My Summer in a Nutsell

Remodel

I now know what it is like to live in a house that is "under construction" with a family of 6! Wood floors are now installed, new carpet going in on the stairs and the kids bedrooms, new paint in the living room and dining room, new light fixtures and new molding everywhere! Goodbye 80s look, hello modern! My OCD has been kicked into high gear and the inability to clean due to the construction zone is driving me insane. But, it will be so nice when it is all done.

Redwoods!

I had mentioned to our friend Craig that I had never been to the Redwoods. He decided that was unacceptable and we needed to take a road trip. It turned into a weekend with just our girls. We had so much fun. A lot to cram into two days, but totally worth it. We stayed in Cresent City, which isn't all that interesting! If course it rained the entire time, but we didn't let that stop us from having a great time.

Sunny days

Many know that we've had record rain this winter. Not many sunny days have been seen! This past week was absolutely beautiful. I seized the moment and got a few pictures of Emily, who is growing at a crazy fast rate.

Emily Turns 10

Well, my girl turned 10. She is a whole decade old and I have officially been a mom for a decade! It makes me feel so old, even though I am only 30! She has grown so much and has developed into such an amazing young lady. This year was the first year she didn't have a complete meltdown with all of the activity going on for her birthday. She usually gets herself so worked up and then has a complete meltdown towards the end of the evening. We had a family birthday party at our house with my mom and then we all went to Emily and Quinn's winter concert, which I will have to post the video of at a later time. Emily has such an amazing voice and she doesn't even know it. So many people came up to me after the concert to tell me how amazing she was (she had a solo.)
I am such a lucky woman to have been blessed with this sweet girl. She has seriously made me the woman I am today. She has my stubborn attitude and independence. She loves with her whole heart and is so caring. It is so much fun watching her grow up, I just wish she would slow down a little bit...

Arizona

For vacation this year, Greg was so sweet and let me choose where to go. I have been missing one of very best friends, who moved to Arizona. Plus, I had never been to Arizona! We got to stay in Scottsdale in a nice hotel. Greg loved it because it was across the parking lot from a restaurant called, "Lo Lo's Chicken and Waffles." Soul food...probably his favorite! We only had 3 full days there, as it was the week of Thanksgiving and we wanted to get back to the kids. It was a rushed trip, but it was so nice for me not to have any responsibilities, even if it was just for 3 days. Arizona is so beautiful...not Oregon beautiful, but in a unique way. We got to tour Old Town, which was probably my favorite part of the whole trip.
Valuable lesson learned: NEVER EVER TRAVEL the day before Thanksgiving. We landed back at PDX around 4:30pm. 2 hours later, we arrived at Greg's parents house in Vancouver!! What should have been a 15 minute drive took 2 hours. Greg's dad was so sweet and drove down to the beach to get our kids and bring them back up to Vancouver to meet us. We were staying in Vancouver for Thanksgiving. It took his poor dad 4 hours and 10 minutes to drive from our house to Vancouver. Normally a 2 hour drive. We learned a lot that day!

Latest Happenings

Life is always crazy busy. Just when I thought things would slow down, a whole new madness begins! Fiona just finished up with volleyball...who knew middle school sports were so busy!! Liam and Fiona are both in braces but Liam is getting his off this month...woohoo!!! Down to only one orthodontist bill...for now! Emily and Quinn are up next!
The deli is still going strong. We aren't closing down this winter (bummer!) I enjoyed my few months off every year, but I guess it is a good thing that the deli is doing that well. Greg keeps threatening to open another one...over my dead body!! One is more than enough.
I am still waiting to get the paperwork from Doerenbechers for Emily. I have called twice now...still no paperwork and they swear they have mailed it. This is becoming very frustrating.
My mom had her knee replacement done last month. She is doing awesome and she is finally not in pain...other than surgical pain, but is 3-4 weeks ahead in the recovery process. She is doing amazing.
2 weeks from now, Greg and I will be off to Arizona for a few days. This mom needs a break from the business, kids and mom duties!!! My mom is staying with Emily and the other kids will be with their mom. We are going to have a very relaxing 4 days. 4 days is all, but we have the contract with the casino and they wont take a week of no food from us. Oh well, I guess that is a good sign!
Until next time...