Alexa Kay is 24

Yesterday was AKL birthday...

climbing trees

I think my girls are monkeys...especially Courtney. They just love to climb!!

the Jog-A-Thon

Everson Elementary had their annual Jog-A-Thon on Tuesday. I had Papa watch the twinks while I went and helped out. After I go there I realized I could have brought them and they could have ran oh well next year!! Sam ran 20 laps and raised $40!

Here she is getting her "foot" punched. Each class had a foot bracelet that was a different color and every time they went around they got a whole punch. One kid in her class around 25 times!

I timed her on her tenth trip around and she ran it in 1 minute 1 second!

a cupcake cake

Lake padden

Sunday afternoon stroll around lake Padden. I thought the girls were ready for a 2.6 mile "hike" around lake Padden but we made it about 3/4 around and the girls were done. Didnt help that there was a playground either. The walk was fun and beautiful and about 1/2 around Alexa and Bernt came walking up behind us!!

We are off...Courtney had to stop and pick the flowers!

the girls thought the water was warm...crazy kids!

they were great at letting me take pictures of them along the way. It's jsut so pretty. Bellingham has changed a lot since I moved away 18 yars ago but the parks pretty much remained the same. So fun to take the kids hiking at places I did when I was their age!

they loved to go off trail!

Sydney striking a pose!

Daddy and his girls!

Samantha's turn to strike a pose!

so pretty!

the twinks were trying to get down the hill but wanted to hold hands they came crashing down giggling the whole way!

climbing up the side of a hill...

So fun...

80's Dance Party

Last night we went to a fundraiser for the Bellingham Childcare and Preschool. My cousin Gina is on the board and invited us to it. It was totally awesome! The band that played "eighites invasion" were perfect. They didnt butcher one song and I knew every one of them. It's been a long time since Jon and I actually went dancing...even though we did look like stoners from the 80's in our Van Halen tee shirts and ripped up jeans!

Maverick and Charlie aka Nick and Gina

My vans

My stud!

Mondo huge Garage sale!

Saturday Morning Alexa, Bernt and I threw a huge garage sale. There was so much stuff it was completely crazy! Alexa and I probably spent a good 10 hours just setting up for the dang thing and then it went and rained on us. we had it in the motor home bay so it was covered but pretty much only the hard core garage salers showed up. We are hoping to have another one in 4 or 5 weeks when it's sunny!

before

AK trying to stay warm and dry!

after...hardly a dent but $260 richer!

a very busy spider

Sam's class preformed a "Very Busy Spider" at the Pioneeer Pride Assmebly this morning!

First trip to the bay

We went to Birch Bay after Sam got out of school today. We walked along the beach with Jill. Sam got really itchy from the salt water but other then that Good times!

On another note we went grocery shopping on the way home which I ALWAYS hate to do with all 3. Today was no exception, Sydney was absolutely horrible and is spending the evening in her room tonight. She can come down for dinner but back she goes. It was probably the worst shopping experience I have ever had!

Cornwall Park Video

date night with Samantha

Last Friday night Samantha and I went on a date. We went to dinner at Bobs Burger and Brew and then to the play "Annie." The play was put on by BAAY and the kids ranged from 9-14. A friend from high schools daughter played Annie and she was FABULOUS!


at one point of the show they called for kids from the audience to come up and do some 'acting' of course Sam was up there in a heart beat! She really wanted to go to acting camp this summer but the play that they are putting on for her age group is 'James and the Giant Peach' and she said she really didnt lke that movie so maybe next summer. I might put the twinks in it though...

last soccer game of the season!

The Purple Hearts!

future golfer

Cornwall Park!

This morning/afternoon we had to get out of the house because the cleaning lady (Alexa Kay) came. We ran a couple errands then headed to the Cornwall Park. It was crazy busy because a moms group was having their end of the year party but the kids didnt mind. We decided to go on a hike and I found out the twinks really love hiking through little trails. It is so different hiking here compared to AZ. It's so beautiful and green!!

they kept running ahead of me!

I'd make them stop so I could take pictures of them...They were good sports about it!

right after this picture was taken Sydney tried to get my walking stick (bottom left corner) and slid on to her bum, thankfully she didnt slide down to the stick!! Scared me to death!!

Syd is covering up her legs so you couldnt see how muddy they were from from her fall in the creek!

After our walk we had a pb&j picnic at the playground!

Super fun afternoon...looking forward to more hike in the future with Samantha too!

anytime fitness

I joined a gym yesterday. I figured I really need to get my body working out again. I always feel better, eat better and sleep better when I workout regularly. I looked at a few gyms in town that have child care but realized that driving 15 to 20 miles to workout was going to end up being a major production so I ended up at anytime fitness which is only 3.5 miles away but it doesnt have childcare. So now I have to get my butt out of bed and get my exercising in before 7 am when Jon leaves for work! This morning I woke up at 4 (not by choice) and ended up getting up at 5:30 and did my first work out. 30 minutes on the tread mill, some stretching and crunches. I am looking forward to trying the yoga class that they have on Wednesday nights and they also have an 8 week "sweat camp" that I will be signing up for. Hopefully getting these endorphins running around will get me out of the funk I have been in lately....and the sun is shining today which defintely helps the mood!

difficult

I was super spoiled when we lived in AZ. Jon worked from home, Sam was in school all day, the twinks went to school three days a week for a few hours and my best friend lived a half a mile away. Now that we are here. Jon works 10 hour days, Sam only goes to school until 1, the twinks arent in preschool and my best friend now lives 1800 miles away. Oh yeah and the sun shined everyday in AZ and here the clouds drip everyday. It has been a difficult adjustment to say the least. The most difficult aspect of it all is my mom is in Heaven. I miss her so much. I was excited to move back to my home town when it really came to it. It was an exciting new adventure. Jon likes his job. It's challenging and has nothing to do with computers. It's a whole new career for him and he's happy. The kids seem to be adjusting well. I dont really have the twinks on a schedule and each day is pretty much a lazy do whatever we feel like kind of day. When it's not raining they love to play outside. In my mind though I was expecting my mom to be here to help me raise these 3 beautiful girls. Just going to the grocery store these days is challenging. Like today I need to go the store for some fruits and veggies which are totally lacking in this house and the twinks dont want to do anything. They dont even want to get dressed. Thankfully my niece Alexa Kay isnt all that busy at the moment so she is coming out for a couple hours. The last thing I want to do is take two 4 year olds to the store who dont even want to be there. Makes the whole shopping experience very unpleasant! The one thing I think I have finally realized is I need to find a hobby. Something for me. Hopefully in the next few weeks you'll find a blog post here about something...maybe I'll finally get my chickens, plant my garden or my apple orchard. I have great aspirations just havent had the motivation to do a thing about it.

Rained all day!

I started getting a scratchy throat on Sunday night but it wasn't bad just a little bothersome. Then yesterday I woke up with a full blown cold. I cant remember the last time I had a cold like this. Last night I took a shot of NyQuil and slept for 5 1/2 hours woke up at 2 and had another shot slept for another 5 1/2 hours! I have been a slug all day. The twinks watched a ton of Barney, Diego and a couple other Netflix on demands. They also played games on the computer while I just laid on the couch. I did get a few dance recitals in between all the tv and computer games and I broke up a couple fights! They sure can get on each other nerves. Today the big fight was over a new pink dress up dress that they got yesterday. The timer ended up coming out so they could share it equally. It was a long day for Sam at school who didnt get off the bus until 4. She came home and colored, her favorite pass time and then watched Netflix with her Dad. I did make a delicious dinner of pork, cauliflower, spinach and rice with a Thai curry sauce. I just cut up the pork and put it in the crock pot with the sauce all day. Oh yeah it rained here all day, it's still raining...I so miss the desert!

Mother's Day

The 3 that call me MOM!

An almost perfect Mother's Day...it would have been perfect if the kids let me sleep an hour longer but they woke up at 6:30 for some insane reason. I was showered with flowers, homemade cards and got to unwrap 3 presents that came from the dress up box (A sash that says perfect, a lei and a purple furry scarf) I also got a gift certificate for a massage! We then went to church. After church we met my Dad and my brothers at the cemetery to visit moms grave. The headstone was put in last week and Dad got the vase painted purple. I miss mom so much!
We then headed over to the Colophon cafe for lunch. Afterwards I wandered thru the bookstore while the kids ran around on the stage outside. The only thing I really wanted for Mother's day was the play structure and swings put together so my dad and Jon spent the afternoon doing that. Uncle Lance helped too! We ended the day with one of my favorite meals...Ivars clam chowder (from Costco) Caesar salad and crusty bread. I wish every day was Mother's Day!

We moved the swing to the left of the play structure under the trees. Howe Park is coming together!

Callie could play fetch all day long...

Papa tried out the slide!

Since they got up so dang early...they even took a nap!