The Fair 2010 - Day 1

Today I experienced the fair from a totally different perspective. From the perspective of a parent spending the entire day standing in lines for kid rides. This is the first year that Samuel could go on all of the kid rides and he loved it.
Thanfully my neices were with us and that meant most of the time I didn't have to go on the rides with him.

Ellie spent a lot of time in her stroller but she was a really great sport about it. For the most part it didn't seem to get to her. She ate a lot of raisins and animal crackers and fishies to pass the time.

The rides that Ellie could go on required an adult to ride with her so I did end up standing on the merrigoround quite often.

This was our group: Eden (giving us her preteen I am so bored look) Emily, Ellie, Samuel, Me and Mom taking the picture.

We are going back tomorrow to see all the animals and walk through the booths.

Batch Cook

The kids and I spent an afternoon last week checking prices for our batch cook. On Monday I made my final plan. On Tuesday my two kids, and my two nieces helped me do all the shopping. We had about 3 hours to get everything done. We hit Safeway to double check some prices then headed to town where we went to Trader Joe, Cash and Carry, Costco, Office Depot and back to Safeway and home. Busy day. The kids were tired of shopping and so was I. It was super hot.

Ellianna picked our her clothes for our shopping trip
On Wednesday morning at about 10am we got started. April arrived with baby Jeremiah and Gideon. Samuel and Gideon disappeared immediately to his room to play. Jeremiah needed to eat. It took us a while to get moving but when we did things ran smoothly.










Eden and Emily (my nieces) traded off between watching the kids and helping in the kitchen. Emily preferred the kitchen. Eden preferred neither. Jeremiah cycled between eating, arching in the bumbo, sleeping in the mobi wrap, and cat naps in the playpen. The kids did awesome. We had a few incidents of Samuel and Gideon not getting along. (In their defense there were no naps today.)Eden and Samuel finger painting each other instead of the paper. (Really no excuse for that one) And a few others.

Poor little Jeremiah really wanted his mama. Throughout the day each of the kids took turns entertaining him. Samuel kept saying the baby thinks I am really funny mommy. Ellianna would periodically sit next to him holding his hand.

When I plan a batch cook I get a little over ambitious. This makes for an exhausting day but the results are very rewarding:

8 Beef Baked Spaghetti
4 Chicken Baked Spaghetti
13 Jars of Spaghetti Sauce
12 Jars of Veggie Soup
6 Jars of Apple Sauce
5 Pesto
4 Walnut Pesto Butter Logs
8 Broccoli, Cheese Stuffed Meat Loaf
6 Chicken Stir fry
Yay for great friends who are willing to join me in my insanity. Also thank you to April for teaching me how to can. What shall we can next.

Goliath is 9 feet tall

Zach's mom teaches Samuel's Sunday School class. On sunday she was telling the kids that Goliath was soooo tall, he was 9 feet tall. She asked the kids how tall they thought their dad was and Samuel quickly piped in that his dad only had two feet.

Valentines Party

Our friends from "Small Wonders" invited us to join them and some other families for a Valentine's Party. The kids made Valentines for eachother and for the "Grandmas and Papas" at the Retirement home.

Ellianna had a great time with the Ink pens, although she got more of it on herself than on the bag she was decorating. She even had ink up her nose. Don't ask me what would motivate her to do that. Carolyn did such a great job planning this event. She explained to the kids what Valentines Day was really all about and how it started.

They even played a game in which all of the kids had to run from one bowl to another carrying sweethearts on a butterknife whithout using their hands. Samuel and Ellie contributed by eating out of the starting bowl.

This little cutie is Liberty. She was unimpressed with me taking her picture. Normally she has the cutest smile, with the most adorable dimpls.

After a wonderful lunch, including a chocolate fountain, we delivered the cards to the Grandmas and Papas at the retirement home. I think all of those adorable kids managed to bring some joy to the residents day.

Wonderful Daddy

After the rough year our marriage and family went through, I am so excited about all of the positive things that God is doing in that area now. My husband is a wonderful husband, father and man. He has been so great with the kids.

An evening of Tinker Toys

Not feeling well but stayed in the living room to be with us. The kids couldn't leave him alone.


Zach and Samuel installing some hooks for my purses. I think Samuel was mostly avoiding going to bed. But they were having fun together.

This was our most recent boy evening of legos. Samuel was begging me all day to make a bulldozer. I had no idea what he was talking about. Of course Daddy did.

Samuels Oldest Friend

When we moved home from Germany, before we could get back into our house we lived in the La Villa apartments. Samuel was 3 months old at the time. One of the first days I was there I met the pregnant girl who lived above us. She probably thought I was a little crazy because I was so excited there was going to be another new mom and baby so close.

In the next 9 months though we became pretty good friends. We would hang out and let the Kaia and Samuel "play with" or "around" eachother while we visited fairly regularly. By the time they were turning one we both moved out of the apartments and into our own houses.

Unfortunatly now these wonderful friends are going to be moving much farther away. We are going to miss them greatly.

2 yearold prayers

Samuel's prayer tonight was so precious. It was similar to other nights but I wanted to document some of it so I don't forget the precious 2 year old prayers when we are a few years down the road.

Samuel:"Dear God, thank you for being a strong and mighty man, thank you for my great destiny. Thank you for mommy and daddy, thank you for God, thank you for my house, thank you for on the road. Thank you for God. Thank you for Ellie, thank you for Gods things. Thank you for obeying. Amen"

I tell Samuel at bedtime that he is a strong and might man of God with a great destiny.
We pray all the time to help Samuel learn how to obey.
We pray to keep daddy safe on the road.

It is so precious to hear him weave these things into his own prayers. So innocent and completely honest and trusting.

Samuel and Ellie

I just wanted to post an update on what the kids are up to so I wouldn't forget.

Ellianna: She is pulling up on everything. Unfortunatly she has recently taken up biting. I can't seem to find anything that gets her attention enough to stop. She just thinks it is really funny.
She says: dada (this is her most intentional word) bah (ball), hi (her 1st word), woo (woof), duh (duck)

Samuel: He is at a challenging age and yet oh so very precious. I am guessing I will be saying that about every age ahead of us. His newest thing when I ask him to do something he will say "I just don't know about that" or "in a minute". I am expecting imediate obedience so this is an issue we are working on. His mind is always working though.

We were out to dinner yesterday and Samuel and Zach had this conversation:

Samuel: "I need more"
Zach: "May I have more, please!"
Samuel (confused): "I want more"
Zach: "You need to say: May I have more, please"
Samuel (defeated): "I'm full"

I love my kids so much. It is such a blessing to be their mom.

Meal Plan

So I have been trying to get on top of my meal plans, this is the structure I am going to attempt:

Monday:
Breakfast-Quiche
Lunch - Sandwich
Dinner - Pasta

Tuesday:
Breakfast - Oatmeal
Lunch - Muffin Tin Lunch
Dinner- Pizza

Wednesday:
Breakfast - Toast
Lunch - Hotdogs
Dinner - Chicken

Thursday:
Breakfast - Eggs
Lunch- Mac & Cheese
Dinner - Beef

Friday:
Breakfast- Toast and Smoothies
Lunch-Sandwiches
Dinner - Date Night or Chicken

Saturday:
Breakfast- Pancakes/Crepes/Frenchtoast
Lunch- Soup and Bread
Dinner- Fish

Sunday:
Breakfast- Buiscits/Muffins
Lunch- Lunch with family
Dinner- Leftover Buffet

Week of Fun!

This has been a really busy week. It started with Zach and I taking the kids down to Lake Connor last weekend. Jamin, Kelsie and the kids joined us on Saturday for a while. It was the first time for us to go camping with just our kids. We had fun. I have to say that it is fun to have more people around the fire at night though. Sunday was our 6th Anniversary. Wow I cannot believe it has been that long. Zach's parents took the kids. (Thank you so much) We went clothes shopping without kids in tow. What a difference. We also tried out the buffet at the Tulalip Casino. We don't gamble but just for kicks and giggles I took 1 dollar and plaid one game while we waited in line. I made $4.90, which made my day and paid for part of our meal. And I had no desire to go plug my winnings in another money eating machine.

Monday I had my nieces and we had a semi quiet day at home. This involved about 7 loads of laundry and 2 loads in the dishwasher. The kids got their naps though.


Tuesday we took all the kids to the water slides. Samuel insisted he didn't want to ride the big ones. I kind of forced him. As soon as we got to the bottom he kept yelling "that was so much fun, that was not so bad" but when I asked him if he wanted to go again he said "nope" I made him a couple more times. He fought it all the way up and loved it all the way down. By then his lips were blue so we went to get him warmed up. Ellie went down the baby slides a few times but mostly she crawled around the blanket we had laid out.

I later coerced Samuel into going one more time. This time he wanted to go again and again and again. Unfortunately we didn't apply the sunscreen often enough and everyone but my two babies got fried.


Wednesday we went to the free movie at the mall. My kiddos lasted about 15 minutes so I left my mom with the girls and went sale shopping. I got some great stuff from gymboree. I don't usually like their stuff and they are so expensive. I got 5 shirts and a pair of shorts for $30. I thought that was great, their quality is great. You would almost pay that at the consignment shop for used no brand low quality stuff.

Thursday we went to the Great Vancouver Zoo. We were all still kind of hurting from our burns and the hot sun took it right out of us. I was spraying everyone with sunscreen about every 30 minutes. Now I'm packing ( uh I mean supposed to be packing) to go back down to Lake Connor tomorrow.

Next week I will have to find my house. It was pretty neglected this week.