Friday!?

Wow, I can't believe how fast this week and this month have flown by. We didn't do anything too exciting this week. We forgot about selling Girl Scout cookies and the due date for pre-sales snuck up on us, so in a last big effort Tegan got out and sold some cookies. She was really good at it this year. She got a few neighbors. She was brave and courteous. I was so proud of her. We'll have more to sell at the end of February. If you want any, let me know and I'll get them for you when we do site sales! Mmmmm, Yummy.

There is a little obsession going on around here. Mike beat the whole game of Mario Galaxy on the Wii. The girls have been watching him play and are now playing themselves. Now, the funny part is that when they aren't allowed to play the video game, they've been playing a pretend game. Anika goes through the ellaborate process of making an entire costume out of paper and TAPING to her face! She is Bowser, which interestingly enough, is the bad guy in the game! Even Kelby makes herself a costume. The whole thing is pretty cute really. They also enjoy drawing the characters from the game.

Here's Anika as Bowser.

This is a "Toad" from the game.

These are "Boo's" from the game.

Our weekly trip to Costco.

Anika and I went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Lohman early this week. I have been working on a scrapbook for Grandma of her life and family for almost a year now. I finally printed a rough draft for her and let her have it. This has been a huge project, but once I'm done, I could put one together for our other Grandmas if they got me specific pictures! Here's some page samples:

Visit to the Zoo

The sun was shining when we woke up on Saturday morning and no one had any plans for the day, so we decided to go to the zoo.

After a little photo shoot at home where we were trying hard to get a good picture of all three girls, we drove down to Seattle.

The day was chilly, but very fun for our family. I had never seen the new flamingo exhibit. That was my favorite of the day, though the otters were out and active too! We went to lots of indoor exhibits so we didn't get too cold.

Afterwards...whether it was the Seattle air or just hunger, we had to find some fish & chips & clam chowder for dinner! We drove to a place we had heard about in Ballard and tried it out. It was yummy, but pretty expensive.

All in all, yesterday was a great family day.

Happy New Year

I've been blessed with dear friends that invite me to their houses!

Yesterday I got to visit friends in Bellingham and teach them how to stamp. I hope I didn't encourage them to go out and spend too much money on buying new toys, but I think they enjoyed stamping! It was fun to teach it again. I'm just going to have them over soon so they can use my stampin' supplies. I'm debating on putting a bunch of my old stamp sets on ebay. I think about it every now and then, but it is a lot of work.

I'm sad I didn't take any pictures of us and our stamping mess...I need to remember to take more pictures to illustrate my blog!

Today I was invited to a Chinese New Year party by a sweet friend from Singapore. She made a TON of delicious foods! I really overate today...something that I think is NOT a chinese tradition. It is good luck to bring even numbers of orange citrus, so I brought her some, but she gave me some in return so we share our good luck for the new year. There are so many fun traditions!

This is a picture of Zita and I. She is actually Anika's preschool teacher too. Anika took the picture for us!

Anika doesn't get to go to preschool again until March. The high school kids' semester ends and the new class has to be trained before the preschoolers can come back. We'll have to find something fun to keep us busy. I'll to appreciate our time since she'll be off to school everyday next year! I'm not going to volunteer at Kelby and Tegan's school while she's off though because I don't think she'll enjoy just hanging out while I make copies anymore.

I'm feeling really good about getting a bunch of stuff done this week, but I'm really tired tonight. I think I'll go to bed early...or maybe finish that book I didn't finish for book club! Good night.

New President

Well, where were you and what were you doing on the day the first black president took office? I was at the church watching kids for MOPS, then at the dentist, then at ladies' in ministry leadership meeting! It was a busy day for me. I missed most of the festivities. I hope that, at least, this president can bring hope and pride to America...but, I'm not drinking the kool-aid yet. People are crazy in love with Obama. We'll see how it goes. I do think it is neat that he is African American, so I can be proud of that for us.

I have book club tonight and never finished my book! That is one of the first times for me. I've been too busy I guess. Look at the fun crafts we've made.

Kelby drew this dragon, then I turned it in to a file that could be cut on my new cutter! Isn't it so cute! She was very impressed. I was so blessed the other night when she was saying her prayers, and said "Thank you for Mommy's crafting skills." How sweet! She also did a horse, but I haven't perfected the cut file yet.

These hearts are something I made that I think I will post to sell on etsy.com. I'm just having a blast with the crafts! I wish I had more time to mess around with it all.

On Monday I took the girls to Bellingham so they could go to Build A Bear. They each used some of their Christmas gift money on buying and building a dog. Kelby got a Jack Russell named Angel, Tegan got a black lab and named her Lulu, and Anika got a Husky named Huskidy.

I already can't remember what else we did this weekend. I know we watched the playoff games. It was cool to see the Cardinals make it to the Superbowl. On Saturday Mike ran a 10 K race and came in 22nd out of 164 people. That's sure more than I can say for me! At least we are enjoying the sun again. It isn't warm, but it is bright and blue.

Tea Anyone?

Tegan finally got to have her tea party at school today! It had been planned for the last week of school before Christmas break....but they didn't have school those last three days because of snow. So she's been waiting forever. She was so excited to go to school today. The kids had made these cute placemats and napkin rings and studied the history of tea and also good manners! They did a little program where they shared some tea poems that they memorized. It was so cute. Anika got to play at the neighbors house while I went to the party, so she was very happy about that. Yesterday I got to spend the whole afternoon with some friends crafting. I got a few things done and got some new ideas! I had a great time. I've also been playing with my fancy cutting machine and I was actually able to cut out a horse based on a drawing that Kelby had done! It was cool. I've got lots to learn to make stuff, but it is sure fun to play. At least Kelby is very impressed! Now we are on to the weekend without any real plans. Mike has a run tomorrow, but the girls and I will probably stay home...maybe I'll enjoy a book! Now I'm off to sleep!

January Bliss

Well, another weekend has come and gone. Don't you love it when you feel like you've gotten a ton done! I'm feeling that way right now. I makes we want to keep going once I get on the roll. I love getting things checked off my list. I better update on Kelby's ear in case anyone is wondering. I picked her up after school on Friday and took her to the doctor's office. He numbed up the ear with a shot and just pulled it out. Thank goodness for numbing! She was so nervous and crying before the doctor did anything, but calmed down once the pain medicine was working. Doctor said she would have to let the hole close and get it re-pierced in a few weeks. She's decided to let both ears close and get them both re-pierced rather than walk around with only one earring. I got to go to the ladies' breakfast at church on Saturday. It went really well and I enjoyed myself. I think the other ladies at church are enjoying it too. I've also been working on some great new tools on our ladies' ministries website too. These are the things I'm crossing off my to-do list. It feel great! The weather has been kinda gross, but there is sunshine today. I volunteered at school this morning and now I'm enjoying a cup of coffee at Haggens. It sounds like the childcare area is going to be closing down, so Anika and I won't be able to do this anymore...so I better live it up while I can. I guess there isn't too much else going on unless you can count all the ideas and plans in my head! I want to make and sell crafts, write books, post blogs, design websites, etc...so hopefully I can pick one thing and do it. I know...it is a sickness...but at least I enjoy it and feel very happy! I think I love January. It is nice to have a start-over!

Children's Museum

Well, they cancelled school today because of the flooding. Our house is safe, but it must be bad other places. The lower part of the neighoborhood got pretty bad over night. We went for a walk after dinner last night and got soakin' wet. The rain finally quit falling, or at least slowed down this morning, so we think the worst is over. I’m currently at the Children’s museum with the girls. We couldn’t stay home and play video games ALL day, could we? We played Mario Galaxy for a long time. I have a few things to do for our HIs Place Ladies breakfast on Saturday, but otherwise I didn't have any plans today. And now I have a little pink computer so I can do stuff on the go. I don't have a network connection here though, so the update won't post until I get home. I gotta find some places with open wireless connections. I plan to use it to write! That's a good New Year's resolution. We'll see how it goes...at least I'm writing this blog..right?! We have to miss Girl Scouts again this week too! Speaking of which, it is cookie time again! We'll be selling cookies throughout January. We'll see if the girls are more motivated to sell this year. I've got to get motivated to paint the trim in the house and do some touch ups in the office. We have a leaky window, so that'll need to be fixed to. We're not sure where the waters getting in, but think it has something to do with where the shop roof hits the siding above the window. Bummer! That's about it for now. Much love to all!

PS. When we got done at the Children's Museum, Kelby asked if she could spend some of her Christmas money to buy earrings. She hasn't bought any new ones since she got them pierced this summer. So, we stopped at Claire's to get some and got some cute penguins.

As she tried to change her earrings in the car, she noticed the back of one of her old earrings was stuck on her ear. I thought that it was just crusted on, but when we got home, I looked and found a good part of the back has actually grown into her ear! I have no idea how to get it out, so I made a doctor appointment. This picture is an example of the kind of back the earring had. Only the small tip is showing! She changes her earrings often enough I thought. I never change mine and I've never had this problem! She's a little freaked about it, but she'll be okay.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

Here is a picture of one of the entrances to our neighborhood. We are on the up side of this, so hopefully we won’t have any problems with our house. There is a creek that runs through the development that is almost over the roadway and our retention ponds are almost full. Yikes! We’ve had some crazy severe weather here.

Dinner Theater

Michael and I got to go to a dinner theater last night. It was at a little place right here in Skagit Valley. Mike's work invited managers and spouses out because the evening was won at a community auction. We had a great time. It was a full evening of entertainment starting with drinks in the lobby and then, at 6:30, we entered the "theater". It was a small room, but the the whole room was part of the play. Dinner was served first and then the show started. It was a fun musical called "Cowgirls". I can't believe how they could sing. They were completely without microphones, but sounded fantastic! At intermission we were served cheesecake for dessert! It was a great evening out for us. Debbie and George kept the girls over night, so they girls had a good time too. Tomorrow school starts again...that is, unless this snow keeps falling. That's right, you heard me...it is snowing again! We still have a couple inches on the ground from before too. It is supposed to turn to rain tonight, so I'm sure they'll be off to school bright and early. It has been a lazy and relaxing break! As always though, I'm ready to get back to that routine.

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2009. Can you believe it? Do you have any New Years resolutions? The girls and I have been talking about ours. We've decided we'd all work on closing the bathroom door when we are using it! We think Daddy will appreciate that.

We got to have some friends over to ring in the new year. It was the first year that we let the girls stay awake until midnight. They took an evening nap and we woke them up when our friends got here at eight. We played games and sang karaoke and ate too much. It was so cute when we explained to Anika that in a few seconds it would be Thursday instead of Wednesday! We toasted the new year with sparking juice and lit a few leftover fireworks into the snowy evening. Today I made my traditional prime rub dinner for just Debbie and George instead of the whole family. It's a good thing it was only them because my dinner was over an hour late! Never trust recipes for prime rub on the internet! It tasted good when it was all done at least, especially my speciality of twice baked potatoes.

I'm so excited because my super sweet husband bought me a New Year's present. He ordered me an Acer netbook which is a tiny computer. It is a cross between a laptop and a pocket pc. It is meant for internet stuff especially and will be great for blogging. It even has a built in camera, so I hope to use Skype to video conference with it! The only problem is that I have to wait until it gets here! I'm too excited.

I read a blog that encouraged her readers to pick one word to guide the new year. I've decided to choose LISTEN as my word. I've realized that I'm not such a good listener. I can get too focused on what I'm doing and the girls can talk to me and I won't even hear them. Did you know you can do that with God too? I'm hoping to listen to Him better too! I like this idea better than regular resolutions. Its not like you can fail, its just something to strive for. If you pick a word, share it with me in the comments.

By the way, to enter a comment, I have discovered that you have to fill out the box that says "Comment as:". Choose "name/URL" and just fill out your name. Otherwise it won't post. Sorry if it is a pain, but I love any comments!