FREEDOM!!!

I'm sooo excited!!! I'm FREE from being a wife and mom!!! Well, at least until Monday. Pete and the boys went out backpacking with their cousin Daniel and his boys, and our buddy Mike. The original plan was I was to go too, but then with all of us going, there was a small issue of space in the car, as Pete and Daniel wanted to take just one car. So after thinking it over, I decided to make it easier for them-I would stay home! I'm loving it!! The house is completely quiet and cleaned. I plan on getting some scrapbooking done as well as catching up on emails/blogs and sleeping in!!! It's been a looonnnggg time since I last had some alone time where every one was out of the house. To celebrate my first night, I grabbed some chinese take-out and ice cream, and plan on watching tons of movies tonight!!! This is great!!!!

Kristjan's Class Picnic

Last Thursday Kristjan had his end-of-the-year class picnic. Unfortunately the sun decided it didn't want to come out, so it was chilly and dreary at the park. I made sure Pete took some time off from work to come with us to the picnic-I just wasn't in the mood to take 4 energetic boys to the park by myself. We stayed for about an hour before having to take Pete back to work. Kristjan played with his friends for a bit. The teachers gave each student a small bottle of bubbles and a BIG bouncy ball with their names written on it. I tried to get some pictures of Kristjan with his friends but none of them were into it, so I gave up after the first few. Kristjan made it through a complete first year of preschool. We signed him back up at the same preschool for next year. After talking to the other parents, only a small handful will be in the a.m. class with Kristjan. Everyone else signed their kids up for the p.m. class. Oh well. It'll be exciting for him to make new friends!

Kristjan and Isabelle (his 'girlfriend'!)

Kristjan and Mabrey (his 'other girlfriend')

Kristjan with Mrs. Bowers

Kristjan with Mrs. K

Clifford's Graduation

Last Monday Clifford had his preschool graduation. Pete was unable to leave work to attend, so I had to take all the kids by myself. It was very entertaining with me trying to juggle to video tape the ceremony with one camera and take pictures with another while also having to occasionally tell Kristjan and Damien to behave (half way through Donovan woke up, so then I had to hold him). Clifford was so cute singing and dancing! I held it together until it was time for him to get his 'diploma', then the tears started coming. He looked so grown up standing next to his teacher, wearing his little graduation cap he made. After the ceremony we headed to the park for the class picnic. Clifford ran around and played with his friends. The teachers gave each student a plastic bucket full of little treats. I went around and took some pictures of Clifford with his friends and teachers. It's a little sad knowing Clifford is now done with preschool, but it's also exciting to see what's in store for his next adventure-kindergarten!!!


singing the 'itsy bitsy spider'

Clifford with his teacher Mrs. Bowers

Clifford with Mrs. K (teacher assistant)

Clifford and his best bud Ben

Clifford and his other best bud Chase

the 'three musketeers'

Clifford and Lindsey (his 'girlfriend'!)

Clifford and Sophie

Clifford and Malina

Babysitting

I have had one heck of a week!!! I'm so exhausted and sleep deprived. From last Sunday until this last Friday I have been babysitting Jessica's (Daniel's wife) two youngest kids-5 year old Damien and 4 month old Donovan ( Jessica had to fly down to Arizona for her grandfather's funeral).

Damien was pretty good for me, although Pete had to get after him just a few times for misbehaving. There were only two causalities where blood was shed. On two separate accidents, both Kristjan and Damien ended up with bloody lips. Out of the three older boys, the 'problem' kid was actually Clifford. For whatever reason he just had a bad attitude and wouldn't listen all week. I think Clifford was a bit over stimulated with having his cousins around for such an extended period of time because there were a few times he asked to take a bath by himself to have some 'alone time'.

Donovan is a really good baby. He only really cries if he's super hungry or needs a burp. It was a major adjustment going from parenting 4/5 year olds back to caring for a 4 month old baby. The hardest part for me, other than having to get up so many times during the night, is the 'sitting around' part when feeding him. I would sit there and see all the things that I needed to get done in the house, or the boys would take advantage of my immobility and do things they weren't suppose to do. A friend who knew I was babysitting them asked if I wanted "to try for another". My answer-"Heck NO!!!" I am completely content with my life and the boys that I have. I enjoy having them potty trained and sleeping through the night. It's also nice not having all that bulky 'baby gear' in the house. Plus, I know I'm way too selfish.

Kristjan's Last Day of School!

Yesterday was Kristjan's last day of preschool. He survived his first year! He'll have his class picnic next Thursday. We're all excited to start our summer vacation!! Here's the last of Kristjan's art projects. Enjoy!

Final Day of Preschool

Today was Clifford's last day of preschool-EVER!!!! He made it through two years of preschool, making lots of wonderful projects and friends. I still can't believe that he'll start Kindergarten in four months!! Monday is his graduation ceremony and end-of-the-year class picnic. Here are his very last preschool projects of the year. Enjoy!!!

Clam Digging

This last weekend was a loooonnnggg, busy, but fun weekend. It started early at 2:30am on Saturday. We got ourselves up and ready to drive out to Tacoma, where met up with Daniel and his family, and his dad Dale to carpool out to Ocean City for some clam digging. Our goal was to meet up with Uncle Gene at about 6:30am. When we arrived in Ocean City the tide was low, the sun was shining, and it was so peaceful! Uncle Gene, Jeff, Sierra and Brandon already had their limit of 15 clams each, so they helped us out and showed us how to use the clam guns (this was our first time clam digging). Boy, let me tell you, it's hard work clam digging!!! Uncle Gene walked with me and Kristjan on the beach to help us get our clams. As tough as it was sucking up the sand, it was exciting when you actually saw the clam and knew your hard work paid off. Kristjan didn't want to touch the clams to put in his bucket, so I had to do ALL of the work. I think we were all done and had our limit within 20 minutes. Each adult with a digging license gets a limit of 15 clams, then each child you have can get 15 as well. So our family had 60 clams, and Daniel and Jessica of 30 clams (their boys were at her dad's house for the day). Once done, we headed back to our cars to chill for a little bit and the boys played in the sand before heading home. Once home (which we got back around 11am), Jessica and I took a nap while my boys played in the backyard while the men cleaned and prepped the clams. For the rest of the day we just hung out. While the guys relaxed at home, I ran around running errands with Jessica (and we ran into our Aunt Janet and Uncle Tom at Walmat-great seeing you guys!!). Later that evening Dominic and Damien came home, we bbq some salmon and oysters, and the men did a little remodeling work on the bathroom. Our plan was to go clam digging some more in Westport the next morning, so Jessica and I worked on getting everything ready for the next day. As the night wore on and we were so tired (plus it sounded like Dale wasn't too interested in going again), we decided we would just sleep in and not worry about going. Well, come 6:45am Daniel wakes us all up-Dale was waiting outside for us to go!!! UGGHH!! So in 15 minutes all of us (4 adults and 5 kids) were ready and out the door to Westport. It took us longer to find our limit of clams this time around. I was so sore and tired that I didn't care if I found big or tiny clams-I just wanted to get done with it. But in the end it was worth it and so much fun. For the rest of the day back home Daniel and Pete worked on putting in a backdoor to Daniel's house while I cleaned and prepped all the clams that we caught that day. It was a little disgusting to do but I enjoyed it. After all of that was done, we relaxed a bit before Pete, me and the boys headed back home.

Mother's Day, Part Two

I forgot to mention this when I blogged about Mother's Day. On the inside of my Mother's Day card that Clifford made me, there were questions his preschool teacher asked him about me and they wrote down his answers. I love it so much. When I first read it I couldn't help but smile and cry (of happiness). I thought it was really sweet and wanted to share.

My Mom

My Mom likes to cook
My Mom likes to wear a dress
My Mom's favorite thing to eat is green beans and olives
I like to help my Mom clean my room
My Mom liks it when I go to sleep
My Mom doesn't like it when I be mad
I like it when my Mom is happy
My Mom makes the best noodles with white sauce
I think it is funny when my Mom laughs

Dumb Luck??

This is Pete's initial reaction....
here's half a ding dong. what's wrong with this picture???....
NO CREAM FILLING!!!! SCREW YOU HOSTESS!!! (this picture has obviously been edited)

This is GREAT!!! So a few years ago when Pete and I were dating, we picked up a pack of hostess jelly-filled donuts. I took one and Pete took the other. Pete takes a bite out of his and finds that there is NO RASPBERRY FILLING!!! So tonight Pete goes to enjoy himself a ding dong for dessert. He takes a bite and guess what?! NO CREAM FILLING!!!! We had a good laugh!!!

Mother's Day

I really enjoyed my Mother's Day. It didn't go anything like I hoped it would; however, it was nice and was grateful to be able to spend it with my two little boys! Saturday evening Pete went grocery shopping for breakfast items for the next morning. He also came home with some beautiful hydrangeas and a pot for my gift. I LOVE them!! The boys had been so patient the entire week to wait to have me open up their gifts, but when they saw Pete give me mine, they wanted me to open it right then and there. I loved the things they made me. I think homemade gifts from my boys is more precious than some store bought gift. Clifford decorated a box with a picture of him on it. Inside the box was a heart-shaped pin to wear. Kristjan decorated a picture frame with a picture of him in it. Too cute!!








The next day, I slept in while Pete made me breakfast. We got ourselves ready for the day and then headed out to Tacoma. Pete's cousin Daniel needed his help with remodeling his bathroom. While they did that, his wife Jessica and I planned a day full of events for our boys. We took the kids out to lunch, went to the movies to see Iron Man 2, and then went to Point Defiance Zoo. I had never been to that zoo before, and I LOVED it!!! That zoo is ten times better than Woodland Park Zoo. We arrived at the zoo about an hour before it closed, so we didn't get to look at everything, but we made sure to see the meerkats and sharks. Once we were done looking around and hitting up the gift shop, we headed back to Jessica's house. We had a bbq dinner while the guys finished up the bathroom (for the day). We didn't get home until after 10pm and were extremely exhausted.