the needle

fountain

alice cooper

This was one of many of the"dollar jobs" the kids were begging us to give them.  We done go broke handin' out dollars to these chillins.  Come to find out, they're all saving for webkinz.
Rob and Jim Jim makin' pizzas with the kiddies.
Gab and I heading into the city for some cheese and wine at her friend's house. Gabby refered to herself as Alice Cooper all night.  I'm not sure she'll let me near her again...with my sly grin, makeup bag in tow.  

pike place market

The gum wall.  Really cool.  Really gross.  Emma told us that this was an old theater where the owner grew tired of cleaning gum from under chairs so told people to put their gum on the wall before coming into the theatre.  
We ate hom bows (Vietnamese) for lunch.  They were very yummy.




The bus ride after late nights, early mornings, and way too much fun.  

sun country kids

Check out these cute kids!

take one...

day one

The kiddies had their last day of school.  We saw this cool hearse on the way home from school. We think Uncle Randy could trade in the Big Nasty for this.

We're here.  Rob is sleeping.  Kids are playing.  Gab and I are going for a walk.  We are so happy to be here.

seattle hillbillies

In case you missed the lyrics:

We're headin' to Seattle for to see the Roffey clan.
We're stayin' for a week, even longer if we can.
We're flyin on SunCountry...scrapped the drivin' plan.
Iffen we stay longer, we'll head home to get the van.

ken

Reeny asked me to put this dress on her "barbie". Why not, I ask. Why not?

dive

Anna took her pool side dive to the diving board...big stuff!!

pickle girl

photographer

The girls were hanging laundry outside when Izzy came dashing in for the camera. She wanted to try her hand at photography. Here is a sampling of her work...

lemonade stand

The lemonade stand is open for business. This is a long awaited event. The girls start asking to set up their stand in April. I make them wait until the first hot day. This is it. Unfortunately, storms rolled in and they had to take down about 1/2 hour after they opened. They made 30 cents. Rob and Anna each bought a glass for 15 cents each. Anna left her post at the stand to get money. She came out of the house and pretended to be happening by. Then she noticed the stand. Oh, she was such a thirsty girl. Thank goodness for the people selling lemonade!



Should we be worried about this girl?

which is your favorite?

candid?

or posed?

cleaning windows

I washed 5 windows today. It took all day. Any of you who have children at home understand.
The interruptions included requests for snacks, drinks, and the miscellaneous, not to mention the occasional diffusion of mini-civil disputes. If I wasn't serving drinks, I was cleaning up after the drinks (before the ants came marching in). Orange juice, apple juice, iced mocha, ice water, milk, green tea, ice tea...you name it, we drank it. I pulled out paints for one and put a bandaid on another. I helped the painter with the pretty extensive cleanup, since she started with brushes and ended with sponges...each letter of the alphabet. We emptied out the kitchen cupboard of bowls, cups, spoons, etc., so some girls could play Little House on the Prairie. They even decided they needed to light every candle in the house because there was no electricity in the Little House on the Prairie days. I chased a very sandy dirty 2 year old around before I caught her and tossed her into the tub. I yelled out of the window way too many times to tell the kids to turn off the hose because they were wasting good water. They told me that they wanted to make a lake but the water kept disappearing into the sand. I shooed 3 older, wiser, but still filthy girls to the upstairs tub where I came up later to find the bathroom floor sandy, wet clothes and towels all over, and a mound of sand and barbies lying in a heap on the bottom of a previously clean tub.
I was still in my pj's at 6 o'clock, but I got 5 windows clean and they look really good.

teacher of the year

I grabbed the girls and their teachers for a end of the year photo. They all love their teachers. So do we.

more notes

I've been in the backpack purging mode lately. The kids are now coming home with a years worth of notes, artwork, and food laying at the bottom of their school bags. I started weeding through a pile of Anna's this morning. I found a note written to her friend Cammy and it reminded me of all my note writing days when I was in school. This one is on a little white paper folded in half. It says on the outside:
To: Cammy
From: Claudia (Claudia Anna is her full name and she uses Claudia at school)
It is decorated with pencil drawings of hearts, paw prints, and smile-y faces.
On the inside it says:
Cammy, I like our sub!
P.S. She's nice! not like that other guy!
Love, Claudia

notes

The girls were working hard upstairs in the art room, heads huddled together over the table. There were lots of scratching sounds, pencils moving, eraser bits flying and whispers whispers. Then feet scurrying and more whispers. Later as I walked by their bedroom, I noticed what all the fuss was about. Taped to their door was a note. It was uncomplicated. Not the usual glitter. No stickers. Just a note written in pencil. NO BOYS ALLOWED. In fine print below. EXCEPT DADS, GRANDPAS, AND UNCLES.
As a parent of four someday teenage girls, I would like to add my own fine print. It would say,
I CONCUR.

renewed commitment

I know I have been lax. For the first time ever, I came to the computer to tranfer my pictures from my camera to iphoto and there were no pictures to transfer! It isn't like I don't have material. Or willing subjects for that matter. I live in a house ripe with photo-op. I promise to get back on photo detail.
My most recent favorite outing was on Sunday. It was a gorgeous day. We were at Mema and Papa's house for dinner after church. Lisa was working, so Matt and their kids and all of us, minus sleeping baby, went for a bike ride to the beach/park. It was so beautiful. We brought a soccer ball and played a game of soccer on the shores of Lake Michigan. I'm not sure who's team won (which probably means it wasn't mine). I'm proud to say that I scored a goal. I think I surprised the goalie with my agility and speed.
It would have been a great day for a picture.