Quotable quotes

The
best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go
outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens,
nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should
be.

- Anne Frank

Cute Kiara

Cats at a Summer Window (4 of 4)

Ok folks!  I have finished a project instigated more than a year ago.  Here is the finished product:

Listen to new

Paper Plate Skeletons--An oldy but goody!

So, How many of you made one of these as a kid?  Paper plate skeleton tute

How to make a Fall wreath

So I found this fantastic blog to follow.  So creative and I love the feng shui energy lessons too.   Take a look at this tidbit:
muralmaker1.blogspot.com

JBF sale

AHhhhhhh! I finally have my sewing room back to myself! I have been gathering and sorting through our boxes of clothing and reducing our toy boxes recently, but that means it all had to sit somewhere until I could take it away. Well we had our garage sale two weekends ago, and this week I sent 5 boxes/bags of stuff to goodwill, and I also sent 4 totes of stuff and a stroller/carseat combo to the Just between friends sale happening this weekend here in Spokane. And so now I can breathe again.

I can sew again.
I can work on my many projects again.
I can plan again ( ie. start on Christmas stuff...)
I can organize again.
I can look in my Green room without eyeball twitching because of all the piles. =)

My Handsome Men

Oh I am the luckiest woman to have these two guys in my life. What a handsome pair.

Kiara's new look

Here is the new short-do on Kiara. I absolutely love it!



The bowling was Kiara's 3rd B-Day celebration. We had a great time. However, we should have stopped at 1 game. Stomachs were growling and attentions were waning.

End of Summer

So the end of summer is upon us.../sigh. Back to school is in full swing. We are thinking about things like new hair cuts, backpacks, what friends will be in their class this year, and who is the new teacher.

I'm thinking about things like oh my gosh I ordered a ton of fruit this year and I will be canning every night for the next week. lol Fresh peaches and pears and stewed tomatoes here we come!

To view the vacation in chronological order go to the first vacation post and proceed from there. Tons of pictures--can't say they are good, just that there are tons. Enjoy!

Day 6

Day 6 was Sunday and little Colby's blessing in church. It was a beautiful blessing, and a beautiful day, and really enjoyable to be all together with my family. Just a great day and a good way to end the week. The food that Paige put together was fabulous. It looked fabulous and tasted delicious.

Day 5

Day 5 was the BBQ to celebrate Great-grandma Calapps 85th B-Day over in Bothell at the family house. Again it rained all day. We took it easy all morning and the little girls got a good nap in before we went anywhere. Dinner and chatting with family lasted all evening and then we visited over at Joe and Becky's for a relaxing hour or two before heading back to Dave and Paige's for bedtime. My kids were needing baths by this time, but it didn't happen...oh well, there was always tomorrow.

Day 4

Day 4 didn't go as planned because it rained. hrrrumph +(. Grouchy and drizzly and wanted to get out. Should have gone out anyway, but sat inside most of the day. We played a few games, colored, watched Veggie Tales, read a book, slept. We should have gone to the park and done letterboxing. or something....Scott got out and played Vball a little in the street. I had been going for a run each day for something physical to do, but Scott didn't have his usual things like elliptical runs or vball games with the group back home and he was feeling antsy. The food was great this week. Staying with Paige was awesome. She had things so well planned. We helped out some with meals, I hope it was enough. Thanks so much for putting us up for the week. You guys are the best!

Day 3

Day 3 was a day at Greenlake. And boy was it hot! We planted ourselves in the shade of a small tree and ate our lunch. Then our kids plus two cousins played to their hearts content on the swings and up the climbing things and in the giant sand box. Apparently this is a new playground. It was well used! We saw at least 4 daycare or YMCA groups along with the moms groups and numerous other families. After a while the kids wanted to go climb the giant tree in the middle of the grass, so we explored that and Kiara was Queen on her branch. We finished off the day with almost an hour on a paddle boat ride out onto the lake. Fun stuff! By the time we got home that afternoon we had 3 sleeping little girls, and 2 parents that wanted a nap too. The sun and the fun was taking it's toll.

Day 2

So day 2 was a ferry ride over from Mukilteo to Clinton. We wanted to give our kids a taste of Puget Sound beaches. We found an out of the way beach called Possession Beach. They absolutely loved finding clam shells and collecting rocks. We relaxed and watched the water and let the waves lap over our ankles, layed back and just enjoyed the peace and serenity and sounds of nature.

The only kink in the plan was that we missed out on spending the day with cousins. The ferry let us board right away, but too quick for the cousins in the other car to park and walk on. Turns out they had an enjoyable day too, playing in the sun and sand. They caught the next ferry over and played at the tiny park in Clinton, but we had already gone on to find a bigger beach to have our lunch at. So I am sorry we missed them, but the fun part was that after getting enough sun, we all got back home within minutes of each other.

Seattle Vacation 2010

We enjoyed a liesurely lunch from the cafe inside the zoo and then headed down the trail in our rented double stroller. Alexa was such a hoot to watch as she toddled from scene to scene. She was an energizer bunny and didn't quit all day. She wanted to touch everything and see everything, boy, it was tough keeping an eye on all 4 kids as they went different directions.

Ahhh the relaxation of a real vacation. And not just a quick weekend, which is Not the same! We drove over and spent the week. We saw Pt Defiance Zoo and Aquarium--fun place, kids loved the kids area the best--could have spent the whole time there. Loved the goats, the lemurs, the meerkat display was awesome, saw cool green snakes, sharks, huge fish, tiger cubs, sea otters, elephants, a bald eagle, peacock, clouded snow leopard cubs ( super cute ), an elusive tarantula (ewww yuck!),