The weather outside is frightful!!!

WOWZA!!! After days of listening to the weatherman tell us how much it was going to snow, after days of the school closures, and after days of teasing the weatherman finally came through with a bang!!!! Last week on Monday schools were closed. Tuesday kids went to school. Wed-Fri. school closed. The kids essentially get an extra week off this winter. I'm sure they won't be happy when they are sitting in school during July:)

Yesterday Hannah was supposed to have her annual cookie/gift exchange. It's something she wanted to do a few years ago, and it is now an annual tradition. Around 9:00 am as I was cleaning and baking and getting everything ready for 13 girls, I got the first phone call. I decided it was probably a good idea to postpone. It turned out to be a good idea. With snow falling all day and rain freezing all night. I could see it now....13 girls stranded at our house and nowhere for the boys to go. Hannah was bummed but we will do it in a couple of weeks after new years.

We woke up this morning....okay, let's be honest....who actually slept with the wind going all night? I thought the roof was going to blow off. The dog barked periodically through out the night because of it. At 4:30 am I got up to let him outside to potty and he slid off the deck onto the grass and then broke through ice. I admit
it I almost peed my pants laughing. Poor thing!!




Zakk and Hannah have had a blast building a snowman and snowdog only to have it covered last night. We can't keep Zakk in the house. I don't think Hannah is as into it as Zakk. We let the dog out front today and he decided to explore a little to far. I had to go out and get him and about froze. Needless to say...I am not going back out. Not that I could go anywhere anyway. Our car doors are literally frozen shut and the huge hill we live on is pure ice. We still haven't done much Christmas shopping, so that might be a problem come Christmas morning;)

It's been great having the kids home and hanging out as a family. They are awesome and I realize how truly blessed I am to have them happy and healthy!!

Christmas decorations..or the lack there of!

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. I'm not sure where the time has gone this year, but it certainly snuck up on me. Rick always likes to get the tree around the middle of December, but I usually have all the decorations up by the 1st. Well, we got our tree last week, and just this week pulled out the decorations. I ended up not putting as many up this year and am still trying to decide where the stockings are going this year.

I am pretty anal about our tree...always have been. Once the kids started "helping" I had to let go a little. We'd let them decorate and then after they went to sleep I would do some rearranging. Not this year! Zakk was really into picking out the tree this year. It was so stinking cold out this year that we just said okay, pick one. Hannah agreed and we got the tree home. We stopped at Target on our way home for some things and made our way to the Christmas decorations to let the kids pick out a new ornament. They decided they wanted blue lights on the tree, and that plain white was boring. Ummm okay..... The next thing I know, we have some blue ornaments and some white ones thrown in as well...and a bunch of lights/ornaments for the yard. I am not sure when I lost control of this shopping trip(I only needed laundry soap and an ornament for each kid),but Hannah declared as we were walking out"Dad, I'm going shopping with you more often!" Ummm okay!(we'll see if she still feel that way when she needs clothes) Got home and was stressing out a little inside about how the tree was going to look. Decided oh well....sat down with a glass of wine and watched them go. I am happy to say I haven't done any rearranging!! They had so much fun and were so proud of "their" tree. I've decided that even though all of our decorations aren't out this year and even though the stockings haven't found a home yet, the house is Christmasy enough, and I am loving our blue and white tree!

Thanksgiving blessings!

We have so many things to be thankful for this year. Times are tough for so many people right now. Rick's company has been going through some changes and we weren't sure if he would even have a job come Christmas time. We feel so blessed that for the 2nd time this year he did not get included in all of the lay offs that have been going on within his industry. On the flip side of the coin, so many people that he has worked with for years were not as fortunate. That is always hard. We are thankful, but at the same time so sad for them. We can only hope that things work out for them and that this is a blessing in disguise.

We spent Thanksgiving with very good friends this year. The turkey dinner was fabulous and the company was excellent. I look forward to hosting them at our home on Christmas Eve.

COMPETITION SEASON IS ALMOST HERE!

Hannah's 3rd year of competitive gymnastics starts soon. One of the most fun parts???? Getting new leotards. I was lucky enough to be in on the picking out, designing, measuring and best of all... giving the girls their new leotards!! They were so excited. Some more than other. Apparently silver is not EVRYONES fave color. They look awesome to me and I dare another team to be as sparkly as ours!! My favorite part of all was letting the 1st year level 4's try theirs on....they were giddy!!! Good luck girls!!!

Halloween 2008

This will be known as the "Year of Scare" as far as the kids costumes go! Gone are the little ladybugs, astronauts, princess's and cowboys. This year was creepy..especially Zakk's mask! Ick! At least there was no prep or anything. Regular clothes? check Scary mask? check Fake blood? Check!!! Hannah's took a bit more time, but I thought she was fabulous. I loved that she picked a vampire as I have just finished reading the Twilight saga. Rick and I have also started watching a vampire show on HBO. As far as trick or treating went, we hit more of the neighborhood than usual as well. Usually our street and the next one over. This year, they wouldn't stop. We ended up having a great time, got some excercise and the reward was 10 yes 10 lbs of candy!!!!

The Pumpkin Patch

Today was GORGEOUS!!!! Okay, a bit windy, but
for October in Washington it was amazing! Fall is
my fave season, and Pumpkin Patch pictures are
some of my favorite pictures to take. The kids
were in great moods and happy to be picking out
our pumpkins. Sadly, as soon as we arrived, we
knew we had waited too long. There were no
GREAT pumpkins left. The kids still had a blast
doing the maze, getting their faces painted, and
riding the hayride. Zakk was on wheelbarrow
duty as Rick has had a very odd work schedule
this week and could not go. Zakk had fun pushing
Hannah around, though if I'm honest, Hannah was
a little leary. She kept saying DON'T TIP ME ZAKK
in her best 16 yr old with attitude voice. Gotta love
it. We collected a few pumpkins and then hit the
grocery store for some BIG ones!!! Rick will be on
pumpkin carving duty!!

Using only 1 word

USING ONLY ONE WORD

Answer each of these questions, using only one word. Not as easy as you might think!

1. Where is your cell phone? purse
2. Your significant other? sleepy
3. Your hair? thin
4. Your mother? missed
5. Your father? peaceful
6. Your favorite thing? crafts
7. Your dream last night? forgotten
8. Your favorite drink? wine
9. Your dream/goal? many

10. What room are you in? office
11. Your hobby? photography
12. Your fear? death
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? content
14. Where were you last night? everywhere
15. Something that you aren't? awake
16. Muffins? pumpkin
17. Wish list item? personal organizer
18. Where you grew up? all over
19. Last thing you did? coffee
20. What are you wearing? sweats
22. Your pets? weird
23. Friends? fabulous
24. Your life? busy
25. Your mood? light
26. Missing someone? parents
27. Your car? cute
28. Something you're not wearing? shoes
29. Your favorite store? Target
30. Your favorite color? yellow
33. When is the last time you laughed? last night
34. Last time you cried? last week

A) Four places that I go to over and over? Gymnastics, school,grocery store, Starbucks
B) Five people who email me regularly? hmmm
C) My favorite place to eat? Gustav's
D) Four places I would like to go right now? Hawaii, Disney World, Grandma's, Starbuck's
E) Four TV shows I watch all the time? none

Your turn

Isn't he the cutest thing?

One of my neighbors found this little cutie in the middle of the road:( She is highly allergic to cats, so who's door did she decide to knock on??? Well, mine of course. It's not like I don't have enough to do with the Monster Puppy we have, and the cat that has now ostresized itself to outdoors. Oh and let's not forget the little kitty that showed up on my doorstep about a month ago all cute. Freaked the puppy out and chased our already self ostresized kitty even further away. He ended up a little wounded and had to be taken to the vet. Hopefully he has found his owners. So what did I do when this one was dropped off. I kept him for a couple of days, knowing full well we could not keep him. I warned the kids we can't keep him...they named him. A day later the person I thought wanted him did not. I told the kids we are not keeping him. They made him a bed and we bought toys, and food and we litter box trained him. I know what you're thinking, it's what everyone I know thought...but about a week and ahalf later we did find a very good home for him. He was just too tiny with the monster puppy around. I have to admit...I shed a tear for little Jack/Shadow(no name was ever agreed on, but I did hear the owners named him Jack). Isn't he cuuuuutteee??

Gymnastics Superstars!!!

This was so much fun!!! A group of us went to The Gymnastics Superstars show at the Rose Garden. All of the girls had so much fun and got to see their favorite Olympic Gymnasts all together performing all of their events to music. Because we bought tickets through Hannah's gym, we were able to go early and to a Q&A with the gymnasts. Passes were handed out for after the show, but alas no one we know of was lucky enough to get one. Regardless, the VEGA girls had a blast and so did the parents. Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liuken and all of the rest of the US team was fabulous, but let me tell you...men's gymnastics is completely underated!!! Those guys were amazing to watch. A fun time was had by all.

How fun is this!!!!

A penguin on the car.
We are the Prune Hill Penguins

Above a shelf in Hannah's
newly redecorated room
photos of that coming soon.
A dragon in Zakk's room


If you have not heard of or tried Uppercase Living, you need to!! This is so fun and so easy. It can dress up the most boring wall!!! These are just a few things I have done. I have a couple of more that I will post pictures of as well. Here is her website. I will be having a demonstration soon!!! Here is a link to her websitehttp://andream.uppercaseliving.net/Products.m

September Recap

Wow!! September has been so busy and gone by so quick. I just realized I haven't updated for the whole month.

School started, which for me is always a little sad. I so love having my little munchkins home. They are fun to hang out with, plus they do chores for me:) Hannah started 4th grade and is thrilled with her teacher this year. Mrs. Cameron is AWESOME!! is what I have heard all month. She lets the kids eat lunch in the classroom every Friday.

Zakk started 6th grade, middle school. YIKES!!!! He has to be up by 6:30 every morning because school starts at 7:45. He is loving it!!! He seems to have a good team of teacher's. It is a little difficult for me to not be able to just stop in for lunch or to see if his teachers need anything. His highlight(typical boy) is lunch. They have a little food court and he can pretty much get whatever. Silly me thinking the $50 I put in is lunch account would last a month. I have already added to it twice. Me thinks it's time to start talking about a budget!!!!

Hannah has been having a blast in gymnastics as usual and is excited to start her level 5 season. has been working so hard lately and is loving learning her new routines. She is going with some gymnastics buddies to the Gymnastics Superstars this weekend at the Rose Garden. She will see all the women and men from the Olympics. This is beyond cool for her.

I am thrilled for Zakk because an unexpected opportunity that has come his way. A friend of mine read an article about Liberty Middle School starting a Lego Robotics Club. Anyone who knows Zakk knows he LOVES Legos. His dream job is to work for Lego Land in San Diego and design things for them. He can come up with some cool things. The only problem is Zakk goes to Skyridge Middle School. No Lego club there. I e-mailed the principal of Liberty asking her about it and she invited Zakk to come and join. I was shocked. He is beyond thrilled. After that, they also got in contact with Skyridge to let them know about it and invite other kids if they are interested. The kids can then move on to CHS and join their Robotics Club. Yay for Zakk!!!!

Cool Picture effect

Water Effect