Greetings from Boise

Well, we made it in one piece and it was actually quite an enjoyable flight. The kids were perfect angels and I just may try this again one day. I packed them each a backpack with books, new (mess free) coloring books, Lauren's Leapster, snacks and also the PSP with 2 Thomas episodes downloaded. We didn't even make through our whole goody bag. We'll use the rest of it to get us through today's flight to Portland. At least this on is only an hour long so one Thomas episode will probably do it.

Here's some pics from our trip.

I didn't hassle with car seats and they were fine just being buckled in.

watching Thomas on the PSP

Grandma Jan and Grandpa Michael met us in the lobby of the airport. We (G'pa Michael) quickly got our luggage loaded up and then headed to thier new house. I love their house and will take more pics during our week here in 2 more weeks.

This morning we had french toast and cereal for breakfast and then cousin Madison came over to play for awhile with Aunt Jennifer. The kids took a little while to warm up to each other but I think everyone was pretty comfortable right about when it was time for Madison to leave. We'll work on that during our next visit.

Tyler's snuggling with Grandma Jan.

The kids are napping now and afterwards we'll head back to airport for our flight to Portland tonight.

counting down the minutes

Until we leave for the airport!! Everything is going smoothly but my nerves are going crazy. Not sure why I'm so nervous. It's just a plane trip and I'm a VERY capable mother. =)

Anyway... Daddy got home yesterday. Earlier in the day we played dress up....

hat and scarf

Lady Bug

although he looks like a reluctant participant he chose this hat and insisted I put it on him.

But when Daddy got home that was when the fun began!!

a new take on the airplane ride

Lauren's turn but Tyler's in the danger zone.

The kids didn't want to leave his side all night.

Today we were pretty busy preparing for our trip. I managed to get an awesome workout in though. Well, actually, the only awesome part was when I was finished. It was a 5K Hill Simulator workout. (If you're interested it's last workout on this link)

After lunch we went to the neighborhood pool for about an hour. I left the camera home but I could have gotten some cool shots. Tyler was a little daredevil with his 2 sets of floaties on. He was jumping in the water without any notice to Daddy. (I didn't get in because I had just showered and straightened my hair....which... TMI...didn't matter because it was so hot and humid out that my hair frizzed up anyway.)

Back home we put the kids down for a nap to ensure a smooth and relaxed flight to Boise tonight. Here's a couple pics I snapped as I woke the kids up.

Okay...15 minutes until showtime. Wish me luck.

title undecided

It's between the following:
1) Summer is Here!
2) Only 2 More Days Until Vacation!
3) Congrats General Hospital for winning the EMMY for Best Drama Series! (as you all agree...not a big surprise.)

I think I'll go with number 3. So let's continue....

Well it's the 1st day of summer and we only have 2 more days to go until our vacation. I'm for the most part looking forward to it but just can't get over my anxiety about our plane trip over. I'm sure it will go just fine and the worst part will end up being the time I'm currently spending worrying about it.

This morning we went to a Family Park Day with the Mom's club. This was at a park in Senoia, GA. This was the first time I had ever actually driven into Senoia (pronounced Se-NOY by the locals) It was a beautiful little town with a recently renovated downtown area. I'm looking forward to going back soon to just walk around and check out the shops. The park was large with many different play areas to appeal to kids of all ages. There were lots of trees so it made the experience quite enjoyable to be able to be in the shade. Lauren and Tyler had a lot of fun playing with Abigail and Isabella from their playgroup.

Here's a pic of the 4 of them together.

Lauren and Tyler playing in the red "school house."

We also did a craft with puffy paint. Tyler had no interest and chose to hunt for leaves and pine cones but Lauren really enjoyed coloring in a flower mold with the paint.

For lunch we went down the street to the Redneck Gourmet . There is one in Newnan and Senoia but I hadn't gone before today. It was a pretty smooth experience. We went with our playgroup (Isabella and Abigail, along with their Moms and Isabella's older brother and sister.) Lauren had quite the attitude at first (all because Abigail's mom, Miss Nicole had a bag of chips and Lauren decided she wanted them instead of her french fries) But eventually she started eating and finished all of her food for the most part. We did take enough leftovers home for the kids to eat for dinner.

Back home the kids went down for a nap and I did a Netflix rented workout by Nancy Marmorat. Although the last workout dvd of hers I rented was tearfully horrible, I thought this one was okay. Maybe I felt sorry for her but I actually did think I got a toning/stretching workout in. I wasn't completely convinced that I got enough exercise so I ended up doing a General Hospital speed walk. (60 min.; 4.5mph; 2% incline)

For dinner I made red snapper (fish) and veggies baked in an airtight tin foil package. The fish turned out delicious but the veggies tasted like the white wine it was cooked in. I do like white wine but not the taste of veggies drenched in it. So once again...no link to tonight's recipe. The veggies that I didn't bake with the snapper, I sauteed with olive oil and seasoned with Adobo, Garlic Salt and Greek Seasoning...now those turned out DELISH.

After dinner I cleaned up while Lauren and Tyler played on the back deck. Lauren filled up a bucket with water from her Hello Kitty Water Jug and then went into the back yard to find leaves, grass, rocks, pine cones etc. etc. .....to see if they would sink or float. She had such a fun time doing this that I'm upset I didn't get a picture.

Finally it was time for PJs, books and bed. They both got to talk to Daddy on the phone before bed and this was the first time that Lauren really talked to him on the phone. It was an actual back and forth conversation. I was very proud and I know her Daddy really enjoyed it too.

I'm sure he's very excited to come home tomorrow and see his adorable kids and most beautiful wife. =)

Till then....'night y'all.

welcome Mavis

After I finished volunteering at church Tyler was able to pick a toy out of the miscellaneous/mismatched toys box from the preschool room. He chose a train and knew it was "Mavis" just by looking at it. Mavis kept both the kiddos entertained the rest of the day. She was so popular that I had to set the timer for 5 min. so the kids could take turns playing with her. We did this many many times. Finally Tyler stopped crying when it was Lauren's turn to play with her. He did have to sit on the sofa quite a few times until he stopped crying though. I won't be doing that tomorrow. Hopefully her "newness" will have worn off by then. Sorry I didn't get a picture of her but check out this website to learn all about her.

Since I owed Casey some money from the last time she baby-sat I had her come back over to watch the kids while I went to my community group. It was good to get together with other people from church but I wish I would feel more comfortable to talk about personal things, thoughts and questions I have. Hopefully as I keep going I will feel more comfortable. I put in a prayer request for my solo plane trip across the country with the kids this Sunday.

When I got back home Casey told me the kids did just fine. She said she couldn't find Tyler's "blankie" though. Oops. His spare is in the wash and I had his poor blankie in the car with me. She said he didn't cry and just went to bed anyway. Wow! After Casey left I took his blankie in his room and he was just sitting in bed. It seemed like he was waiting for me/the blankie. I laid it on his pillow and he immediately laid down and closed his eyes. Poor little guy.

And that was my day in a nutshell. I'm pretty tired so I will watch the boob toob for a bit and then go to bed. Tomorrow will be a big day doing laundry and figuring out what I need to pack for my much needed VACATION. whoo hoo. G'night All.

"how many dark naps until Daddy gets home?"

That would be 3 more, Lauren. This morning Tyler asked me if "Daddy home?" Not yet, Tyler. And then Lauren asks daily, how many dark naps until Daddy comes home. So although he's working out of town he's always in our hearts and thoughts. (cheesy but true)

Today was a beautiful day. The temps were in the 80s so it would have been a great day to get outside and do something but other than play in the sandbox we stayed close to home. I was getting mentally and physically prepared for our trip back home next week. I can't wait. The only sad thing is we'll only see Matt for one day. He gets back from his conference on Saturday and the kids and I leave on Sunday. We'll be sure to have a high quality day together when he gets home. He'll be out West with us soon enough though.

I don't have much else to say about today so I'll just describe it from the pics I took.

This morning we had to do the obligatory Thomas video. This was Tyler's preferred pose of the day. He loves to cross his leg over his knee. Too cute!

While Tyler watched a Thomas DVD, Lauren actually acted it out on the train set. This was a big pile up that Thomas had to come save the day.
One of my favorite t-shirts Tyler has....


Dinner was Ziti pasta with pancetta, green beans and basil. It was light, easy and really just okay. It was good but not to die for so no link to the recipe.

We had a special bath time tonight in my big bathtub. The kids loved all the bubbles and didn't want to get out.

On our way back downstairs to read books, Lauren insisted on helping Tyler down the stairs. She's such a loving and caring sister. And I'm sure Tyler knows how lucky he is...if not she's gonna remind him every chance she gets.

Way to Go Celtics

I started to write this last night and the title was Go Celtics but my computer was giving me so many problems that I thought I should just shut down before I threw it out the window. So this morning I now know the Celtics won, hence the title change.

On Monday Matt didn't go in to the office before his trip out of town. Instead we ran some important grooming errands. I needed to get my nails and toes done and the kids needed hair-cuts. To save time Matt took the kids to get trimmed while I was at USA Nails. To ensure Tyler didn't come back with a buzz cut I wrote explicit instructions to the stylist on a napkin in the car..."no buzz cut" and a request to layer Lauren's bangs and hair. We decided to try a new place. We normally go to Snip-Its. (a specially-for-kids salon) It's colorful, has TVs, music, prizes and they charge a bit more for their cuts but the employees (at least where we go) don't seem to put much effort into making it an exciting experience. They actually don't really seem to like their job much at all. So to try something new and hopefully save some money we took them to Great Clips (there are one of these or something like it on almost every corner.) Matt said he was very impressed. He said he had to be by Tyler who was bit nervous so Lauren was on her own. He said L talked and talked to the stylist and had a great time. She even let her blow dry her hair. I really liked how they cut her hair too. We may have found a new place (and it was half the price of the premium kids salon.) How's that for a long winded description of a hair cut? and no pics to follow up.

Matt almost got off on his work trip without a hitch. Due to an accident on the Interstate he was 5 min. late for his flight. Luckily he only had to wait 1 1/2 hours for the next flight. He made it to Panama Beach, FL for a meeting and then Tuesday he flew to his conference in DC.

Tuesday morning I wanted to take the kids to see Mr. Magorium's Magic Emporium. The Georgian Cinema's offer free movies during the summer for kids and this is the one playing this month. When I drove by I saw 4 buses parked outside and long long lines of kids. I just kept driving. Maybe we'll try again when it's a cartoon and I'm sure the kids would really enjoy it. Instead we went to a bookstore and made it in time for their story-time. It was pretty cool. 1) Lauren and Tyler were the only kids there and got to pick their books and 2) they had the coolest Thomas train set the kid's have ever seen. We stayed there for over an hour playing and I found a couple of activities and books to pull out on the plane trip this Sunday.

Story-time...a Thomas book by request

Tyler really loved playing with Harold. I think he needs one.

Since Matt was out of town we had a Christine-style dinner. fruits and veggies. I did throw in some left over chicken from yesterday. Corn on the cob, cukes, red pepper slices and carrot sticks with honey mustard dip and hummus, watermelon and chicken bites. The kids LOVED the corn on the cob. They each ate a whole one (2 halves.)

After dinner Miss Casey came over to watch the kids while I went to the neighborhood pool for a Mom's Night Out pool party with the Mom's club. There were about 8 of us there and we had a good time. I brought some veggies and dips and also made Oatmeal Raisin bars. We're trying to plan a Wii Rockband night for the next one.

Hope everyone's having a good week.

no pickles in the bath tub

...to continue where we left off yesterday. The kids were napping and Matt was mowing lawns..... The next significant and yummy thing was dinner. We had grilled tilapia with cherry salsa and Texas two-bean salad. Matt said this was delicious. Instead of grilling the tilapia I baked it. (Matt was busy mowing lawns and I didn't want to fire up the charcoal grill myself...some things I'm not ready to learn.)
After dinner we went outside in the front yard to play. We attracted the attention of Mr. Mike and his kids, big Tyler and Tera and also Joshua and David from across the street. The boys all played together while the girls (Lauren and Tera) dashed off upstairs into Lauren's bedroom. They were so cute together. As I was eaves-dropping I heard them making high pitch doll voices and they were interacting with each other more than I've ever witnessed before. It was sooo cool! Here's a couple pictures I was able to take.

I even got a picture of all the boys playing downstairs. Yes, that's my Tyler flopped down on his tummy because I asked him to look at the camera. Go figure.

Later that night we invited Mr. Mike and his Tyler and Tera to stay to watch movies. We set the kids up in the spare bedroom in the basement while us adults watched "Lars and the Real Girl" in the main room in the basement. We weren't too sure how kid friendly this movie would be just by reading the title and summary. But it ended up being suitable for the occasional pass through made by a kid in the need of some attention...juice...snack...or whatever.
Since Lauren and Tera played so well together I invited Tera to go with us to Dixieland Fun Park on Sunday. I thought it opened at 10am so we got there about 10:30 only to find out it opens at 1pm on Sundays. So as not to spoil a good outing we found a nearby park and played there and had our lunch of peanut butter and honey sandwiches before heading back out to Dixieland. Here's a shot of Tera and Tyler peaking out of a tunnel at the park. Tera was a big daredevil at the park and I think she encouraged Lauren to try new things. It was a lot of fun and the tree cover and occasional breeze made it bearable too.



At Dixieland the girls went on a couple of rides together. Tyler, Tera and Daddy went on the boat ride and they got to squirt water on Lauren and I who opted not to go on the ride. Here's a picture of Tera and Lauren on the "race car" ride (as they called it.)

After doing the outside rides we went into the kid's maze in the air-conditioned playroom. Everybody had a blast here and time flew by. Finally Tera and Lauren were showing obvious signs of "having had enough" so we decided to call it a day. Tera rode in the stroller out to the car and Lauren cried the whole way...she wasn't ready to go yet. Poor girl. She only had to fret for a few minutes as her and Tyler were both asleep by the time we exited the parking lot.

After we dropped Tera off at home we put our kids to nap and I started to prepare Matt's Father's Day Feast. He's such a good Daddy that I wanted to make a meal for him that had some actual RED MEAT in it to enjoy his special day. Of course I wanted it grilled on the BBQ (so he had to grill it) but seriously...it's the thought that counts right?!

While the food was cooking Lauren presented Daddy with her and Tyler's 2nd father's day gift of the year to him. At church last week she made Daddy this and today I traced Tyler's hand to add his signature to the gift. (Tyler didn't hold still long enough but you get the point.)


For dinner we had Grilled Steak Sandwiches w/ Goat Cheese and Arugula, Twice-baked Potato Bites and Green Beans with Cider Vinaigrette.

It was sooo good. The bread I used for the sandwich was a bit tough but the potatoes and beans were to die for. I will definitely make this again but next time use a home-made egg bread for the steak sandwich. I can't wait. The heat wasn't quite miserable enough to keep us inside so we enjoyed our dinner on our new patio furniture on the back deck. We hope all you special Dad's had a wonderful Father's Day today. (it's a bit bittersweet for me since this is the first since losing my own father last August.)

P.S. to elaborate on the title of today's post....during bath tonight Lauren informed me that she brought some pickles into the bathtub. (I have no idea what made her say this as she absolutely DID NOT bring any pickles into the bathtub.) Tyler got a complete kick out of this. I told them that the new rule was that there would be "No Pickles In The Bathtub". This (for some unknown reason) brought out big big laughs from the both of them....and this phrase has been on my mind ever since.