Our Week

This will be the kind of post that I don't like to do (lots of words and no pictures) but I thought I'd write a little about what we've been up to.  Our week can be summed up in three words:

1. SICKNESS.  Poor Declan has been hating life since Sunday, when he started getting sick with: 

A. A double ear infection.  The doctor assures me that this is not as painful as when he didn't have tubes, but judging from the amount of yellow gick draining constantly from both ears, I know it can't be pleasant either.  The only good news is that we can put antibiotic drops straight into his ears instead of pumping them through his whole body.

B. A nasty stomach bug which started out as a day of vomiting followed by three days of explosive, change-clothes-six-times-a-day diarrhea.  

C. A bad diaper rash/yeast infection caused by said diarrhea.

Poor Deco!  He is a trooper, as always, and seems to be getting better each day, but it has not been the best week. 

2. YARDWORK.  I finally accepted that we will be in this rental house at least another month and got out to tackle the yard.  (Maybe to escape the constant smell in my house due to above-mentioned diarrhea?)  The old lady that lived here before our landlord bought the house was apparently an absolutely amazing gardener.  I know we will never live in a house with a more beautiful yard than this.  In this wet climate, things grow up here that I've never even seen before, in colors that are so gorgeous.  (If I were a better blogger, I'd go take some pictures to illustrate...)  Every week something new is blooming in our yard.  I don't know how she kept it up.  I can't even stay on top of the weeds, which unfortunately grow just as abundantly.  

3. WAITING.  We still don't know anymore about our house.  The loss mitigator at the seller's bank has been on vacation (of course).  They're telling us that we should know in the next few days, but whatever, they've been telling us that since bleedin' APRIL 4th when we made the offer!  We're also waiting for school to get out.  I can't believe we still have 3 more weeks!  I know I wasn't complaining when we had a huge long Christmas break, a mid-winter break, and a spring break... but June 20?  Come on!  I can't wait to get into our laid-back summer routine! 

Riverwalk

Garreth, Grace, Liam, Sam, and Sam's new red shoes that "are so fast that they are the fastest, Dad!" Everyone knows how fast red shoes are. Well, these are like those, but faster. Seeing Sam run in new red shoes is something you have to experience in real life, seeing the expression on Sam's face because he actually believes that he is moving at the speed of sound and is no longer in control of his body, now that's priceless. 

Liam and Declan at the Nooksack River here in town. Before you start in on the river name jokes or even think them, it's a name of a local Native American tribe...say it ten times fast, Nooksack...

Yatah-hey Tatanka

Grace is a nut. She caught the whole fountain in this shot.

Liam being Liam. Anything to do with your bum is funny and a high pressure fountain jet shooting up your bum is down right comical genius to a 5 year old. 

Sam, and another ingenious crotch shot for Liam 

This is not the trailer for the next Incredible Hulk movie.  It's Grace in manic mode.  

The fountains at the Riverwalk. Oodles of fun.

Carnies

Fun, sun, kids, and temporary carnivals in the mall parking lot. Who could ask for more? The kids loved it and we got to meet some of the interesting folk who take your tickets. (small hands, smell like cabbage)  It was a great day for hand sanitizer.  

Grace and Liam on one of those rides that we just can't go on anymore. Too much spinning.

Sam loves Merry-Go-Rounds, always has. This is a pretty good picture of him with his hat on sideways. I think I'm in there too somewhere.

The Carnies missed Grace on one of the offloading rotations and she got stuck on the thing for like 20 minutes. Never speak to a Carnie while it's counting....or eating.

Daddy Daughter Date

The Daddy Daughter Date. We had a blast. We went to a Dutch restaurant and had schnitzel and then cruised on down to the local roller rink for some boogie bounce funk groovin. Grace is a really good skater, but dad is....well......really crap at skating. After that, we went to Grace's favorite, Cold Stone Creamery to throw back a few cold ones (cones that is). Grace is the coolest kid in the universe and just spending some one on one time was brilliant. She is growing up so fast, and I am always so busy,  and we really just needed to go hang out and talk and laugh. Just talking to her all night was so great. That is one impressive 8 year old.     

Posing with skates on. Nancy Kerrigan like. 

Sam's Birthday Party

Yesterday we had Sam's friend birthday.  We invited some friends from church and we had a lot of fun.  Sam's current obsession is bugs, so we had a bug party!

Since we had a cake at his party on Sunday, we made dirt pudding cups with gummy worms.  

He was so cute opening his presents and even remembered to say "thank you" after each one!

They loved hitting the pinata.  (Spongebob, since we couldn't find a bug one!)

We set up a bug hunt in the kiddie pool and they had fun digging for plastic bugs and playing with them.  (No that's not sand, it's wheat from our food storage!)

Two little bugs.

Happy birthday, Sam!!  

Metal Mouth

Today was a big day for Grace, as she finally got her retainer.  Yes, she has been excited for it since she found out she had to get one.  (Which I thought was strange until I remembered how bummed out I was as a kid when I never needed braces!)  One of her top teeth sits far behind the others and it is rubbing against the bottom one, which is called a cross-bite and is apparently bad news.  So she gets the retainer for now, with a promise from the orthodontist that this will not be the last of dental corrections for her, since she has some overcrowding as well.  I guess we'll start saving up.  

But for now, she is really cute about it.  She got to pick the color (glow-in-the-dark hot pink with turquoise sparkles) and if anybody is responsible enough to take care of it and wear it 24 hours a day, it's our Grace.  In her bedtime prayer tonight, she said, "Please help me to not lose my retainer until I've worn it for the whole time I'm supposed to."  Then she went to sleep, very excited to show all her friends at school tomorrow! 

Happy Birthday, Sam!

I can't believe that this little guy turned three today!  Sam is such a great kid and we absolutely adore him!  

For his birthday dinner last night, he chose one of our family's favorite restaurants, Billy McHale's.  It's great food, but I think his choice had more to do with this...

...the train that runs throughout the whole restaurant!  When it's your birthday, they put a sign with your name on it and Sam was pretty excited to see his name up there and to get sung to with a huge birthday sundae! 

Today we had a family party at home and the Muffolettos came up to celebrate with us.  We had a big dinner and lots of fun!

A few weeks ago, I pulled out some pictures of fun cakes for Sam to choose from - a panda bear, a really cool alligator, and some others.  He didn't like any of them and said he only wanted a pink cake with pink frosting.  I asked every day for a week to see if he'd change his mind, but he held firm.  So here is his birthday wish fulfilled.  I added the bugs and blue icing to make it just a little more masculine.

Sam loved opening his presents.  He got some great stuff, including...

...his very own sleeping bag...

...a big Diego coloring book from the Muffolettos....

...a great book, hat, and tractor/book from Nana and Papa...

...and his very own umbrella, which will get plenty of use here!  He also got some money and cards from lots of far away family members.  It was a great day!  The fun will continue this week when he has his friend party, so stay tuned!

Sweetness

Yesterday Declan was ready for a nap and I remembered that I had taken his sheets and blankets off to wash.  So I plopped him down to watch "Max and Ruby" with Sam so I could run back and put his clean sheets on and get his crib ready.  When I came back out about five minutes later, this is the sweetness that I found:

Sam told me:  "Deeky (his cute nickname for Declan) was just laying on me and laying on me and laying on me and then him just falled ASLEEP!  It was so CRAZY!"

We are having a great weekend so far.  Garreth took Sam and Liam to the father/son campout with the church so Grace and I had a girl/baby night.  We went out to dinner then came home and put Declan to bed and watched "Ella Enchanted."  This morning they were both up early and Grace told me to stay in bed and she'd take care of Deco.  So I got to sleep until 8:00 while she played with him and even fed him breakfast!!  What a great kid!  

Spikes

The boys love it when Garreth does their hair!  

Mothers Day Fun

We had a really nice Mothers Day yesterday.  

The kids were so excited to give me the presents they had been working on at school, and Grace even secretly helped Sam and Declan color pictures for me so they'd have something to give me, too.  I feel so blessed to have the beautiful family I have, including a sweet husband who spoils me and makes me laugh every day.  I am one lucky girl!

After church and naps, we went down to Lake Padden for a nice walk around the lake.

We saw lots of baby ducklings, including these ones, out for a Mothers Day swim with their mom. 

Liam got a new football, so we brought it to toss around a bit at the park by the lake.  The boys are really into football right now and are pretty good little players.  Even though this picture of Liam is a bit fuzzy, I just love the stance and the look on his face.  Such concentration!

Quarterback Sam.

Contemplative Sam.

And here she is......., Super Mother

Happy Mothers Day all. In a tribute to the most important people in the universe, let me start of by telling you how lucky I am. I married a looker with a dominant gene. That gene is natural mothering. I even met her for the first time while she was volunteering with a load of kids that needed some lovin that they weren't getting. So right from the start I knew this girl was going to be a great mother for my kids, I just didn't ever expect things to be this good. She is unbelievable. Our kids are no angels, and our home can be found in post nuclear-war state several times a day, but I can promise you one thing, my kids know how much their mom loves them.  She reads to each one every day without exception, celebrates their achievements, hugs away their sorrows, changes their bums, washes their clothes, cooks, cleans, knows exactly what each of them is working on in school and focuses on that at home, wrestles with them, disciplines them when they need it, knows when to say to No when all she wants is say Yes, laughs with them and and cries with them, and most of all, is there for them and WITH them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Her life is not her own, it is her kids and somewhere in that sacrifice, she has found the meaning of her life. The greatest challenges and the greatest rewards.  I am in awe of her dedication and her attention to the details I seem to miss. She has a passion and a calling for the children of this world and we both know that our family will continue to grow. There are no limits to the love in our home when Erin is around. She's incredible. I love her more than I have words and consider myself one lucky man. 

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY ERIN

Love Garreth    

NANA

Happy Mothers Day, Nana!

 A Tribute to the 1969 Preston Night Rodeo Queen.

This is one grandkid spoiling woman. They love seeing her and have so much fun with her. 

Her generosity knows no bounds when it comes to her kids and grandkids. She is so active with us all and gets so excited when we come to visit.  

When it comes to cowgals, this one rides where the grass is stirrup high, where she doesn't draw a steer that won't lay, and barriers are never broken, where the streams run cool and deep and let me tell you,  her entry fees have been paid.

Things we love about Nana:

1.  She makes the best pancakes.  (Grace)

2.  She can ride a horse like nobody's business.  (Erin)

3.  She always has fun activities for us to do.  (Grace)

4.  She's young and gorgeous and has always looked like one of my sisters instead of my mom.  (Erin) 

5.  She always agrees with the things I want to do.  (Grace)

6.  She is a great host and always wants to make sure everyone is happy and having fun.  (Erin)

7.  She is the best multi-tasker in the world.  I have never seen anyone get as much done as she does!  (Erin)

8.  She sends fun packages for the kids for every holiday and birthday.  (Erin)

9.  She gives us good pancakes. (Liam)

10. She takes us to Pizza YaYa. I love that place.(Liam)

11. I love her.  (Sam)

12. She has pretty long hair.  (Liam)

13. Nana plays with me.  (Sam)

14. Sometimes her gets me big ice cream.  (Sam)

15. Her has horses and dogs.  (Sam)

16. She is a really, really cool mother-in-law and easy to talk to. (Garreth)

17. She loves her kids unconditionally. (Garreth)

18. She is extremely generous, very considerate, and thoughtful and has been so good to me. (Garreth)

19. She is a great listener and always looks on the bright side. (Garreth)

20. She's seriously just a very cool person to hang out with. (Garreth)

21. She gets very involved in church and the community and things that are very important to her.  But even as busy as she is, she always has time to talk to me whenever I need to talk.  (Erin)

22. My mom is the best mom ever and the older and wiser (and more kids) I get, the more I realize how great she really is!  She would do anything for her kids and grandkids.  She is so giving and unselfish.  She created such a loving, fun home and gave me the happiest childhood ever, and the best example of a good mom I could ever imagine.  She is everything I hope I can be to my kids and I love her so much.  I miss you, Mom!  Thanks for everything you do for me!

WE LOVE YOU, NANA!!