Living The Wong Way

Skiing with the kiddos

2009-12-29T23:30:00.000-08:00

I know it's been forever since I've updated my blog but I have felt like I should blog our Disney trip and that is just a mountain I haven't been able to climb. Alas, I am skipping Disney and maybe someday will get there.

Yesterday, Poy and I celebrated our 12 year "dating anniversary" by taking the kids night skiing. We have taken them both before and felt like they could move from the little beginner hill to a longer run. We did a few runs on "Bruno", the easy lift, and then decided to move to the big run. This was not necessarily the best idea. First, we didn't really know what exactly was open and what wasn't for night skiing. Second, we couldn't really find any of the "green circle" easy runs, so we ended up on blue (medium level) runs. Most of the run I held on to Nolan with his skis inside mine and Poy had Sophie in the same manner. The run was not very well groomed because there just isn't that much snow. At one point we had no way to get Nolan to the bottom of quite a steep drop so he had to remove his skis and slide down the slope on his rear! Poy held on to Sophie and went down the hill and crashed...into Nolan! He was fine though :) After that area Sophie and Poy got ahead of Nolan and I. We got moving too quickly and Nolan lost control, knocked me into the splits and he kept going. He was trying to sit down and stop and as I'm laying in the splits he is going, going and gone, over the edge and into the trees! Yikes! I finally got out of the splits and was able to get to him. I couldn't figure out how I was going to get him out. Poy had to take his skis off and get him out. Again, he was fine :) We finally made it to the chair lift and made it to the top of the mountain. At this point the kids were in tears cause they were cold and wanted to go home. We had only been there for 2 hours. I was thinking this was a wasted trip, but we decided to go inside and eat and warm up. After warming up and eating we decided to go back to Bruno and to stay there. We skied for another hour and a half and had so much fun! Both kids did awesome. We were so proud of how well they were doing. We'd get to the top of the mountain and both of them would just ski right down the mountain. Next time we take the kids skiing we will definitely be sticking to the beginner chair. It was much more fun and much less stressful. Anyway, here are some pics of our trip.

Sophie preparing for her ski trip!

Eating in the lodge

Nolan and Sophie with Smokey the Skiing bear

Nolan on the chair with me.

Sophie at the bottom of her first great run!

Nolan at the top of the mountain. He didn't even want to stop long enough to take this pic

Nolan on his way down, all smiles :)

Whistler Trip Anniversary Day!

2009-09-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

On our 3rd day of our Anniversary trip, it was our actual 10 year Anniversary. We decided to fill the day with activity, doing both the Peak to Peak gondola and a rafting trip! The Peak to Peak gondola goes something like this... First you get on a gondola to go up to the top of Whistler Mountain. We rode with a very nice family that gave us some good tips on what to do at the top. We then took a chair lift up to the very peak of Whistler. We hiked around and took some beautiful pictures. We then took that same chair back down to where we got on. We did some shopping at the Whistler Lodge. We then got onto the Peak to Peak gondola which takes you from the top of Whistler and across to the top of Blackcomb Mountain. I feel we made a bit of a mistake when we took this gondola... we decided to go on the "glass bottom" gondola which was super full and really not all that cool since the "glass bottom" is more like a small window in the bottom. I think we would have enjoyed it more had we had a less full gondola and just looked out the windows. Anyway, it was still cool. Once on Blackcomb, we walked around a bit and then took a chair to the bottom of Blackcomb. Here are lots of pictures :)

On the chair up to the peak of Whistler.

Poy on the chair... he looks a little less windblown :)

At the top of Whistler

Poy on top of Whistler. I loved that there were wildflowers everywhere.

The lower right water is a "snowmaker reservior"

Glacier

Checking out the sights

Poy with the Inuksuk

My turn

These things were everywhere... these were actually quite small but looked big at this angle.

At the Whistler Mountain Peak sign.

This is what I look like after hiking! Yikes, I was tired!

This is the Peak to Peak gondola

Crossing over to the other side

Beautiful Glacier

Poy on the Blackcomb side

A beautiful view on the way back down.

We had a great time on our entire trip!

After this and a quick lunch we were off to our rafting trip. For those of you that don't know, Poy doesn't swim, so this was a big deal for him. I knew he'd be okay, but will admit when we were on the water I was really hoping he wouldn't fall in. We had a great time though and I think he'd definitely do it again! We didn't have our camera with us since obviously if we fell in it would be ruined. We did purchase the photos that they took though. I wish they had more photo spots, but at least we have pics of us rafting.

On the lake before getting to the river. This is where we learned what to do.

"Hold on!"

"smile"

Over the rapids!

We had a very memorable 10th Anniversary!

Our 10th Anniversary Trip to Whistler Day 2

2009-08-27T23:08:00.000-07:00

Today was another great day in Whistler!! It is such a beautiful place with so much to do, or not do if you just want to relax. Today we did the Ziptrek "Eagle" tour and had a fantastic time. The tour is so much fun and educational as well. Much like Portland, Whistler is a very Eco-conscience place, so they talk to you all about the ecosystem throughout the tour. We loved it. Here are a few pictures and a video of our tour. The unfortunate part is that on the last and most exciting zip, our camera died. You will have to take our word for it and picture it in your head... Poy and I both zipped upside down for the majority of the line!! It was SO MUCH FUN!! Enjoy!! Click here for the video.

Our 10th Anniversary Trip to Whistler Day 1

2009-08-26T22:21:00.000-07:00

We had an early morning, waking up at 6:45 to get ready for our flight to Vancouver, Canada. We were a bit surprised when we found our gate at the airport was actually downstairs in this little tiny room. We realized we were going to board our flight by walking out on the tarmac. We had never done that from PDX before. This would be the reason for walking out to the plane.

It was an itty bitty plane and it wasn't full at all, but it was quick and a very nice flight.

Here was a view of Mt. St. Helens from the plane. Poy was proud of this pic

Once we got into the airport, through customs and got our rental car we were on our way. They are doing a ton of prep for the upcoming Olympic games.

Here are the rings on the side of the highway.

We decided we wanted to visit Chinatown since we had heard it was a good one to visit. Unfortunately we didn't have a great map and drove way past where we needed to be so we had quite a road trip. We did finally find Chinatown though and found a chinese restaurant for some lunch. We had some great BBQ pork, but I wasn't so impressed by the chow mein. We then did some shopping and found some stuff for Sophie. I finally bought her a pair of chinese PJ's that I've always wanted. We also bought her a good luck kitty and my dad a back scratcher :)

The outfit (I think of them as jammies) are actually bright pink, I think they look red in the photo.

We stopped on the way to Whistler at Shannon Falls. We did a little bit of hiking and took some fun pictures.

Being goofy

Gimme a kiss!

When we finally arrived in Whistler at almost 8pm, we were very happy with our hotel room. We are not normally splurgers when it comes to hotels, but we decided since it was our anniversary trip we were gonna stay somewhere nice. So, here is our room.

The bathroom has a tub which is VERY important to me and it has heated floors :)

The living area is good sized and has a mountain view.

The bedroom with a pretty bed.

This little note and box of chocolates was on the kitchen island.

Here is our kitchen

This is the view out our window. This is what the mountain looks like right now. Bikers were taking the chairlift up and biking down.

After checking out the room we had pizza in the hotel pub and then walked around the Village. Although many shops were closed, it is a very cool area and we are looking forward to some great times.

"We were just excited about water wings..."

2009-08-21T18:53:00.000-07:00

And now the kids don't even need water wings! We went to parents day today for the kids second and final session of swim class for the summer and we were blown away! I knew the kids were making progress, they tell us what they are doing daily, but until we saw it we just had no idea! Sophie is swimming completely underwater and even jumping off the diving board into the deep end with no help at all! Nolan is doing fantastic as well, but when he's in the shallow end he definitely relies on the bottom more than he needs to. Today I was in search of water wings because I do want to have them for our upcoming trip, and Nolan kept telling me, "but I don't need water wings mom". I just asked him to trust me... the kids don't know that we are taking them to Disney World at the end of September and we'll be swimming a lot. Anyway, here is a video of Parents Day today. We started to video after Nolan did his deep end stuff so unfortunately we don't have his diving board and deep end swimming. In case you can't tell, the little one on the diving board is Sophie. I had originally posted it here, but the quality is not good (you could hardly tell who was who), so click here for the link to the video.

Summer Fun Photos

2009-07-30T23:59:00.000-07:00

We have been having a great fun filled Summer. Here are a bunch of pictures of what we've been up to.

Both kids were in swim class everyday for 2 weeks. They both did great and we signed them up for one more session starting in another week. The class is in a private pool and parents do not watch, so we don't really know how it's going until parents day on the last Friday. It was very impressive seeing how they were doing.

Nolan is holding the pole and swimming in the deep end. Sophie is waiting her turn.

Sophie swimming in the deep end. She is super comfortable with her water wings on.

Parents join in and swim with the kids on parents day. Nolan loves dropping the rings in and going after them.

Sophie playing with a ring.

The kids playing

Nolan

Sophie swimming for a ring.

One sunny day we decided to find some free fun. We visited a park in Portland and fed the ducks. The kids loved it! I've never seen a loaf of bread disappear so quickly :)

Sophie and the ducks

The kids running around.

Happy girl!

They even posed a for a couple brother/sister shots

Teeter totter!

Climbing trees

Poy had to work on 4th of July this year, so the kids and I went to my parents house. My dad put on a great fireworks display for us. We had a lot of fun. Here are just a couple kid shots.

Nolan hanging out watching Papa and the fireworks.

Sophie watching fireworks and smiling pretty.

Anne-Elissa's husband Chris celebrated his 30th birthday mid July and we were invited up to his parents house in Bremerton. His parents live on the Puget Sound and it is just beautiful. We went up to Bremerton on Saturday and when we got there at noon, it was already blazing hot. Nolan was really excited to get out on the wave runner. We had many different trips out onto the water and we had SO MUCH FUN! We camped out in the yard for the night and went home Sunday morning. Chris and Anne-Elissa, thanks for having us come up. We can't wait to celebrate your 31st :)

This is the view from the house. It was beautiful!

Trish and I on our first wave runner outing.

Poy and Nolan on the wave runner.

Aren't they cute :)

Nolan and I on one of our last trips out. I think we got caught in a little rain storm. We were out and having so much fun it didn't matter that it was raining... then I saw lightning and thought we should probably come in. Nolan was a little speed demon with me! He and I would go max speed and he didn't even care when the water was spraying in his eyes.

My Garden

2009-06-20T23:26:00.000-07:00

I have never gardened in my life and I'm pretty proud of how well it is doing. My bok choy (asian veggie-top right corner) is doing particularly well. I am really excited about the corn although we've had some squirrel trouble and lost some corn. I replanted though and I am back up to my original corn count and it looks good. Today the broccoli looks larger as well. I can't believe how much I enjoy seeing my veggies grow. Other than those I've mentioned, I also have green beans, edamame (soy beans), lettuce, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and a watermelon. Outside my box I have strawberries, raspberries and blackberries as well.

This first photo is of the garden the day I got everything planted.

May 27th

This is how it looks today.

June 20th

Check out that Bok Choy!

Watermelon, Beans, Tomatoes and Broccoli

White Belt Represents Innocence

2009-06-20T17:44:00.001-07:00

Nolan started Taekwondo about 2 months ago with his friend Benjamin. When his instructor told us the boys would be testing for their white belt on June 20th, both his mom and I were a little leery that the boys would be ready by then. The instructor was encouraging though and let us know that he is lenient on the White belt test because it is their first time. We have been practicing at home and today was the day. The test lasted over 2 hours because many different kids and adults test at different levels at the same time. Part of the test is sitting still and watching others. Also, not getting frustrated or upset if you struggle.

Nolan did very well today. During one part of testing he was asked what are the five tenets of Taekwondo. Nolan answered Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self Control and Indomitable Spirit. He was then asked which one is your favorite and why. His answer was "self control, cause you always need to be calm and quiet and the usual stuff" It was pretty cute and had the spectators giggling.

Nolan did great with the board breaking. It is amazing how great the energy is in the room when the board breaking happens. Nolan had never even tried to break a real board before. They use practice boards in class. After they successfully break a board in testing they get to keep it! After the test one of the more experienced kids told Nolan & Benjamin to ask the instructor to sign his board. He wrote "Nice work Nolan, You are off to a dynamic start!" It was really cool.

When they gave out the belts it was very thrilling. Of coarse I teared up a bit. I am so very proud of my son.

To watch some of the highlights of the testing Click Here

To watch a longer version of the test Click Here

In case you are wondering, the students get their dobok (uniform) once they

have received a belt.

Great Wolf Lodge Trip

2009-04-03T21:54:00.000-07:00

We made a trip up to the Great Wolf Lodge for spring break Sunday-Tuesday. We had a great time playing at the waterpark and exploring the interactive scavenger hunt throughout the lodge. Here are some of our photos and videos. We didn't get a ton cause we were playing in the water a lot, but here are the better ones. For those of you that are wondering... it is quite expensive, but considering it was within driving distance it was much less money than we would have spent going somewhere like Disneyland. Food was the biggest issue for us... I don't do buffets cause it costs way more than I'd ever eat, so food was limited and expensive. Other than that the room and MagiQuest wand/game were our only other expenses.

Poy helping Nolan wave the wand to get the clue in MagiQuest.

MagiQuest was truly one of the highlights of our trip. It was just a very fun way to interact with the kids and explore the Lodge. We had such a great time.

Sophie waving the wand.

This was during a little show that happens in the lobby 3 times a day.

This was the screen we would see when we started a new quest. As you can see our team name was Wonginators!

We did well enough to be 14th in Top Gold for the Week and got our team name on the big screens throughout the lodge :)

This was the GIANT bucket of water than spills every few minutes. It is seriously a lot of water. One time I was in the wrong place when it dumped and it about took my swimsuit bottoms off :)

Nolan and Poy after coming off of the innertube waterslide.

Sophie on the red slide. The first time we did these I assumed she could go on my lap, but they don't allow that. I was surprised at how easily she did these slides and wasn't afraid at all.

Nolan going across the lilypads. This kind of stuff is so good for him because it doesn't come naturally to him.

Sophie on the little slide. This was very fun for her and there was no line :)

New Feature!

2009-02-20T23:31:00.000-08:00

I found a new feature on blogger called Reactions. At the bottom of the post you will see it and it is just a fun way to get your quick reaction. Of coarse I'd love personal comments, but this is a super easy way for you to give a reaction if you don't want to leave a comment. Give it a try, I hope you like it!

Minivan Mama!!

2009-02-15T23:23:00.000-08:00

We have been thinking about buying a minivan sometime this year, but weren't in any hurry. Last weekend my parents were going to the auto show, so I decided to take the kids and join them. One of the dealerships let me know they had some really great deals on used '08 vans so Poy and I decided to check them out the next day. That particular dealer didn't have what I was looking for, but after doing a lot of internet shopping we found what we were looking for.

We ended up with a 2008 Chrysler Town & Country in Dark Blue. It has "Quad seating" which means the mid section of seats is two bucket seats instead of one bench. This was a must for me. I just really like the quad seating better than a bench. It also has a DVD player which was a total plus. It wasn't a must, but it was definitely on our wants list. The radio is touchscreen and you can also watch a DVD on it when the car is in Park or off. It looks like a navigation system, but it doesn't actually have navigation. It also has a camera for when the car is in reverse, so that pops up on the screen. It also has the Stow-n-go seating, so you can put all the seats flat into the ground. Even better though is that when the seats are upright you have tons of storage in the floor. My car has always been so messy and now I can just throw coats, blankets, toys and whatever else into those bins.

The other day I took my kids and Carter & Callie out to stay the night at Grandmas. This was our first outing with extra kids and they had a blast. The girls were in the front carseats and the boys were in the back booster seats. They watched a movie and giggled the whole way.

Here are some pics. Most are dealer pictures, then I have some from our ride with all 4 kids.

Sophie watching a DVD with her Minnie ears on :)

Nolan watching a movie

Cousins enjoying the ride.

Big Boys in the back seat

Miss Callie

Brother/Sister

We are Skiers!!

2009-02-15T21:17:00.000-08:00

At the end of January, Poy and I took the kids up to Mt. Hood to go skiing. We had taken Nolan 2 years ago, but he hasn't been since then and Sophie had never been before. Nolan did a great job right from the start. He needed help the first day on the rope tow, but he figured it out on day 2 and was confidently going up and down on his own.

We have a harness that is made for teaching children to ski. With both my kids, when they used it, they tend to rely on me to hold them in the upright position instead of holding up their own bodies. It was very difficult for me to hold Sophie up and attempt to teach her to ski on the first day. Although it wasn't raining, it had rained earlier, so it was very wet the first day. By the time we went home I wasn't even sure I wanted to go back for day 2. We were soaked through multiple layers of clothing and I was sore and exhausted.

We stayed at a resort that had recently been remodeled and it was very nice. It had separate units with about 20 rooms per unit. We were the only family in our entire unit. It was really nice to not have to worry about if the kids were bothering anyone else around us. When we got to our room after skiing, we all needed a very hot shower. I was amazed at how long Nolan stayed in.

On day 2 we decided to have the harness on Sophie, but not to use it the way it is intended. We only used the handle on the back so that we could easily lift her up, but she was on her own. This worked out much better. We pretty much pointed her skis down the hill and told her "bend your knees and lean forward". Away she went and she did awesome!! It was so exciting to watch her cruise on down the mountain with a big huge smile on her face. I just kept saying to the kids "You are a skier!!" It was so fun. I can't wait to go back.

Here are our pics. I only had a couple from day one because I had my phone in my pants pocket and it got wet. Lots of photos of day 2 though. Enjoy!

This was the end of day 1... we were all exhausted. They were begging to just go back to the resort.

Sophie was eating snow... she just couldn't resist :)

After her first independent trip down the mountain at the very beginning of day 2.

We were both so thrilled!

Nolan and Poy waiting at the rope tow.

Although he did great, there were still plenty of tumbles :)

Daddy and Soph on the rope tow.

Smiley girl!

A great photo of my family!

Skiing down the mountain!

Sophie at the bottom. She did run into that net a time or two!

I believe Nolan was attempting to taste the snow.

Daddy and Sophie skiing.

Poy and Fifi

Me and the kiddos

Can you tell who was taking the pics? More Daddy and Sophie.

Nolan on the rope tow.

I can't tell if he's waiting for the right time to grab on, or if he dropped it half way up.

Waiting for the rope tow.

The Highlights of our day

2009-01-24T23:07:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day that Poy and I are both on vacation and we had a pretty great day. Here are the highlights.

We had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory at Washington Square. The kids and I "shared" a pasta dish. Sophie actually only ate some of the chicken and Poy's rice. She loves rice and always wants to eat all of the rice on Poy's plate. It's pretty funny 'cause he just watches the rice that he wants to eat disappear. Anyway, Nolan as always, was bothered by the color of the sauce. He only eats white sauce and due to the sun dried tomatoes the sauce was more of a pink. The very kind waiter brought us some alfredo sauce to pour on his though, so he ate a bit of that. We shared a slice of cheesecake with strawberries on top, Sophie's choice. It was pretty yummy.

After lunch we headed to the AT&T store and Poy and I both bought new phones. I bought an iPhone which I am excited to play with. Poy decided to get a simpler phone without any type of internet capabilities. He didn't think he would use an iPhone to it's potential, so he didn't want to spend the extra money. Plus, if he has internet on his phone, it's just one more way for him to do work stuff when he is supposed to be off.

This evening we were lucky to get some free tickets for our family to the Blazer vs. Wizards game. Poy has a friend who works for the Blazers so he gets us tickets a couple games each season. He was able to get us in the area that has food included in the tickets, so if you have a bracelet you can have whatever you want in this special area. They have a full buffet with everything from shrimp to top serloin. Poy had a slice of the top serloin on a plate and Sophie actually asked him for a bite. I found this quite surprising because it didn't look all that appealing to me, but she really liked it. It's funny to me because Nolan is so afraid to try new things and Sophie will try almost anything. She doesn't eat much, but at least she's willing to try different stuff. Anyway, both kids enjoyed some fruit, and a snack. Nolan chose a pretzel and Sophie had a bag of popcorn. This was Sophie's first Blazer game and she did awesome. She was so cute. As soon as the Blazer dancers came out, Sophie's eyes lit up. She watched for a moment and then said to me "Mommy, when I grow up I'm gonna be a pom pom girl." It was so darn cute. When the blimp thing flew over us, Poy actually caught the "prize" ticket. So, the first time we've ever won a prize at a game, it happens to be a CD from the religious music station! When the game was over we were so ready to leave we actually didn't even pick it up. The game was great. It was full of exciting shots and they won. Although I could have done without the snow on the walk to the car, we had a pretty good start to our "vacation" time.

On Tuesday, we are taking the kids up to Ski Bowl and teaching them to ski. Nolan has been twice before, 2 years ago, but it is Sophie's first time. We will be staying at the mountain on Tuesday night and will go skiing again on Wednesday. Hopefully it will be a wonderful time. I'm sure we will have to practice our patience, that's for sure. I'm looking forward to seeing how Nolan does now that he's 2 years older. Sophie is quite the athlete, so I'm also excited to see how she does.

Here are some photos of us at the Blazer game

"Is this pineapple?"

2009-01-12T19:49:00.000-08:00

Today was all school health screening day at Nolan's school. I volunteered and helped out with the vision screening. The "perk" of volunteering for health day, was a free lunch that you could eat with your child. I know I haven't ate in a school cafeteria in years, but I thought it would have improved, and when I was in elementary school I always had hot lunch and actually enjoyed it most of the time. Now, I don't know if it has stayed the same and I just thought it was normal as a kid, but it has definitely NOT gotten better. I had pepperoni pizza which sat on a lovely bunch of french fries. The pizza was probably some of the worst I've ever ate. I didn't even think of eating the fries cause they looked so limp and squished. It also came with a cup of "pineapple" although it tasted NOTHING like pineapple. So much so that I was asking the kids around me what it was. I asked Nolan to try it and his rule following response was "Mom, we can't share food". It had no flavor, and I love pineapple. It also had an apple juice and chocolate milk... although I don't know why kids would need 2 drinks. I also asked him if he'd like a drink of my juice and once again I was told "Mom, you can't share drinks either". He's so funny about rules. Everything is black and white for him... no grey areas. Anyway, my "lunch" made me really happy that I have been sending Nolan with cold lunch every day. School food is not good. As lunch was ending and the children were being excused, I went to dump my food. I turned around and Nolan was gone. Darn kid went to recess and didn't even say goodbye.

It just needs a mate

2009-01-03T01:12:00.000-08:00

I finished knitting my first wrist-warmer tonight! I should have gone to bed an hour ago, but I was bound and determined to finish. I started it last night and finished tonight, so I'm pretty stoked about how quick and easy it was, and it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself :) Now I can have warmer hands but still have full use of my fingers. Yea!

What's the big deal?

2009-01-01T20:55:00.000-08:00

I was fortunate enough to not have to work Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, or Christmas day this year. I am lucky that most of the people I work with want to work the holidays for the extra holiday pay. Anyway, I worked last night, New Years Eve, from 6 pm-1:30 am since I had the other 3 off. Anyway, I didn't go to bed right away, so I was up pretty late. I woke up this morning and got myself and the kids ready for the day and we were out the door at 11:30 to go to Sophie's tumbling class. I get to the gym and see that they are not open... luckily the kids didn't freak out cause they really hate when things don't turn out the way they expect. It was so cute though because Nolan says to Sophie in his nicest voice "I'm Sorry Sophie, I promise we will do something fun today". So, my question is, what's the big deal about New Years Day? I really don't understand why so many places are closed. It's just a day... not that I'm religious, but Christmas and Easter are religious holidays, Thanksgiving is celebrating the pilgrims and the feast etc. but New Years Day is just the first day of the year. Are we off so anyone who stayed out too late can sleep in and recuperate after a night of drinking? I don't know if I feel this way because Poy and I have always worked in a business that doesn't close or what... but I just don't get it.

My Creative Side

2008-12-30T21:54:00.000-08:00

I have never felt like a creative person until I started to knit. I love knitting and this year I decided to incorporate some of my knitting into Christmas gifts. I wanted to share some photos of what I've done this year.

This is a wine bottle cozy that I made for my SIL Angie

I made soap this year and had a lot of fun with that. I was making soap non-stop for a week or two. I also knit a bath poof (well, actually 2) and really like the way it turned out.

Here is a closer pic of the bath poof

I didn't make this, but I got bedding from my parents for Christmas and just love it! I am now looking for a bed frame so it'll look even better.

Gonna try something new

2008-12-30T21:32:00.000-08:00

I'm starting to get frustrated with blogging because I feel like I have a whole ton of stuff to write about and I either push it aside and never blog about it, or I take a week just to write the post. So, I think I'm going to attempt to blog much more frequently without worrying about the length and if it has pictures or not. Let me know what you think.

Court

Crazy Winter Stuff

2008-12-21T18:03:00.000-08:00

**This post was started over a week ago so the timing seems funny. I feel I should be showing Christmas pics and stuff, but I still wanted to get this finished**

Wow, it has been a week of crazy weather. We woke last Sunday to some snow on the ground and Nolan excitedly shouting "it's snowing, it's snowing!!". The kids were quick to bundle up and go play in the back yard.

showing a little bit of love

catching snowflakes on his tongue

sliding in the snow

Monday when Nolan had school he was disappointed because I think he just thought it would be cool to not have school on a school day. After school we went shopping and Sophie immediately wanted to go see Santa. Nolan told her they weren't allowed to see Santa without having their lists, so they couldn't go that day. I knew that wasn't going to work, so we took them to Nordstroms where they could sit at a table and color and they wrote their Santa lists on the back of their color sheets. Nolan asked Santa for an Imaginext Batman Batcave and Sophie asked Santa for a Dollhouse and a mirror. She is so funny, she loves all things girly and found a mirror you could decorate with gems that day so she added it to her list.

showing their lists to Santa

On Wednesday there was so much talk of awful weather and freezing rain that school was closed. We actually saw no snow. This time Nolan was disappointed school was cancelled because he always goes to his friend Benjamin's house after school on Wednesdays. He was still invited over though, so he played there all day, which is so nice.

Friday night we went out to my parent's house in Washougal. They had quite a bit of snow so we ended up playing in the snow at 9:00 at night. We had quite a bit of fun and built our first snowman.

check out my snowball!

Sophie and her measuring cup

Our first snowman!

Surprisingly the kids actually got my mom and I out playing and we had a great time.

Nolan's snow angel

On Saturday we had a bunch of snow again and I had to work again. I cut my shift short because we only have one car with chains and Poy needed to work a full day. I'm pretty sure the kids had been asking about playing in the snow and Poy told them to wait for mom, cause as soon as I walked in the door they wanted to go outside and play. We had fun playing some made up games and having some races. I even pushed the kids in the recycling bin down the driveway :) Unfortunately Poy had the camera, so no pics of that fun. We tried to make a snowman again, Sophie even found the carrots, but we couldn't make a snowball to save our lives. The snow was so powdery it just fell apart.

Sunday, Poy went to work and I instantly felt the cabin fever. I don't mind staying home, but when I have stuff to do it makes me crazy. I decided to take the kids for a little (insert incredibly long) walk to Fred Meyer. I thought maybe I could get something done, but in the end all we walked out with was the little toys I bribed the kids with for agreeing to the walk. I can't believe how much snow is out there and it's iced over on top so it's difficult for little feet to traverse.

The beginning of our long walk

Sophie catching snowflakes on her tongue

Nolan showing off his missing teeth. The one on his right he had lost that day.

Sophie showing off her (not)missing teeth.

Nolan loved picking up big ice chunks. For some reason it drove me crazy.

The Misadventures of Sophie Juliet and her mother's not so smart moment

2008-12-02T18:16:00.001-08:00

Today we went to Burgerville for lunch. Nolan was at school so it was Sophie, Poy and I. She likes to eat in the area by the bathrooms because they have a toy box there. So, we sit down to eat and she immediately says "I gotta go potty". In my head I say "of coarse you do". Anyway, Sophie has always been very independent when it comes to going to the bathroom in public. Of coarse I would never let her go into a bathroom that I didn't have full supervision of who was coming or going, but it was a one person bathroom right by our table. I opened the door and let her in and she locked the door. She struggled a bit locking it, but she did it non the less. She was singing and having a grand old time in there and then it was time to get out. She pulled on the door and I reminded her she needs to unlock it. She tries... it doesn't work... she tries again... doesn't work. Poy gets out of his chair and of coarse he says "I knew this was going to happen" "WHAT!!" if he knew it was going to happen, couldn't he have mentioned that? Anyway, we attempt all kinds of things to open the door. At this point 3-4 Burgerville employees are trying to figure out how to help. Sophie is crying and saying "I can't get out, I don't want to be here anymore" All I can think is how I can get her not to panic. She was upset, but I know her and if she went into panic mode, there would be no way to get her to do anything. She kept saying "Mommy, can you just help me? Mommy, can you unlock it?" She had given up on the lock for a minute or so, then you could tell she was trying, but it was just a touch too high for her. I had asked her if there was a stool, but there wasn't. I asked her if she could stand on anything, but she couldn't figure out on her own what I meant. Finally, I asked the employee if there was a garbage can she could stand on. She said "yes, tell her to take the lid off the little garbage can." I calmed her down and asked her to find the little garbage, take the lid off, flip it over and put it next to the door. She did it and escaped without us having to break down the door. This wasn't my finest moment... I felt pretty dumb. So, I guess Sophie will not be going potty on her own until I know for sure that she can get out on her own.

First trip to the ER

2008-11-20T22:14:00.000-08:00

Last night we were going through our normal bedtime routine when things took a bit of a turn. After the kids brush their teeth they like to race to Nolan's room, where we then read books. Our newest change to this is that whom ever loses the race then races mommy... so they can win :) So, Sophie and I were racing and she fell, which of coarse happens a lot to 3 year olds, but this time she hit her head right on the sharp corner of Nolan's bed. My first thought was that it was her eye. I don't know why, but I have this fear that one of my kids will lose an eye, so I was a little freaked.

I picked her up and ran downstairs as blood is rushing down her face. I will admit, I was pretty much in a complete and total panic. I called Poy, who was the Blazer game and told him what was going on. I immediately thought she would need stitches. I decided to go on the safe side and I took her to the ER. It was pretty quick getting into the room, but waiting for the nurse and then the doctor was quite awhile. She did not end up having stitches (yay!), they were able to put on a steri-strip and glue her back together. I was amazed at her attitude throughout the whole process. When we were in the kids waiting area, her and Nolan were playing and she tells me "I like it here." Then we were taken to triage and she had her blood pressure and temp taken. She looks over at me and grins "mommy, this is fun :)" she whispers. She did so good when the nurse and doctor came in. When she had to have it cleaned out and the glue applied, she was such a brave girl and didn't move at all. I was so proud of her :)

We spent a lovely 3 hours and 45 minutes at the Hospital and got to bed right around 1 am. It wasn't what I had expected of my evening, but I will say I was happy that the kids had a positive ER experience and of coarse I'm thankful that she didn't lose an eye. Here are the lovely photos.

This is in the waiting room. It really doesn't look that bad in the photo, but I didn't want her to ask me in 10 years why I scarred her for life.

They had to wrap her head in order to keep the numbing medicine on it. She looks a little uncomfortable in this picture, but she actually had just been holding her smile too long and I caught the photo a little late. She was actually drawing a turkey and playing with stickers.

This is what she looks like now. I think they did a great job cleaning her up.

Tumbling Birthday Party with another video

2008-11-09T01:35:00.000-08:00

We went to our niece, Gabby's 4th Birthday party today. It was at a Gym in Portland and the kids had lots of fun. I did some more video and actually edited it this time. So, here it is. I hope you like it.

Sophie and my tumbling dilemma

2008-11-07T23:39:00.000-08:00

I feel like I have 14 things to blog about so apparently, I just don't blog 'cause I can't decide which to post about. Anyway, I just wanted to post a little video of Sophie at tumbling class. She just LOVES her class and I enjoy it a lot too. She is currently in Parent-Tot which is supposed to be where they are until they are 3 1/2. At the end of the last session her instructor came and told me that Sophie is ready for the Pre-school class. I was completely torn because I really enjoy being down on the floor with her. She does most of the stuff on her own, hence the not needing me there anymore, but once I put her in that next class she will never be in a parent-tot class again. I will be up in the parent balcony watching from afar. I just wasn't ready to give it up. At this moment I think I just realized that once I give up this class with her, I am having to admit to myself that my baby is growing up. I am literally about to cry as I type. Anyway, our session is over next week and I will have to make that decision. For now, here is a fun little video

She is being a bit of a show off in the video... she actually can do cartwheels pretty well, but she apparently thinks it's fun to fall over when she is being recorded.

Vote For Barack Obama!!!

2008-11-02T21:25:00.000-08:00

I am feeling very political this election and have become quite addicted to CNN. I am excited to have a President that I like and am proud of. Both of my kids are even excited about Barack Obama. Sophie sees him on TV and shouts with glee "Barack Obama Mommy!! Look Mommy, it's Barack Obama!!" A while back I was putting Obama stickers on my back car window and Sophie said she wanted the sticker on her window instead of the back. Nolan then made me move the other sticker to his window so he could have a Obama sticker too.

I am encouraging you to vote for Barack Obama too. Please don't assume that he will win our state and think you don't need to vote. This is such an important election and for our children's futures we really need Obama to win. So get out there and

VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA!!!

Fabulous Savings at Walgreens

2008-10-25T22:44:00.000-07:00

Last night I spent 2 hours planning my Walgreens scenarios. Walgreens seems to offer $5/$20 or $10/$40 and stuff like that every Friday & Saturday. The bummer part for me is those are the 2 days I work and when I get off Poy is working. It seems like a waste to save $5 and then turn around and pay my sitter $8. Sometimes I try to shop before work, so today I woke up 30 minutes early to shop. I was very disappointed that I couldn't find what I needed for my first scenario and I lost a lot of time wandering the store. I did get a return done, but other than that I walked out with nothing. I was disappointed, but decided to get to Walgreens after work with the kids and try to get some good deals.

Although shopping with my kids is always a bit hectic they did pretty well. So here's what I got:

**Warning: this has a lot of boring math stuff in it. If you want you can read the top and the bottom then decide if you want to know all my scenarios :)**

Scenario #1:

3 Boxes of Benefiber Kiwi Strawberry drink mixes

Regular price: 7.99/box 23.97 for 3

There was a walmart coupon for $5 off each box for a $15 savings

Total= 8.97 (but we're not done with this one)

1 Airwick Fresmatic Ultra Automatic spray

Regular price: 12.99 on sale for 4.99

I used a $4 off coupon

Total=1.99 (we're not done here either)

1 St. Ives Elements Olive Cleanser

Regular price 7.49 on sale 4.99

I used a $2 off coupon

Total=2.99 (not done)

1 Nivea Mens Bodywash

Total=4.99

1 Quilted Northern toilet paper

Regular price: 5.29 on sale for $4

Use a Wgs coupon for $1 and a manufacturers coupon for $1

Total=$2

Total out of pocket for all items: 20.94-$5 off $20 coupon=15.94+tax

I used a gift card for 14.48 from previous rebates and 4.48 out of pocket

At the end of the transaction I received one $8 Register Reward (like cash on next transaction) from the 3 packs of Benefiber (making it .97!!)

and one $5 Register Reward for the St. Ives making this a money maker of 2.01!

We aren't done yet :)

I will receive a $3 rebate for the Airwick making this a $1.01 money maker!

lastly I will receive a $4.99 rebate for the Nivea bodywash making this free after rebate.

In the end this transaction was a $5.05 moneymaker!

Scenario #2

4 Capri Sun (Nolan has these in his lunch every day)

Regular price 3.79 each on sale 4 for $10

Total=$10

2 Glade Flameless Candle

Regular price 9.99 each

Used a Buy 1 Get 1 coupon

Total=9.99

2 packs of dividers for my coupon book (I just needed these)

Total=1.98

Total for these items: $21.97-$5 off $20 coupon=16.97

I used 2 $5 Register Rewards for a total out of pocket=6.97+tax

I will receive a $2 rebate for the Flameless Candle making it 7.99 for 2

and I received a $3 Register Reward for the Capri Sun making them 4/$7 or 1.75 each

In the end this transaction was $1.97

Scenario #3

1 Loreal Facial Cleanser

Regular price: 6.99

I used a $1 in store coupon

Total=5.99

1 St. Ives Elements Olive Scrub

Regular price 7.49 on sale for 4.99

I used a coupon for $2 & a $2 store coupon

Total=.99

1 Rimmel Foundation

Total= 7.49

1 Post-it notes

Total= .89

1 Pencil Pouch for my coupon binder

Total= 1.99

1 Kid Knex (this was a total splurge for the kids cause they always fight over the knex so I told Sophie I would buy her her own set)

Total= 9.99

Total for these items: 27.34-$5/$20 coupon=22.34

I used the $3 Register Reward from scenario #2 and

the $8 Register Reward from scenario #1 making this a total OOP of 11.34

I received a $5 Register Reward for the St. Ives making this a $4.01 money maker!

I will receive a 6.99 rebate for the Loreal Cleanser making this a $1 money maker

Lastly, I will receive a 7.49 rebate for the Foundation making this item Free

In the end this transaction was an $8.14 money maker

This was by far my best walgreens trip so far. I bought $121.93 worth of merchandise for a total of 27.39 out of my pocket & I will receive 26.91 on a gift card. Fabulous! This totally takes care of any shopping fix I need :)

Pumpkins!!

2008-10-20T22:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we made a trip to the Vancouver Farmers Market. We picked up some Honey Crisp apples and Sophie picked out some blueberries. I told her we had to wash them before she could eat them, but she just wouldn't let me put them in the trunk. She had to hold them in her lap even if she couldn't eat them. The kids enjoyed the playground and then we made our way to the Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island.

We had a fabulous time in the corn maze. The kids did a fantastic job and had so much fun. The weather was absolutely perfect. In the maze they have check points and you read a question to decide which direction to go. There are lots of different topic cards to choose from with many different skill levels. Nolan chose to answer the "Halloween" questions, and Sophie did the "Preschool" questions.

Sophie on the bridge
Nolan & Daddy exploring the maze

Check out that action shot!
Check point 3
Reading the question

Mommy and her kiddos

After the maze we checked out the animals, which weren't too exciting and then made our way to the pumpkin patch. All of the pumpkins in the patch were really big and most were smashed or broken open. We opted for the pre-picked pumpkins that were smaller and more attractive. Sophie really wanted a small pumpkin and she was pretty cute carrying it back to the car.

"If you can't carry it, you can't pick it"
"Let me try"
I think we'll take a couple of these instead.

The sign says it all

Tonight we carved pumpkins. Actually I carved pumpkins. The kids drew the faces, but both of them thought the insides were disgusting and refused to touch it. I put Nolan's hand in it, and he literally started gagging! He is so sensitive. Anyway, the end result were some cute little jack-o-lanterns.

Sophie with her pumpkin before it was cut.

Nolan's pumpkin with his fabulous drawing

Sophie is picking the guts out with a fork!

Sophie watching mommy cut Nolan's pumpkin

The end result!

My latest cleaning project

2008-10-16T23:45:00.000-07:00

I've decided that when it comes to cleaning I really prefer a big project. I like the satisfaction of seeing the end result. Lately Tuesdays have been a great day for me to conquer a big mess. This Tuesday I decided to completely reorganize my pantry. In the 4 years we have lived here I have never done this. It had some (and I mean that loosely) order, but there was a lot of stuff in there that just didn't belong. I am delighted at how it looks now. I moved the cereal and snacks to the lower shelves so that the kids can get to them on their own. My cans are all facing the same direction :). One funny thing was that a couple months ago I bought a can of corn starch to make the kids flubber. When I got it home I realized I already had corn starch. When I cleaned out the pantry I actually found 3 more boxes of corn starch!! I guess I should google "recipes with corn starch" so I can get rid of the stuff :) I wish I could have had some before shots, but Poy had the camera. Here are some of the after pictures.

Top shelf -- bulk stuff, paper products, cleaning supplies

2nd shelf -- boxed foods, baking in the corner, bottles of oils, vinegars and stuff

mid shelf -- bread and cans

4th shelf -- snacks, cookies

more 4th shelf -- syrup, peanut butter, foil & baggies

bottom shelf -- cereal, drinks, bagged snacks.

The floor is now clear except for cat food and bags.

I feel great when I open my pantry. I'm still not used to it so when I open the door I have this moment where I think it is going to be a disaster and then I'm pleasantly surprised. I threw away so much stuff that had been unused for so long.

Although I do have other stuff to blog about, it is late and I'm tired, so I'm gonna have to do those in the next couple of days.

A visit with friends and a step in the right direction.

2008-10-07T22:58:00.000-07:00

Sophie and I made a trip out to Beaverton today to visit my friend Andrea and her 2 year old Nora. Nora and Sophie played so well together today and gave their mommy's plenty of time to chit chat and we even got a little bit of knitting done.

After picking up Nolan from school the kids had swim lessons.

This was Sophie's first lesson and I was a bit nervous. Sophie used to love water and pretty much has no fears. When we went on our cruise in April she changed her tune. On our first day of the cruise, actually just a couple hours into the trip, we decided to put our suits on and visit the pool. The kids were thrilled and couldn't wait to play. We met up with our friends and were sitting on our lounge chairs watching the kids and visiting with each other. This is what the kids area looked like

We were sitting in lounge chairs a little further then the chairs in the lower right corner of the picture. The kids were playing, the water is only about a foot deep and everything seemed so safe. All of the sudden I noticed I could see Nolan but not Sophie. It is not in my nature to panic so I was just scanning the area and looking for her.

I finally spotted her clear across the "pool" about where the H2O Zone sign is. I start to make my way quickly over there and Anne-Elissa books it through the water. When she got there Sophie was soaking wet. Not like I've been playing in water wet, but I've gone under water wet. It turns out there was a pool 4 or 5 ft deep where she was at. When Anne-Elissa handed a very upset Sophie to me and her tummy hit my shoulder a ton of water shot out of her mouth. I will never know what exactly happened that day. I don't know if she fell in and was pulled out by someone, or if she fell in and happened to be on the ladder and pulled herself out. I am convinced I could have easily lost my daughter that day and it changed her view of water completely. The remainder of the trip she wouldn't go in the pool or the ocean at the beach. She would totally freak out.

Today was the first time I have been able to get Sophie into a pool and she went willingly and happily. I am so relieved it won't take years for her to get over this incident. I still feel guilty about that day, and think about what a tragedy it could have been. I don't like to dwell on things that happened, or could have happened in the past, but that one is a tough one to forget.

I wish I could post some pictures of today, but sadly my camera is now broken :( I don't know what happened to it, but the screen is cracked and shows nothing but white light. I can still take photos, but there is no way to know if the photo is good until it is on the computer. Just another thing to add to my "wants" list.

I love Naartjie!!

2008-10-01T00:20:00.000-07:00

My favorite store for Sophie's clothing is called Naartjie (pronounced Nar-chee) at Washington Square. They were having a sale on dresses on Sunday, so we made our way out there. I just love how fun the colors and patterns are in their clothes. One reason they are my favorite is that Sophie loves to wear dresses, but that isn't always feasible during the cooler months. Naartjie has pants that match every dress so she can wear dresses whenever she wants. I just love it! Here are her 3 new outfits as she modeled them today.

When Sophie first saw a similar outfit in this color, she pointed out that it was for boys. Once I showed her the dress and she tried it on, she liked it. It is definitely outside her normal realm of colors.

The sleeves and pants are actually striped, and the top portion is knit.

I LOVE the colors of this outfit. The details are great too.

My Bedroom: Before & After

2008-09-30T23:02:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to tackle our bedroom. Our bedroom has become the catch-all for all of our junk. I'm usually wanting to clean up areas that people see when they come over, so we completely neglect our bedroom. I can't believe I'm doing this, but here are my before & after photos.

Our dresser has been covered with junk forever. The box on the right has been around collecting more "important stuff" since we moved in. After cleaning it out I found some photos and sentimental cards and the rest ended up in the trash. So much for the important stuff. We did make our first purchase off my "what I want" list and bought a 32" TV yesterday. It is really for downstairs but since we watch more TV in our room we decided to put it there until we buy our second TV.

Now our dresser is clear except for our 2 TV's. Poy will need to find a new home for the old TV, but I am pretty proud because I set up the new TV on my own.

This area here is right by our bathroom door. The cards were put there by Sophie a few days ago, but the other stuff has been around for a long time. We really need to get rid of some old computer equipment but just never do it. The printer was a freebie with our first laptop and we never even used it. That stuff was just taking up space.

I don't have a photo of the same exact spot, cause now it's just carpet :) I did hang the photos though. We've had those since our first house and we never hung them here. They aren't perfectly hung, but off the floor is great for me.

Here we have a carry-on luggage bag that needs to be put away, a so-called yarn organizer that isn't organized and a breakfast in bed tray, that needs a new home.

The luggage and breakfast tray found their way to the shed and I have a very tidy yarn organizer. The vacuum doesn't belong there, but I forgot to move it before I took the picture.

Here is our "sitting area" in the bedroom. Behind the chairs I had a bunch of stuff to give away from the kids rooms. I also have Nolan's closet doors against the wall, but I can't carry those downstairs myself.

Look! We can now use the sitting area!

I still have some areas that need some work in our room, but I am very proud of what I got done today.

Lots of stuff to do today

2008-09-25T21:55:00.000-07:00

Another busy day for Mommy today. Sophie and I went to her Parent/Tot tumbling class at Naydenov Gym today. I actually had chosen a Tuesday class, but the class doesn't have enough kids (actually Sophie was the only one signed up), so until they had 3 kids we were joining any class that has openings. So, we went today at 11:45 am. In the past we have always gone to late afternoon or evening classes and the early class was great because the gym was so empty it wasn't all loud and you didn't have to weave in and out of kids as you tried to go from one end of the gym to the other. I loved the instructor today. She had great techniques and talked to the little kids great. At the end of the class I decided to make this our permanent class. I wanted to do it on Tuesday because Sophie and I are alone all day, so it would be the perfect time, but I'd also love a good instructor. Parent/Tot classes can get rather boring for mom (at least this one) if you don't really care for the instructor. Anyway, today Sophie's class only consisted of 2 other 3 year old girls. Sophie did really good. Mommy was very proud of her today. Daddy was up in the balcony and Soph was moving so fast she was a blur in many photos. These are our non-blurry ones

At 4:30 Nolan is in swim lessons at Firstenburg. He struggles with all things athletic, so he needs tons of encouragement just to keep him going. He always wants to be the best in class, so if he isn't, he wants to quit. As of now, he has only one class left in this session of level one, and I've signed him up again for level one because he isn't making the progress he needs to to move on. For motivation, I offered him a prize once he finishes level one. It seemed to help him today, so I will have to work with him before every class, encouraging and motivating him.

As soon as we got home we had to eat quickly so we could get to Riverview's math games and first grade curriculum night. The kids played some fun board games in the cafeteria and then while parents went to listen to the teachers, the grade schoolers play more games and the preschoolers went into the music room where they had a childcare area set up. It was great not having to worry about how I was going to attend this event and who's going to take care of the kids. They both had a lot of fun and I got some great information about first grade.

When we got home I was begging the kids to put on their PJ's while I did the dishes. Nolan isn't an issue, but Sophie was just ignoring me and then asking for help. She would not take off her clothes on her own, which she is so capable of. She was making me crazy. Then she comes downstairs with her really great hat. Here are those silly pictures

She didn't want me to take her picture with her eyes showing, so the only way I could get her face was if I asked her if she wanted to see the picture. She'd lift those princess panties and I'd snap quickly and down they'd go again. She is so funny. You'll notice she's wearing her "Little Miss Trouble" shirt :)

One last thing I wanted to share, I framed a couple of Sophie's art pieces the other day and I think they look great.

Things I Want

2008-09-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

Why is it that when we want something, we want a lot of things. I don't think any of the things I want are unreasonable, except one dreamy one, but they are a little costly. Some more than others. Here is a list of what items I want, not necessarily in the order I'll get it:

A 32" television for my living room. We have had the same TV downstairs since we got married 9 years ago. I don't have an issue with that part of it, but the colors have been going out. It also isn't HD compatible (obviously) so we'd have to get a converter box if we didn't buy a TV.
A smaller TV (20"+) for our bedroom. We've had that TV even longer. It doesn't really have anything wrong with it, so it will be 2nd priority as far as TV's go.
A foodsaver (the thing that sucks out all the air and saves food). I watched the demo on this the other day and I'd really like one. We toss so much food in the trash, so I think this would be good for us.
A freezer to hold all of my saved food! Actually, I've wanted a separate freezer for awhile cause I never feel like there is enough room in the freezer.
These beautiful knitting needles are interchangeable and would be a lovely knitting luxury. They will probably be on my Christmas list.
A king sized bed frame. When we switched from Queen to King we didn't get a frame and it would be nice to have an actual bed. This is something that is way to easy for me to overlook though. That would be why after 3 years we haven't bought one. I can just always think of another way I would rather spend money (like a new TV).
Here is a big one... I'd love a new car. That one isn't happening though. We currently have no car payments & that is a wonderful feeling. So, although I'd love to drive a new car, I really do not want a new car payment.

As I'm finishing this post I'm thinking "wow, does this make me look like I'm all about material things" Of coarse I hope you know me enough to know that isn't true. I just thought this'd be kinda fun.

Could have had some great photo ops...

2008-09-23T10:17:00.000-07:00

Sunday I decided that I wanted to take the kids to Kids Club, which is basically a huge climbing place with a great jungle theme. Anyway, I wanted to take them, but I wanted them to do something to deserve such a reward. It was supposed to be a reward for their responsibility chart, but ever since we got back from vacation we totally slacked on using the chart. We decided to use it again starting Sunday, so now we are back on track. I needed to grocery shop (Nolan had nothing for his lunches) so I took Sophie with me grocery shopping. Poy was on the couch sleeping, so I woke him and told him I wanted he and Nolan to clean up around the house while I took Sophie shopping.

I was originally going to leave Sophie too, but she wanted to shop so I took her along. She has been eyeballing a coupon in my coupon binder for Yoplait yogurt that happens to have Dora on it, so that is primarily the reason she wanted to join me. We went to Winco and did our shopping and of coarse I was trying to get some great coupon deals. Our first disappointment came when we got to the yogurt section and they did not have any yoplait yogurt for kids, much less the Dora kind. She settled on Gogurt, which I did have a coupon for. I believe it was 1.00 off 2 (or something of that nature) so we grabbed 2. Our second and most annoying disappointment came when I went to give my coupons to the checker. She says in a not very nice way "we don't take those" and hands me back all but 2 of my coupons! So I said, "is it because they are printed off the computer?" Instead of just saying yes, she says "there's a sign right there". Gee thanks. I paid and started to leave when I decided I was going to make a trip to customer service. I didn't go to complain, but I wanted to return the 3 items I purchased only because I had coupons.

We returned home and Nolan is on the computer and Poy is vacuuming but hasn't showered. I am not a quick shopper, so he had almost 2 hours. We were on a time schedule, and I felt he had plenty of time. I had evening plans for the SYTYCD (So you think you can dance) Show and was supposed to meet my girlfriends for dinner beforehand. I can feel the tension between Poy and I, but I'm not really sure why. He is a total introvert, so when he's irritated he doesn't talk and kind of huffs around. It drives me insane. I just want him to tell me what he's so irritated about. So, I finally pry it out of him and he is irritated at the fact that I am going to the show and dinner and he didn't know about it. HUH!! I went to one of the girls houses the previous Monday to decorate our SYTYCD t-shirts (yes, we are dorks, but it's fun). How could he not know... also it was on the calendar on the fridge. He says "I don't look at the calendar". Ugh! Anyway, I sort of snapped him out of his mood, but he still didn't want me to go.

The kids had a blast at the kids club. They had tons of fun just the two of them for quite awhile. Sophie finally came and got me and says "I can't find Nolan". I have now been sucked into the tubes!! We go all over the place and finally find Nolan, who I discover was playing hide & go seek. Sophie did not inform me that Nolan was hiding from her :) Now it was my turn to hide. I was hidden for a few minutes when I realized my spot was probably too good and I was going to be stuck in a tube for a long time unless I made myself a little more obvious :) Once we made it through the giant snake slide I sent Poy in. I was tired! We played for awhile longer when Nolan actually came and said "Alright, I'm done. Let's go" We did one more trip to the slide to satisfy Sophie and made it out with 2 sweaty kids.

I had already decided I was going to be late to dinner since I had committed to the kids that they could go to Kids Club and we got a late start. As we were driving home, Natalie calls and says she needs a printer to print the tickets. She comes over and we realize my printer is out of black ink. One thing after another was making us late. We had to run to Fred Meyer, get ink, print the tickets, calm my upset daughter and finally made it out the door. Natalie and I settled on a gourmet dinner of McDonalds before we met the rest of the group.

We had a good time at the show. Our tickets were a little disappointing since there was a camera guy blocking the very center of the stage from where we were sitting. We moved a bit to some other unoccupied seats, and it got better. The show was fantastic. I love watching all the dances.

Although I meant to bring my camera everywhere I went, I forgot it :( Too bad, cause I could have gotten some great photos to share.

A new obsession

2008-09-14T23:49:00.000-07:00

So, thanks to my friend/boss Natalie, I now have a new obsession... coupons! Specifically I have become a Walgreens shopper. Walgreens does all these crazy money back/ coupon/ rebate deals that really add up if you figure things out before you shop. I went to 2 different Walgreens yesterday and stocked up on all sorts of cleaning products, feminine products (yea!), hair care products, and OTC medicine. I spent around $110, but got $45 off my next trips (I actually used the $25 from the first trip on the second trip) and I also got $15+ worth of rebates that will come on a Walgreens gift card. I've spent a large portion of the night looking for online coupons. The trick to really doing the walgreens thing right is to have coupons on top of the already on sale items and barely pay anything at all. New deals started today, so after we take Sophie to preschool tomorrow I may have to drag Poy along and see if he can work out any deals.

On Nolan's last day of kindergarten his teacher asked me to do her a favor. She wanted me to go to the PTO meetings and add a new voice to the PTO. His teacher is no longer teaching because she just gave birth to identical twin boys, but even though she wasn't coming back, she still cares and thought I could bring new ideas. Last Tuesday I attended my first PTO meeting. It was an interesting experience going into a group of people who know each other and are set in their ways. I did bring a fellow parent/friend with me so I didn't have to feel uncomfortable. Although it was a little overwhelming I am going to do my best to be involved. The next day my neighbor came over and told me he really needs me to go to our homeowners association meeting and he wants me to run for the one board position that is available. Yikes, it's like my child starts school and now I have a bazillion things to attend to. I had to go and buy one of those massive "mom" calendars just to try to keep our lives in order.

Day 9... Well, I don't know that I've really gotten back into a specific routine these last 9 days. I'm still trying to get stuff done, but I have to make adjustments to the original plan. I'm just not home all the time. If I'm home during the day (especially earlier) I tend to get quite a bit done, but if I get up and go somewhere and return in the later afternoon, I just don't have the motivation to get stuff done. I'm really an early cleaner. Today I did use a bunch of my new cleaning products and cleaned the bathroom a lot. That felt good. I do like new stuff too, so even if it's cleaning products, I really like to use new stuff :) Hopefully I can get some stuff done tomorrow morning before Sophie goes to school.

Day 2... A little help from my girl

2008-09-08T21:23:00.000-07:00

Last night Sophie got her sleep schedule ALL messed up! She had fallen asleep at 7:45 p.m. and Poy thought she'd stay asleep, but she woke up 45 minutes later. So she got to sleep late (I was at book club) and when I came home she came out of her bedroom. First I hid from her and daddy tried to get her back to bed. She ended up in our room, which is fine... if she goes to sleep. She did not fall asleep. So she came back out and I tried to deal with her. She repeatedly was asking for juice. I decided to let her watch a movie in her room thinking she'd fall asleep. She didn't. Anyway, believe it or not, she wasn't asleep until 2 am. It was not a good night.

This morning both kids had dentist appointments at 8:30 am. Ouch! They both had good appointments though and Sophie wasn't winey like I thought she'd be. After taking Nolan to school, Sophie ended up falling asleep. I had to wake her an hour later to go to school. That did NOT make her happy at all.

Poy and I had our first Monday with 3 hours of free time. It was awesome. We went out to lunch at Olive Garden and it was so nice to not worry about the kids behaving. We did some shopping and then we each went and picked up a kid. We decided we need to use this time every week for us to have a little date. I think it will be great for us.

Upon returning home we started doing some tasks around the house. I swept/mopped the kitchen floor, wiped crayon off the walls that has been there for a good 2 years, and cleaned out the car, including cleaning the kids car seats. Sophie helped me with each of these things. She always wants to help me clean. I'm sure this will be good in the long run, but sometimes I just want to get it done. Poy mowed the lawn, washed the car, and used the blower on the back porch. Sophie was doing some shredding for me, which she is great at. She noticed her dad had the blower out and she says "I'm going outside mom" "okay, you want to play outside?" "Yes, I want daddy to blow me away!" She's so cute. She had to go get her brother though so he could play too.

I decided I need to reduce the amount of time the kids are watching TV, so we turned it off at dinner time. After dinner Sophie through a big fit, but I just ignored her screaming, and I mean loud screaming and she FINALLY stopped and decided to play with her blocks. We used to turn off the TV at 7 p.m. every night but eventually just got lax about it. I figured school starting is a good time to get them into a better habit. I'll let you know how that goes. Anyway, it was nice to have a day with my husband and still come home and accomplish something. Now I get to relax :)

Starting Over

2008-09-07T23:10:00.000-07:00

Today I have officially started my 21 day routine over again. It was just way to hard before and after the vacation to get into the cleaning mode. Today I scrubbed the bathrooms again. Well, actually I scrubbed the master bath and Poy did the downstairs bath. He also did some good kitchen cleaning and got the island cleared off. It is amazing how quickly an island can be covered, and how long it can take to clear it! I didn't get to the kids bathroom today as I hoped, but it isn't in bad shape so I'm not too disappointed. The kids both have school tomorrow so I'll hopefully get a lot done. Poy is off though, so you never know...

First Day of School & Another Nolan...

2008-09-04T21:51:00.000-07:00

So, as you know, Nolan started first grade on Wednesday. It went well. I drove him to school and saw his classroom for the first time, and met his teacher.

Nolan and I had a difference of opinion on what he should wear on his first day, but we ended up with a fair compromise. He wanted to wear a transformers t-shirt and I'm just not that into the character thing, even though he loves them. I really like the first day of school outfit to give a good impression. Anyway, so we decided (thanks to grandma's idea) he would wear one of the 5 choices I gave him and character shirts would be worn on Thursdays. I felt like last year he had a lot of nice stuff that he hardly wore since he's just drawn to the character stuff. Anyway, so he choose a simple GAP t-shirt & I thought he was pretty darn cute.

So, I want to tell a little story about my kids names and my naming philosophy...

When I was pregnant with Nolan I really wanted my child to have a name that was easy to say, easy to spell and wasn't common. I have said repeatedly "I don't want my child to be Nolan W. or Sophie W." Now, when I had Sophie I knew that her name was a little more popular than I would have liked, but we agreed that we loved it so we accepted that we may hear it somewhat frequently, and we have. But, let me go back 6+ years... After Nolan was born we took him to his 2 week check and after feeling that I had accomplished my goal of easy to say, easy to spell and not common, the child listed before Nolan on the sign-in sheet was named NOLAN!! I couldn't believe it. This Nolan was also a baby coming in for his one week appointment. I got over this fairly quickly knowing that Vancouver isn't a small town, and I doubt I'll ever come in contact with this child again...

Now we'll fast forward to last year. I found out part way through the year that there was another Nolan in the Kindergarten class next door. I don't know why, but I thought that when kids were put into classes that they would take into account same names and not have them in the same class unless they had no choice. I even considered telling his Kindergarten teacher my thoughts to see that they weren't in the same class. Well, as I'm sure you've concluded, that other Nolan that I never thought I'd come in contact with is now in my Nolan's classroom and Nolan is now Nolan W. :( I am very bothered by this and there is really nothing I can do. I hate it.

Sophie also started school Wednesday and she had a ton of fun. I must say I am looking forward to 3 hours with just my husband on Mondays and 3 hours to myself on Wednesdays. How awesome! My only conflict is that both of my kids get out of school at the same time... but we've worked it out. Sophie is going to preschool at Mini School which was established in 1971! I have met multiple parents that are putting their 2nd or 3rd child through this school, which I thought was pretty telling. Plus, the price is great too :)

Nolan had a pretty good preschool experience, but he went to a very different style of preschool. Nolan went to preschool for socialization. He didn't need to learn ABC's & 123's, he had picked up that kind of stuff very early in life. I have known for quite some time that Sophie would need a more structured learning environment. And I think I've found a great place for her.

Happy Anniversary!!

2008-09-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

Poy and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary on Thursday. We had some last minute school/vacation shopping to do, then we celebrated with a Red Robin Mud Pie with the kids. We took an evening flight to Las Vegas for our first child free vacation. We rented a car when we got there and although mapquest suggested taking the freeway to our hotel (at the far end of the strip), my dear husband thought driving the strip would be fun. Well, driving the strip at night is not so fun... lots of stop and go traffic. So, by the time we were in our hotel we didn't feel like driving anymore. So, we decided to walk... this would be mistake #2. Walking from our hotel was not a short walk and we were tired and hungry. It turned out fine, but we decided we would not be walking again. Oh, did I mention that at 10pm it was 85+ degrees!?!

Friday we drove to Hoover Dam and did the tour. It is quite a remarkable place and aside from the heat (105) we had a good time. In the evening we went to The Venetian for dinner and New York New York for Cirque Du Soleil's Zumanity. Zumanity was a great show and we enjoyed it very much. We made it back to our hotel after midnight and crashed.

Poy in front of Lake Mead

Me in front of Hoover Dam

Poy with his friend the Travelocity Roaming Gnome

Saturday we did some shopping for the kids. We enjoyed the M&M store and bought some things that we would normally scoff at... but we were on vacation. After our shopping experience we drove to Red Rock Canyon which is beautiful. If it wasn't hot and we were hikers it would have been even better. It has a 13 mile one way loop you can drive and stop at a bunch of spots along the way for photos or hikes. When we finished the drive we went to the Red Rock Casino which is a fabulous place. We ate and then we watched The Dark Knight at The Red Rock Cinemas. I know... why would we watch a movie on vacation? Well, we don't get many opportunities to watch movies unless they involve cartoon characters, and we hadn't seen The Dark Knight yet.

My new Green friend

Our first stop at Red Rock Canyon

Poy in Red Rock

Our one and only picture together in Vegas

Poy with The Hulk -- Check out how big Hulk is!!

Sunday morning we checked out of our hotel and drove to the Ethel M chocolate factory. We wanted to see the tour, but we didn't think about the fact that they may not work on Sundays. That was disappointing but we did buy a lovely box of chocolates. We then spent some time at The Mirage, but by this time I was missing my kids like crazy and really just wanted to go home. We flew out of LV at 4:30 and had a good reunion with the kids when we got home. They had a great time with my parents though, so after their hugs, kisses and gifts all was back to normal and they treated us like we were never gone. It is amazing how you miss them so much when you are gone and once you see them, you'd like to be on vacation again :)

Poy at a Cactus Garden

Me at the Cactus Garden

Making friends at the Airport

Poy with the scorpion

So, for those of you wondering if we hit it big in Vegas... the answer would be a big NO. We actually did not insert one dollar (or quarter, dime, nickel or penny) into a machine. We just aren't gamblers... we like to spend our money elsewhere.

I had planned on getting my cleaning started again today, but it just ain't gonna happen today. Tomorrow school starts and I will start my program again on day 1. I figure if I skipped so many days in a row, it doesn't really count as 21 days in a row. Today we visited a preschool and signed Sophie up, so she'll be in school on Mondays & Wednesdays from 12-3. So, not only does my first born start his first day of first grade tomorrow, but my baby starts preschool as well. I hope I don't burst into tears!

A little tough to keep up...

2008-08-26T22:16:00.000-07:00

Poy has been on Vacation since Sunday and I have to say it has been difficult to keep up on my cards. We have done all of our dailies plus a few extra each day, except for today. We were out of the house for the majority of the day. We didn't really make messes, but we didn't do much in the house cleaning department either.

Nolan was at his friend Benjamin's house all day today, so we had a glimpse of what our days will be like when Nolan is in school all day. It is quite different having just one child around. We walked around Downtown Portland, had some lunch and did a little shopping. When we picked up Nolan we went to the park and then it was off to more shopping. I'm starting to feel the pressure of school starting and us vacationing at almost the same time.

We also picked up Nolan's soccer pictures and I have to say, they turned out pretty darn cute. I love his missing tooth grin. Here they are, as well as a couple others.

Nolan

August 2008

Green Dragons

Nolan's Last Day of T-Ball

The Sabertooths

Today at the park

I love this picture of my family

I wanted to share a funny quote from Sophie yesterday. She found an old picture of my nephew Carter and Nolan taking a bath. They were probably 20 months and 9 months or so. Carter has "red eye" in the photo. She says to me

"Mommy, who made Carter have lasers shoot out of his eyes?"

Too funny... I just had to share that one :)

Nine years is coming up...

2008-08-22T23:35:00.000-07:00

Poy and I will be celebrating our ninth wedding anniversary on Thursday. We are very excited because we are flying to Las Vegas for the weekend to celebrate our marriage. This will be our first "child free" vacation in well over 6 years. The last time we vacationed alone was a weekend trip to San Francisco when I was pregnant with Nolan in October of 2001! We will be staying at Hilton Grand Vacations on the Strip thanks to my parents and their timeshare. We are going to see Cirque Du Soleil's "Zumanity", and are considering a trip to Hoover Dam. Neither of us are gamblers, so do you have any great ideas or fun things you've done in Vegas? I'd love to hear about it. I'm sure I'll have lots of fun stuff to share when we get back. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if I was blogging in Vegas :)

Thanks for any comments and I'd love to hear more. It's great to hear feedback.

Day 5

2008-08-22T22:53:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day working (during the day at least), and I was worried about how I would get anything done. I'm typically exhausted when I get home from work and just want to spend some time with the kids and get them to bed. Then I want to sit around and relax. I didn't want to fall off the wagon though, so I pushed myself pretty far. When I got home around 7:00 most of my "yellow" cards were done by my wonderful husband.

I met my parents for dinner at Gustavs but the kids were so amped up. I think I've decided that dinner out after working all day doesn't work well with the kiddos. They miss me and want my attention and I'm starving so I don't want to be clung to. I get cranky, they get cranky... not too enjoyable for any of us. I do thank my dad though for taking them for a walk while mom and I finished our dinner with a little peace. He's always been very good at that.

We were home a little after 8:00 and a part of me wanted to just file those other cards away, but I pushed that part aside. I emptied and loaded the dishwasher, re-wiped counters, & put in a load of laundry. I got the kids in their pajamas (after a bath) and vacuumed upstairs. Sophie was helpful with her little vacuum (yes it's a real one). We went through our usual routine, which is not short and finally got the kids to bed just before 11pm. I'm just about exhausted. I then worked on my box of car stuff that I pulled out yesterday. Most of it was just toys the kids need to put away so they each got a box and I separated their stuff for them to take care of tomorrow. I was thinking I would fold a load of laundry now, but I think I'll call it quits instead.

Day 3 & 4

2008-08-21T23:11:00.000-07:00

Alright, so here is my quick update of my house cleaning/organization.

Day 3 was great. It was Poy's day off, so the night before we sat down and I asked him what cards he thought we should do on top or our daily tasks. He added clean the laundry room floor, vacuum the stairs (I hate that), clean the knobs on the stove, and I added shake out rugs, and wash the window over the kitchen sink. In the morning he had a dentist appointment and Sophie actually slept in, so I did too :) When Poy was back from his appointment, I went up to take a bath and asked him to work on a few of the "yellow/daily" cards. I took my bath and did my bathroom tasks, got Sophie dressed and ready and went downstairs to find my husband working on the stove knobs. This was not a yellow card, so I look over at the cards and low & behold, almost all of the yellows are stacked in the done pile! I'm telling you, he can clean when he wants to. I wanted to have all of our tasks done by 1:00 and we were finished at 12:30!! I was so proud of our progress and how well we worked together when we had a common goal.

Day 4: Poy works on Thursdays but not until 5:30ish usually. Today he had a conference call at 2:00. We decided he would go to his call and the kids and I would meet him an hour later and we'd go to the mall so he wasn't working 12+ hours and we could spend time together. So, this morning I didn't choose too many cards since I try to make our family days lighter cleaning days. Poy got a haircut this morning so I did most of the daily tasks today. One of my tasks listed was to do a load of laundry and I didn't have enough clothes to wash to justify a load... What!! I had the majority of laundry clean all at once?!?! Too bad I can't say all the toys are picked up... oh well, one day at a time. I keep reminding myself what they say in the book, "you didn't get into this mess in a day (or week or month), so you can't expect to get out of it that quickly". When we got home from the mall Nolan wanted to go to the park, but I felt I needed to get another task done. I told him if he helped me clean out the car (big task), I would take them to the park. So, he and I started cleaning and Sophie joined us later. We got everything out and vacuumed, but we still need to put quite a few things away. I am feeling really good about including the kids in our tasks, they are really doing well and it is a great help. Sophie is always right there and ready to help... sometimes a little too much, but you can't fault her for it. Nolan does very well with helping when he has something to look forward to when it's done. We are doing a responsibility chart with the kids now and that helps him out a lot.

Anyway, that was my "quick" update on my progress. I'm feeling good... I do have to work the next 2 days though, so we'll see how work days go.

Thanks for the support!

Can I become more organized in 21 days?

2008-08-19T13:28:00.000-07:00

So, here is my confession... I am not a clean person. No, I don't mean personal hygiene, but I hate cleaning and my house is always messy. I have some very organized friends and I am always getting down on myself about my homes lack of cleanliness. Now, I want to say from the start, Poy is NOT the problem. He tries very hard to clean, but our routine is not working. So, I have started to read "Sidetracked Home Executives" by Pam Young and Peggy Jones. BTW, they are from Vancouver, WA :) Here is the system in a nutshell:

Using a 3x5 card box with dividers and cards write down everything that you need to do around the house. (They have a list to help you out)
You mark the card Daily, Weekly, Monthly etc.
Everyday you do your tasks on your cards... so I have to clean EVERY day!! You aren't even supposed to leave your house without doing all your tasks.
When you finish your cards you move them to the next day or week or month...

Anyway, they say it takes 21 days to change a habit, so that is what I am aiming to do. In the book they actually say not to tell people, in case you don't do well. I'm going with the opposite theory and if I feel that if I tell people what I'm doing I will push myself harder. So, I'm going to let you all know how I'm doing day by day.

Day 1: Yesterday I did all of my daily tasks (I have 17), and I cleaned all the mirrors in each bathroom, cleaned the oven and dishwasher door, vacuumed downstairs, did a load a laundry, except I have not folded and put it away still. (I swear I'm gonna do it when I'm done blogging) I took inventory of all of Nolan's clothes and removed the clothes that don't fit.

Day 2: Today I did 16 of my daily tasks, I skipped making my bed. Aside from my daily's, I took out the garbage, cleaned all toilets including the potty chair :), mopped all bathroom floors, cleaned all bathroom countertops, polished all faucets, washed my bathroom rugs. Basically I spent ALOT of time in all 3 of my bathrooms. I also cleaned my microwave inside and out.

I am finding it very helpful to have a routine and know what I need to clean instead of just waiting until it is noticeably dirty. I have reminded myself many times that although it is hard now and I feel like I'm cleaning all day long (well actually I AM cleaning all day long) it will not be so difficult if I stick with it.

Time to do the laundry...

Annual Wong Family Picnic

2008-08-18T23:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the Annual Wong Family Picnic. We had a Pot Luck at Fisher Basin Park and the kids played their little hearts out. The kids had tons of fun with their cousin Gabby and Poy's cousin's children as well. The weather was great and so was the company. Here are some photos of the family.

The kids getting food in their bellies before going to the playground.

Poy and the kids

Gabby, Nolan and Sophie

Poy & his brother Howard

Gabby

Madison

Kennedy

The food tastes better on Auntie Irene's plate

Gabby with her yummy noodles.

Our brother-in-law Kyle, Poy's uncle Edmund and Poy

Poy's Aunt Sally

Me :)

Zachary & Nolan

Give this kid some water 'cause he is sweaty!!

Sophie after playing hard

Busy, Busy Day

2008-08-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday ended up being a very full day. Sophie and I started the morning at her "Creative Creations" Art class. They did a very fun activity. They put a variety of things on the table and the children put them on wax paper. They placed crayon shavings on their creation, covered it with another sheet of wax paper and then the instructor ironed it. Sophie used feathers, paper, and flower petals. I think we'll put them in a window cause they look really cool when light shines through. Last week they painted with "sand bags" (which were actually sand inside a tied nylon), that was fun, but didn't keep attention too long and it was obviously very messy.

After class I had a chiropractor appointment, we went to lunch, and then took Sophie to her 3 year check-up. She had a great appointment, her doctor was pleased with her health. She weighed in at a mighty 27 lbs and she is 36 1/2" tall. She is equally proportioned at the 25th percentile in both height and weight. *For those of you without kids, this means 75% of kids her age are bigger than she is. We then were off to Target for some school supplies.

As soon as we got home it was time to prepare for Nolan's soccer game, get a little snack in us and get to the field. This was the first time I was alone with the kids at the game. Poy took his management team out to dinner to show his appreciation to them, and my parents left for Las Vegas this morning. The ironic thing is, I felt like this was probably his best game so far. Nolan is not an aggressive player at all, so he is often just running around. He had a lot more kicks at the ball yesterday and he did quite well at his turn at goalie. Here are some photos of Nolan playing and Sophie posing.

After the soccer game we were off to T-ball practice! I know, what kind of a crazy mom has her 6 year old do 2 sports in one day... I didn't know that t-ball practice would be the same day as the soccer game, so when we can, we do both. The hard part was I had a 3 year old to entertain on a blanket for 2 hours by myself. Lets just say, she was playing with my camera ALOT, and insisting I take her picture.

We arrived home after 8pm and I then made a quick spaghetti dinner while we waited for Poy to come home. When we were done Sophie was unzipping her PJ's so I asked her what she was doing. She says in a low gravely voice, as she sticks out her belly "My tummy says he is full". So cute.

After Poy got home, we remembered that we bought Sophie her first nightgown at Target yesterday cause it was super cheap. Sophie LOVES dresses, so I knew she'd love a nightgown. Anyway, so she had to change. I told her to pose for her picture, and that she did!

And just at the time when we should put the kids to bed and relax... I had to go to work...

As I said, it was a busy, busy day.

Did I hear what I think I heard? Yes I did!

2008-08-12T00:47:00.000-07:00

Tonight I was getting Sophie's PJ's on and encouraging her to clean her room. She really didn't want to do it, so she was getting a bit frustrated. All of the sudden I hear her say something, but her back is turned to me, and I think "did I hear what I think I heard?" So I ask her, "what did you say?" She looks right at me with the most appropriate face and says "damn it". She said it another 4 or 5 times while I had to hide my face in my shirt because it was really funny and I didn't want her to see me laughing and think she should continue. She ended up thinking I was crying so I told her it was because I didn't like her using that word. The funny thing was she was using it so appropriately. The tone of her voice, the reason and everything. I don't even know where she picked it up. We are actually quite good at not swearing in front of our kids, and Nolan at 6 years old hasn't picked up any. It was quite surprising, but that's our Sophie, she keeps us on our toes!

Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles

2008-08-11T23:38:00.000-07:00

The kids and I had some good bubble fun today. It started out with a bubble bath which is Sophie's new favorite thing. Everytime she sees me in the tub she asks if she can have a bubble bath. Here are some fun pics.

Sophie's polishing the chrome for me

Nolan, I can't see your face...

That's better

Bubble Head!

In the afternoon I decided to try making homemade bubbles. Over all, it wasn't nearly as successful as I hoped it would be, but we did have some fun. I've been trying to find some fun stuff for the kids to do outside since I feel like the kids are inside way too much. Last week we made silly putty. That was some messy fun.

Nolan climbing the rock wall

Check out that trapeze artist!

Cute Pose

Mixing bubbles

Blowing bubbles

It was a such a beautiful day today. I sure didn't get much done inside the house,

but it was nice to be outside.

A Yucky Way to Wake Up

2008-08-10T00:50:00.000-07:00

I was peacefully sleeping this morning when I woke to hear Sophie crying in her room at 5am. She wakes often and makes her way into our bed, but this morning was different. She was crying, and yelling "mama". As I pulled myself out of bed to go to her, she knocks on her door, which of coarse she can open herself. I opened the door to an overwhelming stench. I thought she pooped or something. I asked her what was wrong and if she pooped. She said something about it being in her bed. I turned on the light to see vomit on her PJ's. I went into her room and found that she had thrown up in her bed then she must have been disoriented cause there was a path from her bed to her dresser. There was the smelliest vomit everywhere. Yuck, yuck, yuck! I got her cleaned up and then Poy and I spent a good 20-30 minutes cleaning up her bedding and her carpet. Luckily she had tossed her "night-night" (her name for her lovey) out of her bed before she got sick, so night-night was still available to comfort her in her time of need. When she woke for the day she didn't eat anything for breakfast, she only wanted milk. As we were getting into the car to go to Nolan's t-ball game, she threw up her milk too. I thought we were gonna have a sick kid all day long, but luckily she didn't have any more issues the rest of the day. I will say we are quite fortunate, both of our kids did not have their first incident of "real" throw-up until they were 3 years old.

They did like to spit up as babies though :)

My First Post and thoughts on Blogging

2008-08-10T00:32:00.000-07:00

Alright, here I go... I'm going to try out this blogging stuff and see if it works for me. I have some thoughts on blogging and they are

Is my life really exciting enough that people will want to read my blog?
It seems that many times what I'm reading on blogs is all positive, but life isn't perfect and I'd like to be honest... are blog readers looking for only the good stuff?
Can I keep up?

Well, I'm gonna try, and I'm also gonna start with a yucky story... I hope you enjoy reading about Living the Wong Way.