Other duties as assigned....

Lily isn't just a pretty face, apparently she is a rather comfy pillow too!

Sock Hop

Tonight was the Sock Hop for the kids school. All of the kids and families had an absolute blast. One of the teachers has a DJ business complete with lights, etc. The music was loud and therefore Seth spent most of the time outside the gym assisting the Principal with pictures. I could kick myself for not getting a picture of him doing his "job". He was quite proud of having a job to do and he was very good at it too!

Here's Lacey on the dance floor, her friend Madison has the blue ribbon in her hair. When their hair is back in ponytails, these girls are easily mistaken for each other, they look like they could be sisters.


These two girls sought Seth out for a dance, he actually obliged, and they were thrilled!
Here is Seth dancing with one of his teachers, Mrs. Roberts. He REALLY likes spinning girls around!

This video is of Lacey, and then Madison, doing the Limbo. Unfortunately, the lights were turned down so it is kind of dark.

A good time was had by all, and just in case you were wondering, they were exhausted! So am I, the noise overload reminds me of my single days with my ears ringing after a night of music and dancing.

Full Weekend

The weekend started early, leaving the house at 6:30 to get to Olympia and help Mom with a garage sale. The garage sale was a bust -- it rained, was cold and the sales were pathetic -- so we closed up shop early, took the leftovers to Goodwill and headed to Cabela's. Cabela's was quite nice. Seth and Lacey really liked the animals and aquarium. Seth wanted to buy everything in the store! We had lunch there which was pretty good for a cafeteria style luncheon.

On our way home we stopped by the Great Wolf Lodge to check it out. We are going there in June with the CHASA group. It's a pretty awesome facility with a lot of fun things going on. There is a beautiful lobby with about 8 separate seating areas, log tables and a gorgeous fireplace that is about 20' wide and 25' or so high. There is an arcade, a craft room, pizza hut, a cafe, a spa, a kid's spa and a place with free internet, karaoke, flat screen TV's, X Box, etc. We noticed there were computer screens in the "trees" which were part of the decor. An employee told us that in a couple of weeks there will be a Magic Quest game that can be played throughout the hotel -- the kids will have a wand that they take to the screens and it will give them clues for the next treasure to find. The kids are really looking forward to this, it sounds like a lot of fun. The CHASA group will be 10 families with kids ranging from 3 to 17. We are also going to meet for bowling on Saturday morning with a few families who were not going to come to the lodge. It will be nice to meet new families and spend time with others we have met at previous retreats.

Sunday was spent cleaning the house and yard. Erik fixed the sweeper on the tractor and then mowed and "swept" the yard. I cleaned house, did laundry and cleaned the outdoor furniture. Seth and Lacey played inside and out along with the dogs who ran their little hearts out. Lily loves the water! She got thoroughly soaked while "helping" me clean the outdoor furniture. Later, Lacey decided to wash her bike and I was able to get some pictures of her and Lily helping her out too.

Silliness

Lacey greeted me after work with her new "do". Her babysitter, Miranda, and her had a great time doing each other's hair into a crazy new do. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Miranda since she had already gone home, but my understanding is that it was equally creative. Hopefully, I can get her picture to share later.

Apparently, Lily did not want to be outdone, so we were honored with this silly girl watching us eat dinner.

She eventually got bored staring at us, but wouldn't dare part with her two toys. For those who don't know, Lily always insists on having two toys in her mouth, she simply isn't happy until she gets them situated just right. Silliness was in large supply tonight!

Weekend Adventures

Our weekend started out with a garage sale which was incredibly successful. I think everybody in town was thirsty for garage sales, they came in droves. We estimate there was probably 400 people throughout the day. It made a serious dent in the corner of my spare bedroom where all of the outgrown clothes, toys and other household items live waiting for their moment in the spotlight. The leftovers and anything I can purge from the house in the next week will be given another chance to change residences this next weekend. Mom's mobile home park is having their annual sale and I will be going there to assist and sell what I can.

After the garage sale, Lacey and I went to the ballpark to watch her friend Lane's team play baseball. I haven't been to a ballpark in 30 years so it was fun. There was of course, the ballpark food, uncomfortable wooden bleachers, sand hitting our face on occasion when the catcher missed the pitch and the thrill of hoping the children with sticky candy, snowcones, etc., will keep their sticky, dust-smitten hands to themselves. Anybody who knows me knows I do not do sticky! Aaagh! On the plus side, it was fun to see the kids hitting the ball, hearing that nice "whack" as it sails to the outfield, the crowds cheering, the camaraderie of the team, visiting with other parents and spending some "girl time" with Lacey. We had a great time and plan on going to another one of Lane's games in a couple of weeks.

On Sunday, two girlfriends and I went to Portland to see a collection of artists. The Handweaver's Guild, Portland Bead Society, Ceramic Arts Guild, Northwest Woodworkers and Metal Artist Guild have a collective show at the Convention Center. It involves a lot of walking but it is always great to see such creative works. Surprisingly, I didn't buy any beads this time. I bought two pins from a ceramics artist and a pair of earrings from a metal artist that I like.

Seeing the handweavers always inspires me to do some more Kumihimo. "What is Kumihimo?", you ask. Follow the link to find out. I am determined to figure out a way to incorporate the braiding into my beadwork. There are just so many possibilities and combinations of textures, etc., which is why it appeals to me. Hopefully, I will have great things to share at a later date.

Lacey's New City

Lacey received a Lego City from Grandma and Grandpa Schlecht for her birthday. She loves playing with Legos or anything that has characters, furniture, etc. Her other love is Littlest Pet Shop for the same reason. Mom loves to build Legos almost as much as Lacey loves to play with them so we are the perfect pair. We sat down and built the city in one night. Lacey happily locked up the bad guys and aimed the cameras and spotlights to keep an eye on them for the night. = )

We have recently added the helicopter and roads to the ensemble, but I don't have pictures of those yet. Stay tuned.....

Lacey is 9!

It's hard to believe, but my baby is 9 years old! She had a huge party at the Briarcliff Pool. Everybody had a great time and swam their little hearts out. I'm pretty sure that all of these kids were sound asleep about an hour after getting home -- they swam hard for 2 hours!

Lacey had a cupcake cake, it was very cute, tasty and easy to serve. Gotta love that!

Here is a picture of the table with the kids eating us out of house and home! They were starving after all that swimming. They devoured 26 cupcakes, 12 doughnuts, 16 cookies, and 30 ice cream cups in less than 10 minutes!

Shae and Michelle's babies all had a great time. Here they are in their adorable swimwear!

Tehya and Odessa, Beau, MyLeigh

Spring?? Yeah Right!

I thought it was Spring! Think again. The snow started last night at about 10:00 p.m. I took a picture from our door every 20 minutes in an amateur attempt at time-lapse. It is surprising how quickly it piled up, big beautiful flakes, but on March 28th - please!

Unfortunately, I did not get a video in the morning of Lily's pure delight at what happened while she slept. She ran, buried her nose, threw toys in the air, ran some more, and about an hour later finally flopped in exhaustion. There must be a Husky hiding in her genes somewhere! Happy Spring!

Kids, Eggs and Dye -- Oh My!

The annual Easter egg coloring event took place at Grandma Fran's house. Lacey and Seth, Taylor, Michelle with MyLeigh, and three of Shae's four -- Beau, Tehya and Odessa -- were in attendance. Unfortunately, Shae, Sean and Trae were in Portland with Trae undergoing emergency hernia surgery so they missed out on the chaos.



Lacey is not impressed that her fingers might actually get some color on them!


Seth loving it!


Tehya -- she attempted to drink the dye and didn't even bat an eye that it was straight vinegar water -- Yuck!



















Odessa and Beau working feverishly:














MyLeigh wasn't quite sure what all the fuss was about, after all, if it involves a spoon and a cup she thinks it should be something tasty. Here she is with her first egg:

Taylor managed to stay out of most of the pictures during egg coloring, here she is entertaining Odessa afterwards.

The end result of all of our work -- about six dozen eggs and no catastrophes!

Office taking shape

Our latest adventure has been remodeling our office/den. This is the home base of our computer and my bead table. Unfortunately, I actually have so much junk that it is necessary to put in cupboards to hide it all. I didn't manage to get a picture of the room before I packed it all up, but here it is when we started with just my computer stuff all crammed on to one table.



And the other side of the room (bead table). We had a counter here before, but are replacing it with the same counter as the computer.



Minus carpet:



New paint:



New flooring:














Moving back in:




We still have a lot to do. The upper cabinets will be stained to match the lower cabinets. The bead cabinets will be replaced to match also. The mopboards for the pantry cabinets need to be put in place and where the floor meets the tile hallway has to be finished. But, overall, I am at least moved back in and have 90% of the things put away.