQmEgYnA0KtJLRXdS83Yw/s320/K%2527s+Dragonfly.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">A couple of weeks back, we enjoyed Halloween
festivities. Our pirate family (with Captain
Hook, Mrs. Hook, Peter Pan and parrot) was a big hit at the school carnival,
our best friends’ Halloween party and soggy trick-or-treating. (Matthew was ‘too cool’ to participate in our
theme. He wore a scream mask…but was
actually sick the night this photo was taken).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWZYA9TMlP7YTGIxLafPpTcFey9dgCmkjHhrndJFvM77aNXDD-RJy8_ZEcbuSwBdH-QZPUKj2UeQYsmffBvXcK92i778tIj_XZgsIic9rkwoY8KAPFU4iEa_dbLNk-MQogU9hlCA/s1600/Halloween+Pirate+Family.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWZYA9TMlP7YTGIxLafPpTcFey9dgCmkjHhrndJFvM77aNXDD-RJy8_ZEcbuSwBdH-QZPUKj2UeQYsmffBvXcK92i778tIj_XZgsIic9rkwoY8KAPFU4iEa_dbLNk-MQogU9hlCA/s320/Halloween+Pirate+Family.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">A week after Halloween, Kayliana and I had a ‘girls’
trip’ to Birmingham, Alabama to celebrate my dear friend Rachel’s wedding. (We’ve been friends since we were 6 years old
and she is such an incredible ‘auntie’ to our kiddos)! Kayli and I had a great time. Birmingham might as well be Disneyland the
way everyone called Kayli ‘Princess’ and catered to her every need and
desire! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">We had such a good time and Kayli rocked her
role as Flower Girl. She was referred to
as the ‘wedding mascot’ and definitely stole the show. (The fact that she carried around a stuffed ‘pet
skunk’ added to her star-of-the-day tendencies.
That skunk, ‘Flora’, even danced with people at the wedding reception
and, boy, did Kayli terrify the rental car guy when, returning the car, she
told him from the backseat, “I have my real pet skunk in here!’). Flora-the-skunk was NOT allowed to be present
at the ceremony and had to wait in the car.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">We had a fairly short aisle to walk down and
Kayli understood she needed to go slowly with her leaf and petal dropping. She took one step, dropped one petal. One step, dropped one leaf. One…at…a…time. Then when she got up to groom Carl, she took
a handful and threw it at his shoe. One
more small handful was thrown at his other shoe and then she thought, ‘Hmmm,
this is taking too long’ and tipped the basket over and dumped the remaining
petals and leaves. Everyone was laughing
and Kayli knew she’d rocked it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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At the Vulcan Museum in Birmingham.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUk3cZvtV3Z2rT2m1j52CiKa45j6zKFvhz0GPuenJpuRgQG0YI5xmEyf2EjKJTGRkF-QBDs2dnkIPoGUGNK5iyQLWkD20gticogOvANkFYPmrc-b5BQq7vfFpDMqF9JaUP9I4KZg/s1600/Rachel%2527s+Wedding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUk3cZvtV3Z2rT2m1j52CiKa45j6zKFvhz0GPuenJpuRgQG0YI5xmEyf2EjKJTGRkF-QBDs2dnkIPoGUGNK5iyQLWkD20gticogOvANkFYPmrc-b5BQq7vfFpDMqF9JaUP9I4KZg/s400/Rachel%2527s+Wedding.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Now, we focus on the usual crazy-fun-busyness
of our life. Work, music-teaching (A
LOT!), school, insane amounts of middle school homework and trumpet-lessons for Matthew (he's amazing!), ballet/tap and pre-Kindergarten for
Kayliana, acting class and chorus for Zachary, church groups, Engaged Encounter and coming up on
Thanksgiving (which will also be the 2 year anniversary of dad ditching us for
Paradise). Woah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-65632141874697386462015-10-10T07:19:00.002-07:002015-10-10T07:19:49.514-07:00News 'n updates 'n stuff<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-hyphenate: auto; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Well, you can tell that school’s started and that I’m teaching a
lot more – crazy busy, people. But this
is my Public Service Announcement: I will no longer apologize for how
infrequently I update my Blog. It’s
silly to start every post like that. I
wish I could update more – we always have plenty of adventures to share – but I
guess we’re just too busy livin’ ‘em for me to be typin’ about ‘em. Bummer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Anyway, let’s go chronologically. School and music teaching has been in full
swing for over a month now. Our schedule
is ca-razy. (Especially with 3 kids in 3
different schools – that <i>definitely</i>
doesn’t help!) But it’s going
AWESOME. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my new
teaching gig. It’s 4 mornings a week
(plus I do 2 afternoons of traveling to different Montessori schools). I love that I get to see the same kids twice
a week. Holy Moly – the stuff I can
teach them. My 2 year old class can
already tell you the difference between quarter, half and whole notes and can
demonstrate playing (on a rhythm instrument) – Largo, Moderato, Vivace,
Pianissimo and Forte. That’s music
theory, people – with 2-6 year olds! It’s
going great.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">School’s going well for our 3 kiddos too. Kayliana LOVES her new preschool and never
wants to leave – like ever. She pretty
much greets me with a scowl ‘cuz it means it’s time to go home. Zachary is SO much happier in 4<sup>th</sup>
grade (he had a rough end to 3<sup>rd</sup> great with the Substitute from
HELL. Honestly, she was horribly mean to
him. Worst ever). Matthew is starting (slowly) to get a handle
on Middle School. It’s been a tough
transition. Having to be at the bus stop
at 6:40am, having 6 teachers/classes, and WAY more homework (definitely
struggling and most nights he’s doing homework for a couple of hours) – all tricky. He’s also had ongoing stomach issues (really,
for over a year now). We’ll be meeting
with a G.I. specialist at Children’s Hospital in a couple weeks. BUT Matthew’s playing the trumpet in
beginning band; he’s going to start private lessons with this really cool, fun
guy (named Mat!) in a couple of weeks, and Matthew’s really excited about
that. It’s starting to click and I
finally feel like (after waiting 10 years – since realizing his natural music
ability!), at long last, he’s brave enough to start exploring and using the
musical gift God gave him! Super
exciting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Mike’s sister Jamie and her hubby Daniel and their son Tucker
came for a visit last weekend. We had a really
nice time! We went to Brick-Con (Lego
creation exhibition – totally up EVERYONE’s alley), watched Kayli’s soccer game
(she scored a goal!), and Matthew got to watch Goonies for the first time. A right of passage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Just a few days after their visit, we learned that Uncle Harry
passed away. Uncle Harry and Aunt
Dolores are Mike’s Godparents. They took
Mike and Jamie in after their mom died.
They raised Mike like a son. They
got him through Cancer (the first time ‘round).
Uncle Harry made sure Mike had a wish granted by the Wishing Star
Foundation. Through that, Mike received
his first computer…which led to his career as a software architect/engineer. Who knows where Mike would’ve ended up
without them!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Another unexpected event changed my teaching plans for
yesterday. <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">I’d
received a call from a phone number I didn’t recognize and ignored it. A while later, I got a call from my mom. She was already at Kayli's preschool (after answering
HER phone). Kayliana had fallen and hit her head and had a pretty deep
gash above her eyebrow. I cancelled my afternoon class, met up with my
mom, saw how deep the cut was, called our pediatrician’s office, but they were
booked at all their branches. I called
our local Urgent Care - they recommended we go to Children's Hospital. Drove to Children's only to find out that
Urgent Care wouldn't open until 5pm. Ended up at Overlake Emergency Room
- pretty much the last place in the world I wanted to go as the last time I was
there was the day dad died. I had a really hard time holding it together
since all the memories were flooding in, but I (mostly) managed (until I got
home). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Anyway, we had an AWESOME doctor. She
said while the cut was deep, it was perfectly straight across and she was able
to use glue instead of stitches - THANK GOODNESS. Kayli did pretty well until
the end when one of her eyebrow hairs got caught in the glue. Plus, she
was terrified she'd have to get a shot.
(She definitely remembers the traumatic 2-days-of-stitches from two
years ago).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">When I called Matthew from the ER to let him
know what was going on, he said, “Are you kidding me? Why does this keep happening to Kayli?! She’s too little for this. It should be me next time so she doesn’t have
to.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">I said that was very sweet, but how ‘bout we
just call it good and be done with urgent care, stitches, emergency room
visits, etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">I decided after all that crappiness that our
first Chick-Fil-A meal/experience was in order. (I totally don't
understand the hype). Split a chocolate milkshake with Kayli and that
was good. Came home for 2 glasses of wine, a big cry and a bubble bath</span><span style="background-color: white;">.</span></div>
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Harry at Thanksgiving with 3 month old Matthew</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr4fEMY0NCZtCoAB3VGIsB5gCP-Hl0oHBgYrbkSkSYpDidaTYfnILngmeZ57rl0rIzdzS04d1zy-iH0DjopCnteuHdioGyC_jPiTDNz8y6NFTOGjvsehAxmqyRWKLxvZNrL-mSRA/s1600/HarryHoldingMatthew.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr4fEMY0NCZtCoAB3VGIsB5gCP-Hl0oHBgYrbkSkSYpDidaTYfnILngmeZ57rl0rIzdzS04d1zy-iH0DjopCnteuHdioGyC_jPiTDNz8y6NFTOGjvsehAxmqyRWKLxvZNrL-mSRA/s400/HarryHoldingMatthew.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Harry and little cheeky Zach always had a good time together. This was Easter 2009.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghGfS-FfBPp5CNUJWxP9hvOlj1PhROB_xGr43zK8TJ63z_-L3RCvzEfGWpwF5TjgOiIfgan5E4lD5ikgH-BER-Rz5nrWdB9p9Bi-GY_8wHUwUSCCCp1aFf6TTHsSn43gG7p_zC0A/s1600/IMG_3055.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghGfS-FfBPp5CNUJWxP9hvOlj1PhROB_xGr43zK8TJ63z_-L3RCvzEfGWpwF5TjgOiIfgan5E4lD5ikgH-BER-Rz5nrWdB9p9Bi-GY_8wHUwUSCCCp1aFf6TTHsSn43gG7p_zC0A/s400/IMG_3055.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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This was Easter 2011. We also visited them this past April.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-88786246723762583202015-09-07T10:55:00.002-07:002015-09-07T10:55:30.473-07:00Summer Wrap-Up<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Summer’s come and gone. My oldest baby’s now 12 years old. And taller than me. And a budding trumpet player in 6<sup>th</sup>
grade band. And a middle schooler. And I’m starting a new job – teaching music 4
mornings a week at a nearby preschool (in addition to my 2 afternoons a week of
traveling to different Montessori schools with my Little Ditties classes). We’ve got all three kids in three different
schools with different pick-ups and drop-offs and it’s a little madness and I’m
just trying to take lots of deep breaths and take it one day – no, like one
drop-off/pick-up – at a time!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Kayliana is in pre-K now at a new preschool
and is LOVING it. She just started soccer
last week and starts a ballet/tap dance class this week. Dance and soccer practice happen to be on the
same day, so I’m hoping that maybe she’ll actually be tired and sleep well (at
least one night a week)! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">She was SO excited as we headed to her first
soccer practice last week. She kept
referring to her shin guards and cleats as her “blazes.” (Don’t know where that came from, but she’ll
obviously be very fast). As we arrived
at practice she said, </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">"Is this a dream? I'm going to be so awesome! I
hope they like me. I'm going to be the awesomest. Mom, you can
totally cheer for me." After practice she said, "When I win,
everyone will throw me in the air and hold me up." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Team names that were suggested at practice: Dragon
Fireballs. Purple Lightning. Fast Puppy (Kayli's suggestion).
Then apparently girls were getting inappropriate with butt-themed names and
Coach decided to table the discussion for the time being. (I wouldn't be
surprised if Kayli 'forgot' to mention that the butt-themed names were also possibly
her suggestions).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The summer wrapped up with super fun awesomeness. We were a little disappointed that our ONE
camping trip of the summer – with our best friends – had to get cancelled due
to finally getting some much-needed rain. (Good for the WA wild fires, bummer,
for us, but oh well). We decided to
staycation. We let the kids ‘roast’
marshmallows over the grill. We even
pitched the tent in the garage for the boys to sleep in. The kids did a good job playing ‘camping’
(and staying outside) until the wind picked up too much. We even had a visit from some local
wildlife! And despite being in the
comfort of our own home, one night, during the pouring rain, we suddenly had
water dripping from the doorway between the kitchen and dining room. Mike and Jason had to climb up on the roof to
clear gutters and try to find the cause of the leak. Nothing like a little excitement!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">We’ve become masters of Staycationing with our BFF-fam. We ignore the phone and email (as much as possible)
and eat and drink and play games and go for walks and just chillax. This time ‘round, we also spent a day at the
beach (before the weather turned) and we all went and saw a movie – Shawn the
Sheep. It was silly and hilarious and it’s
possible Rebecca and I enjoyed it even more than the kids. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Despite having 4 adults and 7 children in the house together for
four days, it’s never EVER enough and we’re all sad when our staycations are
over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">The boys have had some fun adventures during our summer
staycations this year. They went down to
the woods behind the bus stop where there’s a little stream and all the
neighborhood kids have been working to build a bridge. One day, after playing down there for hours,
Matthew and Noah arrived back up at our house in all states of craziness. Matthew was holding up his right arm like he’s
ready to be prepped for surgery. His arm
was caked in mud from fingertips to elbow.
Noah was only wearing one shoe and they were both covered in mud up to
their shins. Here’s the scene:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">“Um, hi guys, what’s up?” I ask.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">As if this is the most obvious thing ever, Matthew tells me, “We
got stuck in quicksand.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Noah nods, and adds, “I found gold and then it went into the
quicksand so I was trying to get it and I got stuck and my shoe came off and
then Matthew tried to get my shoe. We
never found them.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Oh, of course! The gold
and quicksand in the woods near our house.
Right!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">“So, you were panning for gold, huh?” I ask as we start trying to unmud them with
the hose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">“Well, no,” says Noah, “I found Tupperware so I used that.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">“Ahh, so you were Tupperwaring for gold in the quicksand when
you lost your shoe?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">“Yup. And the gold. I lost that too.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Obviously.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">We had more adventures on Matthew’s Birthday – September 5</span><sup style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">We spent the day at Lake Cavanagh with Jason
and Rebecca and kids and with Rich and Sue our dear friends (and
co-coordinators) from Engaged Encounter.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">
</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">They hosted us all for the day at their lake cabin.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Despite being a little chilly, it was super
fun.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The kids played in the water all
day, used the paddle boat and kayak and then we all went for a cruise on their
party barge.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Sue even made a cake for
Matthew!</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Yesterday, we had mom and Chris
for Matthew’s at home birthday dinner (he chose chicken noodle soup – which makes
Zach cry and question my love because he hates soup so very much.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Supposedly Matthew LOVES chicken noodle soup
and he’s not just choosing it to upset his brother).</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Mike’s taking the boys and two neighbor boys
to go do laser tag and then we’re having some other neighbors here for a
bbq.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Last hurrah’s of summer, my
friends.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">We’re packing in as much fun as
possible!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Trying to convince me that they're sound asleep!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8t_LwwRVhO0yLqfu3PI74f6DOFjjPXdjV4owZKr8ZD870REz0vVT_U9Sn-RsUQ5zs_VICe_haQt5tU6S7BuRni1woYjnu8BQlkkHjvlGSNSgW8idLpV2dqrATI5ccPYrCfCNymg/s1600/IMG_4085.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8t_LwwRVhO0yLqfu3PI74f6DOFjjPXdjV4owZKr8ZD870REz0vVT_U9Sn-RsUQ5zs_VICe_haQt5tU6S7BuRni1woYjnu8BQlkkHjvlGSNSgW8idLpV2dqrATI5ccPYrCfCNymg/s320/IMG_4085.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Camping in the Pacific NW</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9vHV6aCO3muVyw2c4ohvxDbzehyrLkTt6GdM8Xv1__7Fb_obffwhfp1LSkejZ460uNn4QEbAUs04PrlFEy90F5q6z2M-aau-RcCi9MlCicEhMtfCKmWuPXwHJtYRxpICqPac3Ig/s1600/IMG_4086.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9vHV6aCO3muVyw2c4ohvxDbzehyrLkTt6GdM8Xv1__7Fb_obffwhfp1LSkejZ460uNn4QEbAUs04PrlFEy90F5q6z2M-aau-RcCi9MlCicEhMtfCKmWuPXwHJtYRxpICqPac3Ig/s320/IMG_4086.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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If only he'd eat the weeds and not outta my pots!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4uVUF7-ykl2N3xXUgLHwdALfA2oB-enUa9q5hE8ir3QHoLekyEPABA9wv66xMNoCdB8HBMi-qH4_UQaAHfctXYJOVh3BOz9aVWwezI3yfMAyPd3pY8KtDan4KXBLBc_7K4UkD6g/s1600/IMG_4091.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4uVUF7-ykl2N3xXUgLHwdALfA2oB-enUa9q5hE8ir3QHoLekyEPABA9wv66xMNoCdB8HBMi-qH4_UQaAHfctXYJOVh3BOz9aVWwezI3yfMAyPd3pY8KtDan4KXBLBc_7K4UkD6g/s320/IMG_4091.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Best buds</div>
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Godmothers and Godsisters!</div>
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Sue</div>
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Captain Rich let Kayli help steer the boat!</div>
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We're on a boat!</div>
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We've got a 12 year old, people. Look out!</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-82155444966026508092015-08-05T12:23:00.003-07:002015-08-05T12:23:41.829-07:00Summer Update<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Well, July’s done. Shooooot.
It’s already August. I’m telling
ya, tomorrow’s going to be October. SLOW
DOWN!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The boys went to their first week of
sleep-away camp in July with their best buddies, Noah and Joshua. They LOVED it. I thoroughly enjoyed reliving my own CYO days
and hearing all about the hike and overnight under the stars, the late night
kitchen raids, the games, Mass (with none other than our own parish priest,
Father Todd!), campfire, the cheesy songs, etc. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">While the boys were away, Kayli and I did
play. We had three days in a row of play
dates with friends. We spent an
afternoon with my dear friend Kate, had our friends from Kayli’s gymnastics
class over and we spent a day at Remlinger Farm – which is full of rides
perfect for the 4ish year old crowd. Including
pony rides! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Also, in July, I interviewed for and accepted
a job! I’ll be the music teacher at
Newport Children School. It’s a huge
preschool (300 kids) and has been a place I’ve been eyeing for a long
time. The music teacher of 25 years is
retiring, so, HERE I AM! Come September,
I’ll be teaching there four mornings a week and continuing my Little Ditties
Music Academy classes at Montessori schools two afternoons a week. Life’s picking up a bit, people. Busy times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Last week, Mike and I had a week of early
anniversary celebratory festivities. We
went to a nice Italian restaurant and saw Wicked at the Paramount. Awesome.
We went to the Space Needle for dinner (our first time in the restaurant
– though I did have my Senior Prom there) to celebrate with our best friends,
Jason and Rebecca – it was Jason’s daughter’s 18<sup>th</sup> birthday outing. Super fun to be included in that! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">In the middle of all this fun, we managed to
jet off to Paris to hit up a flea market where we scored an adorable coffee
table and gorgeous kitchen table.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">OK, I wish.
But we did get all, Pinteresty crafty and refinished our kitchen table
(that I’d done blackboard paint on three years ago) and refinished our good ‘ol
Ikea coffee table. I love ‘em!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Ready for Camp!</div>
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Post-Camp</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-36313569719881354502015-07-09T10:15:00.001-07:002015-07-09T10:19:05.665-07:00So-Cal Vacation!<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Guess what! It’s July. That’s stinkin’ nuts. Tomorrow will be October and then the next
day Matthew will be graduating from high school. It just all goes way too fast! But we’re doing our best enjoying every
moment – especially of summer vacation! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">June 25<sup>th</sup>, we awoke at the butt-crack
of dawn (no, really, 3:45am!!!) and – along with my brother and mother – headed
to SeaTac Airport where we caught our plane to San Diego. I started our vacation with an inhumanly
horrendous sore throat and worries that I’d feel like dooty for our entire
trip, however, miraculously said throat-pain-of-Satan only stuck around for a
couple of days. Thank goodness! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">On Friday, June 26<sup>th</sup>, we – all of
us, along with Mike’s dad Jim who joined in (and eventually Mike’s sister
Kathy) – went to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
Highlights: the bird show (seeing the ginormous California condors fly
right over head!), riding the tram around the park (and feeling like you’re suddenly
on the Savannah plains of Africa) and watching the cheetah sprint – reaching 60
miles per hour (0-40 in three steps alone!) and covering 100 meters in 5.24
seconds. It was a hot but enjoyable
day! We went back to our hotel where
Mom, Chris and the kids hung out and rested while Mike and I attended the first
night of our Engaged Encounter Convention.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Saturday, June 27<sup>th</sup> – Mike dropped
Mom, Chris and the kids off at SeaWorld for the day. Now, my dear mother, had managed to hurt her
leg just a couple of weeks pre-California departure and has been on a
cane/crutch and in pain ever since. With
threats and bribes we stressed good behavior to the children. I even said, “Pretend she’s not Grandma. Just a nice lady who you are to help for the
day.” A Disneyland souvenir hung in the
balance. Kayli – apparently- repeatedly
asked mom, “Am I on my best behavior?...Am I still being so good?” Thankfully, threats and bribery are the key to
parenthood and the kids were - supposedly, as far as we were informed - well-behaved and they had a great time at
SeaWorld. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Meanwhile, Mike and I attended our Convention
and that night partied at the Luau and Dance. Super fun!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Sunday, June 28<sup>th</sup> – we all
attended Mass at the end of the Convention and then drove up to Anaheim. The 1.5 hour long trip took 3.5 hours thanks
to the infamous So-Cal traffic. We
managed to arrive at our hotel in time to drop stuff and then head to Bubba
Gump for dinner with Mike’s sister, her hubby and cute grandson (who was Kayli’s
age. We were ALL happy that Kayli found
a captive audience to whom she could talk through all of dinner). We got to bed as early as we could for our
big day at Disneyland.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Now, if you’ll recall, we went to Disneyland
in February 2014. It was a difficult
trip. Just 6 weeks after dad died, I was
(obviously) miserable (and sick, since I was sick like 9 times in the first
three months of 2014). We also had a
frustrating time at the Parks – tons of rides closed and several breaking down
on us. I wrote a letter, (“Dear
Disneyland…”) and, in response, they gave us tickets to come back for two days!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">So, Monday, June 29<sup>th</sup>, we woke up
early and I ran to the park (literally…started the hot day with a jog) and went
to Guest Services to retrieve our tickets and then wheelchair rental to score a
rolling seat for mom. There’s no way we (she)
could’ve done all that walking. And, as
I’ve heard, Disneyland is amazingly accommodating to those in wheelchairs. We were able to cut a lot of lines. (The boys were maybe a little TOO happy about
it and even said, “Thanks for hurting your leg, Grandma, this is awesome!” They even turned into whiney butts when we
had to occasionally wait in a little bit of a line – NOTHING compared to the
waiting we would’ve done without the wheelchair).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Disneyland got off to a bit of a rough start
though. The ride we’d most been looking
forward to on the last trip (Thunder Mountain Railroad) had been closed, so we
were determined to do that one first.
Well, it’d been a LONG time since I’d done that ride and didn’t entirely
remember it. Despite his hesitation, I
encouraged my brother Chris to give it a go thinking it wouldn’t be TOO
much. BIG mistake. He was NOT a fan (to say the least) and I
felt awful. Thankfully, he rallied
fairly quickly and as Mike said, maybe if we hadn’t started with that (and
gotten ‘the worst’ out of the way), Chris would’ve been more overwhelmed by
everything else. After that it was
smooth sailing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">We did Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted
Mansion (which Zach sat out and Chris declared was his favorite ride), Jungle
Cruise, Tiki Room, It’s a Small World, Finding Nemo, Star Tours, Buzz, etc.,
etc. Basically, we got to do ALL the
rides that we weren’t able to do last time and in record time! In the evening, we found a great spot to
watch the special 60<sup>th</sup> Diamond Anniversary night parade. (Kayli screamed at Mickey like a psycho-super
fan…when he was still a block away). And
we watched the spectacular fireworks display.
Seriously the best, most amazing fireworks I’ve ever seen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">We dragged our tired butts back to the hotel
to bed….and did California Adventure the next day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Tuesday, June 30<sup>th</sup> Overview: Started
with the cars ride – Radiator Spring Racers - (Chris sat that one out. Mom
LOVED it – we all did!). Mike took
Matthew on the rollercoaster California Screamin’. Then he took Zach on the Tower of Terror
(which terrorized Zach despite wanting to do it). We all watched the Aladdin stage production
(like a mini-Broadway show – it was awesome).
Kayli’s fatigue started to kick in and we dealt with a couple of
required amusement park meltdowns. We
all loved Soarin’ Over California (Chris didn’t want to do that one…and we’d
obviously learned not to push him). Then
in the afternoon, all of sudden, it clouded up and got really cool. There were a couple of claps of thunder and
then huge raindrops began to fall. They
closed rides and I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to enjoy our dinner at Ariel’s
Grotto and special viewing for World of Color.
Thankfully, it all worked out – the crowds cleared out a bit, the sun
came back out and we thoroughly enjoyed the rest of our evening and our last
night at the Park. We were even able to
watch the fireworks again as we departed the park and went to return the
wheelchair.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Wednesday, July 1<sup>st</sup>, my mom’s
brother Phil (aka “Uncle Phuzzy”) and his wife Helen drove a couple of hours to
see us at the hotel. We played a game
that Zachary had created called “Fantasy Storybook Fun” – you create a story
using different cards that you draw from a pile. Not to brag, just speaking the truth, but
that kid is a creative genius. We had a
ton of fun! We had lunch with them at
the Cheesecake Factory before we began our 2 hour drive back to San Diego. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">We’d almost made it. We were nearly in the clear. Off the freeway and just five minutes from
returning the rental car when Zach said that thing that parents dread hearing most (while in a car…or nearly anywhere),
“I’m going to throw up!!” I wasn’t able
to get him a receptacle in time and he proceeded to fill the back of the van –
cup holder and console area. Oye. Yup. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">As mom said, “Well, it’s not a family
vacation without someone throwing up.”
Mike argued that that is NOT, in fact, a requirement of the Martin
family…but alas, it’s a Buckley tradition (that I frequently upheld as a child)
and that sometimes rears its ugly head. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Despite the pukey end, we had a really,
really great trip! </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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On the way to the airport & family vacation - people are still happy! So far, so good.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN2qRFJ16btnNRiL2xkeaF7gEyI-LPKR59H0Iu95sw8N3_DGa7w1Y4uKwvV8eJASHlBSw3WsxH727DFs0EhhCq2-QKb2zmfV9X4cPfLHy_fkMZsagbDxkJnZOBfdYqMIpDkdj3YA/s1600/IMG_3991.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN2qRFJ16btnNRiL2xkeaF7gEyI-LPKR59H0Iu95sw8N3_DGa7w1Y4uKwvV8eJASHlBSw3WsxH727DFs0EhhCq2-QKb2zmfV9X4cPfLHy_fkMZsagbDxkJnZOBfdYqMIpDkdj3YA/s400/IMG_3991.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Getting up at 4am to fly to San Diego was a tad exhausting.</div>
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Matthew working those famous shades of his!</div>
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At the Safari Park</div>
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3 Little Lemurs</div>
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SeaWorld!</div>
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Engaged Encounter Convention Luau</div>
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We made it!!!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-41368792922018168002015-07-09T09:53:00.001-07:002015-07-09T09:53:09.010-07:005th Grade GraduationJune 17th, 2015 - Our baby graduates elementary school!<br />
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Matthew and his awesome 5th grade teacher, Mr. Laing.</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24149614.post-36036164234275301612015-06-16T06:50:00.001-07:002015-06-16T06:50:04.490-07:00Denying Change<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I’m totally in denial. I cannot believe that this is the last week
of school. A few more days and <i>school’s out for summer! </i>And<i> </i>I really can’t wrap my head around the
fact that tomorrow – June 17<sup>th</sup> – Matthew will be graduating from
elementary school – moving on to middle school.
This doesn’t even make sense. Not
even a little. I joke that middle school
was yesterday for me. It really does
feel like it wasn’t THAT long ago. (Yes,
I’m in denial). But, really! How is it possible that I’ll have a kiddo
there? The drama, the teen angst, school
dances, the smelliness, lockers, the acne, the girls…the part that I’m dreading
the most though? The 6:42am school bus
pick-up. That’s just stupid. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Matthew seems ready for middle school. He says he’s excited about it (but also
totally dreading the early mornings). He’s
excited to have a little more freedom and time to himself. (He’ll get a whole hour at home before Zach
gets home from the bus). He’s ready for
the change. But am I?!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">He came down the other night while I was
doing dishes in the kitchen and proudly said, “Mom, I’m becoming a man!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">“Uh, yeah?” I asked nervously.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">“I have armpit hairs…like THREE!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">“Oh, really, let’s see ‘em.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">He raises his arm and Vanna White-gestures to
said hairs. (I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t
actually look closely ‘cuz I didn’t REALLY want to see said armpit hairs). In my best talking high pitched talking to a
baby voice, I said, “Oh wook at those wittle hairs. They’re so cute!” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">With a perfectly executed eye roll, Matthew
put down his arm and (trying not to grin because – for the record – he did
think it was funny) 6<sup>th</sup> grade huffed on outta the room.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">He’s ready.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">I’m not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0