Sports Physicals

The boys' physicals needed to be updated in the middle of the season, so Saturday morning they had to hurry and get one done at Urgent Care because that's all that's open on Saturdays.  Probably best to do it at a regular physician because 1) if the same doctor is not at the facility you took them to in the first place, they can't just sign off for the 2nd year, they actually have to have another physical. 2) the office would probably be educated enough to know that when you write 5' 12'' for how tall they are, it can then be converted to 6' ;)  Now, if the coach's would have given us a head's up for this sort of thing before last minute - that would have been awesome!

Brady & Keaton usually sub out for each other, but this game they sat out together and played together - aaawwwww, how tender ;)

Their team has been playing awesome!

Goofiness

When school is released early, most of time there is too much energy:

Lip syncing to Bruises by Chairlift - Nick G. on the left, Keaton next to him and Brady in front.  Just think if they would have rehearsed, it might have looked better choreographed!  And we couldn't find a pair of sunglasses - who knew that 3-D glasses would come in handy for other things besides movies ;)

Bellevue Home Show

Jonathan and I went to the Bellevue Home Show - I had a coupon, buy one get one free - saved $8, but parking was $9.  There were all kinds of (desperate) vendors there.  We did sign up for all kinds of entries to WIN $10,000 - but they were just the typical ploy to get your contact information ;)  We got 2 free pairs of garden gloves, letter opener, baby carrabeaners, tully's gift certificates - but honestly the best FREE thing was a package of Famous Amos Chocolate Chip cookies - LoL  

The tackiest thing was RSVP Publications gave out about 30 coupons.  I opened the stack of them and most had expired in Nov & Dec of 2008 and then half of what was left expired at the end of January - who gives someone a coupon that is no good or only 1 week to use?  I hate cheap and this show was definitely full of sales and gimmicks!

I don't recommend it.  I know the economy is bad . . . we're in a recession - but there were no crowds at this show and these vendors probably spent a lot of money paying for their booth and freebies and then paid their employees to be there.  Wasteful.

The funniest thing was this guy got Jonathan to spin this wheel and you could 'win' all kinds of things, gift cards and such - Jonathan spun the wheel and it actually landed on the one CASH slot.  Of course we didn't really walk away with any money =(  The guy tried to sell us a time share or something - we just laughed and walked away.  I can't believe what's still legal in this day & age!

Andrew's New Toothbrush

What a simple thrill and for $4.50 at Target =)

The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden

I taught Andrew this song and he sang it before he left for home:

He also sang it on the way home from Costco. We talked about how Prophets help us to make good decisions and how the Holy Ghost does as well. He inquisitively asked, "Who helps us make BAD decisions?" After looking at each other we responded "Satan." "Who is Satan?" he quickly replied. "You know the Devil." was our answer. With all the innocence and cuteness of a 4-year old he asked, "Will you sing a song about Satan?" LOL. What a funny boy!

Children's Museum

We went to the Everett's Children Museum with my friend Ann Marie and her son Dylan.

Milking the cow was pretty fun . . . .

Especially compared with the horse that was 'just for sitting on Aunt Cheri?'  His lips which are hard to see say it all - disappointment!

Andrew climbing the Rock Wall (the sign said to keep your feet below the white line):

But, what if the kid is short - there were plenty of climbing holds way above that white line . . . 

Andrew loved the fire truck station - don't be fooled with the dazed look here:

or here:

Andrew barely wanted his picture taken the entire time we visited the musuem, but for sure insisted on looking and laughing over the photos OVER & OVER once we got home!

The above photo was in the back of an airplane.  He really enjoyed 'driving' it, which is probably safer than flying it at his age ;)

Again, super excited to have his picture taken:

On the bus, loving the microphone and to be in the driver's seat:

Ann Marie left the water station for last - smart girl!

Those tubes above come apart, but water keeps running through them, so while one changes the direction the water can go by pulling the tubes apart - uhhhh, water goes everywhere!  So, yup, Andrew and Dylan were soaked when we left!

Nap time was on the way home and Ann Marie and I got to visit =)

Toothbrush vs a Toy

We watched Alvin and the Chipmunks - but it took us 2 days to watch the whole thing.  I learned that Andrew's favorite line is 'you owe me big time' from that movie because after they said that line, he was pretty much done watching the movie!  

Andrew loves the hot tub:

When Brady was 2 he experienced his first hot tub dip at Grandma's.  He was excited until the jets were turned on and he refused to go in it and was freaking out a bit.  Finally, we understood that he thought if the jets were on that it was 'boiling water'.  Poor kid - he was scared to death . . . so of course we kept the bubbles off!

My friend Stephanie has a system of allowing her kids 3 smileys and if they keep them throughout the day they earn privileges.  If they get taken away, then they have to do 4 chores to earn a smiley back.  If they keep all 3 smileys at the end of the day, they get a rainbow smiley and it's worth $2.  So, I made some for Andrew - he loves Dune Buggies - so I let Andrew choose a few images off the web.  He got a smiley taken away after I asked him to eat his popsicle at the table and then found him on my couch with it!  So he earned it back tonight by emptying the dishwasher - each rack worth 1 chore (of course I think Uncle Jonathan did most of it), swept the kitchen floor and then mopped it.

Andrew is saving up 'smileys' earned at Aunt Cheri's house for a spinning toothbrush instead of a toy.  He really wants to be like the adults and informed me he wants a toothbrush with a charger.  LoL  I was just thinking a crest toothbrush for little kids like $8 - so I'm hoping he'll go for the character kind once we go get it!

Andrew is staying over

Andrew came for a visit for a week, we've been having fun because it's sunny - yea!  We played at the park, with friends & visited the pet store (hey, it's like a free zoo - I did it with my kids when they were little too). 

My friend Christina has a fun blue wig - so I snapped a photo of Andrew wearing it =)

And Andrew says 'Hi Mom - I love you'! 

4 Extra Kids

I watched Stephanie's kids for a few days while she and her hubby were in NY.  

I had fun doing Zoe's hair:

I did Sam's hair too - she has really long beautiful hair, but couldn't see the updo from the photo:

Kudos to all you mothers out there - it's a HUGE job!

Tissue Paper Art

My friend Carolyn has some tissue paper art in her windows and they look super cool!  So she and I made one for my window and I'm working on another Valentine's Day one:

Looks neat on the table, but even better in the window with the light showing through the tissue paper:

She free handed this and I cut it out and taped tissue paper behind them, felt a little like elementary school working with tape and tissue paper - but it was time consuming cutting it out and matching the tissue paper to the image.  I do not draw, but I did sketch out my Valentine Day image which I'll post later!  Carolyn made the coolest Easter Egg one - very detailed.

Soft Pretzels

We made Pretzels at my last AD, a little funny shaped, but still tasty!

Soft Pretzels

2 tablespoons warm water, plus 1  1/3 cups warm water
1 package dry yeast
1/3 cup brown sugar
5 cups flour
1/2 cup baking soda
Kosher salt

In a large mixing bowl, mix 2 tablespoons warm water with the yeast to dissolve it. Then stir in the remaining warm water and brown sugar. Place bowl on a mixer and using a dough hook, gradually add the flour and continue mixing until it forms a ball. Turn it out onto a work surface and knead the dough to make it smooth.  Use enough flour on your work surface so the dough is not sticky.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.

Grease a sheet pan. Bring 2 quarts of water and the baking soda to boil in a large saucepan. Cut dough up into golf ball size pieces. Then roll them into 1/2-inch thick worms. Form a U then cross the ends, twisting at the middle. Fold the ends back down to meet the U (which is now an O) and press to secure the dough. Let them rise for 15 minutes.  Drop it into the boiling water for 30 seconds then fish it out and place it on the greased sheet pan. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Bake for 5-8 minutes or until golden brown.  

Pedicure

I gave myself a pedicure today with purple french tip, glitter stripe and hand painted pink flowers:

Nothing like being pampered while you have one done at a salon though . . . as long as you have a magazine and are comfortable with just agreeing and laughing with whatever the technician is saying to you ;)  Seems like they are all Asian and I have a tough time understanding what they are saying with their accents.  I can understand 'pick colah' and other than that, I'd prefer not to have a conversation with them - LoL  Thank goodness they have their prices posted!  

Wild Swans

I don't know if these wild Swans were visiting because of the floods (Monroe farmlands pictured) or what - there were hundreds of them in different flocks:

They were really far away and we don't have that good of a camera =(  But they were beautiful.

Here are 2 Swans that were not far from the road:

They were very nervous that we got close and flew away after 2 photos:

I noticed that Swans typically flew together in pairs - it was super cute!

Zoo Lights

Three of my Valiants read the entire Book of Mormon during the year 2008!  They got to choose the reward, so we went to dinner at the Olive Garden last week and then to Zoo Lights:

Hwy 203 opened around 1:30 pm or so, so we were able to keep our date and get out of town  =)

Most of the animal exhibits were closed, but we did hear the penguins . . . in the dark ;)  The flash helped us see them:

Maggie & Livi posing in the kiddie land log:

Some of the aquarium part was open.  We saw a Dogfish Shark that kept putting its snout up out of the water:

Chameleon lights - the fly and the chameleon's tongue would flash around to look like it was in motion to catch and eat the fly:  

A wide view of the Zoo:

Bry came with us too, but she refused to be in any photos =(  We brought hot cocoa and then on our way home we got ice cream!

Brady & Keaton at Point Defiance Zoo in 2000 posing in the shark jaw!  Time flies - enjoy your kids when they're little =)

Damaged Road

This picture was circulating on a yahoo group I belong too, so I don't know who took it - if I find out I'll credit it to them - I can't believe the water can damage a road/bridge like this:

Estimating 4 days to repair it!  This is craziness and a good example of why we're told over and over to be prepared and get our 3 month to 1 year food storage ready.

Little Birdie

This guy must have been so hungry after the continuous rain storm because he let me walk up to it to photograph him - he was SO cute and stayed put for longer than 15 minutes (and visited a few times yesterday too):

I have a thing for birds, I really adore them.  My friend Stephanie says I probably was right there when the animals were being created for the earth....hehe

I didn't touch it - just put my fingers by it so you could see how close it let me get.  My boys wanted me to try and hold it, probably not a good idea for disease reasons!

Flooded

click here flood photos and view in a bigger slide show than the one below shows (or to read our comments).
 

All roads leading into and out of Duvall are closed - we are a temporary island.  No one can come in and no one gets out!  Unless you have a boat or a helicopter?  Looks like maybe someone tried to float in?

http://www.king5.com/video/index.html?nvid=319825 - first 2 minutes of this video is Duvall!

3 year olds

On Sunday, I subbed for the Sunbeams who are 3 years old (I was released from being a Valiant teacher and Activity Day leader . . . with no new calling yet - who does that?). It is a lot to expect a young child to sit for 3 hours at church - that's a long time! I had the Sunbeams for 2 of those hours and afterwards I was . . . ummmmm, exhausted ;) I needed AND took a nap after church! And the kids didn't stay sitting so well that second hour, although I brought a blanket to sit on for the third hour which worked well. I brought pictures of laminated ladybugs for the kids to actually sit on so they'd stay sitting - telling them the ladybugs would fly away if they got up. It worked for 4 of the kids =) But I now have one crumpled lady bug that must be thrown away ;)

I only had five kids in my class - but they just fed off one another and had lots of energy! At least none of my 3 year olds were telling me they didn't want to be there, or I don't want to sit with you really loud like in another Sunbeam class. Although I did manage to lose 1 child walking down the stairs and to the classroom - yikes ;) The mother found him and brought him back to class. She's probably relieved I am not the permanent teacher ;) All together there are 4 Sunbeam classes - that's a lot of 3 year olds for one ward =) They LOVED oranges (cuties) and were very good if I was handing out slices! They also LOVED stickers. The bathroom experience was insane - one I don't recall ever doing before. I was in the bathroom for 10 minutes and only 2 of the kids used the toilet. It was like a playground to them - they wanted to crawl on the floor, look under the stalls, race back and forth from the counter to the mirror, scream to hear their echos, use soap . . . and more soap - which is good I suppose considering they touched everything in the bathroom and I really was wishing germs were visible at this point, used lots of paper towels, locked themselves in the stall - yeah . . . someone could have gave me a head's up . . . or perhaps just some assistance!

When Brady was 3 (photo above) - his Sunbeam teacher took me aside and said something to the effect of Brady being a little mischievous because he asked to use the bathroom twice during class. I asked the teacher 'did he pee both times?' The response was yes - so I didn't really know what to say - like a 3 year old knows how to get out of class by using a diversion of just saying he had to pee when he didn't? Okay, maybe believable if he didn't actually pee - but I was sort of laughing and thinking this was going to be a long year if the teacher reacted this way for everything. I guess if that's the worst thing Brady did as a 3 year old, I was okay with that ;)

When Keaton was a Sunbeam, I remember during the Primary Program he was dancing to the songs - I was laughing so hard! I can't even remember if he sang or not =) And I can't recall seeing another 3 year old dancing in the Primary Program since. This photo is my favorite picture of Keaton when he was 3 - I walked by the bedroom and found him quite enjoying himself with a pound of M&M's all to himself - too funny!

Jonathan's Mom

Jonathan took a last-minute trip to Utah Thursday through Sunday to visit his mom who is ailing with cancer.

Picture taken exactly one year ago.

Engagement Photos

I bought a new frame and decorated up the mat with paper and ribbon for our engagement photos taken 4 years ago:

Looks a bit Valentiney - but it's really just lovey =)

Happy New Year Peeps

Brady & Keaton went to the New Year's Eve Dance - this is a photo a friend sent - maybe the camera was a Christmas gift and they didn't know how to use it quite yet?  ;)

Jonathan & I saw Yes Man.  We loved it - didn't get that great of reviews - but we thought it was funny and original comedy.