We've moved... but don't get to excited

We are now back in Military housing and we are also still in Washington, for those of you wondering if we have moved out of the area yet. We still haven't heard any news from the Navy about moving out of state. We moved backing into housing because our house sold pretty quick, and we can now just waiting out the news here, on where we are going next.

This week has been a crazy, busy week. It all started on Sunday (the 21st) when Jeremy and I picked up the U-haul. We we loaded up a 17ft truck with as much as we could fix, so Jeremy could drive it to the lease singing the next day (Monday the 22nd), so we could start unloading it right away. Then it was back to the old house for the second load. Yup two loads and hours of back breaking work, but we did it. I'm still not sure how. After the first load was out of the truck, I was done. I didn't want to move another muscle. The Lord must have blessed me with strength at that point, because we did keep going, and like I said, we did finish. Tuesday (the 23rd), was spent cleaning the old house, and getting any little things we had left behind.

We've been back a few times to our old house this week, to check the mail, and Olivia gets upset every time we drive down that street saying "No, we live in the new house now, not here." Yes she really likes the new place. She was so thrilled when we started unpacking her stuff, and kept saying to every stuffed animal that she unpacked "You made it! You made it to the new house." I'm relieved that she feels this way. I was worried that leaving our old house would upset her. Yes we are military and yes we do move all of the time, but last time we moved was two years ago, and Olivia was only two, and was probably to young to be attached to a house. I guess what I should really worry about is if she will want to move again in the next few months. :P

We lost some square footage moving here (only 700 ish), but I'm really impressed on how we are making it work, and I guess we are just going to have to become closer. :)

Christmas Eve and Christmas were wonderful. We got to stay home (in our new home), and chill. We made cookies on Christmas eve, and on Christmas day Jeremy made us sausage gravy. We played a lot of Minecraft and watched Home Alone. It's was the kids first time watching it, and they loved it.

I hope everyone had an awesome Holiday. Happy New Year!

Deep Breaths :)

Hi everyone! I have a little to update you guys on, and since a little is better than nothing at all, I decided to write a blog post.

I need to first start by thanking all of you prayer worriers out there. God has really come through for us this week. We have to get some repairs to our (soon to be their) chimney, and after the inspector came and we finally got an estimate a week later, and it was over $5,000. Yes, wow! This was just something we could not afford. You can imagine the stress and worry that took place in the days that followed. We really didn't know what to do. Our real estate agent suggested that he could try and work something out with the buyers. See what they thought about it, and wanted to do, and see if they were willing to cover some of the cost. Well it really payed off because they were, and they also wanted to change some things about the fireplace anyways. This decision cut our cost in half, and that was something we could afford and are more than willing to pay for. So once again a big thank you to all who have been praying for us. Words can't describe how relieved and thankful I am.

We are moving back into military housing a week from now, so I'm going to be really busy this week finishing all of the packing. Fun! Lets just say that's there is more to do than I care to think about. I've gotten the house about a third of the way packed, so yes still two thirds to go. I Think Olivia thought I canceled Christmas when I packed up the Christmas tree last week. I'm sorry to say that it was the first thing I packed, and we decided that even after we move we aren't getting it back out again this year. I know, it does seem somewhat sad, but all you need to have a good Christmas is just each other, and I can say that we are more than blessed in that department.

We still have no news about our final destination, so if you could keep the prayers coming, and pray for news, than that would be great. We really can't move forward until we have news. Jeremy needs news before he can apply for jobs.

I made this map after looking up all of the different Homeschool laws from all of the 50 states. Yes every state has different laws and some states are easier to homeschool in than others. Since homeschooling is my number one priority right now, I would like to move to a state that is very homeschool friendly. If anyone were to ask me right now what state I wanted to move to the most. I would say Texas, because they have awesome homeschool laws. That may shock a few people because I have said for years now, that given the choice I would move back to San Diego. I still love that city and it is still my most favorite place, but it's just to expensive. I still count myself as a San Diegan (even though I was born and raised 3,000 miles away from it) and yes if money weren't an issue I would move there in a heartbeat and have someone explain the homeschool laws to me (because I found California's laws a bit confusing). I do feel though, that I could also grow to love another city just as much, if given the chance.

Well that's all I have for now please keep praying for news and, I'll tell you once we have some.

Small update on our house, but no still no news on where we may be moving.

Hey everyone!

I want to first start off by thanking everyone for their prayers. Life has been a little crazy, but our ability to keep calm and keep the stress level down has truly been the work of God's hand.

Our house went up on the market on the 14th of November, and after only 6 days we had an offer in on it. That was great news and a big sigh of relief. It has been mostly smooth sailing since, but we have hit a small wrinkle with the fire place and some repairs needed for that. I ask now that you pray that the repairs will be affordable and done quickly. That has been the main source of stress these past few days.

We still have no news from the Navy as to if they are going to assign Jeremy a new rate, or discharge him. I must say that waiting for that news alone has been really hard for us. He really can't start applying for jobs unless he has a discharge date. I'm still really hopping that the news will come this week, even though this week is almost over.

I do have some good news though. Our house (as long as everything goes well), will be closing on the 31st of this month. I guess that may seem like bad news since we don't know where we are going yet, but I applied for military housing in the area just yesterday, and they have already reserved a house for us. Yes very good news, so if the Navy continues to take it's sweet little time, at least we will have a place to live. Our plan is to get a storage unit and put a lot of our stuff in it, and only move the bear necessities when we move into military housing, because we will most likely be moving again within the next few months. Eeeekkkkk!

Yes like I said, it's a bit stressful, and I feel like it's also the wrong season for it. I haven't thought of Christmas as much as I usually do this time of year, because my mind is elsewhere. Thank goodness I have already bought presents.

I really wish I could tell you guys more, but there is nothing else. I can't thank you enough for your prayers, and I ask that they continue, because it's not over yet.

The Legates Family is Moving... AGAIN!

I'm sure you are hopping that the title holds some news as to where we are going, but I am sad to say, that not even this blog post holds any shred of evidence as to where we may end up. We received the news two weeks ago. Although I was hopping that by this time I would have received more news such as where, or what exactly is happening, so that way I could share it here, or at least with my family and friends, but I have nothing else to report on that matter.

I'm just going to explain why we are in this situation in the first place. Back in February my husband passed out on the way to work. Thank goodness he walks to work instead of drives (you can read all about that on this post). Face planting on the sidewalk and the headaches that followed after that disqualified him from his rate (job) in the Navy. That was okay though because they were going to let him apply for three other rates, and most likely one of them would pick him up. It was all supposed to happen like this... He would get pick up by his new rate in January, go off to a school for it, come back a few months later, and maybe we would move at the end of all of that if they were going to send us elsewhere. Which meant if we were going to be moving, than we would move sometime next summer... maybe. I really should known by now that nothing ever happens the way you expect it to, or at least not when you husband is in the military.

What really happened was two of the three rates that Jeremy (my husband) applied for, he was already medically disqualified for (because of the same reasons). This is of course was something the detailer (the person helping him with all of this) forgot to mention, so of course those two rates said no, and the third was over manned, so no again.

Now what? Yes that was my exact thought as you can imagine. I should also note that we had been waiting for news on this since August, because that's when the paper work was sent. Waiting to hear some news since August, and we finally hear some, and it's... "You can't have those rates, and we still don't know what we are going to do with you."

So what now? Well one of two things is going to happen. My husband is now on the needs of the Navy status, meaning they will find a rate for him that he is qualified for and send him there as long as it's not over manned, or if they can't find one then they will discharge him. We were also told that if he doesn't like the rate that they pick out for him, then we has the option of getting out as well. We should have news soon, but in reality we should have had news by now.

I'm not worried if we get out, Jeremy had a friend who got out a few weeks ago, did the same job in the Navy as him, and had a ton of job offers. I'm also now worried if we say in. I'm use to the crazy lifestyle that comes with having a husband in the service, and I've enjoyed the adventures we've been able to partake in. I do not however want to say here, and it's not because of the rain. No that's only part of it. It's because of the homeschool laws (mostly, there maybe a few other reasons like area and there being nothing here, but mostly homeschool laws). I would like to move to a state where they trust you enough to homeschool your kids without having to check your work every week or making you take a three month long course in order to homeschool. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind them checking our work, but every week is a lot, and not being able to follow my own curriculum is the worst.

I love my children and I want them to be themselves (just the way God made them), and learn the best way possible for them, and I feel like right now, it's just not happening.

I'm sorry I don't have anymore news, but I will update this once I know something. Please continue to pray for our family, and thank you for your prayers so far.

We are just trusting God with get us though this, and off to a new place that we will love.

Harry Potter Party 2014

Well guys it's that time of year again. If you have been following this blog for at least a year, then you know that every year around this time, we have a Harry Potter Party, and watch all of the movies. This year we are doing it a little differently, and not watching the movies one right after another, because that has always caused us to stay up to late, and that makes some of us grumpy... ... mainly our oldest son, who is not a morning person, and is even worse after staying up way to late.

This year we are doing one movie a night starting on October the 24th and ending on Halloween night with the last movie and a halloween party. I am also making a different snack for each movie. The snacks are all Harry Potter themed, and I tried to plain them so that way they would go with what ever movie we were going to be watching that night. I have also made up trivia questions for each movie, ones that can be answered as long as you watch the movie carefully.

I've had a few people tell me that they want to do the Harry Potter Party with us, meaning they want to start the movies on the same night as us, and make the same snacks, and get the trivia questions. Yes meaning that they will be watching it in their own house, which makes sense since most of my friends and family live far away, but if you also like to do a party as well, go for it. I'm already going to e-mail out the trivia questions on the appropriate night, so I can always add more to the list. If you would like to be on that list, just send me a message randi.legates@yahoo.com, or you can message me on Facebook if you would prefer.

Now for all of you taking notes and doing the party, this is how it's going to go...

Friday the 24th
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
- Snack is a birthday cake for Harry

A chocolate cake with pink icing with HAPPEE BIRTHDAE HARRY written on it in green (like the one Hagrid gives him).









Saturday the 25th
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
-Snack is mandrake flower pots

Chocolate cake or dirt dessert in little flower pots


Now for the mandrake, to me it looks like they took a small doll and added fake pine needles to the top of it's head, but if you don't want to do that, you could just add worms, or maybe nuts to it, saying that they were just panted.









Sunday the 26th
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Snack is chocolate frogs and Jelly beans (like Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans)

The frog trays you can buy off of amazon, and all you need to do is fill them with melted chocolate (we like to put peanut butter is ours as well). You can buy either chocolate chips or melting chocolate, and heat it up in the microwave (yes it is that simple).

As for the jelly beans, I'm just going to buy a couple bags of assorted jelly belly's, but if you want Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans I have seen them at mall candy stores.






Monday the 27th
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Snack is potion jello and chocolate wands

The potion jello is just going to be green jello

The chocolate wands (which I made last year) are pretty easy. You just take big pretzels, dip them in chocolate, then roll them in sprinkles (because that makes them magical).







Tuesday the 28th
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Snack will be Luna Lovegood pudding

     I'm just making banana pudding with sprinkles and nalla wafers in it





Wednesday the 29th
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Snack will be butter beer owl cupcakes like these

     Thank you Nerdy Nummies





Thursday the 30th
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows : Part 1
- Snack is Cauldron cake pops like these

     Once again thank you Nerdy Nummies





Friday the 31st (YAY HALLOWEEN)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows : Part 2
- Snack is going to be Deathly Hallows cookies

We are going to be making peanut butter cookies and snicker doodles and frosting them like that (or as best as we can).










Thank you everyone for reading, once again if you would like to have your own Harry Potter Party and want some trivia questions, just e-mail me, and I will get them to you.

Mom's day out, Rose City Comic Con, and Arms don't bend that way

I've got a three in one post here for you guys, to catch everyone up on what has happened to us this past weekend, and this week.


Mom's day out

I'm happy to report that saturday I got half a day off from being a mom, and I went out with my friend Katie. I have known Katie since I was a teen. We both went to church together (back in Maryland), and she lives about an hour away from me. We have met up twice before (twice since the move here), but it was just a small hi's and hugs, because the meetings were in busy places, and we didn't have much time. I wanted to catch up and find out everything that had been going on in the last 12 or so years of her life, so my husband suggested that I take her out to lunch, and I loved that idea.

We decided to meet up in Gig Harbor, and eat at Applebee's. It was a wonderful lunch. We talked so much, that I completely forgot about my BLTA that was sitting in front of me, and I maybe only ate half of it. Katie is a wonderful person, and I love the way she sees the world, and how she's very open about her faith.

I didn't want our time to end. We prolonged it though by going to get coffee, doing a little shopping, and going for a walk at the harbor. It was just really great to talk to an old friend, and be able to talk freely about God and how things are going. Oh and she also gives the best hugs.

When I got home, I was welcomed by a clean house. Jeremy and the boys had been busy. That was also wonderful, as I'm sure you can imagine. Yes my husband can handle the kids, and clean the house at the same time (I'm very lucky).

Rose City Comic Con

The decision to go to this Comic Con was kind of last minute. A few weeks ago I got an email from the Emerald City Comic Con (that's the one in Seattle, that happens in March) saying that their tickets were going to go on sale soon. This surprised me, because it seemed a little soon, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to go or not. So to make up my mind I went to the web site to see which celebrity guest were going to be there. I have always wanted to meet Will Wheaton. My thoughts were "well if you are going to meet someone from Star Trek make it Will Wheaton." Why? Well he's a nerd just like us, and he's a nice guys as well, also he's my favorite actor, and that's really the best reason. But to my dismay he wasn't on the list of celebrity guest, in fact there was only two listed. I figured it was because it was to early, and that the list would grow, but that didn't help me, the person who was apparently deciding right now weather she was going to go or not. So I went to Wil Wheaton's web site, and click on appearances and I got both excited and sad all in the same instant, because he was going to be at the Rose City Comic Con in Porland, and Porland is only three hours away. Then I noticed the date. It was only two weeks away, and I thought there was no way we would get tickets. I thought it was like Seattle's Con, where you need to get tickets months out if you want to go at all. Needless to say I was a little sad for the rest of the day. I told Jeremy once he got home, and he did the smart thing and actually looked to see if they still had tickets. I'm sure you figured it out by now, but yes they did.

A week later my husband tells me that he knows what he wants to wear to the con, and I loved the idea so much that I made shirts for everyone.

Yes we were the Wesley Crushers. The shirts are a re-make from an episode of the Big Bang Theory, but what makes them even more awesome is their reference to Star Trek as well, and since we love both shows, it was perfect.

Making the shirts was so quick and inexpensive that it was almost embarrassing. When we went to Michaels to buy the shirts, they were having a sale, and each shirt was half off, so $2 each. We already had the iron on transfers, so all I had to do was find the image, reverse it, and print. So all in all the cost was about $13, and yes that was for all 6 of us.

We got a lot of attention at the Con. Quite a few people wanted photos of us. Yes just random people. 

Right after we arrived which was a little after noon, we got in line to get Wil Wheaton's autograph. We were blown away when he asked if he could get a picture and post it on Twitter.

Do I look surprised it that picture? Yeah I was really surprised. I also got him to sign this...

When I was 10 I had a huge crush on Wesley Crusher, and I think for my birthday that year I ended up getting a few of these. I opened all of them, and played with all of them (so it was okay), but now that I'm an adult, I think it's cool to finally have a signed unopened Wesley Crusher doll. :)

Later that day we got pictures taken with him.

We had to spit up because of the rules about how many could be in each photo, but we really didn't mind, and it was well worth the wait.

My youngest son Nathaniel (top photo), was over the moon about Wil Wheaton putting his arm around him (Wesley Crusher is his favorite character from Star Trek as well). That really make his day and make the 6 hour round trip worth it.

I also enjoyed this Con more. It was smaller, but not to small, and it wasn't as crowded, so you could move around and actually look at things.

Arms Don't Bend That Way

Monday night my husband and I were both snuggled on the couch watching the premiere of the Big Bang Theory, while the kids played down stairs in the basement. Right when the credits started to roll our second son Zachary comes running upstairs all out of breath saying "Darien's arm broke." My first thought was "no, he probably just hurt it, and only thinks it broke." Also at this point I could hear no crying. We went down stairs to really just make sure everything was okay. Well yes needless to say he did brake his arm, and it was quite obvious that the arm was broken, by just looking at it.

Ummm.... Yeah....

Apparently the kids were playing a game of "The Floor Is Lava" and the floor won.

So Jeremy took him to the emergency room, and from what my husband says he was a real trooper. He didn't cry once, and he was very polite to everyone there, despite all of the pain he was in. He's Wesley Crusher shirt had to be cut off though, so I may have to make him a new one.

He's okay though, and is at the doctors right now with his dad, getting a cast put on

School work has been interesting though. So my job as Homeschooling mom is going to be a little harder, since he can't write right now. Yesterday I ended up writing everything for him, while he verbalized it. I really didn't mind to much. Darien has always done really well with his work, so it wasn't to bad.

Well that is all right now. Thank you for reading, and I'll let you know how the whole cast thing goes.

So I donated my .........

Hair :)


So it was almost 3 years ago, back in Nov. of 2011 that I decided that I was going to grow out my hair in order to donate it. Here's a before picture...

In theory it should have only taken two years. Hair grows at an average of half an inch per month, and since you need at least 10 inches to donate it to Locks Of Love (yes that is who I donated to), then yes it should have only taken two years. ... ... ... Well I guess I can make up the excuse that we did have to move across country two years ago, and the stress of that could have slowed down the growth of my hair for a period of time. ... ... ... Yeah I'm going to go with that. I did end up trimming my hair every 3 to 4 months, but that was just to keep the dead ends at bay.

After about 6 months of growing it out, it was awesome, I finally had my hair long enough to do some of the fun braids that I had been wanting to try out on my own hair. At that point I was wondering when I would donate, because I wanted to be left with some hair in the end.

After a year I could do almost any style, that I couldn't do before due to my lack of length. I remember wondering at this point if I still wanted to donate at all, because I really enjoyed my hair just like this, but I continued to grow it. I wasn't going to just give up at this point.

At the two year point my feelings were mostly the same as they were at the one year point. I loved it, and the only problem I was having with it was dryness. I would wake up on most days with the Hermione look. That's when I would throw some curl cream in it, braid it, then call it a day. If I wanted to leave it down however, it would take some washing or curling with an iron for it to look normal.

But it was a few months ago, (at about the two and a half year point), that the hair started to drive me nuts. There was hair everywhere. All over my shower, and my bed. I was finding my hair in the most strange places. Also showers were no longer fun and refreshing. I looked and felt like a drowned rat afterwards. It would take so long for my hair to dry, and it almost wasn't worth washing my hair. I got in to the habit of just braiding it right out of the shower. It was at this point that I realized that having chin length hair would be nice again, but I put it off so I could get it a little longer, and maybe give them a little more hair.

But it was Sunday night, that I had just had enough. I put it into a low pony and had Jeremy measure it. 13 inches... WOW... 13 inches from the elastic to the ends. Yup it was time alright. Once I made the first snip I began to feel relieved. Olivia saw the ponytail right after I had cut it, and she said "Oh no mommy your hair broke." Heehee. I told her it was okay, and that I didn't need it anymore, and that I was giving it to someone who did.

So here I am, two days after, felling relieved and only a little sad. The good news is it will grown back, and as crazy as it sounds, I think I would like to do it all over again. So here I go back to the beginning, starting to grow out my hair, to donate it. :)

:)

Wrapping up the summer

This post is just going to be about a few different things that I've been wanting to write about. So first off the pool.

In my last post I told you guys all about the pool that we got off of amazon. My only complaint that I have, is that Washington summers are not nearly long enough. We had two good weeks of hot swimming weather, and then that was it, and the pool got little to no use. I will say that the times that we did get to use it, made the cost well worth it. The pool it self was easy to set up, and easy to clean, and when you only get two weeks of pool weather, than that is really what you want. We are goting to be packing it up this week, so I'll let you guys know if it survives the winter.

In other news, we are starting school work this Monday... EKKKKKK... The summer went by so fast. Where did it all go. I've been so busy this week getting ready. I was mostly planning out the school year (what work we needed to do every week), and cleaning. The books all came about a week and a half ago, and it was almost like Christmas. I really enjoyed organizing the school bookshelves. I always find it fun to get out my big box of old school books, and my just shipped to me new school books, and switch them out with last years books.

We are planning another trip to the Great Wolf Lodge in September! I'm really excited. It's a secret though, so don't tell the kids (as I look around to make sure none of them are behind me reading this as I type it). We really do love that place, and if it was cheeper, I'm sure we would be there all of the time. We are going to do the trip right this time, and pack snacks. Lots of snacks! So that way we don't have to eat out as much.

We have also started to plan our annual Harry Potter Party. It's still a ways off though. We are doing it a little different this year. Instead of having it be all the movies one right after the other until we have watch them all, we are doing a movie every night, with one or two snacks that fit in with that movie, and the last night with the last movie will be on Halloween night and we'll wrap it up with a full on Halloween party. So it goes like this 24th (of October) will be The Sorcerer's Stone, the 25th is the Chamber of Secrets, 26th ... oh you get the picture. All ending on the 31st with the Deathly Hallows part 2. I'll post more about it when the date is closer.

Off Campus should be starting up again in about a month, and my kids are really looking forward to that. I am too! I really enjoy just going out with Olivia. It's also sad to think that next year if we are still in this area, she will be joining them at off campus (yeah wow... I'm really not ready for that).

Well that about sums things up. Thanks for reading :)

We got a pool (it may be little, but it is still ours) :) And also new summer schedule

I have always been hesitant about getting a pool, even the smallish ones. I always think about set up, water, chemicals, and maintenance. That's what always stopped me before from saying yes. As if I didn't have enough to do already, was always my excuse. However after finding out that all of this week we were going to have 90 degree weather, kind of changed my mind. We don't have AC! It's okay really, most of the time we don't need it. Our house can feel like a furnace on hot days, and it's better on those days to either hide in the basement, or play outside. So yeah we got a pool. We got the Intex Easy Set 12-Foot by 30 -inch Round Pool Set. We had some work to do though before we could set it up. Our backyard is not level. We have a slope, and it's not a steep one, but we still had to do some leveling, so the pool would set up right.

When all was said and done though, it was one of the best purchases we've ever made. These past few days we've had so much fun it that little pool. We played Marco Polo, and made whirlpools (yes there isn't much else you can do in this pool). On amazon it $70 right now, and yes that's what we payed as well. Best $70 I've ever spent. :)

So in other news, we have a new summer schedule. Why? You ask... Well my kids have been kind of lazy this summer, and that's fine to a curtain degree, but when you find your kids watching 5 episodes of My Little Ponies (that you turned on for your daughter, but she is nowhere in sight), because they can't find anything else to do, well you may have a problem. So I came up with this

They all have areas of school work they need to improve on, and I also have all of them writing a fan fiction this summer, for a creative outlook, and improvement on writing skills, and as long as they do well, then get to swim during pool time. I'm happy with it, and now they won't be sitting around watching tv all day.

3000 miles, for a vacation with the Legates family.

See the title? That's what my brother and my sister-in-law did. Crazy right? Yes crazy, but awesome. They arrived in Seattle at 10:45am on July 4th. I left the house at 9:30, so I could meet them. It turned out to be pretty perfect timing to, because I had just parked the car when I received a text from Jessica (my sister-in-law), that they had just landed. After that I just put myself right outside the exit to terminals A&B, knowing they would walk by there. Yes I completely caught them off guard when I ran them down the moment I spotted them. I guess I should also mention at this time, that I had left my kids at home with Jeremy, so I was completely kidless (it was awesome).

That's us waiting at baggage claim :)

It was an awesome week. Friday the 4th was spent grilling, playing in the sprinklers and with the water guns, eating good food, and playing board games and video games.

Saturday we walking all around Seattle. We did a lot of walking that day we walked to the ferry.

We walked to Pikes Place Market and the original Starbucks.

We walked to the mall to catch a ride on the monorail, then walked all around the Space Needle, and through the Pacific Science Center.

And yes of course this meant that we had to walk all the way back. :) Wesley (my brother) and I estimated that we walked a total of 6 miles that day. Needless to say my feet were hurting by the end of it. It was a good day though.

Sunday we had set aside to just relax. We made pizza, watched tv, and play more games. Everyone made their own pizza and it was fun to see all of the toppings and pizza creations.

Monday we got in the car and made the 2.5 hour trek pass Port Angeles and to Lake Crescent. We walked the trail up to the water fall, and had a picnic lunch on the way.

Tuesday we went to Scenic Beach, then to Skippers for some awesome Chowder, and lastly to Poulsbo to get some yummy donuts.

Wednesday we played mini golf, and ate out for both Lunch and Dinner. We played more games that night, and we were a little sad because it was their last full day with us.

Thursday was spent packing up and saying good-bye :(. The kids and I drove them to the airport, hoping it wouldn't be long before we saw them again. Olivia had fallen asleep in the car, and didn't awake until we were almost home. Her first question was "Where is Uncle Wesley?" :(

I'm so glad they took time out of their busy lives to come and see us, and I had a wonderful time just hanging out with them. I'm glad they made it home safe and sound, and back to their puppy Steven. :)

Time to Catch Up?

Hey everyone, sorry about the gap in post, I've been kind of busy, and during my free time, I've been kind of lazy. Not surprising right? The boys finished school about a month ago, and they've been taking it easy, which is nice to watch. I think it's great when kids can just be kids. We got the new Mario Kart, and if you like the previous ones then you'll love this one. The only complaint I have is about the balloon battle part of the game. In past games, balloon battles were done in arenas, and that was fun and great, on this game, you pick one of the race tracks to do the battle. It's just like racing then, only with no value on placement, because in the racing mode, you are hitting each other on a race track, so the only real difference in battle are the balloons. Okay, but other than that, it's a great game.

I made my daughter a dress!

I got the idea from pinterest

The original blog it's from is LBG STUDIO. Now of course my dress isn't exactly like that one. I made some alterations, but I got the basic idea from their pattern.

The good news is I've washed it a few times, and it's still in one piece. :) Olivia has wanted to wear it everyday, and she calls it her Else dress.

In other news... ... WE ARE GOING TO HAVE VISITORS SOON! I'm excited! Can you tell? My brother Wesley, and his wonderful wife Jessica are flying a whole 3000 miles to come and see us. Yes wow! They are flying here on the fourth of July and staying for a full week. I'm looking forward to going hiking with them, and walking around Seattle with them, and just hanging out. No worries there will be a full blog post about their trip and all of the fun we had, once they leave.

As far as homeschooling goes for next year, I'm in gather mode. I'm getting books together, and everything else I need. The truth is it will be time to start school again before I know it, so it's time to get prepared.

Well that's all I have to report. Try and have some fun this summer, and let your kids be kids. :)

Zachary's turn

Yes it's now my second son's birthday. Yes already. Between Darien's birthday and Zachary's is only two weeks, so it really doesn't giving much time to get ready for the next after finishing the last.

Favorite toy : Magic kit
Favorite thing to play : Magician
Favorite thing to eat : Tacos
Favorite TV show : Phineas and Ferb
Favorite color : Blue
Favorite place to visit : San Diego
Favorite book : Captain Underpants
Favorite movie : Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Favorite Video game : Mario Kart 8

I have a 12 year old in my house now

Yes it my oldest son's birthday. I really can't believe it. I know I say that every time my kids have a birthday. :)

Favorite toy : Legos
Favorite thing to play : Also legos
Favorite thing to eat : Pizza
Favorite TV show : Mythbusters
Favorite color : Green
Favorite place to visit : San Diego
Favorite book : Harry Potter and the Deadly Hollows
Favorite movie : Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows part 2
Favorite Video game : Minecraft

FanGirlHairDos

So... I'm doing youtube videos now... How did this get started?

Well I have a God given talent for doing hair, and I wanted to share it with the world, but in my own way. I love Mindy from Cute Girls Hairstyles, and she is such an inspiration, but I didn't want to copy her, and look like I was trying to be in competition with her (because I would lose). It was my husband's idea to do something nerdy, and pick hairstyles of characters that are more on the nerdy side. I didn't like the idea at first, because I felt like it may limit me. "How am I going to come up with a different character hairstyle every week?" Jeremy's answer to that was "Well eventually you wouldn't have to, because if you get enough people to watch your videos, they will make suggestions for you." Yes my husband is a very smart guy, and I'm lucky to have him. The next question that we asked each other was, "Where were we going to film it." After a little brain storm session, I remembered that there was an empty corner in the school room, that we could dress up and make nerdy. That's how we came up with this...

It was fun decorating. As you can imagine we already had most of these nerdy things in our house, we just had to pull them all together, and buy some more to full it in (because why not?). Once that was together, and once we had a list of hair styles to start with, there was nothing left to do but film.

This is our first video, where I demonstrate the Katniss braid from the hunger games movie.

My daughter has beautiful hair, and is the ideal model for me... if only she wasn't so wiggly, and if only she was as excited about this as I am. She is only four however, and I'm hoping she'll come around.

Here is a preview for next week, where I show you how to do heatless waves over night :)

Thank you, and be sure to check out the video, if you haven't already. If you have any suggestions please leave a comment on here or on the youtube video. :)

Down and Up the West Coast

Yay, we are home. That was an awesome vacation, and one of the big pluses was, no stomach flu. If you remember last year during our Disney World vacation we all ended up getting the stomach flu at some point, and it was just awful. We did end up coming home a few days early and skipping the hiking days, because at that point we were tired of living out of a hotel. We missed our stuff and our cats. Well here I go, I'm going to tell you all about it.

Jeremy and Olivia had been passing around a cold for the past week and a half, before we left. My hopes were that I would not catch it, or if I did I would catch it early and be over it by the time we left. Well of course I catch the day before we leave. That night we were double checking the drive time, and the once 5.5 hour drive to crater lake, had turned into a 7 + hour drive because of the snow they were having. So instead of leaving around 7am, we decided to leave at 5am the next morning.

Wednesday (the first day) our alarm was set of 4am and of course I wake up a 3:30, and didn't see any point of going back to sleep. Our drive is peaceful and normal until 10 miles outside of Porland, and we hit some heavy traffic. From there it was smooth sailing until we hit the mountain roads. There was snow everywhere. It took us even longer the get to Crater Lake because of the snow. A lot of the roads were closed and we had to take the long way around the mountain. I myself was very excited to see the snow, Jeremy was nervous (he was the one driving), and wondering if we should have put snow chains on our mini van. Once we finally made it, the snow was coming down, and you couldn't see the lake at all. We still had fun at the visitors center, and the kids loved playing in the snow. When we finally made it to the hotel it was a wonderful feeling.

What surprised me about our driving thursday (which was our second day), was that we still had to do some mountain driving. By this time, my head cold was at it's peek, and the popping of my ears (because of the altitude) didn't help.

We were heading to San Francisco that day, and I was super excited, because I had aways wanted to visit that city, for two reasons. One Alcatraz, and two, that Mythbusters lived there (not that me going there would mean that I would get to meet them). We gave ourselves plenty of time to drive just in case of traffic. We had pre-paid for tickets for Alcatraz online, and couldn't under and circumstances be late (or so said the tickets). We ended up getting there really early, which was fine in the end, because we just walked around the city a bit. There were a lot of people there, in the city and taking the tour for Alcatraz. The island was great, but really hilly. You have to climb a steep hill to get up to the cell block. The view from the island was wonderful, and I really enjoyed myself, and I was glad that we plained this crazy trip.

Our hotel that night was super nice. One of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in. I booked all of the hotels on Expedia, so I really had no idea how they really looked. I was most concerned with price and weather the rooms were big enough for all of us.There were fountains and waterfalls in the lobby with koi fish in them. It was the Embassy Suites in San Rafael. After dinner we took over the indoor pool (thats what you do when you have a family of 6, even when you don't mean to). We ended up playing tag in the water. That was so much fun. I noticed that night that I had some sunburn on my face. :( I guess I should have put on sunblock. 

That night was a nightmare. I had a hard time sleeping because of it being a strange place, and because of my cold. I didn't sleep much at all, and I was making up for it here and there during the drive the next morning.

That dive was also no walk in the park. We hit a lot of traffic. First there was Oakland and then their was LA. I really felt bad for Jeremy. A 7.5 hour drive turn into 9 hours thanks to traffic in verious places.

When we finally made it to San Diego, it was exciting. Our hotel was in Mission Valley, which I was excited about, because I feel it's a great part of the city to be in. Our room had a view of the highway, which really isn't ideal, but I'm one of those people who likes highway noise, so it worked out. That night we got dinner at Pick Up Stix in Murphy Canon, our old stomping ground. Just being there made me wish we could move back there again.

Saturday, was wonderful. We met up with our old friends Jessica and Justin with their 4 daughters. I'm not kidding it was us 4 adults with the 8 kids. We were a sight. We meet up at 10, and walked through the creation museum in Santee. Olivia was so excited to see other girls, and would say every so often, "Look it's girls! Hey girls." It was so cute. We next went out to lunch. Yes all of us, in a sit down place if you can believe it. We went to Mimi's, also in Santee. This is when I noticed that the kids had all paired off. Darien was sitting next to and chatting non stop with Claire. Zachary had become fast friends with Veronica. Nathaniel and Rachel were two peas in a pod, they even ordered the same thing, and giggled about it, and Olivia was attached to Zoe. I'm glad Zoe didn't mind, and actually enjoyed the extra attention. Lunch was great, the food was okay (well on my end, I know my husband loved what he got), but the company and conversation was awesome. I enjoyed myself despite the fact that I couldn't really talk. My bad cold had turned into a bad cough, and my vocal cords were swollen at this point, and I sounded like a chain smoker. Were all big nerds, so yeah like I said, awesome conversation.

Next we went to Balboa park. It's one of my most favorite places in the world. The all of us hung out at the play ground for a while, for the kids of course. Jeremy had his camera and took some awesome pictures. The kids were having so much fun, and that really made my day right there. We next walked over to the fountains. The last time I was in San Diego, I had Justin take pictures of Jess and me at and in the fountains, so of course we had to do it again. 

Last time

This time

We go some of the kids too...

The koi fish were next. Olivia loved this part. She loved how big they were, and she love that they all were different in colors. At this point Olivia only wanted to hold Zoe's hand, and walk with Zoe. Yeah she had a new best buddy. We walk through the botanical gardens and the art gallery. I'm not sure the staff at the gallery was use to so many kids walking through it on a non field trip day, but the kids were doing awesome at this point. They were all hand in hand with their buddy and it was so cute. When it came time to leave, it broke my heart to see them all say good bye. Olivia was really upset about leaving Zoe. When we got back in the car it felt really weird to only have the 4 kids, and mostly boys for that matter. Yes their girls always leave me feeling like that.

That night we ordered in pizza, and I finally got a full nights sleep. My cold had finally let up a little, and I feel asleep while everyone was watch tv.

Sunday was the San Diego Zoo. To Olivia's great disappointment the Samuels (the friends who we visited with the day before) weren't going to be joining us. She didn't find this out however until we were in the parking lot for the Zoo. She hopped out of the van and looked from side to side, then asked "Where are the girls? My girls?" Yes my heart broke all over again. Once we were in the park, we checked out the reptile room first, Olivia loves snakes. We then took the sky tram up to the polar bear exhibit. Darien was nervous about the tram at first, but once it was over, he said that he rather ride that all day. His logic was that when you are on the tram, you still get to see the animals, and great views of the city, and the big plus is you don't have to walk. San Diego is a hilly city, and the Zoo so no exception, so walking it in some parts can be a real workout. Luckily there are a lot of different ways to get around if you get tired. They have the bus tour which goes around the outer rim of the zoo, and starts and ends near the entrance. They have the Kangaroo busses that you can hop on and off at various places in the park, and the sky tram. We were dead tired and left the zoo a little after 1pm. We got some lunch then went to the Cabrillo National Monument. I love the views of the city from the monument.

I have been praying for some time now, that we would get sent back there. I love San Diego, and wouldn't want to live anywhere else. It may be a far fetched idea that we would get transferred anytime soon, but I'm going to keep praying for it. 

Monday was Seaworld. We were given 4 tickets for free because of my husbands wonderful service to our country, and I was more than greatful for that, but little did I know that we would be given another wonderful gift not to long after entering the park. We were on our way to the Atlantis ride, when a cast member stops us. She asks us where we are from, the if we knew that the San Diego Seaworld was celebrating 50 years. Since it is a big celebration, they are giving out free gifts to random families. Yes we were just in the right place at the right time. She gave us free meal vulters. So yes not only did we get 4 of us into the park for free, but we also ate for free, both lunch and dinner. I was of course blown away.

As far a weather goes there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Sunblock was a must and even with SPF 50 it didn't seem like enough. Seaworld has little shade, so we were feeling it by the time we got back to the hotel. We saw 2 of the 4 shows, we had fun on the rids, and we saw a lot of awesome animals. Olivia's favorite were the pigeons. She could have stayed there all day, and that would have been fine. I like the Walrus myself... see 

Look it's Jamie Hyneman...

If you are a fan of the Mythbusters you'll get it.

Zachary loved the new Mania Ray. Jeremy and I both agree that it was an awesome coaster.

We loved the Blue Horizons show, but thought the One Ocean show (the Shamu one), was a bit of a disappointment. You could tell, the whale were not willing to listen, and the trainer were a bit frustrated with them, but still carrying on.

Olivia fell asleep on the ride back to the hotel. Yup the 5 minute ride was just to much for her. While she slept Jeremy took the boys down to the pool, and I packed our room up a bit. After swimming and Olivia's cat nap we went to the mall and got ice cream. We were sitting outside (mission valley mall is an outdoor mall), and Olivia says out of the blue. "I love San Diego. I have a lot of fun in San Diego." This was our last day in that wonderful city. Yes it's was a little sad. Beside that though, I felt like at this point I had already had a great vacation, and it wasn't over yet.


Tuesday... Our first day in Disneyland... I'm not even sure where to begin with this one. The park was very crowed that day, we'll start with that. I'm not sure why, it was late April, and school wasn't out yet. The other bad thing was a third of the rides where closed... good rides like Pirates and jungle cruse. The rides that were actually open kept breaking down, and had extremely long lines. At one point Jeremy actually said "I hate Disneyland!" This coming from a guy who is one of Disney's biggest fans. I do feel bad complaining about it, since we had such a lovely time at seaworld, and the reality is, you really can't always have a good time. We had a great vacation, and I didn't want to let this one day ruin it for me. So out of the few rides we did get to ride Olivia liked Winnie The Pooh, Splash Mountain, and the Buzz Lightyear Blaster one. She was scared and clinging to Jeremy during Haunted Mansion (despite the fact that she rode it last year and loved it) and the Rodger Rabbit ride in Toon Town. The Rodger Rabbit ride... yeah about that one... We saw that the line was 35 mins long, but decided to stand in it anyways. It was hot and the line was inside (I think our logic was sound). We stand in the line slowly making our way to the front, and we are almost there when the ride breaks down. YUP... We kept our spot in line though, because like I said it was hot out, and the park was packed, so why go back out there. They had it fixed in about 15 mins, and we did finally get to ride. We when back to the hotel around 4, played in the pool, and ordered pizza.

The next day at Disney was much better. We when to the California adventure park. It was less crowed, and more of the rides were working. They did have a few closed due to the winds. The Stanta Anas were blowing really hard that day. We did get to ride Soarin, the big ferris wheel, and the Triton Carousel as a family. Jeremy and Zachary went on California screaming, I took Zachary on the Town of Terror (Zach likes trill rides more than our other boys), and Jeremy took the boys on the Goofy coaster. The new Cars ride had a 60+ wait on it all day, so no we didn't ride that. On our way out we stopped by Down Town Disney. We got some dinner, and let the kids build a bear.


I got so much sleep that night. I fell asleep at 8:30 and woke up at 6:15, yes I must have been really tried from everything that we did that day.

The Last day, we went back to Magic Kingdom. Olivia and I went around to different characters and Jeremy and the boys rode the rides that didn't have to big of lines. This day went better than the first day at Disney, but not a good as the second. The lines to see the princesses (which is Olivia's favorite part), were crazy long, especially the line for Anna and Elsa which was 4 hours long. Needless to say, we didn't stand in that one.

I'm so glad we got to go on this vacation. It's something I will never forget. I hope and pray that someday I'll live in San Diego again, so I can hang out with the Samuels on a regular basis.


Here are our links to our vacation videos :)
Crater Lake and San Fran
San Diego
Disneyland
Extra stuff