A Day at the Lake

I decided Sunday morning to take the kids, after church, for a hike around a little local lake. Grandma decided to come along too. So we packed some snacks, water, first aid kit (no reason), and threw on our grubby clothes. The kids had a lot of fun throwing sticks and rocks into the water and exploring everything off the trail that Grandma and I would allow! We all got some good exercise and thoroughly enjoyed the nice weather.

"Yet's sit down, wyte here. Ok, mommy?"

"fishing"

Hiking around the lake

Cousins

We shared "Survivor" night with Aunt Cheryl, Uncle "Weedy" (Woody), Nichole and Coleen last week. Caden and Paige are especially enamored with Coleen and had to jockey for a position in her lap to watch the show!

Coconut and Survivor

Thursday nights at our house are "Survivor" and pizza night. For the last several weeks Caden had been asking what was in those things they were always knocking out of the trees on the show. So I picked up a small coconut at the grocery store. They each got to pound a hole in the top to drain the "milk" then we wrapped it in a towel and took it out back where they each had a turn at pounding it with the hammer. Trace finally split it! No one was especially excited about trying what was in there but they were definately curious and the 'mystery' has been solved!

How long do those little hands and feet stay cute enough to take a close up of?

Aren't they sweet?

At least sometimes! I wish it was always like this! We have had a lot of problems lately with behavior problems but I think we may have finally turned the corner. I know I shouldn't speak too soon though! The sunshine definately helps to put everyone in a better mood - how could it not!?

Yes, I know Caden's helmit is not on correctly! We are waiting for the income tax return to buy him a new one - at least he is wearing one though!

Watching her brothers

I caught our little princess watching her brothers out the window yesterday. It was a beautiful day and she was so excited to see them. I did take her out shortly after!

A quick overnight...

When Rick got home on Saturday (he's an official pilot now by-the-way) we took off for Long Beach. We met some family down there at their lot and tried (unsuccessfully) to get to bed early. The next morning at o'dark o'clock Everyone except Paige and I got up and headed down onto the beach for a couple hours of claming. Apparently the boys had a lot of fun. Caden caught two completely on his own and Trace got several too! Paige and I got the trailer picked up and breakfast started for the cold beachgoers. We spent the afternoon burning underbrush and fallen branches from the lot - in between downpours. The boys were exhausted but didn't want to give up! They hauled, chopped and climbed all afternoon. Trace's sweats are on their second wash cycle as I type! We laughed a lot about how different camping is here in the Northwest. If it rains you just pull out the raincoats and keep going. If you let the rain stop you then you might as well not bother going at all! Anyway, we all had a good time and are ready to go again, but for now it is back to school and work (Rick's first flight is Wednesday).

Camping NW style!

A little change

Some of you may have inadvertantly clicked on the comment in the post below that gives you a virus warning (if you haven't, please don't - there is no actual message). I can't figure out how to get rid of it yet so for now I have made two changes to the comments section.
1) You will have to type in the weird letters like you have to for credit cards and such
2) I will be previewing all posts before they appear on the blog. So if you want to include something more personal just tell me not to post it! I hope this isn't a porblem for anyone because I love to get comments!

A little late but here's the birthday pics...

I actually took 61 pictures and had a really hard time narrowing them down. I'll post some of the others later.

A little something I've been working on...

I am just amazed at the beauty I see when I look at her little face. I am often just left speechless when I see her asleep. But awake with a personality like no other is when I am most in awe of her!

Catching Up

Oops! I just thought this picture was kind of funny. It was one time Caden made a mistake and I was able to get him to laugh about it! He didn't realize the box of spaghetti noodles was already opened.

Anyway, I haven't updated recently because Rick has been home for two weeks now. He was sent home from training pretty sick with a sinus infection and an intestinal bug. A few doses of antibiotics and he was on the mend in a couple of days. Unfortunately they aren't able to get him back into class until the 29th. So he is home for one more week. It has been nice to have him around and we've managed to get a couple things done too. The kids are loving every minute of it (so far)! So, at the moment all is well. Financially we are ok for now and I really appreciate all of you who have expressed your concern and offered help. There may come a day when we do need your help!

Easter is tomorrow! I hope you are all celebrating this wonderful day with family and/or friends. We are overjoyed to be able to celebrate with our family and friends both this year.

Put on a happy face...

I thought maybe I should post something since the last one was such a downer! It seems like there is something going on around here daily. I keep hoping life will slow down a little bit. I got a call from Rick yesterday morning that he was coming home. It is a really long story (I'll fill you in if you call!) but it isn't a bad thing as far as his training goes. In a few days to a week he should be going back to finish up. For now, he is home trying to get caught up on sleep mainly! As for the rest of us we are about the same. I had a conference with Trace's teacher yesterday and he is a good student which we knew. He does have a bit of an issue with talking in class -no surprise if you know Trace! His reading is at or above grade level and his vocabulary is well above - in the 98 percentile. An all around good kid. Caden is still, well Caden. I can't seem to get a hold on his anger and it errupts at the most unexpected time. All I can do is keep muddling through for now. Paige is working really hard on potty training! I had high hopes we'd be done by now but considering she is just barely two I have to give her a lot of credit. She is having about one accident on average a day and telling me she needs to go about half the time. We're getting there! As for myself, I'm hanging in there. What else can I do? I got to get away for a few hours Tuesday morning which was wonderful and I'm feeling a little more on top of things since finishing Paige's room and getting ours to a liveable condition. There is still the neverending trail that Paige leaves behind her and the boys too, and the laundry and dishes just don't wash themselves either! Life is really not all bad, just a lot to deal with at the moment and some days are better than others. I'll get some more pictures up soon!

Warning - Don't read if you're in a good mood!

I'm tired. Tired of kids. Tired of motherhood. Tired of arguing. Tired of trying to figure out how to make Caden quit saying things like "I hate you" which his sister is now picking up. Tired of a two year old who will not listen and only says "NO" and "STOP IT" usually at the top of her lungs in public places. Tired of this house being a mess. Tired of never feeling like I can get ahead. Tired of potty training. Tired of being stressed about our finances and not able to go to the grocery store. Tired of that D_ mn scale not going anywhere but up!
I am starting to think that girls are a lot of fun until age two then we might as well lock them away until about age 30! She just keeps getting into things she know she isn't supposed to be into and watching me the entire time with a look of, "what are you gonna do?". If I ask her to come to me or pick something up she moves r-e-a-l-l-y slow then the second I move she flies into gear and does what it was I asked! I know the boys were into things and busy, but they weren't so openly defiant!
I know I'm feeling a lot of this because of the move and changes we've been going through. But I had really hoped by now I'd be settling in and feeling better about life. Trace and I sat on his bed last night crying together as he told me how much he missed all his friends in Chicago. He just hasn't found one good friend out here yet and he had a couple out there as well as being generally popular. Part of me was right there with him wishing nothing had changed. I miss not being so busy and I miss having friends I can hang out with anytime. Rick will be home in a week which will be good. After that we will have to learn to adjust to our new life. Starting with Easter which he will miss this year (and probably every other holiday but that's to worry about another day). I don't have a problem with him being gone, I'm pretty independent and like my time with the kids. But having him gone for basically 6 weeks with just a few days home in the middle has been unbelieveably hard. Especially considering we threw in a cross counrty move with it and three kids who are struggling to adjust to that! I really don't know what I would have done if I hadn't had my parents help. They have taken the kids and helped me out with things around the house and I appreciate it so much!
Life isn't all bad news though. I added a couple of pictures from the last few days that we are having fun too! We went metal detecting again and the kids had a ball. I took Paige's potty chair and sat it on the beach between some logs and she used it twice! We've also been outside a lot with the neighbor girls. Tomorrow I'm going to finally get a couple of hours by myself to just go wander somewhere and Wednesday I'm going to get some financial help with food. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have a little brighter outlook!

Ready for takeoff

Apparently Baby likes tuna... who knew?