Take a Hike

Madeline decided she wanted a hiking party with just a handful of friends for her tenth birthday. She made her own invitations, helped me figure out the trail to hike, and we decided to do water bottles and containers for trail mix for party favors.

We made Jodi's rootbeer cupcakes... And had a great time hiking.

She wanted roller skates (not roller blades) and she spent the entire day, other than the time we were hiking, on her new wheels.

This was by far the easiest birthday party I've ever thrown, and all the kids had a great time. Happy birthday to my beautiful girl!

Public Service Announcement

Stripping old wallpaper is turning me into a bitter and angry woman. It is also forcing me to drink far too much coffee and say words that burn the ears of small children, all while I grossly neglect said children. Most importantly, stripping this $#%#@ #$%#@ #%$%#A@ wallpaper prevents me from blogging about more uplifting events in my life such as Orcas Island and Madeline's birthday party.

If you have any regard for your fellow human beings and the integrity of walls in the homes across America, you will join the fight against wallpaper and stop this barbaric practice.

Thank you.

Valuable Life Skillz

I think it's important to arm your children with all the skills they will need as they go out into this world. And so last night after dinner with the neighbors, when we were informed of the neighborhood tradition of passing on "the door" (a door from someone's remodel years ago) with a good dose of toilet paper, we embraced the opportunity to teach our girls how to throw a roll.

They were drunk on the thrill of delinquency.
But only after a safe getaway. They were more than a little nervous about breaking the rules.

(FYI, Kolby looked about as worried as the kids. Who knew he was such a pansy?)

TEN?

Ten years ago I was in a hospital room with my incredible husband, my lovely pregnant nurse Heather, and a midwife I'd just barely met (since we'd just moved to Portland three weeks earlier) finally meeting my daughter after 36 hours of labor (I'm not being a martyr--24 hours of those were considered "early labor," and they probably don't really count, but I was excited! And timing all of them! And wondering why this was taking so damn long?!)

I still remember holding that beautiful bundle of baby girl, searching her eyes and wondering "Who are you?"

She was the wiggliest baby in utero. No really she was. More than any of yours. I promise. I remember sitting at my desk at Paramount Title and her kicking me so hard her kicks would hit the edge of my desk and bruise my belly. Being the good first-time mama I was, I would time her kicks to make sure I was feeling her move 10 times an hour like the book said I should. I kept little tick marks on my desk calendar for every time I felt her move--she averaged over 25 moves per hour, and they weren't just little kicks. (Amelia was queen of gentle movements, so I know the difference. And yes, Amelia was much more gentle than any of your kids. My kids excel at everything.). After she was born, Madeline would cross her legs at the ankle and constantly kick-kick-kick from the fetal position to full extension and I could finally see what had been causing all the commotion in my belly.

And oh my lord, her head. It was the most beautifully shaped baby head in all of the history of baby heads. After the cone went away. And it went away in record time. Because she was my first-born child and she was PERFECT and AMAZING in every way.

And now she's 10. Ten years old. How did that happen???? I have no idea, but it did. And now she's still the most perfect, amazing, incredible, entertaining 10 year-old who ever graced the Earth. No really, she is. Stop arguing with me.

More photos tomorrow. She was born pre-digital camera, which means I have to scan....so old school!

4th of January

Oh, I mean July. It just felt like January. We call June around here "Junuary,"

and everyone says summer doesn't start until the 5th of July. I will tell you that in my 10 years in the Pacific Northwest, that has been true. There has only been ONE year that I didn't watch the fireworks while shivering under a blanket.

My sister Jodi and her family made the long drive up from Utah to come visit for a few days, and we had so much fun with them. We froze our buns off at the pool and wore sweatshirts and parkas to the neighborhood 4th of July festivities, but then got in a couple days of sunshine and warmth before they had to leave.

Finally some sunshine!!! Must be July 5th.

One night we let the kids roast marshmallows on the grill...
And then Gabby came inside looking like this...

I went outside to investigate. Little Breezy reminds me so much of Maddie at that age. She couldn't just eat something. She had to experience it. And Breezy does it all with a big dose of sassy.

Have any of you read the Olivia series of books? Every day Brielle would wake up, and move the cat, get dressed, and move the cat, eat a bite of cereal, and move the cat. That cat is a saint.

Thanks so much to Jodi and the family for driving up to visit! We have so much fun when you come.

That's my daughter in the water

Today marked the end of swim/dive team season for the girls. I don't know if I mentioned already that Madeline put her foot down and refused to do swim team this year. She just had no interest in swimming fast. Who wants to do that? Puh-lease and Whatever with an eyeroll.

Amelia wants to do that. That's who. Want to know why? Because there are rules, and friends, permanent markers, and snack bars. What could be more fun?

I mistakenly sent the girls to an unfamiliar snack bar with $5 without clear instructions for spending that $5. Usually they buy Cup-O-Noodles and a baked potato, so I assumed that's what they would come back with. But this was a different snack bar. A better snack bar. A snack bar that sold cotton candy and Skittles. They were so pleased with themselves for buying "dinner." (You can see the distress in Amelia's face in this photo. She is truly my child--she was so upset that she'd misspent the money, she could barely enjoy her treats. Madeline, however, prefers the "better to ask forgiveness than permission" philosophy, as evidenced by the phoney "OMG, Skittles aren't actually fruit?" look on her face.)

While swim team, beyond the snack bar, was not her thing, Madeline did show some interest in diving. Since she's all about mimicking form and movement, and diving actually values taking your time to perfect that movement and form, we figured diving would be a good fit for her. It was. She absolutely loved it. Our pool doesn't have a diving board, so she dived on another team about 10 minutes from our neighborhood. (This made my life a little hectic since her practices were at the same time as Amelia's--I learned that fancy "being two places at once" trick.)

Kolby and I thoroughly enjoyed watching our girls compete this season in activities they love, but I am soooooo happy to be done shuttling kids to 5x a week practices and packing up meals for weekly swim and dive meets.

Looking forward to drinking my coffee in my p.j.'s tomorrow morning to celebrate the first day of summer with no practices!

Netflix Love

There are many reasons why I love Netflix, but two of those reasons arrived in my mailbox this afternoon:

Want one more reason? Kolby and I just started watching the first season of "Friday Night Lights" via Netflix on the Xbox. I didn't know that I was missing high school football in my life, but apparently I was. We're hooked!

I think we could almost give up cable with all the love we're getting from Netflix.