Pho Noodles and an Egg Hunt!

Pho Noodles and an Egg Hunt!

Today our church had their annual Egg Hunt! We had a great time...the boys played on bounce houses, chit-chatted with the Easter Bunny, hunted for candy---and yes, Gabe's hunt was in styrofoam peanuts again!--made balloon swords, watched a magic show and munched down on some yummy hot dogs, popcorn, and cotton candy!!! Grady went through the preschool egg hunt twice, although I'm sure he could have held his own in the big kids hunt!! While Shawn and Gabe were waiting in line for the magic show and big kid egg hunt, Grady and I scoped out the wonderfully sticky cotton candy and popcorn....definitely better than standing in a forever and a day line!!! After we left the egg hunt, we headed south for Bellevue to try out our first Pho noodle restaurant----Shawn has been eyeing these places for a year, so his time had come to drag all of us to one!! I did some googling and found one with good reviews--for the most part, because from what I had read...these places can be hit or miss! Well, this one was a hit! The boys shared a veggie and chicken wide egg noodle bowl, I had a pho chicken rice noodle bowl, and Shawn had a pho beef---still mooing beef, by the way---rice noodle bowl!! We also ordered some of the best egg rolls we have ever eaten......Shawn and I were trying to disect the roll, and then decided it may be in our best interest to just enjoy the roll--we may not want to know what was in it!! ha! After we filled our tummies with yummy noodles...we headed back home! It is a wonderfully rainy day...again!! Currently, I am trying my hand at making lemon pound cake....not sure if it is going to taste any good, but it sure smells awesome!!

TO THE OFFICE, YOUNG MAN!!!

So today Grady had his first trip to the Principal's Office!!!! Fortunately, it was because he did something great....had you all going, didn't I??!! The last couple of weeks they have been studying the rainforest, and today they made pictures of parrots. The children could use whatever materials and whatever colors to decorate their birds...well it seems the art lessons from last spring have finally paid off! Ms. Amy was floored by how Grady had colored his bird--while staying in the lines--perfectly matched pieces of felt to design the birds wings and cut a piece of construction paper for the bird's perch!! She was so amazed that she took Mr. Grady to show the director, Ms. Kim, who's reaction was "Holy Smokes!, That looks like a kindergartener could have done that!" In the last few weeks, Shawn and I had noticed that Grady had been coloring much, much better--staying in the lines, choosing different colors to color with, not always the same color for an entire picture--so I guess he decided to strut his stuff at school today!

Hello Sunshine!

Yesterday was a beautiful day....unfortunately today the gloom and rain was back...but hey, let's not get too greedy! Gabe had an early release from school yesterday, so we had the chance to soak up extra amounts of Vitamin D! The boys had a blast playing Evil Knievel on the jungle gym and strutting their stuff on the razors!! I just thought I would share some pics of the boys...don't mind the squinting eyes....we're just not used to the sunshine!!

Family Photo Adventure!

Family Photo Adventure!

Today we went on a family photo scavenger hunt! Our church organized this whole thing and it was a hoot! Each family started out with two envelopes-one with pose positions and one with locations in which to do the poses! We zoomed all over Lynnwood and Edmonds posing like crazy people---fortunately our camera has a timer on it - so we were able to take the pictures most of the time without asking people to shoot the embarassing photos---but sometimes--like in the grocery store--there wouldn't be a place to set the camera up, so I would just find a really nice looking person, fortunately each person we asked looked like they thoroughly enjoyed doing capturing the moment for our family! Oh, and did I mention it was snowing while we were tromping from place to place....that just added another element of adventure! After 2 hours, everyone met back at the church for pizza and the slideshow...I think the best part was watching everyone else's pictures---we no longer felt like the lone dorks!

Inside Grady's Mind!

This month in preschool, Grady will be learning about animals and their babies, so this may be what sparked this conversation on the way home from school today!!

Grady: "Mom, I want to be a baby kangaroo and you can be a momma kangaroo and I will sit
in your pouch, okay?"

Mom: " Well, I don't have a pouch."

Grady: "We'll do it for Halloween and you can hop to the houses and I will get the candy."

About 30 minutes later......

Grady: "I changed my mind. I'm going to be Harry the Platypus and you can be momma platypus if you want....now that is a plan!"

hope!

this week has been anything but easy...first, we arrived home from a great visit to kansas, but along with that comes tons of laundry and a very tired family! second, our washer went out in the middle of the ton of "coming home" laundry! third, the hot water tank had a somewhat enormous leak--the leak was going somewhere, though fortunately not into the house! fourth, my sis was making a deposit for me at our bank in wichita and they asked her if i was aware that my debit card had been compromised in the latest visa card breach! fifth, the brake light goes out on the army--fortunately my wonderful neighbor, Janell, is the one following me, not the cops--and she tells me at the YMCA later in the day! sixth, gabe and grady had a dentist appointment on thursday, and poor gabe had a cavity, and not because he didn't brush, or i am a horrible parent that lets my child drink juice or soda and eat candy from time to time, but because when his back molars formed they formed in an odd way, that doesn't allow the enamel to harden correctly, so the teeth are softer and more prone to cavities and unfortunately we didn't get the sealants on in time--so the poor kid has to have a cavity filled and sealants put on the end of this month--so by this point in the week i was asking myself, really?!! i only cried once--a miracle in itself considering i was sooo tired--on wednesday when the washer went out in the middle of a load, and shawn and i took the laundry down to the creek and beat them against the rocks!! okay, so i just said that to make sure you were listening...we actually took the clothes up to the bath tub and rinsed and wrung them and then took them back to the dryer to dry twice...we obviously don't spin as well as the washer! so, on thursday, i went to the 'ol scrub-a-dub in everett to do some laundry....and while the laundromat may not be my first place for entertainment, it definitely is not my last! it smelled a little funny, but with the interesting folks and the fact ALL of my laundry was washed and dried in an hour and a half...the experience was worth it! it was probably the most relaxed i had been all week--an hour and a half of peace and almost quiet--what more could i ask for! so, by saturday, i had a new washer, the fixer guy was putting in a new hot water tank, the brake light had been purchased, we had caught up on our sleep, things were looking up! we took the kiddos out to breakfast on saturday morning and then down to the mukilteo beach and park! it was just what the doctor ordered--i laughed and laughed watching the kids and myself spin ourselves dizzy on the toys at the park!! by evening, i was back to my old self, back in control--everything in the house was working, the debit card would be taken care of first thing monday--so we headed off to bed ready for another day of surprises! this morning we had kidstuf nw at church! kidstuf nw is a performance which teaches a different virtue each month--this month's virtue is hope! i know God put this performace on especially for me this morning! hope is.....knowing something good will come from something bad--during the whole performance i was going over everything "bad" this week and coming up with something positive! in the end, i thanked God that i had all of these things, a broken washer because i have clothes to wear, a leaking hot water tank because i am able to take a hot shower after a super rough day, a compromised debit card because i have money to buy the things our family needs, a child with a cavity because thank God i was able to create a miracle that has so blessed our lives, a broken brake light because i have a vehicle that can take us where we need to go, and finally a tired body because that means i was able to "go and do" and once i've rested up i will be able to "go and do" again! and through it all i have a husband that will stand over a bathtub with his crying wife and wring laundry after he has worked all day--because we vowed through good times and bad---Thank you God for giving me hope, and a husband who will love me no matter what!

spin and spin until you just don't care!!! and then laugh and laugh until you feel just great!