Definition

Definition of "sexy" according to Cole: When two people like each other so much that then they have to kiss on the lips. Information came from his friend Bradley. Glad to see they are well informed.

Easter pictures

What happens when you try to take Easter pictures on one of the first sunny days in Seattle?

You get this...

 or this....

Your kids can't look at you without squinting or they won't look at you! I was laughing so hard because it really wasn't that sunny, but when you live in a cloud covered world it does seem to be a foreign object in April.

This was the best I could get of the boys! I love it because Matt also has the squint problem in the sun and looks just like these guys when he does it!

This one turned out okay. I was disappointed in the sun spot but what do you do!

 I also enjoyed buying our first Easter DRESS!

Easter

Easter weekend was BUSY and Matt was out of town. For some reason it seems to be the holiday that we have spent apart for half our marriage! I was teaching the combined YW lesson and was trying to get a few other activities things planned. Plus with Matt being gone it was just busy!

The Easter bunny brought a few toys and left eggs filled with money.

 Ethan last minute asked for the "Dagedar" track for Christmas and we told him that Santa didn't know in time so we saved this surprise for Easter.

 Tess got Mary Poppins. Not because she will watch TV but because I wanted to own it!

 Cole got Kai's blade cycle, a ninjago guy. He built a lot of it himself!

Then we decorated eggs after church.

Since I knew Matt was going to be out of town I invited myself over to my friends Melissa's house for dinner. We then got an invite to our friend Katie's house. We enjoyed a nice smoked ham and the company!

Ohio

Matt went to Ohio to be with his brother Michael that just had emergency open heart surgery. He was able to be with him and his family for a week.

Hand, foot and mouth

Yeah, Tess got it. It was kind of sad because according to the pediatrician she had a really "virulent" case! Poor thing was really sad and up at night for about a week. It was a little painful. Here are pictures to prove it.

Sacrament meeting escapade

Usually when your kids have a special primary musical number in sacrament meeting you sit back, enjoy the song and gleam with pride. When I know my kids have a special musical number I cringe a little and hope for the best. This last performance had to rank up there among one of their greatest performances! Both boys went up (that isn't always the case and maybe for the better) to sing a song about loving your family. (I see my mother kneeling...yeah, that one, it is really long) Ethan started it off by jumping up on the front edge so Cole decided he should pull him down. This meant that Ethan turned around and grabbed Cole's cheeks and squeezed them and or punched him. And then, they repeated this process throughout the entire song, over and over and over. When it first happened I asked Matt if I should go and get him but he said no. We sat and watched with horror and again I had time to ask if I should go pull them down but we couldn't figure out what would be more distracting. Some girls behind them tried to get them to stop as well as the chorister to no avail. We just got to watch them. A few people came up afterwards and offered their condolences but the best comments were:

"Wow, you were so composed during that entire affair, I would have been dying if my kids did that."
"We have been talking about that incident for weeks. Your boys are very entertaining."
"I could just see your ears going red. I would have been furious as well."

And the comments keep on coming and it seems like we get to talk about it all the time! I believe one of the reasons I was given my children was to increase my embarrassment tolerance....So far it is working.

Paint assistant!

When we were getting our house ready we were touching up a little bit of paint. Tess was crawling all around and Matt was watching out to make sure she didn't get into the paint. He ended up putting a gallon of paint on the ground and didn't realize Tess had discovered it! Next thing I hear is Matt yelling that Tess was in the paint. I look down the hall and she is literally grabbing it with her hands and putting it in the carpet! Matt handed me Tess and I took her to the sink to clean up while he doused the carpet with water and rags to get the paint out. Tess had dripped paint all over my wool skirt, had it all over her pajamas and the amount in the carpet was quite significant. Fortunately, all the paint came out of the carpet and even out of the clothes! It was a close call.

The day we almost sold our home.

We had a friend that was interested in buying our house. We thought this was great and were excited at the prospect of moving into something a little bit bigger. We worked like crazy to get everything ready and in tip top shape. I have to say, the place looks awesome. We even looked at a handful of rental homes and other homes that we could possibly buy. We had decided that our new dream was to live in a tri level! Ha, how the real estate market can impact your dreams.

Then, the appraisal came in. It came in less then what we bought the house for over 6 years ago and 30 thousand dollars later in updates! Not to mention the HOURS and HOURS of hard work and labor mostly done by Matt. Hmmm, that is kind of sad.

Plan B is to get a quote for another bathroom. Two toilets are always better than one! I guess we will just have to think skinny for at least another year and hope that something good happens to the market or we win the next mega millions! I think the boys just might be the most disappointed. They have dreams to live in a house with stairs...

Who wouldn't want to buy this place?

Literally tree huggers.

After seven years in Seattle I have come to appreciate the nuances of the area. I can recycle like nobody's business, I don't use umbrella's in the rain, all clothes and shoes I own are purchased after considering the wet tolerance and I know it isn't kosher to talk politics. So, when I saw our lovely park with tree sweaters, I couldn't help but smile.

Basketball

Cole and Ethan took a basketball class this winter. Cole enjoyed it, but Ethan did not...I tried to get a few photos, but due to user error this video is all I got!

Throwing away homework....

One day when Cole is successfully in a career we will all reminisce and laugh about the days he threw away his homework in Kindergarten. Until then, I'm not quite sure what to think about it.....Cole has homework almost everyday and after midwinter break he kept saying that he didn't have any. I volunteer every Friday morning so when I saw all the kids handing in homework I got suspicious. I talked to another mom and found out that sure enough Cole was getting homework but somehow it wasn't making it home. He confessed that he would throw it away when the teacher gave it to him. We talked to his teacher and thought we had resolved the problem.

Then he had a sub, Sure enough Cole pulled the I don't have any homework trick again but I happened to be there trying to get a card signed for his teachers birthday and again saw all the homework getting handed in. Well, the next day he had a playdate and had also convinced his friend to ditch his homework. This time instead of throwing it away he just put it back into a cubby.

The ultimate punishment for Cole is to take away his media time. So, he is going a whole week without it! He asked how he could earn media back and I said by telling the truth. He decided to have a major confessional about everything he has done. Fortunately, the rest of the confessions have been very minor.

I'm glad to see that Cole is creative and understands how to get around things in order to get what he wants. Those traits will serve him well one day. Until then. Let's hope he has learned his lesson and will always do his homework!