A Big Favor

So I agreed to watch my sisters girls while they are in Hawaii for a week!
We have currently

-gave 5 baths in 6 days

-washed lots of dirty feet and faces

-fed tons of snacks and hungry tummies

-kids made a camp under the trees with smores/and hotdogs over their pretend fire

-went to the zoo with 5 kids 2 adults and got in for FREE! (I bought a Boise Zoo pass before I left, thanks Katie!)

-went out for ice cream at Dairy Queen after the zoo

-given lots of snuggles and back scratches to Abby so she will sleep!

-Loved the QUIET TIME at 9:00 pm when everyone is asleep!


Abby in the sink (3rd bath) result of sitting backward on the toilet and getting pee down her leg and on her hand...gross...must have a bath...even in the kitchen sink!



The "pretend" camp

2nd Grade

What a handsome 2nd grade boy I have! This year I wanted a good, tough, fun teacher for Carson that would give him some homework and keep his attention. I specifically wrote that on my comments when registering him. Finally I hope I got what we wanted. His teacher is a seasoned 32 yr teacher. Yes, finally someone who already has a schedule, and agenda. The last two years I've felt like we were just going through the motions and not really learning much. Now I feel like we will be challenged. Carson needs challenge! It keeps him out of trouble by keeping his mind busy.

Overall, Carson has done ok with the change and the big move. I didn't really know how he would react because he's older now and more aware of what is going on. Selling Macy (their puppy and favorite Christmas present) was harder on Carson than I thought. He truly loved her and still talks about her all the time. In moving, things are always misplaced and having my purse stolen in the midst of moving threw Carson off bigtime. Many of his pokemon cards were in there among who know what else. He has broke down a couple of times, sobbing on my shoulder about how "none of this would've happened if we didn't move." It breaks my heart to hear him be so sad.
But, things are getting better, he is playing soccer (his new thing at recess, because their is no pacers) with all the boys. He is trying to make friends and he will find that one good buddy soon...I hope.



First year to ride the bus! He felt to special and so cool!

Kindergarten

We are loving school, or maybe I am loving school is probably a more accurate statement. Despite all the mix up and moving, Chelsea and Carson are doing well and adapting to their new school. They are overcrowded here and were denied a new elementary school so the Kindergarten kids have all been shifted (well Chelsea anyway) She is on a third teacher. Its one of those they know whats going on but decided not to tell us!! I think Im more wrapped up in it than Chelsea. She has already got a trio who she plays mermaids, horses and princesses with at recess.

Its crazy to think that my little angel girl is already in school. I remember dressing her up with cute dresses and putting her hair in all sorts of tiny pigtails at the young age of 6 months to a year old. Now she is 5 yrs old with a definate style of her own clothes but still such a sweet face.

I love you Chelsea...my only girl!

Deception Pass

We have heard a lot about driving the loop around and going through Deception Pass so a few weekends ago we decided to venture out for our 10th anniversary and check it out. It was AmaZinG! We pulled over along with tons of other people and walked across the bridge. This bridge connects Whidbey Island to the mainland. As we walked across you could see the beautiful blue water churning and swirling as it was funneling into the canyon. Wow, even a little frightening!










After driving accross we went to the beach, then onto Fort Casey.

Fort Casey is a military base that was used to keep invaders from coming into the Puget Sound. Although it was never used in a war and there was never any blood shed there it was still cool to think that people used that place back in the 1930's. They did use it later for training during WWI and other wars. Carson was very intrigued by the huge canon launchers. It was cool to see the bunkers underground and imagine people walking and living there so long ago.

After being windblown we drove on and rode the ferry across back to Mukilteo. It was a first time for Darin to be on the ferry but fun for all of us as a family. It was a fun adventure!!

A Question from Chelsea?

A funny comment from Chelsea the other day to her daddy was, "Daddy, how come when guys ride on their skateboards their pants come down? What makes their pants come down?

More of the Beach

Beachcombing @ Edmonds Olympic Beach

I have been waiting and waiting for a good opportunity to go check out the beach at low tide. There were some great low tides right when we moved here but I was too busy with unpacking so we just now made it at low tide @11:15 am (totally doable for me instead of 5:30-6) We had a great time except that Davis was cranky and scared of all the moss. We found some amazing shells, one of them being a shell of a sea snail. Another was a razor clam shell. We even found a sea sponge! Cool! As we walked under the ferry bridge we found what we have been waiting for. There were 3 sea stars stuck to a big rock. Carson was thrilled and then found one on the sand so he could pick that one up.

Everything was great until we got stopped by a beach cop...is that what you call them? Anyway, she was super nice but was letting us know that whatever we found had to be left at the beach because it was a marine sanctuary. Carson was pretty bummed about that :( She did say that we could hide all of our shells so when we come back maybe we could find them again.

It has been so fun to live by the beach! I only fear that we are going to become accustomed to it and it won't be as special later on.

Early August

This picture shows one of Davis's many funny expressions! Gotta love that kid!

Husking corn together, We got it FREE from Darins Dad. We did 100 ears and froze it for the months to come. Davis had a blast and did 8 ears himself!! He was laughing and ecstatic that he could finally do it.

This is my new patio furniture that I got a good deal at clearance price. Its always shaded by lunch time and makes the deck look gorgeous. Now If I can get our landlord to just paint it. We have been loving it by eating outside!

This is during FHE while playing "The Tower and the Dime" I just made up that name :) Carson actually like to lose so he can feel special and get his face all mucky!

This is my glorious texturing mud! I decided to rip off the UGLy wallpaper that day that we moved in. I didn't care if we were renting or not. I would pay for it myself. This house has flat walls so while ripping off the wallpaper Carson thought that a screwdriver would help the process. Well, now with big gauges in the nice flat wall a texture was very much needed. I guess its a good time to experiment cause its not my house, right?

3 weeks later Im almost done...the final picture to follow with Before and After

Late July... Update

I agreed to watch my cousins kid for a couple of weeks to help him save on Daycare as well as help me out with some extra cash. So we played hard almost every other day and kept plenty busy. Some things we did was:

-Jetty Island
-Lighthouse park
-Swimming in the backyard while it was hot
-Library Carnival
-Zoo Day

It was fun but a lot of work with 5 kids under the age of 7. It was basically 2 sets of twins and Davis. Crazy! People were looking at me everywhere I went. People in Seattle only have a dog, no kids or maybe one, the max two. So a crazy lady with 5 hoolagins looks pretty interesting!


This is the Mukilteo Lighthouse Beach about 8 minutes from my house. I love this picture because it shows Darin at his best...a great Dad!

While watching Blaine and Bailey, Melanie decided to come up for a weekend. It was so fun to play with her and little Keldon. My kids loved a little baby to play with. I love it when she comes because I get to feel young again and play!

Yes, they really do have elephants here! My kids were thrilled! They were waiting forever for Boise to get elephants.

Everyone at the zoo (Carson, Chelsea, Blaine and Bailey)

Davis looking so cute at the zoo in front of the elephant exhibit

Can you say HoT....

Okay....this is ridicules! Everybody thinks that Seattle is all cool and great and for the most part it is. But I will tell you that we have NO AIR CONDITIONING here. On the days that its 85, no biggie but how about when its 98 degrees. 1 1/2 fans just don't cut it!!

I got to the point where I dunked my head under cold water in the kitchen sink and then put my face in front of the fan.

Holy cow..I can't remember what cold feet and wrapping up in a blanket feels like. Now I know that air conditioning is a luxery and I wasn't grateful enough when I had it every day.

My current house temp is: 85.8 @ 4:40 p.m.

Discovering Mukilteo

Okay..I knew that was cool plants up here but I already have a favorite...HYDRANDREAS
But I didn't know I was going to have one in my very own back yard. Its beautiful. This picture is after I clipped out all the dead blossoms. Now this is what its supposed to look like.



We found this leaf on a walk and we were in awe at how huge it was. I made Darin use his hops to get it for us.

This is the view out my kitchen window! Beautiful..I can even open my window and let the cool breeze come in. I feel like im living in a cabin. Now can you see why?

Our back deck was covered in the mildew mess that comes with living in Seattle. The previous tenets touched nothing for 4 years. We have had a little cleaning to do. Stay tuned for some glorious before and after pic of this awesome deck!

I know Im just renting...but I can't handle it. Bye, Bye wallpaper..hello paint! Keeps Carson busy, what can I say!

Frederiksen First Flight

Here is a little update with some pictures of what we have been up to since moving
1 1/2 weeks ago.


Marne took us to the airport and took one last photo before the final move!



Carson, Chelsea and Davis were EXcited to fly! We were counting down until the big day. When we got to Seattle Carson and Chelsea even got a special look at the cabin where the pilots sit. They got to see all of the cool controls. Carson was pretty stoked about that.