Leisure Rules!

      We had a bit of fun this weekend in what was supposed to be a pretty plain time. With the two extra days off school this week being my first two days with Brandon back at work, I was going a little bonkers. Yesterday, Anna got short notice invited to spend the night with two of her best friends from her old school.  I could describe her excitement, but it wouldn't do it justice because you couldn't hear her screams or see her smile.  Since she was doing something fun, we decided to let Riley pick a friend and take them out to pizza at Dirty Dave's.  (Not my favorite place, but Brandon's been craving it for awhile.)  Ethan, the friend, stayed over late so the we could watch "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"!  It was so exciting to introduce Riley to this most favorite movie of ours. My thanks go out to Ethan for quoting it at dinner "Bueller, Bueller"! It was the perfect pick for a no school, lazy day movie!
       Today turned out to be way more fun than expected, too.   All we had on the schedule today was Riley's last basketball game. When we picked up Anna, we decided to let one her the besties come over for the day.  On our drive out to Tenino for the game (Yes, Tenino, but I'm glad because...) we had to pass by Latin's Cider Mill and I saw the sign that said "Hot Apple Fritters Today". I instantly made a decision about our return trip home.  We did get lost and miss 3 minutes of the game (Note: Brandon is the coach.  My bad. Sorry about the directions, Honey.)  We only lost by one point, which is really good.  Had Riley not made one little shooting foul, they would have tied!  But that did not dampen my mood, because I remembered what was on the way home!  So, a few minutes after we lost the last game of the season, we were eating donuts at the Cider Mill. Well, a couple of my unadventurous children (darn boys) had donuts.  The rest of us had fresh, hot Apple Fritters! They only do this on Friday's and Saturday's and I've NEVER gotten to go before.  I believe this was a little shout out to me from Heavenly Father.  A "thank you for all you do for your children and husband" kind of a thing.  We even bought food for the birds and goat.  Barring some freezing, slimy hands and major tears from Anna when the goat grabbed her whole bag and ATE IT (daddy gave her his to get the smile back), we had a blast, in the freezing snow, no less.  I'm not extremely spontaneous, but now that our kids are getting older, it's really growing on me. Hope you are all having a great weekend. Now for my big day of rest! Have a happy Sunday! ~Pam

Sick! Sick! Sick!

F.Y.I.  Went to the doctor Thursday, the 24th, because my fever just wouldn't stay away and I have a severe sinus infections.  Finally starting to feel better.


We went from having such a good time at the Great Wolf Lodge, to me being SICK!  I haven't been knocked out by a cold in a long time and even though we got the flu shot, I think this might have been a little flu. Needless to say, our family has been a little off .  Brandon has been so sweet, staying home and caring for everything.  He is such a good husband.  The kids have been super cute about my fever, rushing home from school to ask what my temperature was.  They were super concerned when it reached 102.5 and then so excited for it to be down to 99 this afternoon.  The love I felt, although I was very achy, too, was so nice to feel, being the main lover of the ill in this household.  I'm not often on the receiving end.  Although I HATE being sick, it was nice to have a moment were everyone doted on the doter, cared for the carer.  I love my family.

Fun, fun, fun!

We had such a wonderful time at the Great Wolf Lodge.  I always forget how much fun vacations can be, even just little ones like that.  We've gone to the GWL with my sister's family several times and the same thing always happens.  Anna runs off with her BFC Emily as soon as we get to the water. Riley gets to hang out with the big boys, namely Uncle David and Brandon, because they will go on the big rides with him and Evan straps on his life jacket and immediately starts to kill some waves with his big Karate kicks and, of course, his lightsaber.   I was excited this time to go get some sweets with my sister after the kids were in bed.  It's always fun to get to enjoy some grown-up talk on vacation.  It was so nice to be in a warm and mostly sunny place for a few days instead of stuck in the house.  It was also fun to be there when it snowed, inside, at the lodge.  Just after the bedtime clock tower show at 9 pm, the snow machines started.  I had been wondering how they pull it off and keep it so clean still and it was awesome.  They use bubbles, only they don't come out as big floaty bubbles.  They come out as tiny clumps of bubbles that really look like snow.  It was pretty cool.  The kids jumped around trying to catch the snow, but not with their tongues, thank goodness. Yuck. The kids are always so sad to leave, but luckily there is a Dairy Queen just down the road, so we have made it a habit to stop there for one last hurrah before we head home.  It was a wonderful way to start a long weekend.  Brandon took Friday off as well, so he had a five day weekend.  Which has turned out to be great, because I came home and promptly got sick!  Not so good, but still had a blasts and am happy to laze around getting better while Brandon takes care of the kids. :-) Hope you have a Happy President's Day!!  Love P~
P.S. I'll add pictures later, as they are upstairs on that computer....Sorry

Really?...

Did I really just skip from Christmas to Valentine's day?  I guess I will have to make this a Holiday blog.  If you're lucky, I'll seek out all of those really obscure holidays, like Grandparents day and stuff like that.  I guess I have just been so busy living that I haven't gotten a chance to blog about it.  Actually, I have been too busy reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.  But life has been full as well.  January holds three birthdays for our family, so we literally had a party every weekend of January except one!  February has gone by quickly and we're already heavy laden with all of the chocolate that Valentine's brings.  So my new goal is to upload more photos.  I won't be doing that this post, as I am on the laptop and the photos are on the regular computer. So I guess I've already made my first excuse for not doing what I said I would.  But I have to remain a little consistent in my inconsistency, right?  Don't want anyone to go into shock or anything.  We are leaving a little later today to go to the Great Wolf Lodge with some family and I WILL blog about that when I get back!  I will, i will...  Here's to trying at least.


Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day and that the love hasn't stopped just because the day has! Love ~P.