C-H-A-M-P-I-O-N!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I said I was signing off for the next two weeks...well something oober exciting happened this evening that needed to be blogged! GABE WON THE SPELLING BEE!!! He and another boy went back and forth for probably 6 rounds, but in the end Gabe was the victor! He has worked so very hard and it paid off.....we are so extremely proud! He will go onto the districts on April the 14th....we'll keep you p-o-s-t-e-d! For real, see ya in a couple of weeks...unless anything else oober exciting happens!

HaPpY eAsTeR!!!

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know this is super early...but we are heading to Kansas tomorrow! We had to color those eggs early this year or they were not getting done!! We are so excited to be heading to Kansas....can't wait to see all of your smiling faces!! Wishing everyone else a HaPpY EaStEr...catch ya in a couple of weeks! Signing off!

Go Cart Time!

On Friday night, we spent the whole evening spoiling our Grady! Gabe had an all night sleepover birthday party, so we decided it was the perfect excuse to spoil Grady rotten! We started off the evening at Traxx, an indoor go cart race track....he thought this was AWESOME!! We was such a careful driver....the other little boy he was racing kept wrecking and Grady would just patiently wait for him to get corrected by the attendant and then just follow along behind him! After Traxx we headed down to Seattle for some California Pizza Kitchen...yummy! After dinner, we headed back north to grab some Cold Stone Creamery! I'm not sure who felt more spoiled Grady or us! What a fabulous evening with our favorite four-year-old!

Performance and Pancakes!

Saturday morning we headed off to a Kiwanis pancake breakfast! So, what may you wonder would get us out of our jammies on our usually lazy Saturday morning...why Gabe singing of course! The Picnic Point Choir (minus about 75%...I guess 8:00 on Saturday was not very inviting to most!) was asked to entertain for a little bit during the breakfast....they sang beautifully! They sang 6 or 7 songs plus one of my favorite songs "If You Love America Like I Do"....so I was singing along too! Just ask Gabe some time and I'm sure he would love to sing it for you....you'll be singing it the rest of the day! If your super lucky...maybe I'll join in too!

The Reptile Man!

Brave Grady petting the Burmese Python from the other side of the chair!

On Thursday, the Reptile Man came for a visit to Grady's school! Grady had the chance to see lots of neat reptiles like a gila monster, Diamond Back rattlesnake, a miniature alligator, desert tortoise and even a Burmese Python! He is becoming a lot less afraid of lots of things..so this was actually pretty enjoyable this year!

Taking a ride on the tortoise!

How about giving the alligator a little pat??!!

Happy Spring!!!

Last night the boys and I decided to do some baking! Grady has been wanting to use these cookie cutters he found for quite some time, but I didn't feel Easter Bunnies, Eggs, and Spring Chicks were appropriate for Christmas! So with Easter and the official start of Spring in the near future...we busted them out and did some baking! Happy Easter Everyone!!

Okay....look past the underwear shot, and enjoy the beautiful and extremely yummy finished product!!! The boys have decided clothing is optional after 7:30!!

Grady is carefully placing little eyes on all of the bunnies! It was so cute watching him....they had to be perfect....he is usually not the perfectionist, but bunny faces must be a different story!

Gabe loved cutting out the cookies! Usually he is not the "baker" type...he usually leaves that to Grady and I, but today he was quite the little helper!

Manly Things!

On Saturday, I went out for a Girl's Day with one of my greatest friends, Carla! We had a fantastic time going to a movie, lunch, shopping and most importantly gab time! But, while I was out doing my girlie things...my fabulous fellas were out enjoying some Manly Time! They did some metal detecting, fishing and went to a gold and mineral show!
After metal detecting for a little while the decided to do some illegal fishing on the river...oops! Thankfully before the police officers told them, a nice fellow in a boat told them fishing was illegal until March 1st....only a few days off, right?!

They decided to get legal, so they headed back to Monroe and had some Taco Time and went to a gold and gem show!

Both of the boys talked Dad into some gold nuggets, but Gabe came away with the best prize of all! He decided to spend his own money on an "S" Quarter from the year 1912! Well, now for those of you who do not know the significance of the year 1912.....where have you been??!! Just kidding...but for those of you who know Gabe, he is a history buff...especially for a kid of his age...he has this crazy way of remembering EVERYTHING...but has really taken to history of the Titanic! Well, 1912 is the year the Titanic sank...so that is the importance of this to Gabe! He bought the quarter for 8.00, but when him and Shawn got home they googled it, and they found a quarter that appeared to be the same that was worth $65.00....who knows!
I'm so glad my guys had a great day doing Manly Things!

Olympics!!!!!!!

WHOO HOO....the day finally made it! We had been looking forward to Friday, February 19th for almost a year! Going to the Olympics was one of the most amazing and completely unforgettable things I think any of us will ever do! There is just something about watching something for years, never thinking in a million years you could be there...and then YOU ARE! Yesterday was pretty surreal, I don't think it actually hit me that I was at the Olympics until it was almost all over and I was surrounded by thousands of screaming curling fans...that's when I got all misty eyed....fully taking it all in! Of course it could have been the lack of sleep that finally hit me, but never the less....it was completely AWESOME!

We started out bright and early, leaving Edmonds at 5:00 a.m. We wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to get downtown and take in everything before our event at 7:00 p.m.! We had to park about 35 minutes from downtown Vancouver--they were not letting any unauthorized vehicle into downtown, so you had to park off site and take the train or bus everywhere! Not being ones that are usually keen on public transit...this was a little intimidating! But, once we got the hang of it...it was actually super easy! We started off at the venue for curling...being a crazy woman, I wanted to familiarize myself with the area before it was too busy and we wouldn't be able to find where we were going...once I got my craziness out of the way, we headed downtown to check out the rest of the Olympic must sees! We started off at the Cauldron...once we found it! Actually everything was very well marked out.....we just had to be pointed in the right direction! The Cauldron was a lot smaller than we had pictured, but still awesome none the less! We took the necessary photos and then headed off for souveniers! We ended up with way too much stuff, but after all this was a once in a lifetime event, right?! We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around downtown Vancouver taking in all the people and sights!

Around 4:00 we headed back to the Curling venue....being the over-prepared one I am..we were an hour early, but we got ahead of the game by going through security early and getting lots a great photos without hundreds of people in them! You couldn't get into the venue until an hour before the start, but they had a holding area where there were entertainers and you got to see some of the mascots up close! Once inside the venue the excitement really started! I would have never guessed Curling would be rowdy or exciting at all....but was I ever wrong! We were actually lucky enough to get to see the Canadian Women's team play...and the Canadian filled crowd was charged up! I guess this is actually a sport where the crowd is to behave more like golf, but the non-curling spectators seemed to have missed that memo! They were yelling, screaming, jumping up and down, ringing cowbells, banging on tamborines....there were times I was afraid we were going to be on the nightly news because the stadium seats we were sitting in had fallen! It was crazy fun....I'll admit, we went in to the event yesterday...going because Curling tickets were some of the cheapest tickets we could get...but after last night, I would gladly go again...we even watched two more matches today! We're hooked! It helped that we were sitting right by a professional curler last night...he explained the game, which definitely made everything a lot more enjoyable!! I am so happy we had this opportunity....we took tons of pictures in hopes that the boys will also remember this awesome thing we were lucky enough to experience!! ABSOLUTELY FANTASTICALLY AWESOME....Yep, that explains it!

Seattle Children's Museum!

On Monday with everyone being out of school, we headed down to the Seattle Children's Museum with Carla and Josiah! The kiddos had a great time running from one room to the next, dragging the exhausted Moms behind!
Gabe and Grady coming out of the underground cave in the Forest area!

I know what you are thinking...we have all missed our calling of becoming home builders...who wouldn't love the half open roofing we offer! Half a roof = Half the cost!

Next, we hit the supermarket...Josiah did the majority of the shopping while Gabe and Grady took turns being checker and working in the deli!

After spending most of the day at the museum we ended our day at the fountains....it was all fun and games until Grady got wet! We had a great day...thanks Carla and Jo!