Egg Hunt 2013

 Typically I am watching the weather like a hawk as Easter comes closer.  I am looking every day at the forecast hoping that there might be even a slight chance of sunshine for our egg hunt.  Usually it is wet, cold and yucky.  And we have even had to resort to an indoor hunt.  But this year we had absolutely gorgeous "we must be in another state" Easter weather.  The Easter bunny was very tricky this year and color matched the eggs with their hiding spaces.  The kids were still finding eggs a whole keep later.  It was lots of fun.

 Kate finding a egg hidden in one of my very favorite trees.  

 Chase and Kate have found baggies full of letters which the assume are clues to the location of the golden egg.  They tried forming a pact to combine their clues.  Silly kids.  Dave and I had a special Easter surprise for the kids this year.  I wrote it out and then cut out each letter and put them in little bags that we hid out in the yard.  

Chase found the golden egg this year, putting Kate's reign for the last three years to an end.  It was hidden taped to the underside of this table.  It wasn't even a hard spot this year but it took the kids forever.  We had to give the kids hot and cold clues.  Chase finally clued into the clue that every time he walked by the table I raised my camera and found the egg.  With all the eggs he found with dollars in them combined with the $10 he found in the golden egg he collected $22.  Pretty good Easter haul.  He hasn't decided what to save for.  He says for now he is just :hoarding it".

Once the kids had found most of the eggs they came inside to try to decipher the clues for their big Easter surprise.  They came up with several interesting arrangements.  

Some of their combinations:

dark great elf door

great dog elf door

wolf dog tearing leg

I had to give them a hint that I had color coded individual words.  This was there reaction to figuring out that we were taking them to Great Wolf Lodge!

Sara-ism

We just had a tree delivered to the house and planted yesterday.  I was telling Dave that they did a great job and even fertilized it.  Sara then says, "Are we going to have baby trees now?"

(that is what happens when you have chickens)

Paintball

 Eric - Chase - Spencer

 

     

This weekend my friends and I went out paint balling with a groupon my Grandma sent me for Christmas.  We had no idea what we were doing when we got there, but we eventually figured it out and had a good time. The first game we did was everyone lined up on the wall and 4 guys took off their shirts and ran across the field and we shot them. The guys that ran were in a sorry state, but we had lots of fun shooting them. After we learned how to use the guns we did a team vs. team match where we won. Eric was wearing 5 layers so we used him as our tank and ran up to the other side behind him. We won both of our first games and I only got hit 2 times ( both were right in my butt). The third game we played was reincarnation so we couldn't get shot out. Halfway through the game we ran out of air pressure so our paint balls did not splat when they hit. Unfortunately we chose a team that mainly consisted of newbies to the sport so we got our butts kicked. We had a couple of red spots at the end of the day but overall we had a great time. 

Volley-Ball-A-Thon

My team and I had a great time. The volleyball-a-thon started at 6:30.

Then we had to go into the locker rooms and establish our

land by putting all of our stuff down there. As you can imagine that

was a little chaotic because there were 38 teams of 8 or 9 people there

and the locker rooms are pretty small.  Once we claimed our land 

(which was definitely not big enough for the 8 of us) we started to play volleyball

in 20 minute games and 20 minute breaks every once in a while everyone 

would get together and the teachers would hand out prizes for ridiculous 

things like "best team outfits" which we won by the way. We won cheap bunny ears

that fell off every 2 seconds.  That went on for awhile and then we did the Harlem shake

for forever and then played more volleyball.The rest is a blur of volleyball 

and tiredness.

 the team huddle

 the team victory dance

 the team picture

 sitting around doing nothing

 me serving

 the Harlem shake

 miserably tired

sleeping peacefully with music on in the movie room at around 5:30

A note from Mom:  Chaperoning a through the night activity so that your daughter can attend is most definitely TRUE love.  

My Commercial Artist and Tender Hearted Daughter

I love that my children have talents that they can share with others.  It makes me happy that they are learning that their talents and skills can bless the lives of others.  A few months ago a couple in out neighborhood lost their husky.  They had never had children and so their dog was a joy to them.  Misha, the husky, had been suffering from cancer.  All of my girls were always excited to see Misha on walks and have developed a close relationship with our neighbors.  When Misha passed away all of the girls were very sad.  We made them zucchini bread, cards and Kate drew a beautiful picture of her.  I think that Mary and Tom were very touched.  That was probably the first time that Kate realized that her art could bring others real happiness and joy.

About a month ago our friend Chris Pierce commissioned Kate to create an art piece to memorialize his family dog Stone.  Stone is the oldest golden retriever I have ever met.  Chris new that Stone's time left with their family was short.  He hired Kate, telling her he would buy any picture she created of Stone for $15.  Kate was excited but a little nervous about the responsibility.  She hadn't even started on her project yet when the Pierce family, our good friends lost Stone to old age and cancer.  Again the kids were very sad.  They all have such good hearts and are willing to mourn with others.  We spent a Family Home Evening all trying to draw pictures of Stone or write them cards.  Kate created a pencil sketch and this acrylic.

Last week we visited the Pierce family and Kate present her work to them.  She makes me so proud.  I think she has a wonderful gift not only as an artist but to love others.

Multnomah Falls

Super Heroes At The OMSI

One of the places we wanted to visit in Portland was the OMSI.  We have heard many good things about the Portland science museum.  We happen to be there during the Myth Buster exhibit.  It was lots of fun.  I got to try pulling a table cloth out from under a bunch of dishes.  I have always wanted to do that;-)

Kate got to try out a career of being a super hero.  She had to change into all of her "Superhero" gear in less than 60 seconds.  She did it in about 45.

Kate's Super Hero Resume:

- I would expert drawing skills and could make things she draws come to life
- I would be able to fly
- All animals will like me and understand me
-I would be Emily's bodyguard

Just call her LADY AWESOME!

Portland - At Last

We have lived in Washington for 8 years.  And driven through Portland who knows how many times.  But in all that time never visited.  It is embarrassing   We have avoided a large city only a short 2 hours away from us.  That just isn't in our exploratory nature!

Dave had a long weekend and the kids were off school so we decided it was time.  Every time we go on vacation though I am always reminded that all my kids need is a short stay in a hotel, so they can jump on bed, swim and have a great big yummy breakfast.  It's that simple.

Sleepover Parties

One of the things that the girls do that makes me love them, and makes me so happy I have daughters that love each other, is that they have little "sleepovers" on most weekends.  Emily invites her two little sisters into her tiny room (wish I could get better pictures, but her little closet room is hard to photograph).  Kate and Sara haul in most of their bedding and make little pads for themselves on her floor.  Emily usually reads to her sisters.  They stay up late into the night talking to each other about "everything in life", as Kate puts it.  They discuss their dreams and just spend the evening enjoying each other's company.  One time they even wrote poems.  I love that they do this.

Usually the way it goes, we tuck them in and then in the evening when Dave and I are preparing for bed we go to make sure everything is well and re-tuck everybody in, and we find the girls all piled in together.  It is something that is all their own.  They started it, they make the plans and they make it perfect.  When I go up stairs late in the evening and find them all peacefully sleeping together it just makes my heart swell;-)

They are so wonderful to each other (most of the time).  I hope that Kate and Sara realize someday how super lucky they are to have such a wonderful big sister.  Emily is just the best.  She takes good care of her sisters and makes me very proud.  She has such a really big heart.  I think that her capacity to care and love others is most definitely a gift she received from her Heavenly Father before coming to join our family.  She is an example to me.  And like I said, most of the time, her tenderness is a blessing that brings a lot of happiness to our home.

I LOVE that my girls are so close to each other!!!

Trouble

This is Sara and Nathan, a boy from last year's preschool class.  She hasn't seen him since June of last year.  But she is in love.  If ever one needed proof that distance makes the heart grow fonder, she is proof enough! Sara cracks me up.  She lives in a world of boyfriends, kisses, wedding dresses and wedding cake.  In the first picture she is pictured in a Hello Kitty wedding dress.  In the second she is wearing a rainbow dress.  Apparently she hasn't locked in her style;-)  To the right is a table and the first picture you can see her wedding cake.  About you see fireworks, even heart shaped ones;-)  Sara loves Nathan because he has nice hair, hmmm.

I have no idea where she is picking all of this up from.  It must be Barbie movies.  She doesn't get to watch anything teenagerish on TV.

What I do know is that I am in heaps of trouble!  She is 5 going on 15!

Daddy Daughter Dance 2013 - Disco Divas

It is that time of the year again when the girls have been eagerly counting down the days until the can attend the Daddy Daughter Dance.  It is one of the things they look forward to the most all year long, ranking right up there with all the rest of the holidays and holding its own.  I love dressing them up.  They love getting their hair and make-up done and we all love that they get pampered by Dad for a night.  He is their hero.  They come home every year on cloud nine.  The stories from the night come flying at me 90 mph.  And all of the things they are super excited to share with me have everything to do with how awesome their Dad is.  And mostly about how much fun he is to dance with.  

Sara:
Well, hmmmm...there as a lot of candy there.  There was heart candies and cupcakes, I was so excited.  It was my other Daddy daughter dance, I've only gone two!  There was a guy there dressed up with rainbow hair!  Dad and Emily both had poofy hair.  I got to have a humongous strawberry.  We had dinner together.  It was so, so , so cool.  Everybody was dancing.  Not even eating there food, just dancing! It was awesome.    Dad danced with me so that I went up on his shoulder  held his hair and then he flipped me back.  Dad looked so silly.  He was my prince because we did hold hands when we went in there and I was wearing a pretty dress.  My favorite part was when we danced!

Kate:
So we got into our costumes.  I got to be first to put on my make up.  Mom said that I looked perfect for 70's disco! Then Mom took pictures of us until Dad got home.  We got to take pictures of Dad and us.  After that we went to Dupont to pick up Kaitlin.  When we walked in everyone wanted to take our pictures.  It felt kind of weird.  We got some food and ate.  Then we heard the chicken dance come on.  We got up and started to dance.  Me and Kaitlin danced together, we had fun twirling until it was my turn to dance with Dad.  Dad made up this cool dance move where he would fling us up on his shoulder and then flip us back onto the floor.  I think my Dad is a good dancer and really, really fun to dance with. My favorite part of the night was when my favorite song came on and Dad and I did some twirling dance moves.  I think that my Dad is the best Dad ever!

Emily:
I really like this year's theme because it was fun.  We got to dress up in sparkly clothes and we got to use fun crazy colors of makeup.  My outfit made me feel excited it was perfect for dancing and I love the lose sleeves.  I wanted to wear a wig.  It was fun to have an Afro for a day!  Dancing with Dad is so fun.  He tried some new move this year.  He tried to do some of the moves that he does with Katie and Sara on me which didn't turn out so well.  We looked up some disco dance moves on the Internet.  I still remember some of them like the lawnmower and exits and mouse holes.  The Disco theme was pretty cool.  Every one's outfits were so crazy.  I think my Dad is so much fun to dance with.  It is really awesome that he sets aside a day just for us girls!

Disco All Night Long

Tender Mercies From The Lord - Near Death Experience

Today I could have lost my life on a way to a session.  It has been a long evening.  I am a ball of nerves still, I’m hoping that as I write I will be able to let go of some of the pent up tension.  I left my house this afternoon at 2:45 with my car loaded up with goodies to head to the snow for a special maternity session.

Tender mercy number one, I thought better of taking Sara (with me and waited until Emily got home from school to care for her).  I am so glad I didn't have her with me.  I had planned for a 45 minute trip.  It wasn't until using my navigation system that I realized the trip would be more like 1 1/2 hours.  So I was making up for lost time trying to get to my appointment on time by speeding a little.  At Eatonville the snow started coming down.  I slowed to about 30 mph as it had become difficult to see.

Tender mercy number two, David had just a month before replaced my headlights with brighter bulbs, polished the plastic on the headlights so that they shown brighter and applied a rain ex coating to my windshield.  Without those two things I don’t know that I would have been able to see.  Right at Alder Lake I lost control of my car and started fishtailing back and forth ALL OVER THE ROAD.

Tender mercy number three, there were no other cars on the road.  I went back and forth between both lanes barely managing not to spin out of control.  If there had been cars behind me or coming the other direction I would have been hit and likely would have gone off the cliff into the frozen lake below.  I STILL feel like I have adrenaline pumping through my veins and it has been several hours.  There is a sickness still in my stomach at the thought at what almost happened.  At that point I wanted to go back home.  I called Dave first, because I needed comfort.  My phone didn't have any reception.  Without being able to reach my clients I felt like I had to go on.  Honestly I didn't know if when the weather hit they had decided to turn around or not.  But just the idea of having to strand my clients without a heads up with a phone call was enough to make me continue on.  I drove on nervously.  At Mineral the snow was coming down so hard and fast that there were already several inches of snow on the ground.  I was driving very slowly and carefully.  Again I wanted to turn around thinking about what the road conditions would be on my return trip home scared me. Right outside the park entrance for Rainier  I was stopped by a huge fallen tree blocking the road.  It took 15 minutes for the crew to clear it.  All the while I kept looking at the clock.  I hate being late, I hate not being dependable.  I was in a fit.  I made it to the park entrance  just a few miles away from my meeting spot with my clients, 15 minutes after our session was supposed to start.  I had used up all of my “prep for the location time” getting there and I was still late.  At the entrance I was met by a ranger who told me I needed to have snow chains to continue.  I told him that I thought I had some in the trunk but did not know how to put them on.  The ranger, bless his helpless cold heart, told me it was against the law for him to help and that I would need to turn around.  I was dumbfounded!  Here I was just 5 minutes away, with no phone reception and I was being turned around!!!  So turn around I did.  Except I had to clear a bank of snow in between the inbound lane and the outbound lane and you guessed it, I got stuck.  I hop out of the car and try pushing and I naturally didn't budge.  The very helpful ranger walked over with an orange vest for me to wear for protection and stood there.  Again, it was against the law for him to help me.  I started shoveling snow out from under the car with my hands as the helpful gentleman stood by to watch me in my misery.

Tender mercy number four, a few minutes later a car stops on their way off the mountain to help me.  It took four of us to get me un stuck.  The kind Samaritan also put my chains on.  So I headed home dejected and feeling like a total failure, after all that hard work and perseverance (not to mention near death experience) I was still standing up my client.  Driving with chains was slow.  I was only going about 10 miles an hour because they were making such a horrible racket.  At one point I even got out to check on them.  One looked loose but I couldn't figure out how to make it any tighter.  Not even a mile after getting out to check I hear a horrendous noise.  I get out once again (in the freezing cold dumping wet yucky snow) and the chains on my left tire had broken and were now wrapped all along the axle, stuck tight.  I wanted to through my hands up in the air instead I cried.  What a crazy unlucky night.  There is no one around and it is dark and cold.   I start thinking that the odds are great that I am about to spend the night freezing to death in my stuck car.  I wonder to myself if at some point Dave will be worried and come to my rescue.  After about 5 minutes of furtively trying to tug and pull on the broken chains a car stops to help.

Tender mercy five.  And you will not believe it…it was the same good Samaritans that helped the first time.  They had stopped for dinner with their family at a diner and had ended up behind me, but because I was driving so slow they weren't too far behind.  I was mortified, but VERY grateful.  The gentle man starts to take my tire off to remove the chains.  I am lighting his work with my cell phone (which by the way when it did start to receive reception again it would not cooperate.  I could make calls but no one could here me).  I am positive that ,my poor abandoned clients had to have passed me at some point on the side of the road, lol!  What rotten luck!  But I am home in one piece and my car still functions and all is well.  Except I did not get to take beautiful portraits of a lovely expecting mommy.  And I wasted 1/2 a day driving around in a blizzard.  ARGH…

Crush

This is Sara in her yellow Hello Kitty wedding dress getting married to Nathan, the man of her dreams.  Notice the heart shaped clouds and fireworks up in the sky.  And the heart the depicts their great love for each other.  She says the thing on the right is her rainbow wedding cake!  Nathan (poor unsuspecting boy) was in her preschool class last year.  She hasn't seen him since June last year.  Distance definitely makes the heart grow fonder!  This little lady is OBSESSED.  She talks about him all the time.  I will have to start writing down all the wedding, dating and loved themed questions she asks me everyday.

On the one hand I think it is so cute.  And on the other it stresses me out that she is so into "Girl" stuff.  I don't know how we will survive the teenage years.  She is definitely going to be a handful and a lot harder to raise than her sisters!

Here is another rendition of her wedding scene   Same as above but without the Hello Kitty wedding dress.  Apparently she has refined her taste and settled on the Hello Kitty dress.  I kind of like the rainbow dress;-)

Dave Is 39!!!!

Happy birthday to Dave.  He is one year away from that great big dreaded 40!!!!  I can't believe we are getting so old!  We had a "dental celebration" for his birthday this year seeing as he just started at his own practice;-)  The girls and I had a bunch of fun making this cake.  And no it did not take 3 hours and cost more than it should (why is fondant so expensive???).  Turns out that Emily is quite the sculptor!  She did a really good job sculpting teeth for me.  We re-wardrobe Dad for his birthday this year.  I want him to feel super spiffy starting at his new practice.

Next years cake will have to be something like a car driving up a road and not quite making it over the hill...

Sara's Birthday wish for Dad - "I wish that he could be a good dentist."
Kate's Birthday wish for Dad - "That he will have a fun time at his new job in Gig Harbor."
Emily's Birthday wish for Dad - "I hope that you will have more time to spend with us now that you are only working at one place."
Chase's Birthday wish for Dad - "I hope your new business goes well."
My Birthday wish for Dave - "That this year, with all of it's changes will be a good and happy one."

Happy Birthday Dave;-)

The Gift Of Friendship And Sore Ankles

Grandma Dewitt decided upon a fun theme this year for Christmas.  She wanted to give all of us a fun experiences to enjoy during 2013.  She kept her eye on the Groupon site until she found perfect "adventures" for each of the kids.  Emily got to use her's first.

Emma got to take 3 friends roller skating with her.  She picked three friends from school that she really bonded with this summer at girl's camp.  Jessie has been a friend since 4rth grade, Rachel moved into our ward this summer and she and Emily were immediate friends and Fawnee became a friend this year at camp when all four girls dormed together.

Rachel, Jessie, Emily and Fawnee

The girls had a blast.  I can not belive that they skated for 5 hours!!!  There was a lot of this:

And this:

And a little bit of this:

The girls are all really into music and so they spent a few quarters at the desk requesting songs and then eagerly awaiting for them to be played;-)

I am so glad that Emily has such wonderful young ladies to grow up with!  They were sure sore after 5 hours in skates.  Poor Emily still has bruises on her ankles.  There was a fair amount of falling going on too;-)

I sat there, listening to 80's music, watching my daughter enjoy good company and an excellent gift and prepared for my taxes.  I know life is not fair.  Oh to be a kid again....