Mariners Game

Austin got us free tickets through his school for a Mariners Baseball game this past Friday. So, we left Kai home with a babysitter and the three of us loaded up in the Mini and went to Seattle. Austin and Tyler had peanuts and Cracker Jacks and Tyler got a thrill out of throwing the peanut shells on the ground. She loved having time with just Mommy and Daddy and we all had a great night out together! If you look at the last pic of the Mariners sign, you will see Qwest field, the space needle and Seattle Bay... it was a beautiful view and with the terrible weather that we have had lately, it ended up being a beautiful evening and we could not have asked for better weather, we were all so glad for no rain.

Our little Mini!

Well, we were really wishing Austin's Jeep would get us further along than it did before we had to buy a second vehicle, but it did die and go to heaven about 3 weeks ago and although I don't need my own vehicle right now, I will when school starts and I have to take Tyler, so we started looking and ended up buying a MINI COOPER! I know is totally crazy and it's totally crazy small too, but I LOVE it. It's just so darn cute I want to eat it up! With gas prices the way they are and Austin's very long commute, we really needed a very gas eco veh, and my friend who owns a dealership in Texas gave us a heck of a deal for this little guy.

So, here it is.... small, cute, fun, small, small. Actually, there is a lot more space than people actually think. Austin, who is 6'1, fit's very well and comfortable. And as you can see in the pic's, the girls' car seat's fit too. It's one happy Mini family! So, what do you all think?

My Parent's Visit

This is a pretty spare of the moment visit for my parents, but it was so nice to see them.

My Dad called me Saturday morning and said " So, uh, do you want us to come visit you this weekend" I replied (still halfway sleeping) "Uh sure..." I am thinking who died and what is going on? my dad then said "ok, we will be there at 5:00 tonight" I paused for a minute and said "really, um ok". Don't get me wrong, I love having family or friends come visit us, but this was just last minute and totally by surprise. So, after working out the arrangements of when to pick them up at the airport, I immedialty got out of bed and started washing sheets, towels, cleaning their bathroom and getting the house clean. Actually, is was a great weekend for my family to come visit because we didn't have any plans and I had already cleaned my house a little bit and gone grocery shopping, so I didn't go too crazy with anxiety.

We picked them up Saturday night at the airport and all went to Rain Forest Cafe for dinner. The girls loved the restaurant after the initial shock of being a little scared by the lightning storms and gorillas etc.. but it was a fun restaurant with ok food and very enertaining for the girls. We got to sit right next to the elephants and Tyler really loved that. She was funny because she would ask about every animal and if was going to "move". She enjoyed the elephants when they turned their head and blinked their eyes, but I don't think she wanted the big gorillas to move.

Then on Sunday we had a big breakfast and went to church and had a relaxing evening with a walk around the lakes in my community. And on Monday morning we went fishing, but sadly we did not catch anything. The neighborhood boys always come home with so many fish and I even went to their good spots, but I guess there was no luck for us.

Tyler and my Dad went for many nature walks together, we played games, talked, and had good meals, so we had a really good time together and it was a great visit.

I love you Mom and Dad! Thanks for the fun weekend!

Finally an Update

Ok, sorry... I am been so so busy with just everything and just neglected the blogging world for a couple weeks, but I am back now and ready to update and see all the updates (that will take a long time). I have been on a crazy obsessive, compulsive rampage and I am starting one room at a time and organizing EVERYTHING in my house: every shelf, every drawer, every closet... well you ge the point. Anyway, I have always been kinda crazy when it comes to my house being clean and organized, but it has never been exactly how I want it and that has not really been possible with 2 small kids and a full time job etc. so now that Kai is a little older and I can start to get things done around the house easier, I am going on this rampage to get everything perfect. So that explains why I have had no time to blog, but my kitchen and family room is totally done and I am moving on to another room now. I just love the feeling of it all perfectly organized and clean. This is normal, right?

Anyway, I posted just some random pic's over the last couple weeks. Dont' get scared of the one where I am shooting a gun and holding my baby.. its an air soft gun that my neighbor got for his 12th birthday and somehow my husband and the 12 year old's Dad seem to play with them more than the kids. Tyler had a great day in the dirt and I have never seen her so dirty, it was just so funny, but she was having so much fun. Good to know my little girl is not afraid to get dirty and play, but at the same time she is such a girl in other ways.

Well, that is my update for now!

Mother's Day

I am having the BEST Mother's Day. Austin got up with Kai when she woke up in the morning, so I could sleep in and he made me breakfast in bed and told me to stay in the bedroom until he said I could come downstairs. Then Tyler came and got me and said I could come down now and I saw my presents! We have been paying layaway on some VERY nice pots and pans from Kitchen Kraft for 2 years now and finally paid them off and Austin had them waiting for me to open. I love them and I will love cooking in them for my family. I also got the most adorable apron from my mother-in-law (Christie), and Tyler and Kai got matching aprons as well. They are so cute and Tyler's loves to help me cook, so it's just perfect. I also got a jogging stroller (which I have had for a couple weeks now, I could not wait to open that), and I have been jogging every day with the girls. They love to ride in it and its a GREAT workout for me. It's amazing how small my girls are, but pushing them up a hill in that jogger while running is a good burn to buttocks! I used to go jogging at night after they when to bed, so its great for me to go during the day with them and we usually jog to the park and while the girls play I do pull ups on the monkey bars and dips off the bench, and I stretch (people do look at me funny).

So, I have to say its been a great day so far and it's still early. I can't wait to use my new and anxiously awaited pots and pans and apron.

I also have to give a shout out to MY mom because she is just absolutely the BEST mom in the world! I have learned so much from her and she has been the best example for a great mom. I love you Mom and Happy Mother's Day! I am also so lucky to have 3 great Mother-in-laws that have been so wonderful to me and I am grateful for their examples and everything they do for me as well!!

Happy Mother's Day to ALL you Mom's!

Carpet!

Painting..... Before and After

Ok, were finally in the painting stage of our construction project and I took before and after pic's. I was so scared with the colors I chose, but after looking at it for a long time, I think I am happy with it. And tomorrow we get carpet, Yea! It's been so much work and it still seems like there is so much work to be done, but it's slowly coming together. I can't wait for the carpet tomorrow so we can have a movie night on the big projector screen (BTW, its a great media room), and Austin is creating a slide off the edge for the girls and is still working on Tyler's little cubby space. So, its all coming together nicely.

Funny Story!

I have to start by saying that Kai is being a terrible sleeper at night for some reason right now and has been over this last couple weeks. She wakes up at night and just screams soooo loud until I go in her room and all she wants me to do is lay her back down and cover her, then she goes right back to sleep for a little while then does it again. She usually does this 2 to 3 times at night, just enough to be really annoying right after I get back to sleep. So, last night I decided that I have had enough and I was going to just let her cry all night if she had to, I was NOT going in her room and she has to learn to not wake up anymore. So, I turned off the baby monitor and let her scream, and boy did she scream, and for a long time, but eventually she did stop and go back to sleep . Then this morning as Austin was doing his morning routine of tucking his girls into bed and making sure they are covered and ok before he goes to work, he noticed something funny in Kai's crib. So, he came and woke me up and said, "why is Kai's crib filled with stuffed animals and why are you giving her stuffed animals in the night"?. I started laughing and said, you think I did that? Yup, sure enough there was Tyler's chair by her crib and she had gotten up at night when Kai was crying and tried to help her by giving her stuffed animals. When I asked Tyler about it this morning, she said " Kai was just crying, crying, crying, so I tried to make her happy" Oh my... even though this is so funny, I thought it was so sweet of Tyler to try and help her sister in the night, she never even came into our room, she tried to do it by herself. So, I had to take pic's so I could remember this time... you can see Tyler's chair in the 2nd pic by her crib.

Cute Pic's of the Girls!

Tyler frosted cupcakes the other day and she was in her pajamas with her "princess dress ups" and I had to take pic's. She is just so funny... she is sooo into cupcakes because she loves this book called "Pinkalicious" she has memorized the entire book, almost word for word, and I have to read it to her every day, so I let her make cupcakes and frost them just like in her book. If any of buy children's books, this is the one to get, so darn cute.

And the pic of Kai with Daddy shows his newly shaved head (he likes to do this once a year, and this year Tyler helped him). Kai looked at him so funny for the first little bit and did not know what to think, but she soon came to realize it was good old Daddy. And for official news......

Kai is walking!! She walks everywhere now and hardly ever crawls anymore. She loves to go outside and just walk up and down the street and she particularly loves to walk on rocks and different surfaces fascinate her, its so fun to watch her and wonder what is going on in her little head as she is learning so much right now. I just love to watch my girls learn and explore and grow... they learn so much every day and I love to be here for all of it and watch it all happen. It's just the most amazing thing; to be a mom, I could not ask for anything better in the world than my little family.

Well, that's the update on the girls!

Lewis Family Visit!

I had my in-laws here this weekend and I just have to say that we had a great visit, (despite the not so good weather). I love when family comes to visit us and my girls love Grammy and Grandpa and Aunt Katie too! We started off the visit at the lake and playground in our neighborhood and I decided that Christie, Katie , Tyler and I would walk home on the beautiful trails that go throughout my neighborhood while the men and Kai drove home. Well, little did I know that the way we went would come to a dead end about a mile later..... oops. so we had to turn around and head back another mile where we started, but we were still a long way from home and there is no cell phone coverage at my house, so I had to knock on some nice lady's door and ask her if I could use the telephone to call my husband and tell him I was lost.... Austin was not too pleased with me, but did come get pick us up. Despite it all, we got some great exercise!

Then on Thursday, Christie and Katie took my place at Tyler's pre-school as the "parent helper" that I was signed up for and Tyler thought that was just the greatest and has so much fun with them there. Kai had a nice time with Grandpa at home and got some needed rest. That evening we all went to watch Tyler's gymnastics lesson and cheer her on, it was fun to have them there and that they got to watch the little gymnast in training!

Friday we went to the famous Puyallup spring fair (even with rain, snow, and hail coming down, anything BUT spring). If anyone has been to a fair, this is the cream of the crop, in deed the best fair in the Country. It was so much fun to just be with everyone and we had a good time together. We saw all the animals and the exhibits and I got some good lessons from Chrisite about what to plant in my yard for some landscaping. Then we went to dinner ta my favorite restaurant "The Keg". I know the name throws you off, but its a very nice, fine dining steakhouse. The food was delicious, and even though the kids were sooo tired, we had an enjoyable dinner.

Overall, I loved the visit and it was sad to say goodbye. Thanks Grammy and Grandpa for such a great time and for Katie who we always love having around. And I just have to say to Lindsey and Joe that we missed you and thought about you a lot, wish you were here, but good luck with all the studies and hard work.

We love you guys!!

Tyler's Bike

This is the first year that Tyler can really ride a bike. She has never had long enough legs to reach the pedals and really ride all over by herself, but thanks to her bike she got this Christmas from Grammy and Grandpa, she can ride a bike, and boy does she ride! She loves it, and likes to go really fast (her Daddy, feeds into her go faster, higher adrenaline). So, with the nice weather we were so gladly blessed with last week, she was out riding away with all the neighbor kids and loved every minute of it. Of coarse, who could forget little Kai, she wants to be big like sister so bad!

Our Addition to our House Update!

OK, so its been a couple weeks and Austin has been working soooo hard in the garage any moment he has to work, he does. Things are moving along very slowly, but its getting done and its getting done right. We are getting excited as things come together more and its really looking like a room now and not just some lumber project.
The 3rd pic on here is a little cubby space that goes from the room into a little cubby for Tyler and Kai (it actually goes into the house under the stairs), Austin still has to frame out a little door and fix the wall where the pipe is, but it will be a cute little cubby/play place for Tyler and Kai. Its so funny because Tyler is so excited for this little spot, every time she goes in the room she asks her daddy when he is going to get it done and she could care less about anything else in the room, she just wants "her room' and she calls it, finished.
So anyway, hopefully we will be done with the sheetrock and mudding and taping by the end of this weekend, and I can paint next week with the help of my mother-in-law and sister-in-law who will be visiting us from Utah (we as so excited), sorry they have to come visit and paint. We really wanted to have the room done by the time they got here, but we have come to the reality that will not happen, so why not use their help! I will post more pic's after the paint job. Yea!