just another manic monday

do you ever have those days where you feel like you would have been better off just staying in bed, like, for the whole day? well, today was that day for me! just another manic monday...

 

as a little background....

 

we are in the middle of getting our house ready to put back on the market to sell. it's been off now for about 2 months and it is time to do it again. we are having 2 different realtors come this week to do the walk through and the market analysis, blah, blah, blah.  today we had nothing on our schedule until 4:00 pm, so the girls and i were going to clean, clean, clean! so, you see what i had to look forward to when i woke up. i love a clean house just as much as the next person, but i don't LOVE to clean, so i was a bit slow rolling out of bed this morning.

 

the day started out pretty decent. the girls and i played restaurant for breakfast, with me as the cook and nani as the waitress. lala had the best part in this "make believe" as the patron. she ordered waffles, eggs, and fried cheese. at the end of breakfast she came into the kitchen and said, very sweetly, "the fried cheese doesn't taste good." no big deal, but that should have been my cue to get back into bed. it went downhill from there!

 

one of the chores was for the girls to water the front lawn. being the cool mom that i am (yeah, right!), i told the girls they could water the lawn while they ran through the sprinklers. i asked them to clean up their toys and room before they went out so i could get started vacuuming. they "rush" through it and are out the door in record time. 5 minutes later i call them back inside because 1, their room is a mess, and 2, their toys are not picked up. i was still pretty calm at this point.

 

i sent them to their room to "clean" a mess that would take anybody else about 10 minutes. 45 minutes later they are still there and the room is messier than when they started. "what are you doing up here?!" i ask, louder than was necessary, as i walk into their room and my foot squishes in a puddle of water, and then another one, and then i feel lala's blanket is all wet.

 

lala, apparently thought it would be a good idea to pour water on the carpet and the blankets. nani didn't think that maybe that would be a good time to get mom. i told lala she had had enough water play so she would not be able to run through the sprinklers once the mess finally got cleaned up. it was like pulling teeth to get the messes cleaned up after that. so, i decided, and they agreed, that they would help clean the house, but would NOT get paid to do it. surprisingly i didn't hear one complaint from the girls for the rest of the day (that was a huge blessing)!

 

things went well after that. until i went to vacuum. i was cursing our vacuum because it wasn't picking anything up, but i plugged along anyway. for some reason i had to look at the bottom of the vacuum and it was then that i noticed that the little brushy thingy was not even spinning! the band had broken. all that work for NOTHING! luckily, we had an extra band, but i had to vacuum it all again! i wondered how long that had been broken? no wonder my floors never looked very clean!

sometime during the day, i've lost track of when it happened, but the baby peed on me. it was the weirdest thing. she was wearing a diaper that wasn't full, yet she peed on me like there was no diaper there! it wasn't like a leaky diaper that just leaves a mark on your clothes, it was like a warm stream all over my lap! it left me boggled and wet!

 

at 4:00 i was watching elizabeth's daughter for a couple of hours. well, due to some miscommunication, a different neighbors daughter came up a few minutes after alexis arrived here and told me that she was invited to come over and play. i was a bit shocked because, i had never had her over to my house before and now she was standing on my doorstep telling me she could come in. not only that, i know that elizabeth would NEVER (and didn't) invite somebody else's child to play at my house without talking to me first. i told this girl that my baby was sleeping and my girls were working on their summer homework so it wouldn't work today, but maybe next time. 2 minutes later her mother shows up, again this is someone i've waved to on the street but have never met, and she was not happy with me! i explained to her that i had no idea her daughter was coming up here to play and that my baby was sleeping and my girls were working on homework, but maybe another day would work better. she didn't like that answer and she stormed off.

 

as they left, nani asked if the girl could come over later when they went out to run through the sprinklers. i agreed that would be fine. so, nani and lala ran after them calling out their names and they totally ignored my girls. the daughter was trying to look back, but the mom kept pulling her down the hill and telling her not to look back. so, now i have a new enemy in a neighbor i'd never met before this moment.

 

can i just crawl into bed and start this day over?? please.....

 

while all of this was happening i was trying to coordinate a babysitter for our girls for an all day river rafting trip with a visit from my sister in hawai'i and a visit from my brother in california, as well as a trip for mitch and i to albuquerque. all of which had to be booked today!

 

however, miracles do happen! the trips are all planned, the flights are all booked, the raft is reserved, the house is all clean, the girls still love me, and they are all in bed. the only thing that didn't get done was my pilates, but.... i'm too tired for that now! i'm crawling off to bed and saying my prayers that my manic monday will be over when i wake up tuesday morning!

the laughter that makes me laugh

hundreds of delicious berries

my mom was here visiting a couple weeks ago. fortunately, i was feeling better so we were able to venture out of the house. this was the first time that my mom had been here during the summertime, so she was actually able to enjoy some warmer weather and sunshine! she usually comes for birthdays and such which happen to be in october and march, both of which are drizzly, cold, cloudy months. it may have been a bit too warm for her, but it was better than the constant drizzle she is used to!

the day before she left we decided to take the girls berry picking for the first time! i know, it's pretty sad that we've been her for over 8 years and this was the first time berry picking in oregon, but better late than never! the girls had such a great time! we were about a week late for the strawberries, of which mitch was very disappointed when we came home without them. but we were able to get some blackberries, loganberries, and raspberries!

we went to rowell bros. where all you can eat while picking is free! so, we took to tasting the different berries as we picked. they were so yummy! we started with two different types of blackberries...

here, tutu is showing the girls which berries are the ripe ones. lala had a hard time not picking the red blackberries. she figured all berries are best when red!

 

  

"is this a good one?" it looks good to me!

 

"mommie, look at all the berries i've picked!" lala actually decided that she didn't like the blackberries, so she didn't pick too many of them. the ones she did pick she was picking for me! isn't she sweet!

 

 

nani, on the other hand, liked the blackberries the very best. so, she did a pretty good job picking a lot of them. this was just after she started. when she was through with the blackberries we couldn't see the bottom of her bucket.

 

by the time we got to the raspberries, lala was a little bored with picking berries and took to digging in the dirt! the raspberries were my favorite so nani and i were busy getting as many as we could!

 

after about an hour, we decided we had picked enough berries and headed to the weighing station to pay for the berries. we got a little over 3 pounds and it cost us just over $3.00 for all those delicious berries!

 

 

just look at the beautiful colors of those berries! mouth wateringly yummy! that night with dinner we had berry smoothies, of course! so cool and refreshing!

as we were leaving both of the girls said, "that was so much fun! can we do it again?" so, we will be doing blueberries this week.....mmm-mmm!

there really IS such thing as a free lunch

earlier this summer, we learned from heidi (queen of great deals and finds) that all of the school districts have free summer lunches all summer long. they hold them all week long at a number of schools and parks. you would think that these types of things would be for low income families, but no, it is for all children 18 and under! pretty awesome. apparently, they have been doing this for some time now and we just never knew about it! (check your school districts wherever you live to see if they do it. heidi said that it was nationwide! check it out). i guess they do it to encourage healthy eating throughout the year for school children!

 

while my mom was here, we decided to check it out. on tuesday's they have free lunch and story time in the park at the library fountain park! so, we loaded the kiddos in the car with their swimsuits and didn't even have to pack a lunch! they played at the playground until lunch was served. after lunch we enjoyed story time right there in the park and afterwards they stripped down to their swimsuits and ran through the fountain! it was a great afternoon in the sun and water, with free lunch! can't get much better than that!

 

i am sad that i didn't get any pictures of nani playing in the fountain, but she spent a great deal of her time looking into a hole that supposedly had crocodiles in it to eat the mice. all this, according to the city water workers! for some reason she found that fascinating. i guess she was waiting to catch her first glimpse of a real crocodile in the middle of the city!

 

i was surprised that kawena was brave enough to get wet! she charged out there and played in it just like all the big kids! she refused to let us put her swimsuit on, so her she is in her swim diaper! i guess i shouldn't be surprised, since she is our little stripper and hates being bothered with clothing!

 

 

after a hard day in the hot sun and water, there's nothing like a good carton of chocolate milk!

memories...

         

i was just visiting holly's blog and she is doing a post on memories of her. now, i've never actually met holly, but i do remember the first time that i read a post on her blog, and that was my memory of her! 

anyway, this is how the game works...

as a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and i had together. it doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. it's actually pretty funny to see the responses. if you leave a memory about me, i'll assume you're playing the game and i'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

so, come along with me and take a walk down memory lane... let's see where it takes us!

making friends

i came across these pictures after i published cowgirl country and realized that i forgot to include them in the post. after the party was over and i was looking through the pictures that i had taken, i saw these and they just made me smile!

as i mentioned in my previous post, kawena was not at all interested in the big horses. apparently, she was interested in animals that were a little more her size. maryn has a dog that kawena found fascinating. he was tied up to a tree and was enjoying a little rest in the shade when kawena discovered him. I am so glad i was able to capture this exchange that she had with taz (i think that's his name?)...

"hey there little ga-gy (pronounced like doggie just with a "g" at the beginning)! whatcha doin'?"

"you're a cute ga-gy! can i pet you?"

"good ga-gy!"

"hey, what do you say we go sneak some birthday cake?! it looks really yummy and i don't think anyone's watching!"

"oh, hey mom, i didn't see you there! look, i made a new friend! it's a cute ga-gy that says, 'foof, foof' (pronounced like woof but with an "f" at the beginning). we were just chattin'!"

i'm so glad that she makes friends so easily! and didn't taz look thoroughly engrossed during the whole exchange! that's my girl!

cowgirl country

awhile ago, (i'm still trying to catch up) our girls were invited to a birthday party that had horse rides. the girls were so excited, they were beside themselves!

once we got there, the girls were given little cowgirl hats and pink bandana's.

after lunch, the kids were able to take several rides on the two horses:

 

our girls couldn't get enough! i think they probably weaseled the most rides out of the horses! nani has been asking for riding lessons ever since!

kawena and i even got a chance to get a little riding in. i don't think kawena knew what to think of the whole thing. she was very sober the whole time and never even cracked a smile!

when nani wasn't on the horses, she enjoyed giving "wagon rides" to the littlest crowd!

 

now, the girls seem to think that we need some horses of our own, just like maryn has! thanks for that eric and janine, we appreciate it!! i guess we'd better start looking for a ranch out in the country! yeehaw!

blogger frustration... be gone!

i am an addicted blogger!

*i love writing about the things that are going on in our life and sharing pictures that friends and family would otherwise not see.

*i love reading the many comments that i receive from dear friends and family, as well as comments from people i have yet to meet. 

*i love that it helps me to feel a little more connected with other adults.

*i love that it somewhat satisfies my need for adult interaction in my world that is currently dominated by little people, namely my children.

*i love that it is a creative outlet for me.

*i love that it gets me journaling, something i have not been very good at since returning home from my mission, too many years ago to count.

however, as much as i love this blogging experience, i have endured much frustration at the same time! you see, whenever i sat down to write a quick post, very rarely was there anything quick about it! i'd type it up and, as you know, i love to add pictures, which is where all of the problems started.

first of all, hello, can blogger be any slower when adding pictures? and many times after waiting sometimes as long as 5 or 10 minutes, i would get an "error" message and have to start all over! once they are finally added if i want to change the orientation of them (on the left side or the ride side), or change the size of them i'd have to delete the picture and start over. once i spent all this time rearranging and getting everything just so, and when i think it is just how i want it, i post it to my blog. hah!

then, i go look at it on my actual blog and it looks nothing like it did in the preview window of blogger. there are a bunch of extra spaces and the words are not where they were when i typed them. it's just a mess! now, i'm completely aware that a huge part of my frustration comes from the fact that i tend to be a perfectionist, but come on! why can't it look the same on my blog as it did on the page when i was typing it! is that too much to ask? something that should have taken 15 minutes ends up taking an hour!

well, apparently it is not to much to ask and i have found the solution in Windows Live Writer. this is my new best friend, (thank you pineapple princess)! i love it!! and the best part... it is free!

gone are the days of blogger frustration! i don't even have to deal with "new post" on blogger. i just open windows live writer and type up my entry, add pictures in mere seconds, not minutes, resize the pictures right there on my entry, if i'd like i can add a shadowbox or a photographers paper edge around the photo, and my favorite part i can use cute little fonts! hundreds of them! i mean, how boring are the three blogger fonts we get to choose from?! if i don't want to post it right then, i just save it for a different day or a different week! when i am ready to post it on my blog i simply click the "publish" button and it magically appears on my blog, exactly as i wrote it!

there it is, my new little secret to the cute fonts that many of you have asked me about! now, go check it out and be converted because why be boring and frustrated when you can be original and in control, no longer a slave to blogger post lameness!

our evening of lights

for the fourth of july we had our 3rd annual bbq with the dimit's down the street. after too much food was consumed we waddled out to the street for the fireworks display.

kawena had been outside watching some fireworks that were being set off by some neighbors down the street and seemed to be enjoying them. however, the enjoyment turned to terror when the first one of our fireworks was lit.

 

apparently, the close proximity was too much for her.  it was all too loud and too bright and scary. here's a close-up of our poor baby as her lip begins to pout out just before the screaming started:

this is were we spent the rest of the evening watching the fireworks, all warm and comfy in the la-Z boy chair inside the house:

she was perfectly happy inside. every once in awhile i'd ask if she wanted to go outside and she would say "jes" (yes). i'd get up and walk to the door and she would start to whimper! needless to say we stayed inside until it was all over!

the sparklers were a favorite of the kids! they make the funniest pictures, too. i was bummed that i didn't have my tripod, we lost the attachment. these would have been much clearer had i not had to hand hold the camera with the shutter open for so long! they still turned out fun, though!

lala

nani

nani

fireworks are something that our little ones have needed to get used to. i remember we had to watch fireworks from inside our house for the first 4 years of nani's life. now, it seems, kawena may need a little time to get used to them, as well. lala, on the other hand, never had a problem with them. we have called her, from time to time, our little firecracker, maybe that has something to do with it?!

uhhh...a little help please!!

 

having difficulty finding time to blog. hopefully, it will get better once my mom leaves! having a great time and loving her being here!