We have been running around like crazy preparing for our big trip to the Spokane Valley/Coeur d'Alene area. Amidst my errands between Target, Walmart, the pharmacy, Costco, the church, etc. I started to develop a lovely toothache. So with a little advice from my sister-in-law (dental assistant) I got an appointment to check it out. (A trip to the dentist! Just what I needed to add to my schedule!) Since this is a tooth that was recently worked on and had a filling, I feared the worst! After taking an x-ray they determined that it was just aggravated from my clenching associated with not wearing my nightguard for 2 nights and from stress/anxiety from getting ready for our trip. Now, I'm thinking to myself, how sad is it that I caused myself a toothache by being stressed and anxious about VACATION??!!! Yet another sign that we Americans are far too busy. So luckily, I will not be starting out our vacation with a root canal or any other type of dental work! YAY! what a relief!
So, we leave tomorrow. I plan to take lots of pics of our trip and post them when we get back. We will be coming home on Sept. 5th in time for Aaron to be in a wedding on Sept. 6th!
So the kids are away staying the night at grandma and grandpas so that I can get some work done. So what am I doing? The all so important updating of my blog! That should really top the priority list, right? Anyhow, I think I have finally decided on Levi's schooling for next year. Homeschooling it is. I have changed my mind MANY times, but in light of the number of uncertainties looming in our future, I'm thinking the flexibility that homeschooling offers will be better suited for our family. Now I just have to break the news to Levi. He's going to be dissapointed, but I'm hoping to divert his attention by enrolling him in soccer and some other activities. So, any of you teacher friends out there in blog land, I'm all about any ideas you can give me!
So once again, I have stolen an idea from my friend Lisa -and I'm so glad I did! Yay for a new easy lunch idea. The idea here is to put together a quick lunch while offering a variety of "finger" foods. The kids think it's super fun to eat from the muffin tin as well!
From top left, Row 1: Graham crackers, applesauce (to dip the graham crackers in), cashews, cheeseburger quarter for boy#1
Row 2: Salt & Vinegar potato chips, raisins, string cheese bites, cheeseburger quarter for boy#2
Row 3: Lunchmeat ham, gummy fruit snacks, chocolate chips, mandarin oranges
It was a hit! My kids ate a much more than normal!
Thanks Lisa!!
I created these one and three tier diaper cakes for centerpieces at a friend's shower. The one tiered cake is filled with all sorts of baby goodies. The three tiered cake is mostly diapers with 2 baby bottles used as the central support; one bottle filled with Hershey kisses, the other is the vase for the flowers.
We camped at Lake Chelan this Memorial Day weekend. I do believe it will be our LAST camping excursion on a Memorial Day weekend EVER. It absolutely poured on us. We did have some pretty good weather one day though which made it worth our while. We boated over to a little beach with tons of butterflies and the kids got to hold them and watch them for a long time. 
So, I was inspired by my friend Lisa to write about the books our family has been reading lately. Aaron has been reading The Count of Monte Cristo. He just finished Kite Runner and now I'm going to start it next. I just finished Water for Elephants, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, and Love in the Time of Cholera. I'm currently reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle to Levi, while Landon still prefers any shorter selection from our home library.
For Easter this year we went to service at church and then to Brunch at the Maplewood Golf Course in Renton. Since it was pooring down rain, we came home and had an indoor easter egg hunt. The day before Easter I took the boys to a couple local egg hunts. The boys saw the easter bunny, got their faces painted, played carnival games, got LOTS of candy, and we stood in line for 35 minutes for balloons from the balloon man- only to have Landon's pop on the way to the car. He was grinning from ear to ear for the 2 minutes he had it, and then there were lots of tears. 
Next year I'm going to have to tell the Easter bunny to ease up a bit on the candy flow. The boys have turned into little candy monsters asking me for some no less than 10 times a day.
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