Delayed Photos from Vancouver

I am desperate to catch up and be current. Knowing I am behind is not making me want to blog or take photos and yet we are doing so many fun things I really should. So, to recap: we spent two days in Vancouver after the cruise. We celebrated my mom's actual birthday in Vancouver going to a cute Fondue restaurant called Burgoo. Joe stayed at the hotel with the boys so it was just my parents, Barclay and me. It wasn't anything fancy but it hit the spot. http://www.burgoo.ca/

We started our tour of Vancouver visiting Gas Town and then the Chinese gardens. The boys fell in love with the baby turtle and fed the other turtles Fruit Loops (despite the please don't fee the fish signs). We went to China town and had dim sum at the Floata Seafood Restaurant http://www.floata.com/index_main.htm . Joe and I haven't had dim sum in years so we were in heaven. Barclay is now a vegetarian so I think she was challenged to find dishes she could enjoy. We were accosted by some homeless people on the walk back to our hotel which definitely left an impression on Mason "remember that man who followed us" he mentioned for the next few days.

We left Vancouver and drove to Leavenworth, WA which is a cute Bavarian town which I have been wanting to visit ever since we moved up here. It was very cute and quaint. http://www.leavenworth.org/modules/pages/?pageid=4&path=24 We stopped for two hours and shopped (Joe took the boys to a park). Very fun and then we drove another 45 minutes to our hotel in Ellensburg, WA. We enjoyed swimming in the pool before breakfast the following morning and then drove 3 + hours home. Misty was very glad to see us return!

Delayed Photos from Seattle

We went to Seattle before we drove to Vancouver for the cruise. It was Barclay's first time there so we showed her the fish market (which was closed as it was the 4th of July). The next day, Joe and I took the boys to the Children's Museum and tooled around there. We took the monorail which the boys loved. When we got back to the hotel the boys napped. I snuck out and went shopping. :) I bought a pair of Earth Shoes which I love http://www.earth.us/shoeDetail.asp?Gender=women&cat=3&offset=36&ID=2981 and are so comfortable. They have a reverse heel, so they are higher in the front than in the back with the thought that this helps with posture. It is amazingly comfortable and they are my new prized possession. I don't spend money on myself ever so this was a real treat. Joe was slightly horrified but let it go. Seattle has awesome shopping. I also picked up two pairs of capris from Norstroms Rack.

After returning from shopping I quickly changed, into my new shoes and capris, and we met up with my old high school friend Hilary Colloff for dinner. Oh my gosh. I love Hilary. She is a hoot. I feel so comfortable around her and we caught up like no time had passed whatsoever. I definitely want to go back to visit with her soon. She is such a sweet heart. She has a blog too http://hilarycolloff.blogspot.com/ so if you know her and want to catch up with her you should. She is just starting a new job with Microsoft doing marketing. She seems happy and content and has lived in Seattle for about 10 years now. It's only a five + hour drive from here. Or a super short flight. :)

Impromptu Morning

We have no plans today so what was going to be an ordinary morning making biscuits (their favorite) turned into making creations out of the biscuits with the addition of sprinkles and icing. The important thing is that they had a blast. Our neighbor Terran was with us, he is here most of the time. The biscuits were twisted into "ghosts" and "donuts" and probably didn't taste great but they didn't complain. We also made play dough from scratch. The recipe is easy: 4T flour, 2T salt, 2T water and a few drops of vegetable oil. We ended up baking the play dough to make cookies we could decorate. That was not a success so don't try that. :) It's OK though because by the time they came out of the oven the boys were burnt out on the whole project.

The boys are now off riding bikes and scooters around the cul-de-sac giving me some time to blog. It is gorgeous here today so we may have to go to B's house to swim or set up our little pool.

Julyamish PowWow

I've been wanting to go to an Indian Powwow since I moved up here the first time. Well, I finally went. It was absolutely spectacular. Amazing outfits and ornamentation. I am very bummed I didn't bring my camera. Although, I probably wouldn't have been able to take many photos as the boys needed lots of managing. I am posting pictures from the website here just to give you all an idea of how festive it was. Amazing that the kids would wear these outfits without complaint. I wondered to myself how you wash them and store them and how many man hours it takes to make them. They were so intricate! The beading alone was amazing.

My neighbor Missy and her son Mason (who just turned 3) came with us. We had a really nice time together. We let the Masons jump in the bouncy castle for a little bit after the powwow and then we did a little shopping taking in the vendors. Missy and I bought a pair of very simple shell earrings. I chose pink and she chose green. It was 2 pairs for $5 dollars so we couldn't pass it up! :) I really like hanging out with Missy. She is fast becoming a good friend of mine. Our boys get along great and we are very similar which makes it very comfortable.

I did finish my Love and Logic parenting class today. I am glad I went. I really need to use the tools they taught me. I just need practice. I think I am going to take them up on their suggestion to write on poster board a list of behaviors with the corresponding consequences. I find that I get so flustered in the moment I can't remember what I am supposed to say and how to appropriately give a consequence. Usually I throw out a punishment and I do it with anger. I really need to work on my anger issues. It's a problem in so many areas. I just tend to let things build up and then in utter frustration I explode. Parenting should be fun and I should feel good about how my kids behave. I am turning the corner, I feel it. Things that would of been OK with two weeks ago no longer are and so I am already setting more limits. Mason doesn't like it but, for example, he is already not asking to sleep in Momma bed which is huge. I feel like I am being fair and consistent and that is definitely going to work for me. I have to remind myself that I can do it, the kids crave limits and I need my family life to be less work. I am going to visualize success daily so that I will have success.

BTW, at the birthday party yesterday, Talan fell off the picnic bench we were sitting on while we were doing arts and crafts. He bonked his head badly. I was sitting right next to him too but couldn't save him. It was a lot of drama and crying and ice-packs plus two droppers of Tylenol but he seems to be OK today although he has a golf ball size bruise on his forehead. Poor guy. This is his first big injury. I felt so bad for him. He has been sitting up great for so long, I just couldn't believe he fell backwards off the bench. :(

My New Moms Playgroup

Four of the eight mom's from Talan's group speech therapy class got together today. I organized it making laborious phone calls trying to get them all together. I have assembled an email list fo future use which will hugely facilitate communication. It is so old school to actually call people. :) This group of moms has met once before, again at my initiation. I am just so happy to have found mom's with two year olds so that Talan can have a group of little buddies. It is a really nice group of women and I am ready to put the effort in because I really think these are women I could be real friends with long term. We met at Blue Grass park which has a "dry" park and a water park. Lots of fun for everyone. We brought our neighbor Terran with us and that was a good choice. We were there about 2.5 hours and really enjoyed ourselves.
We came home and napped and then headed back out to a summer party put on by the Infant Toddler program. We saw two moms from our speech therapy group there and hung out with them. It was a nice low key evening. We ate hamburgers, chips and Otter Pops. Someone had baked cupcakes in ice cream cones and then frosted them and sprinkled colored sprinkles on top. They were a huge hit. I loved the idea. The kids thought they were going to be eating ice cream and it was so little mess. I might try this for Mason's birthday party.
A totally great day. All about the kids (mostly) and yet I got great quality mom friend time. I like that kind of balance. Oh, and we spent half an hour when we got home catching crickets. I am getting really good at it. :) Mason, thankfully, while abusive to them at least is not killing them which truly appreciate.
Tomorrow we have a birthday party for our friends Alyssa and Kellen both of whom are turning 6. That should be fun for the kids and hopefully I will get some mom friend time. Saturday I have the second part of my parenting class, Love and Logic. Then Sunday Joe will be home although it might be midnight before he walks in the door but hey, its gone by rather quickly.

Priorities

I have posted the Alaska photos onto Kodak gallery as there are too many to post here. The link for that is http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=96xkajv.bnivytij&x=0&y=-jm9qon&localeid=en_US. I never did take photos from the day in Ketchican which was arguably the most quaint of the three towns we visited. At some point I hope to combine my photos with Barclay's and my Dad's. Of course, that will take some doing to coordinate all that and then there is the getting all of them in order chronologically as I am a bit impulsive about that sort of thing (this runs in my family).

I just had an Occupational Therapist from the Infant Toddler program come by to evaluate Talan for his tactile sensitivity. She is referring us to a Psychiatrist just to see if there is any early Obsessive Compulsive Disorder indicators. Truthfully, I think Talan is in the normal range and we do all joke about how clean and orderly he is. But since it is a free service, I suppose why not check him out. Joe and I both have our compulsions so maybe he is just like us but to a bit more extreme. Who knows. I am all about getting more information.

My sponsor and I had a great chat yesterday and it got me to thinking about what my priorities are. I had called her because I was already stressing about how busy I am going to be when school starts up again. So I have been thinking and mulling it over. My priorities are always evolving but right now, during the summer, my priorities are:
1. My mental and physical health
2. My family, specifically spending quality time with my children
3. Al-Anon: my spiritual health
4. Adult responsibilities - order in my house and life
5. Talan's speech therapy work
6. Service work
7. Preparing for school - starting on my lab notebook
8. Making money -sign language classes and property management

When school starts at the end of August my priorities will shift and school will be 4th. Hopefully Talan's speech therapy will be only twice a month instead of being twice a week like it has been. Joe will be home more to help run the household and care for the kids so I can focus on homework. I realize I am not that enthusiastic about teaching sign language so I am going to have to really think about how involved I want to continue to be with that. The property management of our development excites me and it is not only lucrative but flexible. I love some of my service work like working with the Alateens and speaking at the hospital but I am not sure how much time I can commit to being a Alternate DR (district rep) and GR (group rep). Not that I have been doing much in either capacity, I just fear more will be asked of me and I certainly don't have the time or inclination to fly to Boise 4 times a year for the meetings. Truth be told, I shouldn't worry about any of it. It will be what it will be. There is not much I can do about it today.

I am so grateful Talan is feeling better today. Last night he threw up on me and coughed all night. Today he is a little whiny but mostly back together. Mason and Terran (our 7 year old neighbor) are inseparable. That is good and bad. Now I know how my mom felt when we had Danny over all the time when we were kids. :)

Lavender Festival

Barclay and I took the boys up to the Lavender Festival in Athol. They loved the petting zoo and the fishing pond. They got to pet goats, a rabbit, a guinea pig, and two geese. They kept calling the geese chickens and they even started singing and dancing a chicken song while the geese were wadding in the drinking water (third picture). The fishing pond was manned by several volunteers who, thankfully, hooked the maggots for us and essentially did 99% of the work. Mason caught 6 fish, Talan caught two and I caught one. :) It was very low key and most of you all probably wouldn't consider it fishing but it was perfect for a 4 year old and a 2 year old.

When people at the festival asked Talan what his name was, he told them he was 2 (holding up 2 fingers). He then preceded to sign Mason and hold up 4 fingers. He is excited that Mason will soon be five and he will hold up 5 fingers when asked how old Mason will be in August. It is so cute. He is definitely taking the initiative to talk more but he also loves to sign even when he can say the words. Currently his favorite sign is ice cream, no wonder. :)

Barclay just babysat for us tonight so that Joe and I could swim in the Spokane river. We found the exact same spot we swam in it last year and enjoyed it just as much. The water was a little cold but there were plenty of people boating, tubing, jet skiing and swinging off ropes into the water. I spent most of my time treading water trying to keep warm. Afterwards we did some grocery shopping as Joe leaves tomorrow for a week and we needed to buy supplies that I can manage while he is away. I am planning on lots of salads and soups as we are all so fat after the cruise. :)

It is beautiful up here, the weather is warm and dry. Such a far cry from the humidity of Georgia. That experience will forever make me grateful to live here. I love Idaho. I am also loving my home so much more now that we steamed cleaned our furniture which now looks amazingly clean and the decorating I did yesterday has really made the place feel more homey.

All is well in our little world.

I did so much today

Joe and I started the day with a six hour Love and Logic class. After which, we treated the boys (and ourselves) to an ice-cream at Baskin Robbins (the first place I ever worked). Talk about inflation and the scoops are way smaller.

While the boys were napping, I organized my jewelry box, polished all my earrings as well as fix 6 broken necklaces. This has been on my list of things to do forever! When the boys did wake up, Talan helped me (by carrying the hammer) hang up the new name thingys I bought in Leavenworth up in their rooms. I then, because the hammer was out, got inspired to hang up all the pictures that we have had stored in our closet since we moved from Georgia. I used the level as Joe really appreciates straight and centered pictures. When I was finished Joe complimented me and told me I did a great job. :)

Now I am finally transferring all the childhood photos my dad painstakingly converted from slides onto my new computer. They have been on Joe's laptop for over a year and I never did transfer them to my previous laptop which is dead dead dead so I guess it is a good thing I put this off. It is a slow process as my jump drive will only hold 170 photos as a time. There are over 2000 photos. They are getting totally out of order, good grief, but I am going to have to let that go. For tonight at least. So much for working on my Alaska photos. I am very side tracked but getting a lot done.

I definitely feel summer whizzing by so I am feeling compelled to get all the things on my To Do list done before school starts up again and I have no free time. Is there such a thing as free time when one has small children? Me thinks not!

Back home from Alaska trip

Actually, we got home Wednesday afternoon but there has been so much to do since then that I am just now sitting down to blog. The boys are still napping, I napped with them for a bit. Napping is a favorite past time of mine! I get this from my mom. :)

We hooked up with Avonda today for the Rathdrum Days festival http://www.rathdrumdays.org/. It was great to see Avonda (Joe's mom's best friend). We caught up on her life (she and Ed are getting a divorce after all). She said a divorce is like a death, in regards to all the nasty paperwork, except you don't get a death certificate. (I think she'd like one! as Ed has been seen at their development with a woman 20+years younger). She also caught us up on Curt who we all agree is really doing himself in with all the drinking etc. Apparently he is no longer going to Kenos as they had to throw him out last week. Don't know details but it doesn't bode well for him. So sad as he has so much he could live for but can't see it himself. Of course we brought up Susie, how could we not, and how much we miss her.

The boys had a blast playing around with these 75 cent water yo-yos that we purchased from a crafts vendor. They were so entertaining that when they burst we went and got a second set. :)Mason did the jumpy castle twice. Both boys did the bean bag toss where Mason won a yellow boomarang. Joe paid to play a little paintball but that wasn't too successful. The highlight was the reptile exhibit, same as at Hayden Days. I held a tarantula. I've always wanted to but have been to scared. So I dared myself to do it. She was very sweet and active. She was also very soft. At the tip of their legs are mini-claws and you can feel those when she walked up my arm. I was holding Talan at the same time and he couldn't believe his eyes. No, he did not want to touch it! He held the baby turtle and the baby bearded dragon. So did Mason. Joe and Avonda steered clear of all of it. :)

I didn't take any photos as I am a bit photoed out at the moment. I have over 300 photos from our trip and I want to post them but there is a lot of editing, cropping etc before I do.
We are very happy to be back. We are back into our routine, somewhat. We are dieting again to get off the weight we gained on the cruise. Life is good. It is beautiful here. Misty is on my lap making up for some lost time. Keira did a great job cat sitting for us. She let Spike come and visit Misty so I am very grateful for that. :)

Cruise Review

Wanted to post this so I don't lose it. Thought there was some interesting information regarding our upcoming cruise. It is also very recent having been published at the end of May.

Alaskan Dream Come True - NCL Review by isles1

I also really found this link useful http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review_page2.cfm?ShipID=177#dresscode

Joe is Home!

Joe arrived last night. He brought the boys M&M pj's from NYC which they adored. Mason's is red and Talan's is blue. Talan saw the M&M candy and signed "same" with his pjs. Very smart little boy. Needless to say the boys attacked their dad in total delight. Clearly they missed him.

This morning, they were climbing all over him again. They love tickles and throws. I had to capture it all on film. The pictures are precious in my opinion. :)

Talan's new thing is to say "big big boat" because he knows we are going on a cruise. He screams "boat" when ever we see one, which is all the time as we live by a lake. :) Joe showed Mason pictures of the cruise ship online and he was very excited. I think we all are. It is high time for a family vacation. I can't wait. There is a lot to do before then so it will be a busy couple of days but then.....paradise.

Tonight Talan was sitting next to me and he signed and said "my mom" and then hugged me. It was so sweet. He cuddled me and did it over and over "my mom". I keep waiting to hear him say "I love you" but I tell you that was pretty close. It was the sweetest hug ever. I love my boys. And I love my husband. It is so nice having Joe back home.