Potty Trained!

Now this is definitely a picture to show her future husband.  Not embarrassing at all :)  
This is a late announcement but Julie is OFFICIALLY potty trained! It all went down before her 2nd birthday, too.  We have certainly had our ups and downs but she's a real pro now- Go Juju! Did I mention she learned how to read too? Jk.  She does like to mimic her Mom by glancing through the pages of books and magazines.  :)

Being Naughty

Our computer is up and running!  That means I can blog again!  So much to catch up on!  I have to post this before I forget it.  Lizzie was supposed to be going to sleep but asked for one last potty trip.

Her musings while on the potty:  "I really want to be naughty…*sigh*…but I won’t be naughty to you mom.  Just to the bad guys.  The devil is even bigger than bad guys.  I’ll just be naughty to the devil and bad guys. "

In my head: If only she really were only naughty to bad guys and the devil...*sigh*

Free Babysitting at the Dental Office now!

We finished the mural! It all started when the dental office decided to open an area for free babysitting.  Talk about convenience...I get free dental care and having to find a babysitter keeps me from scheduling sometimes!  No more!   We wanted to make it a fun room for the kids so..My mom came to town to help out and my friend Erin helped a ton as well!  They were good sports and went along with my crazy vision of a giant mural. We went wild and painted an ocean scene on the walls.  We free handed the background. Then we used templates to paint the outlines, airbrushed the details/shading, and stippling for extra shading. 

The office is already scheduling and so far it has worked out great!  The gal who watches the kids has a degree in child care, CNA, lots of experience with various daycares, and loves kids!  We also have a couple cameras set up so the front office or parents can keep an eye on them. 

All that is left now is to spread the word!  Our computer just CRASHED and amazingly these pictures were the last thing I loaded onto the blog so luckily we can still use some of them for the website: DHAonline.com

 

 

My Mom and Dad

My parents came to visit and the weather was great so we headed out for all kinds of adventures!   There was a whole lot of sun and our WA eyes are not used to it so we made sure everyone was properly equipped with sunglasses. 

We decided to show them the true beauty of WA so we headed to NorthWest Trek!  Its basically a safari.  Well, not quite if you're looking for lions, giraffes, and elephants.  No, but really its worth the price and a fun day.  You ride on a bus and view all the NW animals in their natural habitat.  You get a close up view of bears, moose, caribou/reindeer, eagles, cougars, etc. 

This funky looking caribou is not as sick as he looks.  Apparently, its just that time of year they all shed!  He raced up to the front of the bus and tried to lead in front for the whole trek.  The bus driver was petrified of running him over the whole way.  It certainly added to the entertainment!

As we were leaving the Trek we just had to pull over and get a picture of this gorgeous site.  The people who live here can walk to NW Trek its so close.  The combination of mountain, water, flowers, and sun was stunning.  The picture doesn't do it justice.

Unfortunately, we only took pictures this one day but after a week of playing with the kids in the sun, motorcycle trips, celebrating Mother's Day, movies, NW Trek, and just having a blast together it was as hard as ever to say good bye to my parents!  The kids LOVED the time with Grandma and Grandpa of course. Grandpa got ALOT of extra time with the kids while Grandma and I painted...thats a whole post in and of itself I'm afraid. I did enjoy all the extra time with my Mom, especially because it was over Mother's Day! On Sunday we got to put our feet up and let the men pamper us!We definitely miss them, and hopefully they will come out again soon!

Trevor's Visit

I have a couple more photos to pull from my phone...but yes I did a bad job taking pics of Trev's visit.  Pictures aside, we had a blast.  Trev is a fun guy to have around.  Lizzie and Julie agree!  He's a fun Uncle! The weather was beautiful so spent some time at the beach with family, taking the ferry to the Ol Swimming Hole, the Spring Fair, and even a destruction derby!  It was treasured time considering we hardly get quality time with Trev.  We usually see him around Christmas but there is so much chaos, family, and kids running around that its not the same!  Glad he came and hope to have another visit soon! 

Easter Egg Hunt

The kids loved the Easter egg hunt this year.  Lizzie and Julie were both old enough to really search for their baskets and eggs. 

Josh, Lizzie, Julie, Lucy

The girls got lucky this year and got TWO Easter egg hunts!  One at our house with friends and another one with Grammy, Papa, and cousins! 

Julie and Lizzie are always so excited to spend time with Grammy, Papa, and their older cousins.  Sunday is definitely a day they look forward to. 

Dave's Birthday

I'm a bit behind in my blogging.  My days seem to be getting shorter.  I won't waste any time listing the many things I've been busy doing but I will try to play blog catch up. 

Dave had his birthday!  Since he's not a big sweet tooth like me  I gave him the choice of cake or bread.  He chose home made bread- his favorite treat.  I made him a couple loaves of white bread and banana bread.  The girls colored some pictures for him and were so excited to wish him Happy Birthday when he got home from work.  Dave's parents babysat and we headed out to Marzano's, his favorite; followed by a movie!  And that was the last time we will ever need to go out to a movie again because his long awaited birthday gift was a new sound system for our entertainment/movie room upstairs! 

Happy Birthday to my best friend, soul mate, love of my life, sweetheart, honeybunch, sugar plum, pumpyumpyumpkin, sweety pie, cuppy cake, gum drop....Ok I will stop now since no one else probably knows that silly song...  

Dave, you're another year older and life with you only gets better.   I love you!