A Washingtonian

Took a year and a half but Courtney is now officially a true Washingtonian...Socks w Sandals!!

Max and Nicole!

The wedding was amazing! What a fabulous night and Captain Dave did an awesome job officiating.

Here is Nicole at the dress rehersal showing the ring bearers how to hold the pillows!

The soon to be married couple with Captain Dave!

Freshly painted nails

the flower girls getting all dolled up

Mr. and Mrs. Bernt Johnson

cousins!

the groom Max!

the kids and the couple!

Mitch took his job very seriously and he had an awesome best man toast!

the show is about to begin!

Mr. and Mrs. Max Ludtke

Photo bomb!

Me and my handsome nephews!

the flower girls with Mr and Mrs.

the Ludtke clan!

the pretty flower girls!

the Howe family!

And the clean up

The twinks rocked it!!

Tornado

A walk around the lake

The other day the twinks and I took Ace around Lake Padden. It's a 2.6 mile loop and the girls love it. They kept wanting me to take their picture! And at the end of the walk there is a park that they played at for 1/2 hour... Sometimes I sure wish I had their energy!

the girls are standing on that stump way down there...they yelled for me to take a picture!

Here is Ace "biting" water

Hell Run 2012

Last Saturday Jon and I "walked" the Hell Run with a few of my cousins! We did it last year but this year the weather was so much better but the course wasnt as tough. We had a great time. Jon got off work a little early on Friday so we got to have a night away without the kids which is always a bonus! Looking forward to next year!

Beets

The other day I picked all of our beets and canned them with Nancy. I had never canned anything before in my life and neither had Nancy and I think we did a fine good job!

the worst

Courtney did the worst thing that any of my kids have ever done to me yesterday. We were driving home and both she and Sydney were fighting in the back seat, kicking, hitting & yelling at each other. I gave them a couple warnings that we wouldnt be able to go to the park if they kept doing it and they did. So I told them no park! Courtney flipped out and grabbed a big chunk of my hair and pulled as hard as she could and said she wouldnt let go until we went to the park! I was furious. Thankfully I was in the middle lane or I would have pulled over and pulled her hair out! Man did it hurt. It throbbed for at least an hour. She got in huge trouble not only did she have to stay in her room the rest of the day, she had to clean it all by herself on top of losing electronic privileges for the week. Sydney lost that too for fighting. We talked about it this morning and she knew exactly what she and she promised she would never do it again to anyone. We talked about the hitting and kicking too. It's escalating and I am totally afraid they will do it to a classmate. It's bad enough they hit each other but when other kids get involved it's a whole new ball game. I am hoping that this punishment is good enough but Courtney is a tough one to punish becasue she really doesnt care about anything. Parenting is tough!

Ace

We have been looking for a dog. Jon didn't want me to get a puppy because he wanted me to have some free time since this is he first time in 7 years I really have some time to myself and he didn't want me raising something else. I found a couple of older dogs at a Labrador breeders that would have worked (one of them was bred from barleys dad!) I really thought we were going to go that way but this morning one of my dads friends stopped by with the 7 month old lab mix. His niece just moved back here from Vegas and was moving into apartment that doesn't take pets. I said we'd take him for the weekend and see how we like it. Within the first hour I knew he was going to be a good fit. He comes when called and he's super good around people and other dogs. I took him to jobs office and he did great with everyone and then went toto see Leah and he definitely isn't an alpha dog. Their dog Newman ( a load jack Russell terrier) was definitely the alpha dog! I even took him for a 2.5 mile walk around lake Padden and he was great around people and other dogs! He did have an accident in the kids play area downstairs, peed at lex and Leah's, and threw up in the car but I am giving that all nervous puppy body functions! The kids were so excited when they got home. Sam was a little taken aback but warmed up to him and tucked him in for his afternoon nap! So hopefully this is our new dog!!

Kindergarten!!

Today was the first day of Kindergarten for the twinks and they did great this morning! Courtney even wanted to brush her own hair to make it look so beautiful. Jon took the morning off to walk them in. He took Courtney to her room while I took Sydney. They both did great putting their stuff where it belonged. They were so excited! I picked them up and Sydney was crying. She said she really missed me but then as we were walkin out the door mr. Devere the principal said there was a little problem at the end of the day where Sydney said another girl cut in front of her in line so she scratched her.... Just great. Then Sydney started crying again because now I knew the truth. Hopefully she is goo to learn really soon that she can't do that! I have been really trying to work on that with both he girls since they do tend to beat each other up and hey can't do that school. They said they didn't play with each other at recess either. I thought or sure they would but they said they didn't want to. They do have lunch recess with Samantha and today Courtney played with her and Breanna. Courtney also said she made a lot of friends and Sydney said she didn't make one. I hope Sydney is going to like school.

 

I had a great first full day without any kids. Jon and I went out to breakfast and then I headed over and chatted with Leah. I came and my big chore of was to go through the big box of art work and homework from last year. I couldnt do it over the summer becasue the girls would have made me save everything. I then burned it all. I knew if I threw it in the recyciling or garbage the kids would have saw it. I did save all the good stuff.  I now have a lot time to get all my projects done now!!