A lot to blog about....4th of July, play dates, and swim lessons!!

So I know it has been awhile since I have blogged, as we all know summer time can be even busier than the rest of the year! For me that is the case!! Kenzie has been going to summer camp 2-3 times/week and she absolutely LOVES it! The coaches are awesome and they do everything from arts-n-crafts to gymnastics to dance to water fun outside...etc...! She has also been taking swim lessons, and is doing FABULOUS!! In just 1 week she went from being total freaked out to even put her face in the water, to now swimming across the pool with her head totally submerged and only coming up for 1 breath in the middle. She is great at holding her breath, and 1/2 the time starts with plugging her nose and then 1/2 the time doesn't even need to! Her swim teacher is awesome, she is the Capo High water polo coach and kenzie really likes Miss Jenny!

I am so proud of her and hopefully by the end she be able to paddle on her own!!


The 4th of July also just passed and Adam and the girls went up to Mark and Stacie's house for the weekend, sadly I got stuck working and couldn't go. It was my 1st 4th w/out my girls and missed them terribly!! They had a really good time though lots of water fun and the girls both talk non-stop about the water slide!! I know Adam was happy to see Mark, it is sad for him to know he is moving so far away( Pensacola Florida) for all who don't know, Adam's brother Mark is in the Navy and just got accepted to the Blue Angels!!! It is a huge honor and we are all so very proud of him! And to be totally honest we will probably see them more now than we did when they were 4hrs. away.....weird how those things work!

Trying to keep kids busy during the summer may be a little more challenging, but actually I love all the stuff that summer entails.....swimming and the lake, just lots of outside play. Kenzie has a really great little group of friends that she made in school last year and all the moms are great also, so we all switch off on hosting play dates and giving each other a break, I had the girls yesterday minus a few that were on vacation.

All in all so far we are having a great summer! Haylee just goes with the flow and I am still working, so we are pretty busy, but Healthy-Happy-and Together!!

Vacation......I Think???

So we just got back from a family trip up to visit the family up in Washington, we have been working non-stop for the last 2 yrs. and needed to get away!! We really needed a Vacation but couldn't really afford to go to Hawaii (that is the next Vacay we are taking) so we decided anything would be nice just to get away and spend some much needed family time with the girls and Adam and I needed some time together as well!!

Well we decided that we would drive instead of fly for a few reasons....save money, since you can't get a plane tix to PDX under like $250. I can fly to NYC for $99, but not Portland..Go figure!! Anyways 3 tickets (Haylee is still free) and then to rent a car and we would have had to board our dog ( even if I had someone walking him everyday, he would have gotten bored after the 26th hour and I would have come home to a pile of my couch in shreds). So Money was the main factor!! So off we went for a 16 hr. road trip with Jax in tow! We decided to leave when the girls were going to bed and just drive straight through the night, um bad idea....it was so hard to stay awake in the dark of night for that long, I went in and out of consciousness and Adam drove the entire way...I don't know how he did it!

We decide to drop Jax off at mom's house in Battleground and head another 2 1/2 hrs. up near Seattle to see his grandparents for a couple of days! We were all so spent by the time we got there, but seeing all the family was great. By this time I thought the girls were just acting tired, but come to find out they were not feeling good. Kenzie had started to have a tiny cough a few days b4 but thought nothing of it. Yeah well the next day when we got back to mom's house that night Kenzie woke up screaming that her ears hurt...OH SHIT!! So we took the kiddos to the Urgent Care b/c Haylee had a fever also! Yep Dual ear infections and a cough that sounded like it was moving into their chests!! They both went in and out of having fevers ( I think Haylee's fever was due to teething, but she had the cough also). So here you go day 3 into our Vacay and both kids are down for the count.

Oh while we were in Seattle we did go the Pike Street Market for all of an hour, b4 the girls started not feeling well! Adam got to go golfing with his Uncle John( they live on the golf course).

So pretty much I spent the entire time taking care of sick kids, sick kids do sleep a lot, so I did catch up on some rest and I started reading the Twilight series. We made a trip to the mall and let the kids build a bear and had dinner one night with mom and Joe. Adam got to go play some softball with all the guys he use to play with and went out for some guy time! We did go out one night for a couple of beers and people watching.

Adam got to go out to Portland to see his dad one day and then he came out to see us one day, that was nice for the girls to see Papa! I think the girls Favorite part of the whole trip b/c we didn't do too much, was Grandma buns animals....The Llama Pamela, the goats pint and 1/2 pint, and of course all the birds! They got to feed the animals ad run around on all the space outside! Jax had a blast, he has never had that much room to explore b4! Now that we are home I think he's a little depressed ( he misses Shultz). We made it home in one piece, but made the drive home in the day( much better).

I have to go back to Twilight for a second, I avoided it like it was the plague....I am not a reader, I actually hate to read but figured I had a lot of time to kill. Just like everyone told me, I could not put it down, I an now about 1/2 way through the 3rd book. OMG Edward Cullen is AMAZING, Sexy Vampire!! Yeah it's all Vampires and Werewolves and I love it!! If you haven't read it you should!

So needless to say we are home and it is back to the grind, crazy work schedules and not getting enough sleep, not getting enough time with Adam and not enough Family time...but next time TROPICAL....HAWAII!!
and p.s. I can't retrieve my pics, that's why no pics, I am going to keep trying!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Today was a wonderful day, This was the 1st year that my kids, I think truly got that today is about honoring me as their mother and all the other mother's that make an impact in their lives....my mom, Adam's mom, aunt LoLo, aunt Stacie, and all of their extended aunties( my best girlfriends). I love every single one of you, and think that everyday that we wake up and make that conscious choice to be the BEST mommy's that we can be, is a great day!

This morning was a bit like any other Sunday morning. I work Saturday nights, so Adam lets me sleep in on Sundays. I got up about 9:00am and as soon as I walked down stairs Kenzie ran to me and said Happy Mother's Day mommy! Couldn't wait to give me their surprise. She had told Adam a few days earlier that I wanted a giraffe...um yeah I think she wants a giraffe, but that's beside the point, so this morning she hands me a soft fuzzy kitty cat. She told me well mom you said that you didn't want a giraffe, so I knew you wanted a kitty cat! She then asked if we could share it, it was really adorable!

Adam had take the girls out this weekend to pick me out something special, and that he did. He knows how much I love snow globes, and a beautiful one with the girls pictures in it that plays a beautiful song! It was the best gift, it took thought and time( absolutely not generic) it was an incredibly thoughtful gift!! He then went and got us breakfast and I sat and enjoyed my coffee. We then got up and took the girls on a walk to the park, we came home and had lunch, put everyone down for naps, I took one as well while Adam got to watch the Ducks get their butts whooped:( After everyone got up, we just played around awhile just being silly! We ate dinner, did baths and then it was off to bed for the munchkins!

Adam and I spent a little quality time together and then snuggled up in bed and watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button....I thought that was a fabulous movie!!

It is now 1:00am and Adam is sleeping like a baby, the house is quiet, so I thought I would tell you all about my fabulous mother's day....a day pretty much like any other, but with just a touch of something extra special.

My mom was out of town today, so me and the girls are going to take her out for a mommy's day lunch sometime this week. Throughout my life, I honestly don't know what I would have done without my mom. She is one of my best friends, and I think I owe a lot to who I am today to her and how she raised me. I hope she knows how much I love her and couldn't live my life without her....so she better live a hell of a long time!

You can never explain to someone who doesn't have kids, what it's like to be so utterly in love with someone, the way you are with your kids. It is just something you have to experience, it's just our moms always told us, you will understand when you have kids of your own!

I hope in my journey as a mother, I can teach my kids to be good stand up people, to know right from wrong, to love just to love, to never judge before knowing, and that it is o.k. to be different!

I want them to know that their is no dream too large or too small! Stand up for what you believe in and just to live life, in any and every way possible!! I want my girls to be strong and independent, but still have the courage to lean on people when they need to. I have a lot of goals as a mother, and everyday I wake up and make that choice to do it the best that I can!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL THE FABULOUS MOTHER'S I KNOW!!!!

My Child Is The DEVIL!!!!!

So almost 41/2 years ago I had our Beautiful baby girl Mckenzie, through the last 4 years she has given me so much joy. She is incredibly smart and witty, funny, sweet, lovable and can be a challenge at times!

Almost 2 years ago Adam and I brought the 2nd joy of our lives into the world, Haylee. Haylee and Mckenzie are pretty much the complete opposite, Haylee is energetic( she can't sit still for one moment) crazy, fun, fearless, total daddy's girl (which by the way I hate). She is also super smart, counts 10 sort of, says her ABC's and wants to go potty on the big potty (which she does 1/2 the time) The 2nd child always grows up quicker due to watching her big sis all day long....she thinks she is 4 also.

Let me just say we love our beautiful girls!!

But Haylee is definitely our challenge.....

She is into everything, and when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING!!!

The other day, just about every day for that matter...well here's how my day goes....

Kenzie and Haylee fighting one moment and loving each other the next....and here's what I hear all day long.....

Mom Haylee is pouring out the dog water

Mom Haylee is playing in the toilet

Mom Haylee is getting into the drawer with the pens and scissors

Mom Haylee is drawing on the dog

Mom Haylee is pulling everything out from underneath the sink

Mom Haylee is pulling off her diaper and peeing on the floor

mom Haylee is standing on the kitchen table

The list goes on and on......the end my child is the Devil!!

I love her but she is going to be the death of me!!!:)

100 Degrees and it's only April!!

So today was another day of it hitting triple digits at our house...YUCK!! I love warm weather but hate HOT weather. But I sucked it up and we played a while outside today, the girls had a blast!!

Also this morning while I was doing laundry, Haylee decided that she was going to get herself dressed....she was very proud of herself!!

Good Old Family Fun!!!

So we had a really great Easter, I cooked a big meal for my whole Family....Turkey and Ham, potato's &gravy and broccoli casserole. Oh and brownie's for dessert! Laura, Doug and the kids had hockey tournaments all weekend, so they didn't make it. We had an Easter egg hunt and played outside all day! By the end of the day we cleaned up and gave the girls baths and we were all literally in bed by 8:00 sharp...it was a long day!

My brother's son Logan

All the kids jumping on the Trampoline

Kenzie, Haylee, Logan and my brother's daughter Kyla

Today I met my friend up in Long Beach at this really great park called Heritage Park, they have these giant size playhouses with slides and stairs inside and duck ponds, where we fed the duckies. A huge playground, and fountains everywhere, it was really cool. The kids had a blast and were very worn out by the end of the day. 2 days in a row w/out naps, once again the kids were in bed by 7:45.

Back to the grind tomorrow, the start of my work week. And so lovely that we have just switched uniforms to all black, black slacks and black tops....which I am so excited about, but not excited to have to go and buy new and cute stuff(for work)!!