My Water Babies

This week we had swimming lessons with Kirstin!

Each morning after breakfast we donned our suits, drove over to Kirstin's apartments and all hopped in the pool.

Sarah and Natalie took lessons one right after another.

Angela and I swam and played in the water during the lessons with Sarah or Natalie when it wasn't their turn for lessons. So we got lots of good, quality swim time in!

Here are some fun pics from this week . . .

I love this picture of Natalie
The girls looking cute in their matching suits we found at Costco. They were so excited to find matching ones in each of there sizes - it took some searching!

Angela is very content with her floaties on. (o: She got off easy this week.

Sarah made amazing strides this week! She was doing laps across the pool today. She learned the front crawl/freestyle, breast stroke (or froggy stroke according to Sarah) and the backstroke this week! She did about 5 laps for her final lesson today. (25 feet or yards?? each. I can't remember.) When we got home she changed and almost fell asleep on the couch she was so tired. (o: I was so proud of her - she used to be so scared in the water, but not anymore! Good Job Sarah!

Natalie did really good too.

She struggled at first, but by the end of her first lesson she was getting her face completely under the water and started learning the front crawl. By this morning, she was swimming almost all the way across (the short way) the pool. I don't know what happened, but she suddenly got really scared and just stopped doing anything in the middle of her last lesson. It took me 45 minutes of pep talks to talk her into just jumping in and doing a couple strokes with me before we left. She said she remembered drowning once when she was 5 and couldn't get it out of her mind. Obviously, she didn't actually drown, but she must have remembered a scary feeling when she thought she was going to drown. (?) I wanted her to leave on a good note so she finally got brave and did a few strokes all by herself just before it was time to go. Poor thing. We'll just keep trying.

Natalie and Kirstin keeping warm in the cool water. (o:

Demonstrating the breast stroke. (o:

Silly Nat. (o:

Sarah took this one of Angela and I snuggling to keep warm! (O: It was a little cool this morning.

Here are a couple videos of the girls showing off what they've learned.

Here's a cute one of Sarah - there are some noisy background moments - Angela shivering, the lawnmower going, etc. But it's still cute.

Michael Jackson Dies

I'm in shock.

For the last 20 years Michael Jackson's life has just seemed to spiral out of control. I'll admit I haven't been the most loyal fan. Once he started going through all his weird plastic surgeries, I just didn't know quite what to think and I moved on.

But back in the day, Michael Jackson was an icon, an idol. He was the pinnacle of fame and I was a fan through and through. Michael Jackson's Thriller album was the first cassette tape I ever REALLY REALLY wanted. Before that I didn't really care about any particular rock group or musician.

When I was in third grade, my aunt Amy bought me the Thriller cassette tape, (for a birthday maybe??) I still remember how much that meant to me and my joy in discovering my gift - I even remember where I was when I opened/saw my gift. We were at a mall and I was standing in a department store surrounded by clothes. The memory is burned in my mind forever - that's how important that moment was for me. (She also gave me a Culture Club cassette with it - anyone remember Boy George?) Maybe that's one reason why she's still one of my most favorite people! (o:

I listened to that tape nonstop and wore my Michael Jackson pin with the above picture on my acid washed jean jacket every day to school. We didn't have MTV at my house, but I remember visiting aunt Jill's apartment and parking myself in front of her TV hoping and waiting for the Thriller music video to come on. It was all anybody ever talked about in third grade - 1983-84. Just about every girl had a huge crush on Michael, boys tried to dance like him, everyone tried to do the 'moonwalk' - he was HUGE. There isn't really anyone I can think of that can compare to the near 'worship status' that Michael Jackson held for people back in the 80's. Not even close.

So even though me and millions of others kind of lost interest when Michael started heading down the path of weirdness, I still marvel at the icon he once was (and actually continued to be for many) and I mourn his untimely death. I'm grateful for the fun memories and will always love the Thriller album. It's classic and it brings back so many memories. We recently bought the Thriller music video off of ITunes and now I can watch it whenever I want. (in our day of instant gratification - "back in my day, we had to wait for hours for MTV to play the music videos we wanted to see.") I will always remember the Michael from those days - good times.

And as one friend I talked to today said, "I hope wherever he is now, that there is good therapy." (o: Poor Michael - he had such a tragic life. His untimely death, unfortunately, kind of fit the theme of his life.

He was an amazingly talented man...

A Very Belated Birthday Party!

My very patient 6 year old who waited 2 months for this special event! (o:

Happy Birthday Nat!
Even with how crazy it was getting ready, it sure turned out cute and the girls LOVED it!
That made it all worth it. They were adorable.
Angela didn't get to stay and enjoy this little party because the wind was freaking her out.
She decided playing with her friend Matthew sounded way more fun. Thanks Rebecca!

Mag's hat was too cute!

This is what it was all about - that cute smile!

What a fun time. The girls LOVED taking manners lessons from Madame Jen. They were amazingly good at remembering to say "Dear, could you please pass . . .", "Thank you darling" and "You look stunning today". I love that they thought my manners lessons were so funny and fun. (How much longer will my kids think I'm funny? I better enjoy that while I can. Sarah's already picking up on the fact that I'm a little nerdy. (o: ) Anyway, all the girls REALLY got into being so proper and fancy. That made it such a fun time!

Everyone decorated their own "tea cups" too.

Unfortunately, this ended up being almost as much of a flop as the cupcakes when the "permanent" marker washed off of Sarah's and Natalie's cups the next day! DRAT!

I can't win.

Luckily, those who hand washed their cups still had the cute decorations remaining and I was able to get a hold of almost everyone else before their cups went through the wash!

"Here are the cupcakes, dear. Darling could you pass the crackers? Ohh, Madame Brooke, your dress is just lovely. . . "

Madame Sarah entertained the lovely guests with reading Fancy Nancy and a princess story. She was a big help.

I was also so very, very grateful that my friend Rebecca's sweet 11 year old, Hannah, stayed to help me out. She was a lifesaver!!

The Flop

A mother's guilt knows no bounds . . .

Natalie's birthday was over 2 months ago.

I have been feeling guilty about not ever getting a friend birthday party together for her for that entire time. I kept putting it off, I just didn't have the energy on top of all the other stuff I was doing at the time. But things never slowed down, so I finally just decided we better do it anyway.

I decided to make it easy on myself and just have Natalie invite her two closest friends that live right by us. That was the plan. We decided we'd do a cute little princess tea party with her two buddies. But then I got to worrying that some of her other friends might hear about it and feel bad. I didn't want any of her cute friends to feel bad. Plus it would be fun for her to have 1 or 2 more friends come too. But it didn't stop there . . .

This pattern continued until we got to 11 little girls and I finally HAD to stop. Why do I do this to myself? But then on the other hand, I'd rather have a little chaos than be the one to make one of Natalie's sweet, little friends feel bad. So we celebrated Natalie's birthday party with lots of friends in June! It was a little embarrassing when people asked when her real birthday was. Oh well. (o:

Because Natalie had to wait so long, I wanted to really make it worth her while.

I have a darling book called "Hello Cupcake" with incredible cupcake recipes.

I have been wanting to try making something from the book and wanted Natalie to feel extra special, so when she was very excited about these cute princesses, I was happy to make them for her. Aren't they darling? Yeah, just wait . . .

It was, not surprisingly, a pretty complicated process. The biggest pain was rolling out these gumdrops into sheets so I could cut them into the dress for the princess. It took over an hour and Vern* had to make an emergency gumdrop trip to Winco because, silly me!, I didn't get enough and thought I could make these babies the night before the party. Ha! I got as far as rolling out the "fabric" for the dresses (which turned out to be not quite big enough circles), stacking the little cupcakes on the big cupcakes for the body, and getting the cookie heads "glued" to the pretzel sticks. I ran out of steam around 11:30 p.m. and went to bed.

I rolled out 12 of these gumdrop sheets.

Then the day of the party arrived. We had a BUSY day - swimming lessons all morning, then we rushed to the library for a fun show I registered the girls for. Oh how I wish my camera battery hadn't died. It was a show by a cute clown lady, I think she called herself Madame Pearl. She was so much fun and my girls could not get enough of her. Sarah got to go up and help her juggle and all three girls participated in all her funny games and tricks at the end. It will be one of those few memories I didn't capture with pictures. (except on my cell phone - but I can't remember how to get them off.)

Anyway, we had a lovely day, but after Madame Pearl, it was time to get down to business! We had 2 1/2 hours to prepare for the princess tea party. I went into insane mode - taking tables and chairs out to the yard, pruning back the apple and Asian pear tree branches, moving the tables back and forth, figuring out what to do with a dead bird I found by the gate everyone would be entering, decorating, running to pick up 2 dozen balloons - [where one of the bunches came undone and started blowing all over the place in the gusty winds we had that day - I must have looked ridiculous and pathetic trying to wrangle 24 balloons in the back of my van in the tornado winds (not really, but that makes it funnier) - because two nice ladies ran over to help. By the time we got them all in, there were only 2 casualties. Angela was the only who noticed two of the balloons flying off into space.], getting the "tea" lemonade and food ready, gathering items needed for our craft and activities, ever so sweetly telling the girls to help out, get in their princess clothes and PLEASE stop fighting, wishing I had asked someone to help since I knew Tim* wouldn't be able to get home early, etc. etc. etc. Oh and I almost forgot to mention Angela's sudden, totally irrational fear of the wind that kept gusting and blowing the balloons and table clothes off the tables. She was hysterical. In all that insanity, I also planned to finish the princess cupcakes too. What in the heck was I thinking? I could see that wasn't going to happen.

So although I felt horrible, I had to explain to Natalie that we'd have to finish the **&@#, I mean, adorable cupcakes later and maybe take them around to her friends. She was such a sweetheart about it. In fact, she was just so excited about the tea party part, she didn't seem to care at all. Luckily, I had extra mini cupcakes that we were able to serve for her "birthday cake" and all the girls were just fine with those because we had so much other food. And I stressed over these so much because why????

After the party on Wednesday, I was too exhausted to even think about finishing those darn cupcakes. The next day was another busy day and the cupcake bodies sat waiting again. Finally on Sunday, I decided it was getting ridiculous. I didn't want to throw them away and waste all the work I'd already done. I left out a few details just so I could get them done, but this is how they turned out. Kind of like comparing the Mona Lisa to a preschooler's art . . .

He He. Well, I tried.

The way too short dresses are my favorite part. (eyes rolling)

The cutest part, however, was that the girls thought they were absolutely magical.

They thought the princesses (and king for daddy) turned out amazing!

They relished each stale bite of cupcake and each chew of the sticky gumdrop dresses.

I am grateful for very forgiving daughters who think that my pathetic attempts to do amazing things for them are . . . well, amazing. That is not always the case, but this time it was.

By the way, these did not get passed out to the honored guests from the tea party. I have too much pride to take stale, funny looking cupcakes around to 5 and 6 year olds. (Even though I'm sure they would have thought they were "amazing" too. (o: and their mom's probably would have gotten a good laugh!)

Red Socks for Church

Angela is taking after her big sister in the wardrobe department.

There are days when I just have to grin and bear it.

I want to choose my battles and give the girls a little freedom to make their own choices.

And since red socks fit my criteria of being appropriate for the weather, modest and not too inappropriate for the activity/place we were going - how could I argue?

Especially considering how pretty Angela felt wearing them. She thought they were so pretty.

A good friend who has a very creative dresser herself, told me that one day when she put up a fight with her daughter to wear what SHE wanted her to wear to Kindergarten, she noticed a change in the way her daughter acted at school. (She went in to assist the teacher often.) She said that her daughter was much more reserved and not as confident wearing what mom wanted her to wear. That was the last time she told her daughter what to wear. This girl is now going into 6th grade and still loves quirky fashion (she reminds me a lot of Natalie), but she has so much confidence and is such a fun person to be around.

I think I have been fairly good at letting my girls be themselves, but this friend's experience will help me to bite my tongue on those days when I want to say, "stripes and plaid are WAY too busy", "Brown does not go with black!", "You have so many cute matching outfits in your drawers that never get worn.", etc. etc. I will try to let it go more often . . .

Monica's First Communion

During grandma and grandpa's visit, we went to join Monica's celebration of her First Communion. She looked so beautiful! It meant so much to us that she and her mom attended Sarah's baptism day, so we couldn't miss this special day for her! Sarah was excited to give Monica her flowers and we had a great time meeting Monica's family and horses! She lives right across the street from us on lots of land, but I haven't ever been able to explore their backyard until now. It was so neat!
This is a new horse Monica's dad recently brought from Mexico. She (he?) is a dancing horse! This guy was having her do some neat tricks! It was really neat. I think this is the same guy that was getting Sarah to dance to the fun Mexican music that played while we were in line getting food. (O: That was pretty funny and I was impressed that Sarah came out of her shell and danced a little! (o:

Natalie LOVED the horses and giving them snacks!

Angela and I were a little more timid.

The two week old pony - awwww.

Eva has so many fun things set up in her backyard for the kids to do - the inflatable bouncing house and trampoline and this little merry-go-round were a big hit!

Best Birthday Ever

I honestly had the best birthday this year! It must be the kid in me, but I really like having birthdays. Having my in-laws here was the best present I could have gotten! It was so great! We decided to do something we haven't done in Oregon before, but is a very popular summer past time. We went strawberry picking at a local farm. I was surprised how excited everyone else was about it - that made it extra fun for me. All the girls got really into it, even the ones who don't care for sweet strawberries. They were so proud when they found big ones and we had quite the stash of strawberries by the time we were done.

After we bought our strawberries, we explored the farm.

There was an old playground . . .

beautiful flowers . . .

a huge tire swing . . .

a baby cow, baby pigs . . .

and baby ducklings - see Sarah's expression, "ooooh those are SO cute" she is saying.

We had a great time. It was a fun farm, a little quirky (like finding the pig that wasn't breathing )o: ), but it's such a neat experience for the kids to see what farm life is like and the people there are so nice.

Shortly after we left it started raining and we headed for Subway for lunch.

Later Vern* joined us for a Papa Murphy's dinner and Star Wars movie. Yum - the Veggie Delight pizza is the best! We also had poundcake with our fresh strawberries for my "birthday cake". It was the best.

I used my brand new Royal Red Kitchenaid (thanks honey) to whip up the whipped cream for the strawberry poundcake. It's so fun to whip cream with one of these! Especially when it's red!

Mom and dad sent me some beautiful flowers which was a really sweet surprise and made my day! Thanks mom!!

My sweet friend Angie brought the yummiest cookies ever - she is so thoughtful. It meant a lot to me. (o:

And Shannan gave me some beautiful Gerbera Daisies (RED!) Which have looked so gorgeous on my counter next to the red Kitchenaid! (O:

Thanks everyone for the sweet gifts, phone calls, and birthday wishes. I felt so loved and love all of you too!

A Wonderful Visit!!

We had the BEST start to our summer with a visit from grandma and grandpa P. They arrived the day after school got out and got to stay a little longer than the last visit which was soooo nice! We were thrilled to have them! It's always such a fun time when they visit. The only thing that could have made our 4 days together better was if Bob* didn't have to deal with work crap almost the whole time. Sorry to use such "strong" language, but it has been pretty crappy for poor Bob* lately and that's actually a really mild adjective. So back to the fun stuff . . .
We had a wonderful time visiting a local farm - more on that in the next post - eating good food, laughing and just hanging out together. It was so great to have them here for my birthday and father's day! That made our week extra special. Life is happier with grandma and grandpa!

Grandma and grandpa brought the coolest books for the girls. We had fun looking through them together - one had amazing pictures of ocean life and the other was called "Incredible Earth" and also had awesome pictures. We had fun learning new and interesting facts about the world. Like, for instance, did you know that some species of starfish live in the freezing waters near Antarctica? Amazing. (o:

One of Sarah's favorite things to do when grandma comes is to play all her latest piano songs and then play duets with her. It really is sweet and will be such a special memory for her as she gets older. I love that they share a love of music.

I think Natalie will be making grandma hold her until she's 14 years old! (o: What a good sport grandma is.