B.S.C.

success

the first day of 1st and 4th grade was a success!

the girls woke up to a little morning first day celebration.

and then they were very patient while i took some pictures

and i fell in love with them all over again in this dreamy light

miss gracie wore a shirt from the nordy's sale, tractor shorts and purple converse

and how cool are her shoes?  i want a pair.  unfortunately she picked a scab right after she put her shoes on.  we had a little blood to deal with.  she was freaked out that it might get on her new shoes.

she was so cheerful and independent this morning.  it was a little bittersweet.  and i was very thankful that they were so excited to take pictures.  i think it was the sign.  she was so excited about it that she wants to save it for her scrapbook.  

once home, she reported having a great day.  her cheers at dinner time was to a great first day of school.  she, DID NOT, however want me going through her back pack.  she emptied it out on her own.  cleaned out her lunch bag and gave me the papers i needed.  i don't know how long that will last, but i sure liked it!

this one woke up first this morning.

she came out of her room dressed and went downstairs to look for me-i was drying my hair-when she saw me she said that she saw the decorations downstairs already, but she could pretend to be surprised when we went back downstairs.  ha!  i assured her it wasn't that serious.  i think she had flashbacks to the christmas morning the flip recorder wasn't on...

anyway, she was so excited this morning that she was practically bouncing off the walls. miss annie chose to wear a cute little plaid number from crazy 8 complete with a matching headband.  she had matching clogs but they are still a little big.  sadly, the cute pair of shoes from nordy's that she decided to wear turned out to be not very comfortable.  grrreeeeaaaat.  that's money well spent. 

3 things about that picture 1. there's that dreamy light again 2. when i see that sweet, happy scrunch face i want to cry 3.  what are we going to do when annie stops wearing headbands?

when annie got home, she reported having a great day, loving her teacher and making a new friend (her locker partner).  success!

this one was really giving me a some nice smiles today.  

the bus was a little wonky. it came from the other way and the kdis all scrambled to get to the other side of the road so all i got was this.

they had a great afternoon and evening playing with friends, going on a little bike ride (annie is finally motivated to ride her bike and realizes she's the only six year old in the world who still rides with training wheels), a nice dinner with mommy (that i have to report with joy...EVERYONE ate and i didn't cook anything extra...unabashed bragging here...my girls asked for seconds of broccoli. BROCCOLI.) one 1/2 hour show and then reading before bed. 

happy new school year!

first day

back to school today.  wishing these two a fabulous year.  i LOVE them so much!  

more photos to come tonight!

 

last day

i have three blog posts, but i don't think i have time to get them done before my bedtime in 10 minutes!!

post 1: the last day

before the bus came this morning

she's a little dramatic with her "cheese"

who looks excited to be done?

this is not a great shot but it's so "annie." 

this is too.

and that is what you get when the kids come running off the bus and you are rapid fire shooting.  i kind of close my eyes and cross my fingers.

and what's a photo op without funny faces?

annie completed kindergarten

 

and one last photo (taken on the way to see Cars 2)

other memories of today:  a great morning. girls super cooperative and ready to go without fuss. mama brought panera lunch a small godiva treat. cars 2 with the friedrichsen's. skinny dip yogurt (mama had to make good on her promise to annie. that will be my next post).  a stop at central market to buy ingredients for carameletos. shake and go for dinner (not the healthiest eating day for us!) and playing with the neighbor kids the rest of the evening. 

welcome summer!
 

at the patch

and surprisingly BSC-less.  

we all need a break sometimes, right?  and it's a good thing because we were there FIVE, yes FIVE hours. 

remlinger farms, where for a mere $65 for a family of four, you too, can ride shitty little carnie rides that make you fear for your life and feed petting zoo animals that may or may not give you ecoli....

and, incomprehensibly, your kids LOVE. which is priceless, really.  no really, is it?

it's also priceless to spend the day with your best "couple-friends?"

does that sound weird?

 

 

hi baby b.  he was a dream. sweet boy. then i had to go and ruin it and say "just think next year he'll be rolling in the dirt and eating it."

well hello miss a. this little one was gracie's shadow most of the day. and gracie didn't mind one bit.

i love how her hair is pretty much the same color as the hay. 

unfortunately, the down side to being as petite as a baby pumpkin is that your pants are rather loose.  massive amounts of hay made its way down the back of those pants. it wasn't until her daddy took her to the bathroom and discovered the source of her discomfort, that she felt herself. 

annie was concerned with the hay in her crocs. huh.  last i checked it was fall, cold and rainy.  i am thinking crocs aren't the best choice for the pumpkin farm but really, what the hell do i know?

gracie boiled in the witch's cauldron. (that's her terrified face)

and then so did daddy.

notice his fingers.  that's for me.  we do love each other, really, we do.  he just thinks he's WAY funnier than he really is.

then we rode this roller coaster three times and i thought for sure that the third time would be a charm and i'd be plunging to my death.  i'm thinking they don't have the same maintenance schedule as say...the rides in disneyland.  and seriously i'm not sure my nostril could be any larger in that picture.  thanks hon.

and a cute group photo with.  wait. what's that? a spiffy biffy?  with the spiffy biffy in the background.  nice composition.

and here is a prime example that my kids are finally getting used to me saying "stand there and do  XXX" so i can get a decent picture.

they were so excited to be at the patch, it was hard to keep up with them

 

annie finds her pumpkin.  a little one was hard to find.  she's going to paint it.

daddy, mommy, annie pumpkins.  gracie had a hard time deciding.

daddy's pumpkins

a trip to the beach

last weekend, we went to cannon beach to remember grandpa mike, eric's dad.  

the girls haven't really spent any time on a real sandy beach on the ocean.  they both LOVED it.  in fact, every time annie was in the sand she went a little crazy.  surprising, no?

the view from our place friday evening. we stayed here in this room. which i would recommend to anyone with kids. two words...separate rooms AND there was no funky beach smell (read musty) to be smelled.  

nothing like a ultra healthy breakfast to start off saturday morning at the cannon beach bakery.  i had a flavorless scone.  so mad i wasted the calories.

annie's first encounter with the beach

beach shadows

obligatory writing in the sand

heading into the kite store

a lot of kite photos because i just like them. they may not be perfect, but they're emotionally perfect.

then we went to the tide pools

and then annie really started geeking out 

i personally like this one.  sometimes, it's just hard to keep your pants up.

a make-shift sand castle. notice the nice rip in the knee of her pants.  she fell coming out of the kite store, so hard that it split her new pants right in two.  later that day she pinched her finger in a door.  it was NOT her day.

after breakfast on sunday there was more kite flying. daddy was getting annie with the kite and gracie was saving her...i think.

a nice weekend.  we're looking forward to going back when the weather is a little warmer!  yes, it looks sunny, but mama was cold!

it's hard to believe

today marks a year since eric's dad passed away from cancer.

it's been a hard day. i've been thinking about grandpa mike a lot today.   

a teacher at the girls' school passed away this morning.  

witnessing the grief that her coworkers and students are feeling takes me right back to October 5th, 2009. my prayers and thoughts go out to the family, friends and students of Jessica Otto.

my prayers and thoughts are also with my husband, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, mike's siblings and his dad.  

i think i've thought about grandpa mike almost every day this past year. there have been some days i've gone most of the day being so caught up in the daily trivial aspects of life, that i forget that mike is gone.  but when night comes and i'm lying in bed trying to find quiet and peace, the loss is so huge that i feel like i can't breathe. that my heart might, in fact, burst.

i still can't really wrap my head around the fact that he was taken from us such a brutal manner.  i don't know if i'll ever understand it.  i'm not sure i'll ever stop being just a tiny bit angry.    

i'm going to finish glee now. read my book. go to bed.  and start a new day tomorrow. 

our day: in summary

a zoo trip was one of my summer bucket list items

we got there around 9:45 and it was a wee bit chilly.  first stop, coffee and hot cocoa.

next stop, penguins.

 

and on the way to the bathroom, i remembered the arcade fire tickets went on sale.  i made them wait for ten minutes while i bought the tickets on my i phone.  that was fun, fumbling on that little screen.  thanks for being patient girls.

next stop, carousel ride. and get this...WITHOUT me!

and then we explored.   we liked the otters. 

and reading about the raptors

and watching the orangutans being feed blueberries by the zoo keeper. 

and taking another trip to the bathroom.

after almost 4 hours of zoo love, we made it to the last exhibit, the gorillas.  i noticed there was a camera man and a reporter milling around and i kind of kept and eye on them because the last thing i wanted was my arse in their shot. 

no.thank.you.

next thing i know, someone is tapping my shoulder.  it was the reporter.  can we talk to you?  you look nice.  

i was like, sure but what could you possibly be wanting to report about the gorillas?

turns out one escaped yesterday. i knew she was looking for a panicked reaction from me, but i really could have cared less at that point.  i just really wanted to get the hell out of the zoo and get to wallingford so i could get my trophy cupcake. it had been four hours and to be honest it's not my favorite place to begin with. i am sure i sounded like a total d-bag.  

after dragging the girls out of the strategically placed gift shop...without buying them anything...we went and got cupcakes.  which was more an event for me because the girls don't really like them all that much.

after cupcakes, they looked at a toy store.  of course i had to drag them out of there.  thank goodness for over active bladders. nothing like a trip to the bathroom to get out of saying no to more toys.  yes, another trip to the bathroom.

then we walked down to molly moon's. not to get ice cream, because we were all high from cupcake sugar shock, but just to check it out.  it was packed out!

then we headed to green lake, where we first had to make a starbucks pit stop. the girls love sharing the little snack pack with the apples, cheese and hard boiled egg.  finally a healthy snack that isn't carb-y crackers.

then they dipped their toes in the water.

then we went to the bathroom

then we took a paddle boat ride. they LOVED it.

these ducks followed us most of the way

annie was so giddy giddy from the excitement of the paddle boat she was cracking jokes right and left.  the best one...i commented on all the swimmers and annie says "is she wearing water wings?  giggle, giggle, giggle." Gosh that kid is funny. then she leans backs in her seat and rests her arms behind her head and says "THIS is a nice break from daddy's stinky toots." 

 

after the paddle boat ride, we went to the bathroom.  

then we walked on the dock.

and then we went to the bathroom.  yes, again.

after some time at the playground we drove to tutta bella only to discover the line was 5 miles long.

so we trekked over to u village and had dinner at our go-to place, pallino pastaria or whatever it's called.

with a bribe of a visit to look at the toy store, i drug the girls into the kitchen shop.  i really wanted to buy this super cute vintage looking ice bucket and a scone pan but i opted for the $20.00 bottle of madagascar vanilla.  ooh, i was so excited. 

we went to the toy store, where bought each girl a .90 cent toy pony but that was only because i fell in love with these super cute lunch boxes and showed them to the girls without looking at the price.  they fell in love with them too.

and then we had to check out the candy store.  we made our purchases and as i was heading out the door, arranging my bags. I DROPPED THAT DAMN BOTTLE OF MADAGASCAR VANILLA ON THE FLOOR where the bottle shattered into a million pieces. seriously?!?!?

losing my sun glasses and now this, i never deserve anything nice again. 

still, it was one of the best days ever.

and shockingly, no one had to go to the bathroom the rest of the evening.

   

 

a sad day

(photo taken february 26, 2010) 

great grams-eric's grandmother-passed away today. 

great grams was 94 years old.  we will surely miss her. 

one of the hardest parts about today was telling the girls. this is the third time we've had to do this since october. the looks on their little faces broke my heart. 

rest in peace great grams.  you were and are very, very loved.

ice cream

at mukilteo beach. brings back fond memories.

 look at me, intentionally getting lens flare. and annie wearing her 5 dollar earth day shirt early.  

annie don't you want to save it for earth day?

MAMA, i can wear it BOTH days.  (insert DUH here)

2009 favorites

i've been trying to do these sprinkles.   here's the latest. i couldn't keep it to just 12. these are some of my favorite photos in no particular order.