I was worried...

I was a little worried about school pictures. Rachel got a great one last year, but with her missing and half grown in teeth, I was worried about what she would come back with. I was even more worried about Tyler who tends to make goofy faces for pictures. Imagine my surprise and pleasure when they BOTH came back with wonderful pictures! Here they are!

The beautiful and wonderful Rachel.

And my very handsome Tyler.

Obviously I'm thrilled with their pictures. Aren't my kids just the cutest ever??

What a great weekend!

I got to spend last weekend with Jennifer and her family, and it was WONDERFUL! Here's the recap:

We met Friday late morning in Seattle and started with lunch at Ivar's. It was, of course, so yummy, and the kids had a great time sharing their lunch with the seagulls, much to the chagrin of Jenn.

We had to make a quick stop by Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe on our way to our next destination which was the Seattle Aquarium. It's right on the waterfront, just 5 blocks from the ferry dock. Becca got scared by the giant shark hanging up but loved the touch tank, Tyler couldn't pick what he wanted to see most and ran around constantly, and Rachel just wanted to do whatever her cousins were doing! Personally, I liked the arch of jellyfish myself. That and watching Ethan's excitement when he saw Dori!

Next we hiked up to Westlake in hopes of taking the monorail, but alas, it was still broken down. We did take a quick walk through the fountain where those who did it got drenched! Becca thought getting wet was hilarious, Emily didn't like it at all, and the rest of us were damp for the rest of the day!

Then we hopped a bus and headed off to the Seattle Center. The plan was to go to the Pacific Science Center, but we got there later than we'd hoped, and the line to get in was obnoxiously long, so we decided to play around on the rides there in the Center. My kids all loved the frog hopper ride the best. We sent Kate, Megan, Emily and Rachel up in the ferris wheel all by themselves! Then after some cotton candy to give the kids a sugar high, we trekked all the way back down to the ferry dock! We just barely missed the bus that would have taken us most the way, so we walked it.

We grabbed food to go (McDonalds for the kids, Ivar's again for the adults) and took it on the ferry to head home. Scott hadn't been on a ferry in about 20 years, and my kids had never been on one, so it was a real treat for everyone.

Once off the ferry it was back to the lake house. The kids watched a movie and ate popcorn. Or that's what they were supposed to be doing. In reality they played and jumped around. All 5 girls shared a room, and I'm amazed they got as much sleep as they did! Once kids were in bed, the grown ups got to play games. I don't think Jenn will be going out to buy Dread Pirate any time soon. Then Scott killed us at Scattergories! It was a fun, but late night.

Everyone but Jenn got a bit of a slow start Saturday morning. She was up bright and early with Ethan. What a ball of energy that kid is! We hung around the house, built fun stuff with Lego's (you should have seen Kelly's space needle and Eiffel tower!), fed the ducks, ate pink champagne cake (so yum!), walked to Star Valley for candy, went to Tony's Pizza for lunch, took naps, played more games, watched TV, had a late dinner, and finally left Jenn's family in peace a little after 9:00 that night. Amazingly my kids stayed awake the whole way home, They couldn't stop talking about all their favorite things about the weekend. But as soon as they were in their beds, they crashed hard and fast.

It was a wonderful, perfect weekend. It was so great to be able to have that kind of time with Jennifer and her family. At least for me and my family, it could not have been any better. Even though Tyler still can't remember Soren's name (he just calls him his buddy), my kids had a really wonderful time playing with and getting to know their cousins. I loved having so much time with Jenn! We never get that. I just can't say enough about how awesome our weekend was!! Thanks Jenn for letting us be a part of your trip!

(I've tried three times to add pictures to this post, but as is becoming all too common, they're not uploading!)

Books

I've decided that when it comes to books, I don't have a very good memory. I don't often remember what I've read, who it was by, or even how much I liked it. So I've decided to do something about it. When school supplies came out, I purchased several basic spiral notebooks. At ten cents a piece, I couldn't resist, even though I had no idea what I was going to use them for. One of them has become my book journal. I don't write a lot in it, but I do record what I read, who it was by, what genre it belongs in (though sometimes I make up my own), and either a brief description or a review of some kind. That way I can remember what I've read! And if there was something I liked a lot, when it comes time to find a new book, I at least have an author's name to use as a starting point. I also have a place at the end for book recommendations from others (and books I want to read but haven't gotten to yet) and a place to write down words I may come across that I don't know the meaning of, or am not 100% sure of the meaning, so when I have time I can go look them up! I'm hoping this will help me keep better track of what I read, what I like, and what I want to read next!

Fizzy Joy: Book recommendations! I want to know what you're reading and what books you love!

The Tooth

Yesterday I had to take Rachel to an oral surgeon. She had a molar that never grew in fully, and as her first permanent molar started coming in behind it, it was crowding out her "little tooth," as she liked to call it. The gums were also growing down around it, so it was slowly disappearing. Her dentist, who is very good, decided it would just be safer to have an oral surgeon remove the tooth, so we got up bright and early yesterday to take her in. Rachel was calm and matter of fact about most of it, even though she was thoroughly scared about it. She was so scared about it she wouldn't even talk to Scott about it the night before. But when we got there, she didn't even want me going back into the room with her. I usually don't go back with her at the dentist's office, but this time I insisted. At least until they started anesthesia. They started with the laughing gas, then put in an IV to administer the good stuff. I wasn't there for any of that though. And I certainly wasn't there for the procedure itself. They had to cut away part of the gum to get the darn thing out. They did knock her out completely so she wasn't awake for any of it, but she woke up crying. Her arm hurt from where they'd put in an IV and her lip was numb from the novacane which was a sensation she did not like AT ALL! Apparently it's completely normal for girls to wake up crying. She said even the teenage girls do it. But boys tend to wake up laughing. Go figure. Rachel cried all the way home. Even the doctor ordered milk shake didn't stop her. She just cried as she ate it! Once we got her home, back in her pajamas, and settled in MY bed with the TV on, she finally settled down. So I spent my day tending to her. I'm pretty sure she milked it a little, but mostly she was a hurting and sore little girl. She's back to normal and back to school today, and the tooth fairy brought her $2 instead of the usual $1 for this big and difficult tooth. I have to say, it's much different looking at a molar with all the large roots still attached as opposed to a little baby tooth that fell out naturally. I hope this is the last time we have to do something like this. Overall, not a fun day.

Fizzy Joys: Dental insurance, Russian tang (for when I'm sick, like now), naps, afternoon sunshine, season premiers for favorite shows.