Green with Envy

Karma? Justice? I don't care, and I DON'T like it!

2010-06-01T19:36:00.000-07:00

Ian got suspended from school for two days today. He threatened to shoot another little boy. And since they need to take these staements very seriously, they suspended him. He was ALMOST expelled for the rest of the year.
He is in soooooo much trouble! Even though I won't be home tomorrow, he will have a list of chores to complete, and he's going to be my scrub-monkey and do all the unpleasant things I've been putting off.
I might ground him until the end of school, two weeks ought to be sufficient time for him to realize how serious this is.
You just can't say stuff like that anymore!

The fish tank is complete!

2010-04-03T12:54:00.000-07:00

After Many weeks of setting up the fish tank, getting the water balanced, and slowly adding fish....It's finally done! We have glowfish, tetras, platys, and bottom feeders. I wanted aggresive fish, but in the end we decided it would be best to stick with tropical community fish. I think the tank is awesome! And I love the ring of fire!~

This one's for you, mom.

2010-03-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

Ahh, school days...I guess the apple really doesn't fall too far from the tree....
Ian's teacher: We're having an inter-class project, so let's go over to the next class and the teacher will explain what we're doing.
Kids go to next classroom
Teacher divides them into pairs and starts telling them the importance of main streets in america, how they are the reason we have towns and buses and blah-blah.
Ian looks at teacher and says: "Can we get to the god damn point already?!"
Wow, I mean, what do you say?
He did get in trouble for disrespecting the teacher's authorita, but I laughed really hard after he went to bed.

The purse

2010-01-25T18:36:00.001-08:00

This is my new AVOCADO GREEN FAUX CROCODILE purse. I was in the market for a new purse when I found this at Kohl's. For some odd reason I LOVE IT! It's smaller than it looks and can fit into my minuscule locker at work, it has convenient pockets for storage, I got it on sale, and it has texture! I have a texture thing, sue me.
Anyway, that's all. Now you know all the latest stuff and junk.

Birthday Boy

2010-01-25T18:18:00.000-08:00

The 17th was Justin's 4th Birthday! We had cake,ice cream, and pizza at home...Followed up by 3 hours at Chuck-e-cheese....... The kids had a great time, Justin got lots of presents and had a sugar-filled, ear drum bursting, coma inducing kind of day. What could be better for a little boy? I just don't know.

SNOWPOCALYPSE!

2009-12-31T19:51:00.001-08:00

It snowed on Tuesday, much to my dismay. So, I did what every other washatonian did that fateful day, I ran to the store to stock up on supplies, got gas in my car, and bought a sled before they sold out! The kids had so much fun! The snow only lasted a couple of days after it was done, but they were so happy to play in it! We're definetly taking a sledding trip to the mountains to have more fun before the snow is gone for the year.

Christmas!

2009-12-31T19:45:00.001-08:00

Christmas was great this year, we all got what we wanted and there was minimal fit throwing. I made a wonderful Christmas breakfast, and then we went to joe's for the rest of the day. All in all, it was good times. And yes, this is what I REALLY look like in the morning. Oh how my co-workers would shudder to see this.

Texas

2009-12-31T19:31:00.001-08:00

I recently went to Texas to see my sister, I took lots of wonderful pictures, especially of dude and princess, but this is my favorite one! I love how everything has stars on it! They even included the sewer systems! But I guess I shouldn't find it so funny, after all....washington puts pictures of salmon on EVERYTHING! Getting to the point.....Texas was great! We hit all the local hot spots. Rudy's, chick-fila,the outlet mall,etc... The trip went by too quickly, and now I'm sad that I didn't see the alamo.

My tiny kittie

2009-12-01T18:16:00.000-08:00

This is my Bobby Hill. He's only 1, but he's allready two times bigger than the older cats I deal with at work. He's very sweet, but I still can't manage to get a picture of him with his eyes open....they're green, and he looks like he's wearing eyeliner.....he's very attatched to pat, and since I'm going to texas for 4 days, that's a good thing.

Thank You Aziz

2009-11-28T19:57:00.000-08:00

Turkey Day was great.............Moving on.............
We put up Christmas lights today! We did a pretty damn good job if I do say so myself. You can't see the star on the front porch, it shines too bright for my camera.
Pat wants to get an inflatable frosty the snowman for the front yard. I think that would be a bit much, plus we live in a really windy area, and I don't want to fix the thing twelve times a day when it blows over.
Anyhoo.....Behold the glory of my lairy fights!

Oh Great Pumpkin!

2009-11-05T08:24:00.001-08:00

This is Pat's artful masterpiece. He spent two days carving it , because of the intricate detail. You can't see them, but there are three ghosts carved in the back, and when the lights are out the ghosts cast shadows onto the wall. Impressive, I know! We had many a trick-or-treator commenting on our wonderfull pumpkins, but pat's was by far the best and most complimented.

I'd better get this done before christmas

2009-11-04T20:17:00.001-08:00

Justin's pumpkin

Ian's pumpkin

My pumpkin

Halloween was very nice this year. The weather was great, and I had the cutest boys! Ian was a vampire, and Justin was woody from toy story! We went to lots of houses this year since it wasn't freezing! And the boys got more candy than they could eat in a year. I couldn't put up a pic of Pat's pumpkin, so the next blog that I do will be an ode to his greatness.

It Is Time!

2009-09-08T19:37:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was the first day of school! On Tuesday we had a day of haircuts, milkshakes, some time at the red park, and baja fresh for dinner!

Ian loves his new school and his new teacher, and he was stylin on his first day!

I have three days off work, and I'm making the most of it. So here, I blogged, now you can stop complaining.

So A Normal Day

2009-08-26T21:04:00.000-07:00

I just thought I'd post this little video to show what my mornings are like as of late. The boys have decided that the sooner they get outside, the better. I have put restrictions on how early they can go out. Hey, the neighbors have to get a break sometime. So, this is it, my normal life with two boys.

Once more into the forge

2009-08-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

So, last wednesday, I boldly jumped back into the workforce. I now work at petsmart making more than minimum wage, which is no small feat when you consider my lack of experience and the craptacular economy.
I'm not sure of my title at petsmart, I was hired on as a pet care specialist, but I think they decided that my mad cashiering skillz couldn't be ignored, because all I've done is be a cashier. But that's okay, I like being a cashier better than having to clean up various forms of animal poop anyway.
I like working there, I get to see all the cute puppies that come into the store, and everyone there is really nice to me. I'm just excited that I'll have extra money for christmas this year! Guitar hero 5, you will be mine! HA!

More on colorado

2009-07-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

Going to Colorado was an epic journey....

We had Tornado's, heat, mosquitos, torrential downpours,

and the adventure of 11 people sharing 3 bathrooms.

And even though the kids seemed to be in a constant feeding

frenzy, it was great fun.

colorado

2009-07-09T18:36:00.001-07:00

So, this is my video of our grand adventure at the pirate pool....arrrr.

I've been busy and I haven't gotten around to posting pictures, until now! Let the blogging commence!

Summer is HERE!

2009-06-04T15:43:00.000-07:00

Even though there are 8 more days left in our school year, I am declaring it to be summertime!

Here are Ian and Justin demonstrating their slip-n-slide skills. Ian was afraid to use the slip-n-slide the first day we had it, but the next day he caught on real fast and wouldn't stop...until it was time to eat. Justin is showing the proper technique of putting your arms out in front of you while sliding down , he just can't seem to lower himself to the ground, must be all that antigravity in joe's back yard.

We are planning many dangerous and exciting adventures this summer. We are going to go up north to sally's house and allow the boys to wreak havoc in her world for a day. We will go camping, neptune have mercy on our souls. And we will go to colorado for the all boy and one girl insanity convention. 'Twill be good times had by all.

Another day full of useless knowledge

2009-06-01T21:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we decided to head over to the water resource center since they were having a wildlife expo, and it was free, who can argue with that price?!

We got to see a real owl up close, and I have to admit, it was a little freaky. It just stood there...menacingly. And it's head rotated like on the exorcist. creepy.

The kids had fun exploring the building and finding out how wetlands work and all that hippy northwest stuff. We were just glad that the place had a.c !

The wildlife expo happened right before we left, and it was a major hit.

The reptile guy had an African gaboon viper

A western diamondback rattlesnake

Cobras, black mambas, lizards, Asian chameleons, an alligator, and one huge python that had to be 15 feet long!

Unfortunately, I didn't think this day would be exciting, so the pictures I have are from the Internet because I was a dumass and didn't bring my camera.

I learned many things from the herpetologist. First of all, there's no way that you could not hear a rattlesnake! Those things are super loud when they shake their rattles! Secondly, the best place to get bit by a snake is in your butt. Third, the African gaboon viper is the only snake in the world that soaks water up through it's scales, it has the longest fangs of any snake, it can go for a year without eating, it can strike at 90 miles an hour, and it can kill a man in less than 15 minutes. Fourthly, I learned that a room full of kids and spitting venomous snakes don't mix very well. There was more than one child screaming in terror that had to be removed. The best was when the snake guy almost got bit twice by the rattlesnake, and once by the cobra. I almost peed my pants. Ian thought it was great. He pet the black mamba, and the python, and the alligator.

Justin thought the snakes were evil. He's truly my son.

Easter fun

2009-04-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Even though Easter was very wet, windy, and cold we still had fun. The neighbors hid eggs in the front yard for the kids! They were way excited! Here's a little video of the hunt!

They hunted for eggs at Joe's too. Then we went and had chinese...yummy.And I do have to mention, in passing, that I made a wonderful Easter breakfast! We had pineapple, two kinds of grapes(now that's fancy!) , ham, deviled eggs, hash browns, and a little dish from heaven called an egg bacon bake. It's made in individual custard cups, the bottom layer is bread crumbs mixed with butter, the next layer is sliced up hard-boiled eggs, the next layer is a mixture of sour cream,minced onions, cooked & chopped bacon, paprika, salt & pepper, and then the top layer is cheddar cheese! You bake them in the oven until the cheese is melted, and I'm telling you it was delightful! It sounds gross, but it really was super yummy! So, that was that, we all ate like kings yesterday, and I'm not sure how I will top myself for the next holiday feast!

2009-03-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

Spring break is here. I don't have any funny photos, or new fangled videos to post. I'm just starting to relax, and I'm reveling in the fact that I don't have to leave the house at all for an entire week!
It's raining here, and the temp is around 35. So I have absolutely no desire to do anything. The kids have runny noses, and pat has been running a fever off and on for two weeks.
But things aren't all bad. We had tacos tonight!
And tacos+starks=happiness!

Top Ten List

2009-02-06T16:46:00.000-08:00

Top Ten Things I WILL NOT Miss When I Move Out Of My Apartment:
#10 - Speed Bumps Every 15 Feet. Seriously, I think
I've suffered some drain bramage from years of jarring
car rides.
# 9 - Living right by an outdoor basketball court.
# 8 - Lawn guys using their leaf blowers to cover my
patio in dirt once a week.
# 7 - Drunken brawls in the parking lot. The freaks come
out at night, and they like to fight by my car.
# 6 - Picking up packages at the front office.
# 5 - The lack of parking. You can't even have people over!
# 4 - Baseboard heating, wow it sucks.
# 3 - Having upstairs neighbors that stomp all day and night!
# 2 - Dealing with a crazy manager who's bent on total
control, and thinks that children should be seen not heard.
# 1 - Sharing one washer and dryer with six other tenants!
I can't say how many times I've had to wait days before I
could get my clothes clean!

holiday recap

2009-01-23T08:52:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas started on Christmas eve. We went to Noni's house, the kids opened their presents from her, and we had a wonderful turkey dinner!
The next morning we opened presents at home, the kids loved all their presents even the clothes! Then we had a huge christmas breakfast before going over to Joe's house for more presents! The boys got everything they could ever want for Christmas. Me and Pat got new pots and pans, which we uber needed, and we also got a kitchen-aide mixer! Woo-Hoo! I used it for the first time last weekend making frosting for Justin's B-day cake! It was awesome!
Anyway, we did the rest of our Christmas celebration on new years day when Pat's grandma Sally was in town. We went to the embassy suites in portland and opened presents. Pat took the kids swimming at the indoor pool, the kids went nuts! They loved it, of course, what kid wouldn't want to go swimming in a heated indoor pool when there's still snow on the ground?!
So that's that, my holiday recap is complete, now we can move on.

still more snow! And a new tree star!

2008-12-23T19:27:00.000-08:00

So, I had to get a new tree star. The one I got 10 days ago died and had to be replaced today. I like the new one! So, there's my tree.

And this is the snowperson Pat and the kids built today! The cucumber eyes were my idea, my neighbor Nevaeh helped make the snowman and she made the hat out of ice! She's only 6!

We're definitely having a white Christmas! And every Who in Vancouver likes Christmas allot!

Snow!

2008-12-22T12:35:00.000-08:00

I took this pic two nights ago while it was snowing and the wind was blowing snow everywhere!

It's been snowing for four days, and we have about a foot of snow on the ground.

In Vancouver, that's enough snow to shut everything down!

The boys love it! they've been going to bed early every night because they're so exhausted from all the snowball fights!

It's still snowing, and it looks like we're going to have our first white Christmas since we moved here almost five years ago!

Directive

2008-12-06T17:13:00.001-08:00

So, when I bought the movie Wall-e, It had a thingie attatched to the front of the package stating that I could enter a code online and receive a free tree seedling that would be kosher for my region. And here it is! My Wall-e tree! It's a Colorado Blue Spruce, go figure.

2008-11-24T09:06:00.000-08:00

I don't care what anyone else thinks, Jasper was smokin' hot in Twilight!

I never really liked jasper in the books, sue me. It was all about edward and bella for me, and I didn't find jasper of any consequence.

But oh man, Jasper was so awesome in the movie! I loved how he looked like he was in pain all the time! And I loved when him and emmet were burning james, and jasper's all excited and jumping around. Frickin' Awesome!

I hope they give Jasper a bigger part in New Moon, he did great in this movie!

Okay, so I thought the movie was great. I will definetly see New Moon.

But, I refuse to see it during any time which teenage girls are allowed to be out and about. Being at that movie theatre with 100 teenagers discussing how edward was the perfect man was almost my undoing! There was a girl next to me who had to explain to her boyfriend (during the whole damn show!) why people were laughing, and who Jacob Black was! Who's Jacob Black? Why are you here philistine!

Anyway, that's that, I'm done.

This Is Halloween

2008-10-25T10:46:00.001-07:00

In my family, it wouldn't be Halloween without PUMPKINS! Every year, we do something different, and we always have the best pumpkins in the neighborhood!

The first on the left is Ian's haunted house, then my jack skellington, then Justin's kitty on the moon, and Pat's revenge of ichabod crane. We chose our designs well!

it's 5am?! Where are the kids?

2008-10-19T07:26:00.000-07:00

Where are my kids at 5am? Not in their beds! Ian has decided that no time should be wasted sleeping in on the weekends! He gets up, gets dressed, goes into the livingroom, turns on every light, and starts singing. Those of you who know me understand what a serious offense this morning time cheer is.
It is now 7:35am. Pat is still in bed, the kids are running around like loons, we've already had breakfast, and we're about to leave and go grocery shopping before they wake up the whole neighborhood!
I hate mornings!

don't look directly at the fish

2008-10-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind on the times, these are the fish we adopted a couple months ago.

Peaches, Oreo, Special, and Nemo.

They are large golfish, except for special, he's recovering from a bad bout of finrot.

All they want to do is eat. I'll be sitting on the couch reading my book, and I'll feel eight fishy eyes watching me! They beg for food all day! If you get within 2 feet of the tank, they start freaking out and knocking over the plants in the tank!

So that's why I tell my family, and friends, Don't look directly at the fish! They take that as a sign that you come bearing gifts of food! And if you don't pay homage, they try to jump out of the tank, and they spit rocks at the front of the tank! I figure when they get too big, I'll just find someone with an indoor pond, and they can adopt my adopted fish!

Smuggy MCsmuggerton

2008-10-01T22:07:00.000-07:00

I am so smug it should be illegal! I even had to celebrate with a secret midnight cheeseburger! My latest essay in my writing class was graded and returned to me today! There were no mistakes, and I was deemed "Grammatically perfect" by my writing teacher! I should be fined for this level of smugness!

Ha! I'm not the only one!

2008-09-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

I had a moment this morning, where I smiled to myself and felt very satisfied with the world in general. I take my 2 boys to the bus stop every morning, and I usually chat with my neighbors when I see them. Today one of neighbors was complaining that two of her girls had a fist fight on the bus home yesterday, and that they were openly disobedient towards her. She said they were grounded for a week and that she was shocked at their behavior.
As she told me all this, I was wheeling my 2-year-old home and he was kicking and screaming about the duckies not being in the creek where they should be.
And I couldn't help smiling to myself and thinking about all the bad things my boys have done lately! It's so wonderful to know that my kids are not the only bad ones that are grounded! In my opinion, my kids don't seem awfull now that I know other people are having the same problems! They are normal! HA!

highlights from the sausage fest.

2008-09-08T08:42:00.001-07:00

On saturday, we ventured into the unknown and visited the local sausage festival with our neighbors! We found out it was actually a catholic school fundraiser carnival, and they only had one kind of sausage! Pat said it was tasty, but I'm still dissapointed that the so-called "sausage fest" only had one variety! But Ian and Nevaeh got to go on a few rides, and play a couple carnival games. They each got a couple of prizes and got to eat an elephant ear, so it was worth it. And I got to take this funny picture of Pat, Ian,and Nevaeh!

my ginormous flowers

2008-09-05T19:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, if you look at the other pix of my flowers, you can see how huge they are now! The sweet peas(purple flowered vine) and forget-me-nots(little blue flowers mixed in with the sweet peas) are even bigger than they were when I took this picture 2 weeks ago. The sweet peas are almost 5 feet tall. My neighbors sweet peas aren't nearly as big as mine, and she's convinced that I'm giving them some kind of growth hormones in the dead of night!
All of my flowers are way huge! I hope they get this big next year too!

To blog is divine....

2008-09-04T20:38:00.000-07:00

There are 19 days until I start my G.E.D classes four nights a week! I'm very excited to finally be doing this, it was allot easier than I thought it would be!
But my new schedule will suck! I'm not looking forward to the craziness of full time mom/part-time student.
So, for now, I'm taking some time for myself. I'm not going to think about school until it's time to go! I'm going to blog, and update my myspace, and send e-mails, and skype, and play my Wii, and play in my garden, and whatever else suits my fancy nancy!

school time

2008-08-25T17:26:00.000-07:00

9 days until Ian starts the first grade!

Ah, It's that magical time of the year when I get to send my overly-active 6 year old back to school. His clothes and supplies are hanging in his closet, and he is not so patiently waiting to use his new things. Ian loves new clothes, so I have to remind him several times a day that he cannot wear them until the first day of school. He loves shoes even more than he loves clothes.....I had to hide his shoes to get any peace.

We get to meet his new teacher the day before school starts. My only hope is that she isn't offended by class clownery, or her and Ian might never get along.

Today, I start my college adventure!

2008-08-12T09:21:00.000-07:00

Well, today I start my twice weekly classes that will introduce me to college life, and take my G.E.D pre-test to establish which classes I should take. After that, I start my 5 weeks of general education classes. Then I can take the G.E.D test!
ADVENTURE!

The weekend of fun is over. Huzzah!

2008-08-10T21:35:00.000-07:00

Many events took place over these last few days. ALL my in-laws came into town, and we traveled all over Oregon on various quests for fun. We went to the beach and froze our butts off! I know, anywhere else we would be sweating! But not at the coast! we couldn't stay that long because of the crappy weather, but we did get to see Pat's aunt Dani and uncle don. They're peachy keen!
The next day after our ocean adventure, we hit the road and drove somewhere past Salem Oregon to visit my father in laws' friends' parents' cabin. wow that's complicated. But the cabin was awesome! It was right on the water! So we spread my in laws' mothers' ashes while we were down there. It was a nice spot. I wanted to stay there forever! Then today we had a wolfington family reunion. I met allot of people that I probably won't remember by tomorrow. But everyone now knows me as the girl who made the awesome deviled eggs. In fact, I was introduced to everyone as Patrick's wife Sarah who made the deviled eggs that were just wonderful!
I'm just glad that it's over and we can relax now. We're all tired and need some time to get back to a normal schedule! Damn it!

Nutria's revenge!

2008-07-29T11:08:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was at my father-in-laws house picking various ripe berries in our garden. I brought my neighbor with me so that the job would go faster, and she could have half of everything we picked. We were half way done when I noticed that underneath one of the marion berry bushes there was a nutria. For all you who don't know, a nutria is a cross between a rodent and a beaver.They have beaver teeth, a beaver body, webbed back feet, and a big rat tail. Don't ask me how the nutria came to exist, I don't even want to know. They are generally peaceful and scared of humans, but they will bite if they're scared.
So I took my kids inside and pat & my neighbor tried to get the nutria out of the yard. Well, the thing was hurt, and after many failed attempts to get anyone out to the house to remove the nutria, we decided to move the nutria back to the creek bed over the fence behind my father-in-laws back yard. That's usually where the nutrias live. So we thought he would stay there. Long story short, he didn't stay there. He went the long way around the house and got back into the yard because my father in law had left his side gate open! Nermal! Three days later, we went back to his house to discover the now dying nutria in his yard again! This time we called the police and they came and disposed of the animal. The cop put a "suppressor" (he called it a suppressor, but we all know it was a silencer) on his gun and shot the nutria in the back yard.
The thing was so hurt it could barely walk, all I can say is that it was determined to die in that back yard! It used up all it's strength to get back there! I don't have any pictures of nutrias, but you should google it, they're icky!

Leavin' on a jet plane....

2008-07-07T09:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I've finally decided to continue on with my plan to go to Colorado. I was going to reschedule my tickets and stay here, but I'm going because it would be a waste of money to reschedule.

I will be bringing the destroyer with me, and may Neptune have mercy on all our souls!

What? Did someone say my name?

my flower bed

2008-06-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

So, this is my flower bed that I made underneath my livingroom window. It is wonderfull and beautifull!

Toothless wonder

2008-06-13T08:26:00.000-07:00

This is the fifth tooth Ian has lost! He looks like a jack-o-lantern! Or maybe a hockey player!

He's getting so big! The last day of kindergarten is on tuesday, and I just can't believe that he'll be in first grade this fall!

yesterday

2008-06-07T08:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Pat had his last test with the urologist, and we're officially done having babies! Woo-Hoo! I celebrated by buying flower seeds,shocking, I know....
I went out last night with my neighbor and one of her friends to an adult "toy" party. It was pretty interesting.
And that's all I have to say about that.
Pat stayed at home with the boys and saw to their manly education by watching the first indiana jones movie with them. They loved it!
I was treated to an hour long discussion of the movie first thing this morning. Ian's hooked, I have no choice but to get the other two movies and let him see them.

more stuff, and the WARBEAST

2008-06-04T08:47:00.000-07:00

Dianthus
Morning glories, and my toes...
Wave petunias in a hanging basket
Justin playing baseball at joe's house
Ian on the warbeast at joe's house
So, I had a productive weekend. Ian built a new planter box for veggies at joe's house, and I planted more flowers! Yeah!
Also, I had to bribe Ian to get this picture. He was allready playing the warbeast when I came inside from watering the veggies, and he knew he was in trouble. So, I bribed him with a cheeseburger and this was the best he would give me.

plants

2008-06-04T08:41:00.000-07:00

So, this is probably my new favorite flower, stock.

It smells WONDERFUL

12 days!

2008-06-02T12:44:00.000-07:00

There are 12 days of school left! I'm more excited about this that Ian is! It's like I get a summer vacation too!
But the weather sucks! We are nothing but doom and gloom here, and it's chilly!
I'm just hoping that in 2 weeks, the warm weather hits! Or else I'm in trouble.
Also, I'm proud to say that Ian is in the top of his class for math! I'll freely admit, he got pat's gene's on this one. I'm hopeless at math.

Garden

2008-05-26T09:43:00.000-07:00

Well, the ever expanding vegetable/ fruit garden is still growing. We now have: cilantro, oregano, lettuce, cauliflower,broccoli,jalapenos,green peppers, yellow peppers, red peppers, two other kinds of peppers that I can't remember(the tag said HOT), pablano peppers,peas, green beans, zucchini, lemon cucumbers, regular cucumbers, baby carrots, spinach, walla walla sweet onions, cantaloupe, watermelon, sweet corn, three different types of tomatoes, five grape vines, eight blueberry bushes, three cherry trees, too many:blackberry,marionberry,boysenberry,and raspberry vines to count, and two brand new Asian pear trees!
(F.Y.I. We also have pumpkins, but we can't plant them yet)
So there you have it. We've gone nuts! Joe's even experimenting with a homemade watering system and plans on building another planter box today. I guess this is just another way we're biting our thumbs at "the man" and his high food prices!

Yesterday

2008-05-19T09:16:00.000-07:00

Proof of the heat wave! Please make note of the blue sky! You might not see it in another washington picture for a while! And, that's actually a three ring pool, but the heat and water did something globular to it and the middle ring sank to the ground.

A tropical heat wave

2008-05-18T08:45:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, we're havin' a heat wave! On friday it was 96 degrees with humidity, yesterday it was 93 with humidity, and today we're supposed to be about 83 with 75 % humidity! Me and my neighbors have been burnt to a crisp because we have been congregating outside every day. The kids are all right, since we were diligent with THEIR sunblock they are just getting tan instead of burning.
I brought Ian's blow-up pool to my apartment yesterday and set it up for the kids, and I'm glad that I did! The pool that was supposed to open yesterday had to close early because it wasn't fit to swim in and had to have it's chemicals redone! EEEWWWWW! But we had fun anyway, we had the little pool, waterballoons, and super soakers. We grilled burgers and hot dogs, and there may have been a tiny little bit of alcohol consumption.
All in all, it was good times

Speed Racer

2008-05-14T09:23:00.001-07:00

Pat Said that Speed Racer was good
He said it's very fast-paced and brightly colored
like some crazy acid trip. But it had some really
cool special effects in it, and he thought it was great!

Nemo 2.0

2008-05-14T09:14:00.001-07:00

Well, the other day we got fishies from the pet store! There names are: Nemo, Special, and Sparkle. Sadly, Nemo died yesterday while justin was taking a nap. So I had to run out and get a new one before he realized that his Nemo was not in the tank.
So now, we have Nemo 2.0 ( I don't think he's as pretty as the other Nemo, but this was all they had).

2008-05-10T08:11:00.000-07:00

Ian has lost another tooth! After two weeks of pain, and lots of complaining, he ripped it out last night! Huzzah! That was the fourth tooth he's lost so far, and brings his tooth fairy money count up to $8. We figured with the rising cost of everything, $2 each gives him a decent chance to get something at the store. Oh, and, Ian had a great week at school, and he aced a math test! So It's off to speed racer they go today! I'll report back later with all the thrilling details.

2008-05-08T20:09:00.000-07:00

Well, I've officially started my spring flower planting! I've got Cyclamen (shown here in red and white), tuberous begonias in Go-Go Orange( I'm not even joking, that's their name and color), primroses, mums, mini purple daisies, forget-me-nots, ultra violet pansies, and this year I'm growing my own geraniums...so I have 15 seedlings that I just transplanted today. Plus, I went and bought my neighbor some pansies in different colors( one is called Matrix Morpheus, you can't make this stuff up!) some English daisies, and a huge pot of yellow snapdragons! So, we're supposed to plant her stuff tomorrow. And, we're doing a vegetable garden over at my father-in-laws house. We're going to have: corn, beans, lettuce, watermelons, pumpkins, three different kinds of peppers, tomatoes, celery, cucumbers, walla walla sweet onions, broccoli, and I can't remember the rest. Let's just say, I've gone insane with the planting. Every year I get more flowers, so I have to get more pots to put them in! Then I need more potting soil, and I always buy too much so then I have to buy more planters and more flowers! It's a vicious cycle. I think I'm an addict, maybe someone should cut me off before I go through with my plan to dig up my neighbors lilac bush because I think it would be "happier" at my house.

Star Wars

2008-04-30T20:10:00.000-07:00

A week ago, my 6 year old (yes, the ninja Ian) has become obsessed with star wars! We watch a different movie every day directly after lunch, and he is now a font of star wars trivia knowledge. He can tell you where anakin skywalker lived before he was a jedi. He knows the difference between an X-wing, a Y-wing, and an imperial starship. And he knows what color light saber everyone has! He insists that he's seen a real ewok before, and that he can hear obi wan kenobi speak to him. He's just obsessed! Could it possibly have anything to do with pat's collection of star wars figurines, movies, legos, video games, and toys? Call me crazy, but I think we're one small step away from being insane star wars convention people who dress up as tuskan raiders to prove that we're worthy fans to the other geeks!
AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ninjas

2008-04-25T13:28:00.000-07:00

So, I've decided that my 6 year old is ready for swim lessons. He thinks he'd rather be in karate so that he can be a ninja. So I calmly explained to him that a ninja can still drown, and his reply was: " I wouldn't drown, I would karate chop the water like kachow, pow-pow (insert dramatic hand chopping motion here) and knock all the water out of the pool". But I insisted that he get swim lessons, so now he's content to practice his ninja skills at home.

nutri-grain bars

2008-04-25T12:44:00.000-07:00

So, I've found out that my two year old cannot survive without nutri-grain bars! A new grocery store opened recently down the road from my house, so I decided to shop there instead of driving across town to my regular store. I bought my groceries, and bought nutri-grain bars for my kids. But they were different from the ones I had bought before, they had some kind of icing on the bar, and my 2 year old was not amused! He wanted the bars, but as soon as he tasted the frosting he flipped out and mashed the bar into the carpet! And he would cry for the bars, and reach for them on the shelves, just to be even more upset when he realized they were the same ones! This went on for a couple of days until I had enough and drove all of us to the store across town to get the nutri-grain bars that were not tainted with "ickies"! We had to sit justin in the cart, so that he could be close to the three boxes of nutri-grain bars he could not live without! He was so excited, he kept saying: " my bars! Blue bars, green bars, berry bars, my bars!"
So, as soon as we got home he devoured 3 of them in rapid succession! That was all he'd eat! And the next morning, he wouldn't eat his breakfast either! He begged me to cook eggs, but did he want them when they were made? Oh No! Surely they were poison, and he wasn't going to eat this slop when he had the nectar of the gods just a few feet away.
So, when I was busy trying to clean up the bathroom, he took one of his little plastic chairs and his grabber( its a toy that is a long arm with a handle on one end and little pinching arms on the other end that can grab things) and helped himself to a couple of nutri-grain bars! There's no stopping him! Perhaps if I buy some of those airtight bear containers, fill them with nutri-grain bars, and hang them from the tree outside he wont be able to sniff them out and help himself to their fruity goodness!

Black-Pat

2008-04-16T18:43:00.000-07:00

So this is Pat, my wonderful husband.
Proud owner of 200 transformers , 75 lego sets, 2 car racing tracks, numerous comic books & collectibles, radio controlled cars and hellicopters, a ps2, a wii, a gameboy, a super nintendo, a nintendo 64, and an original nintendo. I'm sure I left some stuff out,
It's been awhile since I went through his stuff and demanded a down-size.
He likes to read, and we mostly like to read the same things, which is nice because we allways have something to talk about.
Sometimes I like that he's a big kid because I refuse to play transformers with the boys. That's the only thing I absolutely wont do. It's my girly right to refuse to play the super boy games! He is a native oregonian (or Portlander), but we met in Utah too long ago to mention.
We share the same passion for video games. And, more often than not, he's mad at me for hogging the wii. I think we're well matched, but I can kick his butt in dart tag! Oh Yeah!
He's a good daddy, and the boys pine for him while he's at work. We would be lost without his manly skills.

Justinother stark

2008-04-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

He may be the smallest of the starks, but I think he has
the most attitude. His favorite phrase is : "I wanna do it!"
Justin is going through a difficult 2 year old temper tantrum phase.
He loves to be outside. I think it's because he was born in
washington, and state law requires that natives spend at least
half of their day outside making merry. He also is a shoe fiend,
which makes me wonder where my children inherited this trait!?
He was a very inactive baby when I was pregnant with him, and
now he's hell on wheels. I call him little Mcgyver, because he can
make something out of nothing, and he's allways in trouble.
I think he'll grow up to be a sky-diving motorcycle riding dare-devil.

In another lifetime, she was a queen

2008-04-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

In my world full of boys, this is the queen who rules them all. She does have one lady-in-waiting, princess Cora,but she is far too young to threaten her rule. She is all girl! Her knowlegde of tweendom is great and her shoe collection vast. There could never be enough pink, or cheetah print, or sparklies in her world, and all must bow down or suffer her wrath, which is great indeed. I think she's tired of all the boys with their stinky ways and light saber battles. But, alas, we cannot change their gender, and why would we want to? We allready have the world's most perfect girl!

Funny things

2008-04-16T09:41:00.001-07:00

My oldest son, Ian, is the class clown. He lives to entertain one and all. He is full of energy day and night and he's the ultimate chatter box. He has his own ideas about how he should dress, and we mortals are not allowed to help with his wardrobe choices unless he deems us worthy. He is a shoe fiend, we cannot even think about getting shoes for any other member of the family unless we have enough money to buy him new shoes too. He wont hesistate to tell family members his thoughts on their outfits, especially their shoes....sorry Tobi. His greatest ambition used to be to go to Texas. But now, he would rather go to Ireland. And have 100 dollars. I don't know why, but in his 6 year old mind 100 dollars beats anything. He says funny stuff all the time. But, of course since I want to write about it, I can't remember it! I'll be doing separate posts for each child, so maybe I'll remember later and add it in.

Well, we've arrived

2008-04-16T08:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I have to say first that my sister MADE me do
this. I never wanted a blog. In true north-west fashion
I've been damning the man, finding energy efficient
ways to make my life better and cheaper, eating meat
free of antibiotics, buying crazy organic things like sheets
and makeup, and promoting peace and serenity via my
flower garden on my patio.
But in my zen-like hour of yoga this morning, I decided
That maybe she was right, and I did need a blog of my
very own. Plus, I allready have a myspace page, so I'm
allready as mainstream as I can get.
So, here you go tobi. Your north-west invasion has
arrived!