Hmm...

I have heard from quite a few of you about my complete dismissal of my blog lately.  Reasons?  I've been mad.  Mad because we had Dollar Store batteries in our camera and I missed TONS of great stuff.  Like the biggest snow in 40 years.  Like Evan and Maren's faces when they saw their bikes on Christmas morning.  Yeah, the really good and juicy stuff in life.  Here's about all I got of that:

Bundled up to pick out the Christmas tree!

On Christmas Eve, Michael and Evan went outside to make a snowman.  Maren wanted to join them, but the snow was so deep and had a layer of ice inside it that would break as you walked on it.  She wasn't enjoying it too much so the boys made her this throne to sit on while they worked.  She loved it.  But each time she sat in it, she tilted her head to the side like this and closed her eyes.  Ha!  Hard work being a princess.

 

Said bikes...terrible pictures but the only ones those dumb batteries let me get.  Notice Evan's face...he looks terrified.

But he overcame that rather quickly...although this picture was taken 2 weeks or so after Christmas.

I think my other problem and why I've stayed away from my blog is that I'm stressed.  I'm 14 1/2 (don't you forget that half!!) weeks pregnant and I haven't seen the doctor yet.  And for a girl with my past history, that's not so great.  But I haven't had insurance.  I've been fighting and fighting and going around and around with some companies.  FINALLY, just at the end of last week, I learned that I was covered.  So I call my doctor's appointment on Monday and of course they can't get me in for another two weeks.  I'll be 16 weeks!  My doctor is going to wonder what on earth I'm doing waiting so long and I have to wonder myself.  But what are my options?  I called the doctor's office to see how much an initial appointment is without insurance.  With all things included (labs, ultrasound, deposit), it would be around $700.  Ha!  So, anyway, long story short...I'm just really anxious to make sure there's really a baby growing inside there and not a V lizard (remember that show?  I used to love it WAY back.  I was going to put a picture on here of the V baby, but when I looked it up, it was way too freaky to include!!).  Okay, I'm just making my long story long.  So, I just want to know that I don't have an ectopic pregnancy and I don't have twins and there really is something going on inside there.  I was thinking today that I can't wear maternity clothes to my appointment in February.  Because what if I go in and find out I'm not pregnant or something?  I'll feel like an idiot.  Oh, the strange things that go on in a pregnant woman's mind.  So, there you have it.  The explanation.  Michael just got up and told me my dad called tonight (hi, Dad!), all worried about me because I hadn't had a blog post in so long.  Hello, world!  I'm back and still kicking.  I've got some great stuff to post about Maren tomorrow, but for now, I'm going to bed!

 

Little Surprises

I love the little surprises that kids give you from time to time.  Lately Maren's have been with colors.  The other day we were looking at each other and she grabs my face and pulls up on my eyelids.  Eek!  Then she says, "Mommy's eyes blue.  Like Maren.  Mommy eyes blue, Maren eyes blue."  Well, I thought for sure Michael must've given her a lesson on Mommy and Maren's eye color.  How else could she come up with this?  I asked him when he got home, and he vehemently denies it.

Then last week we went to get our Christmas tree.  On the way to the farm, Michael jokingly asks the kids, "What color of a Christmas tree should we get?"  Maren pipes up, "G'een."  What?!?!  How does she know trees are green?  Again I hounded Michael to know when and how he had taught her this, since I obviously hadn't.  He again denied any right-doing.  It's so fun when they piece things together completely behind our backs and then throw them out when we're least expecting it and throw us for a loop.  I love that about kids!  They're such amazing learners!

Family Photos!

Well, it was about time. We had family photos taken a few weeks ago...after 10 years since our last one! That's right, that would be just me and Michael looking like little kids. Thank you to Jen, who came all the way from Utah to do them. Ha! Just kidding. But, seriously, if any of my Utah friends or family wants great pictures taken, check her out. She's amazing! So, here are a few (okay, a LOT!) of my favorites...

Hello, Beauty! I love those eyes!

Oh, I love these boys!

I just love this squishy face!

This was a sweet moment. I love how much they love each other.

Another sweet Maren shot.

And what a handsome boy you are, Evan!

I thought this one was just too cute!

I wish I could remember what cutie Maren was so excited about.

Here we are...one small, happy family.

I love you, Mikey. After 11 1/2 years we look older and wiser...and happier, too!

I love the drama of this picture. The thing is that Maren hardly smiled in ANY of the pictures. This time it worked out really well. I absolutely love looking at their eyes. I think I've said before that I love having a brown-eyed boy and a blue-eyed girl. I love the differences in them.

One of the few smiles from her. And all because Daddy told her to say "cheese". Her favorite word, by far!

And, if you were patient enough to look through ALL the pictures, you get a special bonus. Here is Evan's very happy face when we told him the news about the new addition!

Pacific Oncology

Well, people keep asking me about Michael's job search and I guess that's because I haven't formally made a post about the fact that he GOT A JOB!!  Yea!  He's been working for a cancer center, Pacific Oncology, for almost three weeks now and...drum roll...he loves it!  Our bishop's wife gets her treatments there and told him he should see if they have jobs open.  Everything kind of fell into place very smoothly from there.  He must've really knocked their socks off in the interview because although they said they had quite a few more people to interview and it would be about a week until we heard anything, they called the next day to offer him the job.  And without even calling his glowing references!

 

They have five offices around here but he works at the Beaverton one, which is the main office.  It takes us about 10 - 15 minutes to get there, so not bad.  It was built in January 2007 and is 54,000 square feet.  And it's absolutely gorgeous on the inside.  It's very state-of-the art and they have some pretty neat things there for the patients.  So far Michael is really enjoying it.  Where the last place he worked was cramped and disorganized, this place is very spacious and well-organized.  Where at the other place, there were a lot of unprofessional co-workers, these ones are very mature and professional.  What's more, OHSU (Oregon Health & Sciences University) is taking them over in January.  OHSU is who Michael wanted to work for in the first place and he's gotten a back door in there.  This will give him great opportunity to move around and do other things.  It's a very exciting step.  Thanks to everyone who has checked on us.  As soon as Michael gets his first paycheck (they are only paid once a month!), we can start to get back on our feet.  Yea!

Premier Tag!

Well, I've never done a tag but this time I was tagged by name so I thought I would be a good girl and participate.  Plus, I really love to read other people's tags and learn interesting tidbits about them!  Here goes...

8 FAVORITE SHOWS

Prison Break, 24, Dancing with the Stars...uh...Jakers, SuperWhy, Between the Lions, WordWorld, Barney.  Ha!  I don't have time to watch much real TV because I'm working.  I sneak Prison Break on the Internet between work files and have even given up DWTS this season.  But I'm okay with that.

8 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS

Morton's, JoPa, Lucy's Table, Caprial's, Alessandro's, Veritable Quandry, The Melting Pot, P.F. Chang's

8 THINGS I DID YESTERDAY

Washed clothes, did dishes, had kids over to play, made bubble solution, worked, went to the Young Women activity, went to Target, started a new book.

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO

When I don't have to work and I can clean up after the kids are in bed, when I don't have to work and I have time to think about what dinner to make, getting health insurance through Michael's new job, seeing how Maren and Evan like sharing a room, Thanksgiving!, a family outing to the pool or Out of This World, reading more in the new book, going to bed.

8 THINGS I LOVE

Michael, Dallin, Evan, Maren, my wonderful friends & family, the Church, watching my kids share, kisses from my kids!

8 THINGS I CAN'T STAND

Seeing people suffer, hearing about babies dying, paranoia, people being rude, mean or judgmental, piles of stuff all over the house (my everyday life), waiting (patiently!) for projects to get done, not getting a decent picture of Maren.

8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST

A bigger house, and, if not, a fence around our house so I can let the kids play outside without having to keep an eagle eye on them, an iPod so I can digitize all of my music and put the CDs up in the attic, to get back to my pre-marriage weight (probably not until we're done having kids since ever time I lose weight I get pregnant!), my kids to live long, happy lives, Michael to get more schooling and keep moving up in the medical field, get the house organized, get an amazing family picture taken (thanks, Jen!).

Why We Were Late for Church Today

I'd like to blame Zumba, C.S. Lewis and...Maren, the sweet thing, for making us late for church today.  Here's what I think is a funny story.  Let's see if I can keep it short (do I ever succeed at that?!?!).  Yesterday I went to Zumba, got super stinky and should've taken a shower all day but it was never a good time.  Michael said I'd better take a shower before I got into bed.  Yeah, of course!  That's so gross!  Well, I was working, working, working late and before I knew it, it was midnight.  And church is at 9 a.m.  I decided I'd just forgo the shower (I know, I know, don't even say it!) until the morning.  The problem is that Evan gets the treat of sleeping in our bed on Saturday nights.  So it's already squishy.  Squishy with my stink added to it would've been unbearable for everyone, including me.  So I decided to sleep on Evan's bed.  I took the C.S. Lewis book I'm reading and my alarm clock, which I set for 7:30. 

I read my book for half an hour until 12:30 and then called it a night figuring seven hours of sleep would hold me just fine.  At 7:00 Maren woke up.  I don't know why because she definitely needed more sleep from going to bed late.  She wasn't going to go back to sleep in her bed and I didn't want her waking up the boys yet so I brought her onto Evan's bed with me.  I knew I had a precious 30 minutes left before my alarm clock went off so I was trying to get her to go back to sleep while I tried to nod off myself.  Instead, she was jumping around, grabbing the alarm clock and all sorts of other commotion.  When Michael walked in at 8:30, this is what he found...

(I know!  You think I should be absolutely mortified that I am putting this picture on here and I AM!!  Michael took five pictures of this same shot and, believe me, I got out the ruler and measured which bum shot least resembled a ginormous (anyone know how to spell this made up word?) landing pad.  I'm not totally sure that I succeeded.  Nothing like a blog to keep yourself humble, eh?)

Well, turns out that Michael had gone to sleep without setting his alarm clock and Maren had switched mine off while she was playing with it.  I'm happy to report that we still got there in time for about half of Sacrament meeting.  And, I suppose to help her get over the crink in her neck and the emotional trauma that being that close to my bum must've caused her, Michael gave her chocolate milk when they got home from church.

Evan's 4th Birthday!

Well, it's about time I get around to this post.  I wasn't going to do much of anything for Evan's birthday this year.  Just thought we'd have cake at home as a family because of Michael not having a job and I thought it would be easier that way.  Then I realized I just couldn't let his birthday pass without any fanfare.  I wanted him to know that he was treasured.  So we decided to go to his favorite place, Out of this World and invited just a couple of friends and Anton, our neighbor, of course.  Out of the 100 or so pictures I took, only a handful turned out because our camera is having issues.  And only one of those was of the birthday boy.  I'll save that sweet one for last.  A couple highlights...

Maren tearing into her Iron Man cupcake.  I know, we've got a red eye issue here, but I haven't been in the mood to load the PhotoShop software on here since Michael changed the hard drive.  Some day!

This place is SOOO fun, with cars to ride on, bounce houses, a huge climbing structure with lots of slides, and more and more and more!  Here's a great photo, I must say, that I got of Anton as he's enjoying the cars.

Parents get in free and I definitely feel like I get in as much fun as the kids do!

And here's the sweet birthday boy, very excited about his fun gifts and having his best friends around him on his special day.  We love you, Evan...you cutie!

I Remembered...

The other things I wanted to say about Maren.  She must hear "good girl" a lot because she uses it on me all the time.  "Good girl, Mom.  You go pee on toilet."  When I had pink eye, I would get the drops to put in my eyes and she would say, "Lay down, Mom".  As soon as I laid down, "Good girl!  Good girl, Mom!"  After I put the drops in, "Good girl, Mom!"  She is just so stinkin' supportive and encouraging.  It cracks me up and warms my heart.  The greatest is that Michael gets, "Good girl, Dad!"  She was REALLY enthusiastic about the good job he was doing raking the leaves today.  She was bursting at the seams with her "Good girl" for dad.  We had a good laugh about that.  What a sweetheart.

Now, this part I don't put in here because I'm proud of it but because we all will get a really good laugh when we read this part a few years down the line.  You can't be around Evan too long and not realize that he loves super heroes and Star Wars.  Seriously, you would think he has watched the movies.  NO WAY!  Michael shows him selected clips on YouTube and tells him the stories of the characters, but that's it.  He sure runs with it, though.  But Evan definitely knows the theme music to some of them:  Superman, Iron Man and the Darth Vader theme.  You can't live with Evan and not have one of these stuck in your head from time to time and Maren is no exception.  Sometimes she'll be walking around the house da-da-da'ing the Darth Vader theme or singing, "I am Iron Man, throw me in a frying pan" (only because that's what I say - ha!).  When he puts on his Superman jammies, she breaks out with the theme song.  She's hysterical.  It's so nice of her to take an interest in what is important to her brother.  Ha!

Masks

Well, my work is going to take 20 more minutes to download so, hallelujah!, I finally have some time to get some posts done.  First of all, the masks!  Evan is big into making anything with paper and tape lately.  In fact, he got lots of tape for his birthday because he was using all of our expensive Scotch tape (it's $8 for three rolls, people!  That's a lot for tape!).  Anyway, probably because of Halloween, he's been doing masks lately.  He'll disappear into his room for half an hour and emerge with a mask on, taped to his face.  Well, the other day Michael and I were in the family room chatting and in walk these two cute monsters. 

What's hysterical about this is that there was no noise coming from his room.  No protests from Maren as he taped it to her LIPS or anything.  Ha!  The other funny thing is that he made me wear one of these for about 20 minutes the other day and I couldn't see a thing.  So, how they got all the way from his room to the family room, covering basically the whole house, without running into anything is a serious mystery to me!

Now seems a good time to do a little update on both kids because there has been so much going on with them since the last time I did this.  We'll start with the sweet Maren girl.  Boy, does she bring a lot of joy and laughs to our house.  Some fun stuff about her lately:

She counted to 18 yesterday!  I am really, really going to get this on video to put on the blog.  I just about fell out of bed when I heard it.  We can't figure out how she would've learned it except that Michael said they played a lot of hide and seek last week. 

Maren is a big nurturer.  Having her has really shown me the inherent differences in the two genders.  If I get hurt from something that wasn't even her fault and I say "ouch", she says, "I sorry, Mom." and rubs whatever is hurting.  She loves to help out any time you ask her to do something.  One of my favorite, random things is this:  I lose about a toupee worth of hair in the shower each day.  So I won't clog the drain, I put it on the shower wall (am I crazy, or does anyone else do this?).  As soon as I turn off the shower, she comes running in there saying, "Yay, Mommy take a shower!" or "You all done with your shower, Mommy?"  Then I gather up all the hair from the shower wall and step out of the shower.  She flips the lid open on the trash can and says, "Here you go, Mom."  Every time!  She'd also like to help you wipe your bottom after you go to the bathroom and flush the toilet if you'd let her (true, true).

She is a total back seat driver.  If we are stopped anywhere for more than 20 seconds, she's saying, "Go, Mom.  Go, Mom."  Over and over and over.  And then she wants to know, "What are you doing, Mom?"  I can tell her we're going to Fred Meyer 17 times but she'll still ask the 18th time.  Right now she only wants "Jesus" songs for naptime and bedtime.  Her favorite is "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus".  However, if I only sing the first verse and try to put her in bed, she holds on tight to me and says, "when Jesus will come again".  That means that I'd better sing her the second verse, too, or I won't hear the end of it.  Ha!

Okay, when I was thinking of this post days ago, I had so much more to write.  I knew that as soon as I sat down to do it, it would leave my sieve-like brain.  Rats!  I'll have to add to this when I can remember everything else I wanted to say.

Now, about Evan...

What fun stuff he's getting in.  Writing, drawing, making things with paper and cardboard.  Planning parties and just planning, planning, planning in general.  He wrote a book the other day about titled Din's Adventure.  Here's the first page...

It's about Din, the cat (central figure here) and his adventure in this cave (notice the stalactites at the top?).  There are trees in there and a spider and an alien.  Anyway, this is new territory for Evan and it's really exciting.  He's never been real taken with coloring or drawing and now he's really loving it.  So we've got books and masks and invites to crazy parties that he plans for his friends...just paper everywhere!  We had to go buy him a trash can for his room yesterday to deal with all the paper mess in his room.

He participated in the Primary Program at church on Sunday.  It was so fun to watch him marching into the chapel singing "I am a Child of God".  He did a great job on his part.  The teacher said, "What I'm grateful that Heavenly Father created about me is..."  Evan was originally supposed to say, "My legs so I can play."  He took liberties to change it to what he liked.  First he was going to say, "My legs so I can run." but then he changed it to, "My legs so I can walk."  He talked very clearly and sweetly and I loved every second.  It's so fun to watch him growing up.

He is also doing amazing at swimming, doing things I assumed would take that big chicken a couple of years to do.  He loves his new comfort in the water, too, and when they're in the bath tub, he's always trying to teach Maren a new trick. 

I feel very blessed that my kids love each other very much and there is very little fighting between them.  I'm sure that can't last much longer but I'm enjoying it while it lasts.  We have attitudes and tantrums, spitting and hitting, yelling and kicking.  But that's not the majority of the time so I try to remember that 90% of our family life together is really positive and I love being a mom to these monsters.

Interview with a 4-year-old

So, I had my annual interview with Evan about his favorites since it was his birthday on Monday.  Some of the answers were funny, some were typical 4-year-old answers.  All were fun to hear.  Oh, to be able to get into the mind of a 4-year-old.  I'd pay quite a lot of money for just a 10 minute look inside there.  Here's a snippet:

Favorite show:  Spectacular Spider-Man (which I think he's seen once...Saturday morning cartoon...and only because I'm at Zumba and have no control over what Michael lets him watch.  I just assumed it would be something like Sesame Street or something.  Hmm...)

Favorite movie:  Star Wars (He's never actually seen this movie.  Just bits and pieces that, of course, Dad has shown him.  Again, I thought he'd pick something like Cars or Curious George.  Oh, how times are changing.  I SOOO have a boy on my hands!)

Favorite Color:  Blue

Favorite Food:  Macaroni & Cheese

Favorite thing to do with Mom:  "Eat cereal together."

Favorite thing to do with Dad:  "Spend the whole day with him."

Favorite thing to do with Maren:  "Watch shows or movies." (which she almost never does with him, so I think he's wishful thinking)

What he wants to be when he grows up:  Evan.  When prodded and reminding him of some things he's wanted to be in the past to do for a "job", he said, "Zero jobs!"

Favorite friend:  "You, mom."

Favorite thing to do when not at home:  "Babysit Maren."  (Hmm...this one is peculiar.)

Favorite toy:  Iron Man suit

Favorite book:  The Lorax

Favorite animal:  Bats, spiders (could this be influenced by the proximity to Halloween?)

Do you want to go on a mission?:  "No.  I want to stay at home with you, Daddy and Maren."

Do you want kids?:  "No.  You are my kid.  I'm not going anywhere.  I'm staying in the same house."

What's hard to do?:  "Make things at Home Depot."

What have you learned from Primary?:  "Singing songs."

What do you love to do?:  "Play with Dad the whole, entire day."

Back in Business!

Boy, it's been a long time since some good (or even mediocre) posts from me.  The reason...one heck of an October.  I was sick about 3/4 of it and have come to realize that Fall and I just don't get along.  Whether it's allergies or colds, I don't know.  But I've spent a lot of the month NOT doing the things that I enjoy doing.  I'm excited to be healthy in November and get back to my regular routine.

Other reasons for my blogging slothfulness...Michael replaced the hard drive in the computer.  Then the new one was working all crazy and he had to reformat it.  Oh, what a chore that is!  And it took probably over a week for everything to be done.  I was fitting in my work when we had a functioning computer and just doing the best I could to survive without my email.  :-)  Lastly, Michael lost his job on October 3rd (don't ask...I'd rather not get sued for slander.).  So, on October 4th, the job hunt ensued.  Since I'm fast and I don't have the patience to wait for Michael to take care of it, I'm the job searcher.  That's quite the time commitment.  So, here I am with quite a few things to say and now I'll get to them!

Halloween & Birthday

First we start with a photo from a few days before Halloween.  Evan's cousin was over playing and they were doing such a great job just entertaining themselves and coming up with fun and creative things to do.  Evan came up and asked me if we had any white fabric so they could make ghosts.  I pulled out a white sheet and some washable markers so they could draw ghost faces on it.  When he wanted to cut it in half so both of them could have their own ghost sheets, I decided we'd better try something else.  White t-shirts.  Of course, Maren had to get in on it, too.  All three of them walked around for the longest time with their shirts over their heads.  They also drew all kinds of fun stuff on their shirt ghosts.  It was pretty cute.

See what I mean about Maren?  She always looks like a miserable child.  In reality she is fun, silly and happy, with a smile on her face more often than not.  Maybe I need to be more entertaining when I'm taking pictures or something.  Who knows!

This is Evan with the four presents he wrapped for me after his nap (he doesn't like to wear anything but his underwear when he naps!).  He spent about an hour doing it, wrapping every edge to make sure none of what was under the packaging was sticking out.  It really meant a lot to me.  This wasn't something Michael put him up to or a thought anyone else placed in his head.  Just doing something nice for his mom on her birthday.  It really helped make my day.  For some reason it was a hard day.  Am I the only one who has apparently unrealistic expectations for their birthdays?  Add to that heightened birthday feelings and then a day that everyone else celebrates for something completely NOT your birthday, and you get me...grumpy...on my birthday.  It's the pits.  Anyway, I share that because this little boy brightened my day with his love.  And now I have a new ball, stuffed moose, book and something else from his closet that I can't remember now.  :-)

Evan was Iron Man this year, thanks to his good friend Noah, who got it for him for his birthday.  He was absolutely beside himself (he's quite the super hero lover) with the funniest comments about his "amazing", "awesome", "cool" suit.  Never one to leave a Halloween costume be, Michael added an "arc reactor" to the chest that really lights up.  You know those dot lights that you push on and off?  Yeah, worked great.  Pretty much everyone was in awe of his costume everywhere we went.  Sometimes a bit too much.  Kids would come up and try to push his arc reactor.  They would take his mask from his head and try to put it on his face so they could see him completely decked out.  I literally had to fight one kid off today at the school's fall festival.  He would not leave Evan alone and was completely and entirely invading Evan's personal space trying to get to the arc reactor and the mask.  I was pushing him away, saying, "leave him alone!" and threatening to use my famous karate chop on him (this was after several attempts at keeping my cool and being gentle and kind!).  Ha!  Maren was a ballerina.  Michael said only for one night and that she shouldn't get used to the idea.  Heehee.  She liked to dance around whenever I reminded her that she was a "dancer", though.  What a sweet thing.

Annual Pumpkin Patch Trip

You know, this is one of the traditions that we have that I think is so important to Evan and then when we get there, it's terrible.  The last two years, at least.  He's grumpy.  He doesn't want to stay.  He wants a crazy, rotted out pumpkin.  I don't know what the deal is.  No nap, bad nap or just what...it was a little bit of no fun this year.  However, I do have some semi-cute pictures to share...

Yes, this is the best picture I could get of the kids in the wheelbarrow.  I swear, I can't get a picture of just TWO kids together.  How do people get pictures of four or eight or 18 kids together where everyone is smiling and looking like they like each other?  Good luck with us, Jen!  :-)  Anton tagged along with us.  Seriously, there are people who think he's our child.  He almost could be.  That's the crazy thing.  He's a great friend for the kids to have around.  Oh, funny note...on the way there he asked if we could stop at Walgreen's.  When asked why, he said there is this new kind of candy he just heard about that he wanted to try...Pop Rocks!  Ha!  We got a good laugh about that.  Those three kids had quite the fun time eating Pop Rocks in the back seat on the way out to the pumpkin patch.  Good thing for Anton since there's a space literally about six inches wide between the car seats for him to sit in.

I think this could be the first "family picture" we've had taken since Father's Day 2007.

I thought it would be cute to take a picture of Evan walking through the (disturbingly rotting) pumpkins.  Then he starts scratching his bum.  I just can't win!

But I DO love this picture.  What a cute boy.  I guess he enjoyed this moment.  Until next year, Pumpkin Patch, we'll try to remember the good times!

Seaside Vacation

Towards the beginning of the month we got to go stay at Michael's mom's timeshare in Seaside for two days.  This was, of course, within the week that Michael got let go from his job.  I suppose it we hadn't paid for it months earlier, we wouldn't have gone, for lack of money.  But it was the perfect time to get away.  We enjoyed having time together as a family being away from home.  I had been sick and the first morning I woke up with pink eye.  That was the pits, but otherwise I loved it!  My favorite thing was around 10 p.m. each night.  The kids were asleep.  The dishes were done.  The suite was clean.  I had no work to do.  I didn't know what to do with myself.  So I set the table for breakfast the next morning.  What a great feeling that was to have nothing better to do than that.  And then I did lots of reading.  I must say that I loved not having a job for two days.  :-)  Here's some of our favorite moments...

Evan was so excited to go on the bumper cars.  Michael was paranoid of whiplash (ha!) so I held his head tight to me whenever someone was going to bump us.  Apparently Maren was looking on longingly because you have to be 2 years old to ride.  Poor girl.

It is very, very rare to get a good picture of Maren...especially one where she has a sort-of-smile.  She loved the sand.  And her raisins.  But the two of them didn't mix very well.

I was deemed the doofus mom when everyone realized I had forgotten to pack our kite.  Since we were officially terrified about spending any money, I think we took a whole $20 with us to do everything we wanted to do (no surrey bikes...bummer!).  But Evan really wanted something to fly on the beach so we got him this cheap little thing.  Ha!  The things that will appease kids.  Evan and Michael built a sand castle and it got to fly on top.  Coats on the beach.  Still looks strange to me.  I still feel like I have California blood a lot of the time.

Yes, indeed, that is a kite string you see Evan holding.  That's because next to us on the beach were a couple of moms with their kids.  They had this kite they were trying to fly and it just wasn't working.  Michael stepped in to help since the moms were definitely mechanically challenged.  He spent probably half an hour putting this thing together, helping them get it up and teaching the kids about it.  One of the moms said I should hire him out.  Instead we just asked if Evan could fly the kite for a minute.  And I was forgiven.

Fighting a Losing Battle

This is going to be me soon, me thinks.  I am losing the battle against the gray.  I think mine is all tied into stress.  I didn't have one, single, solitary gray hair until after Evan was born.  And then it was manageable.  A gray here, a gray there.  Pluck, pluck, pluck.  Multiply the kids, multiply the stresses, exponentially multiply the gray.  And if I keep pluck, pluck, plucking, I will be bald on the right side of my head because that's where most of them pop up.  Now, my sister can't wait for gray hair.  She thinks it's distinguished looking and...something else strange that I can't remember.  :-)  I, however, am not okay at all with being 31 and having gray hair!!!  I'm much too young for that...especially since I feel like I'm only about 22 still.  You know the really strange thing?  The other day I pulled out one that I had to take a double-take at.  It was seriously gray at the root, brown in the middle and gray at the end.  I must've had a calm between two storms in my life or something.  I thought it was WAY weird and tried to save it but, of course, it got away from me.  Sad but true story.  I'm too poor to color my hair so when I look like the woman above, just tell me something nice like...I'm a sweet spirit.  Yeah, that's always helped in the past!!  (Ha!)