After changing her mind day after day, Alice finally settled on dressing up as Alice in Wonderland for Halloween.  Roxie was left using whatever fit her in the Halloween costume box.  Luckily the bee costume looked pretty cute on her.  We had a good time at the ward harvest party.  The kids played games, won prizes/treats, went on a hayride, ate chili, and trunk-or-treated.  After that, we came back to our neighborhood to trick-or-treat.  Roxie thought this was very cool.  She fought her way past the big kids to the front door while shouting, "Tri-tree!  Tri-tree!"  More often than not, the person at the door would let the kids choose their own candy.  At first, Roxie would take one and move on to the next house--that is, until people started telling the kids to take a few.  Roxie would shove them in her candy bag as fast as she could--making sure she said, "Tanks" after each one.  After going around the block, we dropped her off back at home--she was a little too greedy.  Alice and her cousins went around the rest of the neighborhood.  When they had acquired enough candy (well, can you ever really have "enough"?), we all went over to Ben and Shannon's.  Ben had prepared a bunch of spooky treats for us to munch on.  We hung out with friends and family until we could barely stay awake (9pm) and headed home.  Thank goodness for the extra hour of sleep!

This morning I was getting ready for church while everyone else was still sleeping.  I find it much easier to get ready when that is the case--less distractions.  Alice wondered in.  She started looking around the bathroom for things to "get into"/play with.  I asked her to go find something else to do, mainly because I didn't want her getting into trouble.  She has had a really hard time with that lately.  Off she went and I shut the door to the bathroom.  When I was nearly finished, I heard clanking downstairs in the kitchen.  A little worried about this, I woke Jake up and asked him to go check what Alice was doing.  He stumbled downstairs and wasn't sure what to do.  She was standing on a chair in the kitchen in an apron, a couple eggs were cracked and in a bowl, the frying pan was out, and she was whipping the eggs around with a wooden spoon.  Jake was very patient and let her get them ready to put in the pan--then he took over cooking the scrambled eggs while she made toast.  She has made sandwiches before, but eggs are an entirely different ballgame--a stove is involved, with flames.  I probably would not have reacted the way Jake did.  It's a good thing he went downstairs instead of me.  I need to let Alice do a little more for herself instead of doing things for her to avoid messes and taking more time.  We aren't sure how we feel about Alice being nearly able to use the stove.  It just means she is growing up, and needs us for one less thing.  Bittersweet.  And I guess I need to be a little more specific when I ask her to go and "find something to do".

On Friday, my mom invited us to go with her to Issaquah and check out the salmon.  We went to the fish hatchery there.  The girls loved seeing the fish close up in the viewing tanks--fish ladders.  The life cycle of salmon is incredible.  They are born in a stream (or hatchery), head out to sea, and return to their birthplace before dying.  How they know to do this is amazing!  Seeing the dying fish was kind of sad though--icky.  They get pretty battered up trying to get back upstream.  And there were lots of dead fish.  ANYhow...

 

After that we headed over to Boehm's Candy.  I don't remember the last time I had been there.  We got to see them hand-dipping chocolates on the self-guided tour--mmmm.  We went into the store and picked up a few goodies before heading back to Grandma's for lunch.  It was a fun little outing!

Alice had her first official dance class today and LOVED it.  She is doing a tap/ballet combination class (2 birds, 1 stone).  The nice thing is that she only has two other girls in her class so far.  After class, I asked Alice which she liked better: the tap or ballet portion of the class.  She finally decided on ballet, but she can't get enough of the tap shoes.  What kid doesn't like making noise with their feet?

Alice survived her first day of kindergarten--and so did I!  Despite having to wait over 30 minutes for the bus (both ways), it was great.  I got a little teary as I watched her drive away on the bus.  I was quickly pulled back to reality by Roxie.  She was completely out of sorts today--and missed Alice.  We came home, played, attempted to clean and gave up, then looked at some pictures of Alice on the computer.  That was Rox's happiest moment of the day.  We all survived.  Alice could not have been more cool with things.  This taste of independence was sweet for her.  The main thing that I love about it all is that she only has 13 kids in her class.  She has already made lots of friends and can't wait to go back for another day. 

Recently Alice was able to have sleepovers with each of her grandparents.  First she stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Hodson (and cousins Jack, Piper, and Will).  They packed some serious fun into 24 hours.  The festivities included crafts, visiting the Jim Henson exhibit at the EMP, roasting hot dogs, watching movies, and painting her very own toy boat that she sailed down a stream.  She had an amazing time--didn't want to leave!  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures...

 

A few days later, we all went up to Mt. Vernon for a family reunion.  Grandma Dempsey spent some quality time with Alice and her cousins Zack (I found out is Zachery, but goes by Zack), Gwen, and Tasha.  They stayed overnight in a cabin, walked by the river, swam in the pool, headed to Birch Bay for camping the next night, played chubby bunny, and combed the beach.  She loved it!  We missed her a lot.  Well, at least Jake and I did.  Roxie had no problem getting all the attention for once.  Alice came home exhausted from trying to keep up with her older cousins.  Both sleepovers left her with some great memories that I'm sure she will not soon forget.

Ok, so a friend urged me to create a separate blog for my vinyl creations so I took her advice.  I will be posting new things that I do--and probably some older stuff too.  If you are interested, check it out at:

 

This past week we went with some friends and family to Seabrook.  It is a cute little place that came highly recommended.  I'm sure it will be even more spectacular in a few years when the community has developed even more.  In true Washington coast style, it was overcast, misty, and cool.  If we had been there the week before, it would have been sunny and near the 80's--virtually unheard of!  Despite the cool weather, we made the most of our short trip.  The girls did great in the car--Alice watched a movie and Roxie ate and sang to herself.  When we got there, it wasn't quite check-in time yet so we headed to the beach.  Roxie LOVED wading in the ocean and running on the beach.  Alice loved playing with friends and cousins and digging in the sand.  After the kids were completely covered in sand, we headed to the house.  When we arrived at the house we thought was to be ours and ran up the stairs, peeked through the windows, and noticed there were a pile of shoes inside.  A sure sign of occupancy.  However, we didn't notice the shoes until after one of the kids rang the doorbell.  Everyone scurried down the steps fast enough that no one would ever suspect it was us--except for the fact that we were the only ones outside in the street.  Oops.  After finding our real house we quickly checked everything out and unpacked.  The next couple of days were wonderful.  We did more at the beach, played at the park, toasted marshmallows, soaked in the hot tub, played shuffleboard, listened to Ben and Jake play their guitars, chase kids, biked (well, I watched as J & B took my kids around on bikes--I'm a lazy mom), and ATE.  We had enough food to last another couple of days.  The trip seemed to go so fast--too fast.  After checking out on Saturday, we headed down to Ocean Shores and spent some time on the beach flying kites and playing in the sand.  Jake was happy to cruise around the beach in the truck--luckily, we had no major accidents.  However, our horn sounds really odd now...huh.  We had some lunch, hit the bumper cars--the kids were hesitant about go-karts, and shopped for taffy and shells.  Before heading home, we stopped for some ice cream.  I think we managed to hit most of the classic beach activities in those 3 days.  It was so nice to get out of town and have good company to enjoy it with!

For some reason, during the summer ants like to try and come in our house near the glass sliding door in our kitchen (maybe it has something to do with the crumbs on the floor?).  Alice has taken it upon herself to rid the house of any ant she might find.  Here's how things played out this morning.

 

Alice: Mom!  There is a dead ant on my shirt!  Can you get it off?

 

Me (as I picked the dead carcass off): Uh, how did a dead ant get on your shirt?

 

Alice: It was my only weapon.

 

Me: Please don't squish anymore ants with your clothes.

Ten years ago today, Jake and I were married!  I can't believe how fast it has flown by.  Ten years...really?  Yep.  Our wedding day was overcast.  We had a lovely ceremony with close friends and family.  Afterward we took pictures and despite the sketchy forecast, we went ahead with our plans for a garden reception.  Big mistake!  For those of you who lived through it--you can vouch for that.  We often refer to the whole thing as "the incident"--rather than the reception.  After everything was set up (tables, chairs, decorations, etc.) it started pouring!  Everyone made a mad dash to gather everything and move the reception to a nearby church building.  I would have a "gym" reception afterall.  But, we were already married and on cloud 9 so it didn't really matter.  So many of our close friends helped us celebrate.  They say that rain on your wedding day is lucky.  I think they are right.  We have had our share of bumps in the road, but our commitment to one another and to God has helped us through.  We continue to grow together (together being the key word).

 

I am so lucky to have a husband who loves continues to love me more everyday despite my imperfections.  As much as he loves to look tough, he's a big softy on the inside and I love that.  He adores all his girls.   He's a wonderful husband and father and I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else.  Love you Jake!

Five?  Really?  It seems crazy to think that I have a kid that old.  I mean, it's not really old, but the fact that 5 years has gone so quickly is kind of scary.  We celebrated early in the day with Alice's first gift--a bike.  Of course, Roxie wanted to try the bike out first and when she didn't get her way she threw herself onto the sidewalk.  Like a good mother, I took pictures.  I have zero patience for tantrums.  Besides, it wasn't her birthday--back to Alice, the girl of the day.  No more than one minute after hopping on, Alice crashed and burned.  She got a little too cozy with the sloped curb and toppled over--it was pretty bad.  I was holding Roxie so I didn't have any hands to grab her bike before she went down.  Both knees were pretty scraped as well as her wrist.  No tears--she's a tough one.  She was ready to get right back on so she rode the bike back to the house to get her wounds cleaned up.  After that, it was straight back to riding.  She chose to go out to dinner at Red Robin for her birthday.  I'm not sure what attracts her to that establishment.  Near the end of dinner, Alice asked to be taken to the restroom.  On our way back to the table, we could hear clapping.  As I peered across the restaurant, I could see the Red Robin staff gathering around our table, gearing up for the birthday song.  As the folks at our table informed them that Alice wasn't there, I overheard one waiter say, "Well, that was embarrassing!"  When we got back to the table, they came back to sing and give her a sundae.  Good times.  As dinner was wrapping up, Shannon was able to secure our table a free milkshake.  All it took was a coaster, a nice waiter, and a couple of hassling questions, and viola!  The manager gives her a shake on the house.  She has a gift, that woman.  It was a memorable day.  We are so glad to have Alice in our family and couldn't imagine life without her--anyone who knows her might agree that it would be rather dull.  She's a good kid, amazing even.

A lot has been going on lately, but I have been pretty lazy about writing it down.  Where to begin…

 

First off, our garden is out of control.  This year we took the plunge and planted a garden at our friends’ farm—Christmas tree farm.  There are 5 or 6 families combining efforts.  We each get a large row to ourselves and then we share the rest—like the pea patch, corn field, beans, etc.  So far we love it.  The first thing we harvested was Jake’s radishes.  We left some in the ground a really long time and they looked pretty gross.  Our lettuce is going crazy, carrots are coming along, and the cilantro is ready and waiting.  I have a great dip that I will use that in next weekend.  We purchased some large pots for out patio this year in hopes of getting some tomatoes.  Last year was completely unsuccessful—didn’t know tomatoes needed lots of root space—and I only got 1 tomato which was picked off prematurely by my 3 year old nephew.  This year, my potted tomatoes are thriving and there are actual tomatoes starting to grow!  Who knew I could grow stuff?  Not me…

 

Alice and Roxie are nuts.  Jake and I have crossed over into that territory of not being able to communicate to each other by spelling.  When you don’t want small ears to hear things, spelling is the way to go.  That is, until the little stinker figures out what you are spelling.  Roxie is a pretty fun kid, but has recently gone through a biting phase—which we hope is over.  Twice Roxie chomped Alice on the head—once on her forehead (how does that happen?) and the once on her cheek.  She leaves pretty serious damage. 

 

Last week I made freezer jam with my mom and Shannon.  Good times, good times.  We purchased the strawberry slicers this year to save time and I can say that it definitely did that.  We have more jam than we can possibly eat—considering we dug a bunch of older containers out of Shannon’s freezer that we had left over from the last time we made jam.  It tastes so good though.  Nothing beats it.

 

I am gearing up for a service auction for the ladies at church.  It is going to be lots of work, but also lots of fun.  The whole idea is to give/receive service.  We are asking everyone to bring a handmade item or donate some kind of service.  At the auction, we will give out candy money that will be used for bidding.  It should be amazingly fun and bring the ladies closer together.  Helping each other is what it is all about.  We are calling it the “Scatter Sunshine Service Auction”.  So, get out there and scatter sunshine—help someone today.  Or just donate something for the auction.

I did it.  I made matching skirts for the girls using this tutorial.  Thank heavens for tutorials, you know?  I can't think these things up on my own.  I came across a couple more tutorials so more skirts are in the works.  A word to the wise for anyone thinking about sewing one of these up--they ended up longer than I had originally measured for.  I had wanted them to be knee length, but they ended up a little longer--more like hippy-style.  Since it would take some work to shorten them, they will stay as-is for now. 

So lately I have been feeling crafty.  Finding the time is sometimes tricky, but definitely worth it.  I made an easter dress for Alice and just finished a skirt for myself.  I am thinking about a couple of skirts for the girls in the near future.  I am always looking for a sewing challenge.  That means quilting is my next thing to tackle.  I know virtually nothing about it--but soon will.  I have heard people say that it is easier than sewing clothes, but I am not convinced.  It sound complicated.  Some ladies from church have put a quilting group together and I have joinned up.  It will be fun learning new techniques and using the creative side of my brain.  I also just finished up an americana sign for the 4th of July today.  It turned out pretty ok.  If I had it to do over again, I think I would paint the sign a shade of gray/grey and make it have a sunbleached look.  That could be cool.  Let me know if anyone out there wants any vinyl.  I love trying to think up fun things to do with it.

A sign from above.  It has to be.  Why else would Jake's face end up on the cover of CCC's summer schedule of classes catalog?  We had a good laugh at the fact that the last time he was even enrolled as a student there was Fall of 2008.  I guess they have to let him back in now that he's on the cover of their catalog.  Shouldn't he get free tuition for that or something?

This will all be pretty disjointed because I am just typing whatever comes to me.  It might all be about the pictures, it might not.  I added a slough of photos.  The first is the picture that was supposed to be in the Woodinville Weekly.  We got cut.  However, Ian was nice enough to forward it on to Shannon.  At least we ended up with a copy, right?  That's all I need.  Alice went through another round of swimming lessons a few weeks ago so there is a nice picture of her in her goggles.  There are some pictures of Isaac's birthday party at Chuck E Cheeses.  Alice had a great time as well as Roxie.  She walked over to a random stranger and wanted him to pick her up.  What is it with my kids and strangers?  I'm pretty sure they would be the first at the park to be lured away by a nice man in a car with candy.  Last week was spring break, so we decided to get some shots--as in immunizations!  Did you know that if you have kids living in the NSSD you can get them for free at LWTC?  Let me know if you want the info--you can't beat free.  Alice got 4 and Roxie got her first chicken pox shot.  They both go back in July for a 2nd installment.  The day after that, we went to Bellevue to walk around the temple grounds.  It was a beautiful day.  We ended up seeing two people we know.  Odd how that happens.  The rest of spring break was spent sewing an easter dress for Alice.  What is up with all the stores only selling sleeveless dresses at easter?  Easter around here is usually very chilly.  I couldn't find anything I liked, so I decided to make a dress.  I enjoy sewing so it wasn't too bad--I need to get some better pictures though.  Easter was great--Alice woke up at the crack of dawn (ok, 7am) and tried to get us up.  We made her wait until 7:30.  When Roxie found her loot, she did lots of ooooo-ing.  It's her big thing these days.  I will try to post some of the movies on my youtube page.  That's all for now...

Jake had to work today so the girls and I ventured out to Woodinville's annual All Fools Day Parade.  I think we have been to the parade nearly every year for the past 9 years--kind of a tradition.  I can only remember one or two of the parades where the weather was actually decent.  Today's weather was not decent.  It rained the entire time--plus, it was in the high 30's or low 40's.  Wet and cold!  Since we are seasoned parade go-ers, we knew exactly how to be most comfortable with the conditions.  We have a certain parking spot near the grandstand that we always try to get.  We back right up to the road and pop open the back of the truck.  All of us girls climbed into the back--out of the rain--and snuggled under blankets.  We enjoyed ourselves, at least until Alice decided she needed a bathroom break.  We had to leave our dry car and walk across the street to the city hall to find "facilites".  When we got back to the car, the marching band had just passed.  I think we must have missed the bassett hounds too--unless they weren't in the parade this year.  That would be unusual though since it has always been such a big part of the festivities.  In the past, owners bring their bassett hounds and walk them through the parade.  Some dress up (dogs and owners) and some don't.  Regardless, it is always fun to see that many squatty dogs in one place.  When we returned to the car, it was nice to climb in out of the rain.  As is normal for all parades, people were walking up and down the streets as the parade went by.  I kept thinking to myself, "Man, I hope nobody hits their head on our tailgate".  Sure enough, a few moments later, BONK!  Some guy wasn't watching where he was going, and walked right into it.  He seemed a little daized and embarrassed.  I felt bad--sorry!  Some of the parade highlights included the Dancing Ponies and Mariachi Band, Star Wars Storm Troopers, Mini Cooper Club, DeLorean Club, and the Seafair Pirates.  One of the pirates came up to Alice, asked her to say, "Argh!", and then gave her a pirate coin.  They didn't shoot off their incredibly loud cannon this year though.  We had a good time.  I always bring my camera, but am terrible about actually using it.  But I did take a few.  Lucky for us, the Woodinville Weekly newspaper photog was there.  He took a shot of us cozied up, so we might be famous next week.  Cross your fingers!  He knows Shannon, so I tried to use that in our favor.  We'll see... 

 

One more thing, Teddy's Burgers (from Hawaii) just opened in Woodinville--the first one on the mainland.  If you have been to Oahu, you might have eaten there.  If not, head downtown to get some burgers and shakes.  The fries are really good too.  Mmmm...

Good question.  Well, a couple of weeks ago I got some time off from my "job".  I went to TOFW with my mom, sis, SIL, and pink-dolphined friend.  We had a great time!  The speakers were great, the music was great, and the venue was great.  It was fun to escape from reality for a while.  I have also been busy working on an etsy shop that my mom and I share.  Check us out every once in a while--we might have something new!  www.polkadotdoor.etsy.com

 

Jake has been pretty busy lately.  He always has a million projects on his plate at a time.  I don't think it is possible for him to not have anything "lined up".  This is always better than not doing anything, right? 

 

Roxie has 7 teeth now.  She is really good at destroying things.  Within the past 2 weeks or so, she has decided walking is kind of fun.  She'll do it leisurely, but prefers to crawl if she needs to get somewhere fast.  She's still very tipsy.  She's acquired a few new words here and there, but still enjoys yelling or screaming if she needs something (something we are breaking her of).  That doesn't go very far with parents like us.

 

I took Alice over to her school today to register for kindergarten.  What?  How did that happen?  It is really freaking me out how fast time is going by.  A part of me doesn't want to send her out in the world, but I have a feeling she is going to be just fine.  I feel good about it.  Parents do this all the time, right?  Public school is right for us, at least for now.  I have resolved to try and be as involved as I can with my children's schooling.  I want to be an active parent--mostly because I want to know everything that is going on.  This won't be happening to my kids--if I can help it.

I do believe in pink dolphins.  I do believe in pink dolphins.  I do, I do, I do believe in pink dolphins!

 

 

(This one is for you Becky!)

No, it's not that kind of surprise  We are not pregnant.  When I looked outside today at my mulch/garbage pile from last fall, I found this: 

 

 

I completely forgot I threw those bulbs in there last year.  I left them out on my sun-soaked patio (well, as sun-soaked as it gets here) all summer long and thought they were goners.  I know nothing about gardening--I thought I could kill just about anything!  Guess not...