McWAC in Seattle

Day2 of Kindergarten
Cameron to Maren: Do you know what a synonym is?
Maren's response: Yes, it's my favorite spice. I put it on cinnamon toast, cinnamon butter, cinnamon...
Cameron: No, it's a word that means the same thing as another word.

Loved the seriousness in both their voices. Loved how sweet they talked with each other. Loved that she wanted to teach her little sister. And loved that Maren knew what cinnamon is.

Road Trip-Griswold Style

Random and quick list of things I don't want to forget from our Griswold Canadian road trip.

Colin's new words-Beach, horse (after 8 days of calling them doggie), I'm ready, Rhea-Rhea-Rhea,towel, wa-wa, bo-bo, play

Colin recognizing wa-wa in any form with great excitement-lawn sprinkler, water bottle, Pacific ocean

Zipline into the water at Lake Okanogan

Fireworks with Cameron:Taxi, walking, bus ride, getting lost home

Maren falling asleep on the trail-a-bike

Sally Maren Seahorse, Sally Swims-a-lot/Beluga Whale

Colin seeing water, screaming for water but not going in any water other than pool water

soccer grass was a lifesaver at mealtime

packing and repacking the tent-trailer in record time

rest stops. Cameron & Maren fighting to reach the soap, water, and towel dispenser and me wanting to leave the bathrooms as soon as possible without touching anything. Maren announcing at EVERY rest area, "we go into girls bathrooms because we're girls but not daddy and Colin."

Colin's cute hats and saying "CHEEEEEESEE" with the biggest cutest grin

Maren on the back of the trail-a-bike. Falling asleep in Stanley Park.

Stanley Park pool, bike ride across Lions Gate Bridge and around the seawall.

Fish & Chips in Victoria

Smores with Dean's Family

Boardwalks in downtown Kelowna along lake.

Mudd icecream with line outside door in Kelowna-cotton candy, bear tracks, pralines & cream, bubble gum, cookies & cream.

Griswold Family

We are the real-life Griswold family. We camp in RV parks. Bring all but the kitchen sink when traveling. Dress in mish-mash. Loud. Last night takes the cake though. We were looking for something fun to do after dinner like hit Hickman Park. Instead Willie suggested the slip and slide. So at 8:15 pm all five of us were out in the-here's the kicker that puts us into Griswold fame- FRONT yard on our slip n slide. Willie in his bike gear. Me in my swimsuit I'd had on since the afternoon at the beach. Colin naked. And the girls in their suits. Lasted about 45 minutes and a visit from a neighbor. Pure entertainment Griswold style. Pictures to come.

It's been awhile

Everyday there's something I want to blog about but it seems trivial so then I think, well I should just facebook it since it's something I can write succinctly in my status update. But then about 10 things like that happen each day. So back to trying to remember and blog.

Today Cameron had a monster playdate with Zachary while I went to work. Karen said that she and Zachary spent about 5 minutes discussing when they were going to get married. They decided on age 26.

Maren loves to tell me sweet little things about her day or some fact about someone in her class. "Mommy, Francesca likes yellow. Mommy Landon likes purple. Mommy, Colin threw his pink baby. Mommy, when can we see Mira. Mommy, Zachary likes Colin now." I love her sweet little voice. It is so cute.

Colin needs a haircut and a bigger vocabulary. He is so sweet. I love that boy but he needs to stop throwing things.

 

Earth Day Weekend

Although we didn't wander the neighborhood picking up garbage or conserve water this Earth Day weekend (quite the contrary after all the dirt accrued on little bodies), we did do some planting.

But first-Cameron quotes

1)  Mom, I don't mean to say this in a mean way but if we go on a bike ride, maybe then you can get rid of the fat on your stomach.

2) In the middle of the most gorgeous spring day we've had all year as she's picking weeds with me: Mom, how can Santa spy on us all the time to see if we've been good? Not really waiting for an answer, she bursts into song- "He knows when you've been sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows when you've been bad or good so be good for goodness sake."

On with the weekend!

   
Earth Day Preschool plantings.
 

Friday PM was spent in a civilized way as Margaret and I shopped the Arboretum Foundation plant sale while sipping wine. I always love the sale and especially love the sale when I spend time with my best sister. She is always great with her plant picks. Love the unique selections I come home with each year. And this year I showed restraint. We're looking for evergreen plants best in full sun and lots of groundcover so those pesky kids stop digging in the dirt. Need to hit the nurseries over the next few weeks.

Cameron looked cute in her cowgirl outfit at a friend's birthday party.

 

 Corn and sunflower seed planting on Sunday after I tried weeding all morning. Willie came in at the end and finished up weeding and planting a couple of hours. I am slow.

     

 
 She was mad that her clothes had to be washed. Crabby cowgirl

 
 

Purse Dump

Love this idea of the everyday and the irregular. Thanks Stacy for this idea! I came across Wendy's dump so thought I should do it to. My contents and my purse say a lot about me and how fun to scrapbook this single photo. I have lots to say.

C & M Quotes mini-book: for those random funny or not so funny but memorable sayings by my 2 dears.

Love red leather-hence my patent leather wallet, my worn red checkbook cover, my Heavens to Betsy lipstick purse and my japanese business card holder.

New black sunglasses from Roots. Speaking of Roots-my purse is from there and although it's big and brown, I still love it.

My new MAC lip sticks. Couldn't decide which color for spring so I bought a lip gloss and a lustre lip stick on our recent trip to Vancouver. LOVE MAC!

My costco coupons and my weight watchers meeting notebook-speak for themselves.

2 sets of keys. Malia gave me the kitty key chain from Lucy Ann. My other set holds my life and the WSU Cougar chain and bottle opener has come in handy on multiple occasions. 

Pencil carrying case that needs a good wash. A friend brought that back from Liberty. My favorite Department store in London.

My toiletry bag-homemade from The Gambia. It holds my ibuprofen, a mirror and a mini-first aid kit.
 

Spontaneous & Adventurous

That's what a good friend recently said to me about our family. She said I should take it as a compliment when this past weekend, they did an "Ann and Willie." In which, without much planning or discussion or thinking about how much time it would take, they built a sand box...from scratch...for their gorgeous happy boys.

I have to say, I did take it as a compliment and I do pride us on creating adventure in an afternoon, a day or a weekend. On the other hand...I'm exhausted. It's exhausting being ok with craziness. It's exhausting getting us out of the house. It's exhausting being ok with "we did it-it may not have been great, but at least we did it."  And it creates a crabby Mom.

So, I'm taking a break from being adventurous. I'm taking a parenting class. I'm reading blogs. I'm catching up on recipes and thinking about cooking. I'm catching up on the weeding. I'm trying to scrapbook our memories of previous adventures. I'm getting the kids used to longer daylight. We're getting used to the monkey bars we haven't been on since last summer. Willie and I are savoring the remnants of a fabulous weekend together. We're talking and talking and talking (not as much as that weekend but we take what we can get).

 
I'm sure all this planning and savoring will bore me soon and we'll be back to crazy fun new adventures. But for now, I'm going to enjoy our everyday adventures.

Cameron-isms

She's been full of good quotes lately. Goes along with her exceptional whiny (fake) tearful tantrums that are grating on me.

Cameron, crying and throwing a tantrum, through her tears: It's all Daddy's fault! He made me cry. He wouldn't let me ride bikes over tres bumps.

Me, trying to reason with her: Well Cameron, Daddy didn't want you to get run over on the busy street. He wanted you to be safe.

Cameron, still crying: But I've never been run over on that street.

Later me trying to distract her: Cameron, why don't you have a good cry and when you are done make Uncle Cam a birthday card because today's his birthday.

Cameron, perking up but still whining & crying: Ok, I will. But I won't make a birthday card for Daddy. His birthday card is going to be all black and there won't be any hearts on it.

Kim stopped by on a sunny Saturday afternoon. She wanted to take Cameron out for a ride in her convertible.

Kim: Cameron, why don't you jump in the bug and I'll take you for a spin.

Cameron, clinging to my leg: Mom, I'm scared. I don't want to get dizzy. (BTW, she wouldn't go until after Kim got Maren into the car, sitting in the front seat)

More to come, because there are tons.

LOAD

I told myself that I would do a "Layout A Day" or LOAD for short, during the month of February. Unfortunately, like much of my life, I haven't stuck with it. I'm not being hard on myself, just truthful. But I'm doing the best I can. I'm counting the 6 Valentine's Cards as one layout and Willie's Valentine's minibook as another layout. I did 6 layouts while in Portland. So I'm up to 8. I'm only 11 days behind. Hopefully I can catch up on a few more this weekend. So many ideas. So many cool products. So many cute pictures. So little time.

 

   
  
 

 
 

Waste-Not

Waste-not my time. Less time on the internet and more time exercising, playing with my children, cooking, talking with Willie.

Waste-not our money. Buy what we need. Buy quality. Buy what will last for our lifestyle. (i.e. no more goofy Target purchases and unnecessary scrapbook supplies)

Waste-not our stuff. Use what we own. Take care of what we own. Make our stuff last. Teach the children to take care of their own things.

Waste-not my energy. On senseless mind wasters or what is out of my control. 

Waste-not my Weight Watchers points. Think about healthy nutritious foods that will nuture my body.

Waste-not want less. Find joy and happiness in what surrounds me.