Green Eyes, New Bike

Both my kids have unusual color eyes. Abi's are grey, blue, and hazel. Ben's are more green, especially when he wears this shirt. Love looking into these eyes.

Abi's new bike, I believe it's an 18 inch (a little on the big side for her) so it should work for her for a while. We were super proud of her for not picking the most girly bike since she might not like it as much later. We think her bike is awesome and so does she. We girly-ed it up with a basket and streamers.

Got a new helmet too, Barbie.

Abi got spoiled by Grandma today. She got to go to build-a-bear and get a new outfit for Twinkle and have a tea party at Grandma's house (without brother).

Random bunny the kids and I keep spotting ramdomly in our neighborhood. Must be someones pet? Cute though.

I've been sick (boo!) and spending my free time searching for my friends lost dog so I haven't had time to update. We survived Abi's procedure on Wednesday. We got to hold her while they gave her a quick shot in the rear and after that she doesn't remember anything except waking up in her bed at home. The good news is that the few cavities in between her teeth were little and easy to fix with pretty little white fillings, they weren't sure how deep they were because the first set of x-rays when she was only partially sedated weren't that clear so there was the possibility of a baby root canal and crown. We were SO relieved this was not the case. The bad news was there was still a root tip in her gum from the tooth they pulled so they had to cut her gum open to get it out, then stitch it back up. She cried when she woke up, as expected, and was drooling blood which caused me to almost pass out (again). But the next day we were back to normal with a tender gum. For being so brave and flossing so good we took her to pick out a new bike and helmet (pictures to follow). Hopefully only good dentist visits from here on out!       

Silver Lake Park

As I was making the kids scrambled eggs (homegrown) for lunch and getting ready to spend the afternoon at the park I thought I'm going to miss this when they grow up and go to school all day. Got to enjoy it while I can :) We had a preschool field trip to the pet store yesterday where the kids got to learn about and touch all kinds of animals, reptiles, and bugs, then since we had extra time before I had to go to work we went to the kid play area at Bell Square and wow it was nice. They had a blast.

Abi picking flowers. I still have them in my coat pocket. (not bad for pictures from my phone)

Ben had to get water and sand in his shoes but I'd expect nothing less. Abi picked out the pink polo for him.

Tomorrow Abi gets put under to get fillings :( :( :( I'm scared to death, but it's all out of my control I just have to believe that everything will be fine and hopefully not as traumatic as our last dentist visit. 

Almost forgot, the most amazing discovery of the whole weekend was.......... that I discovered you can phone in your Rusty's order then just drop by and pick it up (Rusty's is our favorite hole in the wall burger place in Cashmere, WA). Save yourself all the time and still get the most delicious, grilled to order, fresh, homemade burger! Text me if you need the number. This will be how we roll from now on.

Lake progress

The septic system is in, electricity done, second water line done, so we are making progress! We spent the weekend moving rocks at the lake but we severely underestimated the size of the rock that needed to be moved. All these rocks were dug up putting the septic in and before we got there to see them we thought we could move them, ha! We are glad we have so many rocks to landscape with but not excited to have to pay our contractor a significant amount extra to landscape them for us. In the end we think it will look really good.

 

Giant rocks

 

Another giant rock

 

Rocks we moved. This whole area got dug up so we had to redo it with river rock.

We started the sides of the retaining rock wall, the contractor will do the the rest.

 

Our yard, the contractor is bringing in fill dirt so next time we'll be able to plant grass and the dirt bank will be a rock wall. Overall we are excited about the progress and very sore from moving rocks.

 

It was sunny all weekend and the kids had a good time playing outside.

 

 

 

 

Too much fresh air and fun in the sun.

 

Chalk board paint

 I've had an itching to paint some chalk board paint somewhere in the kitchen and the large, flat area left of the cabinet doors looked like a good place. Isn't Ben cute in the background looking out the window?

 

Another view same area.

Done. Abi and Ben thinks it's great.



Abi cutie pie

Since I already had the chalk board paint and I saw somewhere (on pinterest or another blog?) flower pots painted with chalk board paint I decided to give it a try.

Turned out pretty cute.

Ben bug sporting a new shirt, it has a car on it of course.

We got this shirt for him today at Gymboree since I had Gymbucks to spend, I think it was made for him. Perfect Ben shirt! He loves trucks.

I always find Momastery blog comforting:
http://momastery.com/blog/2013/04/18/how-to-keep-our-babies-safe/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-keep-our-babies-safe

"...but the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evildoers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We'd have eaten ourselves alive long ago.

So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, "The good outnumber you, and we always will." -Patton Oswalt



My sister right after finishing the Boston marathon in 2006. Our mom waited right where the bombs went off to see her finish.

Cutest niece in the whole world

Hard to tell in this picture but Evie has hot pink Hunter boots. Jealous?


She looks so much like my sister, a cute little clone.

Abi's tooth

Abi got a tooth pulled on Friday by a new dentist we found in Everett. They are great. They are great with her, they made room for us in their busy schedule, and they are the kindest and most caring people. That said it was still awful. Brad shed some tears, I almost threw up and almost fainted. Seeing something so painful and intrusive happen to your child and knowing it's 100% your fault as a parent is the most devastating thing I've ever experienced. This takes feeling like a failure and mom guilt to another level. I'm pretty sure there is no worse feeling in the world. All I could do was cry with her, and all I wanted was my mom to tell me it was OK. No one else could tell me I'm not a failure and believe them. We have to go back to get a few cavities filled between her teeth we found out the same day since they did x-rays while she was sedated. So this was just round one. I'm hoping next time will be better and less intrusive but she'll have to be completely knocked out (on Friday she was just partially sedated). My sweet girl's baby tooth smile will never be the same which is heart breaking. Although the tooth that was pulled was a baby tooth in the back when she smiles and laughs you see all her teeth and now you see a big metal plate (spacer) where the tooth was. She might officially have a grill. I know there are worse things and we have super healthy kids, but this has been one of the most difficult parent speed bumps we have encountered. Lesson learned the hard way: Yes, you must hold down (sit on top of) your 3 or 4 year old child to floss them no matter what.

Make all the mistakes on the first one and rest will be alright :)   

The tooth fairy came and left Abi a one dollar bill covered in fairy dust and a My Little Pony, and since we wrote a letter asking the fairy to leave her tooth she left the tooth. Brad also got Abi some pretty purple tulips for her that she has in a vase in her room. Abi is back to school tomorrow and we hope she feels back to normal. I don't think Brad and I will feel better until she is completely 100% recovered, bruised, scratched up face, swollen tongue and all.

Possibilities from pinterest

Decided I like the new trend of two-toned cabinets for the kitchen. I wish it would work in my kitchen..... hmmm, never say never. Definitely considering doing some chalk board paint in the kitchen too.








It's getting to be time for Abi to have more of a big girl room. Light turquoise blue walls with pink and purple accessories would be super cute.


Fire pit for the lake (bigger though), done by Memorial day?

Hair cut time

Abi got her third "real" hair cut yesterday, she was not enthused. They took off two inches of bright blond since she has natural ombre hair. Sad, but it looks cute and cleaned up.   

Ben didn't get a hair cut but they let him sit in Thomas the train next to sister so he was happy, happy.

 

We played at the park afterwards. They had train rides and pony rides going on but since I spent all my cash on the hair cut I told Abi we'd have to come back another time (when it's warmer!).