Middle School Days

McKenzie is in the Middle School this year and it has been quite an adjustment for all of us. There are "socials" on a Friday every month or so and all of the normal "not in elementary school anymore" but still "not in Junior High" yet things that happen. There are after school activities called Intramurals that the kids can join. These are can be anything from sports to plastic canvas working to art to foreign languages to drama classes and they change quarterly. McKenzie is taking full advantage of these and has something going on after school Monday through Thursday so I just swing by and pick her up after work. Works out well for everyone and she's learning some neat stuff. She also got a new cell phone for her birthday so she lets me know when her activity is over, when she's about to walk out of the building, when she is actually walking out of the building and when she's almost to my car :) Anything for a text I guess. So when I get a phone call directly after school, it usually means something is wrong or changed.

Yesterday, as I was working along, I received one of these calls but it only rang twice and then she hung up. So...of course I called back and this was our conversation. I swear that 12 year old girls have a block when it comes to giving information!

Me: Hi honi, did you just call?

Her: Yes.

Me:.......did you need something? Why did you hang up?

Her: Yes.......oh......I don't know.

Me: Ok well...what did you need?

Her: Um.....oh yeah. Is being 7th in the whole entire school in algebra good?

Me: Uh...Yeah! Are you really 7th in the whole school?

Her: Yes.

Me: Wow! That's awesome!!! I'm so proud of you! Who told you that?

Her: Um....some teacher...I can't remember. Oh yeah, it was my academic teacher.

Lol....this is how most of our conversations go these days. On the bright side though...yay for my daughter!! At the beginning of the year, she was having some issues with some of her classes and having 5 different teachers/subjects was a big adjustment. After coming from the elementary school with all 4's (which is an A+ above grade average at that school) and then getting a C on her first report card....it was definitely a shock. So this little bit of information really made my day and even though she didn't show it in any particular way, shape, or form...it made hers too. :)

She is also taking Spanish and quizzes me every day on the car ride home and makes me try to decipher sentences that she has made up. I have forgotten quite a bit but it actually surprised me how much I have been able to retain. I'm still cool sometimes...

A Glimpse into the Future

Oh Lord help us in a few years...

~I don't remember signing up for teenagers~

Our Upcoming Trip

To break up this really long, boring, wet winter, we have decided to take our annual vacation a little early. Plus, I don't want to be driving on a long road trip when I'm 20 months pregnant. So...we figured we will just take it a little early. Another change is that my sister and her family are going with us, as well as our good family friend. This way, the kids will have playmates and there will always be someone to go on rides with. This year, we have decided to visit Disneyland again...yay!! We went last time when Rylee was 2 and she hasn't stopped talking about it since then.

We've decided to leave when I get off work at 4 pm and drive straight through to San Diego where we will stay the night and go to Sea World the next morning. My family has never been to Sea World and I must say that I am very excited to go! Right now, I'm excited to go anywhere that the sun is shining :) From there, we will drive back to Anaheim and stay the week there. We're also planning on visiting California Adventure this time around. We didn't go last time because Rylee was too small to be able to go on hardly any of the rides which in turn would mean I wouldn't be able to go on anything. I don't really mind this fact (since I won't this year either) because I'm not much of a "ride" person. I send myself into a panic attack and freeze on the spot. The most I can do is the Ferris Wheel and a roller coaster as long as it doesn't go upside down or in a loop. There are a few in between, but I have been known to wait in line for an hour and then walk away when it's my turn. My poor family! This is another reason why I am glad there are several of us going. I'm also hoping for splendid sunny weather so we can go on water rides as well. Can you tell I'm excited? Now if I can only wait until the end of February....

My mom's family is from southern California and it was so much fun last time when we found my grandmother's old house and pulled off the side of the road for pictures. So many childhood memories came flooding back of walking down those streets and all of the smells from different shops everywhere. We didn't get to visit too often but when we did, it stuck with me for a long time. Maybe one of these days I'll look up one of my cousins or aunts and stop by for a visit.

I'm hoping that my morning sickness will be gone by then so I can enjoy everything. I'll be 4 months by then so I'm planning on it going on vacation (forever) as well. I had my first real appointment this morning besides the ultrasound I had a couple of weeks ago. It was the fun one where they poke and prod everywhere (sorry if that was TMI). Anyway, I got to hear the peanut's heartbeat and my midwife said that everything looks perfect. She said the word "perfect" about 6 or 7 times so I'm guessing that's a good thing :) Even though this was a huge oops and surprise, I find myself getting past that finally and looking forward to what is to come. I still can't believe I will have 4 children when all of this is said and done. I always saw myself with only 3 so I'm a little nervous. Obviously God had other things in mind. Luckily my two older ones love love love babies and I know they will be a tremendous help.

So, we're really looking forward to our trip and hope that time flies until we get to leave. Until then, is a little sunshine too much to ask for? I need to move to a sunnier state!!

Snow in Western Washington??

This past weekend, we took a trip up to Mt. Rainier. I don't think we've been there in at least six or seven years and it has changed quite a bit in that time. There is a new visitor's center and a really cool sledding area. Our party included ourselves, and Mike's two sisters and their kids. We had quite a large sledding team!

The parking lot was full at the top, so we headed down a level and parked there. It was a short trek back up to the top but it was so worth it. It was snowing and really cold but the kids were so excited because we haven't had any snow this year and after last year's 24 inch dump, it's been quite disappointing. So, this snow trip was very much appreciated. We stayed for about 5 1/2 hours and ate lunch in the center. I didn't get a chance to sled because the ride looked very bumpy and fast and I was a little weary of bouncing a baby right out of it's happy home! Everyone else took full advantage of the race track sledding slopes.

I hope to not wait so long for the next trip! Lots of fun was had by all...

Moving Forward

It sure has been a long time since I have last blogged. So many things have happened but I just haven't had the energy or patience to write about them. I took many pictures with witty captions planned but they just never made it onto cyber paper. It would just be kind of weird if I started posting Christmas pictures now...so I will just move forward!

One reason for my absence could be due to feeling so poorly lately. The Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year holidays are normally my favorite time of the entire year but this year was kind of a disappointing blur. Family and festivities and presents and all of that fun stuff was still wonderful but my normal excitement was absent. Hopefully next year will be better. I know it will definitely be more chaotic as we will have an extra family member by then. That's right... I've joined the bandwagon of pregnant people. Talk about a surprise! So, what is three for now, will soon be 4. I'm hoping the sickness will end soon as I'm almost 10 weeks because the whole "morning sickness" is a bunch of bunk. It should be re-named "all the time sickness." Must have been a male that made that name up :)

Anyway, hopefully my energy and writing abilities will soon return and I can start posting pictures again. Here's to the new year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been saving this picture for some time now...I can finally use it! I love Sesame Street :) For everyone out there, I have a quote taken from Denis Waitley that I think is very "Thanksgiving time" appropriate:

"Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn, or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude."

I think that just about sums it up! I wish everyone a fabulous day with their families...enjoy each other!

Cars, Trains, and Portland

This past weekend, Mike and I decided to get away for some very necessary relaxation...and some Christmas shopping. So on Saturday morning, we got up early, dropped the girls off with my sister, and headed to the Amtrak station. Mike had never been on a train before but I had taken a couple of trips prior, including one with my mom several years back, to Los Angeles. Talk about a long trip! Anyway, a couple of years ago, my employer took all of us employees down to Portland via the Amtrak, gave us each $200 and a sack lunch, and set us free to roam the city for the day. We also got paid for the day as it was a Friday. Such generosity!

I had so much fun that day that it has stuck around in my ever turning brain, waiting to be repeated. So with our bags in tow, we sat awaiting our late train :) We were only a little over an hour behind with no time frame so we just enjoyed spending time together. We never got the chance to go anywhere for our anniversary this year and then Rylee got sick so it was certainly time to get away.


When we finally arrived in Portland, the station that greeted us was much bigger than the one we had come from. Union Station had an old fashioned look to it that made us feel like we had stepped into another time.

We headed out the doors to the city and began our journey of finding the visitor's center. Portland has this great light rail system that is free to ride all around downtown. Luckily, it also went across the bridge to our hotel. We didn't pay a cent to travel around the city. After we found our way to Pioneer Square where the visitor's center is located (not knowing which tram to take, we walked about 15 long blocks), we got a map of the city and directions to our hotel, where we promptly dropped off our luggage. I'm not exactly sure how, but I managed to talk Mike into heading to the nearest shopping center almost immediately. After a couple of wrong turns, a man finally asked us where we were headed and if we needed any help..lol. We were obviously tourists so he pointed us in the right direction. Since we had forgotten the camera, I took a few (blurry unfortunately) pictures with my phone. Very cool mall!

After shopping for a few hours, we decided to head back to the hotel and check out the Skyview Lounge located on the 6th floor. Luckily for us, it was basically deserted and we had the nice old bartender to ourselves. He tried out a couple of his homemade concocted martinis on Mike and after our unscrupulous bill, we took his advice to take the tram back downtown and find a fun place for dinner. We ended up at the Rock Bottom Brewery and had a great meal and a couple too many beers :) I don't remember giggling that much with my honi in quite some time. It was very nice...

Our train didn't leave until 4:20 the next day, so we had the majority of the day to explore. I have not walked that much in a long time! We took our bags back to the train station and put them behind the counter for $3 so we wouldn't have to lug them around all day. Again, I was able to drag Mike around a couple of malls without any complaints! It must have been because there was no tax. We had lunch at Paddy's Bar and Grill and I've never seen so many choices that were not in a movie.

We finally made our way back to Union Station and got onto our cushy comfy train to come back to reality. Not a bad weekend get-away! I highly recommend it for holiday shopping and a lot of fun. One more cute picture to leave you with: