Lesson learned?!??

It all started yesterday when Brayden came home from school in tears. He said, "Mom, I broke my shoes." I thought, how in the world can you break your shoes? Sure enough, he had yanked and pulled on the strap (there were no ties, there were elastic straps over the top of the tennis shoe) and it broke apart. I was ticked! I could just see him sitting in circle, pulling and messing around with his shoe. These were shoes that we just pulled out of his closet. Grandma Wagener bought these great shoes for him last summer at the Nordstrom sale. I just looked at him and said, "That is so sad! What shoes are you going to wear all summer? I guess you will have to wear your sandals everyday now, even in the rain." He was in tears already and this didn't help a whole lot. I told him if we had time this week we could drive all the way downtown and see if Nordstrom could sew them back together. In the meantime you will have to wear the shoes that are too small. I also told him we would have to take some money out of his piggy bank to pay for the shoes to get fixed. He agreed right away and was so glad that this problem could possibly be solved!

I thought, this is a great lesson for him! He had just earned $2 at the yard sale for helping me, and for choosing some toys to sell. Now he would have to give it right back so he could have shoes to wear. Furthermore...... Kent and I just made last minute plans to go to Silver Mt. for a night this weekend. Check it out. http://www.silvermt.com/ We are all very excited and B keeps talking about our "vacation" and what he needs to pack and what we should eat and when we should leave. It's very cute to see how thrilled he is! He has a plan in his head for the water park and what to do with his sisters while we're there! Anyway...... last night we were talking about our vacation and he said, "I think we should stay there THREE nights!" I told him how that would be so fun, but I didn't have enough money saved and I had to work really hard just so we could go for one night.. yada yada yada.... he seemed to understand somewhat. Does anyone else have trouble teaching kids about the value of money??? We have really been trying to explain and show him about this concept but sometimes it seems so far out there, he'll NEVER get it!

Back to the original story....I thought this will be a good money/take care of your stuff lesson. I talked it up the whole way downtown. I kept saying, "I really hope they can fix your shoe so you will have tennis shoes to play at the park and ride your bike all Summer, I hope we have enough money to get it fixed!" (Knowing perfectly well that Nordstrom would fix it for free).

We got inside and I told the people there that the strap broke on his shoes. They were wonderful and said, we will send those in to get fixed and they should be back in a few days. Great! B heard this and as we were walking towards a sale rack he said, "MOM I WON'T HAVE SHOES TO WEAR ON VACATION!" I said, "Yeah, that's sad, I guess you'll have to wear your crocs. the whole time."

IDK if the sales guy heard all of this but two minutes later he walked over to where we were checking out the shoes sales rack (it's the half-yearly sale, who knew?) and he said to me, "Maam, (I hate being a maam) if you can find some shoes that are on the sale rack, why don't you just take those in replacement of the other ones?" WHAT???? I have to say Nordstrom has THE BEST customer service, but I couldn't believe it. I was torn (for 1/2 a second), do I carry through and prove my point/lesson for my son, or do I take the free $50 pair of shoes? Needless to say we walked out with these:

The brand new shoes: (After a trip to the park and a bike ride, they already look well-worn).

I couldn't believe we got a new pair, and B was somewhat confused. I didn't really explain what was going on and in the car he said, "Mom, wasn't that so nice of them to let me borrow these shoes while they sew my other ones?"

Lesson learned: Break your stuff and get brand new stuff! Seriously. Another day, another lesson failed....maybe tomorrow!

Princesses and Helmet Heads

I was preparing for our yard sale, and I had to go through the girls' closet. It was jam packed with stuff! In there I found treasure boxes with their princess dress up clothes. Dani was Snow White for about 30 seconds, but she didn't really want anything to do with the dress. She was way more interested in.....

the shoes!! I swear Dani can walk better in heels than I have ever been able to!

BTW, the girls dress themselves nowadays. The cute outfits are long gone. Do you love the stretch pants with the baggy T-shirt + heels!

Saturday was a perfect day for a sale. It was beautiful and not too hot! The kids played in the driveway and I set up the croquet set. There's nothing like playing croquet with bike helmets! I was laughing at first, but it turned out to be a good thing the way they were swinging the mallets around. We only had one injury!

Brayden was able to really whack the ball by the end. He was swinging that mallet like an all-star, beware, helmet advised!

SHOOT! I forgot to add my pic. of my tables of junk! I made $100! The best part is I got rid of tons of baby stuff! All those big baby toys are gone! We still have lots of little toys left, if anyone wants/needs baby stuff let me know!

Catching up

We had a fabulous Mother's day weekend. On Saturday we went to Silverwood Theme Park. It's about 45 minutes from our house, and Mom's got in FREE that weekend! You can't beat that, and it was a beautiful day, just about 70 degrees! (Perfect for me). Kent, Ellie and Brayden on the roller coaster train (Dani is sitting next to me). Everyone LOVED this ride. Brayden called it the "fake train."

Danielle, Brayden and Elizabeth in the helicopters.

Dani and Ellie flying away!

This was a cute pic., but RIGHT after this they had to get into different helicopters. They started BEATING each other. It was quite embarrassing , I was already outside the gate and I had to go back in and separate them.

Waiting and waiting for the bumper boats.

The bumper boats were great, but we got drenched! I had both of the girls in my boat and Kent had Brayden. Three tweens cornered the girls and me and wouldn't let us out of the corner. We were stuck forever and they just kept blasting water at us (two baby girls)! I laughed for a while then I started getting ticked, but they wouldn't budge! Finally I had to yell, that's ENOUGH, we're FINISHED. What an old grumpy lady! (This was before the sun was out and it wasn't all that warm yet). The girls didn't even make a peep, they just sat there and enjoyed all of it!

Dani (worried about her cool glasses), Christy and Ellie

Ally, Sarah and Owen

Keegan, Kelly and Brayden
Christy and Ellie

Ellie and Kent

Brayden and Keegan

Before our Mother's day brunch with the family. Squeezes from Brayden, Ellie and Dani.

Family bike ride! Brayden rode his tandem bike behind Kent, and I pulled the girls in the trailer behind my bike. We rode to Liberty Lake, (maybe 4 miles) and by the time we got there my tire was completely flat! It wasn't a far bike ride, but it was a LONG one. I tell ya, hauling a trailer with a flat tire is hard work! After we turned around to go home, the tandem bike got all jacked.

The axle popped and Brayden had to ride like this for THREE miles. He just held on for dear life and Kent hauled him the rest of the way home. I couldn't believe Brayden didn't freak out! He was practically riding sideways, I was giggling at the sight, but scared that he was going to fly off.

Peter Pan

As I was frantically trying to pick up and pick up the house tonight, I heard something a little disturbing.... I was taking a load of folded clothes into the girls room. I hear from my room across the hall, "Look girls, all you have to do is JUMP!" Isn't that straight out of Peter Pan's mouth (except for the look girls part)?

I walk into my room and see Brayden jumping from the laundry basket onto my bed then off onto the floor. He turned around and saw me watching him and he knew he was busted! Usually he is such a good brother and a great example to the girls. I could tell they were thrilled that he was making "bad choices" with them tonight. They LOVE to be naughty together. I had to giggle inside and let this one slide because it was so funny. I kicked them out of my room and now I have a whole pile of laundry to fold before I can crawl into bed tonight.

Side note: I just have to write this down because it was so funny. Before I started work today I told Brayden and Shelbi (our baby-sitter) that we are having a neighborhood garage sale this weekend. I got out a huge bag and told him to put his stuff that he would like to sell into it. I also told him he could keep the money that we got from his stuff and he could put it into his piggy bank for something special. He was a little more receptive to that idea.

When I finished work tonight he ran downstairs and told me, "Mom, I found FOUR things to put into the bag!" He was so thrilled with himself. I think we'll be going to Disneyland with earnings from that! :)

Bloomies!

Lovely pic. This was at 7 :15, Sunday morning before any coffee. You can def. tell I am NOT a morning person. Anywho.... lots to tell about this day. I convinced Kent to do Bloomsday with me this year. Last year I did it with his best friend, and I thought it would be nice to do it with my husband instead. I do love you though Bryan. Kent was not too eager, he grew up in Spokane and had NEVER done Bloomsday. He was worried because I am slightly competitive and he knew I would want to beat my 1:20 minute time from last year. I have to say, that would have been nice, but I knew that if we were going to do it together it would be more a leisurely, chatty pace. Kent finally agreed and I was excited to be able to spend the morning with him.
We left the kids at home and caught the bus downtown. We were there in PLENTY of time. We waited for an hour and a half in 44 degree weather for the race to start! It was fine, by this time I had some coffee in me and I was a tad more pleasant to be around (I'm assuming). Kent was actually talking to me, so I couldn't have been too grumpy. At 9:15 our colored group finally got to cross the start line! I was excited, the adrenaline was pumping the bands were playing, people were cheering and I looked behind me at Kent and he said, "I have to pee!" Can you believe it? My competitiveness side got ticked right a way! I kind of lectured him like he was one of the kids. (oops), but seriously, we stood for an HOUR AND A HALF right by 6 port-a-potties. He said, "Yeah, but I didn't have to go until we started moving."

Ok, I took a deep breath and let it go. I already knew I wasn't going to be breaking any records so when we reached the first mile marker we detoured over to the pots. As we're standing in line behind 6 other people, WTH??, a couple bounds out of the potty shack. I did a double take and the guys says, "It's all about team work!" Everyone in line just looked and didn't know how to respond. How gross is that? I don't know exactly what they were doing, but 2 peeps in a potty shack isn't good no matter what's happening!

After that stop, we chugged along and ran on and off for a few miles. I forget that my legs are almost 4 inches longer than Kent's. (He has a super long torso). When I was jogging along and looked over and he was hobbling I asked him what was going on. He said,

"My legs are so cramped I can barely move." I felt so bad, he seriously looked like he had a disability. He limped off to the side and stretched while I made my potty stop. After some stretching we were off and walking. At this point it was starting to warm up to at least 50 degrees. Clothes were coming off people, that I wish would never have been removed!

That's the other thing about Bloomsday, anyone can do it! Some of the outfits there really should have been banned. There were children present. When we got off the bus the first thing I saw, was what I thought was an older woman. I thought to myself, "Hmm, she must have played volleyball back in the day because she is wearing those little volleyball brief things." Not so much. As I got closer I realized it was an old man in spandex!! Why the hell would anyone wear a speedo to race in at Bloomsday??? I almost lost my breakfast. At that point, I was so bummed that I didn't have my camera with me, because all of you bloggers don't realize what you're missing out on! Just sit back and visualize, an old man with long stringy hair, a sweatshirt, speedo type spandex briefs, and socks with stripes up to his knees. Now I am feeling bad about going on and on about this, but someone really should tell these people it is NOT appropriate!

I have majorly digressed, but anyway, that's enough about our little 7.5 mile race. We finished in 1:45 minutes. We stopped for lunch on the way home around 12. At 1:30 I decided I wasn't too tired and I should probably go and at least be a sub for my outdoor soccer game. Unfortunately, all the other girls had the same idea. We were all out of steam, but there weren't enough of us for subs, so we all ended up playing the entire game! Needless to say, I was in bed by 9:00, asleep by 9:05 and the last thing I remember is Kent brushing his teeth. Then him saying, "You're snoring." I thought, I can't be snoring I just laid down, apparently it was 10:30 and Kent couldn't sleep because I was so loud! My body hadn't been that tired for a LONG time. (Since having babies), good thing I wasn't blogging then. Can you imagine the details from those events?

Jam Packed Weekend!

What a fun and busy weekend! Friday night we went out to Couer d' Alene and played at the huge park by the lake! It was so great to have a nice night, the kids played until it was time for bed! On Saturday morning we headed downtown to pick up our Bloomsday packets for the race and walked around downtown. We walked down to the big, red wagon, which Spokane is known for. The kids went on the slide over and over, it got up to 70 degrees!

Brayden and Dani on the slide.

Dani and Ellie.

After we went on the slide we had a picnic lunch. (It was great running into you Missy!) After lunch the kids got to give away our garbage to the garbage eating goat! They were very fascinated with it!

Ellie and Brayden on the goat and Dani doing her own thing (weird), she wanted to push the button to turn it on again and again. After we went home and had naps we headed to Grandma Phillips' and Grandpa Chris' for my B-day BBQ! Are you ready for this.......

They bought a BOUNCE HOUSE! Can you believe it? The kids had a BLAST! I think we will be over there for most of the Summer!

Dani jumping and jumping.

Ready to party; Ellie and Dani.

At the big kid table, Ally, Brayden and Keegan.

A family pic, + a couple extras. Christy, Brayden, (Ally's hat pointing out), Keegan, Kent, Ellie and Dani.

Party animals; Kent and Kelly. (A while ago someone asked if they are twins. Yes, they are identical twins).

Here's Baby Owen, he is so proud he can get into so much trouble now!

Dani and I waiting for the birthday cake!

Keegan and Brayden helping me blow out my candles!

Auntie Sarah partying it up!

I mixed up the pics. below. We took B's training wheels off!

Daddy helping B take off.

Taking the training wheels off! Brayden got frustrated when he couldn't ride perfectly right a way. We practiced for a bit, and he did pretty well. We ended up putting them back on, on Sunday night so he could ride when we walk this week. He rides his bike for almost an hour each day that I walk. I think the wheels will be going on and off a lot while he learns!


AND..... everyone got new underwear!

Brayden got dinosaur underwear! The girls got new PANTIES! They are so funny when they say it, and so proud. I have to work up the nerve and energy to get this potty training thing started. I think Ellie is ready and I am hoping Dani will follow in her foot steps. E tells me when she has to poop and doesn't like to be wet. We attempted pottying on Friday, but they ended up pushing each other off the toilet because they each wanted to go and didn't want to wait. (No one ended up tinkling, just sitting). I got the little plastic potty chair down from the attic, hopefully one will like that and the other will sit on the big one. Any suggestions......

Wish my luck!

Dani in her new panties! D insisted on wearing them on the outside so she could see them! She freaked out when I put them over her diaper, but under her pants! This was ok, until we headed to Couer d' Alene. I think this will be one of many challenges to the potty training task! Ugh!!!

*Bloomsday stories and pics. to come!*

FREEDOM

Freedom for almost four and a half days! When to eat, where to go, when to wake up, who to talk to....it goes on and on. I took every advantage possible with my vaca away! All of these pics. make me laugh because they are each of just Kent or me... kind of hard to get a good pic. when it's just us there! This is at Carlsbad beach, the first night I was there after we walked on the incredible trail along the beach.

On Friday, we went to Disneyland and CA adventure all by ourselves! I thought I would feel guilty being there without the kids, but I got over that pretty quickly. It was amazing how much we did in such a short amount of time (no kids + no crowds = lots of accomplishments). We had a great time just spending time together and being able to talk without screams or little voices interrupting. We did spend alot of time talking about our adorable kids and how we missed them, or the funny things they have said or done.

On Splash Mountain!

Kent wasn't too impressed with the Matterhorn. I have to say it was alot cooler in my memory from when I was a kid. It has become a little outdated.

Love, LoVE, LOVE this ride!! It has to be the best one there... Tower of Terror, it's a must if you get to go to CA adventure! There's no other ride like it (besides at MGM in Orlando).

This was a spinning car ride in Toon Town, I think Kent may have been feeling a little pukish, otherwise I don't know why he is making such a funny face. (I had to ride in my own,

separate car because my tummy couldn't handle the spinning).

This is another goofy picture because I was trying to get in quick and beat out all the little kids who wanted to drive the car. :)

No one will believe this.... but this is in front of It's a Small World. We waited the longest in line for this ride. Crazy! The only reason we went on it is because they said it had been updated and changed. It has, I could see some changes, nothing drastic, and I can't say it was worth the 25 minute wait at the end of the day.

This was at the end of the ride where you have to wait for 15 minutes to get out of your boat. There was a girl ahead of us with her baby, who was one year old and there on her first B-day (crazy, I'm sure she was loving every minute of it), anyway, she was trying to take a pic. of herself and her daughter and I thought she was going to drop her baby out of the boat. I offered to take their pic. to prevent something drastic from happening. She in return, offered to take our pic. This is how it turned out....I look crazy and Kent looks, I don't know what...weird, high, in a daze, confused, disappointed that we wasted an hour of our lives on this ride....

The next day we went on a road trip through all the little beach towns North of San Diego. It was so fun! This was in La Jolla (pronounced LA Hoy- ya). I liked to say La Ja-la just to embarrass Kent.

Sea lions or seals, I don't know what the difference is, frankly, all I know is that they have to be one of the laziest animals in existence. It was amazing, they just laid on the beach, flopped 3 feet and stopped for another 20 minutes before contemplating if they wanted to move 3 feet again, or not. It is a hard life!

We ate at the best BBQ place here. I wasn't even hungry, but I managed to eat all my lunch and felt sick for the rest of the day. But it sure was yummy!

We continued South to Mission Beach. We did a lot of walking, which was nice. Tons of people were on the beach, swimming (60 degree weather), biking, playing volleyball and running. I would like to think I would be skinny if I lived there and could be outside playing all day!

After our long day of hanging out at the beaches, we went back to the hotel and hung out at the pool. We then mozzied on out for a late (7:00 vs. normal 5:00) dinner. Does life get any better than this?

YES, when you get back home to three little munchkins crawling all over you with hugs and kisses! I called on my way home from the airport as I was just pulling out of the parking garage. (30 min. from home). By the time I got home, Brayden said, "Did you get stuck in traffic? We've been waiting forever!" All three of them were sitting on the couch waving out the window when I pulled in. What a home coming, I felt very loved and missed! I missed their little voices and squeezes too. They seemed to change so much in the short time I was away. Thank you again to everyone who made this trip possible. I really appreciate everything you did!