Chad Eats Dog Treats

 St Patrick's Day

But they taste like jerky, so it's no biggie.  And made of pure chicken.  So yes, I had to try it too after he did...and I think he'll live.  But they're practically hard as a rock!

In other news...Chad got 4 A's and 2 B's.  Sarah got straight A's with several A pluses.  And their teachers love them.  I'm so proud!  They had to work really hard for that.  And my dog even learned how to sit today!  Good things are happening around here.

Don't even recognize her when wet!

Fluffy again...much better.  Sarah's favorite way to hold her.

I announced to the kids that Dad had four more days left to close a bunch of sales for the end of his sales year and bring home the bacon so they started making up signs and cheers for him!  Alyssa and Ava were marching around chanting, "Go Russ!  Go Russ!" and singing some made up song for him and Russ was doing a hip hop dance to their beat.  Super cute.  Four more days!  GO RUSS!  He's SO close to making quota in his first year with his new career.

Chad is on the school JV basketball team and has loved it.  The kids are super genuine and supportive and cheer him on from the bench and on the court.

And the quote of the day had to be from Sarah.  Watching a church broadcast and choir perform she saw the guest artist and said, "LOOK!  She's playing the harpoon!"  I'm like, "Um...harpoons kills whales.  That's not a harpoon."  I'm glad she doesn't know everything just yet!

Or maybe it was Chad completely serious..."Dad, is it bad to be totally awesome?"

Life Changing Puppy Love

 
It all began with a phone call.  My sister-in-law Liza said, "Lola's mom and dad had puppies again!"  My heart leaped out of my chest, I squealed, and the 2 month planning process began.  We love their dog Lola and prayed for one of our own.  Liza changed our life.

We kept it a secret from the kids.  Russ flew to visit family in Utah and picked her up.  Everyone at the airport thought he was carrying around a stuffed animal until she moved!  Even the flight attendants were taking pictures of her.

The first night was horrible.  She slept in her kennel in our bathroom, and she cried and wailed and barked ALL NIGHT LONG.  Almost every hour.  No sleep.  And I was trying to keep her quiet because I wanted to surprise the kids the next day after school!  Thank goodness the next night was perfect.  No more kennel at night for her until she likes it.

Ava and I played with her and let her sleep on us for 5 hours straight the first day!  Ava didn't even eat breakfast or lunch because she was just too happy.
 She couldn't stop to eat. I forced her to eat at 2 pm.   She can't part with her.  She cried when I made her put the puppy in the kennel while I showered.  Got nothing done that day!  Supervising this puppy is a full time job.

Mom and Dad came over to see the kids come home from school and freak out.  Mom even brought dinner like she would for the mother of a newborn.  And boy did I need it with no sleep and no desire to cook!  I was mentally not available for regular duties.

The kids did not disappoint.  They love her more than I could even have imagined.  They hate going to school because they miss her.
 This puppy is SO sweet, so patient, so soft, so tiny, so playful, so much work, so loving, so cuddly, so life changing.  I still can't believe it but it's also so very real. 

I'm still freaking out. 

  

Dancing King

This picture is first only because I like it so much!

Where do I even start?  My first child went to his first dance tonight!  The conversation tonight went like this..."How many squirts of cologne did you use?"...  "Did you brush your teeth?"  He looked and smelled great... and he knew it.  Then on the way there...

"OH DARNET!  I forgot to teach you how to slow dance!!!" 

He thought he knew and showed me in the car some moves like he was swing dancing.  "Okay, I'm going to sneak you into a room and I'll show you.  Just don't let your hand slip too low on her waist!"  I pulled him into the RS room, and taught him how.  He had NO idea...so I'm so glad I showed him!  I stayed for a few songs, and I couldn't help but beam with joy.  He was in his element.  The girls were so happy to see him and gave him hugs.  He slow danced like a pro.  And on the fast dances the 8th grade kids formed a circle with him dancing in the middle the whole time.  He LOVES to dance.   Now, I hope someone else got a turn in the middle eventually because Chad was there the whole time for a few songs!!!!  Need to work on taking turns next. 

(Update...looks like Chad had 20 people around him in the circle and at times people copied his moves.  He said some guy "stole his spot" and did a better caterpillar than he did, but he's "still the better dancer".  Another guy told him to take a break which is a good thing because Chad said he almost threw up he was dancing so hard!  And it's only polite to take turns in the middle anyway.  We'll work on that.)

I shed a tear on the way home so happy for him.  I wish the me right now could talk to the me 10 years ago and tell her about this night.  She would be filled with joy.  Life is good.  Really good.

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My kids have been begging begging BEGGING for me to make a blog post lately.  Almost every day.  They LOVE this family blog.  Sorry kids!  I know I'm lagging a bit, but I've been cleaning up after you so maybe if you pick up your junk I can get to blogging more often. ;)

So here's the month in review...

Sarah and Paige did full make-up, hair, and photo shoot for the girls and the girls were loving it.

Got my once a year hair cut.  The view at Mom and Dad's in winter is spectacular.

First snow day in 2 years.  No school!

I shrunk Sarah's favorite dress like 2 or 3 sizes.  It's now Alyssa's favorite dress.

Burnt toast because every kid needed me at once and I forgot about it!  Good thing Russ found it or it could have caught on fire.

Alyssa performed in Dr. Suessical the Musical!  She aced her super long part.

Ski free food drive and date night!  We owe these awesome dates to Sarah.

On top of the world at Mount Spokane!

Chad had his 14th birthday party at Laser Quest and here at the house.  He was in Heaven!

The sphere in the middle is the Death Star, or a ball covered in frosting... one kid licked the whole thing!

The End

More Bragging...

It's tradition...the whole "most likely to succeed", "best eyes", "best hair", "most likely to get married", etc., vote they do for the yearbook.  This is Chad's first year back to the regular middle school, and he has been super outgoing and loves to compliment most every body all the time.  Drum Roll......................Chad was nominated and won "Best Personality" at Evergreen Middle School!

I was so happy for him.  Many years ago after getting the autism diagnosis we could never have guessed this would happen a decade later.  He has grown so much and learned a lot in 10 years.

One more reason you can't help but love the guy...So yesterday I went to watch his first 8th grade boys basketball practice.  40 boys (some look like men!) are in a big circle around the gym facing each other doing some serious cardio (running lines, push-ups, etc.).  Everyone is totally serious (they're trying out for JV/Varsity) and sweating and the only sound you hear are feet pounding on the gym floor.   Then the coach tells them to jump up and down with their hands above their heads.  So while they are ALL doing this...it's totally quiet...Chad reaches for his inner Jay Z and rhythmically yells at the top of his lungs smiling,

"PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR, LIKE YOU JUST DON'T CARE!"

No one makes a sound and the coach ignores it, but I am busting up on the bleachers.  It was hilarious!  He did it again a couple minutes later.  No one laughed.  But I did, of course!!!  We walk around the house and act like that all the time.  I told Chad not to do that again because socially it wasn't a good idea.  Bummer.  I wish it was.  

Princess Sarah

One of the best nights ever!  Couldn't be a more proud mom.  Sarah...the rock star that she always is...did not disappoint.  She worked SO hard and learned about an hour and a half of choreography to perform a lead role as a princess in Spokane Youth Ballet's performance of "The Dancing Princesses."  (Kind of like the Nutcracker...but a different plot).   It was a sold out crowd at the breathtakingly gorgeous Fox Theater.  She shined and glowed all night long.  I was in Heaven too.  The amount of hours and work that went into this night is hard to grasp...but it all paid off.  23 hours of dancing in one week alone plus the many many other weeks of rehearsal.  They flew in pros from across the country to be the leads.  Loved it...but the shiny white tights on the lead male were a little much!  Ava said, "Mom...the guy with the invisible cape had no pants on!!!!"

 4 Costume Changes!  One time I caught her taking her costume off as she was leaving the stage!  They only have seconds.

I didn't get any pics of the multiple back drops, but they were amazing.

 Her head is the really blurry one bent wayyy back.

 All of my pics were super blurry unless she was standing absolutely still.  So no cool action shots.

 Even Russ liked it!!!  What?!  Well, his daughter was on stage all night.

 3 sets of flowers from family and friends!

 Friends.

 Very ornate theatre with gorgeous ceilings!

Her friends were hilarious...they especially couldn't get over the pro ballerino's tights and I think the words "ballerino bum crack" will be an inside joke with them for years.

And now we're glad to get our life back!  Especially Saturdays!!!  We need to hit the slopes.

Mo Maui

So here are more Maui pics.  I can't wait to get back to HI.  I don't know when though because we got there this time for free (frequent flier miles) and got screaming deals on hotels.  Maybe I'll have to retire there.  I mean the smells, the sounds, the air, the colors, the textures....there is NOTHING like it in the world.  Heaven.  After a few days in Heavenly Hana we stayed on the west side...

Oops, this is actually in Hana by our condo on the beach.  Anyway, staying in Hana is a must for a few days.  Yes, we did have to buy $9 a gallon milk, but the quiet, the beauty, the peace, the sounds, the color...all worth it.  We hiked a lot, swam a lot, ate a lot, and ran into Cameron Diaz, A Rod, and Naomi Campbell (her twice).  And Stephen King.

 Russ won a dinner at work so we chose the famous Mama's Fish House.  The bill came to...gulp...$220!  For two!  And was paid for by his boss.  Yikes.  It was gorgeous.  Right on the beach, flowers everywhere...even on the TP!

 This is our attire to a super fancy dinner...hiking boots included (on Russ at least).  What can we say...we're always hiking in Hawaii?!

 View from the table.

 "The Black Pearl"  Amazing.

 A Random Dude riding with a parrot on his bike.

 Orchids in our drinks.

 One day we went up to hike in the moonscape of the volcano...but it was SO windy, we had to hide behind rocks to keep our ears from freezing off.

 We're so high up the clouds are WAY below us.

 Church by the beach.

 Russ studying the sunday school lesson on the beach.

 Too lazy to fix this crooked picture.

 Last Day was a snorkel and sailing cruise to Lanai.  The humpback whales were everywhere!  Even under our boat, beside our boat, behind our boat.  About 70 spinner dolphins hung out with us for a while.  The snorkeling was so clear, water warm and calm, and the variety of bright fish and coral was something I'll never forget.

 The Westin Villas.  Time Share presentation was a waste of time... but poured rain all day anyway.  We did come away with $175 to spend at the resort.  So not a total waste! 

 And I have to put these pics in of Ava and a friend.  They played with paper towels and cardboard boxes for 4 hours straight!  Who needs fancy hotels and fine dining to have fun anyway? :)

 So we've been back from vacay for a bit now, and the biggest shock to my system was having to cook again. It was really really weird. Almost like I forgot how and just didn't want to do it anymore. And homework! Ouch. Just last night I spent 5 hours helping Chad edit (yes, just edit) his 5 paragraph essay. Craziness.


I also hosted the RS Lunch Bunch at my house for 20 ladies. That was a LOT of cooking and cleaning. It turned out really well, food delish, house spotless, and was a fun time, but getting ready for it took hours upon hours. At one point I'm scrubbing my floor and say, "Only stupid people do this kind of stuff because smart people would never do this!" (A bit stressed maybe?) I only hosted it because I'm afraid of it so I do it like exposure therapy. I still hate it. I don't think my exposure therapy is working. I LOVE a good party...it's just the cooking and cleaning part all by myself for 30 hours (no joke) that seems a bit excessive. Put me in charge of games or just the cleaning part...I'm all over it.

I still can't believe the generosity of Mom and Dad in taking care of the kids and more while we were gone. It's unbelievable all that they did. The kids are still complaining that I don't put loads of butter in the corn like Grandpa does!  It's so good to be back and my heart is FULL of gratitude.