Our Journey to NorCal

So, the plan was to spend Christmas day at home, with some friends. We were going to get up in the wee hours of the day after Christmas, and begin our 13 1/2 hour drive home to Lake County, CA. But............. being that the kids got an early start on their Christmas break from school, due to a lot of snow, we were ready to get out of the house. Wednesday morning (Dec. 24) I decided that it might be a good idea to leave that day. Jeremy was at work, so I made the call to share my wonderful idea. He wasn't quite sure, but as usual, said "whatever". The boys and I started cleaning...hamster cages, litter boxes, kitchen, laundry... packing up clothes (not enough pjs I now know), and getting ourselves ready for the trip. Waaaaaaahooooooooooooooo....we are leaving today!!!!!

Jeremy came home, we got packed up and the animals all ready to be taken care of, by our wonderful neighbors, and headed out....twice.....

Did I mention that we were having snow flurries at the time? There was 18 or so inches of snow, and a couple inches of ice, on the ground already. Good idea? I don't know. We set out...nervously.

We got through Seattle just fine, Tacoma, fine, Olympia fine, then we got south of Olympia and it was basically blizzard conditions. Good idea? Maybe??? Ice on the I5. Really!!!!

So, it was pretty slow going. Trying to avoid the sheets and moguls of ice on the road.

Got through Washington! yay!! Only 500+ miles to go. Oh...what time was is? 9:30 ish.

Portland was okay. South of Portland, was a whole other story. Ice...lots of ice on the I5. Surrounded by ice. A couple inches this and frozen solid! Stay between the ice. Don't cross over the ice. Now it is blizzarding again. The snow was not coming down. It was swirling all around us. It was crazy!

Got to Salem, whew!!!! The roads and weather were fine from Salem to Grants Pass. Then the snow hit again. We made it to Ashland and had to put chains on. Chains from just north of Ashland all the way into California. Yay...we are in Cali!!! Time? Midnight. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Chains off for about an hour and then chains back on north of Dunsmuir. Another hour, chains off. This is about when I say.."I can't wait to get to Redding to make up for some lost time. We can go 75 after Redding." ha ha ha ha

20 minutes after chains off.....FLAT TIRE! No really. Pull off the I5 at 4 AM in the middle of nowhere!!!!! No gas station, nothing. Snowing. Freezing. Sleeping kids. Christmas. Did I mention 4 AM. Did I mention this trip began at 3 pm? I don't think I did. 13 hours into this blessed trip...flat. We have not had a flat since high school. Thankfully. And, thankfully, at this point we had a sense of humor about the whole trip. Why did we do this?

Back on the road at about 4:45. Had to unpack the trunk to get the spare and pack it all back up. Great fun in the snow in the middle of nowhere at 4:45 AM on Christmas morning.

How fast can we drive on our spare tire? 50 mph. yep! No 75 mph to make up any time. Losing time from here on out!

When we began this trip my gps said that our estimated arrival time to my parents' house was 4:16 am. We were still 4 hours away...if we had been going 75!

So...50 mph down I5 while others are going 75 and 80, with our hazards on!

Did I mention that I am a control freak and have been driving most of the way? TIRED!!!

We stopped in Corning and got the kids and Jeremy some breakfast. I got in the passenger seat and slept..finally...for about an hour. My parents didn't know that we were coming early. The kids wanted to surprise them. My mom kept calling to wish us a Merry Christmas, and I kept ignoring her so that I didn't have to lie. So, driving 50 mph, we arrived at my parents' house at 10:26 am. When was our original eta??? Oh, ya! So we suprised my mom and dad. Made my mom cry with joy and had an enjoyble Christmas with both of our families, but separately.

This was my dad when he saw us. I got a picture of my mom too, but I cannot post it, as she would surely kill me!

Then realized on Friday that Samuel had quite an injury and needed to be seen. Katie, Samuel and I spent a lot of Friday on a trip to the ER. But he is fine. Thank you, Lord! And on the mend.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

p.s. Needless to say, we are not looking forward to the return trip on Saturday!

A Busy Visit

Last week my mom and dad made the very long drive up to the Pacific Northwest for a visit. It was a busy week! Benjamin, being in our church's Christmas production had a rehearsal and 4 shows from Tuesday to Sunday. Both Boys had basketball practices and Benjamin had a game. Samuel's was cancelled due to weather. There was Christmas shopping to be done (and we did it!!!), a Tree to buy, set up and decorate....check!, lots of Wii to play...check....snuggle time with Grandma.....check! So from Tuesday, when they arrived, until Sunday morning when they started their journey home, we were BUSY!!!!

Benjamin's performance in the program was AWESOME!!! He did so great. We are all very proud of him. He had a great time and loved wearing his suit. He wanted to sleep in it the night that I bought it for him. And he wanted to wear it to school yesterday. I didn't let him though. Mean mom, I know!
When my parents arrived on Tuesday, they went straight to my office and met my coworkers and got to see where I work. Then we picked the boys up from school. They were so excited to see grandma hiding in the backseat of the car!
I drug my mom to Zumba and she had a great time! Who wouldn't? I couldn't get her to go with me again on Thursday, though...hmmmm.
The boys stayed home from school on Thursday to spend some quality Wii time with grandpa. And to go get a Christmas tree (Jeremy and I were very excited about that!!) But, the tree lots were not open. Bummer!
Friday was the day to get a tree....It was FREEZING AND RAINING! So, here is our tree hunting expedition. Benjamin wanted to cut a tree down, but we convinced him that we would really like to support our local Boy Scout Troop! We all piled in the car, well, dad drove the truck. And went to the Albertson's parking lot. One of the boy scouts came up and gave us a price sheet (IN THE FREEZING COLD RAIN), I took one look at it and said, "Please show me a $45 Noble Fir" and he took us right to one, displayed it for us and I said, "Yep, that's the one" paid for it, got it loaded into the truck and home we went.
Tree expedition= 10 minutes! Back home and cozy warm!
Then Benjamin played in his basketball game. They lost, but played very well. Our boy made a free throw and scored 5 of the team's 9 points. Not bad.Saturday, we were very sad when the call came telling us that Samuel's game had been cancelled. We just hung out at the house until it was time for Benjamin's 2 performances. With Red Robin (Bottomless Fries) in between.
Mom and dad left Sunday morning at about 9 and there was snow everywhere! But, thankfully, they made it home safe and sound! We will be heading down there in 10 days!!!!!!
Whew....this is a very long blog!
Merry Christmas!!!!

Thankful

I had this great idea to get a video clip of each one of us, telling what we were thankful for. Of course, Benjamin is the only one that was cooperative. You know, being the thankful family that we are!!!! So, I decided that I would post his, since he was a trooper and did this project for me! (Do I use too many exclamation marks? I love them!!!!)

We had a lovely day up in Mount Vernon, at a friend's house. I am very thankful for friends that are more like family. We had great food (way too much), played games (including DDR on the wii) and listened to very loud children!!! Jen and I started the day out with some ZUMBA!!!! That was great fun and the whole time I was telling myself that I was working out to make up for the food that I was going to be eating. Especially April's DELICIOUS sweet potato casserole!!!!! YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a great day that lasted very late, therefore there was no 4 am shopping on Friday!!!!

A-MAZE-ING

We started our weekend with sports, as usual. Samuel's team had a less than stellar day (as usual). Benjamin's team won (as usual). Then, Samuel's baseball team lost.(Actually, after I posted this Jeremy told me that they won. I was even there and I had no clue!!!) I think they are about even on the wins/losses.

Then Jen and I went to Zumba for TWO hours!! That was great fun. Jen won a Zumba CD so now we can Zumba at home. I am wondering how many times I can type Zumba in this blog. That will be my last time.
On Sunday we went to Craven Farms Pumpkin Patch. Thanks to Jen Martin for the awesome coupon books!!!!!!
We started out with a lovely lunch of hot dogs and chowder bowls, topped off with pumpkin sugar cookies. Then off to the maze. I think we got through it faster than ever thanks to our awesome Pyzer-Navigation skills!






From the Maze we went over to the pumpkin sling-shot. If you make a pumpkin into one of the boxes, you get a prize, so we have been told. Well, check out this link to see Benjamin's awesome shot and happy-dance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zCVDo2WOxA

Pretty cute! You really do get a prize. He got a SUPER-COOL pirate set!!! As seen in the picture below.
After the sling-shot, we headed on over to the hayride. A lovely ride through a corn field with some added pumpkin characters like, Little Red Pumpkin Head, Pumpkin Claus, Pumpkin campers, and others that I can't recall right now. THEN on to find our pumpkin. (Due to the economy and family budget restrictions, we only got one.)
So, funny story. Jeremy, Samuel and I were just fine picking a pumpkin out of the bins that the nice farmers had put some very lovely pumpkins. Well, that was not good enough for Benjamin. He wanted to hunt throught the pumpkin patch for just the right one. We found a beauty in the bins and headed out to the patch to make him happy. (We were at the pumpkin patch after all.) So after walking around a little, Jeremy sneakily puts our beauty of a pumpkin down on the ground and says, "Hey! Benjamin, how about this one??" Benjamin comes over to inspect the pumpkin to see if it measures up to his high standards and then glances over at the wheel barrow to see if in fact.........."Is that the pumpkin that you already picked out?" I was cracking up. In this picture you can see him looking over to confirm his suspicions.

Hysterical!
So, he decided that this was, in fact, the perfect Pyzer pumpkin and it is now happily on our front porch. (AND seriously....$10 for a pumpkin??????)

Samuel "made" us pick up a bag of kettle corn and off we went!

I love going to the pumkin patch because you are always sure to come away with great pictures and some nice family time.


After the pumpkin patch a friend and I took the kids to see High School Musical 3: Senior Year. It was not terrible, but definitely should have had a PG rating. Then ended the day with our weekly Pyzer Huddle. Sent the kids to bed and Jeremy beat me AGAIN at Scrabble. I am very humbled to admit that. But he deserves the Kudos!!!

What Else Are Saturdays For?

So, I don't know if I have posted about this before, but.... we have 3 sports going on right now. Samuel is playing soccer and Fall baseball. CRAZY!!!!! He LOVES, I mean LIVES FOR baseball, so that is a given, but he decided to give soccer another try this year. He hasn't played since he was in Kindergarten. He is good, of course. He is an all-around athlete, after all! But, this will be a one-time deal. He only plays defense, by choice. Baseball is a whole other story! He pitches, plays first base, 3rd base, short stop and center field. His favorites are Pitching and playing 1st base. He tried out catcher the other day for the first time. That was cool.

Benjamin, on the other hand, LOVES soccer! Even though he says he wants to play football next year (not going to happen, says I). He loves his team. He has a great coach! Here is a clip of him making a goal! I love my camera!!!!!

This is Samuel stealing 2nd.....SAFE!!!!!

This coming Monday is his last basball game for the season.....HALLELUJAH!!!!!! Soccer ends the 8th of November. Yahooo!!!!! And only Benjamin is playing basketball this year. This saddens me deeply. I love watching the boys play basketball. But, I won't be running around to practices all week. So, that will be nice.

Oh, and for those of you that are wondering....Here is a clip of Zumba. Which, by the way, I LOVE!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5Hxw_Jf2B4

Day at the Fields

So, we spent the day watching the boys play sports. Samuel had a soccer game at 9 am in Lake Stevens. Benjamin had a soccer game at 11:30 in Arlington (about 20 minutes north). Finishing out the Triple Play, Samuel had a baseball game at 1:00 in Everett. It is drizzly and cold. Thankfully, we purchased an on of those easy to put up tent things! Very handy! Everyone appreciates us! I am not feeling very wordy, but wanted to post these pics and videos. Have a lovely day!

First Day of School

So, the first day of school has come and gone. Not without its ups and downs!!! Benjamin was outwardly excited about starting school. Samuel, of course, kept his excitement inside. Benjamin was excited to get his picture taken, especially after looking at his cousin, Zachary's, first day of school photos. Samuel would not cooperate. Hmmmm.

I did get one smile out of him, through the car window, after threatening to embarrass him in his classroom. Hee Hee!!

While the little darlings were in school, I spent a small fortune on school lunch foods and a few other necessities. Then I went to lunch with some other moms, to celebrate the new school year. Which took us right up to time to pick up the little sweeties!

After school was filled with exciting talk about the new year.

Samuel's comments about his first day were "totally awesome and wicked"and "my teacher is the best!". Samuel is automatically a Conflict-Manager, since he did it last year. (A job for 4th and 5th graders to help keep the peace during the younger kids' recesses.) He is also excited about a science project that involves gold fish, and getting to keep the fish at the end of the project (as long as it's okay with parents....please mom!!!!). Then there seems to be a student store in the future, as well as some campus beautification. He loves his teacher, has some great kids in his class and is excited about all the upcoming projects. HALLELUIAH!!!!!!

Benjamin loves his teacher. The same teacher that Samuel had in 3rd grade. She is cute and young, with long blond hair. What boy wouldn't love her? He told me all of the classroom rules and the procedures that are expected out of them when coming into class and their "ready to learn" position when the bell rings. Too cute! He has a lot of kids in his class from last year. And is thrilled that our neighbor, Grace, is in his class.

After school, it was home, snack, get ready and go! Samuel had his first Fall Ball Baseball game. They won in the bottom of the 6th inning. Samuel was the winning "run", actually the bases were loaded and the batter got walked. Samuel pitched 3 great innings. The first two innings he struck everyone out and the 3rd inning, there were a few hits and runs. The team's defense needs some work!!! He got 2 runs and struck out once. His second hit is in the video below.

After the game, not so pretty! Lots of whining and complaining and disrespecting. Tired? Hungry? I think so. But still no excuse. So, there has been a loss of some priveleges. Man, parenting is hard! But I hear that it is worth it. God help me to see that day!

Well, off to work I go. The little dumplings just got on the bus for day 2. Later!!

A Weekend of Soccer

Benjamin's soccer team, The U9 Bulldogs, played in the Lake Washington Youth Soccer Club's Jamboree this weekend. The boys played 3 games on Saturday and 3 games on Sunday. So, it was a busy weekend. They did great. They won all three games on Saturday and then on Sunday they lost their first 2 games and won the third. They are a great group of kids and their coach is super good. He is a little on the fanatic side, but he just wants the kids to work together as a team.

We are very proud of our little Bulldog!

The Haircut

The other day, out at soccer practice we received a text message picture of Benjamin's cousins new haircut. So, of course, Benjamin-being a follower, wanted a haircut just like Hayden! So, here are shots before, during and after the cut!!!












I wish you could see the mohawk better. It was pretty cute!!!

And now he is ready for playing soccer in the hot weather!! (Yah, that's my skirt hanging in the doorway to dry!)

Summer 2008

Well, we started out our summer with a LOT of baseball. Samuel was on the 10-year old All-Star team and played in our Sectional tournament. That went into July. Then he played in a tournament with most of his Redsox teammates. That didn't go well! It was extremely HOT and it was a whole new set of rules for them. They all really benefited from it, though.

Both boys went to a week-long Basketball camp. And they went to Cali to visit family for 2 weeks and 2 days, without mom and dad!!!! THEN.....Samuel went away to camp for 6 days and 6 nights!! Pretty exciting stuff! Benjamin's soccer team played in a tournament, and it was the hottest weekend of the year. We were cookin'!!! Poor kids, they were red and sweaty. But spray bottles and lots of Gatorade and orange slices helped to keep them hydrated.

What were we doing while our children were having all of this fun? Well, we were working.

I started a new job in July, at Trinity Lutheran College. So I spent a lot of time figuring out where our kids would be when and with whom.

BUT, we had a little fun of our own......

We took the ferry to Friday Harbor, in the San Juan Islands, for 2 nights. We stayed at Elements Hotel, which was lovely, and went Sea Kayaking and whale watching. It was beautiful up there. The weather was perfect. We saw Orcas up close. It was a lovely trip. We didn't want to return to the mainland!

I also discovered a new passion: ZUMBA! I love to go to Zumba class. Zumba fuses hypnotic latin rhythms and easy to follow moves to create a dynamic workout system that will blow you away. http://www.zumba.com/

Now my goal is to lose weight, so that I look cute while Zumba-ing!

Well, both of the boys are home. I commuted to Issaquah for the last time (HALLELUIAH!!!). Now, we are chilling out until school starts. NEXT WEDNESDAY!!!! We went to the school's Back-to School Barbeque and Open House last night. The boys got to take all their school supplies (which parents have to buy now, and it cost a fortune to go shopping for all of these supplies!!!) to their classroom and put them into their desk. It is fun for them to see where their desks are and who they will start the year out sitting by.

Samuel will be in 5th grade and Benjamin in 3rd grade. They are both excited to start this new school year, in the classes that they were hoping to be placed.

That about sums up our summer. We will spend this last weekend at a soccer tournament that Benjamin's team, The Bulldogs, will be playing in. He is fun to watch. He loves soccer and is great at it!

Totally Random

Well, I am new to the blogging thing. There is not much to report today. I took the day off of work to be home with the kids, and we have spent most of the day on separate floors of the house. Hmmmm.
We spend a lot of time on sports fields and courts. Currently, both boys are playing soccer, and Samuel is also playing Fall baseball. There will be pictures to post! I just haven't figured that out yet!
School starts soon. Both of the boys are in the classes that they want. Samuel is now a 5th grader, and Benjamin a 3rd grader. Wow. The time really flies.
I came across my favorite picture of myself with Samuel as a newborn. I was a new mom and thought that life was perfect! My how time changes perspective! That sweet little newborn grew into a strong-willed, sometimes defiant toddler; continuing on to pre-teenhood.
Benjamin came into the world little and demanding and has become sweet and compliant, although a lot of times way to whiney. Go figure!
As you can see I don't sugar coat. I am pretty straight forward. If you are a susie-sunshine type, you won't appreciate my style.
Well, that's all for now. I will have much more interesting stuff later!!!