The Good, The Bad, and The Pug

What a busy weekend! I took part of the day off on Friday to go to the kids Spring music program. Lacey played the xylophone for one of the songs. She was very excited about this and practiced every day the last couple of weeks. She performed flawlessly! The theme was sports, just in case you wondered why some of the kids are dressed in sports attire.
I arrived home at 5:00 to Erik and Lacey informing me that they had just reported the neighbors house was on fire. Erik heard the distinct snap, crackle, pop of a house fire when he was up in the pasture. He looked around and saw the fire and smoke. I ventured into the pasture (not my favorite thing to do -- there are horses in pastures - aaaagh!), and took pictures of the firefighters doing their thing. Not sure how much damage there was, it was put out fairly quickly after the firefighters arrived, but they had to punch a few holes so I'm sure the damage was significant. Saturday was such a beautiful day and was predicted to be quite hot, so the kids and I headed for the coast. Our destination was Rockaway Beach for the kite festival. The weather was absolutely gorgeous! We enjoyed Rockaway and then checked out Manzanita on the way back and fell in love with that town. I really want to go back, it was paradise.

On Sunday, Lacey and I went to Portland to enjoy the Pug Crawl. Seth was sunburned from the day before (yes, I'm Mother of the Year, I forgot to sunscreen his arms!), so he wasn't interested in going with us. We saw about a million pugs......OK, it was more like 1,000, but it was still significant in a one block area. Here is Huey and Chloe. Huey was a new found pug friend with whom Chloe shared a platform because it was much cooler than the blacktop. There is no such thing as an unfriendly Pug, Huey buddied right up to me soon after this picture was taken and leaned in to me for a snuggle.
Overall, the weekend was extremely busy with very little home time, but a lot of wonderful memories were made. More pictures are posted on our Dropshots and Picasa sites.

Mother's Day

We all gathered at Judy's house for brunch Sunday morning to celebrate Mother's Day and a belated Lacey/Anneliese birthday party. Anneliese received a much appreciated trike from Great Grandma Lila and Great Grandpa Bob.

Jackson had a great time tasting the pieces of Anneliese's Little Tykes animals (or in this case, the brush for the animals).

The last picture is Anneliese sporting her "Minnie Pearl" look!

Woodpecker For Sale -- Cheap!

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?


Our house is made of Hardi-Plank so one would think we would be immune to woodpeckers. Well, a woodpecker found one of the only pieces of wood on the house! We think he was probably after the beetles which are constantly all over our house. Erik sprayed the house with something that deters the beetles so hopefully this won't happen again.

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