Thursday, August 31, 2006

Fun day off

Today was a busy day! First I insisted on putting Paigie's hair up in pig tails and it was very cute! I took a picture, but I packed the camera already. I'll post it later. Grandma showed up on the train, we picked up Cam from school and went to the mall. I got tickets for Disneyland there and Cam's hook and sword for his Captain Hook costume on Halloween. Later, Mom and I had some fun at Jo-Anns and Petco. They have a great saltwater fish tank kit that isn't very big and not too expensive and I'm really considering it! I'd like a yellow tang, Nemo, and a worm thingy that looks like an anemone. I'd really LOVE a Lion fish, but I don't think the tank would be big enough. Petco has a beautiful cat that I'd really love to have. I don't think Tay would appreciate it though. This place is turning into a zoo!
Paige and Cam BOTH went without naps today! Crazy kids. Maybe they will sleep well tonight. Mom and I catch a flight at 6:00 am to San Diego. Gotta get up early.

Good night!

My kids are silly

Here's what I came home to today.. Paige had been riding in the cop car with the motorcycle in the back that plays "Born to be Wild", wearing her sunglasses with a big grin on her face. Cammy hopped on top of the car and grandma pushed them around the house.

Then the kids were watching something relatively scary and Cam told Paige she should get up on the chair with him in case she gets scared. How sweet is that?? I had to get a photo for evidence.



When Jeff got home, I got to go out and have a pedicure. It feels so nice to have someone massage my feet and legs... *sigh* It's supposed to be very warm here this weekend. I hope it's as nice in California. Mom and I are going to Disneyland. WOO HOO!!!

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Paige eats nasty things

I forgot to tell you this story about Paigie.

Cam wanted a tuna sandwich, but all we could find was canned cat food. He asked if he could eat that and I said "NO WAY!!!" Then he asked if he could feed it to the cat and I said that would be fine. He got it out, scooped it in a nice bowl and set it out for the kitty. Paige pulled a chair over to the counter where the cat was and while I wasn't looking, she pulled a table knife out of the silverware drawer, dipped it in the wet food and took a HUGE bite. I turned around just in time to see the look of horror on her face and cat food everywhere. She did a big thbbbbbttttt with her tongue, sprayed it everywhere and hollered for me to get a towel to wipe off her tongue. Poor little girl! I asked how the cat food tasted and she said "Yucky!" I think that's a good sign. Maybe she won't do it again.

The frogs are kind of creeping me out. I don't know why. I thought I'd like them, but they are a little creepy. I don't know how to explain it. They have tiny eyes and a pointy nose and they just look funny. They seem nice enough. The sharks are fine. The biggest one jumps a lot so I'll have to make sure the lid stays on. The loach swam straight inside the Sponge Bob house straight away much to Cam's amusement. He's been asking why the fish don't go in the house. One of the frogs was in there today too, so maybe they'll go in more often. My friend has a phobia about fish and I never understood, but those frogs... Reminds me of some Stephen King book. It would start with some person saying the frogs were creepy. :) I must go to bed now. Three posts in one day must be some kind of a record for me.

videos





My camera does video! Let's see if I can post them..
Click on the picture to see the video.

Sharks!

I went out tonight and got three little sharks and a loach for the tank. Here are some photos, including one of the froggies.


It rained a lot today. Just like typical Seattle fall/winter. It was dark at 8:00. Kind of depressing..

The kids and I slept all afternoon, so there isn't much to report :)

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Yay for a new yard!

Friday and Saturday, Mr. Kevin landscaping came and fixed our yard. I'm so happy!! He still has a fence to build for the dogs, but the parts won't be in for 2 weeks. Still, YAY!!! He put chip under the fort, helped level out the ground and laid new sod. It looks SO much better than before. The dogs are not allowed on the grass. No digging and no pottying! Jeff and I went out and bought some bark, flowers, ground cover and stones for the border near the deck. I need to go back and get more flowers and stepping stones, but it is looking very nice. Here are some photos.





Oh, the photos were taken by ME on my new little Nikon Coolpix camera. SO not an SLR and not as great as Jeff's camera, but I'm totally thrilled with it. I'm going to take it to CA with me next weekend. Okay, it's really OUR camera, but I'm going to call it mine for right now. I don't know what Jeff would want with it anyway when he has such a fabulous D2X just sitting there. :)

This weekend we went to Wenatchee for a wedding Jeff was photographing. Check out his site soon, I'm sure he'll have a new slide show up. There were a lot of fabulous photos, of course. The kids, Mom and I spent Saturday together making cards and we also went to Smallwoods Farm which has a petting farm area. We fed the silly animals tons of carrot sticks. Later, when I saw a cow on the way home, Paige yelled "I want feed him carrot!" After Smallwoods, we went to Leavenworth and checked out the shops and finished up at Cold Stone Ice Cream. yum yum.

When we got home, Jeff met with a bride who chose him to photograph her wedding next month at Shilshole Bay.

Tomorrow, we need to get more flowers and I think we'll round out the fish tank with some pretty fish since the frogs have survived the first few days with us. I'm so excited they are still okay. I feel like I've accomplished something by providing them with a decent habitat :)

Good night.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Back in Wenatchee

Yay, we made it to Wenatchee again! Jeff has some new fancy thingy bobber that lets him surf the internet while we drive or rather while I drive. Pretty slick.

Paige screamed about 1/2 way over here. She screams until she chokes herself and then throws up. All because I wouldn't roll down her window. I bet that if I HAD rolled it down, she still would have screamed because the right song wasn't on the radio or because it was too quiet or too loud or too cold or too hot or something. She was SO MAD. She's better now. Really tired so we'll head to bed soon.

Our backyard is a disaster! I'm very excited though, it's looking really great for being such a mess. The guys brought in top soil and were spreading it out as we left today. I'm so excited for fresh dirt! They are also going to put chip under the kids' fort and they ordered the fence stuff we need, but they'll have to put that in later - about two weeks for it to arrive. Okay with me though, the fence will be really nice. Better than we expected. I gave them some pizza and they gave Cammy some Vietnamese food for lunch. Such nice guys.

Then, the Schwan's delivery truck showed up in our neighborhood and the driver is the same guy who delivered for us when we lived in N. Everett. Yay! I really liked him :) He even remembered me which is weird. Super nice guy.

Cammy has really had a better attitude the last few days. I'm so proud of him for working so hard on it. We took a walk this afternoon so the dogs could go to the bathroom since our backyard is unusable. We walked up to Jenn's house to deliver the gifts we brought home from Paris. Jenn is home again from the hospital and doing better. Her new organs look great!

Heather got a job at Children's Hospital. YAY HEATHER!!! :) Congratulations!

Oooh and the frogs are still alive. Yippee :) All is well here.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Frogs!


We got frogs! Two African Dwarf Frogs. This one isn't ours, but it's what they look like. So cute :)

Fishies!

I forgot, the other day, we were standing in Blockbuster and someone commented on Cammy's Superman T-shirt and he said "What am I doing, standing in a store?! I Have to go save the world!" It was just perfect.

Yesterday we went out because Jeff was meeting with someone. I'd been wanting to get a fish tank so we can have some of Mom's baby goldfish and maybe a little water frog or something. I found a tank kit and then I found fabulous Sponge Bob accessories! Here are some pictures.. I also have little jelly fish that float, but they aren't in the pictures.


We also got a new kitchen faucet since ours turns off all the time. Here, Jeff was installing it and the kids climbed under the sink to help him.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Yard work, dogs, kids, Mom

We hired Mr. Kevin to fix our back yard and I'm SO excited. Mr. Kevin's name cracks me up. I think it really might be his last name, but I don't know. Anyway, he is going to come and build a small fence to contain the dogs on the side of the house so they can't dig and ruin the lawn. Then, he'll till the yard, rip out the current grass, level with topsoil and then resod. I am SO excited. He starts on Friday and said it will probably take about 3 days. I'm not sure if he works on the weekend or not. It doesn't matter because if I had to do it, it would take 3 years.

Dogs are home. I had to wait until today to pick them up because the vet isn't open on Sunday. I don't think they'll go there anymore. The people are so nice, but the dogs don't get to go outside to play and that's hard on dogs! They were totally thrilled to see me. They are sweet doggies. Genevieve got a bath and she smells much better.

Paige had a bedtime setback today. She screamed and screamed when we put her down. I sure hope she gets this going to bed thing figured out soon. Cam is still kind of disagreeable, but he's working on it. When he cheers up, we'll set up a fish tank for him so he can keep some of the baby fish from Mom's pond. Paige had her hair in the most adorable pig tails EVER today when I got home from work. She ripped them out before grandma even left, but she was soooo cute. I love it. I wish she'd leave them in though.

Mom brought Cammy back today from Wenatchee and is spending the night. She has to leave early in the morning, but I have to go to work anyway and I'm really glad she stayed. The kids loved it too. Actually, it's probably part of why Paige had such a hard time going to bed tonight. She wanted to stay up and play. Cammy is sleeping downstairs with Mom tonight. Lucky boy. He'll go to preschool again in the morning.

I put this picture on my desktop today. It makes me smile. Diva Binks.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Trip to Wenatchee

We drove to Wenatchee last night and spent the day there today for the annual croquet tournament. Turns out Cam is a pretty good little croquet player! He started off with a few handicaps, but it didn't take long for the adults to restrict him to the adult rules. We also made some cards and wrapped some lavender. Dad and I went fishing up at fish lake. We caught maybe four rainbow trout, but they were all too small to keep. I didn't mind though because I'm not interested in eating them anyway. I just like sitting on the water and reeling in fish and then letting them go. Cam went to Gracie and Nolan's house to swim and play in the sand box. He ended up falling asleep at the dinner table at Grandma and Papa's and we ended up letting him stay there. Mom is going to bring him back on Monday. I think he will be happy about that when he wakes up!

Jeff and I booked our Chile tickets last night. I was so excited about it, but the second I clicked the button to pay for the tickets, I got really sad and wanted to cry. I'm very excited about the trip, but so sad about leaving my children for seven days. I love them so much! It will be nice to have some time with Jeff on a vacation, but I sure will be thrilled to come home to the kids.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Kid pictures

This weekend, Jeff got some pictures of the kids. Cam did NOT want to cooperate at first, but he got into it later. First, some pictures of the kids outside eating our blueberries.







Here is Cammy in his pirate hat. ARRRRRR! He is going to be Captain Hook for Halloween and he LOVES this hat! He was crabby here at first, but then he showed us his hook (bent thumb) and that cheered him up.



Paigie is silly! She's quite the ham. She was all for taking pictures.

I had hoped for a good shot of the kids together and I think this is the closest we got. By the time Cam was happy, Paige was no longer interested. This one is kind of cute though.


Paige went to bed today with almost no fussing. She stayed awake for a while too because I went up a couple of times to help Cam and she would say "Mommy? What? What Mommy?" and I would tell her to go to sleep and she'd be quiet.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Grandma visited this weekend

Sarah and Esteban came for dinner on Thursday and we had a nice time. Their kids are soooo adorable. Nathaniel really talked a lot and baby Sam was just happy hanging out. I tried to make a custard, but it was a disaster and then I forgot to bake the french fries to go with the burgers, but it was still good.

Grandma came to visit yesterday and today. I drove to Issaquah to pick her up and didn't tell the kids. They fell asleep on the way down, but were very happy to see her when we arrived. Mom and I got patterns and fabric for the kids' Halloween costumes. Cam decided to be Captain Hook, so I decided Paigie would be Tinkerbell. I think they will be very cute together! If I felt like having another disaster of a Halloween party, I'd be Wendy and Jeff could be Peter Pan. Not sure if Jeff would want to dress like that... but maybe :) Cam got a fabulous pirate hat that he wore all day today.

Jeff has a wedding again today so it was nice to have Mom here.

Ooh, and best of all.. Grandma Patty does NOT have cancer! YAY for Grandma!! :)

I don't like to post when I don't have any pictures, so here's a random photo my friend took while he was in Alaska.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Tomorrow is pay day!

Yay!! I'm excited because I worked tons of overtime and I'm going to pay off one of my credit cards :) Woo Hoo for me! One down, one to go...

Today Cam didn't complain at all about going to school, and only got sad when I was leaving and said he would miss me. He was fine before I walked out the door though and as usual, didn't want to leave when I picked him up. Each day, he has a report about what he did and today it said one of his friends found a frog outside while they were playing! He was very excited to tell me all about it. He also made a jelly fish out of a paper plate and crepe paper streamers. I'll try to get a picture of it. He named it John Jacob Jelly Fish LaPlante which goes along very well with the John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt song we sang all the way home. Cam has also been working very hard on controlling his anger when he gets mad at me and he has had two days in a row where he was able to keep it completely under control. He also just seemed happier in general today. Back to my sweet Cammy. If he is just as good tomorrow, it will be three days in a row and he will have earned a Ken Superman action figure/doll. He is VERY excited about that! It has been sitting on top of the fridge for almost a week now just waiting for him to be good.

We are trying to get Paigie to sleep in her own room all night. It's rough on everyone, but she seems better tonight than last night. She looks so adorable and tiny on that big bed of hers. She's awake and crying. I hope she goes back to sleep soon.

I found the Tully's at work today. YUM!! It was a long walk, but worth it.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

It's Tuesday

Once again, Cam did NOT want to go to preschool today, but seemed happy after check in and then, of course, did NOT want to go home when I arrived. Silly kid. I did not get an official report from his teacher today, but when I got there, he was playing with play doh - making a bird nest. He showed me one of the eggs, pretended to open it and said it was a peacock egg!

Every Christmas, I get each of the kids a special, collectible Christmas ornament. Cammy gets a sterling silver Wallace sleigh bell and Paige gets a Swarovski Crystal Snowflake. I looked around today and found that they are out for this year. Here are pictures... The bell doesn't change much, just the design around the center and the year. The snowflake changes a lot and I really like this year's. Someday, my tree will be covered in crystal and silver, and of course whatever ornaments the kids make :)

Monday, August 07, 2006

Sunday's birthday celebration

On Sunday, Grandma and Great-Grandma came over to celebrate Paige's birthday with us.
I made a Dora cake with star candles and we ordered food from Romio's. Paige didn't care for the cake, but she's not really a big sweets eater. I think she had some today though. She did really like the spaghetti dinner! She knew exactly what to do with the candles and blew them out without a problem. She played Peek a Boo with her dad who was behind the camera.












We put her to bed in her new bed in her own room and she woke up shortly after crying for me. I had foolishly hoped she would want to sleep in her new bed by herself :) Maybe tonight? Fat chance, huh?

I decided the chandelier I put in her bedroom is not as nice as I'd once thought. Jeff has now dubbed this the 'chandelier incident' and any time I want something again and Jeff thinks it's dumb, he will bring up the 'chandelier incident'. :) At least I should be able to sell it on ebay!

Cam went to school again today. I guess technically it is still really daycare, and the preschool part will start in September with the rest of the school, but he does have Bible time and circle time and they do arts and crafts and play with toys. Today on my way to work after I dropped him off, I saw a mommy deer and two baby deer cross the road right in front of me! It was so pretty. I was sorry Cammy wasn't with me to enjoy it.