Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Sleepover and Sweets...

Tonight after work I picked up Kaitlyn's friend Katie from school. My Kaity and Katie S. have been in the same class for the last 3 years and are TWO PEAS IN A POD! They were sooooo excited to see eachother (they haven't since school got out!).

We got home and Rick had ordered pizza. When everyone was done Rick hit the garage to work on go-karts. I loaded up the kids and went and picked up Carson and we headed to Burgar Ranch for ice cream treats. The kids were way too wild to stay at Burgar Ranch so we headed to the park.

I was hoping the park would let them burn up the rest of their energy and they would all come come tired and ready for bed..... ummm, NOT SO MUCH! Oh well, I guess being up and having fun is what sleep overs are all about!





Sunday, July 27, 2008

Trying to surf...

Trace and I dropped Kaity off with my mom earlier so she could have a sleep over with them. Rick has been working on re-siding the shed in the backyard and I have been...well LAZY (in between holding up a board every once in a while for Rick). Trace wondered off to the yard to play. I am sitting in the living room watching him and finally went out to take pics. This is him "learning how to surf"...


He has the pool basically folded in 1/2, 1/2 up on the pathway and the rest hanging about 8 inches below in the grass. He starts at the top on a kick board and jumps down to the water until it knocks him on his YOU KNOW WHAT. I keep telling him to be careful, he is going to hit his head... to which he responds, "yea right mom, I won't, OH-KAYYY."

I'm not sure what is worse, this or when we found him a little bit ago UNDER the car with a bunch of Rick's tools "working on it".

Family Outdoor Movie Night...

After Kole's birthday, Kevin and Michelle hosted a family movie night. Kev built a HUGE movie screen (12'x25') on the side of his shop and about 40 to 50 people came over. They have a huge grassy back yard and everyone brought blankets, lawn chairs, pillows and kicked back on the grass to enjoy Mr. Margorium’s Wonder Emporium. What a fun idea and fun night! Thanks guys.

The movie screen... on the right side of the door

Starting to get dark... almost time for the movie!

Rick and Michelle making popcorn for everyone..

Not a great pic but you can get an idea for how cool it all came out...

Happy Birthday Kole!

Last evening we celebrated Kole's 4th birthday. Kole got a new4-wheeler, he was just a little excited! Happy birthday Kole-Man... we love you!!





Sunday, July 20, 2008

Sunday Swim...

The kids and I headed up to Kennewick this afternoon and met up with Michelle and Meredith at Michelle's Grandparents house. The kids swam for FIVE HOURS!!! We enjoyed left overs from our bbq last night (did I mention how fabulous the shrimp was) and wine and a great afternoon visit. Grandma Margaret really enjoyed watching the kids and getting in and "drowning" them as she calls it. Kaitlyn was so excited because she learned how to do a summersault. She has been trying and trying to do one and we finally helped her with he "how" and she must have done 100 of them while we were there. Trace was just thrilled to be swimming with no floaties. He thinks swimmng is moving his hands and walking.... but he has made huge progress so we'll go with it!

Trace "swimming"...


Kaitlyn taking a break from her summersaults...


Miss Meredith, bringing up the diving toys...


Grandma, Meredith and Kaity...

Grammie's Shaving Cream Kids...

Since Rick headed out of town yesterday and I had to work, Kathie came over to take care of the kids. Michelle and Meredith came up and they all spent the afternoon swimming and playing. When I got home we bbq'd (like the best shrimp EVER) and swam some more. Kathie also brought out the shaving cream. She has done this before with the kids and they LOVE it. Its not like they can do any real damage with shaving cream and they had the best time writing their names in it and getting it all over themselves. Best part, cleaned them and the table up with the hose in about 2 minutes... well worth the over 30 minutes of fun it provided the kids!



Thursday, July 17, 2008

Twice in 1 week!

Things must be slowing down a bit, 2 posts in one week again...wasn't sure I would see the day again!

Rick is working out at his dads tonight. The kids and I just came in from swimming. I also got the lawn mowed, the pool cleaned, the spa cleaned and killed a wasps nest (our first and hopefully only one of the summer!).

Today started out pretty sad. This weekend there is a huge race in Kalispell, MT for the late model cars like Rick has. Practice started today and the race will be Saturday night. Last night a team from close by here (Ephrata) had gotten into MT when they blew a tire on their truck and lost control driving off the road and flipping off the embankment. The driver of the truck, who was the team owner, was killed. Christian Roeder (the driver of the racecar) was beat up pretty good, 2 of the crew members it sounds like have broken backs, and the others are bruised and battered pretty good. Mostly though they are all suffering from losing Frank. Christian supports our local kart club that the kids race in, coming down to help his nephews. He is just a great guy and Rick and I have enjoyed so much visiting with him at the races this summer. We didn't know Frank well but still getting this news was just gut wrenching. Please keep them and their families in your thoughts and prayers the next few days as we will be.

Well the kids are asking for assistance in the teeth brushing department. Its 9 and they should have been in bed already so I'm on it.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Summer sickness...

It has been a week of sickness around this place! Last Tuesday Rick left work at noon with the flu. The kids and I stayed outside until bed time and just let him sleep and hoped he would keep those bad germs to himself... NO LUCK! Wednesday morning he woke up feeling a ton better but Trace had it. Poor little guy was in bad shape. Rick stayed home with him and when he finally stopped throwing up at 11:30 he fell asleep and slept til 6!!

The kids spent the week at vacation bible school and just had the best time. Trace usually doesn't want to participate too much when it comes to the singing and if they have a closing. But this time was different. He stood front and center and DANCED AND SANG AND LOVED IT. Rick and I were shocked but loved watching him.

Both kids got to race on Saturday night. Kaitlyn had fast time, won the heat race and got 2nd in the main. Trace got 5th. He just decided he was ready to go fast. He did so good. Their main event didn't even start until 10 pm, which in my opinion is INSANE. Rick and I had serious doubts about even letting them race because both our kids are in bed by 9pm just about every night. Add that to the fact that they were outside in that heat all day and Kaity saying her tummy hurt and she didn't feel good... it was just too much. Kaitlyn cried and cried before the race and kept saying she didn't feel good but she was adament that she wanted to race. I just told her if she didn't feel good to pull in but we told her if she wanted to race it was up to her. She is such a trooper! She did so good and was asleep as we pulled out of the parking lot (15 minutes after she took the checkered flag).

On Sunday we headed to the river with Rick's family. We had a bbq at Columbia Point and went out in Wendy and Kevin's boat. Trace tried the tube and HATED it. I was on it with him when he just had a complete panic attack. He was perfectly content just sitting on the boat watching everything. We docked for a little bit and when we went back out he said he wanted to try again. Wendy and I figured it would be VERY short lived but guess what, he decided he loved it. This time he cried every time he had to get off. Yep, thats my boy!

Carson, Trace and Kaitlyn

Carson and Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn complained off and on all day Sunday about her tummy. She is about the biggest worrier you have ever met. Not that I can say much since I know she totally gets that from me, I just keep it all bottled up inside and then do silly things like not sleep. Not Kaitlyn though, she lets everyone know what her problems are. Rick was going crazy listening to her whine about everything and then say her tummy hurt. I, THINKING it was part of her nervous/worrying traits, just went a long with it for as long as I could. She slept great on Sunday night and we didn't hear another word about a tummy ache. But guess what, by lunch time on Monday my stomach hurt so bad I could barely function. One of the girls that works at the store brought a Costco hot dog back for lunch and I about lost it just walking into my office. I was sweating and thought I was going to keel over at any minute. I finally left work at 4 and went home. The worst thing was I could not throw up so I just continued to feel horrible. Rick took the kids out to dinner and I was asleep by 5:30. I didn't really start feeling well until about noon yesterday. So now I think Kaitlyn's tummy problems was actually some weird version of the flu. Sorry Kait!!!

So today we are all on the mend. We have soccer games tonight. Thursday and Friday should be pretty low key. Rick is heading out of town for the weekend with his brother. They will race in Wenatchee on Saturday night and then head to Seattle for the NHRA drag races on Sunday. They have some VIP tickets in a special Napa area so they should have a blast. The kids and I will do something fun on Saturday night and/or Sunday. I just haven't decided what yet :-)

Our big exciting news is we are all booked for a fabulous Disneyworld vacation!!! I worked on it all last week and got the hotel, park passes and airline tickets booked last week. We are going to fly down on December 3rd. We are staying at a Disney property and will enjoy 6 days at the parks (and we'll get to celebrate Disney's Christmas festivities where it even snows on main street!!). The kids and I will fly home on December 10th and Rick will stay to go to the Performance Racing Industry convention the 11th-13th and will fly home on December 14th. The kids are so excited and of course so are Rick and I. It will be a great get away!!

Well I should get back to work... it has slowed down this week some, still busier than normal which is nice. But I do like having some time to get a few other things done since the evenings are pretty much gone by the time I get home. I hope everyone is having a great week!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Hot summer nights...



We had Carson and the neighbor girls over to swim... the end to a HOT day. Kaitlyn as always is a fish. Trace has decided he likes the water too. He wasn't so sure last summer but now, we can't keep him out of it! I have to get them both signed up for swimming lessons. It has been so busy this summer that I just haven't had the time but I need to make the time. That is on my agenda this week!

Saturday, July 5, 2008

4th of July...

After we got the kids home from all the Little Miss Prosser excitment, we got them both to lay down for a little bit before heading over to the Douglass household for a bbq. We had a great evening of fireworks and fun. We enjoyed a nice large bonfire on a chilly night and the kids had a blast with sparklers and our own firework show before watching Prosser's for a distance. It was a great way to spend the 4th!





Little Miss Prosser Pageant....

Kaitlyn and Kendall ran for Little Miss Jr Prosser, the pageant was on the 4th.

Here is the picture that was in the Prosser newspaper ....



This was the night before, getting her hair done...

and the finished product....

Kaitlyn and Kendall, 2 of Prosser's cutest princesses!

Getting ready for the parade...



And the pageant kicks off!



Getting ready to go on stage in her special dress...

She had to introduce herself and answer 2 questions...

Princess Kendall being crowned!!

Down to the final 2..... and Marin was named 1st Princess which meant...

KAITLYN WON LITTLE MISS JR PROSSER!!!!!!


Little Miss Jr Prosser Queen Kaitlyn and Little Miss Prosser Queen Lauren

We were sooooo proud of her! All afternoon she kept declaring "THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!"