November kit and add-on previews!

Novembers kits at www.coordinatescollections.com are awesome as usual!  I put the basics together for the first kit, a very fun color combo that features gray - love it!  And this month we have a wonderful Autumn kit with blues... a nice switch from the October Enchanted's predominant pinks.

Here are the add-ons for each kit - embellishments and then paper packages:

Home for a 5-day weekend... not so fast....

It was only supposed to be a 3 day weekend, with the beginning of my new 4/10 schedule beginning on Monday (and I just so happened to have Monday off next week!)  But, I had pulled a muscle in my back under my shoulder blade that was nagging me (like it always does, because I don't use good posture when sitting and typing, I know.. I know..) anyway... and then I woke up a few days ago with my shoulder really hurting on the same side.  Well, that radiated down into my arm, all the way to my middle fingertip.  So I didn't sleep at all on Wednesday and called in sick yesterday.  Thankfully there was a massage opening at my chiropractor - and she worked me so hard I cried on the table.  I've never done that before.  This is not a pleasant massage people, like you would get at a fancy schmancy spa - it's a deep-tissue-painful-but-in-a-good-way massage... except for yesterday.  Just plain nasty and painful.  Anyway, they didn't want me going back to work on Friday and typing all day and undo what they corrected, so I now have a 5 day weekend.  I have another massage scheduled on Tuesday upon my return to work.

So Carl's parents are in town - got in late yesterday afternoon and Carl and Emma visited for a bit after her soccer practice.  I heard Grandpa was a major tickle monster.  That's what Grandpa's do I guess :)  Tonight they're coming over for dinner, and then tomorrow we will enjoy a double header soccer match. Emma is playing up on the black team tomorrow - she's so excited about the opportunity - and then will play with her regular team immediately afterward.  She then has a swim party to go to at Lake Tapps that results in a sleepover - what a crazy busy life she has - but in a good way :)

My kits arrived yesterday from Coordinates Collections - oh my... are these ever drop dead beautiful! Even the Halloween kit is beautiful, as much as a Halloween kit can be - more cool-beautiful :)  I will be posting a reveal video later today at the site:  www.coordinatescollections.com.

I can't leave you without a picture, that's almost sacrileges in blog world, isn't it?  A pic of Emma from last month's tournament - I love the black uniforms :)  And then one of Cooper in front of the Golden Gate Bridge, although you can't even see the bridge - but it's there... I luv him :)

Miley Cyrus ROCKS!!!

Okay, I don't normally award myself the Best-Mother-EVER award, except when I score tickets to see Miley Cyrus ;)  Last night Emma and I had a date, along with Tracy and K-Sue, to see Miley Cyrus/aka Hannah Montana at the Tacoma Dome.  Here's the cute Best-Mothers-EVER...

And the girls before the show started - they were SO excited - we had awesome seats!

And a pic of the great screens with Miley in my favorite outfit of the night - the dress originally had a huge bustle on the back with a long wedding type train, but was still really short in front - very fun.  I was also a huge fan of her black leather jumpsuit hotpants - seriously!  

And then this remarkably great shot (from my pocket camera!) of Miley singing on this lift in the center o the stage.  This was right before she flew around the room on a suspended Harley Davidson motorcycle (of course those shots didn't turn out) rockin' out to "I Love Rock and Roll" by Joan Jett.  That was a serious woot-woot to the mamas in the audience :)

I had the brilliant idea to take the Sounder train from town to the Tacoma Dome (so that we wouldn't have to endure the awful traffic and ensuing $30 parking), then we walked to the Harmon Brewery where we had a great dinner (and yes, I did indulge in one of their beers, and Tracy had a strawberry lemon drop -we were going to be subjected to screaming adolescents all night people....).  Carl picked us up outside of the Dome - it was perfect!

Father-Daughter Bonding

It will begin at approximately 4pm tomorrow. After the soccer game, they are getting all packed up. Carl was hunting last Sunday-Thursday (yesterday) - he bow hunts elk. Yum. Not. Anyway, the rest of his crew was home for a day and then headed back this afternoon. Emma really wanted to go, so they were going to go for a day hunt on Sunday. And then Sunday turned into a Saturday night stay. And so now, there will be 3 dads there with their 3 kids - of course, Emma is the only girl. But he made sure to get her all decked out in Walmart's finest camo today. I think she's ready. P.S. that's K-Sue in the bottom picture - she was in some of Carl's hunting clothes acting as a decoy in the backyard when I got home - she scared the crap out of me! :)

Rain, rain, don't go away...

I know, most people hate the rain - hate thunder and lightening storms - not me. What a welcome change this was this weekend. I love the rain, even the "hairy-pouring-buckets-windy-raining-sideways" rain. Especially when it's accompanied by thunder and lightening. It's that kind of day today. Makes me certain that Fall is coming. Soccer is coming. They go hand-in-hand. My lawn won't need to be watered, the leaves will soon be changing glorious colors, I can't wait.

In other news, Emma wanted her hair straightened this weekend. I rarely say yes, because I would kill for her natural waves and curls, and she looks so cute in them, but I took an hour and straightened every layer. She does look so cute with it straightened, but it so goes against nature and the beautiful hair she was given. Had to take a picture so she can remember it, instead of me having to use the straight-iron again soon! HA! p.s. I have no idea why this is all underlined.

First day of 5th Grade

ere are some recent pics of Emma on Wednesday. Oh yeah, she started playing the clarinet - just brought it home yesterday. Good Lord, save us all - LOL!

Coordinates Collections - Bewitched & Enchanted

Ahh, October kits at CC. I had a hand in coordinating both of these kits - and good thing I don't have to decide between the two, because it would've been impossible! The first photo is the majority of the kit, and the second photo are optional add-ons - enjoy!

Sounders Game

We went to our first professional soccer game yesterday, the Seattle Sounders (we're soccer geeks now if you didn't guess). We went with another family, took the Seattle Link train to the stadium, and had a great time! They gave us these fun headbands with green and blue hair on them - Emma's keeping hers for Silly Hair Day at school. I'll say this - this group of 32,000 soccer fans had more spirit than any baseball or football game I have been to - it was awesome!

Seaside, OR

Well, we're two years behind on our annual vacation - due to the houseboat and Cabo trips - but we're back on track. We have all missed the beach, the regular spots, the familiarity that Seaside brings to our family. We mixed things up a bit this year - by having the J's join us, and bringing Kennedy Sue along. It doesn't need to be said, and those of you that have met Kennedy already know this, but she is a joy to be with - and so very easy. She's like a second daughter, a natural extension of our family. As are the J family - such good friends.

This year we tried a new activity with Emma - golfing! She and Kennedy did very well, we only played 9 holes, but they both had great swings and really good shots. The highlight of course was that we rented two carts - and as soon as we were out of sight from the clubhouse, the girls got to drive. Surprisingly, Emma was the more cautious one, and Kennedy took me for a good ride.

We also spent each day with a little bit of arcade time. We have been going to that arcade for probably 8 years now, and we were pleasantly surprised to see that they went "coinless" - with an electronic card to load up and play as you wish - very nice. Each day started with an air hockey match, and we only incurred one minor injury to Kennedy's pinkie on the last visit.

The weather did not look great as a forecast, but turned out to be gorgeous the entire time. A bit breezy here and there, but what would a visit to the ocean be without an ocean breeze? The girls braved the cold water a few times, dug several holes (hoping they'd be there the next morning, disappointed that they weren't), Carl chased down a razor clam at low tide (dang those suckers can retreat fast!), took several long bike rides, played several games of Bananagrams (buy this game if you don't already have it), and ate a TON of great food (including the tradition of one breakfast at the Pig and Pancake).

This year we went all out and stayed oceanside - the closest we have ever stayed to the beach. Totally worth it, very relaxing on the deck to see the waves rolling in and the unmistakable sound of the sea. Even though there were 7 of us, the house was very comfy and spacious. We would totally stay there again.

A Great Hangover

No, I wasn't drunk, just saying that we thought the movie "The Hangover" was hilarious!!! Although I did enjoy a blueberry lemon drop at dinner before we saw it :) Now I will say, it's a bit raunchy - there is more male nudity in this film than any other I've seen before, and a lot of choice words - but it was hilarious! We walked out of the theater saying "I want to see that again!" We went with the Robi's, and Tracy and I were laughing so loud - in that high pitched shrilly irritating laugh - from the back of the theater - the kind of laugh where people usually turn around with a sneer and say "seriously lady?!!??" But they were all laughing too :)

Emma has a friend from school spending the day/night with us. She is very excited to reconnect with school friends before the new year starts. I made some fun "how's your summer?" cards last month and she mailed them out to several friends, so there are lots of connections planned for the next week or two. We've also done quite a bit of school shopping already, I think we're set for clothes and school supplies. She's just looking for a hip bag for her binder - backpacks are out, didn't you know?!?

We're all getting very excited about taking off for Seaside, Oregon in a few weeks. We are doing our usual gig of renting a home with another family, except this year we are closer to the beach than ever! I will be sure to get lots of pictures. Oh, and Kennedy Sue is coming with us too... thank goodness! :)

Champions of the Blast Off Tournament!

Wow, so proud of Emma and her soccer team - what a fantastic weekend at the Federal Way Blast Off tournament! We played in three tournaments this summer, with a new team, guest players, and trying to just feel our way. The first one was on our home field where we went 1-2. The second tournament in Redmond right before we went to CA last month, we were 3-1 and made it to the quarter finals. This weekend, our girls played with determination and improved skills and finished 4-0 with the championship medal for their division!! We loved seeing the improvement - confidence - heart of these girls. Extra special was having Kennedy participate as a guest player, making the win sweeter for Emma having her best friend with her.

Some highlights (or lowlights): Kennedy scored a goal as a defender (she has a rocket kick!); Emma got new cleats after Friday's game and Coach commented on Saturday that she must've had an odometer in her shoes - because she covered more ground and faster than anyone on the field; Emma and another teammate were chosen to hand out the medals to their teammates - hanging them around each girl's neck just like the Olympics, before a crowd, calling out their names; and sadly, we lost a guest goalie player after Saturday's first game to a nasty injury. She had control of the ball on the ground in front of the goal and an opposing player kicked her in the face. It was not intentional, but no foul was called either - she sat and screamed as blood poured out - and ended up breaking her jaw on both sides of her mouth. Man, we have felt really bad for her the last 2 days. Of course, after she got home from the hospital, her first question was "did they win?" That's a great player :)

Where has July gone??

That seems to be the theme on our blog lately - a month in between posts. Bad blogger. Bad. Here are some photos from our recent road trip to California. We powered through on the first day and arrived a little after midnight on Monday. We swam and enjoyed Grammie's house on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday we took off about noon for Mendocino, with a brief stop in San Francisco. Emma really wanted to drive over the Golden Gate bridge, and we thought, "hey - we're on vacation - why not?" It turned out to be one of the most splendid days I've ever seen in SF - and I've been there a LOT! We all decided we would love to fly down for a weekend of exploration in the next year or so. Stayed in a bed-n-breakfast Thursday night that was pet-friendly, then headed through the Redwoods all day Friday. We stopped at the Eel River for a dip, watched some kayakers, and gave Coop his first dip in water. He did NOT like it. My pictures are in a bit of reverse order, but this first one of Carl holding Cooper is in Crescent City after a brief stop at the shore.

We cleaned out my mom's rafters in her garage while we were there - brought everything down, went through it all, and made a huge donation to goodwill. Along the way we found some childhood things that brought back a lot of memories. Emma of course was into everything, and decided to pair up my last pair of tap shoes with a ukelele that I got in Hawaii in 5th grade.

We had to do it. Had to go to the drive-through tree. It was $5 but it's just one of those things you gotta do, right?? Of course our truck wouldn't fit through, or at least we weren't willing to try after seeing a minivan squeek by. But we managed a picture:

Emma and Cooper outside of Mendocino in an inlet - Coop was not too sure about seeing this water come and go in front of him.

We got this same shot of Emma on the slide in my mom's pool about 5 years ago - but this time her legs are hanging off the back - lol!

Carl and Em in front of the Golden Gate - bad pic, but I sure loved the park there.

Coordinates Collections September Previews

Can you believe we're previewing September already?? I can't wait for these kits! I can practically taste a pina colada while looking at the first kit, and second kit just makes me want to scrap some timeless photos. Check out the add-ons too!

Where did June go????

June has flown by - unbelievable. There were so many activities I can't even remember. My Mac was in the shop for one week in June, so that was part of my problem with not posting. But otherwise, eh... too busy to actually sit and write. So here's a recap:

Last weekend we camped with the J's in Lincoln Rock - near Wenatchee. Where it is usually very hot (90's) we were in the 70's with tons of wind. We made it work, got to make s'mores, and got out on the boat a bit. Emma brought neighbor J along:

Both Kristy and I overlooked the fact that it was Father's Day weekend (oops!). So we ran into town and found some funky doo-rags at Fred Meyer for a joke - they actually came in handy during the spurts of sun for our balding husbands :)

Emma's class had an end of year party at Lake Tapps at a classmate's $2.4 million dollar home (yep, on the market for that price... I told them I'd take 10% of it please and I could easily live out on the dock). It was a very fun day - here's Emma and her favorite boy "friend" from class (looks like they're almost holding hands - which she squealed to me - but they really aren't!)
A friend and I threw a baby shower for friend Ellen, and this was my little lovely that day - isn't she just growing up? She's such a beauty.

Emma and A from across the street are kicking it Puyallup style here: on a sunny Saturday afternoon I found them in A's dad's truck, in a tent, watching a movie on a portable DVD. What a couple of dorks:

Finally, Emma's new soccer coach had her playing mostly Defender during practices, and I walked out with him to the car and our conversation went something like this:

"So I see Emma's been playing Defender a lot, you know she's only played Forward until now, right?"

"Yes. She is absolutely going to be developed as a Defender."

"Seriously? I don't think that's 'her' " (a bit of sarcastic parent voice going on)

"Well, she is. (he appropriately knows how to put me in my place - I like him :)) She has the height, and more importantly, she's calm."

"EMMA?!? C-A-L-M ?? You're kidding..."

"No, she doesn't get rattled by the ball, she remains calm and that's what I need".

"Okay, you're the Coach, I'm going to trust you on this one."

I bring you Exhibits A & B:

That's my girl. She ain't letting ANYONE past her. She is kicking butt at Defender.