My Lucky Day

So, I was inspired and motivated by all the people who do such creative and fun things on the "little" holidays. I decided I would be the"super mom" and do a creative breakfast for my children for St. Patrick's Day. I had it all planned out. "Shamrock" milk, "Irish"pancakes (really German), and a pot 'o gold (the orange slice). I had dreams all night about how the kids would be so excited and go on and on about how cool everything was.

So in the morning I wake up early, well, early for me. Start on breakfast, eagle ears Nathan and Olivia were down immediately and began fighting at the counter. I then went and got Cody up who was immediately STARVING and couldn't decide whether to cry or laugh for the pictures because he was ticked off I wasn't feeding him. After breakfast Brooklyn left for school, and Olivia and Nathan kept fighting. I was ticked! I worked so hard and they didn't even care ! So I grounded them! A real grounded! They weren't allowed to go to Callie's all day or play with Porter or MaryLeigh. So I put them to work. They both cleaned their room's, folded laundry, and cleaned the kitchen! My house was clean! I ended up being the winner after all! It was MY lucky day!

I fixed it! Yay me!

So for the last week the dishes on top rack of my dishwasher have come out just a filthy as they went in. So annoying! Every time I started it I would check and see if the spinner was spinning, and it kind of was...But the cups and stuff only were misted inside, hardly wet!!!

So Casey finally said he was going to tear the washer apart! We took it apart and couldn't see anything wrong, maybe a toothpick here and there, but nothing major. By the time we got it back together it was 11:30 pm, so Casey went to bed.

I wasn't satisfied, so after an hour and a half of searching the Internet, I found out it could be the "chopper blade assembly". I took the washer apart again, and went deeper this time and found the blade busted off just laying there. And the strainer thing was completely clogged! Which means no water pressure to make the top spray arm spin and clean my dishes!

So today I picked up my new piece, installed it, and boom! My dishwasher runs like a dream!

I am such a nerd! But hey, nerds save money, right?!

What's Not to Wear!

Around here everyday is dress up day! Especially if your sister is Olivia.
Last week when I got back from Enrichment Night I found this picture on my camera. It seems the girls and Casey had a little fun while I was gone! Then today,while fixing my hair, Olivia brought Cody to me looking like this. I think he would make a pretty cute girl, but I think we'll stick with the boy clothes.

Olivia enjoys getting her 2 1/2 year old cousin MaryLeigh dressed everyday also. Yesterday I went over to Callie's and saw what MaryLeigh was wearing and thought, "Wow she's starting to dress like Olivia." (which means a lot of pattern and alot of "bling"). Callie came in later and asked me if I liked what Olivia had dressed MaryLeigh in. Of course Olivia had dressed her!
That same day after watching "Nacho Libre" Porter showed up at my house in this outfit.

And later the girls, dressed in princess dresses, tried to camouflage themselves on a chair of bears.

Grandpa May's Cake

This is my dad's famous cake, the "Hot Water Cake". Chocolate heaven. He found this recipe and made it for a birthday a few years ago. He hasn't made it for awhile so the kids were a VERY impressed. It is soooo good. My dad is a pretty good cook! Of course you are too mom! Love ya!

Breakfast with DAD

In honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday Brooklyn's school had a Green Eggs and Ham breakfast for the 1st Graders. Casey took the morning off work and met her at the school and had breakfast with her. The really had green scrambled eggs (food color) and some ham, an apple and a fruit roll-up (Casey gave her his roll-up). The kids all got a Cat in the Hat hat. Casey said Brooklyn was a little shy to wear it at school, but by the time she got home she was loving it. She so excited that she was the only one in her class to get a rainbow one.

The "Perm" is back Baby!

Brooklyn has curls again!!! Yay! She looks sooo cute!
Callie Permed her hair last Thursday. She is so awesome! Brooklyn has alot of hair and I knew it would take forever, but I was going through so old photos of Brooklyn and she used to have such curly hair. It was so cute and EASY to fix. Just scrunch and go. But as her hair got longer and thicker so went the curls...
Brooklyn was so excited. Callie said she giggled the whole time she put the rollers in.

Then came the solution. She suddenly she was silent.

But the giggles returned when she saw her curly hair.
These are her natural curls years ago. I think I'm as excited as she is. I've had 5 perms in my life. All I wanted was long wavy hair. Each time the rollers came out, my hair was still strait...I've learned to love my strait hair. But I do have to say, Brooklyn has the hair I've wanted all my life!!! Lucky Girl!

Time Flies

So I knew this would happen. I am the worst journal keeper ever. I have been my whole life. I don't know why I thought a blog would be different. Anyway, 2 months have gone and I really haven't written anything. They've been very eventful though so let's review:

On January 20th my sweet little Brookie Bee turned 7! She was so excited to have a Fairy Party. I made her invitations and had a nice little party. (Half the kids we had at Olivia's. It was so much easier.) Of course this party was proceeded by a family party and taking cupcakes to school. Birthdays are no vacation for mom!

Then Casey and I enjoyed a little "alone time". We went Seaside Oregon for the weekend. We were able to use my parents bonus time. We thought it would be really cold and rainy, but rather enjoyed almost 60 degree sunny weather! It was a gorgeous day! We've been trying to spend a little more time together. It was very nice. I think we need to do it more often!

Then I was my Birthday! I'm 31! Woo Hoo! I got 3 Bikes for my Birthday! We started out with the cheapest you can get, because I don't know anything about bikes. But Casey said it "felt" cheap. So he returned it and got a little nicer one. Well a few days later my sister looked at it and asked what size the frame was. Come to find out the frame was for some one that is like 5'3''! That is just a "little" too small for me! I'm like 5'10''! So this time we got the "large" bike. It's so cute! Now I just need to get Olivia off her training wheels and we all could go for some rides! (When asked when she is going to learn to ride w/o training wheels her reply is "um never!" So this could take awhile!)

My sister Heidi was in town for my birthday so all the adults went to dinner at the Portland City Grill. (We had coupons...) It was so yummy! We had fun with Heidi all week! Took the kids to Kids Club, and had "Craft Day" My mom did some fun crafts with all the grand kids and us girls worked on some crafts of our own.

In February Casey took off on his trip to Utah to visit his family. I gave him a ticket for Christmas. Well some how he talked all his high school buddies into coming the same weekend. They all met the first night and stayed at a cabin in Midway. I think he had a blast. Then he spent the rest of the time with his family. He helped his mom paint Laura's room. And had a nice dinner with all the family. All his sibling were in town too. It just worked out that Briggs was in town for his brother-in-laws homecoming, and Melissa flew in too. Casey has a pretty awesome wife to give him such a cool Christmas gift! Even if I do say so myself.

I was able to go on a field trip with Brooklyn's class. We went to Portland to see a play of "Click Clack Moo, Cows that Type" She was so excited! They all got dressed in their nice clothes and we had lunch in the square in downtown. I was excited too, because since I was pregnant last year I was to lazy to go on any field trips, so this was my first! Brooklyn is so sweet, she is always excited to see me when I come to her class and wants to help me and sit by me, instead of her friends. I hope she stays that way and doesn't get a shy about me when she gets older...

For Presidents weekend we went tubing at Mt. Hood. We thought we would get one more trip in for the year. We left early and go some snacks to eat for breakfast. On the first run down Olivia needed my help so I went up to help her. But I could see she was heading towards a dip with trees. So I ran down the hill just in time to throw myself at her as she went over the edge. So there I was laying on my stomach hanging over the edge holding onto Olivia. She probably wouldn't have gotten hurt, just scared, but with Olivia that could ruin the whole trip. Cody was not to excited, we got their just in time for his nap. So most of the day I sat in the car while he slept. While I was gone Brooklyn took a spill and got alittle snow rash on her cheek. So sad. But she still had fun, and thy even found a jump to go on. Then we ended the trip with lunch at the kids favorite fast food joint, Subway.

All the while I've been busy trying learn to use my new camera and take better pictures. I've even had a couple photo shoots! Yay! And I started my own photo blog to put my favorites in!

A "quick" craft

In November I had girls craft night with my mom, sister, and sister in law (Ashley). We made some very cute banners for Christmas. We thought they should be easy, they ended up taking hours!!! But they were so cool they were worth it. We rationalized that we could use the left over supplies to make a Valentines one. So last week Ashley came over in the evening and we got started. We kept saying this should go really fast. Well at 1 in the morning we were done! Maybe we talk to much...anyway, they are sooo cute. If I do say so myself. Ashley, thanks for your help and hanging out!

Cute Cousins

Heidi and her kids came to visit last week! It was so fun to see her again. And it was fun have all the cousins get together and play. We thought since all the cousins were together we should take some pictures. What an ordeal! It was a screamfest! But I think I took enough pictures that we got a couple good ones. I don't think we will be trying this again for awhile.