Right Now: March 3

I always love when Katy posts her "Right Now" posts so I thought I would follow suit and break out of my blogging slump with one of my own.

Listening... to Wicked and Les Miserables on my runs.  I never get tired of Broadway show tunes:-)  Also love Bruno Mars and always look forward to listening to the Wait Wait Don't Tell me podcast that I listen to as I clean the kitchen on Mondays.

Remembering....  the fun little getaway to Great Wolf Lodge.  The girls loved having their friends with them and it sure made it easier on the parents!  Love this photo of Nora photobombing Maddy and her friend underwater:-)

Reading....   My personal read is Sisters of the Sari, it started out promising but is feeling a bit forced to get all the pieces tied up at the end.  And I don't think it will bring me to tears, which is always necessary for a good book in my opinion!  Nora and I are reading Return to the Willows which is reminding me of when I was a girl and read Wind in the Willows.  We are enjoying the read aloud time together, especially when we go out for coffee together to read.  The family read-aloud is currently Scat which we are enjoying but is nothing amazing.  I am looking for a really good one to start after this.  Let me know if you have any recommendations.  I am feeling like we have gone through so many of the classics and with Maddy getting older and having read so much it is getting harder to find new material that will engage all 4 of us.

Eating...   Loving my egg white, spinach, green pepper and onion scrambles topped with pico de gallo and also my daily spinach smoothies.  Healthy can be yummy:-) Maddy made crepes with strawberry sauce all from scratch 100% on her own for dinner tonight.  DELISH!!!

Enjoying.... The glimpses of spring weather we have had.  I have gotten a bit of yard work done and today we enjoyed a full day outside with a family hike (thanks to tohula.com) and then the girls got home and biked in the neighborhood for another hour.  Looking forward to more sun, warmth and outdoor fun.

Playing.... the family has been enjoying Wits and Wagers that Nora received for her birthday (thanks Amy!).  It is a super fun and easy family game for all ages.  It will definitely be going in the camper this summer.

Coveting....  a ceiling without holes in it.  The good news is after years of issues the leak FINALLY seems repaired.  Now to get the drywall work completed and then we will move on to window replacement.  The joys of being a homeowner!!

Watching....  nothing worthy of discussing!!  The girls are excited for The Amazing Race to be back on as that is there one prime time reality show that they get to watch.

Thinking....  alot about having a real job next year.  I am enjoying planning and preparing for the fun but then have moments of wondering why I am doing this.  I am definitely wanting something more in my life to help fulfill me with the girls away all day but then I realize all the freedom I will be giving up and wonder if it will be worth it.

Making...  getting ready to make these clay fish with 25 second graders on Friday.  I have never done a ceramics project with a class, so am feeling a bit nervous about the process.  Wish me luck!!!

So what are you doing RIGHT NOW???  Feel free to play along and share!!

Christmas Wrap-Up

We had a very wonderful Christmas.  We were very fortunate to have both sets of grandparents drive over 12 hours in snowy and wet conditions to spend the holiday with us.  It made for a fun and full house.  We had lots of laughter, games, food and memories that will last the rest of our lives.

 Each night was ended with game time.

 The annual tissue paper snowball fight.

Maddy's Creative Corner #1

Here is a tutorial from Maddy on how to make an American Girl doll lamp that really lights up!

2012 photo highlights

2012 was a wonderful year for our household but somehow blogging on a regular basis took a backseat to everything else.  The amount of times I think about making a blog post vs. the amount of blog posts I make is too large to count.

So instead we decided to catch up on the year by posting this slideshow of some of our favorite photos and events of the year.   Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

Thankful #12

Today I am thankful that Nora finally hit the 48 inch mark and can go on the slide at the Federal Way Community Center pool!  It has gotten harder and harder to go swimming there when she couldn't go on the slide especially when many of her friends have been able to go on it for a long time.  She had a fantastic time today going on the slide over and over and over again.  Maybe it is now time for Disney????

Thankful 5-11

 Thankful for fun preschool projects.  Today we made centerpieces for Thanksgiving.

Thankful for the right to vote.

Thankful for four more years.

Thankful for fun teachers at McDonalds.

Thankful for our veterans and our school that does such a wonderful assembly for Veteran's Day.  The girls were thrilled to contribute some family photos for the slide show.

Thankful for a sunny day for my morning run and 2 girls who kept me company.

Thankful for an enjoyable and relaxing day spent in the kitchen.  I made white chicken chili, mint brownies and 2 batches of pretzel rolls.  

Thankful #3 & 4

Day #3 photo represents many things I was thankful for:

•  Thankful that I survived the season being the "head coach" of Nora's soccer team
•  Extra thankful for all the help Tom gave as "assistant" coach (he really became as much of the head coach as I was)
•   Thankful that my daughter still thinks it is great to have her parents be her coach
•   Thankful for a successful season with a fun team
•   And especially thankful that the season is over so I don't have to wear that hideous orange           t-shirt anymore:-)

Day #4  Seahawk Sunday

Today I am thankful that we were able to enjoy a Seahawk Sunday game day.  The past month we have had many conflicts that have interfered.  But today we were able to enjoy it with every ritual and superstition that we have including:  pizza poppers for lunch, cheetos for second half snack, skittles for Lynch Touchdowns, First Down cheer (pictured above), touchdown celebrations and of course all of us showing our Seahawk Pride with our gameday gear.  I love that our girls enjoy all of this as much as I do and not only do they enjoy all the silly stuff but they fully understand the game of football and can watch it and give good commentary on what is going on.

Halloween at Hogwarts take two

Last year we had Hermoine and Hedwig.  

This year was Dumbledore and Fawkes the Phoenix.

Thankful Post #1

Way back in 2008 I participated in my first photo challenge where I would take a photo each day in November documenting what I was thankful for.  This was before Project 365 or any other photo challenges and it was a great way to focus my photography and get a good glimpse into our daily lives.

Fast forward four years and life is busier than ever, my blogging has become non-existent (sorry mom!) and my photo taking is lagging far behind.  At times I wondered if all that effort was worth it but over the past day I have spent time looking back at my scrapbooks and rereading old blog posts and enjoying it so much.  Being reminded of fun activities, cute things the kids have said, crazy phases they have gone through and so much more.  I think I started to feel that my photos weren't worth posting since they weren't up to par with most bloggers' amazing photo-shopped, high quality photographs.  And my writing was pathetic with no humor, many grammatical errors and way too verbose.  But going back I realize those things shouldn't matter and I am doing this for my own documentation and I do truly enjoy it.    SOOOO with that I start my 2012 Daily Thanks Challenge to help kick-start my blogging, photography and scrapbooking once again.  And what I was thankful for yesterday was all the documenting I have done over the past 10+ years.

Day two and I was thankful for a no-school day.  Life is so crazy with all of us running around to meetings, practices, volunteer activities, school events... and it seems we never get the chance to just slow down.  So I really appreciate the many no-school days we have.  Today we had a Horsopoly marathon, did fun crafting and baking along with trying to catch up on some chores around the house.  These days really help me to recharge my battery and be ready for the next whirlwind of craziness.

The girls are also trying to participate in the the photo challenge by taking their own photos.  I am ashamed to say this was Nora's first photo.

 Yes, she was thankful for her Halloween candy.  Lovely.......   I was thankful that the girls made a large pile of it to donate to the Troop Donation Drive at school.    Luckily, before I had to give the big mommy lecture of what things we really should be thankful for she took this photo for day 2.

She is thankful for her sister!!

I will be trying to post many of my daily thanks on my blog to keep myself accountable.  Anyone else want to participate???

Spring Break - Maui

We have returned from a fabulous spring break trip to Maui.  The motto for this trip was sun, sand and surf and repeat over and over again.  This is obvious going through my hundreds of photos, as they all really look about the same.  I think I must have at least 100 alone of Madison in different phases of boogie boarding, as that was her favorite activity to do.  Nora's favorite activity was snorkeling.  Unfortunately, our waterproof camera decided not to be waterproof:-(  It is so hard to pick and choose what photos to post so I am just going to go for it and share.  I'll do another post or two on some of the activities we did while there.

Room Re-Do Part One

Madison has been talking about a possible room remodel for her birthday in June and I thought it sounded like a good idea.  At our old house we had spent so much time on adding paint, stencils, molding, flooring.... for both girls rooms before they were born.  When we moved into this house we had other things to focus on along with 2 busy little girls and their rooms never felt really done.  Here was the state of her room at the start of the project.

 So Maddy and I have been discussing the remodel and she was drawing up little ideas and plans.  Then I stumbled upon this on Pinterest.  And my goal with Pinterest is not just to pin items but to actually DO them!!

(and if you have no idea what pinterest is, you are missing out and we must have a conversation). 

Madison's had the bed portion of the picture and her room is so small that it is difficult find space for all her goodies while still making it look put together.  I showed the plans to Tom and he was as inspired as I was.  So although her birthday is still 3 months away we decided we should get started while we felt inspired.  Tom and Madison got going on making the plans, which was a great time to use a little math in real world application. 

Then the building started.  Maddy wanted to be a part of the process the whole way through and I think was somewhat helpful.  It was a really fun activity for Dad and Daughter to work on together.  I have no photos of the numerous Home Depot trips we made over the past 3 weeks.  It was a bit ridiculous, they may even know us by name!

After the building came the painting.  I was a bit concerned giving color choice to Maddy but she made some great decisions.  We used a darker teal blue as the accent wall with a lighter blue for the other walls.  I have to say painting the cabinets was a bit of a pain getting into all the little corners and edges.  Painting has never been my strong suit.  And lets not discuss the room painting with cutting in on those edges and moldings..... 

 Then we had the moving in.  Maddy and I worked ALL DAY Sunday on organizing.  I really wanted to take the time and do it right so we went through every piece of paper, book, toy, figurine, stuffed animal that was in her room to decide what was being kept and what needed to leave her room - either garbage, recycling, garage sale pile, find another home.....  We even went through her "memorobilia drawer in her bed.  Both girls use one drawer to put all their special papers, pictures, art projects... in.  You know all those things that sentimental people (like myself and the girls) can't get ride of but have no home for.  I would say Maddy and I cleared out half the drawer which felt good.  Wish I had some photos of how the room looked in the middle of this process.  I was a bit worried that we would never see the carpet again.  But we persevered and got things all put away.  The closet is completely organized even with empty shelves and the new shelving is looking good.  We still have a ways to go on the remodel.  Still debating on bedding, this fleece blanket Maddy made this winter and just happens to match well so we will take our time looking.  I need to make some type of window treatment, find artwork for above the bed, finish painting as I only did the area around the bed, make a reading corner and find an area rug.  But I am so pleased with how the bed area turned out.  We are using the left side as her desk space and Tom is planning to put doors on the lower right cabinets.  The upper cabinets can hold books, trophies, figurines, jewelry boxes and so much more.

Dolly and Me Tea

We have concluded the final piece of birthday celebration with Nora's friend party.  She choose a Tea Party with 7 of her friends and their favorite dolls.  We went all girl and all pink with this one.  I don't think our house has seen this much pink in all 9 years of having girls but it was fun to decorate and be girly for a change. side note: I got some adorable photos of all the girls together with their dolls and their "dance party" but I am not comfortable posting photos online of kids if I don't know their parents are okay with it so I had to select from the other photos instead. 

We hosted the tea party up in the playroom loft.  The big girls had their table and the dolls had their own.  Here is May, Nora's doll, all ready for her friends to arrive.  Each doll had her own place setting complete with cake, pie, napkin and lemonade.

And the big girls' table

The guests of honor!  The girls made jewelry for their dolls.  Maddy helped with a few hair-dos on the dolls along with "hello my name is...." nametags for each doll to wear. 

The cake was not my finest of productions but luckily 7 year old girls are fairly easily impressed!



The dolls enjoyed their teaparty time too

Wii Dance Party was a big hit and could have kept them entertained for hours I think!  Best party activity ever!  None of the girls used controllers we would just put the song on and let them go.

We ended the party with more tea while decorating picture frames with a group photo of the whole gang.  Overall this was a very successful and fairly easy party to manage.  Treat bags consisted of the girls taking home the place setting for the dolls complete with mini-eraser cakes and pies and the lemonade drink along with a mini i-phone eraser for the dolls and then each girl got to choose one of the primrose centerpieces to take home.