Presidents Day

I love it when the kids have a day off school.  I wish they could have a three-day weekend at least once a month.  It is the best feeling Sunday night when you are tucking them in bed knowing that Monday morning everyone is going to sleep in and do whatever they want for the day!

We did sleep in.  Then, Ian requested that we visit a park near our house with a flat sidewalk spanning a full city block on all four sides.  It was a beautiful day and we went to said park so everyone could rollerblade and ride scooters.

Sophie wanted to go to a movie.  I needed to go grocery shopping.  After we got our fill at the park, I took all four kids with me to the grocery store.  It was pretty nice.  Sophie pushed Katie around in a cart and helped gather things from my list while I shopped with my own cart and the boys followed me around.

The theater was near the grocery store.  I dropped off the three older kids to watch the Penguins of Madagascar while Katie and I drove home to unload the groceries and start preparing dinner.

Katie and I also stopped by Office Max so we could buy pencils for Sophie.  She recently told me she was out of pencils and I said "No problem," because I bought a package of 72 of her favorite pencils back in August.  But, after searching the house, I realized, she was right.  All of the pencils were used up!  That girl -- she fills notebook after notebook with her writing.  She is insatiable.

After striking out at two different stores (she only wanted Ticonderoga No. 2 pencils in yellow with pink erasers) I finally got another 72-pack at Office Max.

It felt great to pick up the kids after their show and bring them home to a yummy meal of ham, cheesy potatoes and peas.  I haven't been the greatest at cooking dinners for awhile and I'm trying to get back on track with this.  I love how it makes the house smell good and feel all warm and cozy.

Now, everyone is outside running around the neighborhood playing freeze tag.

Katie and I just paused to savor the sunset together.  This is a tradition she initiated about 10-days ago.  She calls me out when the sun is setting and we watch it together from the front balcony every night.  I treasure this time with her.  I have always loved sunsets.  She is a girl after my own heart.

Happy Day of Love

On Friday, all of the kids had fantastic Valentine parties.  I got to go to Ian's to play bingo and Isaac's to help them glue love bugs in their Valentine books.  

Sophie looked beautiful in a red dress for Formal Friday.  She had a fabulous time dancing for 2.5 hours straight at the after school stomp.

Kindergarten got out at 10:20 a.m.  I picked up Katie and brought her home so we could lay all of her Valentines out in a row.

On Saturday, I got to take these cute loves of my life out for ice-cream (after Isaac's team won their soccer game by 9-4!).

Here Ian is modeling the "double scoop" cone with Sophie photo bombing.

Isaac insisted on a triple scoop until they told him they could only serve it in a bowl.  Then, he settled for this double.

Sophie got a single of double-fudge brownie with a side of fudge (Burch Creek Mercantile sells old-fashioned candies and homemade fudge).

Katie was so happy with her choice of cotton candy and Birthday cake.

For dinner, I took these cuties to Tokyo Station where they cooked our dinner on a table side grill.  I loved celebrating the day of love with four of the people I love the most!

Be Strong

In January, my parents travelled to Hawaii for two weeks.  Ahhh, the retired life.  They splurged on tons of excursions, swam with manta rays and sea turtles and ate their favorite Hawaiian treat -- shave ice -- every day.

We missed them terribly, but, at least it was a warm and sunny January here at home.

The first day they were home, they took Katie to the Treehouse Children's Museum.  The next day, my dad came over and fixed the van after a belt came loose unexpectedly and Brian was in Park City covering the Sundance Film Festival all day.

On Sunday, they invited all of their children and grandchildren to their house for dinner -- a feast of crab that my dad caught when they visited the Oregon Coast last fall.  The side dishes included the most delicious mashed potatoes.  The secret ingredient was cream cheese.

The next day, my mom came to my house to humor me while I obsessed about what curtains I should buy for the living room.  These are big decisions.  When Sophie came home and admired the fleece jacket my mom was wearing, she jumped in the car and bought one just like it to give her.

My parents spoil us.  They were only home for a week, then they were off to spend a month in San Diego where they rented a condo with my aunt and uncle.  Ahh, the retired life.

Big news came when my dad got a call asking him to do on-site metal work in Spokane, Washington right away.  My parents and aunt and uncle had reached Las Vegas when my dad decided to turn back and my mom forged ahead without him.  He has a hard time being retired sometimes.

He asked Brian to assist him on the job.  At first, I thought they would be leaving in a few days.  It was pretty crazy because there were so many loose ends to wrap up.  Like -- I didn't have a functioning sink in our main bathroom for one thing (the vanity was in the middle of being remodeled).

Luckily, the dates got pushed back by 10-days.  They leave this Friday and they might be gone for seven weeks!

I'm going to have to put on my strong-lady-independent-working-shoes to be without both of my parents and Brian . . .

In other news, I'm grateful to be getting back into the swing of full-time mothering.  Writing so many stories for the newspaper was consuming me.  I don't think I can ever go back to that.

Sometimes I forget the things that use to occupy my time, before all of the writing.  Other times, I remember.  Like Friday, when I remembered to go with all the other moms to playgroup.  It was such a beautiful sunny day (in February!) that we ended up at the park sitting on quilts on the grass while the kids played.  I love days like that.

It feels good to be more focused on my home and my children.  And, yet, I'm realizing the more energy I put into it, the more it asks of me.  Does that make sense?  Regardless of how much I work or don't work for money, this being a mom business takes everything I've got.

It always seems like I should be able to do more than I actually have time to do.

I guess it's part of the job description.  Wake up, give it everything you've got, sleep, repeat.

Today we had Brian's family over to the house for Sunday dinner and to celebrate Brian's dad's 70th Birthday.  I can't believe it.  What a milestone!

It seemed appropriate to end the evening with fireworks to really highlight the occasion.

We were also planning to invite a ton of friends over to celebrate Chinese New Year with fireworks in two weeks.  But, those plans will have to wait for now.  I'm grateful Brian has this opportunity.  I hope it all goes well.

Great American Woodworks Custom Vanity

Before I begin this post, let me say that the photos in the last post are the beginnings of a bathroom we are planning in our basement.  Meanwhile, we've been doing some renovations to our upstairs bathroom.

As I mentioned before, this vanity that came with the house has been trouble.  The drawers appear sound . . . but, don't try to open three of them or they will fall off the tracks.  The cabinet doors, well, we couldn't manage to get them to stay on.  Classy.

Two weeks ago, Brian ripped that vanity right out.  It seemed really large after he hauled it out to the front porch.  Moments after this photo was taken, he hurled the whole thing onto the lawn, busting it into pieces, before we disposed of it.  That's fun, right?

I've got a blank space baby . . .

Our good friend Simon who owns Great American Woodworks built this beautiful custom vanity for us!  Brian still needs to install handles on the top drawers and the outer cabinets.  These things take time to get them just right.  The countertop was delivered yesterday.  And, Brian spent today hooking up the new sink.  We kept the old faucet.  We are thinking about looking at new ones.  I have a hard time throwing away things that still work.  But, maybe it needs something a little more grand?  Anyways, I LOVE the new vanity.  Now, I have eight drawers and four cabinets that all work -- sweet!

Today, I went shopping with this beautiful lady and she took this selfie with my phone.  I love her braces.  She is modeling the new lipstick she picked out, because, we finally convinced dad that age fourteen (almost, her birthday is in a few weeks) is the perfect age to begin wearing make-up.  I love make-up.  Yay for make-up!  We also went shopping for a new Sunday dress.  Everything she tried on looked so cute on her that she ended up with three or four new outfits plus a dress that I wish I could photograph her in on a beach somewhere.

Here is a photo I snapped last week of three gorgeous girls gearing up for a Friday night chick-flick.  We watched Annie (the old one) while the older kids had their final night on the slopes with dad.  It seemed longer then I remembered.  But, Katie and I were singing all of the songs together the next day.  I remember watching that movie with my mom when I was little.  Now, it is a rite of passage. 

New Bathroom Preparation

Brian rented a jackhammer to bust up this giant slab of cement that was lying in the basement after we cut a hole in the wall to make room for cold storage.

There was a lot of this going on a few days ago . . .

He decided, since he had the jackhammer for four hours, to go ahead and bust up this corner of the basement floor to find the sewer line.  This is what it looks like when you endeavor to put a bathroom where there was no bathroom before.  I was surprised that he had to dig down about two feet.  Now, things are plumbed and ready for when we get to the point of building a bathroom.

There have been delays with getting the dirt room poured.  We wanted to make sure the job was done right and ended up taking multiple bids.  It looks like it might be done next Monday.  It will be exciting to see it!