Lauren

How did she get this big and grown up?

I keep telling her to quit growning, but she is NOT listening to me.

Freaky hands.

One of these hands belongs to Lauren and one of these hands belongs to Arianne.

Can you tell which hand belongs to whom?

Arianne hand growth was stunted at about age 12. Lauren tried her wedding ring on for size and couldn't get it off. Then there are Arianne's toes......but we will not go there its a sensitive subject.....

Ummm....yes we like halloween....

Halloween costumes for the girls: check. Back to school stuff, we have weeks to worry about that....and that book Lauren was susposed to be reading this summer...

Ok, I realize it is July, but it really isn't my fault. I was minding my own business on Saturday when Lauren brought in the mail which included a catalogue for Halloween costumes. And they were CUTE costumes. I am always in search of a good quality costume, that is not just your average witch, pirate, action figure etc.... So when Lauren and I saw this costume, the debate about our Halloween attire was over.

Come October 31, 2010 this is how you will find Lauren and Katie dressed.

The pleasure of his company.

Last weekend my friend Julie came to visit. Well actually she came to drop her son Mitchell off for lacrosse camp and as an added side benefit we got to visit. She spent Sunday night at my house. My plan was to have Julie sleep in my guest bedroom, and Mitchell could sleep in the extra bed in Mark's room.

Well Mark got wind of this plan and let me know that my plan had not been approved by the committee. He was not in anyway interested in sleeping in a room with Mitchell. So I offered to let Mark sleep in my room if he would let Mitchell sleep in his room. This idea passed committee.

Julie arrived, we visited, and Mark got to know Mitchell. Now Mitchell is this 17 year old kid, who plays both football and lacrosse. Mark decided he was really cool. By the time it was bed time Mark said to me "I want to sleep in my bed. I want to sleep with Mitchell and have the pleasure of his company."

Not sure Mitchell wanted the pleasure of Mark's company, but he was a good sport.

Piano recital

I have to say I am always glad when Lauren completes a piano recital, because it means that I get a new recital piece to grow tired of hearing when she practices!



This time Lauren decided to break up the boredom of practice with the fun elements of the electronic piano such as playing her piece on different instruments and then making me guess what instrument she was playing. Being the musical person that I am I was sooooo good at this game, and Lauren let me know it......but at least she had fun and it made her practice!

After the recital Lauren got some beautiful flowers from her dad. That alone made all the practice worth it!

The return of the car.

Its back....yep it is the return of the yellow Corvette. You may recall that several years ago, six to be exact, Lauren obtained her first car, and has spent many a summer happily cruising around the neighborhood. Well last summer the battery finally gave out.

I finally gave in this summer and ordered a new battery.

Here she is with Katie, giving her best beauty queen wave.

It was finally time for Mark's first driving lesson. (ok, technically he has had driving lessons in the past and lets just say it wasn't a good experience....for him or me....)

But with a little more age and wisdom he did much better. We only ran into Jackson's landscaping once....so far.....

Again??? Really?

Last Saturday I took the Dish Network technician into my mechanical room in hopes of him restoring my satellite service. What did I find upon entry into the room? Yep you guessed it, another water issue. (I am becoming an expert now at basement flooding issues, I could start my own disaster cleanup)

This time the source of my water was the in-take/out-take valve on my water softener tank. It was apparent this had been a problem for quite some time. (Note to self: check mechanical room on a bi-weekly basis) Actually I had noticed in my last two water bills that my water usage was a little higher than average, but didn't know why....ummm that problem is now solved.



One new water softener later and now I no longer have this as a water issue in my basement. I am currently taking applications for my next basement water issue.

Arianne came to visit. (part two)

The fun continued all weekend long! On Saturday it was off to the Jackson's pool. This was Charlotte's first time pool side.

As you can see she just kicked back and chillaxed. (chilled and relaxed)

Mark, what can I say he is too cool for words.

These two stayed close to the stairs with their personal floatation devices.

For dinner it was In and Out. (Just to make Keith jealous!)

We filled them up!

On Sunday Arianne was brave enough go 9:00 a.m. church with us, and then brave enough to sit by us in church. After church and lunch Arianne and I decided it needed to be quite time for EVERYONE, moms included. We all had a nice afternoon nap.

We capped off our weekend with a craft on Sunday night, but that's another blog post entirely! On Monday we were sad to put them on an airplane back to Portland, but Keith was anxious to get his girls home!

Arianne came to visit! (part one)

For Arianne's birthday, she asked for one gift, plane tickets to Utah! Yay! This of course means that I get to share in her birthday present.

I love when I get to visit with my sisters. With both of my parents gone, my family feels very small, and I am so glad that I am close to both of my sisters and we enjoy spending time together. I have gotten to see both of my sisters within a two week period, how lucky am I??!!

Here are the two peas in a pod. What one does, the other follows.


Charlotte LOVES Lauren. When ever Lauren entered the room, her eyes followed Lauren and she watched very closely every thing she did. Arianne has decided Lauren needs to come to her house for the summer and be her "nanny."

Cheers to you!

Now drink up!

Sausage.

Sausage. That is what my children are. Its 100 freaking degrees outside and they want to be rolled up like sausage in a down comforter. What is wrong with these children???

Pizza.

Last Friday night the kids and I decided to experiment with some homemade pizza. (I was feeling inspired after reading a blog from one of my friends who does homemade pizza with her kids every Saturday for lunch.)

The basic ingredients.

I made a small pepperoni for each kid. My original plan was to let the kids make their own pizza, however I had taken them swimming earlier in the afternoon and by the time pizza making was occurring they were all passed out on the couch, enjoying a late afternoon nap.

This is MY pizza. I saved the good stuff for me. Fresh basil, pine nuts, fresh mozzarella cheese, and fresh tomatoes. Overall the pizza were pretty good, but my crust making still needs a little work. Darn, I am going to have to do this again!

4th of July, part three

Day three. I told Darrin it was a very good thing his church did not start until 1:30 p.m. because if I had to have my kids up and ready for church by 9:00 a.m. after two extremely late nights, it might have done me in.....

As it was, we managed to drag ourselves out of bed and be somewhat presentable for church by early afternoon.

After church we joined Darrin's extended family for a picnic in the park. Darrin made homemade root beer, and as you can imagine Mark LOVED the dry ice. He is trying to capture the steam so he can use it for one of is trains.... (Why do I see dry ice and exploding things in Mark's future???)

Here are Shelby and Lauren on the play ground.

Katie was not far behind....

Can you guess which cute face this is??? I would like to gobble up this face every day.

Two more cute faces,that if given the chance I would eat too!

At dusk we headed to Ann Morrison park to watch fireworks, and Ciarran joined us. (Actually she came to the picnic in the park and tagged along for fireworks. We sent Colin home after dinner to go to bed. I don't know something about needing to work the next morning? Whatever??!!)

Finally here is our annual 4th of July picture in our 4th of July attire. Aren't we just too cute for words??!! We had a super fun time in Idaho thanks to the Tanners and their hospitality!

4th of July, part two

Day two. It was a good thing nothing was on the agenda for Saturday morning, so these night owl children could sleep in. I don't think anyone stirred, me included, prior to 10:00 a.m.

The Tanners have a trampoline, which my kids, especially Lauren adored. The kids managed to talk Darrin into a game where they lay on the trampoline and he jumps on it, bouncing them in the air.


While the others were being bounced on the trampoline, Katie took the opportunity to catch a few rays and work on her tan.

Next it was on to Judge Hoff's pool. (Although technically now I don't practice law in front of her I am allowed to call her Renae) She was brave and invited all 8 of us out to her pool for the afternoon.

Ciarran came along too, so I guess that made 9 of us. Did I mention Renae is brave to agree to our largeness??!! The kids were so happy to see Ciarran and spend some time with one of their favorite aunts.

We even got Scott, Darrin's 17 year old son, to join us! (FYI, Katie LOVES Scott. He both looks and acts a lot like uncle Matt and a couple of times during the weekend she called him uncle Matt.)

After swimming Darrin and I dropped the kids off at home and headed to the grocery store with Katie to pick up a few things. While at the grocery store Katie spotted a can of olives and would not leave until we agreed to purchase the olives so she could eat them for dinner. (Did I mention she is three??) Katie did not so much want to eat the olives, as she wanted to put them on her fingers.

Which of course meant that all the other kids soon had olive covered fingers....

10 olives on her fingers, and none of those 10 ended up in her mouth. I think she pawned them off on Darrin.....

Once darkness was upon us, the firework king, ie Mark, required a full display of pyrotechnic power.

Here is Lauren in her best Lady Liberty impersonation.

Sparklers were of course a big hit.

It was again another late night. This time it was the boys who got to sleep in the tent in the family room with the girls having a slumber party in Shelby's room. (It was rough they had to down size from the nice big flat screen TV to the lap top computer screen to watch movies. And believe me we heard about it...)

4th of July. (part one of three)

Abandoned. That's what happened to us of the 4th of July. The usual suspects in our 4th of July activities had other plans this year. So rather than sit at home and stare at our walls, we decided to head to Idaho to stare at someone elses walls. We went to visit the Tanners as well as other friends and family we have in the Boise area.

We packed up our Jeep up Thursday night and left first thing Friday morning. Thanks to DVD players and lots of yummy treats and snacks we sailed to Boise.

The first thing on the agenda, Idaho Pizza Company! Its a must on a trip to Boise, because there is nothing quite like it in Utah.

The kids liked the pizza, but they liked the video games better!


We basically took over the game room, and squeezed out the competition... After all between Darrin's kids and mine, its a total of six, yikes!

Next it was onto night time fun. The kids broke open glow sticks and dumped the contents all over their clothing to ensure they were glowing in the dark. What is better when you are glowing in the dark than a game of capture the flag.

It was a little cold outside as well raining, so Darrin set up a tent in the family room for the girls to have an indoor camp out. (Note, Katie lasted about 10 minutes before she moved her sleeping bag to the floor of my room) Bed time 2:00 a.m.......well that's when the girls went to bed, after watching movies and having girls talk. I managed fall asleep a little earlier than that, but not much....

Stuck in a Jar.

Katie likes, or rather is obsessed with her gummy bear vitamins. The rule is you can gave a gummy bear vitamin after dinner. The other day I was making dinner, and Katie took the opportunity to take advantage of a distracted mommy and grabbed the vitamin jar. The kid proof lid was apparently only a minor delay in getting to the good stuff, because she managed to successfully remove it.

The next thing I knew she had her hand in the jar, in attempt to feed her vitamin fixation. Much to her display her had got stuck in the jar, and her under cover operation was blown. She was not happy. That will teach to try to sneak behind her mommy's back. NOT.

Cloudy with a chance of sun...

Last week was audition time at Lauren's dance studio. It was auditions for the company team as well as the national tour team. Originally Lauren did not want to try out for the national tour team, but changed her mind after the company dance showcase in June when she saw the tour team perform, and decided she simply must be a part of that fun.

Now for those of you who are dance novices and consider yourself clueless when it comes to the company team vs. the national tour team, let me provide you with a little education. This last year Lauren has been on the company team for hip hop and ballroom. The company team not only performs in showcases for parents and family, but also attends local competitions from January through May. Lauren has LOVED being on the company team and LOVED competing with her dance routines. She has a whole wall of trophies to prove it.

The national tour team begins competition in the fall and travels both in state and out of state to regional competitions and will be attending a national competition in Florida in June 2011. Bottom line, its a much bigger deal to be on the national tour team than the company team.

The members of the national tour team do jazz, hip hop, and ballroom. This is where I got a little concerned. Lauren has not done jazz in two years. I knew for her auditions that she would nail hip hop and ballroom, but I knew her jazz would be weak, but I crossed my fingers.....

The results were posted yesterday. Lauren did not make the national tour team. I spoke with one studio owners and just as I suspected it was her weakness in jazz. Lauren was really disappointed. I think as a parent one of the hardest things to see is when your child has worked hard to accomplish a goal and then falls just short of that goal. My concern as a parent was that she not get too down about it and then want to quit. I wanted Lauren to see this as an opportunity to reach and grow.

After consoling Lauren and telling her it was ok to be sad, we started to talk about the good things. Lauren made the company team for hip hop, ballroom and jazz. So although she does not get to compete on a regional and national level, she will get to compete locally. Also I told Lauren that she can spend the next year really working on her jazz skills. I reminded Lauren that she is a really good dancer and that with some practice and hard work she will have the jazz skills necessary to qualify for the national tour team. Lauren's mood lightened and she agreed that spending the next year working on jazz skills would be alright.

So although the day was cloudy because she didn't make the national tour team, there is a chance of sun....that's a good thing!

On a much more serious note, the judges at the studio, in a moment of complete derangement decided to let Katie be on the Boogie Babies company team. On the first day of auditions Katie was supposed to learn the dance she would be preforming the next day for the judges. But instead of learning the dance she stood there for the entire hour giving the teacher the snottiest look she could muster, and basically refusing to engage in any dancing. I was not holding out hope for the next day....... That night I asked Lauren to work on a few dance steps with Katie and the results were slightly improved. I still didn't have a whole lot of hope. The next day I sent Katie into the audition and decided to write off the whole experience and assumed that we would be trying again next year, when perhaps our maturity level had improved. Well unbeknownst to me apparently that girl can turn on the charm and dance when necessary, because she wowed the judges and secured herself a place on the company team. Who knew???!!!

Minus one gallbladder....

Alright I have been a bad blogger this week, but I think I had a good excuse, you know that whole surgery thing.

Here is me all prepared to go. Now you may notice that I have a container that is commonly used for upchucking purposes. Yes, I arrived at the hospital with one killer headache, which of course caused a very nauseated stomach. The headache started the night before, and I could not eat or take any medication, which is why nausea was the after effect. I gave the anesthesiologist strict instructions to give me drugs, to one make the headache disappear, and two make sure the nauseated stomach left as well. All I have to say on this matter is he was a very good doctor. He informed me I was going to be treated like a rock star, in other words I got the Michael Jackson drug, propofol, however I had much better results.

And here is the after. They sent me home with really cool photos of my surgery, and my diseased gallbladder. The photo in the bottom right hand corner would be my gallbladder after they opened it up. All the black stuff is sludge, or rather bile that built up. And mixed in with that sludge are the stones. The verdict: one bad gallbladder.

In addition to having the gallbladder removed I also had a hernia repaired. Because, well, why not??!!!

I have taken it easy this last week, hence the lack of blogging. It is amazing how much energy it takes your body to heal. I still have a small amount of pain, but its treatable with my drug of choice, Advil. And now I am feeling so good, (although it might just be the drugs talking...) I am loading up the kids today and we are hauling ourselves to Idaho for a weekend of fun with friends and family!