Road trips aren't that fun

One thing I learned on our family vacation to Boise is that we are not very good road trippers. At least not yet. My kids are at the age where they just aren't happy staying in the car for more than a couple hours at a time and I'm at the age where I can't deal with them for more than a couple hours in the car. Adam was a wonderful helper though and let me drive while he sat in back and watched Harry Potter and Calliou with the kids and entertained them/broke up fights. Anyway, we wer going to Boise for the weekend for Adam's niece's wedding. It was super fast but a lot of fun too.

Adam said he had never really worn sunglasses before because he always had his regular glasses on, so I put my sunglasses on over his own glasses to show him how awesome sunglasses are. And yes, they are purple. Pretty, Adam.

In the first couple hours, when we all still liked each other.

I can't decide which family picture I like best.

Waiting outside the temple for the happy couple!

Katie and Andrew. Katie is Adam's oldest sister's (Rachelle) daughter.

At the luncheon. I think it's so funny how Madelynn will give me this cheesy smile almost every time I pull out my camera.

Jack at the reception. His dinner consisted of sugar, sugar, and sugar. I think he may have had a bite of roll or pasta salad, but his plate was mostly cupcakes, candy and brownies. I figured we were on vacation so whatever. Plus, he sat there for like 45 minutes taking little bites of everything.

We were supposed to be taking a cute picture, but apparently cutting the wedding cake is way more interesting. She's even clapping for them! This one loves cake. Well, actually, she loves frosting.

After a while, they turned on some tunes and we danced the night away. Jack was a little weirded out by all the people dancing, but he showed us a few of his moves, most of which oddly looked like ninja fighting moves. He usually ended up standing by a wall with a funny look on his face (confusion? disgust?) or making me hold him but not letting me dance with him.

Madelynn and Olivia danced almost all night. For over an hour straight at least. Olivia tried to join a few groups of older girls, but usually ended up on her own just grooving to the music. Madelynn was a hurricane and would dance in one place, run over to another place and dance, and start over. She usually ended up in the middle of a bunch of rowdy groomsmen, but loved every minute of it. And I know she has her binky, but it was way past her bedtime and she was being such a good sport.

Dancing queen. I'm so glad we signed her up for dance classes that start in a couple weeks!

Slow dancing with Daddy.

All in all, it was a fun trip. It's always fun to see Adam's side of the family. We love Grandma Sharon and my kids adore her. Plus, Adam's sisters are way entertaining and we wish we could see them more often than we do. We always have such a good time with them all. And we definitely got a great deal on our hotel (the Hampton- my dad would be so proud) and the kids loved the continental breakfast with waffles and doughnuts and they loved the pool. They all actually slept really well together although they were up at the crack of dawn. We didn't really have a huge family vacation this summer but it was nice to get away for the weekend again like we did when we went to Spokane. Now I'm just excited for school to start!

Spray Park

The weather here has been so weird lately. Even though the high for the day is supposed to be in the 80s and 90s, it will still be super cold in the morning so we haven't been able to go to the spray park in Tacoma as often as we'd like. Last week it was finally perfect for us, so Celeste and her friend Tessa and I packed up the kids and headed out to the park. It was hot and sunny and my kids were so excited to get out of the house.

Such a cheeseball. Madelynn was more interested in lunch than the water which was fine by me since later the water just washed all the peanut butter off her.

This little boy was in heaven.

Ew, maybe I should discourage the drinking of the spray park water.

Love this face.

Olivia took some warming up to the water and played on the playground for a while, but once she got in the water she had a blast with her cousins.

Apparently carrying your cup of snacks with your hands is too much work.

Wishing...

I'm sitting in front of my computer and blogging because in all honesty, it is the only cool place in my house (minus standing in front of the freezer). And it's really not even that cool since the fan is blowing in warm 90 degree air from the outside and that is just sad. I have been spoiled with air conditioning for the last 5 years so this is new to me, all this sweating and creative cooking without using a stove or oven.


I've been creating a wish list for my new house, which we hope to buy next spring or summer. I wish it were tomorrow because my wish list includes air conditioning. I may be the only house in Western Washington to have it, but I will throw tradition out the window for a breeze of cool air to hit me when I walk in my door. Not this stifling, musty hot air that greets me all day long. Can you tell I am completely done with summer? Cleveland was hotter than this and way muggier, but back there I had central air and it was a cool 65 in my house all day long.

So here is my wish list. The bad thing about my list is that it is making the whole house hunting thing really hard because as soon as I find one thing on my list, I find that the house doesn't have something else that I "must" have. Maybe I shouldn't set my sights so high, or maybe I am not looking hard enough. Or maybe I need to stop being so cheap and raise the amount I'm willing to spend on a house. Adam and I have rented the entire time we've been married, and that is 8 1/2 years. Before that I rented in college and before that I mooched off my parents for 18 (okay, almost 19) years. Buying a house is a big deal and I don't really want to settle for something when it's a house I plan on living in for a while. Plus we're too lazy to spruce up a house that is all crappy just to save some money. And we have no skills for that anyway.  (By the way, all the pictures are not mine. They are all Google images.)

1. A large kitchen. And if you can't tell from the pictures, I really like the country-style kitchen. And I like it to be white. Something about a white kitchen just says "clean" to me. I would love a kitchen big enough to eat in and cook in and entertain in.

2. A bathroom with room in it, and a bathtub that is somewhat relaxing. We have always had bathtubs with walls that go straight up. So uncomfortable, and I speak from experience.

This is kind of what I'm looking for, but not really wood. Maybe I was drawn to the snow in the background...

3. A back yard with things to do in it. Right now we live in an apartment where our backyard is actually a small deck. Beyond that is the pool (one of the only good things about this un-air conditioned place) where Adam is currently swimming with Jack and Olivia and all I can hear is Jack yelling at Adam for something. If my life didn't depend on the fan bringing in warm air from the outside, I might just shut the sliding door so I didn't have to hear it. Wow... the heat makes me really mean, doesn't it.

Something similar to this. I just love how there are like eight kids on this one play set and none of them are fighting. Or even dirty. Can I have the kids too?

4. 5 bedrooms. I know, this one is a little out there (like the huge kitchen and spa bathtub are realistic). I want the kids to have their own bedrooms and I want an extra for a playroom that can be turned into a nursery later on (no that is not an announcement of any kind. I'm just leaving my options open!)

5. 2 bathrooms, mainly so the kids can have theirs and we can have ours. Ideally we would have three, so we could have a guest bathroom too. You know, so I don't have to clean the other two when people come over.

6. My kitchen would have 2 ovens, a 6 burner stove and enough storage space that things have a place to go without being piled on top of each other.

7. A laundry room that is only a laundry room. I would love a pair of those new front loader washer and dryers as well as a table big enough for me to fold the laundry after it is done. Oh, and a TV in there so I can be entertained while monotonously folding towels.

Kind of like this one, minus the doors in front of the washer and dryer. I love the color though!

Most of all, I want a house that is a sanctuary from the outside world. Where my kids can come home from school and Adam can come home from a hectic day at work and just be able to relax and be together. And trust me, air conditioning can totally help with that. I've always told Adam that I want all these things and we know they aren't realistic, but if I can get even one of the things on my list I might be able to be okay. Olivia insists she has a pink room with a princess-like canopy bed. I'm hoping Ikea can help with that.

So, out of curiousity (and the need to enlarge my own list), what does your dream house come with?

Birthday madness

Olivia turned 6 on August 4. Seriously, where has the time gone? My sweet baby girl has been replaced by an iCarly fanatic who has lost three teeth already and is going into the 1st grade! She's still sweet, though. Most of the time.

Olivia at 1 day old. I can still remember her at this age. It's crazy to think that this was 6 years ago!

We celebrated her birthday early on Monday and went to Chuck E Cheese's. We did not eat there. Not only are we too cheap for that, but we aren't fans of their pizza anyway. The kids had a blast winning tickets and riding the toys. I actually rocked the Wheel of Fortune game and won 250 tickets. You're welcome, Olivia. 

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On her birthday, we let her choose what she wanted to do, and of course that meant going to get a Happy Meal for lunch. We went to the McDonald's across from Adam's work so he could join us, and Celeste and her kids joined us too.

Adam surprised Olivia with some flowers. She was so excited to get her own flowers for once!

After lunch Olivia had fun playing the Wii with Jack, and then we went to Red Robin for dinner. We always go to Red Robin for birthdays. Not only do we get a free dinner for the birthday person, but I know my kids will eat there, and they have balloons. My kids will do anything for balloons.

Adam and Olivia.

Yeah, she's a little crazy. Do you see that she's holding a spoon in her left hand, but choosing to eat with her fingers instead? The girl seriously ate her body weight in macaroni and cheese.

Jack was being difficult. Do you see his cute little smile? I was trying my hand at some reverse psychology and saying "Jack, don't look at me, okay? Just don't!" so my plan backfired and he smiled but didn't look at me. I never win.

The closest we got for a smile from Jack.

Our server was awesome and made a "hat" for Olivia (two balloons tied together with the ribbon going under her chin and around her ears) and made her hold her ice cream up "like the Statue of Liberty". He got nearly 15 other workers to come and sing and clap for her birthday too. It was loud! She loved it. Madelynn, though, had a face mixed somewhere between fascination and terror. Too bad I didn't get a picture of that.

After dinner we went to my parents house where we had stored her birthday present. We made her close her eyes...

Yay! She got the bike she has been wanting from Toys R Us.

It took her a little bit to get the pedaling down. She can actually pedal just fine, but she's learning that the brakes come on when she goes backward so she kept suddenly stopping. And yes, we are getting her a helmet, I promise!

For Olivia's birthday party, we decided to have a pool/luau theme. We rented a blow up water slide (the lady threw in the bouncy house, the same one from Celeste's party, for $20 extra). Unfortunately the weather was not super cooperative, but at least it didn't rain. My kids were super excited to see the water slide go up though and had a great time. I hope the other kids had fun too. It was hard to tell because some of them were so cold that they really didn't do much sliding or bouncing.

I really want to buy one of these inflatable slides! How cool is this?! The kids seriously had a great time, despite being slightly cold.

I made these cupcakes using vanilla frosting, graham cracker crumbs, Fruit by the Foot and Teddy Grahams with a cocktail umbrella. They were really yummy. Maybe I should have frosted bathing suits on the bears, but whatever. Thanks Summer for the idea!

My dollar store luau decorations.

This was about as close as Madelynn got in the pool. The water was a little cold for her, and she was too young to climb up the wall to go down the slides.

Jack, though, had a BLAST. He didn't come off the slide for over an hour. He's the one going down the slide in the picture above. He was in little boy heaven.

So, we finally got him off the slide for cupcakes and icr cream. I sat him down and covered him with his towel, and then handed him his plate. He was shaking and shivering so much that his cupcake and ice cream literally shook off his lap. It was hilarious, and a little sad. So I video taped it a little. This was actually after he had settled down a bit, but you can still see him shaking!

Most of the kids would sit in the water where it was warmer, and then go down the slide a couple times, then sit in the water again. I'm so bummed that the weather wasn't warmer, but hopefully they all had fun anyway.

Olivia got so many awesome presents. She loved every single one of them and she is so blessed to have such good friends.

This is the only picture I got of the candy leis I made for all the kids. It took me three hours the night before, but they all got done. And they were a hit. What kid doesn't like candy around their neck?

Do you see a difference in this picture? THE SUN! As soon as the party was over, the sun came out in all it's glory. I made Adam keep the water slide up for another hour and a half because I wanted to get my money's worth. We will definitely have to rent the water slide again because it was so fun!

So... HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVIA! I'm so excited for what this next year is going to bring. You are such a beautiful person, inside and out. You love your brother and sister and you love to please everyone. You are super smart and are getting better at reading every day. You are definitely girly and you want me to paint your nails and curl your hair all the time. Here are six facts about Olivia:

LOVES:

iCarly

Pink and purple

Cupcakes (which we make a lot of at our house) and pancakes

Wii and Leapster

Going out to dinner

Playing with friends and cousins

HATES:

Taking naps (she really only does this like once a month)

Wrestling and playing rough

Medicine

Tomatoes, onions and pepper (as in salt and pepper)

Getting her hair combed

Watching Mom's shows (Rachael Ray isn't that bad!)