update

I have not posted in awhile and am still unsure of how often I will be updating my blog. As my kids have gotten older I feel like I actually have less time to myself and less time for my blog. I originally planned on doing several posts about Laila and Landon turning 7 and 5 and some of the fun things we have done the last few weeks, but I think I will quickly say phew September sure flew by but we sure enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Landon is loving pre-k just as much as preschool last year. He loves his teachers so much I am not sure it possible to love another teacher as much. He is becoming a little more focused on his seat work and showing more interest in crafts. Last year most of the coloring pages consisted of one long slash across the page in one color. We are working on writing his name and hoping he gains more confidence in himself. He likes to say he can't do something before even trying.

Laila adores 1st grade. Having lunch everyday at school is still as exciting as the first day. She wants to know exactly what I am packing her before we leave the house. She amazes me everyday with new things she is learning. She has better handwriting than her father, is in the highest reading group at school(I know bragging) wants to be friends with everyone and the other day She completed 14 laps around the mt view field during PE. Laila loves to learn and I never have to worry about her getting into trouble.

I wish I could say 1st grade was perfect, but Laila has been having a rough time with one girl in her class. They were in the same class last year and had problems as well...mostly consisting of Laila sitting by someone else and this girl throwing a fit and having to be physically removed from class. This year so far Laila has been bit on the cheek and ALMOST bit another time. It has recently escalated into just bullying.. this girl saying that Laila smells. The teacher, recess duties and counselor are all aware of what has been going on and have been giving different punishments. Unfortunately, if this keeps happening I am going to request this girl be moved or Laila will have to be moved to a different class. I told myself in the beginning I would let them be together as long as it wasn't causing problems or inhibiting Laila learning. I am getting close to the end of my rope here.....wish us luck!

canned goods

I saw this on pinterest today. This is genius! If you can't tell from the pic..it is a magazine holder holding the cans. This makes me want to go out and start buying more canned goods just so I can organize them.

feeling fall

I am into headbands now...this one is from athleta

hush puppies shoes from macys
victorias secret has the best coats.

bye bye fafa bye bye babyhood

This afternoon I cut the tips off of Lydia's fa fa's. We threw them in the garbage and talked about what a big girl she is and she was fine. On the other hand, I wanted to cry. She is now in bed screaming her head off. She is not asking for her fa fa but wants me to read her a book, I have read two already. The poor girl can't sleep!! I know in a couple days she will be fine. I am the one struggling with not having any more babies.

It is not that I want more babies right now it is just this looming pressure I have been feeling lately to make a decision. Brad has been wanting to "take the option off the table" so to speak for over a year now but I just can't utter the words "I am ready."I frustrate myself because every month I think what if and I feel like I am going to throw up at the possibility. Yet, I just can't seem to say goodbye to having babies for good. I could go on and on about the rationale and contemplations going on in my head but this could get really long. I just need to keep praying for peace of mind .

sand box boat

My parents gave us money for Lydia's birthday to build her a sandbox. One month later it is almost complete. Brad did a great job designing and building it. We are looking for a wheel and telescope to add to it. It will be named after Lydia so we are also planning to pick up some little wooden letters...paint them and nail them on. However, before we add all the fun things we still have a lid to make. Here are some pics of the kids enjoying it.....I will post pics of the finished project....hopefully before the summer is over..ha!

Laila eating dinner in the sandbox

notice the storage area in front of the boat for all the sand toys
I will have to keep my eye on them to make sure no one gets buried

Transportation fieldtrip

June 20th 2011

Laila's class got to go on a field trip today focusing on transportation. Brad asked for the day off of work months in advance so that I could go along and he could stay home watching the other kiddos. We were pretty much on the go from 8-4:30. First we w

ent on a school bus to Bremerton and took the fairy to Seattle. Once in seattle we took a round trip on the monorail. Then we had lunch in westlake center and found a cool water fall wall thing to run through. After lunch we took the lightrail to tukwila. I

n tukwila the kids were given a short presentation on safety. We hop

ped back on the bus to the museum of flight and looked around for about an hour before heading back home. Everything we did today was a first for Laila and I think she enjoyed every minute. There were plenty of chaperones so I was only responsible for one other child besides Laila. Most groups were put into boy girl pairs. Laila's "bus" buddy was Caleb. He was very easy to keep track of and listened to every word I said. I definitely lucked out. Laila has two days of school left and then she is officially a 1st grader!!

Laila in one of the jets at museum of flight

Laila and Caleb after going through waterfall

Keegan, Caleb, Laila and Morgan

Laila with her friends Zandra and Annabelle

Jays produce stand

I love love that there is a produce stand within a mile of my house. Today, like most days the kids were not napping well. Lydia has never loved sleeping so she will sleep like an hour tops most days. Instead of sitting and pouting about my "me" time being ruined I put the two youngest in the stroller, helped Laila put on her twinkle toes and headed to check out the produce stand I first discovered tuesday on my way to mops. I told Laila and Landon they could each pick something out. Lydia will eat almost anything so I knew she would like whatever mom picked. Landon has discovered a new love for watermelon. Just like I had imagined he picked that out for himself right away. Laila and I won't touch it so hopefully it won't go to waste. It is huge!! We took the long way home walking the loop around fred meyer and walmart. Landon held his watermelon proudly the whole time.

Laila didn't pick out a fresh produce item but to my dismay she did not even ask for a bag of candy they were selling inside. She opted for pumpkin seeds which everyone snacked on during our walk home.

I picked out kiwi for Brad, 4 for $1 and some apricots for me(don't remember the price on those). We bought Landon's giant watermelon, pumpkin seeds(no deal...1.99 for the bag), kiwi and aprictots for 8 dollars. I am not the best with shopping for deals but it sounds good to me! I have a feeling we will be taking lots of walks to Jay's this summer.

keep on keeping on

I have started a new trend...at least that is what I am hoping it will become. I have been getting up at 5:30 to get my runs in before the kids are awake. The plus side is that * I get to use my arms to run rather than have them resting on the jogging stroller.* I don't have to match my clothes or have my hair in place because noone is really going to see me anyway. *I seem to face the day with a much better attitude after working up a sweat. and finally * I don't have much time to talk myself out of going for the run. The only real downer is that it is 5:30 in the morning!!! I don't like to lose sleep. However, I am hoping to do this all summer until the mornings are dark again.

Also, I think I want a bike to ride on the days I don't run. I am trying to limit myself to running 4 times per week to ward off the shin splints.

2 years old

Lydia you have brought so much laughter and love to this family. I love you boo boo bags!!

You will be officially 2 at 3:41 p.m.

parenting joys

Landon had to leave school early today because he threw up 3 times. I am sitting here typing with a bucket in my lap because I keep dry heaving. Lets just get this over already!!! Oh and Lydia's bday is today and her party was supposed to be saturday:(

tweet tweet

I have always LOVED turquoise! I now love pink and turquoise together. Laila painted this birdhouse that Brad made her. Originally we were going to put it outside her window but we decided it would be cute hanging up in her room. Now we just need a lil birdie :)

Happy Mother's Day to me!

Brad made me breakfast and the kids brought it to me in bed. I think this is what I look forward to the most on mother's day. I had been hinting for years now about a ring that I want and even blogged on it after Lydia was born. Yesterday Brad told me that is my gift but that I needed to order it. So finally yay I get my ring. I am really excited and can't wait to see what it looks like on:) It sounds like I could be waiting up to a month though:(





Here it is..with my kids names of course.

cycles

I have been working on getting back into running since about last july. As soon as I start to feel like I am getting stronger I start to feel that little twinge of pain in my shins. I run through the pain for about 2 weeks until I can not walk without cringing. After this stage I lay off running for a couple weeks until the pain goes away and then start back up again. This has been my life for almost a year now. It is annoying when you finally want to run and can't. Well....the last couple months have been painless up until last weekend. I started to feel that twinge in the shins and now I am running through the pain. I really don't want to have to stop yet again. I have reasearched why people get shin splints and have yet to figure out my specific problem. I have been a runner almost my whole life with a 5 year furlow in there and never had shin problems....Here's to icing and ibuprofen and hoping I break the cycle soon!!

hypocrisy

I am only posting this on my blog because I am just so frusterated and need to get it out without starting a facebook debate. I am sooo tired of reading about how Obama deserves no credit for OBL's death and how it's an american victory. What a slap in the face. The people who claim to be the most patriotic are the ones who are bashing our president which is like the most unpatriotic thing you could do. Some of these same people are the ones who got heated when there was talk of soldiers losing their pay for awhile. How can people say that it was all Obama's fault and then weeks later say he had nothing to do with Osama's death. I don't like talking politics in general because I usually have a different opinion than most of my friends so the last few days have been so frusterating on facebook. I think I may just stay away for a few days.

AGAIN??

thinking of blogging again.....I need to revamp my settings so whenever my darling husband has time to help me I will do that! What might this blog look like???

*I have found my love for running again..not sure where it had been hiding???oh yeah under all that baby weight and cozy nursing bras....but I have run as far as 6.5 miles...hoping to keep inreasing my mileage and get up to that half marathon and someday hopefully...marathon.

* My youngest child will be 2 May 20th. I have no more babies and it is looking like there won't be any more unless God has other plans. Life is changing...

* working on changing mine and entire family's diet. We have changed to organic, no hormone milk. Brad lovingly calls it my "golden milk" I am amazed at how much better it tastes. We have been eating a lot more veggies and fruit. However, I have not been swayed enough to spend the big bucks on organic. I have been researching and reading blogs for months on "clean" eating. We will never be completely clean or vegan but I would like to do the best I can without going crazy.

*We have been in our first home for almost a year and a half...we have made a lot of great changes but still have tons more we would like to make...I may blog on the little victories and big projects..we shall see...