The Parentals

My parents came to visit last weekend, and we treated them to some good ol' NW weather--gray skies, fog, and rain.

The sun decided to show its face on Mom's birthday so we headed out to spend the day on Whidbey Island. We took the ferry across at Mukilteo, and worked our way up the island. We loved Fort Casey.

The next day the rain returned, so we hunkered down in our pajamas until the rain stopped for a while, and then we headed over to the salmon hatchery, which really is not as lame as it sounds.

And we finished the day with a stop at Triple X for rootbeer floats before taking them to the aiport.

It was so much fun having them here! Thanks so much for coming to visit, Mom and Dad!

Bakerella cake review

I'm pretty sure I'll never make another chocolate cake without chopping up Reese's peanut butter cups and dumping them into the batter. If you're into that chocolate and peanut butter deliciousness thing, which I am, it will be the best cake you've ever had.

I got the giggles while I was making the icing. One cup of heavy whipping cream brought to a boil, poured over half a pound of dark chocolate, with half a cup of peanut butter whisked in. Seriously? Just give me a straw.

I finally had to dump the leftovers into the trash because I was powerless over it. (And yes, Jodi, I had to put some gross stuff on top of it so I wouldn't be tempted to dig it back out of the trash.)

The scale is a little bit angry about it today.

Oh, yeah.

Yesterday I helped with the orientation for the incoming 1st year nursing students. It feels so good to be where I am this year--starting my last nine months of school without the fear and anxiety of the unknown that I had last year. And even better, I'll be walking into a room of 34 friends on Monday morning.

I've decided I'm enjoying my last weekend of no worries about school. I'm going to finish my novel, watch some movies with Kolby and the kids, and have some neighbors over for dinner.

And I'm going to do two very important things. I'm going into Seattle to buy Jim Gaffigan tickets. Because I really like bacon jokes. (But not enough to pay $25 in service fees, thus the drive into Seattle).

And I'm going to make this cake. Oh, yeah.

Bakerella Peanut Butter Cup Cake

You don't bring me flowers...

The next blog entry I had planned was part 2 of the bunny post, this time about our sweet little girl kitty. While her brother was bringing me carcass after carcass, this is what she would bring me.

"Hungry, Momma? Here, have an apple." And she'd bring them all the time. Nothing is cuter than a cat feeding her human apples.

I was so proud of her for choosing the kinder, gentler path.

And then I walked in on this today:

I don't think I'm going to be getting any more apples.

Persistence

Every time I attempt to get everybody doing what they should so I'm not the "somebody" who does it all, I think of my mom and the thousands of notes she left around the house over the course of my childhood (i.e. "Laundry fairies do not exist" and "I am not the dish fairy"--I think dish fairies do exist, we just didn't have one.), and the many other strategies and reward systems she used to try to get us to keep our rooms cleaned and pick up our crap.

And every time I attempt a new strategy, despite what I know to be true from watching my mom raise six kids, I am convinced that this will be the technique that works. Forever. My children will be clean, organized, responsible children for the rest of their lives because of this one amazing technique.

So here it is. This month's attempt at creating clean, organized, responsible children before I go back to school next week.

If this doesn't work, I'm going to give the angry fairy notes a try.

(And congratulations to my mom--she won a blue ribbon at the state fair for one of her quilts!)

Little Bunny Foo-Foo

Willow.

Willooooow.

(Doesn't he look like a kitty hit man? All he needs is a velour tracksuit and a gold chain around his neck.)

Just two days ago I was telling my neighbor how relieved I was that it was fall because the birds are migrating and my cat Willow hadn't brought in a bird for a week.

I don't know if I've filled you all in on the bird saga. I'm sure I mentioned before that Willow is our mighty hunter. But he's got some serious blood thirst. I regularly have to check under the couch, where he likes to leave the corpses. Three or four times a week there's a dismembered bird or mouse under there. Fun for me! He just loves me so much.

But sometimes we catch him in the act, and we try to save the bird. That happened last week with a hummingbird. A hummingbird! Have you seen how fast they can fly? Not faster than Willow can move. Every time we're screaming and chasing a live bird around the house, I think of this episode of Modern Family. This is us, but with brooms in our hands trying to shoo the poor bird out the door. (We learned early on to lock Willow in a bedroom during the rescue, or else he'll just saunter in 5 minutes later with the bird in his mouth again.)

So anyway, it had been a week since the hummingbird incident, and there were no new corpses in the house. I was pleased, thinking I'd get a little reprieve from my undertaking duties for the winter.

And then Willow stepped up his game.

Bunnies.

Oh, yes. Bunnies. This is not a good situation at all. Madeline and Amelia (and their parents) were somewhat able to come to terms with Willow's natural instinct and his desire to express his love for us in the best way he knows how when it came to mice and birds. But bunnies? Bunnies are cute! And bunnies screech when they are scared and in pain. We are not equipped to appreciate this kind of love. Even from Willow.

This is starting to feel like creepy, sinister kitty love. What's next? Mackenzie, the shitzu across the street? His own sister, Mango?

School-shmool

It started last week. I'm still coming to terms with it. Yes, it's nice to be on somewhat of a schedule. And yes, it's nice to have some free time to myself again. But I'm not a fan of getting up early in the morning and just jumping right into the day. And I'm not a fan of packing lunches. And I'm not a fan of supervising homework. I find Summer Mode far more appealing.

So I'm a little lukewarm with this back-to-school business.

But the upside, for sure, is the clothes. I love back-to-school shopping. And the girls were all about arranging their outfits and shoes and accessories this year.

Madeline--5th grade

Amelia--2nd grade

Maybe I'll be more productive this week and I'll warm up to this school thing a little more.

Lake Chelan girls' trip

My friend Jennifer lives in Chelan, a town on Lake Chelan, about 3 hours west of where we live. The week after returning from Utah, the girls and I packed our bags and headed to Chelan to stay with Jen and her girls at their lake house (as opposed to their house-house, which is also on the lake, lucky ducks) for one last hurrah before summer came to an end.

Jen's email about what to pack said something like "Bring pajamas, swimsuits, and pillows. That's about all you'll need." And it was. We never got in the car or put on shoes the whole time we were there. It was just a whole lot of playing in the lake and keeping our lounge chairs from floating away.

Madeline paddled this tube around for hours every day. Her shoulders and arms were sore when we were driving home. And she think she might need a kayak now.

I'm pretty sure we solved all the world's problems from those lounge chairs. Hasn't your life improved over the last few weeks? That was our doing.

And the frogging. Oh, the frogging. The first night the kids found some big bullfrogs, and Madeline and Ella were obsessed with them after that.

Amelia held this little guy just long enough to get a photo of her being brave, and then I'm pretty sure she squealed and asked Maddie to take him quick.

Amelia and Celia took on the jobs of guarding the bucket while Madeline and Ella were out froggin'--they'd push them back in with a paper plate when the little guys tried to climb out.
(No frogs were harmed in the writing of this blog post. All frogs were released into their natural habitats within hours of being caught. They were, however, given names like Dave and Greg and Macie.)

One funny story about the frogs. Madeline and I slept out on the sleeping porch, which was every bit as heavenly as it sounds. Laying in bed we could hear the gentle lapping of waves and see the moon and stars through the window screens. The first night after catching frogs, Madeline could think of nothing else. Just as I was falling asleep around midnight, Maddie said, "Mom, can I go down to the lake to just see if the frogs are still there? Please?" I told her to shut her brain off and go to sleep.

The next morning Jennifer told me that she'd gotten up to use the loo around 1:30 and Madeline scared her to death--creepy kid standing in the dark doorway looking outside at the lake in the middle of the night. I asked Maddie about it and she said she was just watching for frogs and listening to the waves.

We had a fantastic time visiting Jen and her girls. It was so relaxing and the perfect end to our crazy summer.

Utah

(This is the street I grew up on. Isn't it gorgeous?!)

Our trip to Utah this summer was planned around Kolby's 20 year high school reunion. Let me tell you, nothing makes me feel old like being in a room full of people who look just like I remember their parents looking when I was in high school. Seriously, some of Kolby's classmates looked exactly like their parents did 20 years ago. Weird. Especially because I haven't changed a bit. Ha.

So we went to Utah in August, fully expecting 100 degree temps, but were instead greeted by cooler temps and daily thunderstorms. It was heavenly.

The first few days were a little emotional with Caidence, my sister Michelle's 2 year old, being diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. They spent three days up at Primary Children's Hospital learning how to take care of her, and I just have to say, my sister Michelle is amazing. She is so calm and cool and such a good mommy. Her calm demeanor has helped Caid adjust to her new lifestyle so quickly.

Caid, the day before she was diagnosed, clearly feeling crummy. She even threw an icecream cone across the room. Who does that? Kids without any insulin on board, that's who.

But that meant we got to take baby Jordyn to the cabin with us, and Jordyn is the most perfect baby, the kind of baby who sleeps 13 hours her first night at the cabin where no baby has ever slept through the night.

Forgot the right shoes for the cabin? No worries. Nothing Grandpa and a little duct tape can't fix.

We had a great time at the cabin watching thunderstorms, riding 4-wheelers, catching toads, and eating lots. Because that's what you do at the cabin.

We also took the kids to Lagoon, which I'm pretty sure they enjoyed as much as Disneyworld. The girls were wondering why we'd been holding out on them for the last 10 years. You can see the big ferris wheel from Kolby's mom's new house, so I'm sure we'll make up for lost time on future visits. Kolby and the kids rode every roller coaster and puke-inducing ride in the park at least once, with the company of most of the brown people in the family (Ana, Adrian, and Kalee). I forgot my Wonder Woman bands and got sick on my second roller coaster ride, so I had a lovely time taking my nephew Aidan on the kiddie rides.

We also suffered through enjoyed a photo session with the whole Blackham-Bailey fam-damily. Photos to come.

And at a party with the Eldredge's we had our own spontaneous groping photo session with all of my siblings and spouses. This is the only photo where all the boys had their hands where they belonged, which is why we don't ever pay to have our family photo taken professionally.

It was a different trip: Mom and Dad both working, Clay and Courtney busy with wedding stuff, cousins in year round school, and Pam and Rex living in their new house in Farmington. But it's always good to see family! Love you all!