Do You Know Where Your Kids Are?

I know where mine are . . . . in front of the TV. Yep, my kids love their TV time. Since it's Spring Break and we had a rough start of it, I decided to let them have a few days of doing whatever they want and not being so strict. Our choices got minimized when the rain started (ohhhh, I wish we were back in Cali.) so it's inside for us. I think I got off lucky, really . . . at least they choose to play a game where they move around!!

Something Is Not Quite Right There

Reece lost his first tooth a few mornings ago. His tooth has been loose for a quit awhile and he has been wiggling the dickens out of it. Finally, a few mornings ago, a couple good tugs and it came out. We were out at breakfast with my family when this all went down. Of course he was super excited and had to show everyone for the rest of the day.

Funny thing . . . the tooth fairy hit at the breakfast table. He (yes, tooth fairy is a "he" at our house . . . . think it has to do with that Santa Claus movie with Tim Allen) swooped right in and dropped his buck on the table. Reece was ecstatic . . . . not only did the tooth fairy hit right away, but Grandpa Bop hit too!!! AWESOME!!! TWO BUCKS!!! Reece was on cloud nine.

Later in the day, Madison came over to me and had an odd look on her face. She questioned how Reece could get his money so fast. After all, the tooth fairy only takes teeth when they are under the pillow and here, Reece didn't put his tooth under his pillow and the tooth fairy didn't take the tooth.

I explained that the California Tooth Fairy(CTF) was very busy and hits right away. CTF has too many kids to give money to and couldn't wait to hit at night. She accepted this and walked away.

Last night we got home from California and the kids went to bed. Reece put his tooth under his pillow and went off to sleep. This morning he comes in and climbs into my bed. Grace and Madison were already laying there watching cartoons. He shows me his tooth and tells me that the tooth fairy didn't come.

"Hmmm, she must of been very busy last night." I tell Reece. I can't believe I forgot . . . my poor kids have the worst tooth fairy. "HE" forgets often . . . I'm running out of excuses for him.

Madison was listening to this and mused, "Ya, that tooth fairy . . . . something is not quite right there."

Uh-oh . . . she is catching on to this one.

Girls Being Girls

While Reece was playing soccer (see blog below) my girls were asking me to take pics of them. They are such divas. How I love them :)

I need to get Maddie a camera of her own that is not a piece of junk. She loves to take pictures herself. Who knows, perhaps she will be the next Alfred Stieglitz.

He Had A Ball

Reece had his very first soccer practice EVER, last night. He has been asking to go to soccer for ever!! I have missed the registration in the past, but by accident saw it a few weeks ago when I was signing Grace up for another class of swimming. So, for the past few weeks, this has been all Reece can talk about. Now that

is saying something because if you know my son, you know that all he likes to talk about is video games. For him to switch over to soccer is quite a big deal! I have to admit, it's been a nice change for me. ;)
As soon as I signed him up, the countdown was on. Reece would inform me, three of four times a day, how many more days till soccer. Finally, last night came and Reece got to go. Right before practice started I asked him to give me a good picture of him for his first soccer practice scrapbook page. The first pic above is what my dear boy gave me. LOL, what a stinkerhead ;) What a blast he had! The coach started off with playing Coach Says. Reece rocked it!

Then on to some dribbling drills. Considering the fact that Reece has never played soccer, I thought he did pretty well. The ball got away from him, but he kept at it and was really working hard.
Well, Reece has practice two nights a week and games on Saturdays. It will be a lot of fun to watch him progress.



**I tried to put another video on her of him dribbling the ball, but it was too big and I don't know my program very well at the moment to try and cut and resave. So, if you need your Reece Fix, you can watch him in a short clip when he was playing Coach Says.

Rope Swings and High Dives Equals Bribes

Don't worry, the lifeguard in this picture isn't trying to beat my son. I know you just had a moment of panic, but it's ok, no children were harmed in the making of this photo.

Sunday, we had a family day. It was extra special for a few reasons. One - We didn't go hiking of biking. These are my two favorite things to do on family fun day because they don't cost any money and it's some great exercise. But alas, the kids are tired of these things so NOT doing them, made it a special day.

Two - We spent our family day with Jason, Krista and the kiddos. Sometimes we claim them as family but only on days there aren't too weird for us. ;) Otherwise we like to pretend we don't know them. ;) They are crazy.

Three - I actually played with the kids!!! Shocking, I know, but I did. Perhaps it has to do with hanging out with those crazies I mentioned. There crazy must of rubbed off on me. Or perhaps it was the lure of the rope swing. Those things call out to me, you know.

We went to the Lincoln City pool for some splashing fun on our family day. The pool was great. The kids pool was perfect. Perfect height for Grace. She was able to practice her swimming without her backpack but if she got tired she could bounce in the 3 1/2 foot pool. I think she bounced the whole 2+ hours we were there.

Reece, Madison and I hit the big pool for some swinging fun on the rope swing and later the high and low diving boards. Aunt Krista came over and swung with us too. Thank goodness she did, because I was embarrassing myself on that rope swing. I have no upper body strength anymore and just dragged my feet. It took watching Krista for me to figure out that I needed to put my feet on the bottom knot. Duh!!! So after that hurdle, I enjoyed it much more. Reece was a maniac and enjoyed monkey-ing around.

The diving boards were a hoot. Both kids went off the high dive. I was pretty proud of them. Madison had gone off a high dive before, but was a bit timid again. After a bit of bribing, they both went down. Reece got to the edge of the high dive after taking his tiny baby steps and then turned around and started back. He stopped and looked at me and asked, "Instead of getting an ice cream for jumping off this, make it a Sunday and we have a deal."

Reece got a Sunday.

It was a fun day. We were the first ones in the pool and the last ones to leave it. The kids wore themselves out and we all enjoyed hanging out with each other and letting loose.

Everything is Amazing

I have got this through email forwards and links on my facebook page . . . I think it's hilarious! Just wanted to share with you . . . Double Click on Amazing!

Amazing

Rainbow Calendar

When did my life get crazy busy? I was looking at my calendar this morning, marking off a few of my cleaning jobs and I started to laugh because my calendar looks like a rainbow. I don't know when my calendar changed from a few items a week to a few items everyday.

I had a good friend who was visiting this week from Central Oregon and I had every intention of making it over to see her but only had two evening to get over there. Wouldn't you know it, both evenings had activities going on that I couldn't get out of. :( My dear Beth, I'm so sorry!! We are headed your way in June and we will stop off to visit with you!!

My cleaning business has really gotten busy. YEAH!!! I got scared there for a bit when we lost some homes, but funny that it just got packed. In the midst of this "weak" economy, my business is thriving. I am so thankful God is providing! Thank you to my sister in law too!! Without her mad cleaning skills and connections who knows where I would be! :)

Anyways, back to my schedule. It's packed full of cleaning and kids activities. I was just talking this past week about how much I love that my kids are getting older and more self reliant. I don't have to worry when I leave a room that they will find some object to stick in there mouth and choke on. But I suppose with the leave of the constant care of an infant, comes the addition of a busy schedule of the kids being involved in sports, church and school.

I suppose this has made me a bit more appreciative of the "down" times. Last night, we went to a birthday party and after we got home, it was just the girls and I. We snuggled into the couch and turned on a movie. I was laying there with Grace tucked into my right arm and Madison snugged up to my left. Both girls heads were right there and I could smell there hair. Both girls have there own sweet smell, even though they use the same hair products. :) After a kiss to the top of there heads I hunkered down as happily as I could be. No place to rush off to, just a quiet time at home with my girls.