Warm Weekend

Ahhhhhhhhhh. Jessica and I had a great time on our Girls Weekend to the condo. We left right around 4:30'ish on Friday. Nathan was just leaving to take the kids to soccer when Maysen had a melt down and Griffin was ready to be fed. So, as Jessica and I stood there watching Nathan run around a million miles an hour with both kids screaming, it confirmed to me why I was going away for the weekend. Once at soccer, Maysen REFUSED to play, having an attitude mixed with "momma left me" and "I'm tired". Total nightmare. Thankfully, my co-worker R was there and was able to help Nate out while taking care of Griffin while Nate went on the field and coaxed M to play for awhile. Thanks, R!!

(Here is where we spent most of our time. We'd hot tub about twice a day, if not more. Just up the stairs on the left is another floor of pools and 2 more hot tubs. Heaven.)

We had beautiful weather the whole way to Bend, although there was snow 6 feet high along the roads up over the mountains. We stopped in Sisters, OR and had a nice dinner. Our waitress was busy and seemed preoccupied. She later told Jess and I it was because she had to "feed the alleycats" and sped away with no explaination. By that, we're still not sure what she meant, but it made for a good laugh.

Since neither one of us drink, our bottles of Mike's hard lemonade was very tasty. They had a good laugh as these terd-like dirt clods scattered the field we crossed to the pool. Hey, alcohol + darkness = these really looked like terds.

Saturday morning, Jessica got up at the crack of dawn. Here she had her chance to sleep in, but after being scared by the door around her bed, and the sun coming up, she was up. I on the other hand slept in. We spent the rest of Saturday shopping, talking, hot tubbing more, watching movies, and eating. We had a good plan to scrapbook/do photo albums ... but wouldn't you know we just didn't get any of that done. It's ok. We found great deals on summer clothes for the kids. Gotta love Carters! Saturday night we had gotten a pizza from Papa Murphy's and just relaxed, not going out anymore. We watched total chick flicks, and topped the night off with another trip to the hot tub.

Sunday morning I got up and J was still sleeping, so I took the opportunity to get up and do some photography. I was glad Jessica slept in. We left town and while Jessica flirted with the man serving our breakfast (haha), I scanned the scene and found our favorite place to shop. At the end of our trip, we were finally able to shop for ourselves!! We ended up getting the same outfit!! Hey, we have good taste!

And I was so glad to get home to my boys! Although we had a great time and can't wait to go back, being HOME is always the best feeling.

Yesterday was a very warm day and last one of the week, so we went outside and played CandyLand and ate M&Ms. Griffin is sporting his new summer hat and liked it rather well. He's getting so big. He's a big bubble blower now. Maysen is doing AWESOME at potty training. He only had one accident while I was gone this weekend. He marches in on his own and I'm so proud to hear that toilet lid slam down when he's done. After he's gone #2, he demands to use the air freshening spray. What a man ....

Here Maysen had set the card down on his foot. He had to make sure he hadn't hurt Griffin. Ahhh, these are the loves of my life (including Nate but he wasn't present for the picture). Being away makes you realize your priorities. I know where mine are!

My dad called me last night to say they are leaving California and moving on to Kentucky to manage another park there. I have to say, selfishly, that I am sad because I enjoyed having him within driving distance. I am even more sad that Maysen will get to miss out on seeing them as often, as now it will only be about once a year (if that). He has such an unbelievably close bond with dad, and I fear that will grow apart not having them as close as they have been. On the other hand, I am happy that they get to travel and that makes dad happy. So, I'm torn. They are coming up here tonight to spend the next 2 days before they head out to Kentucky. They'll be missed.

Soccer Mom!

We started soccer last week. Maysen absolutely loves it. Even though it was 42 degrees, he played his heart out. I felt so much for the coach, as twenty 3yr olds were running a muck, chaos flowing in all directions as he's oh-so-calmly trying to explain "Red Light, Green Light" to a bunch of kids who could have sworn he was speaking Greek. Nonetheless, it didn't matter because all kids had a great time and boy did he sleep good that night. This will continue for the next 4 weeks worth of Fridays. I guess I am now officially a soccer mom, as people have been calling me that because I drive a minivan. I wouldn't give it up for the world ... the van, that is!


The rest of the pics from the game, plus more from his first "real" feeding of rice with a spoon are on my Flickr page, please visit if you'd like. Bailey, our doggie, was also dressed as a super hero on that set, as well. We started feeding Griffin very watered down rice with a spoon because he was so hungry at night. He'd eat an 8oz bottle with rice in it (plus his phenobarb) and still wake up hungry. We give him just a little amount about of rice about an hour before his bottle and he's not near as hungry any longer, his digestive system is handling it just great, and the best part is he's sleeping through the night now!! He goes into his crib and he'll sleep from about 8:30pm - 6:30am. We're all just a bunch of happy folks these days! Full and rested :-)

"Ahhhhh" awaits

And I thought monsters were supposed to be sleeping under the bed??

So, no motivation to blog lately. Sorry! I feel the struggle to keep 2 kids happy while getting my "chores" done let alone blog. By 9pm I'm pooped. However, my energy has been restored because in just FOUR days my sister in law, Jessica, and I are heading off KID/HUSBAND-FREE for 36 whole hours to our family condo at Inn at 7th Mountain in Bend, OR. Maybe, just maybe, Nathan will see just how hard it is maintaining everything all at once can be! He's being a good sport, and how great he is to let me get away not only this coming weekend, but next weekend I have been invited to another get-away weekend with some work friends to the coast. I'm not going for the whole weekend, but I'll go for one night of girls and craziness. Jessica, my sis in law, runs a day care out of her home, while having her 2 kids at home full-time as well. I'm not sure who needs the break more: Her or Me!? We're looking forward to margaritas, sleeping in, popcorn/movies, getting our scrapbooks/photo albums caught up, hot tubbing, and shopping. I can't wait!

So, last weekend I blogged about it being summer-like. Well, I spoke too soon. We got our yard done, flowers planted, and this past weekend we had SNOW!! It wasn't much, but it snowed/rained/hailed all weekend. We got the plants all covered in trash bags, but it's just been weird! My mom in law would say "I'm telling you, it's the Equinox" (love ya, mom!).

Off I go to watch my shows. If I don't talk to you before my retreat ... have a good week!

Return for postage

I worked on Friday, which went amazingly well. It felt so good to get back in the groove of things, among fun people, feeling needed, having adult conversations, and being human again making errors (not too many). The full-time triage nurse is having shoulder surgery so they might need me every Friday for the next 8wks. I still have to talk to Nate and get details figured out, but that would be rather fun, actually.

So, since Nate had the kids on Friday, he had my van and I drove his truck. I had been waiting to get stamps, so I had a pile of mail in my passenger seat that needed mailed.

Me: Where did that huge pile of mail go that was in my seat?

Nate: *Blank uh-oh look* Huh?

Me: That pile of mail. Where is it?

Nate: *proud* Oh! I mailed it for you.

Me: You mailed it? None of them had stamps on them.

Nate: I'm guessing you didn't want them mailed, then.

That'll teach him for being helpful! So, I currently wait and hope that I successfully get each article back.

This weekend was just like summer. It was 70F on Friday, 85F on Saturday, and 70F again today. The clouds have currently rolled in and the rain will be back for a few days, but I forgot how good a sunburn can feel (sometimes). Griffin loved the sun. I had him in the backyard on a blanket (naked) and he just squirmed, talked to the clouds, and looooooked around. On Saturday Maysen had fun with the clan 'o neighbor kids who were all decked out in nothing but bathing suits and barefeet as they took turns running through sprinklers with the aroma of sunscreen floating behind them. It was refreshing watching them as sweat dripped into my eyes, my back ached from pulling weeds, and Nate was covered head to toe in bark 'o mulch. Our yard finally has some color and looks like it just got a giant haircut; the fresh/groomed look is back.

On a fund-raising note: I got the storage company in town to donate a unit to us free of charge to store all the garage sale donations. That's a huge weight off my shoulders as it has cleared out my garage.

Maysen starts soccer on Friday. He is playing at the middle school Nate attended in his youth. I think that will be a fun time for us to see him playing on the same field.

To the shower I go. It's been a long weekend.

Spring Cleaning

Spring is finally here. I was excited when my weather widget popped up and showed a rather nice weekend coming up. 73 on Saturday!! Yes sir, we will be getting out and digging in the dirt this weekend. We have lots of plans for our yard this year. Mainly just revamping flower beds and adding a dog wood sitting area. We'll see how much work we get done.

Do you remember your first birthday party you were invited to? I do. It was for Aaron ____ in kindergarten. His brother, Inn, was in 3rd grade and man was he cute. My mom dropped me off and we played his this stuffed animals in his room. My mom sent me with cars from McDonalds for his present. I remember when he opened them, I was embarrassed as I thought 'Way to go, mom'. Maysen has gotten invited to his first birthday party. It's for T, the 5yr old neighbor boy. He's been over a few times this winter to play, so I think M will be OK. Dad and Mase went and picked out his present (a "cool" spiderman package including the web shooter). He's going to drive his race car over to T's house all by himself he informed us. They grow up so quick.

Our nightly routine has now included a game of Hide and Seek. Maysen can't stand to wait for us to find him, so he usually comes running saying "Here I am!!" This week has been rainy and chilly, so we've been inside a lot this week. I'm working on Friday back at the clinic. I think it'll feel good to get back in the swing of being out of the house every once in awhile and getting around "my girls" again. Tomorrow I'm going to just watch the new computer system. When I left before Fin was born, there were a lot of problems with the new system. I have to go have labs drawn on Fin tomorrow anyway, so I'll stay for the rest of the morning and observe the system. That way I'll be ready to just pick up and go on Friday.

I need to get started on my fund raising garage sale. My sister in law's auction for the school is over, so now I can start my garage sale stuff. I hope it raises a lot of money for the kids at Maysen's school. I need to get up signs around town that I'm taking donations. If anyone is reading this ... and have stuff to get rid of now or after spring cleaning, consider giving it to me so I can put it in the garage sale. The $$ is going toward scholarships for kids of 5Cs that can't afford the tuition. So, it's a great cause. The Garage Sale is May 31st.

With that, I'm going to make signs now...

Typing Skills

You all have to do this: http://www.typingtest.com/.

I will have you know my score was 89 words per minute with 96% accuracy! Let me know how you all do!