Another Movie

We actually went to another movie on Tuesday night, twice in a week must be a record for us. It's funny how there can be weeks, even months, when there's nothing you want to go see, then all of a sudden there's several you are interested in seeing. This time we went the cheaper route and went to the Arlington movie theater, so it was only $6.50 per person. I remember when it was only $4 per person there, so its prices have gone up also, but not as bad as the main movie theaters. Arlington's theater is a little one screen movie theater, with old lumpy, pretty uncomfortable seats (at least mine was), but it's cheap. The other problem, that bothered Ken but I didn't notice as much, was the noise level during the movie. Lots more talking, laughing, etc from the audience, so that sometimes we missed what was said in the movie.

The movie we saw this time was "Night at the Museum - 2". We enjoyed it about as much as the first one, which we liked enough that we bought it. I had read reviews that said that they liked it better than the first one, but I think they were about equal enjoyment wise for me. The basic plot was similar, and there were a lot of the same characters, but also several new ones. including General George Armstrong Custer, who I thought was really funny when he tried to pronounce Sacajawea. It's more the type of movie I enjoy, without a lot of violence, some funny parts and a touch of romance.

Peonies and Ants

Last year I noticed a lot of ants around my peonies. I put some diazinon where I saw the ant holes to try and get rid of them. I was telling someone (I can't remeber who, although I think it was Mary Beth) about all the ants on my peonies later and she said that the ants are important so that the peonies will bloom. I had never heard that before, I have ants on my peonies again this year as you can see, but I guess I'd better let them go, so my peonies will bloom. At least I have buds again this year for the second year in a row.

Funtasia With Breakout Kids

Today was the annual outing to Funtasia with the kids that we teach on Wednesday nights. They are 3-5th graders and this year we taught second year breakout with the same kids we taught last year, so we've gotten to know them pretty well. The main things we do at Funtasia is play miniature golf, ride go-carts ( that shake you to pieces), ride the bumper cars and bumper boats.

It's always fun to do these things with the kids! When I did bumper boats this year, there were only 3 of us doing it, 2 girls from our class and me. Guess who got picked on?!

Both of them got me really good! I was very wet at the end of the 5 minute session, which I was beginning to think was never going to end. I tried to get my boat away from them, but they just followed me where ever I went.

I was finally able to hold my head up and get a couple of good shots in! I did better on the bumper cars and got even with them then. After Funtasia, we went to a park, ate lunch and the kids got to play for awhile before we headed home.

Painting Again

Our house painters are back. They didn't get the job completely done before winter last year, so they are back to finish things up. They just have to put a second coat on some areas and do the deck railings. All winter we had tan and blue on the deck, which didn't really look very good with the gold and white. Now instead of trying to get done before the cold weather and rain sets in, they are working hard in the morning, because the areas that still need to be done get a lot of afternoon sun, and they can't paint when the sun is to hot on the area. They should be done in a couple more days, then we'll have a gorgeous newly painted house to go with our backyard remodel.

Our Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to us! May 19, 1973

Yesterday was the actual day of our anniversary, but I didn't have time to do a blog yesterday. Last year we were in Mexico for our 35th anniversary, this year we decided to stay home and just go to dinner and a movie. We had dinner at a place in Everett we had never been to before, it was called Emory's on Silver Lake. We had a 3 course dinner, which was way to much food, and a great view of it raining on Silver Lake. After dinner, we went to the new "Star Trek" movie. Because we had watched the original "Star Trek" show years ago, we thoroughly enjoyed the movie and seeing the old characters portrayed as if they were much younger. I did have to close my eyes a couple of times when I didn't want to see the more violent scenes, but overall, we enjoyed the movie.

The Rest of the Story

We took Saben and Annika to church with us Sunday morning, when I picked her up, I was told, "She ate more than her share of Ritz crackers". I'm assuming that meant that they continued to give her crackers, when she asked for one, and she probably continued to ask, because they continued to give her one. I don't get why they feed the kids so many crackers at church so close to lunch time, it just doesn't make sense to me. It was one of the things I refused to do when I taught 1st and 2nd grade Sunday School, because I knew a snack of any size at 11:30 would ruin their appetites. Sure enough, she wouldn't eat hardly any of her lunch.

After lunch, we headed to the "Sesame Street Live" show that we had gotten tickets for. All the "Sesame Street" characters were there, including some I was unaquainted with. The character on the far right next to Ernie walked the aisles greeting the kids, but Saben took off to a seat away from the aisle whenever he came by. There was lots of singing and dancing by the "Sesame Street" characters, but I thought the story was kind of hard for kids to follow. We had a lot of fun anyway, especially after intermission when we bought....

a snowcone for each of them. I gave Saben the choice of a snowcone or cotton candy and he wanted a snowcone, which really surprised me. Both are messy to eat, but I figured a snowcone would probably be spilled by Annika, down the front of her white shirt, so I was rooting for the cotton candy and was surprised when he said he wanted a snowcone.
She actually didn't spill it, but still managed to get plenty on her shirt, her face, her legs, etc.
Here she is after the play with green all over her face and shirt. I discovered something interesting today when I changed her poopy diaper. Eating a green and blue colored snowcone one day, leads to greenish, blueish poop the next day.

Both kids fell asleep on our way home from the play at about 3:30, I thought they might wake up when we got home, but they didn't. I let them sleep in the car until 4:30, then woke them up, I was afraid to let them sleep past 4:30. Neither of them does very well when someone wakes them up instead of waking up by themselves, so I had a couple of grumpy kids for awhile. Luckily I had a project for them to work on, so they snapped out of it when I got them started decorating their cowboy hats. They each had a set of foamy stickers to put on their hats. Annika worked on hers for awhile, but lost interest fairly quickly. Saben, on the other hand, spent a lot of time on his and commandeered the stickers that Annika didn't use.

His set of stickers was stars and guitars, and Annika had flowers and butterflies. As you can see from the pictures below, he really decorated his hat!

Showing off their completed hats this morning!

Annika is peering under the brim of her hat to make sure Saben still has his hat over his face. She is copying what he is doing again. One last note about Annika's sleeping ritual, Friday when Kari & Kyle put her to bed she gathered a bunch of my teddy bears to take to bed with her. Saturday night she decided that she needed some of Kari's old "My Little Pony's" to sleep with her, and last night it was "Mr. Potato Head". She took Kari's old "Cabbage Patch Doll" that Grandma Elliott made her many years ago every night also.

(A note to relatives of Melia and Kiera, I think I'll get them hats like these and stickers for their Christmas present this year, so don't go looking for them!)

Babysitting Again

May is a busy, busy month for us. We started out the first weekend going to the Apple Blossom parade, etc. in Wenatchee. Last weekend, Ken had a board meeting in Oregon for Canby camp, I stayed home from it this time and worked in the yard, then we did our Mother's Day activity on Sunday. This weekend, started out with going to a play Friday night with the friends we have our season tickets with. We got home from that at about 11:30pm, and found Kari and Kyle waiting for us. We had planned with them earlier in the week, that they would come while we were gone and put Saben and Annika to bed. The kids are spending the weekend with us while K&K celebrate their anniversary. The rest of the blog shows what we did today with S&A.

When we uncovered the sandbox, we discovered a little green frog under the tarp. Ken caught it and Saben held it briefly, it is jumping from his hand in the picture.

The pile of dirt really is getting smaller, but it was still big enough to be fun to climb on.
We had a pile of branches that we had been saving to burn when the kids would be here to enjoy it. It's funny, Annika tries to copy what Saben does a lot of the time, but in some things she is definitely the leader. Saben felt he was at a safe distance from the fire pile, but Annika decided it was OK to be closer, in spite of Saben telling her to get back.
Once Papa got the fire going she quickly got back and sat at a safe distance on Grandma's lap, until Saben started bringing more sticks to Papa, then she needed to get in on the action.

Papa received some tiny little sticks from both of the kids, but also some decent sized sticks that he had pruned from the fruit trees. Saben was really dedicated to finding more sticks to keep the fire going, but it was still over to fast for him. He told me at bedtime tonight, that the fire was his favorite thing that we did today. Both kids were wet and dirty after playing in the wet sandbox, so when we came in for lunch we changed to shorts.

Annika practiced her piano playing, not one of Grandma's favorite activities.

After Annika's nap, we went down to the playground in our development. Saben rode his bike down and Annika rode in the wagon. Saben enjoyed the tire swing, until Grandma spun him to much and he said he was dizzy. I suspect he might have started feeling kind of nauseous also.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we had asked a couple of high school boys from our church, who are trying to earn money to go on a missions trip this summer, to come and help Ken with some of the yard work. They stacked some firewood we had gotten from a friend and raked up a bunch of the gravel from the old gravel path. They did a lot of work and were a great help. Some more of the dirt got moved, along with some old rotten railroad ties.

Ken took the sod and railroad ties out of this area after work last week. It will be barked also, with some other plants put in next to the other railroad ties. Stay tuned for the rest of the weekend and the rest of the busy month.

A Mother's Mission

The following is an article that was in our church newsletter, it was written by our head pastor's wife, Stacey. I thought it was a good article and since we just celebrated our Moms, here it is....

Mission. That word conjures up thoughts of exciting spy intrigue. I picture myself opening the ultra cool spy watch containing a miniature computer screen that informs me of “my mission, if I choose to accept it”. After hearing the exciting details of my life-risking adventure, I quickly toss the watch before it self-destructs. But no, my “Mission” often feels a lot less than intriguing.

My version of “Mom on a Mission” often includes washing clothes, packing lunches and making sure homework gets finished on time. Instead of a cool spy watch informing me of my plans for the day, a little person jumps on me at 6:30 AM every morning. I have no “choose to accept” clause. It’s a 24/7 mission that is often filled with the mundane and the insane.

All through my daily mission, I send up prayers. I ask Jesus to help me to raise my children (Emily 10, Benjamin 7) to love Him, and to serve Him all of their days. To teach them an awareness of evil, and an understanding of Christ’s ability to defeat it through them. I hope that the time I spend and the love I pour out will build in them a character that will not easily be shaken.

At bedtime, I read the Bible and we pray. I’m amazed at the prayers, questions and comments coming from my kids.

“Mom, why doesn’t everyone love Jesus?”
“I want us all to go to heaven. It’s better than Disneyland!”
And then there’s my favorite to date…
“Jesus, I love you 100%!”

As I tuck my little ones in, and stand in the stillness of night, a peaceful assurance comes over me. I feel strength of purpose welling up within. True, this mission is not glamorous…in fact it often finds me in my sweat pants. It has no magic ending…it’s never ending.

However , this mission is extremely dangerous. Our enemy wants to steal, kill and destroy. We are the defenders of these little souls and their very lives. Their eternities, though in God’s hands, are in our power to direct and shape. This mission, so often belittled and set-aside for the pursuit of things that might bring recognition or immediate satisfaction, is actually at the very core of God’s design. How can we go and send if we do not first grow, and shape little hearts and minds? A mother is really at the heart of Christ’s desire to reach a world in need of His love. When a Mom passes on a legacy of faith to her child, she isn’t just saving one soul. You see, one believing child becomes one believing adult who can continue the mission, and create an explosion that reaches far beyond what we will see in our lifetimes.

Motherhood can and should be so much more than a mundane pattern of events we repeat day after day. It is the passing on of a passion that is at the very heart of the Great Commission.

Mother's Day

Ken gave me the option of going and doing something today or staying home and continuing our work on the yard. Even though I knew I wouldn't be seeing my kids today, since we had been with them last weekend, I really didn't want to stay home for Mother's Day. We decided to take our bikes out for a bike ride, our first of the year in Washington. We wanted to go someplace we hadn't been before, so we got a map of bike trails off the internet, and decided to go to Smith Island. Smith Island is between Marysville and Everett, in an area we had never explored before. There's a nice little park right by the Snohomish River where we parked our car. We were surprised to find that a lot of people had already discovered this area and were having picnics there. The start of the ride was on a nicely paved path, but once we got on Smith Island, the trail turned to gravel and it was pretty rough riding.

The tide was out while we were there, so we were mainly looking at mud flats as we rode along. There were several of these shack looking buildings along the way. We, not being hunters, naively, thought that they were for bird watchers. We were informed later, by a couple who were watching birds that they were actually for duck hunters.

I was trying to get a shot of the mud flats with the snow-capped mountains in the background. You can definately see the mud flats, the mountains, not so well. It was still a fun bike ride and a relief to finally get back to the paved path. You don't realize how smooth a paved path is until you ride on gravel for several miles. Just for the record our ride today was 6 1/2 miles.

Yard Update

We haven't made a lot of progress the last couple of weeks, due to a lot of rainy weather this week, both of us being gone last weekend and Ken being gone most of this weekend. Also, some of the work Ken has done isn't obvious from a picture. He has been putting in some hoses to get ready to install a drip irrigation system in the boxes. He did get 2 of the boxes filled with dirt and Kari helped him get strawberries planted in one of the boxes last Friday before we headed to Wenatchee. So, slowly, but surely, we are making some progress. I planted some onion starts in the other box this afternoon and hopefully we'll get some other veggies planted next week.

Meanwhile, I took a picture of more flowers that I really enjoy. I love taking close up pictures of the flowers in my yard!

After the Parade

After the parade we went back to my parents house for lunch, then we had a baby shower for Seth. For most of the relatives in Wenatchee, it was their first time to see him.

The kids, ages almost 2 to 9, had a good time playing together in the yard, playing tag, hide and seek, chasing bubbles, and...

practicing walking on a balance beam. They look like future gymnasts to me!

Apple Blossom - 2009

We went to Wenatchee for the Apple Blossom Festival with Kari and her kids on Friday afternoon. The kids did very well on the trip over. We left after lunch, so it was Annika's naptime during the trip, and she slept for almost half of the trip. Saben took a short nap also, so he could stay up later that night. After Annika woke up, we showed her the river as we drove beside it. The rest of the way to Wenatchee, whenever the river went out of sight, she would say, (actually shout) "Where's the water?" This was repeated over and over and over... After dinner at the arts and crafts fair, we went to the carnival with Amy and Lara. The first ride we went on, was this one, which I rode with Saben and Lara, it's about all I can handle any more!
We discovered, to our surprise, that the carnival had strict limitations as to how tall you had to be to go on the rides. Unfortunately, Annika wasn't big enough to go on any ride but the boat ride. She didn't mind not being able to go on most of the rides, until Saben and Lara went into the obstacle course type thing with a rope ladder, slide and a pit of balls to jump into. She was broken hearted that she couldn't go jump in the balls. She got to go ride the boat again instead, which made her happy while she was on the ride, but as soon as she got off the ride, she started crying again until Saben came out of the ball pit and they got to have some cotton candy.
Saturday morning we had breakfast in the park. We had pancakes with strawberries, apples, or syrup, scrambled eggs and drinks, for $5. Annika was staying with us at my parents house, so she got to join us for breakfast, along with Meera and Zach. Kari and Saben stayed at Amy and Jason's house, so we met up with them and other family members at the parade.

Todd, Betsy, and Seth drove over from Seattle and met us at the parade also

I tried to get Annika to hold Seth, but she wasn't to excited about holding him.

However, she did enjoy feeding Todd some crackers during the parade.