Date with Mommy

Charlie was having a pretty sad day a couple of weeks ago, and so I decided to take him on a "date" to the mall. We went to one of his favorite places in the mall: the goldfish pond in the center of the mall. Then I took him up the escalator, and purchased some "dip-n-dots" for him. This was a new experience for him, and he charished every bight! He insisted on stopping, lounging on a bench, and people watching (lol)

Memorial Day Weekend

Our family went to Idaho for Memorial Day weekend (for 6 days!).  We had so much fun!  Part of the way there, I took my camera out to take a picture of Charlie and Sydney, and -- well, it was COMPLETELY out of battery!  Argh!  How did I miss that one?  I'm normally really good at remembering to recharge my camera the moment it says that it's low, but I missed it this time :-(   Anyway...

It was so relaxing to just BE on the expansive beauty of 160 acres of northern Idaho.  I mean, as we arrived we could feel all of the stressful cares of home melt off of our shoulders.  Imagine being on a prairie with slightly rolling grassy hills.  You look toward the north and north-east, and you're looking at a small mountain covered in evergreens.  You look toward the west and south-west, and you're gazing upon more green luscious plains that are far below you where cows, sheep and other such farm animals graze on delicious brilliant green grass.  It was so peaceful being there.

David and I had such a wonderful time reconnecting with his family.  I, as well, had some really good individual visits with Mary, Jessica, and Rebecca.  It felt so good to hear and share the ways God has been working in each of our lives!  Also, this was the first time Todd and Rebecca met their little niece, and I think they thought she was adorable!  (No partiality coming from me, of course... lol).

Oh, yeah!  And while we were visiting, I did Karaoke for the FIRST TIME EVER!!!  It was SOOOOOOOO fun!!!  Jessica and Darin had a Karaoke machine on loan from a friend of theirs, so we all sang!  Some of the song choices were hilariously inappropriate, but it made us all just die with laughter.  Everyone sang solos, and Stephen and David sang a couple of duets (including "California Girls" by The Beach Boys).  David and I also sang a duet, Jessica and Darin sang a couple of duets, and the little girls sang a TON of songs (they all have such beautiful voices).  We all had an absolute blast, and now I'm on the hunt for a karaoke machine (lol).

On Sunday we went up to Sandpoint to visit Talia and Jacob, Kayla and Patrick, and all 5 little boys.  It was so good to see them!  I had really good heart-to-heart talks with Talia and Kayla (I only cried ONCE about Theo, so that's not TOO bad), and Charlie got to hike to the river with Patrick and the other boys.  It was too short of a visit, though, I must say (only about 4 hours)... but I guess, as I've been told, "Be thankful for what little you have, and maybe more will come."  I suppose that applies here, although I cried on my way back from Sandpoint because I miss my sister so much (sigh).

All in all, we had a really great time in Idaho, and we can't wait until we're able to make another trip out there!

Moving

Well, as many of you already know, David and I are getting ready for yet ANOTHER move!  This one will be not as difficult, though, because we're just moving upstairs (lol).  So last week and this week we've been packing... and moving a few of our things upstairs.  The official move will happen this coming Saturday and Sunday, and I can't WAIT!!  I'm so excited to get to see daylight again!  As much as living in this daylight basement has been a true blessing, I'm thanking Him even more now knowing that we get to move upstairs!

I think my kids are starting to feel the impending change.  Today Charlie resisted pretty much everything I asked him to do.  I told him to stand near me in the grocery store and he did for maybe 5 seconds before walking half-way down the isle away from me.  I told him to get into his car seat, and he tried to climb into the trunk instead (I was in the middle of putting the groceries into the car).  I told him to go sit on the "naughty chair" for 3 minutes, and he'd say, "No... ONE minute," and then squint right at me in a challenging way.  Ooooo... today was NOT a good day for Charlie!  But... we all have those days, right?  Today was just one of those days for him (sigh).

Sydney on the other hand, was the perfect little angel today.  It's like they pass the baton back and forth to each other (LOL), because yesterday was her bad and whiny day.  Ah well...  This too shall pass, so I've heard :-)

Sydney's 1st Birthday!!!

One year ago today, I gave birth to my baby girl. I felt like celebrating today just because she'd survived her first year with ME as her mom (LOL). I'm just kidding! We went to Red Robin for dinner... just the four of us :-) It was nice. We ate dinner, and then our server brought out an ice cream sundae for her! They sang the birthday song, and she dove into her ice cream! Well, she dove into the whipped cream... handfuls! It was awesome, and hilarious to watch! All in all, it was a really great day :-)

A Family Drive

Yesterday I fed the kids breakfast, and then lunch, and then we all went for a drive.  Well, when Sydney eats sweet potatoes, she gets really lethargic and limp, and then she throws up.  Both times this has happened, sweet potatoes were a "right-before-bed" food, but by the next morning she would be completely back to her old self again.  Well, after she ate lunch yesterday (first time eating a fruit medley"), she started acting really limp and lethargic.  I thought maybe she was just tired, so we threw the kids in the car for a drive, and hoped that the car ride would put her to sleep.  About 10 minutes out, she threw up all over herself and the car seat!!  I still was thinking, "She didn't eat any sweet potatoes, so this must be a bug that she's caught from one of her cousins... dang it!"  We drove home, and after she snuggled with me for an hour, she got up and was back to being herself again.  Weird, huh?  There must have been something in that fruit medley that she hadn't had before and that she was allergic to... hmmm.

Because of the difficulty of trying to get the material off of that car seat two or three times in the past (when Charlie's spilled smoothie all over it when it was still HIS car seat), I refuse to do it this time!  I'd had it with that stupid car seat, and I would not take it apart again!  So... I splurged.  I took Charlie on a little outing last night, and we went on a hunt for a new car seat for Sydney.  We went to Target, Walmart, and finally ended up at Baby's 'R' Us.  I'm so happy with the car seat we ended up with!  It's pink, and has butterflies all over it!!!  I LOVE IT!!!  Yay for girls!

Blazers vs. 76ers

My mom and I went to a Blazer game last night, and it was the BEST GAME EVER!!!  Although, I must say that I believe we would have actually WON if the referees would have actually called things correctly!!  I'm serious!  It was bad call after bad call after bad call!  I'm still a bit peeved about it (huff and puff).  They kept calling fouls on our guys, when it CLEARLY was the apposing team who'd fouled OUR player.  It was pretty frustrating when it was the end of the fourth quarter, Portland: 96, Phili: 94... 20 seconds left on the clock... the whistle blows!  WHAT???  Our guy did NOT foul!!!  The 76er was TOTALLY charging!!!  They show the replay of it on the Jumbo-tron, and it's OBVIOUSLY a bad call.  Booing starts.  I mean it's LOUD, and it lasts (I'm not kidding you) about 3 full minutes!  I've never been to a game where the booing lasted that long.  We just kept booing and booing.  The Blazer coach (I can't remember his name) came immediately out to argue with the referee, but the ref. wouldn't change the call.  The booing just kept going and going and going!  The other team makes both free-throws, tying up the game.  (It was disheartening.)  The game went into overtime, and the 76ers won the game, 114 to 106.  SO disappointing, but a fun game to watch nonetheless ;-)

Pictures of the Kids

Decided to let his pet worm take a turn on the swing (lol):