Future...

A Future Gardner?

A Future Couple?

Hanging with KP

Thank you Papa Dirt

My Dad, aka Papa Dirt made Emily her own planter box.  So I told her she could paint and decorate it however she would like.  Here are some in-process pictures.  Fuchsia Kiss and Pink Chintz were the colors of choice.

Thank You!

Joey, Christie and Stella invited us over for dinner on Saturday night.   It was a perfect evening.  They have a wonderful outdoor living area that we were able to sit and enjoy the warm weather.  Ms. Stella is such a doll.  She was intrigued with Emily and watched her all evening.  Emily could get Stella to laugh the sweetest belly laugh!  Thank you to the Areyano family!

Let the Eggs Begin

As in Easter egg hunts.  The Pederson's came down yesterday for our neighborhood egg hunt.  What a beautiful sunny day.  And what fun our girls had hunting for eggs, playing at the park and just being out in the sunshine!  There were more than 5,000 eggs 'hidden' in the grass at the park so the girls made out with some great loot!

Waffles and More...

We had the Krause/Pederson clan over to celebrate Grammy Jill's birthday.  We decided on breakfast and it was yummy!  Wake-up casserole and a waffle bar.  Happy Birthday Mom!  Hope you enjoyed your day.

Saturday Fun

Yesterday was the first Saturday in a long time that I didn't work.  So I got to spend the day with Emily.  Chris was gone for most of the day doing errands and taking in the Motorcross races.  Our day was filled with snuggle time, craft time, a movie, shopping and preparing for Grammy Jill's birthday brunch celebration.  We had so much fun.   We saw the movie Rio..really fun and entertaining.  A big bag of movie butter popcorn and rootbeer topped off the evening. 

Happy Birthday Grammy Jill

We wish you a great and special day.  Looking forward to the brunch celebration this weekend! 
Love ya,
Jen, Chris, Emily and Peaches!

A Rant and a Funny

Rant

I know it's an occupational hazard but if I hear another person complain about owing taxes or say "but I couldn't possibly owe that much in taxes" I will scream.

Funny

Emily was so excited to hear that I don't have to work this Saturday.  She said "yippppppeeeee, I'm so excited, now things can be normal again".

I love this picture of Emily's great-great uncle Stan and the little dude aka Luke.

Now and Then

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Chris and I celebrated 10 years of marriage on April 7th.  Obviously I wasn't doing tax work when we got married.  Unfortunately we can't really celebrate on or near our anniversary because of this.  We did have the wonderful opportunity to go to an adult dinner on Saturday evening.  Thank you to Brandi, Ryan and Kaitlyn for coming to our house to have a play date with Emily.  Chris and I treated ourselves to dinner at CI Shenanigan's in Tacoma.  Yummy!  And we didn't have to entertain a seven year old or worry about what's on the kid's menu.  It was much needed couple time.

A New Hiding Place

Ten

On April 7, 2001 at 4:30 pm in the sanctuary of Marine View Presbyterian Church Chris and I said "I do" in front of our family and friends.  It was a great day.  And the ten years since that day have been great too.  Happy Anniversary my prince!  I love you.

Tea for Four

As part of Sandy's birthday gift, the Moser girls went for tea at the Secret Garden in Sumner.  What fun and I must say yummy!  Scones, tea, devonshire cream, homemade jam, lemon curd, quiche, tea sandwiches, fruit, pastries and sweets.  They had over seventy flavors of tea to choose from!  One of Emily's favorite things was dishing out the sugar lumps!

Thinkin' Pink and Saving the Girls

My good friends Mandy and Krista have taken the plunge. They have committed to the Susan G. Komen 3-day walk for the cure.  Walking 60 miles.  Making a difference.  I'm proud of them.  Check out their personal sites:


Mandy
Krista


Way to go! 

A Day to Celebrate Grandma Sandy

Sandy's birthday was March 20th but we celebrated with family last night.  It was a fun evening with pizza, yummy chocolate cake and a girls game of Monopoly.  Happy Birthday Sandy!

Laughter

I had my bookclub meeting on Friday.  After the long work week I must say I could have easily gone home after work.  But I love my bookclub and I love the ladies in my bookclub.  It was a great evening filled with good wine, great food and laughter.  We laughed and laughed and laughed some more.  They say laughter is the best medicine!  I believe that is true.

P.S. The book we read is called The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeiser.  It's a good easy read that I would recommend.

Ms. Sensitive and Ms. Helpful

Two tidbits about Emily this week.

1.  As most of you know Emily is a huge animal lover.  If fact on many occasions she has said she wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up.  So it shouldn't surprise me that she totally started crying at a TV commercial last night about homeless animals up for adoption.  I must admit it was a tug at your heart commercial complete with pictures and music.  It took about 5 minutes to calm her down hence the title Ms. Sensitive.
2.  This morning Emily woke me up from a dead sleep.  Chris had gotten up early to meet a friend for breakfast.  She crawled in bed with me to snuggle but was wide awake.  I would have given alot of cold hard cash to keep sleeping.  Anyways she was so sweet when she offered to make me a cup of coffee and bring it to my bed.  This is possible since I got a Keurig coffee maker for Christmas.  Sure enough about 4 minutes later she was bringing me coffee and a girls scout cookie in bed.  Please don't judge me.  I know a cookie for breakfast isn't the breakfast of champions but it tasted so good with my coffee.  I figure I was pushing it if I asked Emily for bacon, eggs and hashbrowns!  Hence the title here, Ms. Helpful.

A Hot Wheels Celebration

It's only fitting that Luke had a Hot Wheels birthday party.  It was cars and trucks galore.  We had a great day celebrating his birthday.

Who is Two?

The Luke dude!  Happy Birthday Luke!

300

Question:  What does November 15, 2007 and March 3, 2011 have in common?
Answer:  Chris bowled a perfect 300 game on each day!


The odds of bowling a perfect game are 11,500 to 1.  Way to go Chris!  That is amazing and I'm so proud of you.

Family Reading Night

Last night was family reading night at Emily's school.  I think it was alittle more like social hour than reading.  It was fun to see Emily with her friends, meet other parents and chat with Mrs. E.

Seussical

Seussical...a great production at the Tacoma Children's Musical Theater.  Thanks to Mandy, Logan and Taylor for the fun day!

My Seven Year Old



She looks so grown up.  She just got her haircut.  Teri gave
her the full treatment....wash, massage, cut and style.  She
loved the 'dryer that goes over your head'.



The Question

Usually in some form or fashion we get this question from friends, family or total strangers.  The "you only have one child" question.  Or "when are you having another child" question.  Now that Emily is 7 years old the question is less frequent.  Most people mean no ill by asking but some people have such a stereotype about only children.  I must have missed the parenting handbook that stated you must have two or more children.  Just as I try not to be judgemental about families that have five or six children, I ask that people respect our choice to have one child.  Both options have great and not-so-great qualities about them. 

Well last night Emily asked me 'the question'.  Here's how it played out:

Emily:  'Mom, why don't I have a sister?  I want a sister'
Me:  'Well if we had another baby it might be a brother'
Emily:  'Oh....hmmmm...and you would have to get another room'
Me: 'No, you would have to share your room.  And you know babies cry alot'
Emily: 'Oh....well that would not be good for me'

End of story.

Go Dog Go

As in the classic children's book written by P.D. Eastman.  The Seattle Children's Theater is showing this great story.  We went to the theater on Saturday.  Five kiddos and three adults ventured to Seattle for lunch at the Spaghetti Factory and then to view the play.  It was a great time.

This Week

This week is chuck full of fun things.  Emily's class had a Valentine's party yesterday at school.  The festivities included cookie decorating, coloring and opening valentines from classmates.  I had the opportunity to sneak away from work to take part in the celebration. 

Today marks the 100th day of school.  Now days they make this a big celebration.  Emily is to bring 100 of something...her choice is fish crackers. 
Thursday is family movie night.  The PTA is sponsoring this event and will be showing Despicable Me.  Emily and I will attend with blanket and pillow in hand.
Friday....no school for Emily!

Emily and Taylor

Yesterday Emily and Taylor spent the whole day together.  According to both girls they are BFF's.  They started the day out at Taylor's house playing outside and ended the day at our house making/decorating cookies.

I Heart You

Dear Chris and Emily,

Happy Valentine's Day.  I heart you all the much and beyond.  Much love and hugs,

Jen and Mommy

Cousins but Like Sisters

It makes me smile to see Emily and Kaitlyn play and interact with each other.  Although they are cousins, sometimes the things they do and say seem like they are siblings.  Here's a couple examples:

-Emily telling Kaitlyn "it's o.k. to go on the big girl potty, you can do it Kaitlyn.  I know you can".
-Kaitlyn asking "where is Emily?"  When I told Emily that Kaitlyn was looking for her it was the classic reply from a sibling "Kaitlyn, what do you want?"
-Emily telling Kaitlyn what to do and how to do it.
-Kaitlyn wanting to do everything Emily does.

Oh how I love these girls!

Uncle Ryan

Last night we celebrated Uncle Ryan and his upcoming birthday on February 16th.  Emily was so excited to host a party for him.  It was great, complete with a nacho bar and ice cream sundaes.  Happy birthday Ryan!  Enjoy your special day.

Balloons

Balloons are a classic toy for kids of all ages.  Here we have a bunch of balloons, two screaming girls and a priceless memory.

The Golden One

Today marks Emily’s ‘golden’ birthday.  You know the big one, the grand one, the golden one.  When she turns 7 years old on the 7^th.  I can't believe my baby is 7 years old.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY!  I hope you have a wonderful and special day.

I love you all the much and beyond!
xoxoxo
Mommy

A Party to Remember

Emily celebrated her birthday yesterday with a party at the bouncy house.  It was packed with fun, family and friends.  It was a party to remember.  She is very blessed to have so many great people in her life.  Thank you to all for making Emily's birthday party a wonderful one.

Guess Who?

We had a special visitor last night.  Can you guess who?

Hint:  He is our favorite nephew and the biggest car fan around.  Yes, it was Luke the little dude.  What a great time we had.  He is talking more and my favorite thing was when he sang the ABC song.  Or maybe it was snuggling with him when he was sleeping.

My Friday Date

I had a great Friday evening.  I had a play date with Kaitlyn.  Just her and me.  I could focus 100% on being the fun aunt.  We played, read books, chased around, had yummy pizza and snuggled.  One highlight, her bedtime routine of reading stories with her in her big girl bed.  I love you little peanut.

Random

Some random things and moments from Wednesday.

• Did you know there is a species of bat called the Wrinkle-Faced bat?  They weight about 1 ounce and are about 2 inches tall.  They are not pretty.  Facts compliments of Emily's library book.
• Remember the book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats?  I was in Emily's classroom volunteering when Mrs. E, her teacher read this story.  It immediately brought back a childhood memory of reading this book.
• It was sunny after school so Emily wanted to ride her skateboard.  It was peaceful for me to sit outside (bundled up), enjoying the rays and watching Emily's excitement.  She is getting quite brave on her board.
• Chris, Emily and I all piled onto her bottom bunk bed last night and read stories.  Even Peaches wanted to join the fun.  She managed to find a spot right on Chris' chest to lay down!

Who Knew?

That a Costco size package of TP could be so entertaining.  And no I'm not talking about TPing the neighbors house.  As you know there are a zillion rolls of TP in a package that size and it was Emily's job to stock each bathroom.  But before that she came up with some great ideas for play that kept her occupied for over an hour!  She counted them, counted them again by twos and sorted them into piles.  She stacked them.  She made a TP fort.  She set them up like bowling pins and bowled down our hallway.  She made an obstacle course that she raced through.  Even Peaches wanted in on the action by chasing the rolls around.  Who knew?  But what I do know is that I love her imagination. 

A Visit from Stella

Christie, Joey and Stella came for dinner last night.  We had a great visit.  Ms. Stella is so cute and barely a peep from her all night.  Emily loves Stella and she was counting down the hours for her visit.

Dancing

Who said white men can't dance.  The little dude Luke is proving them wrong.  Ignore the poor quality of the video...I must have changed a setting but I'm not sure how to fix it!

Happy Birthday Papa Bike!

January 16th marked Papa Bike's birthday.  We celebrated with the family, had dinner and of course cake.  I hope you enjoyed your day Al!

A Princess Breakfast

Introducing Princess Emily and Princess Taylor.  We attended a princess breakfast this morning.  The girls had a great time.  Singing, dancing and a craft completed the party.

Electric Scooter

Santa brought Emily an electric scooter for Christmas.  With the snow and rain she hasn't been able to try it out.  She finally got a chance to take it for a test run.   She loved it.

A Funny Laugh

Nothing like some good ole family fun with the xBox 360.  First check out my sister's blog here.  Then watch the video. 

Fun With the Girls

For over twenty some years my girlfriends (Chrissy, Karla, Jamee, Jen) and I have a tradition of exchanging Christmas ornaments.  This year we made it an after the New Year event.  On Saturday, we met at Indochine in Tacoma for drinks, dinner and great fun. 

Little Grand Moments

I know that's an oxymoron but it's the same principal as 'dynamite comes in small packages'. This week instead of being bummed about working full time again, I tried to focus on the 'little grand moments' that happen in life.  Here are a few that made a big difference in my week:

• Helping a classroom of first graders with a snowman art project
• Krista greeting me with a wonderful coffee treat from her espresso maker when I dropped Emily off Thursday morning
• Emily stopping me on the sidewalk Friday night to tell me 'Momma, look up at all the stars'
• Hearing Kaitlyn's sweet voice on our answering machine

I'm excited to see what little grand moments come my way this week.

Welcome 2011

The holiday break was wonderful.  But I must say it was good to have Emily start back to school and have our household get back into a routine.  This weekend was spent putting away the holiday decorations and de-cluttering our house.  I still need to sort through some of Emily's toys but I did manage to clean out my clothes closet and donate a hefty bag full of stuff.  Like all prior years, January marks me going to work full-time.  This will be my seventh tax season and it's going to be a good one!