One small step for Brayden...one GIANT leap for Mom

*Warning* This is a very well documented morning! Lots of pics and smiles from all! The night before the big day....still a little bit nervous!

Right before going to the bus stop. Doesn't it look like he is going to burst from excitement?

A few of the kindergartners from our block....Brayden, Lilly, Grayson, Kaiden and Ryan.

I had to take part of a group shot...no, this is not a block meeting, this is the AM bus stop! There are at least 13 kids! It's so great!

On the bus with Kaiden, ready to roll!

Getting off the bus with Keegan at school! The nervous jitters are all gone!

LISTENING to directions from Mrs. Griffith, his teacher. :)

At his table ready to work.....I tried to talk Mrs. Griffith into letting the girls stay too, but she wouldn't go for it. (I used to work with her, so she wasn't too weirded out by this psycho mom).

And he's home....20 minutes late! That's our house in the background, I can envision myself running out the front door when it's snowing as the bus comes down the road. I don't think I will be waiting eagerly on the corner when it's 15 degrees out. :)

B got off the bus (20 minutes late) and said, "We went to Liberty Lake! I kept telling the bus driver we live off Barker road, down the big hill! But he wouldn't listen to me. We kept driving down all these roads and nobody lived there!" At least he wasn't worried, he kept his cool and let the driver know what was going on. I bet that bus driver has really good, "Not listening ears!"

And Grandma Wagener flew in and met him when he got off the bus! What a fun, surprise!

We had a kindergarten celebration lunch at Carl's Jr. I know, we really do know how to party!

I have to say, this transition was easier than I expected. It was hard for me to be sad, when he was so thrilled and excited! I am quite proud of my kindergartner!

Little Boys With Big Toys!

This is us....(two of our little guys) This is them....(the big kids at the skate park)!

Kaiden and Gavin got Brayden a Razor scooter for his Birthday. Kaiden's birthday is the day after B's and his party was at the skate park! I know, when did my boy get big enough to do this? I was a crazy, nervous mom! I tried to be cool with all the big kids around, but it was tough!

B had a blast! He crashed once and had a temper tantrum, then he got right back on.

Concentrating on the moves.

I am so bummed I didn't get a pic. of my girls on their princess scooter and bike with training wheels at the skate park. :) They were so dang cute and rode on the perimeter so they didn't get run down! The party kids!

After this party we went to cousin Eliette's party. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics. I guess I was trying to keep my kids under control...which didn't end up working out too well. We had to leave early (and MISS the cake) because two little girls were having an absolute meltdown! It was very sad, and SOOO embarrassing. Dani actually wound up and tried to hit me. That's when I hauled her off to the car (mini-van) and strapped her into her car seat. It took a while to get her in, but thankfully that gave Auntie Jan enough time to gather the other two kids and bring them out, saving me from having to face all those people in the backyard again. Thank you Auntie Jan!!

Too much Birthday!

Party on Party People!

My baby boy is SIX years old! He has been talking about his birthday and his cake and his party for MONTHS! I decided to let him take the lead on the cake and decorate it all by himself! Lookin' good!

Of course the girls had to be in on the action too! They just got cookies though.

Auntie Kalin got him a SPIDERMAN helmet....

to go with his Spiderman skateboard (from Dad). I told Kent he is the one that will be taking him to the Dr. for broken bones....

We had 11 kids at the party (8 of which were family), then 3 pre-school friends. We did a little pin the badge on Woody and pin the wings on Buzz.

We also had a Pinata, which was great fun for all! I went to the back to school sales and put in crayons, scissors, rulers, crazy straws.....and a little bit of candy.

Dani after swinging away.

And we ended it all with the BEAUTIFUL cake!

Happy Birthday Brayden Goo!

Thank you to everyone who celebrated with us! It was a very fun, memorable day!

Picklers

Our friends, Stephanie and Keith James have the best parties and are the best entertainers ever! They hosted their annual Pickle ball Tournament last weekend. They have a court in their back yard. They put our names in a hat and pair us up, but you can't be matched with your spouse. Brayden, Keegan and Cameron warming up the court for the "grown-ups."

My hubs and Angela were matched up as a team, they did quite well!

Dani and Ellie found the lady with the otter pops, poor lady didn't know there were four more kids right behind them, damn Phillips clan!

Ellie jumping with eight boys, should I start worrying now? She is the only wild girl brave enough to be in that cage....

Amy and Kelly, Kelly has the moves!

Sarah and Jason, this is them playing against Keith and me, sadly we whooped them, and they were eliminated!

Me showing Keith my skills, I tried to contribute and not let Keith down...we did well, although we got knocked out in the semi-finals... (I don't think Keith brought his game). I am going to blame our loss on him. :)

Keith even had minute to win it games planned for the kids. How cool is he? Although, his kids are older than ours and a little taller too. He wrapped a yo-you around their waist and then they had to spin in a circle and knock the cans off the table. Do you see how high the table is compared to Ellie's waist? Keith stepped in and helped her out after she was so dizzy she could barely stand. It was entertaining!

This picture does NOT do Ellie justice. She was so grubby and dirty. She played in a dirt pile, jumped on the tramp, went down the water slide/bounce house and blew snot out of her nose. Yes, she was one of those grubby kids that you didn't want to look at or be near. Luckily most of the other kids there looked a lot like her. We pretty much stripped all of our kids down to underwear/panties/ or diaper (as the case may be for one of ours) and loaded them in the mini-van to head home and then hosed them down!

Dani's turn!

Thanks for a fun day James', we all had a great time!

Riding Hiawatha

What or who is Hiawatha, you may be asking.... The Hiawatha is an old train route that they have converted into a biking trail. I have heard about this trail for 10 years, since I moved to Spokane. Today, we finally made it....it is right on the Idaho/Montana state line, which is about an hour and a half from us. Before we got there I told the kids that we were going to a new place, called Montana. Brayden said, "Like Hannah Montana?" Good lord, my kids are getting old.... I didn't even know he knew about her. We made the trek up the mountain, unloaded and prepared for our 15 mile ride down. I was thinking this would be a quick, easy trip down the mountain.

It wasn't quite what I expected. Right off the bat you enter a tunnel that is PITCH BLACK, 45 degrees, with ditches 4 feet deep on both sides full of water. I did know about this, but I didn't realize how hard it is to balance and ride a bike in the dark. We had flashlights strapped to our bikes, but it was still the blind leading the blind with me in the lead.....

We made it through the tunnel without any major catastrophes, as you can imagine, people could hear us coming, and cleared out of our way! There were about 8 tunnels and 7 trestle bridges, which were amazing, but a little scary too. The trail was a gravel road, which made it rough for me to pull the trailer. I was more worn out than I expected to be. I thought it was paved with patches of gravel, no such luck, 15 miles of gravel.

We ended up going on a day that wasn't hot, good planning on my part, BUT it was a cool 60 degrees with rain! Mud was flying everywhere, the kids thought it was great!

At the bottom of the trail, you pay to catch a shuttle (school bus) back to the top where your car is. It took us about 2 hours to get down, with stops and a picnic lunch, and it was a 30 minute bus ride back to the top. On the way back home we asked the kids, "Was that fun, would you like to do it again?" They all agreed, "YES, I want to ride that school bus again!" Fabulous, we will be sure to do it again really soon!

On the drive home we were driving down the mountain pass, which of course, is a huge hill. Every hill we go down the kids think they need to say, "Weeee!" (thanks Grandma Phillips) Kent said, "Ok this is a really LONG hill so can you say that in your head?"

Dani screams: "WEEE in your head! WEEE in your head! WEEE in your head!" Thankfully she starts pre-school in a couple of weeks. Maybe Ms. Jenny will have more luck than I have had with her. :) I love you Claire Bear!

My Heart Hurts

Last week we all suffered a great loss. My friend, Patti Lambie was hit by a car and killed. Patti was a mother of three. She was participating/supporting her daughter in the Spokane to Sandpoint relay. Her daughter, a senior in high school, is on the cross country team. Her team was doing the relay race and the moms were following/supporting them in a suburban. A parent would ride a bike behind the girl to encourage the girl and be their for safety reasons. On Patti's leg of the race she was biking behind a girl at 6a.m. on a Saturday morning. A 31 year old drunk driver, mother of eight crossed 2 lanes of traffic and struck Patti while she was on her bike. Patti did nothing wrong, she had all of her protective/safety gear on and she had no idea the SUV was coming up from behind her. She was killed almost immediately and the girl in front of her thankfully, only suffered from 5 broken bones in her foot. Patti was definitely her guardian angel.

I have been numb with this news for a week now. It became more of a reality when I attended her funeral two days ago and saw all of the lives that Patti has impacted. Just looking at her husband and three children would bring anyone to tears. Patti was in my book club, therefore I knew her from our once a month meetings, but when I think about her, I think about her children. She was one of those moms who was SO proud of her kids and you always knew what activity/sport they were doing at the time. She was a girl scout troop leader and she attended all of their dance recitals, soccer games, track meets, and cross country meets. She was always going 110 miles an hour to fit everything into her schedule. I think she may have even fallen asleep at some of our book club meetings. :)

Until now, I have never been directly impacted by drunk driving. I have heard tons of horror stories, but I have never personally known anyone involved. I think it is the most senseless thing that a person could do. I have always thought that, but now I can't even fathom the hundreds of thousands of lives that this woman has impacted, including her own eight children.

Patti will be deeply missed and always remembered.

Here and there

Wow, it has been a week since I posted, maybe a little longer, I didn't realize how much stuff we have done. Therefore, this is a super long post.

Last Sunday we celebrated Great-Grandpa Petrousek's 87th Birthday! We took a million pics. and this is the best that we got of him and all of the chillin's.

One of my room mates from college came for a quick visit. It was so fun to see her and show her the "real life" of being a mom with three kids. :) I may have delayed her wanting children for three more years. :) We shall see.

I had to post this horrendous pic. of Bethany and I because Brayden took it and he was so proud. I don't think the angle could get much worse.

Friday night we had a family night out and went bowling! They have $1.50 games per person during the Summer before 6pm. We finally were able to take advantage of it. The kids loved it and they kept telling me how much fun they were having.

This was the best part of the evening. B chucked his ball and it ended up getting stuck between the bumper and the outer lane. Of course, I was dying laughing, inappropriately when the guy came over and said, "WOW, that takes alot of skill!" Luckily he was cool about it and no damage was done.

B and D waiting for their turn.

Ellie after she gently rolled her ball down the lane. I tell ya, this was a marathon bowling game. It took five minutes just for the girls' balls to reach the pins... but they were oh so proud!

After a B-day party on Saturday we headed downtown for "kids day." Brayden informed me the day before that, "Clifford is coming to waterfront park on August 14th and we can meet him. When is August 14th?" This was the first I had heard about it, but apparently PBS ingrained it into the kids' heads between shows, because my nephew knew all about it too! (Kind of sad, I know), but B was so thrilled, we def. had to check it out!

Smokey the bear was there too! I know, so old school, my kids didn't even know who he was.

Clifford, Brayden and Ellie. Danielle was too scared to even go near him. We stood in line in 90+ degree weather for over 20 minutes for this shot, isn't it lovely!?!

After visiting Clifford and all the other chaos we headed to Medical Lake to see if I could sign up last minute for the WunderWoman Triathlon. They sold me a spot after packet pick-up! At 3:00 Saturday I was officially registered for the race Sunday morning at 8. Never mind the fact that I took a week off of training when I was in the 'Couve and I only swam twice in the last 3 weeks! I was pumped and ready to do another one! It is kind of addicting, I really love it!

This is the one and only shot Kent got of me during the race. This course was really spread out and you couldn't really see the athletes very much. I got to the race at 6:15 a.m. all by myself, something I can't say very often (all by myself). Kent was so supportive and brought the kids with his mom, and didn't get to the course until after I was done with the swim, because of the shuttle delay......which ended up being a good thing, because the swim was rough for me again! I did do a better job of staying on course, but I panicked a little at the beginning and had a hard time breathing until I could convince myself that I was fine. Part of the panicking was due to the fact that 100+ women started in my wave and we all ran off of the beach at the same time so there was a lot of kicking and trampling going on. Next time I am going to for sure stay in the back of the pack and take my time.....but I made it!

This is me after the race, thrilled that it was over! The course was beautiful, but harder than the last one because there were lots of hills and NO mile markers. I had no idea how far into it I was and that really helps me to keep motivated. There were a few times during the bike that I thought I was close, so I kicked it up a few notches to find out it was just another bend in the road. My legs were shot by the end of this one!

'Couve girls.....which one do you think you prefer? Race the River is Co-ed in Coeur d' Alene the last weekend of July: 1/2 mile swim, 11 mile bike, 3 mile run

Wunderwoman: Middle of August: 1/4 mile swim, 10 mile bike, 3 mile run. The swim is in a lake and it was warm, that was the nice part....I am kind of leaning toward this one, it is a shorter swim and more laid back overall. Let me know what you think, we will have to sign up soon! :)

My cheering section!

My supportive family!

After my 3 hour nap we headed to the river to beat the 90+ degree heat. The kids are turning into little fish, it's so fun to watch!