Stop the madness!!

I know I have dropped the ball with this blog. Let me give you a quick rundown of what we have been up to.....

School started for both Sunshine and Bug. With it I started working for a friend of mine at a daycare doing transportation for her kids to and from school. My work schedule has pockets of spare time, but I have to drop off my own kids in the morning and then go and grab 5 other kids to take to school. Then I have 2 different kindergartners at noon to pick up and drop off. Then I have kids I pick up when normal school time gets out and drop off. It is a relatively easy job, just a lot of time in the car.

Then there is my new business. My friend Erin and I have started a new business. It is cooking and freezing home cooked meals for families that don't have time or know how to cook. You can read all about it (or order) here.

But it doesn't stop there. Oh no.

My mom has been having some trouble with the place she was living and so we decided it would be a good idea for her to move in with us for a while. So we have spent the past week or so moving her stuff over here and also a storage unit. We are all learning to make it work. It is not as bad as it might seem. My mom and I actually have a great relationship and so it is nice having a second mom on site to be the eyes and ears when I can't be everywhere at all times. Right now it is just finding a new normal routine to slip into.

Then last but not least, the kids started up with their extra curricular activities. Bug starts swimming next week (pictures to come) and Sunshine started ballet a couple days ago. She was so excited and so cute with all the other little girls doing their leaps and things. She really loves it. Plus I got a super cute picture I feel I must share with the class.
So in short I haven't had a night to sit and give my blog some love. But tonight is apparently the night that I catch up.

So there you have it.

4th of July weekend

Last weekend was 4th of July and my Mom and I decided to nab Sunshine and have us a girls weekend getaway. We had been reading about some really cool events going on up in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. So we felt we needed to investigate. You see my mom and I are newly obsessed with this magazine called "MaryJanes farm". Check her out here. She is awesome beyond all belief. She teaches us how to make most everything from scratch, grow our own everything and do it all in a nifty apron. She is based out of Moscow, Idaho but was opening her second store in Coeur d"Alene. She was having a big grand opening and would be there to sign copies of her newest book. Naturally like obsessed groupies we had to find a way to get there.

My mom has a cute little travel trailer that we all would fit comfortably in, so we loaded up the cooler with what we had on hand and away we went. We stayed the first night in Umatilla up the Gorge and the other 2 nights we stayed in Spokane, Wa.

We had a great time camping and just goofing around. We got to meet MaryJane and had a wonderful time in Coeur d'Alene. We enjoyed the 4th of July parade and festivities on the lake all day. We swam and played in the park , and the fireworks over the lake were incredible.

It was a lot of fun with my mom and daughter just hanging out being silly girls. Something we don't get to do often enough but I think we need to make this an annual thing for the 4th of July.

camping

This past weekend we went camping at Fort Stevens outside of Astoria on the coast. My mom joined us in her trailer. We were in our 3 room tent. We had a blast. We stayed 2 nights and the campground was really nice. It was loaded with bike trails so we all loaded up , (Nana too) and hit the trails. We went on a 5 mile ride to the beach and a cool shipwreck and then on to the abandoned battery.

The kids had a blast all weekend making friends at the campground and riding their bikes all over the place. They had a great time. We will definitely be visiting again this summer.

Home from the beach

So my Mom has been sent to the Oregon coast for 6 weeks by her job and one of the perks of this is that we get to go and hang out with her and camp out in her living room. Rock star had to work (as most people do with real jobs) But the kids and I went to the beach for 3 days.


We had a lot of fun and got to just kick back and let the kids play. It was nice having another pair of hands to help wrangle them too.

Here are some pictures from us at Nye beach in Newport.

Happy Mother's day!!

I just want to publicly thank all of the Mother's in my life that have taught me how to be a Mother. My own Mom, step mom, Mother in law, Aunts and Grandmothers who paved the way and led by example of how to Mother our kids.

So my words are few, but in my opinion, pictures speak louder than words anyways. So I give you my favorite memories of these great women and a few of my own great moments in mothering.

I love you all.

My mom and I then and now.


My awesome Mother in law

My step mom

Sunshine showing off her Mommy skills


Grandma, Aunt and Mom.




Aunt and Uncle

My mom, Mother in law, Grandma and husband's grandma.


Peanut and I


Grandma dressing up with Bug at Halloween




Grandma and Sunshine



Peanut and Grandma up at the cabin

Happy Mother's day!!

Now go hug your mom won't you?

Annie Oakley

So last night Sunshine had her first big sleep over at Nana's (my mom) house. They seemed to have great fun. They did lots of "Girl things" according to Sunshine. They camped out on the floor in her family room and went shopping today. Sunshine had a blast.

Whats funny is let me just preface this by saying that she's a little bit country to my little bit rock 'n roll. I loath most things country. But my mom seems to love it, so I openly make fun of her and she tells me to stuff it. It's just the little dance we do.Between you and me...I think she may believe that that she's one of the missing Mandrell sisters, but I can't be sure :)

Well for whatever reason....Sunshine is on this MAJOR cowgirl kick. (Much to my Mom's sha-grin) So my Mom introduced Sunshine to her new favorite store......the Tack Mercantile. yeah it is just what it sounds. Here is where you can get all of the Country Western style clothes you could ever want all in one place. She let Sunshine pick herself out her very own "cowgirl hat" and some (really nice...and no I'm not being snarky here...they really are nice) boots. She really let her pick them out herself.

Boy, Sunshine couldn't be more proud of her new treasures either. She got herself all saddled up and hopped on "Trigger" (Yes that's really the horses name) her trusty steed, and away she went. I had to pry her off of it just for dinner.

It's totally not my thing (what with the redneck and the hillbilly and all) but Sunshine and Nana are just two peas in a pod and I think I'm just going to have to learn to except this.


Or go nuts trying to fight it.

Christmas eve Episode 1

So every year we do Christmas eve at our house with my Mom. This year was no real exception. Although we had planned to go to a candlelight service at the church. (which we didn't get the house and food done in time, so my mom took the kids and went and we stayed home and finished up)

It was really nice. We had the five of us, plus my mom and her friend Rod. We had lots of awesome "once a year food" that we will be paying for on the treadmill for months. But it was worth every bite.

We ate (more like grazed) and visited. Then we opened presents.

Then the evenings festivities continue over at my in laws for the main event.

Stay tuned......

If you ever wondered....

If you ever wondered what I would look like in 20 years..... I can only hope :) I know my mom and I look alike, but every now and then we have the same expression at the same time and it's like the universe sort of folds in a little on itself. Sort of like when Marty almost ran into to his future self in Back to the future 2......Well yeah , it's sort of like that.