More Visitors!

We were so excited to have more visitors last week. My brother, sister-in-law, and nephews were at our house from Thursday until Saturday! My mom even came to stay too.

Thursday afternoon, they met us at the beach. The tide was out and it was muddy, but it was perfect for looking for shells. The boys had never been to a beach before and they left with quite the beg of shells. My cousin and her two boys (2 1/2 and 3 weeks) met us there too and the kids had a great time playing. All of the kids got dirty and wet (except Lovey, but he doesn't like to be dirty). They loved digging in the mud and it was a beautiful day at the beach.

The next morning the girls enjoyed some shopping at Nordstroms while the boys took the kids to the children's museum. They quickly found the sand and dinosaurs and started playing. As if we hadn't played dinosaurs enough. By the time we got back from shopping, they were in the pool in our backyard.

Saturday we went to the Country Cider Mill to enjoy some apple fritters and doughnuts. Yum!!! They are the best apple fritters! Lovey led us through the maze they had their and then we walked around to look at the animals.

 Walking to the other side of the farm.

Holding her bag behind her back, so the goats wouldn't steal the food.

Littlebit loved having her aunt help her feed the goats.

This goat knew how to bring the food up there and as soon as we walked over, he started up the ramp.

Riding the small carousel after looking at the animals.

We were sad to see them go on Saturday, but so happy that they could come stay with us for a few days. Lovey is already planning our trip to their house.

Littlebit saying goodbye to her cousin and uncle.

Spring Break

I love that Littlebit and Lovey were able to see all of their grandparents this week, some even twice!

Nana and Grandpa and Grandma were here for Easter. What fun! The kids love when they come because it is someone new to play and read with. But usually there are no naps when they come for the holidays, so the kids were soooo tired that evening.

On Wednesday we made the trip to see Nana. We were also able to see Grandpa too. The kids loved playing at Nana's work and spent time at the park too with Grandpa. Again no nap and by three, Littlebit was exhausted. We didn't get home until 10:30 that night and boy did I pay for it the next day. It was still worth it though for them to see Grandpa and Nana. Plus Grandpa sent us home with halibut and blackberry pie and we had a delicious dinner with Nana and Scott.

Grandpa and Grandma came to pick up the kids on Saturday to stay at there house for the night. They love to go there too. We met them yesterday to pick up the kids and again they were sooo tired from staying up late. Hopefully I don't pay for that today! Littlebit and Lovey always have fun at their grandparents and we were able to get quite a few errands crossed off our list while they were gone.

What a blessing to be able to see family so many times this week!

Our camping adventure

Since the weather has been nice and it was Big Daddy's three day weekend, we decided to go camping over the weekend. Why do my great ideas always turn into a folly.

We actually got out of the house on time, but leaving town was another story. We drove all over looking for the Starbucks instant coffee to take with us, but we couldn't find any.

After stopping at my work and to visit my mom, we finally made it to our destination. There were very few people in the campground, so we had a lot of sites to choose from. We chose the site with the biggest area for the kids to run around. After setting up our tent and getting things situated, we decided to go the general store.

It was at this point that Lovey became stuck in his car seat. Seriously. I laughed and laughed and I am still laughing because really what can you do. One of the latches would not release and he was stuck. We have had this car seat for 4 years because Lovey still fits in it, but I guess 4 years of daily use and crumbs being spilled into it caused it to stop working - with Lovey in it. The nearest store I could think of that would sell car seats was Walmart and it was 45 minutes away. I hate Walmart and this visit reinforced that. I finally left the store with a booster seat even though Lovey is not quite 40lbs, but I wasn't spending $200 on a car seat.

We were ready to cut Lovey out of the car seat and stopped by my dad's for some scissors. Dad was able to free Lovey from his car seat (it had been over 2 hours) and we installed the booster anyways. (Dad later put some WD-40 in the latch and it seems to be working again.)

We finally made it back to the campsite, well after the kids' dinner time. We roasted hot dogs and made smores (or snores as Lovey called them). My mom and Scott came out for dinner too.

After freezing all night long, we went hiking in the beautiful sunshine. Littlebit had to be carried some of the way to the waterfall, but Lovey walked the 1.5 miles.


That night we made hot dogs again, but we were rained on so we didn't make smores. My mom and Scott left early and we crawled in the tent to read books.

By Sunday I was tired. Our air mattress deflated during the night and the ground was rocky. (whine, whine, whine) On our way out of town we had a delicious lunch at my grandparent's to celebrate my grandpa's birthday.

It was a crazy weekend, but we had fun.

New nephew

My new nephew was born Thursday. His name is Dylan. My brother and sister-in-law didn't quite make it to the hospital. He was born as they were pulling off of the freeway. My sister-in-law delivered her own baby and my brother had to use his shoelace to tie off the umbilical cord. What a crazy story. Thankfully everyone is healthy. I just wish we lived closer, so I could go see them.

Blessings

So after my whining about my disasterous dinner and complaining about colds, I feel I should think about all of the things I am thankful for. Things could be much worse and my family has many blessings. I am thankful for:

*Healthy children, really it was a little cold.
*A home
*A job
*My family. I have great parents, in-laws - who take the kids for an entire weekend, a brother, his wife, my nephew and his future sibling.
*My friends
*My husband who is painting our bedroom right now and I'm not. Lovey is helping him and it is a true test of husband's patience. Littlebit who is sleeping and allowing mommy-time.

There are so many more blessings in my life, but after my whining last night I thought maybe I should focus on the blessings and not the roadblocks.

This is going to be a long school year.

Littlebit misses Lovey when he is at school. It is only his second day, but as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, she started crying. She cried when we got back in the car and wanted me to hold her the entire time he was gone. She is done with a morning nap, so I can't get anything done. She didn't do this when he was at camp this summer, so hopefully this is a short-lived phase, or it is going to be a long school year.