Spring Break Road Trip!

 The kids and I headed to my parent's house in the 'Couve for Spring Break.  We have taken the trip so many times that the kids are pretty well trained and did a fabulous job!  Plus, it helps that they get more screen time than any other day of the year.  :)


This was our first trip to the 'Couve since my parents moved.  I have to say, it was weird.  They are 20  minutes North of where they lived before.  Not only is it a new house, but it's a whole different community.  I couldn't just jet to a friend's house, she is now at least 35 minutes away.  No me gusta!
But their house is really nice and we were able to take it over in no time.

My Dad took the kids on a fun egg hunt at a park in the 'Couve.  It was very well organized with lots of activities.  The girls got their faces painted while Brayden played some games.

 They had an egg relay race, they didn't explain the directions very clearly.  Dani thought it was an egg toss.  As soon as the guy said, "GO!," Dani threw her egg across the field and then stood there in shock because everyone else was scurrying across the field.  I laughed so hard, it was too cute.

 Waiting for the hunt to start!

 Checking out the goods.

 After a fun trip to Kline Line park where it was 78 degrees, crazy warm, we came back to dye eggs.  Always an adventure no matter how old the kids are!

 Ellie went with G&G to a U of P soccer game, so Dani and Brayden held down the fort waiting for the Easter bunny.  Apparently, they were still hot from the 78 degree sunshine, (who can blame them when it was 40 degrees at home when we left), they needed to do this task shirtless.

                                                            Happy Easter!

 My sister came over with her adorable babies for Easter.  No matter how big those kids get, I am pretty sure my kids will always call them "Baby Leila and Baby Cullen."

                                            Assisting in an egg hunt.

                                   The bunny cake that Brayden proudly decorated.

              Cullen, one of the cutest/happiest boys around!

                                  Cousin playtime!

                                                                Beautiful Claire

                                     Gorgeous Leila

 We had a fabulous visit with my Cousin Sarah, which included a perfect Portland day in the park and ice cream!  We so love our time with her!
Next up, was a trip to Albany to visit my Grandma Wagener.  It was great to see her and visit with her over a yummy lunch.  Brayden even got in a few rounds of cards with her!  I love that he is able to play with her because those are some of MY best memories with my Grandma!

I also got to meet up with Lins and Megs, which was such a nice treat!  Thanks ladies, for a fun night out!

After our visit in the 'Couve we headed up to Seattle to visit some college friends.  While they were at work we visited The American Girl Doll store.  It was fabulous and very overwhelming!  We all had a good time checking EVERYTHING out.  The car below is a  VW bug for the dolls, it's a mere $350, I just had to laugh out loud.  This is as close as the girls will ever to one.

We looked at all the time period dolls, and outfits and accessories.

 Then we stopped by the salon where Megan (Ellie's doll) and Claire (Dani's doll) got their ears pierced!  It was all very exciting.  They also style the doll's hair, but we chose to forgo that, and I got some good tips from the stylist instead.  :)

 We had a birthday lunch in the bistro, where Megan and Claire joined us in their own little seats.  They even had their own cups and saucers, it was all quite cute and reasonably priced.  We got the birthday lunch package which apparently included this magnificent cake!  It was so fun, which included memories that will hopefully last a lifetime, because I am not sure we will be back anytime soon.  :)

Brayden was the best big brother and quite a trooper for the hours and hours we spent in the AGD store, not a single complaint.  We stopped at the LEGO store on the way out and he loaded up on a bucket.  It was a good time!

We then got to meet my friend Bethany and her new baby girl, Kylie.  It was a fun visit, I was so glad she was able to see us with her busy schedule.

Then it was on to Kelsey, Brian and Eli's house!  The kids had a blast with Eli, although I think he may have been overwhelmed with my brood at first.  We are looking forward to a visit from them in June!  Thanks for a fun night Graves family!

Mile stone

It is a sad, sad day when your little boy's bum gets too big for the cartoon underwear.  We were packing for a trip to visit my mom and dad for Spring break.  I checked Brayden's suit case after he "packed" it.  One of the many issues was that there were only two pairs of underwear.

Me:  "You are taking two pairs of underwear for 6 days?"

B: "Yep!"

Me:  "Do you think that might be a problem?" 

Side note:  I had finished all of the laundry so everything was ready to be packed.  B failed to put all of his clothes in the hamper, therefore some of his underwear was dirty and still on his floor. 

B:  "I don't like any of the other pairs that I have."

Me:  "What's wrong with them?"

B:  "They are too tight."

All righty then, we can probably remedy this.  Meanwhile, as I am digging through his drawer he bolted into my room.  He came back in and shoved more underwear into his suitcase. 

Me:  "Where did you get those?"

B: "The hamper."

Me:  "Ugh, I think dirty underwear may be worse than no underwear, what do you think?"

Smile wide on his face, just shrugged and giggled.

That brings us to today......shopping at Fred Meyer to pick up some road trip snacks and new underwear for the boy.  He migrated to the Angry Bird underwear.  Unfortunately, it wasn't big enough.....our only choices were white briefs or colored boxer briefs.  He was as crestfallen as I was.  :(  

I may just have to go search out some stores at the mall.  I don't want my boy to have to wear plain jane underwear quite yet.  He has to stay a kid/boy for a little bit longer.......

Two hands!

 My baby girls are now 5 +1, two hands!  When did they get so big?  I know I was waiting and waiting for them to grow up and not be so dependent on me ALL the time, but now everyone can STOP growing! 

 Cousins, this picture took at least five minutes to get.  Isn't it wonderful?

Grandma Phillips's birthday is 10 days after Dani and Ellie's, so we got to celebrate her too!

 

 The friend party!  The girls invited 10 friends over for an afternoon celebration.  The picture below is of when the kids were singing.  I think Danielle wanted to crawl under the table, just like when she was two.  Ellie, however, ate up the attention!  :)

 Hello Kitty cookies that I was quite proud of, this is as good as my crafting gets!

 We opened the family presents on their birthday night.  This picture is when they found out what a sucker I am, and got them the look alike American Girl dolls.  I didn't decide to get them until two days before their birthday, so they are holding print outs of what their dolls look like.  They were ecstatic!  Kent thinks I am crazy, (and I sorta do too), but they have not put them down since they arrived 4 days ago.  If it were me when I was little, the doll would have sat on a shelf and I would have viewed it from afar.  These girls have such imaginations and really PLAY with them.  I don't regret the investment yet, and as my fabulous, smart friend, Kelsey pointed out, it's better than buying them some kind of electronic device.

 Dani's look alike, "Claire" who has curly hair and freckles.

 Ellie's look alike, "Megan" who has blue eyes and straight hair.

Happy Birthday to my amazing, smart, funny girls, I love you!

Weekend Warriors!

My college friends, Kim and Travis Bingham visited us last weekend!  We had the tripped planned forever, then they put an offer on a house, thinking it would never be accepted, and it was!  Low and behold, they had to get their house on the market within the week.  I was so disappointed, thinking that there was no way that they would be able to come.  The Binghams are like super-heroes, they busted out their pages of projects within four days.  Painting, dry-walling, grouting and whatever else took place in a short amount of time.  Besides never ending projects, they also had to parent, Kim and Travis also have 3 children: Riley age 7, Carson age 5 and Ainsley age 2. 

What a wild and crazy weekend!  10 people in our cozy, little house made for lots of fun and lots of chaos!

Here Ainsley and Carson are ready to hit Triple Play.  We headed out to the indoor water park on Friday.  I think everyone had a good time.  I have to say, now that I have an eight year old and two almost six year olds, I am kind of lax on the whole parenting thing.  I forget that you have to really watch and keep track of a two year old.  While Travis and Kim headed up on the slides a couple of times, I really had to focus on keeping Ainsley in sight and safe.  :)

Movie time, after a long day.  All six of them in one spot!

On Saturday Brayden had his Pine Wood Derby race.  Carson was especially excited for this!  We had been planning the visit for a long time and talking about going to the race.  Carson was amazed that Brayden made his own race car.  Imagine the disappointment in his eyes when he saw Brayden HOLDING his pine wood derby car.  Kim failed to mention that it would not actually be a car that he got into and drove.  Poor Carson!  I think he still had a good time at the race, watching all of the boys and the millions of heats.

Brayden's car is the red one that is in 6th place, yep, last.  He was a bit heartbroken, which I totally expected.  BUT it was the first car he had ever made and his first year racing.  Some of the scouts have been doing it for a few years, their cars were quite impressive.

No more old wooden tracks.  Our pack bought the state of the art aluminum track which included high-tech software, for the heats and times.

Travis, Kent and Wayne.  This picture is horrible, but it's the only one I got of grown ups.  :)  Kent was in charge of the technical stuff: heats and times.

All the kids sitting at the finish line, they were amazing for hours and hours, watching with a few snack breaks.

Our friends and brothers:  Kaiden and Gavin.

Brayden, setting up his car on the starting line.

Not only did we sit through 40 scout cars racing 6 heats each, but the parents and siblings got to race their own cars too.  Of course Kent made one, The Wet Banana.  I was concerned that the parents may have concerns that the next Cub Master had such a perverted car name, but no one said anything.  Paco actually chuckled each time he announced the car.  Good times, I was so proud.

After the race, a walk to the park and some trips to Spokane's finest stores, Spokane Discount and White Elephant, we made dinner then headed outside for some Woof-ums!

We borrowed Wayne's sticks, which have a big wooden ball at the end.  You lay a rolled out biscuit on the end, roast it and put some yummy pie filling in the tiny bowl.  It was scrumptious, but quite time consuming and it required a lot of patience for our little ones!

The smoke was in Brayden's eyes, so he put on the girls's stylish sunglasses, it seemed to help.

What a glorious, exhausting weekend!  Thank you to the Bingham family for making the LONG journey to see us!  It was a weekend that we won't soon forget!

A whole lotta fun!

During Dr. Seuss week at school, the girls had fun, themed days.  Here is crazy hat day and a little game of checkers before bed.

Crazy hair day was Ellie's favorite.  She went all out.  7 little braids around her head with pink and sparkle spray that she borrowed from Auntie Sarah.

Dani was a bit more reserved.  A regular pony with a dab of pink.  :)

The Harlem Globetrotters came to town!  I got to take Brayden and Keegan while the girls stayed with Auntie and Uncle.  We had so much fun!  The boys were  thoroughly entertained.  They laughed so hard and so loud that I was a bit embarrassed at times.  But that's what it's all about, right?

Our grown up girl turned 18!  Maya is Shelbi's little sister.  We met Maya when she was 12 and Shelbi was baby-sitting for us.  Maya is now our baby-sitter and we love her! I can't believe she is so grown up.  :(

Brayden came home a couple of weeks ago with ANOTHER star award!  These are special awards that the kids earn at school.  There are maybe 15 kids in the school who have earned them, Brayden is the only one in the school to have earned TWO!  So proud of my sweet, responsible pup!