Field Trip with McKenzie

Today McKenzie went on a field trip to Cherry Point with her class.  They are studying tidal creatures.  They have to find and document different tidal creatures.  I got to be a chaperon. :)

Her and Lucy discussing the different animals they saw.

McKenzie and Claire documenting some of their animals.

Cool!  

We saw a lot of starfish!

They tried to pick up the starfish that they found, but they were not moving!!  Their suckers were sucked on there good!!  :)

It was such a fun afternoon.  Very, very windy and a bit cool, but it didn't seem to faze many of the students!  The parents were quite chilly and most of them stayed in their cars to warm up!

The weather is supposed to be really nice and warm all week! I am so excited!  I have lots of yard work to do and maybe some sunshine will get me motivated!  I did mow the front yard this afternoon.  I just have the side and back yard to do...and then the front...and the side....and then the back....and then the front....  :)  it just never ends!

Busy weekend

Friday, McKenzie had her Science Fair at school.  Her project was "How much does the amount of light affect the heights and healthiness of the plants?"

She spent about six weeks on this project because she had to plant and grow the seeds. She bought 3 different colored containers for her plants.  The dark green one was in the closet with no light. (It grew the longest, but was not healthy) the medium colored one was in the living room with the medium light (they grew ok, but ended up dying) and the light colored pot was in her bedroom window with lots of light (it grew the healthiest and the best).  She planted three of each and took the best one of each for her presentation. I think she did a good job on it.

Saturday morning, she played a half game of soccer and then went to Blaine for the State Math Olympiad.  This is her and her team off to their room to take math tests for three hours!  On a Saturday!  For fun!  :)  Crazy kids!   There were TON of kids there.  They come from all over the state, with most of them private Seattle schools.  I think the girls did good.  There was only two teams from their school that went.  The boys team and their team.  

While we were waiting for her to be done we went for a little walk in the gym and outside. It was pretty yucky out, drizzly and cold, so we didn't stay outside for long.  As we were walking in the gym, Ryan wanted to go outside.  So he headed out, right through this window!  He ran right into it!  He took a step up so he wouldn't trip, but crashed into the window! :)  Crazy boy!

He looked a little startled, but then thought it was funny and started playing in the window.

Today, we went down to the Starfire Field to watch the Rangers play in the finals for State Cup.  The U13 Blue team and the U14 Royal team both played.  Unfortunately the both lost 1-0.  They were good games to watch.  Alex has a lot of friends on the U13 team, so we liked watching that one better, but the U14 game was really well played.

Then home we went with a couple of pit stops to get groceries, cat food and goalie gloves for Alex. (She has decided that she might, maybe, possibly, not for sure, want to be a goalie)  We shall see!

Field trip tomorrow with McKenzie and Physical Therapy with Alexandra.  Fun day for us!  :)

Friday night at the soccer field!

This is the view I had at the soccer field tonight!  Mt Baker is so beautiful!

This is the other view I had!  McKenzie played the Orange WDL team tonight and they one 2-1!!  WHOOO HOOO Navy!!  They play again tomorrow morning at 8am!

Grandpa Jerry came to watch her play tonight.  He is not an early morning game watcher so this makeup game tonight was perfect for him! :)  She played really well!  She made some great saves.

Oh Alex!  While we were waiting for McKenzie's game to start, Alex was playing around with her ball.  She was trying to balance it on her head, but was not very successful! :)  I love this shot of it falling off her head.  

Good night!  Busy day tomorrow!

Flashback Friday!

I know this is really Thursday right now, but it is almost Friday and that is what I am going with! :)

Plus...it's my blog and I can!  

These two pictures are on my fridge and I love looking at them!

This is Alyssa at about 2 or 3 yrs old.  

This is McKenzie and Emily.  I think it was at Emily's 4th birthday party.

They were so cute when they were little!  Now they are growing up and getting all big and stuff! :)

Today I bought a new lawn mower!  My old one is broke and I am now the proud owner of a shiny, red, new lawn mower!  By the time I got home from work, went to the soccer field for soccer training for the girls, went on my walk with mom (while the girls were at soccer), got home and put the lawn mower together (raised the handle :)), went to the gas station for gas for the mower, put the gas and oil in the mower....it was dark!  Maybe tomorrow I will be able to mow the lawn!  Otherwise, Saturday for sure!  IF it is not raining! :)

Thankful Thursday!

I am thankful there is only 8 months until Christmas!!  :)

I am thankful for this little girl!  She has grown so quickly.  This is her and Teddy.  I am also thankful Ryan shared Teddy for about 2 seconds for this photo before he took teddy away!

I am thankful for the Fishy Store. It is a great field trip.  A fun way to kill a couple of hours.  The boys LOVE the Fishy Store.  Aiden always asks to buy his daddy a fishy whenever we go there because he NEEDS more fishies!  They have a couple of fish tanks at home and are always fixing up, adding to, and changing around their tanks.  I told Aiden that he would have to take his daddy there and let him pick out his own fish.

I am thankful for these two little boys!  I am also thankful for bedtime! :)

I set up both playpens in Mac's room and they go right to sleep!

I am thankful for the sunshine and nice spring weather we are having!

I am thankful for my new printer I bought.  It hooks up to my laptop, so I can print from my laptop now!!

I am thankful that I am making progress (although it is slow progress!) on rearranging my Stampin' Up! area.  I am going through all my fun stuff and it is making me want to create!  I can't wait until it is done so I can PLAY!!

Alex's first track meet

Alex had her first track meet today at Meridian High School.  Her first event (the first of the day) was the hurdles.  She told me that this was the first time she has done the hurdles.  At practice, she jumped over a couple of them, but never 8 in row.  

 

She did very well!  She didn't trip or fall or knock any over!!  

I am not sure where she placed, but her friend Paige came in first!  Yeah Paige!

After the meet was almost over, Alex participated in her second event, the 1600.  She was the only girl that signed up for it so she got to run with the boys!  Boy, did she show them!  :)  The one in the middle, in black, ran a 5.20 mile!  Super fast!!  Alex didn't run that fast, but she did get first for girls!  :)  She also beat two of the other boys!  Go Alex!

Here she is at the finish line!  Her time was 6.51 which was not her best, but WAY faster than I could do!  I was happy for her! :)

The last event of the day, immediately after she ran the 1600 (which is the mile!) was the 4x200 relay.  She was on a team with Carmel, Annie, and Paige.  They came in first!  (I won't tell you that the other team didn't show up!)  This is Alex taking the hand off from Carmel.

Alex on her way to pass the baton to Annie, who passed it to Paige.  Their time was 2.08.  The record (set last year by 8th graders) was 2.02!! They were so close to beating the record!  Can you imagine how well they would do if Alex wasn't tired from running the mile, Paige didn't just finish the 400m, and Carmel didn't have a hurt knee?!  I am so excited for this season! :)

McKenzie was at soccer practice tonight while Alex was at track.  The girls are both doing the Pre-Ranger tryout camp this week. (Alex went to track instead tonight).

McKenzie is liking the tryout camp even though she has to pretend she doesn't! :)  

Yesterday, McKenzie ran the mile at school.  She came home super excited about her time!  Last fall (2011-4th gr) she ran a 10 something mile.  This fall (2012-5th gr) she ran a 9 something mile.

Yesterday....she ran an 8.28 min mile!!  She has improved so much!  She was so super excited!  

So much for me using her as a running partner!  I can't keep up with her!  I would be lucky to be doing a 10 something mile right now!  :)

Tomorrow is the last day of the pre-Ranger camp!
McKenzie has her science fair on Friday (1:45-2:45) and her make-up soccer game Friday night (6:45) and Math Olympiad on Saturday!  She is going to be one busy tired little girl! :)

I am thinking that Saturday night is going to be movie night and bed early!!

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for...

New shoes!!  I bought new tennis shoes on Monday and my feet are soo happy when I walk now!


Fun family days.  This was at Chuck E Cheese last week when we went on a family day.

 I am thankful for my three grandchildren!  I love them all to pieces!!  They are so busy, fun, busy, energetic, busy, smart, busy, cute, busy....  :)

 

I am thankful that my family is healthy.

I am thankful that tomorrow is Friday!!  :)

What are you thankful for? 

Happy Birthday Lesley!

We went to Chihuahua's last night for Lesley's birthday dinner!  Happy 38th! 37th!!!  :)

Our waiter.  :) 

 Ryan kept walking around the table drawing on his mommy's Boogie Board.   I think he was trying 

to take peoples orders.  He even went to another table. :)

Lesley is "blowing out her candles"

The Birthday Girl and Derek!  Love this photo of the two of them!

Derek holding Elizabeth.  He didn't really want to, but I just gave her to him and took their picture!

The brithday girl with Elizabeth. (She did want to hold her!)

Aiden was pretty excited when Lesley shared her birthday treat with him!  Richard was pretty happy too! :)

Lesley and Tom

Papa and Derek

It was a fun night.  All the cool people were there! :)  

Yesterday was also orthodontist day for Alexandra.  It was an early appt, so we left early and got to shop a bit on the way home.  One of our favorite stops is Krispy Kreme.  We don't have one close to us anymore, so whenever we go down south, we like to get a treat!

We also stopped at the Seattle Outlet Mall on our way home.  I have never been there.  It was pretty neat. A mostly covered outdoor mall.  Lots of cool stores.  I even got new tennis shoes!  Very excited!!  I have needed good tennis shoes for quite a while now.  With all the walking mom and I have been doing, I didn't have any good, supportive walking shoes.  Now I do!!

We got home in time to pick up McKenzie for soccer and Mom and I did our walk at WCC. (With my new shoes!)  Then after soccer, it was off to Birthday Dinner! :)

The end of a long fun day!

Finally Friday!

Last night at Stampin' Up! we made a card similar to this one.  It had a white base behind it and the melon mambo card stock was cut the same size as the vellum.

 These cards are so simple and elegant.  Very fast and easy to duplicate.  I also added little vellum butterflies to a couple of the sayings!

 You will have to excuse the work mess!  These are the retiring in colors, however SU is doing a small color update and we get to keep Island Indigo and Wisteria Wonder!  Love those two colors!

 We also made a version of this card.  All the colors we used last night were very bright and springy!  It made me want to have real spring back (which we did yesterday!!)  I am hoping it will stay spring for a while now!

I love the simplicity of this card.  I ran the vellum through the big shot, then stamped the flower on the front with stayzon.  I flipped it over and embossed with my stylus and mat pack, then turned it right side and added the greeting (which I know is crooked!  I had "help" from one of the kitties!)

Fun class last night!

I am thankful it is Friday today!  Tomorrow is Alex's last Ranger game this season!  Next up is tryouts and another season!!  Love soccer! :)

Have a great day!

Wacky Wednesday

There is no other way to describe today, other than Wacky Wednesday!  I had good intentions when I woke up this morning.  I was going to get up and use the treadmill before I took Alex to school.  When I woke up, I heard the rain and the wind, rolled over and went back to bed!  I did not want to get out of bed!  I did, finally, because I had to take Alex to school! :)

I came home and McKenzie and I got ready (her for school and me for work).  It was also a crazy day at work.  I had lots of boxes and zero energy.  I also had to close tonight and I never close in the middle of the week!  I have just been feeling out of sorts all day.  

I am getting ready for Stampin' Up! tomorrow night.  Making sure I have enough supplies for everybody, playing around with a few more cards.  I love sitting down with my paper, ink, stamps, Big Shot, and glitter and coming up with fun cards.  Some days are definitely better than others!  Sometimes I have tons of ideas in my head and they come out perfectly and other times they get stuck in my head and won't come out!  Wacky!!  :)

I will post pictures tomorrow of the cards we will be making.

I will leave you with this adorable picture of Ryan!  He was supposed to be getting in my van, but he went behind their apartment building waving BYE BYE to me.  He was off in search of the puppies that live behind them.  They were sleeping inside and he couldn't find them, so he agreed to come with me.  I know how I rate! :)  Right after puppies...  I still love this little munchkin!!  :)

Happy April!

Yesterday was the last day of Spring Break for the girls.  I had to work all week and they had soccer all week except for Friday.  Saturday was a soccer day, and Sunday (yesterday) was our FUN DAY!  :)

I gave the girls two choices, Jammie Day at home or go out and do something....

Here we are at Chuck E Cheese!

This place was packed!!  They had about 4 or 5 birthday parties plus regular Sunday afternoon craziness!  Should have gone at a different time!  The girls had fun though.  We didn't stay too long....

Then off to the other side of the mall where we watched this movie....

It was ok.  Not the best I've seen, but not the worst either.  The girls thought it was ok too.  There really are not a lot of good movies out there.  We enjoyed our popcorn and lemonade, got our free refill and then headed home.

I have tons of pictures on my camera to go through and catch up on, but for now, here are some phone camera highlights of our week.

I had the kids for a couple hours on Saturday.

Ryan grabbed Alex's camera, climbed up on the couch to see Elizabeth, and held the camera over her saying, "CHEESE!"  

p.s.  Look at her cute little slippers!!

Aiden loves his little sis.  He calls her Lizzy.  If you ask him what her name is, he says Elizabeth. :)

Alexandra is branching out!  She has now made herself a pair of slippers, and a matching pair for Elizabeth!!  

How cure are they!!

I had the kids at the mall with me Thursday night while McKenzie was at soccer practice. (Alyssa was taking her drive test)  Aiden was in the stroller while Ryan was running wild (they took turns!) and Aiden wanted to hold his sis.  He was being goofy about getting his picture taken though.  This is the best snapshot I could get!  :)

Easter afternoon.  After we came home, Alex decided to see if she could light some dandelions on fire.  She had heard that they change colors if you set them on fire.  McKenzie brought out the cup of water just in case they needed it.  Such a thoughtful girl!

They ended up not being able to light any on fire...but they sure tried!  I came home to a huge pile of dead dandelions on the sidewalk.

Here is Katherine and Elizabeth on Easter Sunday.  It was so warm and sunny out!  It was over 70!!  The weather slowly got cooler and wetter as the week went on....back to our normal Spring weather! :)

Have a great day!!