Our Lighted Christmas Parade

Our little town has a lighted Christmas parade on the first Saturday in December.  Local businesses and groups go all out and create some great entries.

 Emilyn was spending the night with us.  When we got to pickle Grams front porch Ellie was there.  Ohhhh, when classmates find each other there is excitement.  Em was running from the curb to the porch for treats so much that she overheated and had to take her coat off.

Jodi and I made hot cocoa for everyone.  The hardest part is always trying to get the hot water to the parade.  If anyone knows of a good hot water system, please let me know.  The adults particularly liked the marshmallow vodka.  The kids liked the mini marshmallows and the red and green Christmas mallows.

  

It was a fun family time! 

School Days

This week was Grandparents and Special Friends Day at the elementary school. Since Emilyn and I are friends, I got invited. There are some pretty cool things going on in second grade. I wish I could have some time set aside to make an Indian village or to read up in the loft or swing on the monkey bars.

It was special this year because Emilyn has Miss K as her teacher. Miss K., as in my friend, Emily. She does so many great projects with her cherubs.

Emilyn isn't dishing out her usual BiG smile as she has no teeth.

And frankly, Emilyn is not a school lover. I learned that when she went to K and then to first grade, she only likes the Art because it's the best of the worst...

in school.

I do think she likes the social part though, just not the assignments.

I get that.

Thanks for inviting me, Emilyn. I loved reading the book you wrote, very funny stuff. :)

Hang in there kiddo, you only have 10 years of school and college to finish!

I've Never Before Seen This Guy in my Entire Life

When Miss Emilyn was staying at our place last week Max drove her to school and picked her up. Em did tell me Max wasn't teasing her as much and we agreed that he was finally growing up.

Friday morning Max gets her to school, Friday afternoon he remembers to pick her up. He parks in the lot across the street and goes to the school to walk her safely out to the car. Here is where it gets sketchy.

Apparently Miss Em was walking him off the sidewalk into the lane of traffic. The crossing guard asked Emilyn if they are going to use the cross walk? I think this was a friendly reminder that Max shouldn't be in the traffic lane. They go to the cross walk and the nice lady asks Emilyn, " who is your friend picking you up today?" This is where Max is wronged...

Em responds, "I don't know." At this point Max feels a bit betrayed, like he is some creep.

Max may have backed off the teasing but I have it on good authority, GaMe ON Miss Emilyn!

Girl Power

We had a good visit with Emilyn. We saw my niece, Katie in Hot Rod on Thursday evening. Max drove her to school and picked her up on Friday afternoon. Friday evening we found the American Girl crafts at Micheals and then had dinner at Red Robin.

After dinner we went to Target. Hubby and I have never shopped the girls' department. Uncharted territory. Emilyn wanted skinny jeans. They were out of her size in the really skinny but we found a nice compromise. Then she changed her mind and wanted a new swim suit. At this point Hubby stepped in and said, "no deal, Miss Em needs to buys a swim suit with her mom." I love the voice of reason aka Hubby. So, we got the jeans.

On Saturday Emilyn had a play date. Hubby and I walked and then grilled burgers with Max and my brother Ken.

After church on Sunday Kassie came over to hot tub with Emilyn ... and Max. Emilyn's American Girl doll has a Lyncs cheerleader outfit just like Kassie's cheer outfit.

The girls worked on the AM doll cootie catchers.

When Hubby got home we went for a walk to the city park. Emilyn had her scooter. We walked the trail to Bender and then back home. It's been great having sunshine in the Pacific Northwest this weekend and we had a fun weekend with Miss Em!

Oh, and Emilyn thinks Max is finally growing up because he didn't tease her constantly,

just a lot! I think Max gets cranky not being the baby and having a little girl vie for his mama's and his Kassie's attention. Just say'in.

Consequences

Last night Miss Emilyn insisted that she did not have any homework. Big brother Max was on it. He called her teacher Miss K. Yep. there was homework. Emilyn didn't want to get her back pack, Max picked her up, took her upstairs and got her started. He was relentless.

Miss K. texted her Bible verse so we could work on it since it's due today. Strangely, we didn't have a Bible in the house that was the same as the school uses. Really? wow

Yesterday Miss K. shared a quote she'd heard on the radio,

'I don't scream at my children, I let their consequences do that for me.'

Love it.

That said I still don't want to think about Miss Em not having her Bible verse memorized today and having to stay in at recess or some other consequence.

I'm a softy. Miss K and Max, not so much.

Max gave it his best shot. Em can only blame herself or our versions of the Bible.

Happy Thursday, Even tho I Have to Go to the Dentist

On Valentines Day I pretended to work for FTD. The customer was a tad demanding. The flowers had to be different than last year, really pretty, delivered after school started but before 10:11 a.m. Did you know lavender flowers means, love at first sight?

*I've been busy at the museum this week. New merchandise coming in everyday. It's like Christmas except it all has to be unpacked, priced and displayed. I have something really, really groovy coming in... I'll let you know when IT arrives. High cool factor.

*On Tuesday I went to the dentist at 7:00 a.m. It's made for a great pity party all week. Still feeling very sorry for myself. I'm going back today. Later than seven in the morning though.

* I slept really hard last night. I woke up kinda wonky. Hubby asked me if I had a stroke in the night. "Uhm, no, why?"

"Because you're supposed to be making lunches and you keep doing other things..."

That is NoT a stroke, that's 50.

*I'm going to the theatre tonight. Culture baby! My niece is in the musical at LHS. We have seats in the second row. I'm so proud of Katie.

*We are getting a house guest tonight, for the weekend. I think I'll make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.

*My house guest and I are both very,very excited.

Micheals has a new line, American Girl Crafts.

I have our coupons ready. Oh, the fun!

*Our guest invited Kassie to come and hot tub this weekend.

"I'm staying at Max's this weekend and I want to invite you to hot tub with me."

I don't think Max is invited. I'm pretty sure.

*Sonic is on the weekend agenda. Our guest's parents never take her there. Oh, the injustice.

One large Diet Cherry Limeade please.

*Yep, Miss Emilyn is coming to stay. Oh the fun! The best part...

Max won't be the youngest. It won't be ALL about Max.

Sibling rivalry is good for him.

And I get some serious GiRl PoWeR backup...

Happy Thursday!

Special Friends Day

Hubby and I aren't grandparents, but we are special friends for Caleb and Emilyn. So we were invited to attend LCS's Grandparents and Special Friends Day. What an honor! I have gone before but it was Hubby's first time.

First we went to 4B to see Caleb. He is a super artist and I may be biased but I thought his art work rocked. When we got to 4B Caleb was working very hard. He shared with us the book he made about LCS's 100th anniversary.

I went to 4th grade at LCS too, and I made this same relief map of Washington state. I told Caleb that mine was a little different because Mt. St. Helens hadn't blown yet so I didn't have a hole at the top of the mountain like he did. I didn't mention anything about the eruption being 30 years ago either. He would have thought that I am older than dirt.

Our next stop was Emilyn's first grade classroom. She explained everything including how their class takes care of the calendar and counting the days of school. She took us on a tour to the library, the gym and the playground.


It is a fun day because the kids are so proud of their work and the grandparents are so proud of the kids.

Thanks Caleb and Emilyn for the invitation! I know that if your grandparents lived closed they would have been there. We were happy to sub!

Valentine Dinner 2010

Fortunately for me I had help. Emilyn came to stay this weekend and she was a big help for the Valentine dinner. In the morning we decorated the cake, always cherry chip for Hubby. This year I called in the goddess of frosting, my niece, Hana and she came and whipped up a batch of her famous butter cream frosting. Thanks Hana!

Still in the morning we set the table, made the Twice Loved Potatoes, made our meatloaf, put together some care packages and Miss Emilyn had a photo shoot with my sister that is a Snapsister. Whew!





Our guests arrived, we enjoyed a glass of sparkling cider or champagne. Miss Adelene and Kassi, Max's girlfriend and of course, Emilyn made for a ratio of more girls than guys. A first for our dinner.

Our Valentine Menu
Berry in Love Salad
Be Still my Heart Meatloaf
Twice Loved Potatoes
Sweet & Sassy Carrots
Best Couple Ever, Bread & Butter
Dessert-
Cherry Chip Cake and Vanilla Ice Cream

After dinner we were thinking about having dessert when a car came on the yard. A quartet of Valentine singers came and serenaded us. It was so much fun. It was a surprise from Miss Ad. They brought me a rose and chocolates too. Thanks Ad! We have never had live entertainment at the valentine dinner. A blur... sorry, but you get the idea.



It was all fun but a tad exhausting for Emilyn and her doll, Emily.

More Valentine highlights coming...

A Smattering of Information

Yesterday I made a peach pie and some rustic bread. Two loaves of bread because I added the water and then couldn't remember how much I had put in, added more, didn't look right so I mixed up another loaf and let them rise. They both baked up just fine. It's me I'm worried about.

I started a mini book project yesterday. I started with a 25 cent board book from the thrift store.

I painted the edges pink.

Then I cut a pattern for my paper.

And then...I went to Safeway and got some groceries. Hubby and I have a friendly competition going with our savings percentage. I was pretty proud of 39%, especially since I bought two Dutch soup mixes and they NEVER go on sale and have doubled in price. He told me he'd be impressed when I got in the 40%+ range. Game on!

Back home I mod podged over the book pages, covering each page with the paper and after it dried I sanded the edges. This book had 22 pages, I didn't have enough coordinating prints so I used some solids. Solids don't sand very nicely. Mental note for next time-find a smaller book.

Then I went through and mod podged over the pages. I couldn't do very many because they have to dry in between. This one got a bit stuck and I pulled it apart this morning. I think I can cover it up with a border of sorts.

Hoping to make it a Valentine book. You know how I LoVe Valentine's Day.

In other news...
*Thank you so much Michele for the sweet treats and note. The bookmark went right into my Bible. You are in my prayers.

*I have received treats lately including a treat in my church mailbox. I will be using it for Valentine's Day treats and will share. BING! That's no bling, no one had ever left me bling! in my church box.

*Our boot camp group is starting a friendly competition on Monday. I'm scared and not going on Monday...

*I get to have fun with my friend Emilyn today starting with a birthday party at the skating rink. NO, I am not skating. I HaTe to skate. I'm thinking we'll go for coffee afterwards or hot cocoa.

*Have a great weekend. I am going on a buying trip to Seattle.

*Check out my Sam's soldier's blog.

A First

Caleb and Emilyn came over last night. After dinner,where my guys told E. to back off the meatballs-for crying out loud, I made plenty, had leftovers. I guess Max and Sam just LoVe to tease Miss E., the little sister they never had. Anyway, after dinner...we went for a ride to get some ice cream for dessert.

This was a first for Caleb and Emilyn, they had never ridden in a convertible, on the road. Not sure what that means, maybe Fair or Disneyland rides are considered off road. A good time was had by all.


Sometimes it is the little things in Life.

This afternoon, tomorrow morning and Monday I am at Sole Obsession. Now that the kids have all their new Fall clothes I think it is time for mama. Come in and I'll fix you up with something stylish. Hubby is working doubles all weekend, so I may as well work too.
I do have a little fun planned though.
Enjoy the sunshine this weekend-could be the last of summer...

Pool Party

Well, kinda a pool party, a little pool party. Caleb and Emilyn came over yesterday for lunch and a swim. Someone learned how to float on her back at swimming lessons and can't stop.

Having control of the hose may seem like a little thing but when your brother wants control of the hose, trust me, it's a big thing.

Even more exciting than the pool, we drove through the car wash. A first time experience that brought shrieks and giggles.
Sometimes it's the little things in life.

Early Bird Shopper

Only one early bird shopper, Miss Emilyn. I couldn't entice Caleb to leave the computer. Holly stopped by but we missed her visit. Probably on the patio, it's where we live in summer. Sorry Holly, no pressure washer for sale.







After much deliberation, Emilyn decided on the pineapple glasses. A fine choice.

See you at the sale!

I {heart} my Library

I'm a reader, always have been a reader. If my grades weren't up to par my parents knew how to punish me. They took my library card away. Without my library card I am nothing, I am incomplete, I am crabby. Hubby is a reader too. That is a good thing. We get it when the other one can't talk because they are finishing a good book.

Nothing against television, I just prefer a good book. But like a man watching TV with a remote, I read two or three books at a time. Not always, but sometimes. Currently, I am reading Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas, Tending Roses by Lisa Wingate and for some nonfiction fun, Maryjane's Outpost by Maryjane Butters. Both of the fiction are stories of a young woman and an older woman, so they have similarities. Different times in history, different stories but the common character thread. Holly listed Tending Roses as a favorite on her blog. I chose Prayers for Sale because I enjoyed the other books by Sandra Dallas.

Maryjanes' Outpost caught my eye at the library because the subtitle is Unleashing Your Inner Wild. Lots of information about getting outdoors, camping, raising chickens, fly fishing, creating rooms outside, fun stuff. I've always wanted an outdoor shower and I thought this book might have ideas. It is making me want to move the beds outside for the summer. A fun read.

Hubby and I read to our boys, a lot. Sam had memorized many books at the age of two. I have video of Sam "reading" at age three. One of the guys' favorites was The Firecat. A book with a character named Mrs. Goodkind has to be good. Now it is a favorite of Emilyn. Hubby and Emilyn read many books Saturday evening. Some Richard Scarry too. Good times.

Cake Mix Cookies

That Sam I Am told me about this recipe two years ago. I said, uhmmm and did nothing about it. Then Becky made them, I ate one, maybe six, and I said, wow! I have to try these at home.
Mix one cake mix, 2 eggs and 1/2 cup oil, bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Then the hard part, open a can of frosting and frost.

We scooped with my small scoop, turned it over and flattened a little bit.

The variations are fun to think about, cherry chip with cream cheese, yellow with chocolate, white and white. Stop it!

If you don't have a baking assistant making sure that every cookie has every color of sprinkles yours will not be as delicious as mine. Sorry. You may not have a mess either.


Make sure there is someone around to finish the frosting, carefully sugar her up and then send her home with her parents.

In the background, a Wii game.