we had a family over for dinner tonight--which we rarely do. they are a family of five but tonight were only a family of three--they only brought their little boy austin who is 5 because his big sisters had other plans. sadie was so excited --austin's mom--taught sadie's class in preschool last year and sadie adores her. dan and I love entertaining--it gives me a chance to dig through recipes and cook a meal I would otherwise not make for my family.
I made chicken marsala, spinach salad, green beans with honey and butter, and spinach and artichoke dip.
sadie, austin, and laken seemed to be having a fabulous time.... we only had a few incidents where the kids weren't getting along.
later when we were putting the kids to bed. dan asked sadie if she had fun with austin--she stated "no" he was mean and made me pull my pants down.--whhaaatt?? I called austin's mommy to make her aware--I guess he was curious and sadie didn't know what else to do, innocent yet really upsetting to me as a mom. I love my babies and it is amazing the emotions and feeling that can arise from an incident like this. I tried to explain to sadie ( who is 4) that her body is hers and no one can make her do anything with it that she doesn't want to.

practicing my rule of thirds with my camera--I just have to keep telling myself--I am smarter then my camera over and over

my ultimate goal is to use my camera in manual setting for every picture I take

we spent a lot of time outside today. the temperature was around 55 and overcast but still nice enough to hit the new park for a couple hours at lunchtime and then swing outside before dinner. My children would live outside if they could and the cold weather just wears on them--any opportunity to be outside we are all over it.

laken today--what a bad haircut but as his mom--I just think he is darling...

the kids this weekend

laken loves his man "purse"

Our house is located right in front of a retirement home--there are about 40-50 apartments for low income seniors--I don't mind it at all--there has been one issue tho...
people tend to park on our street instead of in the parking lot.. this has been really troublesome for me--I have actually run into two different vehicles on two separate occasions while backing out of my driveway--between dan and my speeding tickets and my little incidents our car insurance has gone sky high!!
anyway--I met the man whose car I backed into the last time--his name is charlie and he parks in the street because he is only allowed one parking place at the center and he has two cars. what a dear man--he thanked me for leaving him a note on his dashboard after ramming into him. the car is finally fixed and he just wanted me to know.

valentines day

we had an excellent valentines day. laken kept saying happy birthday mommy instead of happy valentines day--it was so cute.
I have the kids each a little goody bag--so breakfast consisted of red and pink m & ms and conversation hearts.
my valentine is currently in indiana for business and I am missing him loads--the kids are keeping me pretty busy tho
gemma had a party and dance at school on friday which she absolutely didn't want to miss. she informed me she has a crush named jordan--sometimes I have to pry the information out. all I know if he is taller then her and she danced with him. the teacher had them do a snowball dance where after each dance you have to find a new partner...
she is growing up so fast. she started shaving her legs last week--
I would give my right arm to live in bend right now and she gemma and brecken growing up everyday. those subtle changes that you can miss in a blink of an eye.

sadie had a valentines day party at school--dan was able to go. they each had made a valentines basket where each student put a valentine in, then they had yummy snacks, and played in the gym.

there is nothing quite like the feeling of having all four of my kiddos at home under one roof with me. things mesh so well--don't get me wrong they all have their moments but most of the time it just feels so right.
brecken and sadie share a room at the moment--they have a bunkbed--brecken on top and sadie on the bottom. I have given up decorating because they are just into too different of things at the moment--it would end up being half starwars and half princess. brecken enjoys being a big brother--and sadie adores him to no end. last night they had a sleepover on the top bunk and piled all of their stuffed animals together and watched movies until they passed out. brecken is 8 and sadie is 4 1/2--what an amazing bond they have developed.
gemma is getting to that age where she feels comfortable babysitting for a few hours if I need to run errands kid free--tonight she made dinner and I was able to sneak out to see a movie--bride wars--blissful escape
laken adores gemma and will usually go to her if he gets hurt or needs something--even if i am there. I love watching my children interact and knowing they will be there for each other.
My sister and I are very close--there is just she and i--my parents only wanted two children. now she has 8 children and I have 4. I am not sure how exactly we ended up with such large families--I know it wasn't the plan in the beginning--at least not our plan. I am very thankful and feel very blessed tho.

I thought I was doing good by getting my motorcycle endorsement by age 35. sadie is well ahead of me at age 4. she amazes me with her coordination and dexterity-- dan is looking into buying her some motorcycle boots.

we have had beautiful spring weather the last 4-5 days--60s and sunny

the kids are soo happy not to be cooped up inside--sadie actually learned to ride her motorcycle without training wheels yesterday--she blows me away with her dexterity!! daddy is so proud

36 and holding

I had an excellent 36th birthday
dan and the kids made me a cake--gemma frosted it--it was delicious--chocolate with chocolate fudge frosting
gemma bought me a coffee--that makes me super happy
we all went to a mexican restaurant called guadalajara--and enjoyed my fave--mexican food
of course my children emjoyed cheeseburgers and a grilled cheese--wth? one of my kids has got to take after me and love mexican cuisine....laken??
I guess they do like fried ice cream--does that count?
we then went to barnes and nobles--which is my absolute dreamiest store--dan bought me a wonderful how to book just for my camera--love it
and he also bought me a tripod which I can't wait to use.
how nice just to have my family around me on my special day--that was the best part about it..

sadie started vomiting thursday night and continued friday and one more time on saturday. I started getting diarrhea on sunday midmorning--not enough to stop me from thinking i could still take the kids back to bend---
I managed to drive the kids back to bend--stopping at every convenient bathroom I could find. I think it may have been the worst drive of my life.
I got home late afternoon on sunday just in time to catch the end of the superbowl on the couch. I thought I could make it to work on monday--for some reason I always think I can make it to work--my dh informed me that's what sick days are for--I remained in bed all day monday--and basically slept the entire day.
I am almost back to new
thank goodness no one else has gotten sick yet...