Welcome Spring!

Here are two crocuses that bloomed in my front yard today. They are always my first sign of spring. Oh joy!





I'm trying to do better about posting up more regularly. It probably won't last long, but I am making an effort. Here are some pics of the kids enjoying the weather. (It's only in the 50s today. But the sun in shining and the wind isn't blowing!)

Here's Brook with her new shorter hair. (Yes, this is shorter. 12 inches shorter!)
Jake, chillin' in a lawn chair.
And last, but not least, Summer.

The Dreaded Flu!!

Well, this pretty much sums up our week. The flu has hit 4 out of 5 of us over the last week and a half. Brook has been the only one to escape. (She lucked-out with a great immune system.) Anyway, this is Summer asleep on the couch with a fever. I took a picture because she's sleeping half on the couch and half on the footrest. Funny girl. Anyway, I hope all reading this have had better luck than we have.

What?

I thought I'd share this lovely image because it made me literally laugh out loud when I saw it. I was looking through photos on MSN from fashion week and after laughing, thought to myself, "That poor model. Yes, she's thin, beautiful and makes money for walking up and down a runway while people take her picture, but come on! Should anyone have to have a mustache drawn on their face? And how long is it going to take her to comb out that rat's nest on her head?" Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I have. On a similar note, I must also say that I'm anxiously awaiting the season finale of Project Runway. (Go Jillian!)

Dinner Salvation!

I know I've never posted up about this, but I really feel I should because it's made such a fabulous difference in my life. It's called dinner rotation and it's a pretty simple idea. My friend Becky convinced three of us to give it a try for one month, and now we're all hooked. Anyway, here's how it works. One night a week you make dinner for all the other families and the other nights you have dinner delivered to you. So for me, on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I have dinner brought to me. On Thursday I make dinner for my family and the other 3 families. Here are my favorite things about it:

1. I have had more time to spend helping my kids with their homework, etc. after school.
   
2. I haven't had as many dishes to do (most of dinner mess is the pots and pans)!
   
3. I've saved loads of money because I can buy in bulk.
   
4. I only have to come up with 4 dinners per month.
   
5. We don't eat out nearly as much. Don't get me wrong, I love eating out, but it's expensive and really not that healthy most of the time.
   
6. I have to say that I almost enjoy cooking now because I don't feel like it's a chore anymore.
   

Seriously, if you have a few friends with similar family sizes to your own, give it a try. Even for a week. You'll love it. We each bought 3 -9x13 glass dishes with lids. That's what we deliver dinner in. Then it doesn't matter which ones you get back because they're all the same. This last week our family had:

1. Pork chops and potatoes
2. Chicken pot pie
3. Poppyseed chicken with rice
4. Pulled pork sandwiches with potato salad

We usually have leftovers for lunch during the week and often times for dinner on Friday night as well. Anyway, I love this system. Let me know if any of you try it and like it too.

Apparently, I've Been TAGGED!!!

Alright Leah and Matt,
Yes, I've been tagged. I'll answer the questions, but I refuse to tag others. (I'm such a grouch.) But seriously, who would I tag?

5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago:

1. Well, I'd only been married 6 months and we didn't have any kids, so take a guess what I was doing.
2. Living in Portland, Oregon.
3. Working as supervisor at Viking Windows and Doors. (Thrilling, I know.)
4. Doing absolutely nothing on Saturdays. Except for possibly dragging myself out of bed to go out for breakfast.
   
5. I was fitting into really cute, very small clothes. (I think I miss that most of all.)

5 Things On My To-Do List Today (for tomorrow)

1. Make dinner for our family and three other families. (Dinner rotation is the best!!!)
2. Babysitting in the morning
   
3. Get my haircut.
4. Pick up kids from school.
5. And last, clean. (This is always on the list.)

5 Snacks I Enjoy (A shorter list for me would be "Snacks I hate")

1. chips and dip (doesn't really matter what kind.)
2. veggies and dip (I especially like cucumbers and tomatoes from our garden.)
3. Diet cherry limeade from Sonic
4. Fruit
5. wholewheat toast with LOTS of butter

5 Things I'd Do if I Were a Billionaire

1. Pay off our house. And although I don't think I'd buy a bigger one, I would fix this one up considerably and also buy a cabin somewhere. Well, a cabin and a beach house.
2. Pay off student loans.
   
3. Travel, travel, travel.
4. Probably give most of the money to the church.
5. Get a car that doesn't have the "Check Engine" light on constantly.
   

3 Bad Habits (This list is actually quite a bit longer!)

1. Eating too much and too often.
2. Not exercising.
3. Complaining.

5 Jobs I've Had

1. Olde Towne Arco. I collected the money, cleaned the bays, and even did the bookkeeping.
2. Worked at various fabric stores.
3. Hotel maid. (I only lasted 2 days. That job should be on "Dirty Jobs")
4. Production Control Supervisor at Viking.
5. Stay at home mom. (Toughest so far, but also the best.)

5 Things You Probably Don't Know About Me

1. My room is always a total mess. Always.
   
2. If I could hire a maid or a cook, I'd hire a cook.
3. I hate winter. Actually, you probably knew that.
4. I'm the normal one in my family. Ha! Ha!
   
5. I love gardening. I even enjoy mowing the lawn and I'm super hyper about weeds in my grass (especially crab grass). But any plant we have inside our house is only alive because Fax waters it. I'm not big on houseplants.

SNOW! SNOW! SNOW!

Well, it snowed like crazy last night. (I'm not the biggest fan. I much prefer setting up the pool and sprinkler for my kids than getting everyone bundled up.) Anyway, I went outside and shoveled the driveway for Fax because he was at the hospital with his mom. I usually don't do this. I'd like to think it was for unselfish reasons, but actually it was because I told myself if I did this I wouldn't have to exercise today. Anyway, here are pics if you care to look.

Summer, looking stylish in her winter wear.

Jake, having fun in the snow.

No pics of Brook, she's at school.


























Here's Jakes snow tunnel. Not quite big enough to crawl through (unless you're a cat). But still quite cool.

Tubing!

Well, Leah's been annoying the hell out of me this last week to post, so here it is. These are pictures of our tubing trip on December 28th. We got to ride a train to the tubing hill and then back again. It was the most expensive present we bought for Christmas. But much more memorable than some toy. (I don't even know if my kids can remember what Santa brought them.)











The one above is my favorite picture. By the time we were ready to catch the train back, Summer had had enough. She kept crying, "This finger is cold!!" And then she fell asleep on me during the train ride back. (See below) And here is Fax with Brook and Jake on our way back. Anyway, hopefully this will appease Leah for a short time. Don't worry Leah, I'll post up about Brook's hair when I get home from picking up after school!