weekend away

We spent the weekend up at Mark's parents cabin with Errol, Jacob & Joel. The weather was so amazing...I almost forgot it was still summer. :)

All the boys went out riding during the day and Cadence went along on day 2. Cadence started crying because she wasn't going to go with so we made some adjustments as to who was riding with who so that she could go along on the fun. Funny, because last time we were up at the beginning of the summer she was scared to death to ride on the ATV.

Sunday morning the kids were up early...too early. So I took them all on a walk so that everyone else could keep sleeping. It was the best part of my time up there. I very much like to explore and check out stuff and Dylan is the exact same way so it was fun for us to do it together.
Dylan took the picture of me and the girls. :)

Blackberries were starting to be in season. We found some along the trail that we ate a bunch of and then went back out later in the day and found a area where there were a bunch of vines. I loved every minute of picking with the kids!

Isabelle loved them. She ate so many while we were picking. Cadence kept picking the red ones which were terrible sour. She didn't believe me until she tried one and responded by saying "Mommy, we can't pick those. They are too gross". I guess sometimes you have to learn by doing. :)

Dylan was a great big brother and super helpful with Cadence. Of course they had to have their walking sticks for the walk.

This was the walk back up to the cabin. It was so precious because Cadence wanted to hold my hand but I couldn't because Isabelle was up on my shoulders. Dylan was so sweet and said "Cadence I'll hold your hand and help you". All was settled and they walked hand in hand the rest of the way.

It was good to get away and see the kids enjoy themselves so much. Dylan cried the whole way home because he was so bummed that he had to go. He begged to be able to stay for just one more day. It is such a sad cry that it breaks your heart. I can't image how he will be in a few weeks when we go in a few weeks to visit Michelle in LA and go to Disneyland!

Low Budget Kitchen Remodel

We recently got the ok from our landlord to paint the kitchen cabinets. Our kitchen is so dark and uninviting...I called it the dungeon. This is the before picture.

I started by putting up a textured paintable wallpaper on the cabinet fronts. It is a striped pattern. Really great stuff. It is still kinda sticky because of the foamy feel of it so we'll see how it holds up. :)
Then off came the fronts so I could start with the actual cabinet painting. The kitchen was in extreme chaos!
To keep the costs as low as possible, I spray painted the hinges & screws silver. Worked great and saved almost $200!

The cabinet fronts all came out to the garage for their coats of primer and paint.

I had a little help along the way.

Mark put on the drawer pulls...he's much better at being precise than I am.

Once I had the cabinets done I didn't really like the way they turned out. Just nothing special and the color I choose was just way too much. So we got the idea of putting trim pieces on to break up the color.

I really like the way the final project turned out!

Kiss

Feeling Crafty...

I tend to go in spirts with feeling crafty and I have been in the mood again lately. I bought this stool for a few dollars from my neighbors yard sale, I liked that it had two steps...easier for Cadence. It had some wear and wasn't a paintable surface.

I decided to resurface with some contact paper and was shopping at Goodwill on Saturday (half off day :)) and found this black and white print for only $1!

Of course I had a helper with the project. :)

Here is my finished product. I love it. :)

Something's missing!

Yesterday evening was eventful. We had just arrived at our mechanic to pick up our car that was being worked on and both Mark and I were outside talking to the guy and I get back in the car to hysterical crying and panting with little talking bits between breaths that said "Cadence knocked out my tooth -----whaaaaaaaa! I'm bleeding everywhere!"

Sure enough, I guess what happened is that Dylan unbuckled Cadence from her seat and she was trying to climb to the very back of the vehicle to play. On her climb to the back she somehow landed on top of Dylan's head and he says that when she did that his tooth just popped right out and landed on the center console. What are the odd's of that!? We knew his tooth was loose but probably had a little bit more time before it would have fallen out on it's own. We hadn't really talked about what happens when your tooth falls out and that it might bleed yet since I thought I had some time still. So when he started bleeding, he thought something was terribly wrong. :) After we got the bleeding to stop he settled down and was/is so excited about it and wants to show it off to everyone.

He knew right away that he had to put it under his pillow and wish for something (a sucker). So of course I had to go out last night and get him what he wished for and I had already known that I was going to give a silver dollar as the money part. Needless to say that when I got home, I realized the cashier didn't put the sucker in my bag. Good thing I had bought another treat. So he didn't get a sucker but still was something good. :) When he woke up this morning he came in to me and said "I really did get my wish, I guess the tooth fairy is really real after all. I thought she was just a fairy tale". How cute is that!

New family member

Say hello to our newest family member, Flower. It is Dylan's fish and he is responsible for taking care of her. :)

Dylan has prayed for her every night saying, "God, please don't let my fish die".

Cadence loves to watch her and today she informed me that she was talking to her just like isabelle does (she must be able to hear something from both of them that I can't :)).

songs of praise

Cadence has been singing a lot lately. This is one of her favorites. :)

Deep and wide. Deep and wide. There's a fountain flowing deep and wide.

First Day of School

Today was Dylan's first day of school. He had been pretty nervous about going since he met his teacher on Friday evening. The school he is going is doing a Spanish immersion program where he has half his day in English (English & History) and the other half in Spanish (Math & Science). His homeroom teacher is the Spanish teacher and she only speaks to the kids in Spanish (there is a lot of hand motions :)).

He has to wear a uniform and he definatly wasn't sure about having his shirt tucked in and was worried about when it fell out during the day and what he should do about it. :)

He was a little nervous when we got to school but as soon as we entered the classroom he was independant and felt good about being there. Once in awhile he would check to make sure I was still around (parents were allowed to stay thru the story time). It was time for the parents to leave and he gave a quick wave and smile and was feeling good.

When I picked him up from school he said he had so much fun and even loved his Spanish part. He was proud that he already was learning some new words (although I think he actually learned them from Dora the Explorer :))

I have to admit that I got teary eyed when I got home which I really wasn't expecting. I guess I realized that today marked a very significant day of my son no longer being a little boy. That he has to memorize his student id number, go to the bathroom all by himself, eat breakfast & lunch on his own, have to make friends and most importantly starting to make choices that will define his character. Wow. How one day has changed a lot for me....here's to the journey ahead with my amazing son!

Daddies Girls

The girls love it when Mark plays with them like this.

Isabelle and Cadence both squeel in delight.

It is such a great sound to hear from the next room.

This is the view that Mark gets :)

Homemade Laundry Soap

I received a recipe from Debbie Tarr on how to make laundry soap. I finally made some the other day, I haven't tried it yet but she says she loves it and she did the math and said it is less than one cent per load.

I started with Dr Bonners almond scented bar of soap (it is all natural ingrediants) and shredded it like cheese.

Here are the three ingrediants

The recipe did warn that it will bubble...but I wasn't expecting the instant rise as soon as I put the baking soda in. It was such a mess to clean up!


Final product. It smells amazing, let's hope it cleans just as well. :)

Resort Fun

We had a fun last few days. Every year my mom invites my sister and I (and kids of course) to go to a resort here in town. We just got home today from 2 nights away. The older kids now remember the tradition and look forward to it!

This picture was taken after the first night...it was a rough night sleep. The kids all were in bed with me (although they had a perfectly fine pull out sofa bed 3 feet away). I think the kids slept fine but definatly was not very restful for me. :)

We headed to AZ Mills mall for the new aquarium that recently opened. We got there a little early so the kids did some pet window shopping. :) Both the boys asked Jolene and I if they could buy the dogs they were looking at. Notice how Cadence is a few steps behind...she is so afraid of dogs.
At the aquarium. The kids enjoyed it but it was so expensive ($18.50) for not taking too much time to get through (45 minutes)

After we had lunch at Rain Forest Cafe. The last time we were there Dylan was small and was terrified the entire time...just like Cadence was this time (see picture below).

She didn't remove her hands from her ears the entire time there. I had to feed her the food and she refused to sit in her seat. When the thunderstorms would come (every 15 minutes or so) her body would clench up and she would bury her head in my arms.

We went swimming every evening. Isabelle loves the water. I count to three and put her under, she now knows what that means and when I start counting she squints her eyes real tight and smiles huge. :)

Even though it was hot the kids still had some time of running around outside, Grandma thought ahead and brought squirt guns for cool off and entertainment.

This is the picture from morning nap today. It was my first time just laying her on a bed to fall asleep (the bed was pretty low to ground). She for some reason is really good about knowing the boundry of the bed or sofa and stays put on top. She was so tired from the few days of so much fun!

Thanks mom for a great few days & memories to cherish.

Dinosaurs!

A little over a week ago Kim came along to help me with the kids (and Maggie) at the AZ museum of Natural History. I had never been there before and it was surprisingly really fun. The girls were a little scared of the dinosaurs at first but then we had a little talk about how they are just pretend...just like Ice Age the movie. From then on, they were good.

( I love Maggies poses)

There was also panning for "gold".

Dylan thought it was great and the girls just liked playing in the water.