Friday, October 30, 2009

BIRTHDAY BOY

Happy Birthday Cole! 8 years ago you changed my world forever, and I'm so glad you did. There aren't enough words to express a mother's love for her child.

I love you to the moon....and back.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

HANGING ON...BARELY

Well, I haven't posted much lately. Our lives have been really, really full! Work's crazy. Soccer practice, cub scouts, ballet, daisy scouts every night this week. Friday will bring one field trip, two halloween parties AND Cole's birthday. On Saturday we will have a soccer game, a halloween party/trick or treating, and the Harvest festival at church. I need to slow down! Sunday should bring a day of reprieve...other than going in to work for a few hours and then church, I am going to spend the rest of the day RELAXING. Maybe I'll catch up on all those shows on my DVR. Fat chance!

Paco's been on vacation this week, and he has been a lifesaver. He's taken on lunch packing, errand running and just helping get us through this week. He put together Gracie's halloween costume, surprised her at school today with Wendy's for lunch, and is bringing decorations for Cole's "Nocturnal Party" at school. (i.e. halloween party) He's also taking charge of helping Cole with his first ever report for school.

I'm an awfully lucky girl.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

HARVEST FESTIVAL VIDEO

Our church is having a harvest festival this Halloween. A couple of the guys put together this video to promote it. It cracks me up everytime they show it at church...check it out! (By the way, scroll down to the bottom of this page and pause the music playing on my playlist...otherwise it will be hard to hear the video). Enjoy!

GRATITUDE

As I find myself spending more and more precious time griping and complaining about everything from hectic scheduling, work, housework, laundry, etc. I received a dose of stark reality yesterday when a very close friend of mine confided in me yesterday regarding a serious health issue she's facing. She has a family, children and a busy life just like I do. When you put things into the correct perspective and let all the fog clear, you see clearly what matters most.

So, I will be grateful for a busy schedule. It means we have time and a little extra money to allow our children to do things like ballet, soccer, scouts and some extra fun stuff too.

I will be grateful for my job. It means I am more fortunate than many to help provide an income, double health coverage for my children, and retirement security for Paco and myself.

I will be grateful for housework. It means I have a home to live in. My children have a safe place to grow up in and feel secure.

I will be grateful for laundry. and yardwork. and jam-packed weeks. Grateful for birthday parties to plan. Grateful for my children. Grateful for all the wonderful new friends I have made through all of my children's activities.

On the days and weeks (and hours) when I feel like I can't get a single breath to myself, I will be grateful. I'm lucky, because God has blessed my life richly.

Now, I will tackle some of that housework that I am so grateful for!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

CHECKING IN

I'm enjoying a few moments of wake-me-up-I-stayed-up-too-late-going-to-the-gym-and-grocery-shopping-and-my-kids-were-up-early-and-my-body-is-sore-and-the-ibuprofen-and-coffee-hasnt-kicked-in-yet time. I am, however, feeling awesome about the fact that I made it to the gym 4 times this past week. I feel great! I'm starting weight watchers again. I'm not doing the meetings (i hated the meetings), but I have all the materials already from the last time I started WW, did great and then quit for no good reason a previous attempt.

This will be a weekend bustling with activities. This morning....soccer game. Followed by a bit more grocery shopping, birthday party errands, halloween costume searching, dropping off the snowblower at a friends to get fixed, a little catching up on things around home, and then getting together with friends tonight for the Cub Scout Haunted Hike, since we got rained out last night. Tomorrow morning....church. The kids and I decided not to go last night so we could go as a complete family tomorrow...that doesn't happen too often so we like to do it whenever possible. I am really psyched for this new series we are starting tomorrow called Unstuck. I really love our church. After church is Cole's birthday party with 14 of his closest friends at Savageland.Gracie is bringing one friend along so she's not completely outnumbered! Gonna be fun!

The upcoming week will be just as much of a blur! October is always our busiest month of the year. On top of our usual stuff (ballet, cub scouts, daisy scouts and soccer), we've also got 2 class Halloween parties, one field trip, Coles' birthday on Friday, Halloween on Saturday in which we are going to try and squeeze in a Halloween party/trick or treating with our soccer team and other friends, AND also the church Harvest festival.

Wish us luck.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

PUMPKINS N' STUFF

This past weekend my family came in from Yakima for their Fall visit. It was a great weekend and as usual we hated to see them go. We made our annual trip up North to get stuck in traffic, wait in long lines, use porta-potties (ewww) and pay too much for pumpkins simply marinate in the fall rituals of the Greenbluff festivities.A friendly scarecrow...Great picture of Daddy and his kids!One of my all time favorite pictures with the kids!!Grandpa, Daddy and GraciePaco and the kids spent 45 minutes in the corn maze to get to the castle in the middle..a break of sunlight....waiting to scare Grandma when she opens the car door....Yep, the Greenbluff trip is a ritual around here, like it is for most people who live in this area. One ritual that we skipped this time? The annual pulling-over-of-the-car-on-the-way-home-because-Cole-is-carsick-and-will-be-throwing-up-on-the-side-of-the-road-which-completely-grosses-Grandpa-out routine.


Some traditions are gladly broken. Just ask Grandpa.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

TRAILBLAZER DAYS, DAISY SCOUTS

Last Saturday Paco and Cole spent the day at Diamond Lake for Boy Scout Trailblazer days. They had a blast taking part in archery, wildlife demonstrations, shooting a bb gun, fishing and so on. Cole even had a perfect bullseye TWICE when shooting a bb gun for the first time ever. He was SO proud of himself! He earned a marksmanship badge for his cub scout uniform. I was so proud and excited for him. I wasn't QUITE as excited about the face paint the Air Force survival school put on his face...that took DAYS to get off. Seriously, the next morning at church, I was just certain someone was going to accuse us of abuse! Half the paint was still on and the rest of his face was red from me scrubbing it! HA! Oh well, he loved it and that's what counts.

Trailblazer days was a great bonding experience for Paco and Cole, and they have both formed some new friendships with other Scouts and Dads in our pack. It's been such a great experience for them. Cole wears his uniform with pride and is so proud of all his patches that he's earned so far. He is wrapping up his popcorn sales, and has sold over $1500.00 in Scout popcorn! He's also raised over $100.00 in donations for our troops. Go Cole! He's already earned his way to camp next summer and will be getting some SWEET prizes! Thanks to everyone who has supported him!

While Dad and Son were out bonding, the Sutton girls were doing some bonding of our own. We started out the day with a little retail therapy, buying new shoes and makeup. After that we went out for lunch, coffee, and then off to meet friends at Polka Dot Pottery for an afternoon of painting!!!

In other news, here is an adorable picture of my favorite Daisy Girl Scout...

Her troop will be earning their daisy center and petals together, working on different life principles, etc. Right now they are working on courage. She has to learn the Girl Scout promise to get the center of her daisy. We are so grateful to Grammy (Paco's Mom), for taking on the job of official patch sewer for both Cole and Gracie's scout uniforms! Thank you, Thank you! Notice how she put Gracie's patches on in the shape of a flower? Cute!
Have fun, Gracie!

Friday, October 9, 2009

SHE WHO HAS STYLE

Need I say more? This girl has got it going on!All that cuteness AND a brother who adores her? She's got it made!

WATERFALLS, PATCHES, AND BOY FREEDOM

Today the kids and I were out and about running errands, and drove by the waterfall at Centerpoint. We thought it would be fun to hop out and explore a bit, and, being the shutterbug that I am, had my camera in the car for just such an occassion.
photo by Gracie...she's got the photography bug I tell ya!and Cole didn't do too shabby himself...Afterwards we ran a few errands to both the boy AND girl scout offices to pick up one patch for Cole, and Gracie's Daisy Scout uniform and patches. Thank goodness we have Grammy who loves to sew patches on. I don't have the patience! We also stopped by a playground at a new park so the kids could run off some pent-up energy. It was COLD! How did we go from summer to winter? Lets just say the visit didn't last long because Mom was freezing! Hmmm...maybe a few trips across the monkey bars would have done me good.
Yeah, right.
Tomorrow Cole and Paco will be heading out bright and early for Trailblazer Days at Diamond Lake for Cub Scouts. I think they are equally excited! Meanwhile, Gracie and I will be celebrating our boy-freedom by shopping for new shoes, drinking coffee, painting pottery and going out to lunch with friends. Yes, it may not be as fun as shooting a BB gun, tying knots and learning a bow and arrow, but we will try to make the best of it.
Cause we're sweet like that.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

HARVEST FESTIVAL

Any of you parents looking for something fun to do with your kids on Halloween? Our church is having a Harvest Festival! This is what we're doing this year in lieu of door to door trick or treating. Check it out! Gonna be FUN!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

CUB SCOUT POPCORN

Paco and Cole have been busy selling popcorn for Cub Scouts! They set up a table Saturday and Sunday at Paco's store, and got to work. Cole was an amazing salesman....he is such a people person and totally gets into this sort of thing. He had a BLAST!! getting some sales tips from Dad...Paco worked hard on this sign for the front of their table...
So far, Cole has raised $1300.00!!! He has already earned some great prizes and has raised more than enough to go to camp!! You guys rock! To those of you who have supported him in this, we can't thank you enough. 7o% of popcorn sales go back to local Scouts. How can you not love that?

GRACIE'S SCARF


I finished Gracie's scarf, and she is SO proud! She wore it at school the whole day after I gave it to her. I asked her if she wasn't a bit too hot with it on inside, and she replied "Yes, but I just knew it was so full of Mom-love that I had to wear it! Awwwww....I love me some Gracie. and Daddy.

LOTS OF THIS, LOTS OF THAT

That pretty much sums up the last few weeks of my life. Busy. Crazy, crazy busy. Let's do a quick rundown....ballet classes, soccer practices, soccer games, cub scouts, daisy scouts, school curriculum nights, meetings/trade show for work, inventory at work which involved a marathon weekend of working, cub scout popcorn sales, the kids' school fund run, school carnival, and on and on AND ON it goes.

Here's a few items of interest. If you ARE interested, I mean. This more than likely means family members. HA!
Gracie is LOVING her ballet classes. Not much more to elaborate on with that. She also had her first Daisy Scout meeting, and I can tell we are going to really enjoy that as well. On an exciting note, I got a letter from her teacher the other day saying that she is having an excellent start to the school year, is independent and a strong leader. She has chosen Grace to be the ASB representative from her class. Exciting stuff! I tried to talk with Grace about this, but she was more interested in where I got my piece of gum, and if there was more. Kids will be kids.

Cole's big thing right now is Cub Scouts. Oh...boy!! He does love it! He and Daddy have been busy selling Scout popcorn. There will be another blog post on that.

We went to the school carnival last Friday...fun times! They won lots of prizes....
had their faces painted....jumped/slid on the inflatables....and were unsuccessful in taking ALL of Mom's money for tickets....sorry Gracie, you're broke!
That same day, they had their school Fund Run. They are trying to earn money for new playground equipment! Paco went over to the school to take a few pictures...

TOLD YA we've been busy!