Visit to the falls

Nothing spectacular like Niagra Falls, but this is our own mini version. It was a nice day, so we took a walk around Tumwater falls and enjoyed the mild weather.

Afterward we went out to a nice dinner at "Top Robin". It's actually Red Robin, but the kids combine Top Ramen and Red Robin, and call the restaurant Top Robin. Troy and I think its cute so we don't correct them.

Use your imagination...

And picture this trailer in black. This is DH's newest toy. Of course, it is strictly for business. The fact that it will haul his 3-wheeler, and all of his fishing stuff, and hey, it even has room for another bike if he wanted to get one, is purely coincidental.

Girl's day out

Today, Lauryn and I went on our first ballet. We saw Swan Lake in Seattle. It was beautiful, and Lauryn was SO excited. My friend Jennifer and I conspired together to suprise our oldest daughters. Her daughter is 8, Lauryn is 7, and they are great friends. The whole thing was a surprise. This morning, I dressed Lauryn up in her fancy dress and curled her hair, and told her we were going "somewhere". Opa and Oma came by to pick up Emmy, and Opa gave her some money because she couldn't go "somewhere" without any money. That just made her more curious. At 10:00 Jennifer and Abby picked us up, and both girls got the first surprise: that we were going "somewhere" together.

Next, as we cruised past Olympia (which is where they were SURE we were going), we dropped the 2nd bomb: we were going to Seattle. That got them all excited since to them Seattle means fun.

Just as we were exiting the freeway, we told them the final surprise, which was where we were going. From then on the back seat was full of squealing and talking a mile a minute. We got there and took some pictures inside the Opera House. Our seats were awesome, and Lauryn was glued to the stage from the second the curtain went up. She doesn't have the largest attention span, but this had her hypnotized. After, we took them out to dinner so they could re-enact the whole thing at the table. Here are some pictures.

Second Hand

Here is an example of what simple things can make my girls happy.

Tonight, I stopped off at my mother's house after taking my neice home. She told me that my aunt sent up some old clothes that my cousin had outgrown. We have been getting packages of hand-me-downs for the last 6 years from my aunt. These clothes are designer names, and in awesome condition. Needless to say, I love getting these packages from her, and it has saved me thousands of dollars in clothes.

Back to the story. Tonight she had a cute terry cloth bathrobe for Mack, and a raincoat for Em. When I brought these things in the house, they were SO excited, that they promptly put them on over their pajamas, and wore them until I had to force it off to get them into bed. I love the fact that it is so easy to make them happy them at this age. A used raincoat and bathrobe made their night! Of course, it's not always that easy. Em wanted a $300 toy horse for Christmas. And Lauryn wanted a motorcycle. Santa didn't bring either. But Mommy and Daddy brought them new bikes, so once again, we looked like the heros :)

The sun really does exist in Washington

And here is the proof. Last weekend was beautiful, so the girls and I bundled up and took advantage of it. We walked around just about every block in a 1 mile radius. The kids had cabin fever so bad that they just couldn't get enough of the sun. Yeah, it was only 39-40 degrees, but the sun was out! They thought we should break out the pool. No, I'm not kidding.

Do all 2 year olds sit this way?

Little Miss Big Girl

The transition has been made. The crib is gone. My baby is officially NOT a baby anymore. I knew this was going to be hard for me, and I could see the denial coming a mile away. When we brought the Chrismas stuff back down to storage, we also picked up the twin bed we had packed away for Mackie. When DH set it up, I told him to leave the crib in her room because there was NO way she was going to actually stay in the bed. Our past experience with L and E, showed us the exhausting amount of times a child will get up out of bed during the night, just because she can. I expected this time with Mackie to be no different. In fact, I almost welcomed the chance to put her back in her crib with the excuse that she just wasn't ready to transition.

Of course, she couldn't just give her Mommy that one satisfaction. She has been sleeping in her bed now for 3 weeks, and has gotten out of bed, after being put down for the night, a whopping grand total of 3 times. She is a complete opposite of her sisters! I remember DH and I having to bring a chair in to L and E's bedroom after putting them to bed, just to KEEP them in bed. We would sit for sometimes 45 minutes, waiting for them to go to sleep, just because we were so tired of them getting out of bed 52 times per night.

Here is Mackie in her bed being a big girl. Notice the wall border next to her. The little turkey peeled off that portion when the crib was there, and I didn't even notice it until we moved the crib away.

Martha Stewart, take 2

Well, this is the little project I whipped out last night. It's hard to believe it actually worked. It went from an idea to finished project in about 3 hours. I suppose it's not really THAT hard to make a valance. If you know how to measure and sew in a straight line, your can consider yourself as knowledgable as I am when it comes to sewing. Grandma will be so proud when she sees this.