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Kaitlyn loves Peaches.  When they first met Peaches was quick to run and hide.  Now they are good buddies.  I think it helps that Kaitlyn loves giving Peaches her treats!



I love my nephew, Luke.  I wish I got to spend more time with him.  I'm hoping this summer we can have some great play dates.  Luke, you are a dude!



Last week Emily's school hosted an end of the year lunch.  Mandy and I took Happy Meals to the kids at school and had lunch with them.  The only bummer was that it was pouring rain afterward so we didn't get to spend the recess with them.



How cool is this wagon?  My sister found this and it's even collapsible.  This will be perfect for our Spokane trip as well as the trips to the zoo and park.  Put some balloons and streamers and we are entering it the next town parade!

Memorial Day

This weekend was not a weekend to remember.  To be quite honest it was a horrible weekend from start to finish.  The flu bug hit the Moser house hard.  If you are weak in the stomach then you may not want to read this post.  The fun began on Friday night about 8:00pm with Emily throwing up.  The vomit continued along with diarrhea throughout the night into Saturday.  Just as we would clean up one mess, another followed.  Two loads of laundry before 3:00am. and we were running out of clean bedding/blankets.  Saturday she stopped vomiting but was pretty tired.  Fast forward to Sunday afternoon.  I was sitting in the Pantages Theater watching a ballet recital when the flu bug hit me suddenly.  I made it to the lobby before passing out and vomiting in public.  It's one of my finer moments.  Needless to say my friend was very concerned and since I did pass out and was unresponsive for a few seconds they called 911.  So off to the hospital I went.  I must say that is the worst sickness I have ever experienced.   I'm fine now, almost back to normal.  I never ever want to repeat this weekend again.

Special Time with KP

The Pederson family is in search for a new nanny.  If any leads please let me know.  But in the interim I've gotten to spend some special time with Kaitlyn helping out on some Mondays and Wednesdays.  This last Monday we invited my friend and her daughter to the Tacoma Children's Museum.  I think the girls had fun.

Zoo Trip

In anticipation of Chris leaving for his business trip yesterday and Emily being alittle sad about that I suggested a trip to the zoo.  That way Emily and I left before Chris, providing a distraction for her.  It was a fabulous zoo adventure! 

Happiness is...

sitting in the sun last night reading my book while Emily colored next to me on the blanket as our wind chimes jingled.

Field Trip

Wednesday was field trip day for Emily.  They went to the Puyallup Farm at the fairgrounds.  There were three classrooms that focused on a specific area of farming.  The first was fruits, vegetables and plants.  The second featured growing wheat from start to finish including making pasta noodles.  The last one and the favorite, live animals.

A Spoon Full of Sugar

For Emily's birthday Auntie B, Uncle Ryan and Kaitlyn bought Emily a ticket to see Mary Poppins at the Paramount.  Today was the day for the big event.  The performance was excellent and Emily really liked it.  Her favorite part was a number titled "A Step in Time" and the part where Bert walked up the wall and then upside down.  The play had some cool special effects.  Thanks to the Pederson's for a great memory!

A Luke Visit

Last night we got to hang out with the little Dude man, aka Luke.  It was so much fun and boy is he a busy little one.  How soon Chris and I forgot what it's like to have a 2 year around!  Karena told us he was so excited to come to 'Emie house' and that he wanted to brush his teeth with Emie.  How cute is that?

Bellingham Weekend

Chris and I spent last weekend in Bellingham for our 10 year wedding anniversary celebration.  We both went to WWU but ironically didn't know each other while at college.   We walked the WWU campus, checked out the student bookstore, shopped in Fairhaven, ate good food and just relaxed.  My friend Micah recommended an Italian restaurant called Giuseppe's Italian Restaurant.  According to Chris it was one of  his favorite meals ever!  One of my favorites from the weekend was homemade gelato from Sirena Gelato in Fairhaven.  A big shout out thanks to Auntie B, Uncle Ryan and Kaitlyn.  They took care of Emily while we were away. 

Music Concert

On Wednesday Emily had her first school music concert. 


Before the concert with her friends Brooke and Taylor

The program consisted the following songs:  Hello, Little Bird, Itsy Bitsy Spider and Follow the Rainbow.  They also did a really cool number that consisted of only sounds made with the students hands which recreated a rainstorm.  Very cool.  I was so proud of Emily.  I wasn't sure if this would be another incident like her preschool graduation (refusing to walk down the aisle in front of everyone).  But no she got up on stage and sang her heart out.




Emily's in the middle with the white sweater and red, pink and green skirt

I'm having technical difficulties with the video but hopefully I can post a video or two soon.  Stay tune!

This One's for you Jamee

This blog post is for my dear friend Jamee.  Kind of an inside joke.

Did you know that Nash hall is a dry dorm now?  Also, Parks Hall hasn't changed a bit.  We took a look at the list of professors at Parks Hall and there are still quite a few from our day.  Like Professor Warner...do you think he is still scaring the *hit out of his students?

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all!  This morning Emily's classroom has a Mother's Day event.  It was great.  The kids sang to us, read a poem and served us cookies and juice.  Plus they had worked really hard making little gifts and cards.  That is want it's about!

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.